Decline in popular mobilization for democracy and emergence of PRC-initiated democratic reversal (1992–7)

Comparative research in Asia, Southern Europe, and Latin America has shown that agreement by the elite on the “rules of the game” of a democratic system is indispensable to democratic transition and consolidation (Mainwaring et al., 1992). The lack of elite agreement can trigger a split among the elite and strengthen clashes between pro-democratic and antidemocratic forces. Such split can destabilize democratic institutions and turn them into unconsolidated democracies, pseudo-democracies, or even authoritarian regimes (Higley and Gunther, 1992: 23; Mainwaring et al., 1992).1