Democracy, Development And Good Governance

1859 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Strengths and weaknesses of modernization theory

Literature review

Many scholars have been studied development over past decades and today it is popular necessary are for research and analysis. There are wide debates of question why one societies are prosperous and others are not and what are the reasons. Before starting own research, it is important to look at previous studies and findings. This literature review looks at democratic theories and developmental theories, precisely modernisation theory. This paper is build on theories of institutionalism, Neopatrimonialism, creative destruction and studies of Acemoglu, Robinson, Fukuyama, Schumpeter, Grycak and many others.

At first, this literature review explores links between development, democracy and good governance. Then it moves to the issue of corruption and overview its impact on development. There is comparison between corruption in democratic and authoritarian regimes and the role of corruption in both types of political regimes. As this study focuses on corruption and development of Ukraine, third part will analyse literature on Ukraine in this regard.

Democracy, development and good governance

Today most nations accept the legitimacy of democracy or at least pretend to hold competitive elections and imitate democratic process (Fukuyama, 2016). Democracy is recognised as the most suitable political regime and the best system to facilitate the progress of humanity (Shapiro, 2003). Therefore, this dissertation argues a fundamental importance of democracy for development and furthermore its influence on corruption. Only democracy can create institutional arrangements for long-term sustainable development and eliminate corruption.

So what is democracy and what makes it work? Democracy can be defined by couple of ke...

... middle of paper ...

..., blur lines between the public and the private, the separation which came together with democratisation. The very notion that there was potential conflict between public and private emerged only with the rise of democratic impersonal states. As was mentioned – main feature of modern state is public welfare and usage of public resources for private gain undermines the very notion of the state. Today we call it corruption. Again, this modern phenomenon also raised with democratisation, as up until a few centuries ago, there were virtually no uncorrupted states.

Today corruption damages inclusion and undermines democracy, it works as an exclusion in society. By its nature, corruption is conducted secretly and requires deceit. Exclusion works because it is a secret that allows those in corrupt relations to internalise benefits and externalise the harms (Warren, 2005).

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Democracy By John L Anderson

    1190 Words  | 3 Pages

    Democracy has been a topic discussed for hundreds of years and a general idea of the topic would be the “governing of people by the people”. Many people have attempted “to sketch characteristics, or outcomes or preconditions, because democracy itself” (4) has been seen to be a difficult concept to define. In John L Anderson’s ‘What is Democracy?’ (2004) he takes an alternative approach to understanding democracy. Anderson explains that there is no “tidy set of ideas”, but rather “an indirect approach to defining democracy” (4) in order to understand and teach the concept of democracy. He states that there are four notion to achieve this: seeking the public interest helps us develop a morality based upon concern for others; governing others

    Read More

  • The Letter That Won The American Revolution, And Compromise 1: Philadelphia Story

    353 Words  | 1 Pages

    Democracy is a total system that is considered to be ruled by the people. Democracy is considered to be the key role in how citizens live their public lives. For a successful democracy to work, you need to have the key understandings of how it started when it started and why it started. It truly shows that you need the role of society and the rights of the people to be considered successful. In my articles reading I came across three that stood out that help me better understand how democracy became what it is. The articles I talk about are "Thank your taxes", "The letter that won the American Revolution", and "Compromise 1: Philadelphia Story". In the article "Thank your taxes" the citizens were struggling with the government and how they

    Read More

  • Twentieth Century Latin America's Journey to Democratization

    1483 Words  | 3 Pages

    The issue has brought about poverty, corruption, violence, and the lack of human rights. The people in which they represent have difficulty accessing the state (240). With a great amount of poor people, they are the ones who are not helped. This inability of the state causes populism, increasing the chances of a proper democracy to take place (240). State reform has been a struggle to obtain in Latin America due to corruption. Neo-liberal reforms are causing weak institutions and new forms of corruption. (240) It is stealing for personal gain creating uneven costs for lower classes (240). This affects the resources available for social spending, which means the needs of the people are not met. Latin American states failing their people in many ways leading to fear, especially in slums that are dominated by gangsters that hold immense power (241). ** grugel* Bribery is also a form of corruption faces in Latin America. This abuse is seen in the public office in various forms money or property. A good given in exchange for a publicly controlled good, duties are violated to exchange a public good for a resource that benefits the public official’s power (4). Bribery and political corruption may influence democracy in the procedural sense. The influence can be within the access ballots, party competition, electoral processes (6). Corruption breaks the link between collective decision making

    Read More

  • Democracy In South America

    1016 Words  | 3 Pages

    Even with democracy taking control, the countries still have many problems. The largest problem is the tradition of corruption of the political leaders. The corruption has mainly been the use of bribe-taking and bribe-giving. " By definition, democracy presumes equal opportunity; bribery and corruption make the playing field uneven and weakens democracy's foundations." Recently, corruption has reached into high places in Venezuela and Brazil.

    Read More

  • Inequality of Income

    1442 Words  | 3 Pages

    Chetwynd, Eric, Frances Chetwynd, and Bertram Spector. "Corruption and Poverty: A Review of Recent Literature." Management Systems International (2003): n. pag. Print.

    Read More

  • Unrest and Issues During the Gilded Age

    909 Words  | 2 Pages

    Known as a period of political scandal, many politicians engaged in bribes, lies, and abuse of power to further a political, social, and often personal agenda. The typical corrupt leader "will sell his vote for a dollar [...] turns with indifference from the voice of honesty and reason [...] his unalienable right may be valuable to him for the bribe he gets out of it" (166). Such politicians are an injustice to society because as they are elected by the people, they must act towards the betterment of the people, rather than for themselves. Furthermore, those who elect this politician to office merely underestimate their political and social responsibility because they "want the feeling that their own interests are connected with those of the community, and in the weakness or absence of moral and political duty" (167). Thus, under the control of the ruthless politician and the reckless voter, the true essence of democracy is

    Read More

  • Plato's Criticism of Democracy

    1688 Words  | 4 Pages

    One of the contemporary definitions of democracy today is as follows: “Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives; Rule by the majority” (“Democracy” Def.1,4). Democracy, as a form of government, was a radical idea when it manifested; many governments in the early history of the world were totalitarian or tyrannical in nature, due to overarching beliefs that the strong ruled over the weak.

    Read More

  • Does Democracy Work?

    849 Words  | 2 Pages

    Democracy: a government by the people, in which citizens rule either directly or through elected representatives - the latter description more relevant to today’s societies. Quite evidently, democracy is not perfect; like any other political system, it is subject to a plethora of flaws. For instance, it is no secret that voters tend to make illogical decisions – not out of sheer malice, but as a result of being wrongly informed. Politicians also make erroneous choices, whether they do so because they are dishonest or simply out of touch with the true will of their constituents. Further, anyone who has studied the government of a parliamentary democracy knows gerrymandering can have a powerful say in determining elections. Despite these and other flaws however, democracy still seems to work.

    Read More

  • DEMOCRACY AND DEVELOPMENT

    2269 Words  | 5 Pages

    There have been enormous efforts to spread democracy as a political system throughout the world by the developed democratic countries and the international development organizations including the World Bank. By the late 1990s the United States alone spent over a half billion dollars to promote democratic expansion throughout the world (Diamond, 2003). These were done considering that the democratic system leads towards development. As a result in the late 20th century we saw a huge political transformation towards democracy. During the last few decades a huge number of countries adopted democracy as their political system. However, it retain a big question how far democracy is successful in bringing development of a country? At this stage, some people also criticizes the effort of democratization arguing that it is done without considering the context of a country, sometimes democracy is not ideal for all countries and it is an effort to extinct diversity of political system. In studying the literature regarding the debate, we found a paradoxical relationship between democracy and development. Some argue that democracy has failed to ensure expected outcomes in terms of development. While others confronted that democracy has a considerable impact on development. Another group of people argue that form of political system actually does not have any impact on development process. On the verge of these debates, some development institutions and academics throw light on why democracy is not working properly, and what measure should be taken to make it more successful in bringing effective development of developing countries. Consequently, this writing is an effort of revisiting the different views about impact of democra...

    Read More

  • Democracy in Latin America

    2755 Words  | 6 Pages

    Firstly, K. Isbester mentions that democracy has a different meaning for everyone, as some can define democracy as a good aspect for development, on the contrary other believe that it is nothing more than voting after several years. Although, Latin America see democratic g...

    Read More

  • Internal Barriers To Economic Growth And Development Essay

    778 Words  | 2 Pages

    Political instability and corruption is a major impact on growth. The rule of law and appropriate enforcement is needed to create an established system of honesty and loyalty in society. Corruption is people acting in an official capacity of trust and responsibility misusing their position for private gain. When there is this sense of corruption many things are affected. Corruption discourages investment due to lack of business ethics.

    Read More

  • Corruption In Nigeria

    1150 Words  | 3 Pages

    Corruption can be defined as the use of entrusted power to accumulate public wealthy for personal benefit. Corruption is not peculiar to any country, continent or state; it is sure a global issue which is an endemic to all government all over the world. However, corruption is prevalent in the Niger delta region of Nigeria; public officers in this oil producing state of Nigeria are corrupt. Consequently, it has defied the Niger delta from developing politically and economically which has left the states reputation in a mess. Radicalization of youths, abject poverty and -political instability are the three leading effects of corruption in the Niger delta region of Nigeria.

    Read More

  • Corruption and Globalisation

    5204 Words  | 11 Pages

    This essay will attempt to explore the relationship between the two from the definitions, causes, consequences and the solutions. Corruption can be defined as the abuse of public power for private gain. (World Bank, 2004) Corruption is attracting a lot of attention around the world, and is a growing international and regional concern. According to Corruption Around the world (Tanzi, 1998), in its end-of-year editorial on December 31, 1995, The Financial Times characterized 1995 as the year of corruption.

    Read More

  • Corruption In South Africa Essay

    973 Words  | 2 Pages

    Montesh, M. (n.d.). Conceptualizing Corruption: Forms, Causes, Types and Consequences. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from

    Read More

  • Corruption And Corruption In South Africa

    827 Words  | 2 Pages

    Corruption and fraud is a relevant topic in South Africa and will continue to be so until it is able to be limited. Corruption is committed mainly by people in power as they neglect and take advantage of this power in order to better themselves at the expense of others. Fraud and corruption is the wrongful or criminal deception that results in financial or personal gain. Government officials, police officers and some unexpected individuals such as law officials have been known to commit corruption and fraud. There have been cases of corruption in the 2014 elections and the political parties have seen that it is something the community is concerned over. Each party has addressed this concern and suggested ways in which to limit this corruption. Not only is corruption morally wrong, but it causes trust problems between the community and people in power, the people who are meant to help society. (1)

    Read More

More about Democracy, Development And Good Governance

Open Document