ABSTRACT
The results of this comparative study indicate that it is possible to trace the emergence of democracy to one regular and dominant causal factor, the relative distribution of power resources, although many other factors may also affect the process of democratization. It was hypothesized, on the basis of evolutionary argumentation, that democratization would take place under conditions in which power resources become so widely distributed that no group is any longer able to suppress its competitors or to maintain its hegemony. Six social variables were formulated to measure the variation of resource distribution from different perspectives, and they were combined into an Index of Power Resources (IPR). Two political variables-Competition and Participation-were formulated to measure two crucial dimensions of democratization. They were combined into an Index of Democratization (ID). The results of statistical analysis show that it was possible to explain 66 per cent of the variation in the degree of democracy (ID) by the variation of resource distribution (IPR) in the longitudinal comparison group of 1,139 observation units of 1850-1993 and 59-65 per cent in the cross-sectional comparison group of 172 countries in 1991-3. The results of correlation analyses support the basic hypothesis very strongly. In addition, the results of regression analysis indicate that most countries tended to cross the threshold of democracy at approximately the same level of resource distribution as hypothesized. These strong regularities have continued at least since the 1850s.
