Democracy and the Quality of the State

Bibliographic Data

ID6288142
AuthorsFrancis Fukuyama (corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume24
Issue4
Pages5-16
Publication date2013-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of democracy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1045-5736 • E-ISSN: 1086-3214
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/jod.2013.0074
OpenAlexW1987256697
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited3

Why is it that some countries have been able to develop high-quality state administrations that deliver services to their populations with relative efficiency, while others are plagued by corruption, bloated or red-tape-ridden bureaucracies, and incompetence? And what is the relationship between the effectiveness of a state and democracy? Are the two mutually supportive, or is there a tension between good public administration and broad political participation? The experiences of the United States, Greece, and Italy suggest that the process of political development democratic expansion of the franchise, when it takes place in advance of state modernization, can lead to widespread clientelism. Conversely, authoritarian states that develop modern bureaucracies early on are often in a happier position once they democratize, since their states tend to be inoculated from the dangers of political colonization

Authoritarianism · Bureaucracy · Clientelism · Democracy · Development economics · Economics · Language change · Modernization theory · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Position (finance · Sociology · State (computer science · Law · Local Government Finance and Decentralization · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research · Social Policy and Reform Studies

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub