Democracy, Dictatorship, and Infant Mortality

Issue Date April 2000
Volume 11
Issue 2
Page Numbers 99-114
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The effect of economic development in reducing hunger is widely known, but what is the effect of a country’s political regime on the basic welfare of its inhabitants? Does it matter whether that country has an authoritarian or a democratic regime? The answer is yes. Any randomly selected country’s regime, regardless of its level of development, matters for its social performance. Fewer children die in democracies than in dictatorships.

About the Authors

Patricio Navia

Patricio Navia is professor of liberal studies at New York University and professor of political science at Universidad Diego Portales in Chile.

View all work by Patricio Navia

Thomas D. Zweifel

Thomas D. Zweifel is CEO of Swiss Consulting Group, Inc. He teaches at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, and is author of Democratic Deficit: Institutions and Regulation in the European Union, Switzerland, and the United States (2002) and Culture Clash: Managing the Global High-Performance Team (2003).

View all work by Thomas D. Zweifel

Supplements

Further Reading

Volume 14, Issue 1

China’s Changing of the Guard: The Problem of State Weakness

The Chinese state is much weaker than most people realize, which bodes ill for the country’s democratic prospects.

Volume 17, Issue 2

Identity, Immigration, and Liberal Democracy

Contemporary liberal democracies, especially in Western Europe, face a major challenge in integrating Muslim immigrants as citizens of pluralistic societies.

Volume 14, Issue 1

The Deadlock in Iran: Constitutional Constraints

The vast obstacles to democratic reformism include basic provisions in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic itself.