HD Essay on Causal Argument

4 Found helpful • 6 Pages • Essays / Projects • Year: Pre-2021

One of the most significant disputes in politics is why some states are able to establish and maintain democracy while others are not. What correlates with democracy is the starting point for considering argument and evidence to support a causal claim. Clearly, there can be many contributing causes of the one event (Luke 2017). One of the key causal explanation is modernisation theory by Scholar Lipset (1981), who influentially concluded that ‘the more well-to- do a nation, the greater the chances that it will sustain democracy. That is to say, as a country’s level of economic development improved, its likelihood for establishing and maintaining democracy is also enhanced. The other important causal explanation including moderate international environment, which can make the transformation to democracy more simple. In addition, some countries’s unique historical background is also significant causal explanation because it shapes the background belief of the nation. This essay will use the criteria of prediction, control, simplicity and conformance with background beliefs to assess the competing causal explanation which correlates with democracy. The first shall offer an overview of the most widespread causal explanation which gives us greater power to predict and control the link between economic development and the stability of democracy. In the second section, we will use the criteria of simplicity to interpret other competing causal explanations like international environment. And finally the third section will consider the consistency of causal explanation and background beliefs.

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