Building a democratic developmental state: Social democracy in the developing world

Abstract

While reviewing the various arguments about the influence of democracy on socio‐economic development in the developing world, the article argues that, since many ‘democracies’ are likely to persist in form if not in substance, the key point at issue is what particular form of democracy can help to hinder socio‐economic development. The latter is defined in terms of infrastructural, regulative and distributive capacities which inhere in the emergence of an effective democratic developmental state. The article explores the nature of such a state, and the key environmental conditions which make it more or less likely to come about. It also identifies three sets of conditions and choices which influence the shape of democratic polities: the institutional design of the state itself, the character of political society and the nature and role of civil society. The article concludes that achieving such ambitious and comprehensive developmental goals requires a developmental form of social democracy akin to that found in the industrialized societies of northern and central Europe. This outcome is relatively unlikely, in the short and medium term at least, given the institutional configurations and socio‐economic structures of many societies. However, other forms of developmental democracy are possible even if they do not achieve such a wide range of developmental objectives. In analytical terms, we should realize that ‘democracies’ vary greatly across societies and it is the job of the political scientist to unravel this complexity in a post‐cold war world.