ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that organizational resources and institutional connections remaining from the previous non-democratic party-centric system grant to actors the opportunities to use existing, less than fully democratized institutions in self-interested ways that often violate the democratic intentions. It begins with brief discussions of institutions and organizational resources, and provides a fuller elaboration and critique of the transition and Leninist legacy approaches. In assessing actor preferences and the prospects for institutional change, the chapter presents the transitions approach by asserting that actors' incentives can very plausibly lead them to construct, but especially maintain, institutions inimical to democracy. It examines the news media from an institutional standpoint-focusing on the relationships between the media and other actors, and what those other actors hope or expect to derive from that relationship. The chapter reviews the scholarly debates about the processes of political change and democratization.
