Pyrkimys demokratiaan ei tunne sivilisaatioiden rajoja

Authors

• Tatu Vanhanen

Abstract

This article is based on the writer’s present research work on the emergence of democracy. The aim is to investigate in what kinds of environmental conditions political systems have become transformed into democracies. The study covers 119 independent states of the period 1850—1979. The central hypothesis is that democracy will emerge wherever power resources are so widely distributed among competitors that no group is able to suppress the other groups and to establish its hegemony. This hypothesis is assumed to apply to all civilizations. In order to test the cross-civiliza- tional aspects of the central hypothesis, the 119 countries were divided into six major civilizational categories. The results of statistical analysis show that democracy has emerged in all civilizations in approximately the same kinds of circumstances.