Economic Dependence and Political Democracy

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Abstract
This study critically examines the widely held hypothesis that a simple inverse relationship exists between economic dependence and political democracy. A recent study presenting empirical evidence in support of this simple hypothesis is first criticized on methodological grounds. A reanalysis of the author's data, which takes these criticisms into account, fails to confirm the author's original findings. The simple hypothesis is then retested using other measures of economic dependence and democracy. These analyses also fail to confirm the simple hypothesis. Finally, an alternative theoretical framework for viewing the relationship between economic dependence and political democracy is developed, based on the work of O'Donnell, Cordoso, Skidmore, and Kaufman. Although this framework is not empirically tested here, it serves to highlight the weak theoretical foundation that underlies the simple hypothesis.