Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Claremont Colleges

Series

Democracy

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

India’S Unlikely Democracy: Economic Growth And Political Accommodation, Aseema Sinha Apr 2007

India’S Unlikely Democracy: Economic Growth And Political Accommodation, Aseema Sinha

CMC Faculty Publications and Research

There is no doubt that India’s democracy has become stable, yet economic change could create distributional conflicts and stresses on its democratic institutions. Economic change and liberalization have served to reinforce and further stabilize democracy rather than undermining it. This has happened partly because of the nature of economic and social transition, which has allowed the rich many options in the private, urban, and global economy. Simultaneously, the poor are divided and seek redress through electoral and democratic channels. Weak coalition governments in the 1990s have responded to claims from the poor contributing to the continuing stability of Indian democracy.


War And Democracy, Gregory Hess, Athanasios Orphanides Aug 2001

War And Democracy, Gregory Hess, Athanasios Orphanides

CMC Faculty Publications and Research

We present a general equilibrium model of conflict to investigate whether the prevalence of democracy is sufficient to foster the perpetual peace hypothesized by Immanuel Kant and whether the world would necessarily become more peaceful as more countries adopt democratic institutions. Our exploration suggests that neither hypothesis is true. The desire of incumbent leaders with unfavorable economic performance to hold on to power generates an incentive to initiate conflict and salvage their position—with some probability. An equilibrium with positive war frequency is sustained even if all nations were to adopt representative democratic institutions and even in the absence of an …