ABOUT THIS BOOK

This book explains why some countries succeed in installing democracy after authoritarian rule, and why some of these new democracies make progress toward consolidation. Casper and Taylor show that a democratic government can be installed when elite bargaining during the transition process is relatively smooth. They view elite bargaining in twenty-four transitions cases, some where continued authoritarianism was the result, others where a democratic government was the result, and a third outcome where progress towards consolidation was the end product.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Gretchen Casper is associate professor of political science at Penn State University.

Michelle Taylor is associate professor of political science at Texas A&M University.

REVIEWS

“The road to democracy is not a primrose path, but a tricky and risky one. . . . In this volume, authors Gretchen Casper and Michelle M. Taylor have used game theory to help us understand the dynamics of political change in political systems where authoritarian regimes are on the verge of a transition to a democratic polity. . . . Students of comparative politics, especially those interested in developing nations in the formative state of democratic development, will find this volume a useful tool in understanding the political actors who play a major role in determining the scope and nature of democracy in their political systems.”
—Journal of Developing Areas

“Casper and Taylor present a highly lucid and readable exposition of the phenomena of democratic transitions involving a great variety of countries with their own distinct histories. Most important, they try-and manage reasonably well-to establish the 'path dependent' nature of democratic transitions.”
—Survival: The IISS Quarterly

“This impressive, cross-national, game theoretic analysis of why democratic transition is successful only in some circumstances uses six cases from each of four different areas of the world. . . . Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.”
—Choice

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Discussing Democracy

2. The Regime Choice Process

3. Setting Up Our Study

4. Paths to Continued Authoritarianism

5. Paths to Democratic Installation

6. Paths to Consolidating Democracy

7. The Outcome of the Regime Choice Process

8. The Legacy of the Regime Choice Process

9. Negotiating Democracy

Appendix A: Factor Coding

Appendix B: Freedom House Rankings

Notes

Bibliography

Index

REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE

If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you with an electronic file for alternative access.

Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.

It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.