Democracy & Development (D&D)

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

  1. Democracy and democratization
  2. Measuring democracy
  3. Autocratization
  4. The consequences of democracy
  5. Democracy and state capacity
  6. Political regimes and economic growth
  7. Democracy, development, education and health in Ghana
  8. Democracy, inequality, education and health
  9. Democracy, famines, food security and poverty

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.

Bartusevičius, Henrikas – Skaaning, Svend-Erik, “Revisiting democratic civil peace: Electoral regimes and civil conflict”, Journal of Peace Research, 2018, 55(5), pp. 625–640

Bates, Robert – Block, Steven, “Revisiting African agriculture: institutional change and productivity”, Journal of Politics, 75, 2013, pp. 372-384

Briggs, Ryan C., “Power to which people? Explaining how electrification targets voters across party rotations in Ghana”, World Development, 2021, 1-11

Caplan, Bryan, “The myth of the rational voter. Why democracies choose bad policies”, Cato Institute – Policy Analysis, 594, 2007, pp. 1-28

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

Ferree,  Karen E. – Gibson, Clark – Long, James D., “Mixed records, complexity, and ethnic voting in African elections”, World Development, 2021, pp.1-10

Harding, Robin, “Who is democracy good for? Elections, rural bias, and health and education outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa”, Journal of Politics, 82 (1), 2019, pp. 241-254

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

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

Siegle, Joseph Joe – Weinstein, Michael M. – Halperin, Morton, “Why Democracies Excel”, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2004, pp.57-71

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 2022. Autocratization changing nature?, University of Gothenburg, 2022, pp. 1-60