IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v605y2006i1p50-81.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Democracy, Values, and Violence: Paradoxes, Tensions, and Comparative Advantages of Liberal Inclusion

Author

Listed:
  • Susanne Karstedt

    (Centre for Criminological Research in the Research Institute for Law, Politics and Justice at Keele University, United Kingdom)

Abstract

Democracies represent an institutional framework and a way of life that is, almost by definition, nonviolent. Contrasting with this ideal are two simultaneous global trends: an extension of democratic regimes and rising levels of violent crime. This article explores this seeming gap between democracy’s ideal and reality. The author identifies comparative advantages and disadvantages for both democracy and autocracy in restraining violent crime. Comparative advantages of two core democratic values—individualism and egalitarianism—are examined with data from a sample of twenty-six countries. Results show that compared to collectivistic and authoritarian patterns, individualistic and egalitarian values reduce levels of violence. Societies with high levels of violent crime are concentrated among autocracies, which mostly have collectivistic and authoritarian values. In contrast, democratic societies are mostly characterized by individualistic and egalitarian values and have lower levels of violent crime. Democratic values have comparative advantages if they are fostered by democratic practices and institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Susanne Karstedt, 2006. "Democracy, Values, and Violence: Paradoxes, Tensions, and Comparative Advantages of Liberal Inclusion," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 605(1), pages 50-81, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:605:y:2006:i:1:p:50-81
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716206288248
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716206288248
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0002716206288248?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. William Alex Pridemore & Sang-Weon Kim, 2006. "Democratization and Political Change as Threats to Collective Sentiments: Testing Durkheim in Russia," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 605(1), pages 82-103, May.
    2. Przeworski,Adam & Alvarez,Michael E. & Cheibub,Jose Antonio & Limongi,Fernando, 2000. "Democracy and Development," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521793797.
    3. Corinne Davis Rodrigues, 2006. "Civil Democracy, Perceived Risk, and Insecurity in Brazil: An Extension of the Systemic Social Control Model," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 605(1), pages 242-263, May.
    4. Gary Lafree & Andromachi Tseloni, 2006. "Democracy and Crime: A Multilevel Analysis of Homicide Trends in Forty-Four Countries, 1950-2000," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 605(1), pages 25-49, May.
    5. Lederman, Daniel & Loayza, Norman & Menendez, Ana Maria, 2002. "Violent Crime: Does Social Capital Matter?," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(3), pages 509-539, April.
    6. Muller, Edward N. & Seligson, Mitchell A., 1994. "Civic Culture and Democracy: The Question of Causal Relationships," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 88(3), pages 635-652, September.
    7. Przeworski,Adam & Alvarez,Michael E. & Cheibub,Jose Antonio & Limongi,Fernando, 2000. "Democracy and Development," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521790321.
    8. Pridemore, William Alex, 2003. "Measuring homicide in Russia: a comparison of estimates from the crime and vital statistics reporting systems," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(8), pages 1343-1354, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ian Loader, 2006. "Policing, Recognition, and Belonging," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 605(1), pages 201-221, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kenneth E. Fernandez & Michele Kuenzi, 2010. "Crime and Support for Democracy in Africa and Latin America," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 58(3), pages 450-471, June.
    2. Ahmet Faruk Aysan & …mer Faruk Baykal & Marie-Ange Véganzonès–Varoudakis, 2011. "The Effects of Convergence in Governance on Capital Accumulation in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Countries," Chapters, in: Mehmet Ugur & David Sunderland (ed.), Does Economic Governance Matter?, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Kosack, Stephen, 2003. "Effective Aid: How Democracy Allows Development Aid to Improve the Quality of Life," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 1-22, January.
    4. Lourdes ROJAS RUBIO, 2022. "Inequality, Corruption and Support for Democracy," THEMA Working Papers 2022-20, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    5. Arturo Galindo & Alberto Chong & César Calderón, 2001. "Structure and Development of Financial Institutions and Links with Trust: Cross-Country Evidence," Research Department Publications 4251, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    6. Broich, Tobias, 2017. "Do authoritarian regimes receive more Chinese development finance than democratic ones? Empirical evidence for Africa," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 180-207.
    7. Hyeok Yong Kwon & Hang Keun Ryu & Daniel J. Slottje, 2018. "A New Perspective On The Diffusion Of Global Democracy," Advances in Decision Sciences, Asia University, Taiwan, vol. 22(1), pages 115-136, December .
    8. Barrak Algharabali & J. S. Butler & Stacy Closson, 2021. "The Oil Curse Validated: Evidence from Eurasia and Latin America," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 11(3), pages 494-501.
    9. Daniel Fiorino, 2011. "Explaining national environmental performance: approaches, evidence, and implications," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 44(4), pages 367-389, November.
    10. Markus Brückner & Antonio Ciccone, 2011. "Rain and the Democratic Window of Opportunity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(3), pages 923-947, May.
    11. Pettersson, Jan, 2003. "Democracy, Consolidation and Growth," Research Papers in Economics 2002:16, Stockholm University, Department of Economics, revised 15 Dec 2004.
    12. Gustav Lidén, 2013. "What about theory? The consequences on a widened perspective of social theory," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 213-225, January.
    13. Liya Palagashvili & Claudia R. Williamson, 2021. "Grading foreign aid agencies: Best practices across traditional and emerging donors," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 654-676, May.
    14. Matteo Cervellati & Alireza Naghavi & Farid Toubal, 2018. "Trade liberalization, democratization, and technology adoption," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 145-173, June.
    15. Snigdha Dewal & Jack A. Goldstone & Michael Volpe, 2013. "Forecasting Stability or Retreat in Emerging Democratic Regimes," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 1(1), pages 32-47.
    16. Anke Hoeffler & Mr. Robert H. Bates & Ms. Ghada Fayad, 2012. "Income and Democracy: Lipset's Law Revisited," IMF Working Papers 2012/295, International Monetary Fund.
    17. Welander, Anna & Lyttkens, Carl Hampus & Nilsson, Therese, 2014. "Globalization and Child Health in Developing Countries: The Role of Democracy," Working Paper Series 1016, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    18. Che, Yi & Du, Julan & Lu, Yi & Tao, Zhigang, 2015. "Once an enemy, forever an enemy? The long-run impact of the Japanese invasion of China from 1937 to 1945 on trade and investment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 182-198.
    19. Claude Diebolt & Tapas Mishra & Bazoumana Ouattara & Mamata Parhi, 2010. "Does democratic distance matter for cross-country growth interdependence?," Working Papers 10-12, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC).
    20. Hubert Tworzecki, 2019. "Poland: A Case of Top-Down Polarization," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 681(1), pages 97-119, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:605:y:2006:i:1:p:50-81. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.