ABSTRACT
The Third Wave of Democratization began in southern Europe in 1970, and it swept to East Asia, South America, former socialist countries in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and Africa in the 1980s and 1990s. Given the above situation, China seemed to lag behind the trend of global democratization. The Chinese government has adopted a gradual approach to political reform that emphasizes economic growth as the overriding goal. The Third Wave of Democratization has resulted in successful democratic transitions in many countries since the 1970s. Yet a majority of the emerging democratic countries have paid an enormous cost during the transition. Political transition necessarily means a reshuffling of the existing political and economic interests and a restructuring of the political order according to democratic principles. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book starts from the assumption that favorable preconditions hold key to democratic soft landing and consolidation.
