Democratic Fragility and Consolidation: A Perspective of Losers’ Consent
Author: Alex Chuan-hsien Chang
Abstract / Chinese PDF Download
Due to challenges from political opposition, some fledgling democracies cannot maintain democratic stability and eventually breakdown. This paper finds that because students of democratization tend to rest their theories on a majority perspective, they cannot solve the substantive deadlock faced by new democracies: the conflicts between the majority and minority. To address this problem and to provide useful suggestions for new democracies, this paper suggests a perspective of minority consent and puts forward four suggestions for preventing majority-minority conflicts and consolidating developing democracies: expanding the level of political competition, establishing bureaucratic independence and autonomy, expanding public participation, and requesting assistance from international organizations.