Studding Democracy Convergence in Developing Countries: A Spatial Econometric Approach

The purpose of this paper is to study empirically the convergence of democracy in developing countries. For this purpose, the spatial econometric and panel data approach was used during the period 1990- 2014. The results show that the geographic proximity of countries has a positive and significant effect on democracy. In other words, on average, the increase in the level of democracy in the geographic neighbors has led to a 6 percent increase in democracy, which reflects the political influence of each other. Also, foreign aids does not have a significant effect on the spread of democracy in developing countries. In general, the spatial effects of democracy or the theory of diffusion in developing countries are confirmed. Therefore, According to the theory of diffusion and convergence of democracy, increase or decrease in democracy in a country can increase or decrease democracy in neighboring countries.