Books in the Democratization and Autocratization Studies series

This examination of how Western governments support democracy worldwide considers how countries use this aid.

Investigates US foreign policy and tests the hypothesis that US government transition-inspired democracy promotion can successfully establish liberal democracy around the world. This title features two case studies that explore political liberalisation in Bosnia and Afghanistan.

Though scholarly attention to democracy promotion is increasing, there is still little comparative and theoretically-based work on the protagonists of democracy promotion. This book investigates the motives that drive democracy promotion in a comparative and theoretically oriented manner, exploring how democracy promoters deal with conflicting objectives and the factors that shape their behaviour.

This book brings together the conceptual and theoretical writings of Joseph Schumpeter, Robert A. Dahl, Guillermo O'Donnell, and T. H. Marshall. It demonstrates that most of the different conceptions of democracy in the democratization literature can be ordered in one systematic regime typology that distinguishes between 'thinner' and 'thicker' definitions of democracy.The authors argue that the empirical pattern revealed by this typology is explained by the combination of internal structural constraints and international factors facilitating democracy. The result of such contending forces is that most of the democratizations in recent decades have only produced competitive elections, rather than 'more demanding' attributes of democracy such as political liberties, the rule of law, and social rights.Examining theoretical and empirical approaches to measuring, defining and understanding democracy, the book will be of interest to scholars of political theory and comparative politics in general and democratization studies in particular.

This study gives examples of how the Internet is creating new political communities at various levels, both in democracies and authoritarian regimes.

Using new areas of research, this book argues that the ideals and the practices of Anglo-American democracy can be best understood by studying diverse forms of participation, which go beyond classical expressions of contestation and dissent such as voting. The authors analyze political parties, social movements, communications and social media, governance, cultural diversity, identity politics, public-private actors and social cohesion to illustrate how the structure and context of popular participation play a significant role in whether, and when, citizens¿ efforts have any meaningful impact on those who exercise political power. In doing so, the authors take crucial steps towards understanding how a vigorous public sphere and popular sovereignty can be made to work in today¿s global environment.

This book examines the state of democratisation theory and practice that reopens and revives the democratic transition debate, exploring the factors that lead to the demise of autocracy, the pathways and processes of change, and the choice for an eventual consolidation of democracy. The essays, written by international democratisation specialists, tackle the series of questions raised by a body of literature that remains highly useful to understand contemporary political turbulence and transformation, considering numerous crucial issues.

This collection examines the nature, scope and prospects for political opposition under African National Congress political dominance.

The essays in this volume analyse differing aspects of the complex relationship between the media and democracy in a diverse range of national contexts.