Economic globalisation, relative power, and post-cold war democratisation

Abstract

This article discusses the effects of economic openness on the relative power and domestic regimes of the Cold War non-democracies (CWND). Rapid growth strengthens their national competitiveness, which may offset the external democratic pressure of the West. In this way, economic globalisation may obstruct worldwide democratisation. Based on panel data from 1992 to 2022, this study applies a two-equation model to prove that economic openness has mild but significantly positive effects on the power of the CWND and that the relative power has adverse effects on their democracy level. Thus, globalisation does not necessarily lead to democracy. Furthermore, the democratic recession reflects the decline of Western power in nature, which allows non-Western states to sustain their regimes. Under this condition, the inconsistent approach adopted by the West in regime imposition may exacerbate the delegitimation of Western democracy.

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Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes on contributors

Jingnan Liu

Jingnan Liu is a lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Wuhan University. His research interests focus on comparative politics and international relations. He also specialises in China Studies. His recent articles mainly concern globalisation, economic reform and regime transition in developing countries.