i. ii. iii.

This presentation is focused on democracy and development and explores the linkages between the two. The two terms (democracy and development) are defined and characterised. The linkages between democracy and development is analysed basing on three schools of thought viz: the compatibility school, the conflict school and the sceptical school.

For the sake of this discussion, development is defined as a socio economic and political as well as institutional desirable change whose

ultimate goal is to attain optimum human welfare and reduce inequalities. Human welfare measured in terms of: i. Happiness ii. Health iii. Education iv. Self esteem (Todaro and Smith 2004).

The concept of democracy in its simplest form, can be defined using the two Greek words demos(people)and kratos (rule) that combine to make the word democracy, meaning rule by the people. Samarasighe (1994) defined democracy as a mode of decision-making about collectively binding rules and policies over which the people exercise control where all members of the collective enjoy effective equal rights to take part in such decision making directly - one, that realizes to the greatest conceivable degree the principles of popular control and equality in its exercise.

It is characterised by the following minimum characteristics: Universal participation, Political equality Majority rule Government responsiveness to public opinion Protection of human rights Competitive party system Regular and fair elections Free press Independence judiciary

In administrative terms, in comprise Efficiency Accountability Transparency openness

The conflict school argues that democracy hinders economic growth, mainly in less developed countries, By i. creating consumption pressures, eg reward of war veterans 1997 (UNDP 2008) ii. fuelling distributional conflicts and iii. inhibiting capital accumulation
a)

One of the most popular hypotheses is that socio-economic development (modernization) brings about democracy. In this view democracy is a higher orderneed that follows basic needs such as food, shelter, health. The latter areprior needs that must be satisfied (Maslow:1954) Diamond (Marks and Diamond 1992) finds human development to be the most powerful predictor of the likelihood of democracy. e.g. South Korea and Taiwan BUT PERU AND BOLIVIA FAILED TO DEVELOP UNDER A DEMOCRATIC GVT

Feng (2003) the compatibility school contends that democracy enhances economic growth, because of the existence of fundamental civil liberties and political rights generate the social conditions most conducive to economic development Eg property rights, freedom of expression etc

Lastly the sceptical school that claims that there is no systematic relationship between democracy and development. Because both autoritarian and democracy have produced mixed results

There are 3 arguments put forward to explain how democracy link with, promote / hinder development.