ABSTRACT

While the process of democratization is nowadays an established scholarship, the reverse process of de-democratization has generated less attention even when the regression or even breakdown of democracy occurred on a regular basis over past decades.

This book investigates both the different combination of explanatory factors triggering the transition from democratic rule as well as the role of the actors’ involved in the process. It aims to integrate different levels of analysis and explanatory factors through a comparative analysis of the phenomenon since the beginning of the third wave of democratization. As such, it addresses the existing divide between the approaches focused on the conditions and those focused on the processes of change, using a mixed-method research design.

This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of comparative politics, democracy, democratization and de-democratization, political theory, and comparative political institutions.

chapter |6 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|19 pages

Transition from democratic rule

A theoretical overview

chapter 2|24 pages

The reverse process in the contemporary period

A preliminary assessment

chapter 3|30 pages

Focusing on the conditions

A Qualitative Comparative Analysis

chapter 4|20 pages

Incumbent entrenchment

Dominican Republic and Bolivia

chapter 5|17 pages

Opposition takeover

Venezuela and Gambia

chapter 6|19 pages

Democratic coup

Nigeria and Thailand

chapter 7|19 pages

Stabilizing coup

Mali and Turkey

chapter 8|17 pages

Conclusions

When democracies collapse