FUTURE MODERNIZATION

Future Modernization

Future Modernization

Introduction

Political science has long been concerned with how to establish systems allowing us “to be free from hunger and repression.” Political development implies that some governments are better at accomplishing these goals than others are. Although we should be careful not to idealize democracy with all its imperfections—and indeed Samuel Huntington would remind us that political order matters more—many agree that democracy in some form is preferable to the wide array of nondemocratic systems of government. Modernization refers to economic development and the transformation from agricultural to industrial societies, along with corresponding social and cultural shifts (although the use of terms such as modern and primitive has been criticized as inappropriately stereotyping certain cultures from a Western perspective) (Bates, 1991).

This essay traces the study of political development and modernization. It discusses the origins and development of modernization theory, which encompasses a set of explanations linking economic, social, and cultural changes with shifts in political systems. Modernization theory is a starting point for understanding how contemporary political scientists approach this topic (Deutsch, 1961).

Discussion

The modernization research program produced two principle strands of theory. Sociocultural theorists, exemplified by Daniel Lerner and Karl Deutsch, generally explained modernization from a series of variables and mechanisms rooted in cultural values and behavior. In contrast, more materialist scholars accepted these behavioral foundations but focused instead on economic growth as the driving variable behind modernization. Despite the nearly universal rejection of modernization theory by scholars throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the end of the cold war ushered in a proliferation of globalization discourse throughout the 1990s that resurrected core elements of the old paradigm. Just as in the 1950s, explanatory and prescriptive theories of modernization returned to influence both academics and American political elites.

Modernization theory refers to a group of explanations linking economic development and accompanying social transformations with the type of political system that emerges. The basic story of modernization theory is as follows: As countries modernize economically, they transition from agricultural to industrial societies. Industrialization results in urbanization, which means that more of the population lives in cities in which they have greater access to information, media, and education. Increasing economic wealth, which accompanies industrialization, results in a growing middle class that begins to participate more in politics, and make demands on the government. Ultimately, the resulting changes in mass political behavior make the emergence and survival of democratic governments more likely. The emphasis in this branch of research is on the stages of development from more traditional to more advanced societies. Countries are all on a similar path, but some countries are further along than others, and ultimately we should expect to see all countries develop democratic systems, albeit at different rates. For instance, in The System of Modern Societies, Talcott Parsons (1971) examines the development of the state in the context of Western Europe, detailing how societies evolve from traditional to modern ones (Przeworski & Limongi, 1997).

Critically, these early sociological explanations of modernization were based almost exclusively on the Western ...