Normal Democracy: Theory and Prediction.

Current democratic theorizing is based either on the classical model of democracy, which assumes that self-rule and political equality are achievable, or on the procedural democracy of the modern nation state, which accepts that the presence of political and civil liberties is a fundamental right. The weakness of the former model lies in its assumption that self-rule and political equality are possible in modern nation states, whereas the latter fails to account for the variation in the level of influence or power that citizens possess due to differences in income and knowledge. Given these deficiencies, I formulate an open-ended theory of democracy. Such a system goes beyond the mere presence of political rights and civil liberties and allows for a continuous achievement of a more equal distribution of power. I hypothesize that the main driving force for the dynamic nature of democracy is economic development. In addition, two other factors, the political process and external factors, could facilitate the process of democratic development. Democracy would continue to evolve indefinitely but because of the presence of some inherent tension between liberty and equality would fail to achieve the ideal democracy. However, I hypothesize that as the level of economic development grows over time, the levels of income, knowledge, and power will be normally distributed. I call such a state of politics normal democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]