The aim ofthis study was to examine how economic growth affects the level of democracy inauthoritarian states. Some of these states have experienced high economicgrowth. However, one can discuss how it affects the country’s democratization-process.For that reason this study was needed to contribute to a clarification of howeconomic growth can affect authoritarian rule and democratization. This wasdone through an examination of the development in China. Hence, this study aimsto contribute to the research field of democracy and to suggest how to manageand support democracy in authoritarian growth-states that deny their denizensdemocratic rights. The study was conducted through a comparison of the expecteddevelopment that the modernization theory stipulates with the actualdevelopment of the Chinese society. The study has examined the impact of twofactors of modernization, namely education and media. The analysis of the empirical material showsthat the expected development, suggested by the modernization theory, in largeparts corresponds to the development in China. However, based on thedevelopment in China, it seems that economic growth suggest two implications inauthoritarian states; firstly it means a legitimization of the currentpolitical leadership and secondly it means the growth of a middle class throughimproved socioeconomic conditions. This suggest that economic growth bothsupport and undermines the level of democracy. In the case of China this suggests that a popularization of society has begun. However, the democratizationin China is still inconclusive and there are no signs of change in thepolitical leadership. The dualities of the conclusions underline the importanceof further research on the subject of economic growth and its implications fordemocracy and authoritarian states.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-12180 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Jutvik, Kristoffer |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för samhällsvetenskaper, SV |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess, info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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