World-system position and democracy, 1972–2008

Global levels of democracy are higher than ever before, and democratic principles are now institutionalized as a world cultural norm. Nevertheless, a number of countries continue to feature governing systems that restrict political rights. Against this backdrop, I revisit traditional claims by world...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of comparative sociology 2012-10, Vol.53 (5-6), p.367-399
Main Author: Clark, Rob
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
20th century
21st century
Boundaries
Center and Periphery
Cross-national analysis
Democracy
Democratization
Development
Estimation
Freedom
Globalization
Hierarchy
Interaction
Political rights
Political sociology
Political Systems
Political systems, parties and institutions
Rights
Sociology
World order
World System Theory
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Summary:Global levels of democracy are higher than ever before, and democratic principles are now institutionalized as a world cultural norm. Nevertheless, a number of countries continue to feature governing systems that restrict political rights. Against this backdrop, I revisit traditional claims by world-system theory regarding the impact of the core/periphery hierarchy on national political systems. In doing so, I draw attention to the uneven character of democratic growth across world-system zones. Using an updated trichotomous measure of world-system position, and drawing from Freedom House and Polity IV ratings of democracy, I construct an annual time-series dataset producing a maximum of 5445 observations across 161 countries during the 1972–2008 period. Employing a series of random-effects tobit models with year-by-covariate interaction terms, I compare democratic growth among nations in the core, semiperiphery, and periphery. The results indicate significant gaps in democracy between core and non-core nations that are not dissipating over time, and that are perhaps growing slightly larger. In a series of robustness checks, I find that using an alternative measure of world-system position, an alternative measure of democracy, and an alternative estimation strategy produce similar results. In sum, despite the global spread of democracy, world-system boundaries remain fundamental in hindering cross-national convergence.
ISSN:0020-7152
1745-2554
DOI:10.1177/0020715212470122