Establishment of Democracy - Favorable and Unfavorable Factors - Essay Example

it is the influence of external forces such as powerful global states, which force or influence the countries to have a democratic model. Most Asian countries have democracy under the influence of the United States and the United Kingdom. The cultural context has an equally important value as other factors since the political culture which acts as a detrimental element for democracy stems out of the basic cultural context. All these factors cumulatively act as a pre-requisite for the development of establishment and may act as a favorable and unfavorable element for this purpose.

Question 2: Assessment of Turkey by HuntingtonHis assessment of Turkey appears to be reasonably valid with relation to other historical evidence. Turkey had been under Sultanate rule for centuries. The political structure was mainly based on the native form of the Ottoman Empire which was later on abolished by Mustafa Kamal Pasha after World War I. Though Turkey did show an inclination to the democratic model during this time period and try to opt for western democratic practices, however, due to centuries-long political history, it kept on showing adherence to democratic as well as non-democratic political systems which, according to Huntington, are usual for “praetorian societies.

” He further explained how the presence of the independent and autonomous bourgeoisie class had an impact on the overall democracy development process in Italy. Huntington used the theoretical models of Marx and Moore to explain how the emergence of the bourgeoisie, i.e. independent businessmen, acted as a cornerstone for democracy in Turkey (1984, p. 204). He also urged that Islam as a religion is not conducive to democracy, which is the reason why Turkey was able to embrace democracy only when Mustafa Kamal Pasha rejected the Islamic traditions and accepted secularity.

Considering the prevailing examples of Muslim countries such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Pakistan, this argument appears to be valid.Question 3: Reuschemeyer’s Assessment of DemocracyAccording to Reuschemeyer, democracy and capitalism go hand in hand. He gave examples of various theories such as Marx’s to support his version of democracy and its relation to social classes. As per Reuschemeyer, the historical patterns have explained that the emergence and development of democracy are mainly dependent on the social class structure which is a product of industrialization.

This is precisely the reason why agrarian societies do not show complete democracy. According to the findings of his research, it is the middle class that supports the development of democracy whereas the upper and lower class oppose it for various reasons. The middle class in the industrialist society had minimum exposure to hegemony and had a substantial interest in the development of democracy. Charismatic leaders acted as the main driving force for the working class in the era of industrialization.

On the contrary, the upper class was an opponent of democratization mainly because of the threats of cheap labor’s loss. Where the bourgeoisie supported representative government and the establishment of a constitution, the involvement of the lower class was highly opposed. For the landed classes as well as the bourgeoisie, threat perception was important both at the time of the initial installation of democratic rule and for its later consolidation. As far as the lower class is concerned, this segment showed varied behavior in terms of support for democratization.

In small economies where independent farmer families were present, pro-democracy was visible; however, the lower class in countries with large landholdings governed by feudal landlords, showed resistance to it mainly because of its inability to mobilize. The cumulative analysis would reveal that it was mainly the middle-class who supported the establishment of democracy during industrialization.