Description and Goals
Why do some authoritarian political regimes initiate transitions to democracy? Why do these transitions succeed in some cases but not others? Does democratization mean different things in different geographical and historical contexts? These are the questions at the heart of this course. After laying out a preliminary framework for analyzing democratization, we will examine the different “waves” of democratization in the modern world — in particular, the “third wave” of democratization after World War II and the recent wave of regime change in the postcommunist world.