ABSTRACT
Political science must investigate environment's political impact to understand the variety of patterns of governing. Government does not function in a vacuum; comparative politics studies neither utopias nor laboratory specimens, but concrete political systems embedded in specific historic, social, economic, geographic, and cultural contexts. The economic development factor most closely associated with democracy is communications level as measured by proportion of telephones, newspaper and mail circulation, and newsprint consumption. Since constitutional guarantees of freedom would seem to be an element of democracy almost by definition, surely they must be requisite. Factors other than the political system and its culture may help to produce self-confident citizens. A pluralistic society contributes significantly to the politicizing of self-confident, democratic supporting citizens. Liberty's prestige has sufficiently attracted many newly independent states so that they have written extensive lists of personal rights into their constitutions.
