ABSTRACT
Two forces have restructured and reshaped the world since the late twentieth century: one is the prevailing wave of economic integration and globalization, recasting the international economic order; the other is the third wave of democratization, redefining the international political order. The former proved the failure of a state-planned economy, while the latter accelerated the collapses of one-party systems, military regimes, and personal dictatorships. As a consequence, since the beginning of the 1990s, the number of newly democratized countries has boomed, and democratization and its consolidation have become major topics for academic research. For the first time in human history, democracy is being hailed by the majority of mankind as a form of governance, threatening the diminishing pool of remaining rulers who are still hanging on to the old fashion of dictatorship.
