Variation of the effect of economic development on democracy—the relevance of the state

Min Tang, Purdue University

Abstract

This dissertation points out that all existing quantitative studies on the relationship between economic development and democracy have omitted the active role of the state in the economy. In their conceptualization and theorization, economic development is invariant in nature and its effect on politics is uniformed across developing nations. The state is passively influenced by changes from the society. As a result, their assumption for quantitative studies is that whatever the effect of economic development is, that effect is uniform across all developing countries. This dissertation research argues, because of the existence of engagement of the state in the economy, economic development has taken different forms in recent years. And the state is not passively influenced by the changes from socio-economic sectors. Instead, through active participation in economic production, the state is able to monitor, manipulate or even reverse any positive effects of development on politics. Due to the fact that the level of state engagement in the economy varies across developing countries, the ability of the state to shape the development-democracy relationship varies as well. As the consequence, the net effect of economic development on democracy will not be uniform across countries as assumed in previous empirical studies. It varies with the status of the state among developing countries. Based on this theoretical understanding, this dissertation examines the relationship between economic development and democracy separately for countries with different levels of state engagement in the economy. I found that economic development does not promote democracy for countries where the level of state engagement in the economy is excessively high or for countries where the level of state engagement in the economy is relatively low. It promotes democracy only for countries where the level of state engagement is in the middle range.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Woods, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Asian Studies|International Relations|Political science

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