Democracy and Development is a 20-hour (3 cfu) course taught between April and June. Lectures take place in Via Conservatorio on Wednesdays (room 23) from 8.30 to 10.15.
The course aims at examining the relationship between democracy and development – with a primary focus on developing countries – through the lenses of comparative political analysis. The starting assumption is that democracy can have implications that go beyond notions of political rights, civil freedoms, equality, justice and the likes. The course thus investigates the impact of different political regimes on development outcomes, or their capacity “to deliver”. Are authoritarian states better than democracies at promoting economic growth? Do different political regimes produce distinct effects on state consolidation and domestic political order? Do democracies have an inherent advantage in favouring a country’s socio-economic advances, including poverty reduction and welfare improvements? Examining these issues offers an opportunity to fully assess the implications of adopting different political regimes and, notably, of promoting democratisation.
Programme – Topics
- Democracy and democratization
- Defining and measuring democracy
- Autocratization
- The consequences of democracy
- Democracy and the state
- Political regimes and economic growth (I)
- The politics of development in Rwanda and Ghana
- Democracy, famines, food security and poverty
- Democracy and health
- Democracy and inequality
Required readings
Notes for students attending classes: the exam will centre on all class material (i.e. lectures and students’ presentations) as well as on the required readings in the list below.
Caplan, Bryan, “The myth of the rational voter. Why democracies choose bad policies”, Cato Institute – Policy Analysis, 594, 2007, pp. 1-28
Chemouni, Benjamin – Dye, Barnaby, “The limits of concentrated power: Bureaucratic independence and electricity crises in Rwanda”, African Affairs, 2024 (early view)
Colagrossi, Marco – Rossignoli, Domenico – Maggioni, Mario, “Does democracy cause growth? A meta-analysis (of 2000 regressions)”, European Journal of Political Economy, 61, 2020, pp.1-44
Dorsch, Michael – Maarek, Paul, “Democratization and the conditional dynamics of income distribution”, American Political Science Review, 113(2), 2019, pp. 385–404
Haggard, Stephan – Kaufman, Robert, “The anatomy of democratic backsliding”, Journal of Democracy, 32 (4), 2021, p. 27-41
Harding, Robin, “Microfoundations: Voting for Public Goods in Ghana”, in Harding, Robin, Rural democracy: elections and development in Africa, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2020, pp. 85-112
Kjær, Anne – Therkildsen, Ole, “Elections and landmark policies in Tanzania and Uganda”, Democratization 20, no. 4, 2013, pp. 592–614
Knutsen, Carl Henrik, “A business case for democracy: regime type, growth and growth volatility”, Democratization, 2020, pp. 1505-1524
Krieckhaus, Jonathan, “Democracy and Economic Growth: How Regional Context Influences Regime Effects”, British Journal of Political Science, 36 (2), 2006, pp. 317-340
Lodge, Tom, “South Africa: democracy and development in the post-apartheid era”, in Gordon Crawford and Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai (eds), Research Handbook on Democracy and Development, Elgar, Cheltenham, 2021, pp. 372-390 (ACCESS THIS CHAPTER HERE or email me at g.carbone@unimi.it)
Ofosu, George, “Do fairer elections increase the responsiveness of politicians?”, American Political Science Review, 2019, 113 (4), pp. 963-979
Rubin, Olivier, “The merits of democracy in famine protection – fact or fallacy?”, European Journal of Development Research, 2009, 21, pp. 699-717
Sen, Amartya, “Freedoms and needs”, New Republic, 1994, pp. 31-38
Slater, Dan, “Can Leviathan Be Democratic? Competitive Elections, Robust Mass Politics and State Infrastructural Power”, Studies in Comparative International Development, 2008, 43, pp. 252-272
V-Dem, Democracy Report 2024. Democracy winning and losing at the ballot, University of Gothenburg, 2024, pp. 1-64