The Structural Foundations of Democratic Resilience

• In Event: The Roots of Resilience: Democratic Durability, Renovation and Redemocratization

Abstract

Drawing on statistical and case study evidence, this paper argues that the resilience of democracy in many countries today in the face of significant international headwinds and populist challenges is rooted primarily in the dispersion of economic resources. Variation in the global incidence of democracy and dictatorship can to a significant extent be explained by the degree to which economic resources are concentrated in different countries. On the one hand, states that concentrate economic resources – whether such concentration results from statist economic institutions, natural resource wealth, or extreme poverty and underdevelopment – all utilize economic dependence on the whim of state leaders to suppress opposition and maintain stable authoritarian rule. On the other hand, high levels of capitalist development foster durable democracy by dispersing political and economic resources to different groups in society, thereby hampering efforts by government to monopolize political power.

Authors

• Steven Levitsky, Harvard University

• Lucan A. Way, University of Toronto