THE DYNAMICS OF DEMOCRATIZATION

Elites, Civil Society and the Transition Process

Palgrave

Yazar: Graeme GILL

İçindekiler

1- Democratization: Economic Prerequisites?
2- The Breakdown Of Authoritarian Regimes
3- Elites And Transition
4- Beyond The Elites?
5- Transition And Civil Society
6- Transition And The Collapse Of Communism
7- Conclusion: Towards Consolidation?

Tanıtım Yazısı:

One of the most significant developments in the last three decades of the twentieth century was the fall of many authoritarian regimes and their replacement by governments claiming democratic credentials.
Although the most spectacular instance of this was thecollapse of communsim, epitomized by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, it has occurred in a much wider range of countries – from Spain and Greece to Uruguay and South Korea. An important part in this has been played by political elites, which have sought to manage the process of regime change with a view to restabilizing their positions and limiting the disruption. However the author argues that real democratization has been achieved only in those cases where the management of the transition process has not been left wholly in the hands of the elites but, rather, has been supervised by elements from the broader civil society.
The Dynamics of Democratization provides a clear and accessible overview of the scale, scope and character of democratization in the contemporary world. The book offers important new theoretical insights as well as providing a wide range of detailed case studies of transition from Latin America, southern Europa and the former communist world.