ABSTRACT

Reflecting ability to immediately distinguish the likes of Norway and North Korea, many scholars strongly advocate for a dichotomous definition. Giovanni Sartori argues that democracy and non-democracy are natural contradictions; a country is either one or the other. In the history of Latin America, for example, true civilian control of the military has often remained outside the hands of democratically elected governments, leaving the degree of consolidation in question. Democracy implies some agreement about the rules, norms, and procedures used to make policy decisions. The chapter argues that the voting potential of a group is the result of the geographic distribution of members across electoral districts. It begins with the changes in household income brought about by the privatization process. While household income is an appropriate measurement tool given the study of pension reform, two refinements are required before a working definition can be stated and the politics of pension reform explored.