Licensed to: William A. Joseph, Mark Kesselman, and Joel Krieger INTRODUCING Chapter 1 POLITICS OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD Section 1 The Global Challenge of Politics in the Developing World Section 2 What—and How—Comparative Politics Compares Section 3 Developing Nations in a World of Transition Section 4 Themes for Comparative Analysis Section 5 Organization of the Text Copyright 2009 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Licensed to: SECTION 3 Developing Nations in a World of Transition 15 For example, comparativists have analyzed the Southern Europe and Latin America, on the one hand, process in which many countries with authoritarian and in Eastern and Central Europe on the other.18 In forms of government, such as military dictatorships this book, you can study the transition from military and one-party regimes, have developed more partici- rule to democracy in Brazil and Nigeria, progress to- patory and democratic regimes. In studying this pro- ward deeper democratization in Mexico and India, and cess, termed democratic transitions, comparativists the prospects for democratic change in China and Iran, do not either treat each national case as unique or try knowing that these cases fit within a broader compara- to construct a universal pattern that ignores all differ- tive framework. ences. Applying middle-level theory, we identify the The study of comparative politics offers many influence on the new regime’s political stability of challenges, including the complexity of the subject specific variables such as institutional legacies, politi- matter, the fast pace of change in the contemporary cal culture, levels of economic development, the na- world, and the impossibility of manipulating variables ture of the regime before the transition, and the degree or replicating conditions. What can we expect when of ethnic conflict or homogeneity. Comparativists the whole political world is our laboratory? When have identified common patterns in the emergence we put the method of comparative politics to the test and consolidation of democratic regimes in southern and develop a set of themes derived from middle- Europe in the 1970s (Greece, Portugal, and Spain) level theory, we discover that it is possible to discern and have compared them to developments in Latin patterns that make sense of a vast range of political America, Asia, and Africa since the 1980s, and in events and link the experiences of states and citizens Eastern and Central Europe since the revolutions of throughout the world. Although doubtless we will not 1989. Note that comparing does not require assum- achieve definitive explanations, we remain confident ing that particular processes are identical in different that we are able to better understand politics in the regions. Indeed, some scholars have highlighted im- developing world by reference to middle-range theo- portant differences between democratic transitions in retical propositions. SECTION 3 Developing Nations in a World of Transition Most textbooks and courses in comparative politics economic development and extensive poverty charac- were traditionally organized according to categories teristic of the Third World. that distinguished between the industrial (and pri- Democracy was another dividing line in this marily Western) democracies, which were referred way of looking at the nations of the world. The to as the “First World”; communist party-states in the capitalist industrialized countries were not only “Second World”; and the less developed countries of wealthy but also stable and democratic; Commu- Asia, Africa, and Latin America of the “Third World.” nist systems were unquestionably authoritarian; This categorization was based, in part, on distinctive and most Third World nations had personal dic- economic features that helped characterize different tatorships, one-party rule, military regimes, or—at political systems. Economic organization and per- best—democracies marred by high levels of social formance both affected and reflected the realities of conflict and political violence. politics in these different political systems: the capi- One of the consequences of the many profound talist (or market) economies and high standard of liv- political and economic changes in the world in re- ing in North America, Western Europe, Japan, and a cent decades, such as the end of the cold war, is that few other countries; the socialist (or planned) econo- the old categories of First, Second, and Third World mies of countries ruled by a communist party, such have lost or changed meaning. For example, follow- as the Soviet Union and China; and the low level of ing the collapse of the Soviet “bloc,” there are only Copyright 2009 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Licensed to: 16 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Politics of the Developing World Introduction a handful of communist party-states—China, Cuba, to be as important as the then headline-grabbing Vietnam, Laos, and North Korea. Even most of these cold war and its superpower adversaries. To make (particularly China and Vietnam) are adopting mar- their point, these authors adapted terminology from ket-based economic policies and forging close ties the French Revolution of the eighteenth century to with capitalist nations. Obviously a “Second World” dramatize the global inequalities of the mid-twenti- made up of communist party-states is no longer a eth century: a long-neglected and oppressed Third useful category with which to classify countries. World, they noted, was struggling against the First Furthermore, sharp differences in growth rates World (the industrial democracies) and the Second among developing countries in recent decades make World (the Soviet Union and other Communist it difficult to generalize with confidence about the countries) for recognition and power just as the “Third World” on the basis on their shared poverty Third Estate of the common people in France had or other economic characteristics. For example, in the done against the privileged and powerful clergy three decades between 1977 and 2007, China’s econ- (the First Estate) and the nobility (the Second Estate) omy grew at an annual average per capita rate of 8.5 in the 1780s. percent, whereas India’s per capita growth rate was Some people criticize the label as suggesting a nu- less than half that (3.7 percent per year), and Nigeria merical order in which the Third World ranks behind experienced almost no per capita growth during that the First World and the Second World in a cultural period (0.2 percent per year). sense. But its creators intended the term Third World The Third World has changed a lot politically, too. to embody the struggle of poor nations for empow- In 1975, most Third World countries had some kind erment in the international system and a fairer share of authoritarian government; by the early twenty-first of global wealth. For many, the term Third World century, scores of developing nations, from Argentina remains a powerful symbol of common purpose and to Zambia, have become democratic, or moved in that determination and is still widely used by scholars, direction. This remarkable transition toward democ- government officials, diplomats, and others to de- racy is discussed in more detail below. The view that scribe the developing countries of Asia, Africa, and what Third World countries have in common is pov- Latin America.19 erty and dictatorship is certainly not valid today, if it This book uses the terms developing world and ever was. Third World interchangeably to refer to the economi- So should the term “Third World” be jettisoned cally poorer (“less developed”) nations. Many people altogether as a category for scholarly analysis? Recent also use the term South or “global South” as a way of trends have profoundly challenged and complicated referring collectively to developing nations in contrast the way that comparativists classify the world’s coun- to the developed nations of the “North.”20 Like Third tries. But we believe that despite major political and World, South has achieved a certain symbolic impor- economic differences, the countries included in this tance by conveying the fact that there are enormous book continue to share many distinct characteristics differences between the richer and poorer nations of that allow us to group and study them together as part the world. Granted, South is geographically somewhat of the developing world and, indeed, that a good case misleading since there are developed nations in the can be made for the validity of “Third World” as an Southern Hemisphere (like Australia) and less devel- analytical category. oped nations in the northern part of the globe (like Afghanistan). Third World or Developing But, whatever term you prefer, it is very important to recognize that the developing countries (which con- World? tain about 84 percent of the world’s population) are The term Third World was coined by French au- enormously diverse geographically, economically, po- thors in the 1950s to draw attention to the plight litically, and culturally. Some observers have asserted of the world’s poorer nations, which they believed that there is such great diversity among developing Copyright 2009 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Licensed to: SECTION 3 Developing Nations in a World of Transition 17 nations that they question whether it is still valid The Development Gap to use such a catchall category as Third World be- cause it implies too much similarity in the chal- If there are such extensive differences among lenges facing the developing nations and too much developing nations, what gives coherence to the unity in their international policies. They point to concept of the Third World? Simply put, Third the huge differences in levels of economic devel- World nations are poorer, their peoples have a lower opment among countries usually considered part of standard of living, and their economies are not as the Third World.