Divisive Mobilization and Democratic Collapse: Why Does Democratization Fail?

Abstract

Democratic collapse refers to the regression of a democratic regime, meaning that the democratic system of a country is no longer stable. This phenomenon is usually caused by divisive mobilization or political conflicts, which are the consequences of the lack of certain social, economic or political conditions. Through qualitative research, this paper examines the previous political philosophy theories on democratic conditions and finds that previous theories often focus on citizens' sense of political participation. Later, this paper reviews the evolution of the definition of democracy in the history of political thought and concludes that democracy not only requires procedural elections and open and transparent policy-making, but also requires a certain degree of power check and balance to avoid the destruction of the democratic system by malicious rift mobilization. And this kind of check and balance requires the spirit of compromise of political participants. Finally, this paper conducts a comparative historical analysis of the democratization processes of Egypt and South Africa. This paper concludes that the stability of a country's democratic system depends on a culture that mixes obedience consciousness and political apathy, rather than just on citizens' sense of political participation.