Researched Bibliography on Democracy

Research Summaries

Log 3

RESEARCH QUESTION: Are democracies the best form of government for developing countries to prosper?

CITATION

Casas, Jose, Pardo and Schwartz, Pedro. “Public Choice and the Challenges of Democracy.” Edward Elgar Publishing, 2007.

SUMMARY

In this book, Casas and Schwartz explain that democracy is not the best of form of governance that developing countries should have. The authors explain that some countries have been able to achieve developmental success without being accountable to the democratic institutions. According to the text, Singapore has been able to achieve successful development under autocracy governance system. The government of Singapore developed paternalistic restrictions on the behavior of individuals in order to implement social control. The government also used the industrial policy such as directed credit in order to guide and control investment. The paternalistic regulation was very extensive in Singapore because the government could restrain individuals from making personal choices. However, the government used social control mainly to emphasize self-discipline and education. The book explains that high economic growth was also achieved in South Korea and Taiwan, which used to practice autocracy governance more than democracy. High economic growth occurred in China because of income inequality and regional diversity, rather than competing political parties of diversity. Autocracy has advantage over democracy because majority of the voters would reject policies that result in growth but do not distribute benefits equally. Therefore, the government will be able to pursue such policies in autocracy governance.

RELEVANCE...

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...rce is relevant to my research question because it explains that democracy is an important factor necessary to realize change in the Arab countries. According to the author, democracy can develop self-sufficient social contract that can serve the interests of citizens effectively. The book is useful to many people, especially the students pursuing in political science because it contains information concerning the political issues affecting the Arab countries. The book has raised awareness in me concerning the significant effect of technology as a change agent. The author has supported his argument by reviewing various academic sources, thus making the information credible. However, the book also has a weakness because the author has not carried out study to determine the relationship between democracy and the effective use of the four dynamics in bringing change.