ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the course of 40 transition countries to determine how consolidation occurs as well as why it is precluded. Transitions are a process. Some countries manage quick consolidation by overcoming both political and economic obstacles inherent in transitions. Civil war was the major reason for failure to consolidate. Somalia, for example, effectively has no government. Military officers have many levels of influence over politics and the economy. "Civilian" control of the military is a Western concept that is none too salient in the world, even in Western Europe. The findings the consolidation of the sample countries include no institutional factors. The debate about the causes of democratic consolidation indirectly obscures the obstacles that prevent any sort of consolidation. Regional interaction plays an important role in democratic consolidation according to Mark I. Gasiorowski and Power. Some countries manage quick consolidation by overcoming both political and economic obstacles inherent in transitions.
