Introduction

Experience in modern times teaches us that democracy is frequently breaking down, especially when this form of government is tried out for the fi rst time in a country. Europe learned this lesson in the interwar period and for Latin America throughout the last century a cyclical movement between autocracy and democracy has long been the rule rather than the exception. All the more surprising is what we have seen happening since the early 1970s. Around the globe, autocracies in Latin America, Europe, and elsewhere broke down and gave way to different forms of democracy. Even optimistic scholars of democracy nowadays admit that back in those days they did not expect transitions away from autocracy towards democracy to turn into a truly global phenomenon (Schmitter 2007).