ABSTRACT
In the Introduction it was stated that the major goal of this study is to explore what kinds of conscious social and political strategies have been used and could be used to further democratization and to what extent it might be possible to overcome unfavorable social and political conditions by appropriate institutional reforms or political strategies. On the basis of my comparative studies I argued that the chances of democratization depend on social conditions and structures to a significant extent, although this relationship is not automatic or fully determinative. The chances of democracy depend also on the adaptation of a country's political institutions and structures to existing social conditions. Besides, it is always possible to change not only political institutions but also social conditions and structures by political decisions. Therefore the strategies of democratization and the visions of political leadership matter and there is always room for variation in strategies. The less favorable structural conditions are for democracy, the more the success or failure of democratization depends on the skills of political leadership and on the strategies chosen by them; however, beyond a certain point no strategies may be enough to overcome the obstacles of unfavorable social conditions (see Diamond, Linz, and Lipset 1990, p. 15). The nature of political strategies may vary from universally valid strategies to conditional and particular strategies. Three major ways in which to effect democratization by conscious political strategies were differentiated: (a) by transforming social structures affecting the distribution of economic and intellectual power resources; (b) by establishing political institutions that make it possible to share power democratically between competing groups; and (c) by devising effective political action strategies to overcome various obstacles to democratization.
