ABSTRACT
Transitions from autocratic rule in countries with established markets and private property are usually interpreted as being motivated by endogenous forces in which modernizing elites play an important contributory role. Exogenous factors in transitions to democracy and markets are deemed by most writers to be minor players. For example, though not denying any role to external influences, O'Donnell and Schmitter regard as ‘fruitless’ the search for ‘some international factor or context’ which ‘cause[s] regimes to collapse’. 1
