ABSTRACT
The 1980s were heralded as a decade of democratization throughout the world. The demise of military regimes in Latin America in the late 1970s was followed by another wave of democratization in Asia in the 1980s. The Philippines ended its long-lasting dictatorial rule in 1986 when Marcos was removed from power in a popular upheaval. In the mid-1980s, burgeoning movements pressing for democratization 231emerged in South Korea and Taiwan. In the late 1980s, democratic transitions took place in many former socialist states in Eastern Europe, including Poland and Czechoslovakia. By the 1990s, electoral politics, with the presence of opposition parties and challenging bids for presidency by multiple candidates, were basically institutionalized in many Asian states, with pressures growing in many others.
