American Democratic System

Competitive capitalism and representative democracy going hand-in-hand, as seen in the American model, has prevailed as the unavoidable endpoint for countries as of today. To understand why these systems have succeeded in becoming the norm, it is important to first define them. A basic definition of a democratic system would be “ a political system where political figures are chosen through some sort of electoral process in which citizens are the determining factor.” When defining what a democracy is it is important to keep in mind that the oft-used procedural definition of holding elections lacks the specificity that is required to determine if those elections are wholly democratic. Seymour Martin Lipset provides a definition that encompasses

The interesting case with these countries, is that prior to their democratization and capitalization both were viewed as somewhat hopeless cases. Brazil had been under a severe military dictatorship until 1989 and the economic model that it operated under from 1940 to 1989 was a form of nationalist mercantilism. Similarly, Slovakia was a part of the Eastern Bloc until the fall of the Soviet Union and operated under its communist policies. If two of the most politically and economically backward societies underwent a transition to a capitalist economy and a democratic government, the American Model stands

It is unclear if democracy is always the cause of capitalism, or if capitalism is always the cause of democracy. However, there does appear to be a direct correlation between the two. One of the first steps towards a capitalist economy is the transition from being a primarily agrarian society, into being an industrialized one. In a study done by Seymour Martin Lipset that was published in 1959, of the stable European democracies, only 21% of males worked in the field of agriculture. Compare this to European dictatorships where 41% of males participated in agriculture. To study this correlation, one can When discussing an idea such as the victory of the American model, it is important to note that it is in some ways like questioning whether or not Marx was correct in his assumption that communism is inevitable or like saying that modernization is inevitable. There is no way to look into the future to see if these theories stand up, the only evidence that can be used is what has already happened or what is