Here are some potential research questions for the class’ regime classification project. Add yours in the comments!
- What kinds of non-democratic regimes are most effective in promoting economic development?
- Are democracies more or less likely to promote environmentally sound policies than non-democracies?
- Are some non-democratic regimes more likely to promote the rights of women or ethnic minorities than others? Which kinds of regimes?
- Are democracies more or less economically unequal than non-democracies? (we did this one last year)
- Do non-democratic regimes in general grow faster than democratic regimes?
- Are wealthier non-democracies more or less likely to transition to democracy than poorer non-democratic regimes?
- Are oil-dependent non-democratic regimes more or less stable than other regimes?
- Are personalistic dictatorships becoming more or less common?
- What kinds of non-democratic regimes are most stable or more commonly avoid political instability?
- Which non-democratic regimes are most repressive? What accounts for the repressiveness of (some kinds of) non-democratic regimes?
- Are some cultural traits associated with non-democratic politics?
In practice, do democratic regimes always more accurately represent the wants of members of society?
ReplyDeleteAre particular groups of people better represented under non-democratic regimes than they are under democratic regimes?
Are citizens of democratic regimes generally more satisfied or less satisfied with their governance
ReplyDeleteDo democracies or non-democracies have greater access to the courts?
ReplyDeleteDo democracies or non-democracies have stronger educational institutions?
Which non-democratic regimes (or regimes in general) perform the best in the context of human rights? Is democratic-ness and human rights a linear relationship? Do non-democratic regimes mostly provide the same human rights or do they differ? Do these human rights exist in these states for the same reason/are preserved for the same way as in democratic states? (the last one is hard to operationalise.)
ReplyDeleteI think it would be good to formulate a question, like Rosa did, on certain freedoms that are associated with being taken away when in a non-democratic state. A question asking whether it is common for non-democracies to take away certain liberties/ freedoms of the people in order to run a state? And does it make it a more effective state?
ReplyDeleteEdit: My referral to Rosa Laugesen was on the other Political Pathologies platform.
ReplyDeleteI like the cultural traits question because there are so many misunderstood social differences between and within the occident and orient that contribute to how certain states conduct their body politics. Things such as what we wear or lifestyle can alienate us from understanding such differences. Perhaps another version of the question could be "are differences between cultures responsible for the manifestation of non-democratic regimes?"
ReplyDeleteAdam - even though we decided today in lecture that we're going to do the human rights question, we will definitely talk about culture and non-democracy later in the course. (There's also material on this point in chapter 10 of the textbook)
DeleteI think it would be interesting to investigate the effect a regime has on the (typically) most vulnerable members of society: women, children, minority groups. For this reason you could ask; are the most vulnerable members of society similar in terms of gender, age, and ethnicity whether the regime is democratic or non-democratic?
ReplyDeleteGood question Amelia; this could perhaps be considered in the context of the human rights question that we decided on today.
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