Schmitter and Karl (1991) listed Robert Dahl's seven minimum criteria for a political democracy and developed two of their own (p. 247). Most of the nine criteria, if not all, are irrelevant in my assigned countries, since both my assigned countries are non-democratic. Criteria one gives elected officials constitutional power to make policy. Under this criteria, Yemen and Saudi both differ. Saudi Arabia has a Shura council, which is an advisory body, but they do not enact and enforce laws, only the King can. In Yemen, there are elected officials and a parliament; however, the power they have is also limited. The second criteria guarantees fair elections with no coercion. In both countries, one cannot safely say that elections are “fairly” conducted. Coercion is present and is practiced by various Islamic and political groups. The third criteria guarantees voting rights for all adults. It applies to Yemen and only partially to Saudi Arabia. This is because in Saudi Arabia, women were only recently given the right to vote. The fourth criteria grants all adults the opportunity to run for office. Epatko (2011) says that in Saudi Arabia, in addition to allowing women to vote, they are also now allowed to run for both local elections and the Shura, but all lawmakers must be over 30 years old. In Yemen, both adult men and women are also allowed to vote and run for office. Criteria five gives citizens the right to freedom of expression. This criteria strictly does not apply to both countries. Both countries are non-democratic and have an organized crackdown on dissidents or those who try to speak up. Social and political activists are suppressed, jailed, or killed. Their rights are not protected by the government. The s...
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