Near-democracy

Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi sworn in to parliament

In what is considered one of the most classic books in Comparative Politics, Robert A. Dahl (1971) defined the concept of democracy as an enumerated list of elements that includes the freedom of expression, the right to organize and the right to compete for political office, among others.  In terms of operationalizing democracy, the list is rather long--most simply associate Dahl's notion of democracy with the broader concepts of contestation and participation, into which the list can fairly easily be divided.  In reality, Dahl asserted that democracy is an ideal that does not fully exist in the modern world.  To him, societies which most closely fulfilled the comprehensive list of democratic qualities could only be thought of as 'polyarchies', as near-democracies.  Democracy exists in principle, but it ought not to be attributed to less perfect forms.  

The point is rather trivial that democracy is only an ideal--semantics, really--but it was a point that stuck to me as a graduate student.  Polyarchy (1971) served as a cornerstone for much of the theorizing regarding democracy in the last 30 years.  To different extents scholars have emphasized participation and contestation in their own work, and in so doing aspired to create better and better ways to measure democracy.  All the same, there remains much to be hoped for from the comparative study of governance.  In a philosophical sense, the contrast between polyarchy and democracy is a metaphor for the work that has succeeded Dahl.  In the pursuit of empirical regularities about the nature of democracy and its spread in the world, political scientists have pushed forward to identify and to qualify something that Dahl suggests cannot truly be found.  (Deep.)

It is the simultaneous pursuit of an ideal (which is assumed to make everyone better off) and the challenge of creating more suitable measures for empirical uses that draws me to the study of democracy.  As a first year doctoral student at the Pennsylvania State University, I was rather uncommitted to a particular aspect of politics that interested me.  Shortly thereafter, I took a class in which I was engaged in debates about what democracy is and how we can identify it in the modern world.  Three years later, I am embarking on a promising and happy research agenda that may shed light on how and when democracy emerges.  

In some ways, this blog is for my employers and for my future students.  I hope to use blogging as a resource by which to document my thoughts and my journey through the research process.  This includes both personal and professional development.  As I am a graduate student, I will soon be looking for a job.  To this end, I hope that this blog illustrates my passion for learning and for best practice research.  It is also for my family, whom I am regularly far away from.  To the chagrin of our friends and family we are spending the summer in Oslo, where I am working for the Peace Research Institute.  Hopefully some of the more mundane posts will at least narrate our daily life and connect us together.  They will definitely be missed!  Firstly, however, this blog is for myself.  I keep a lot of thoughts to myself, and yet, I speak way too much.  Through casual writing I hope to become a more focused and articulate as a student and citizen.  I welcome constructive comments and hope to provide useful comments in return!
Though I attribute my interest in the study of democratization to exposure to Dahl and others, I take special comfort in blogging under the name 'Polyarchist' because it reminds me that I am far from my ideal self.  I would like to write beautifully and succinctly every day, to be witty and sociable and not awkward, but it does not happen like that in practice.  So be it.  The spirit in which Dahl coined the term 'polyarchy' extends beyond regimes to represent nearness of something that is good but not perfect.  This blog is intended to be about democratization studies, political science, academic life, current events, and life in general.  The sum total of its content can best be described as being about 'near-democracy'.  There is zen in everything, even textbooks.