Issues of Democratization

"The Regime Question Theory Building in Democracy Studies" by Munck (2001) presented a review of five books and within this concept explored issues of democratization in different regimes. Munck, similar to Geddes, concluded that this process involves forces of democracy and authoritarianism. Munck provided findings regarding democratization prior to the last 20 years as well as newer studies. Munck discussed the needs for and challenges of theory building.

Munck noted that early investigation into democracy transitions included a focus on big cases such as the United States or England, etc. The experiences of countries from Western Europe that had democratized became the focus and there was a standard approach that included comparison to cases beyond Western Europe. Later studies continued to focus on Europe but went beyond this and included smaller cases for analysis. More recent studies shifted a focus to include central and southern regions (Southeast and East-Central Europe, Africa, etc.). Problems faced when studying democratization were noted such as the need for a theory to test hypotheses. In addition the author discussed the notion that building a theory is a challenging process that demands further research regarding issues involved such as democratic transition, democratic consolidation, and democratic quality.

"What Do We Know About Democratization After Twenty Years" by Geddes (1999) presented a synthesis of findings from studies publishe

Related Essays

China & Human Rights Issues .... that has come to light that reflects directly on trade issues is the .... these would influence China in the future toward greater democratization (for proponents .... (1471 6 )

American Revolution and Iraq Democratization .... These are the issues which highlight the fact that comparing the American Revolution and democratization in Iraq is an invalid comparison. Harrison, Lawrence. .... (1267 5 )

Economic Development and Democratization .... and ideological power struggles than it has to do with economic issues. .... economic growth, or positive economic situations, and democracy or democratization. .... (1791 7 )

Democratization in Iraq .... These considerations are likely to impact upon the future of democratization in the .... These are the central cultural issues that are shaping the progress of .... (1216 5 )

Case Study: Democratization and the Rentier State .... Economic issues are of significance in shaping the current geopolitical situation and process of democratization in the entire Middle East. .... (6581 26 )

In a divided society there are inclusion/exclusion lines, which cannot be easily altered and ethnic identity provides and enforces these lines. Material and nonmaterial goods are distributed accordingly and this line of inclusion/exclusion is found in both the community and the government. Horowitz pointed out that for democratization to take place old regimes need to change or end and the victors must agree on democratic rule. These conditions may not be found in the divided society and even in cases where democratization is taking place, the ethnically divided society will make the process difficult to impossible due to inclusion and exclusion tendencies. Thus there are instances where democratic institutions result in undemocratic outcomes. A strength of this article is that it presents a more in depth view of the problems involved in the democratization process. "Toward Civilian Supremacy in South America" by Aguero, in Consolidating the Third Wave Democracies, by Diamond, Plattner, Chu, and Tien (1997) presented the current state of civil-military relations in South America within the democratization context. Thus while Haggard and Kaufman discussed the processes involved in democracy and Horowitz presented the

Category: Government - I