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8 การประชุมวิชาการ
สถาบันพระปกเกล้า ครั้งที่ 21
ลดช่องว่างความเหลื่อมล้ำ สร้างคุณภาพประชาธิปไตย

affluent country instead of an unequal and less affluent one had negative
effects, suggesting that economic development even without decreasing income

disparity still induces people to turn away from dictatorship, if not turn to
democracy, as presented above. Similarly, living in an equal and affluent country

instead of an unequal and less affluent one had negative effects, suggesting
that economic development with decreasing income disparity induces people to
turn against dictatorship. The finding that support for democracy or rejection of

dictatorship was consistently higher in countries with high levels of national
income and low levels of income inequality seemed largely consistent with the

expectation of the modernization theory linking economic development (and its
aspects such as industrialization, urbanization, wealth, and education) to
democracy.

Of the socio-demographic characteristics, education had positive effects on
democracy in general, inclusive citizenship, and checks and balances while it

had negative effects on dictatorship. Age had positive effects on democracy in
general and checks and balances while having negative effects on dictatorship.

Women were more supportive of inclusive citizenship but less supportive of
checks and balances and less opposed to dictatorship than men, suggesting that
women hardly constitute a consistent pro-democracy constituency in the region.

It was found that the wealthy were more supportive of a system of

checks and balances and more opposed to authoritarian rule than the poor. This
finding seemed more consistent with the individual-level implication of the elite-

competition theory than that of the redistribution-democracy theory. It was also
found that the wealthy were as likely to demand redistribution as the poor,
เอกสารประกอบการอภิปรายร่วมระหว่างผู้แทนจากต่างประเทศ
suggesting that the wealthy may not be as fearful of redistribution as the

9
redistribution-democracy theory assumes. Education had consistent effects on
support for democracy and opposition to dictatorship, indicating the influence of

values and beliefs, independent of material interests. The finding that the
wealthy and the educated favored democracy and rejected dictatorship seems
more consistent with the modernization theory which links economic

development through socio-cultural change to democratization.

9 Even if poor people differ little in support for democracy, they could threaten democracy
by being vulnerable not only to redistributive appeals but also to authoritarian appeals

(Przeworski 2008).