Power Concentration and Power Diffusion: A New Typology of Political-Institutional Patterns of Democracy

Handbook of Comparative Political Institutions
,
pp. 410-428
,
Cheltenham
,
Edward Elgar
,
2024,

Rahel Freiburghaus,
Bernauer, Julian, Adrian Vatter
ISBN: 978-1-80392-908-8 (print), 978-1-80392-909-5 (online)
DOI: 
10.4337/9781803929095.00035
Abstract

In research spanning several decades, Arend Lijphart has analysed ‘consociational’ democracy and ‘patterns’ of democracy. Drawing on his enormous effort, we have proposed a theory of ‘power diffusion’ and a new empirical and methodological variation. In this contribution, we review the concept in the light of the recent literature and recalculate measures of ‘power diffusion’ relying on an updated database between 1990 and 2022, with a special focus on the potential convergence of models of democracy.