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Centripetal Democratic Governance: A theory and Global Inguiry Gerring J., Thacker S, Moreno C. Ylmaz Topuz

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Outline Background Information : What is Centralism, Decentralism, Centripetalism? Conceptualization, Empricial Tests, Research Design Results and Critique Discussion

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Centralism, Decentralism and Centripetalism Centralism: - Centralization of power - Founder: Hobbes - Westminister System presuming good governance would be provided by power transfer to single centre. Decentralism: - Decentralization of Power - Founder: Montesquieu - American Polity supporting the seperation of power among multiple independent bodies - Checks and Balances

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CENTRIPETALISM On the contrary to the theory of decentralism, good governance is associated with centralized power. Reconciliation between centralized authority and broad inclusion. - Inclusive: All interests, ideas and identities - Authoritative: Providing and agreement and implementing that agreement. The power of authority is persuasive, not coercive: Bringing together diverse groups and perspectives to solve political conflicts.

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Dimensions of Centripetalism

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Conceptualization Measurement Levels : Ordering Scheme - 0 = federal, 1= semi federal, 2= nonfederal - 0= presidential, 1= semipresidential, 2= parliamentary - 0=majoritarian, 1= mixed-member majority, 2 = closed list Proportional Representation(PR) Scope condition: Democracy

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The critique: The definition of Democracy -Minimum threshold of democracy My suggestion : Procedural minimum for Democracy ( Collier and Levitsky, 1997) - Fully contested elections with full suffrage and absensce of massive fraud combined with - Effective guarantees of civil liberties including freedom of speech, assembly and association

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Results The model is statistically significant. The author finds a strong support with centripetal form of government on all 8 dependent variables However, if there are too many cases and observations, the significance of some cases is ruled out !!!

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Unitarism Unitarism Political Stability Do you think that political stability is a measurement for good governance?