Consolidation of Democracy

Introduction

This book investigates the successes and failures in consolidating those democratic regimes that emerged in Europe and Latin America in the last quarter of the 20th century.

Theoretical Approach

The theoretical approach developed combines the most prominent political-institutional and socio-structural approaches to explaining the Consolidation of Democracy (CoD). Reinterpreting conventional claims, Schneider’s comparative analyses of 32 countries indicates that the driving force behind CoD is the fit between the institutional type of democracy and the societal context in terms of power dispersion. This book:

Key Contributions

Data and Analysis

• presents new data measuring dimensions of regime transition processes in Latin America, the Middle East and Northern Africa, as well as some former Soviet republics;

Reassessment of Paradigms

• reassesses some core assumptions of the dominant transition paradigm;

Methodological Discussion

• discusses general methodological issues involved when investigating causally complex claims in comparative social research and presents fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) as a valuable addition to the methodological tool kit of comparative social scientists.

Audience

This innovative and important volume will be of interest to political scientists, particularly those with an interest in democracy, democratization, comparative politics and comparative methodology.