ABSTRACT
This volume has drawn attention to the importance of the redefinition of a country’s external relations for the establishment and consolidation of a new democracy. Democratic transitions may be seen as a series of transitions affecting the political regime, economy and external relations. Studies that focus largely upon domestic developments in an attempt to account for democratization are of limited value. Those that analyse both domestic and international factors, and even discuss linkages between the two, provide a much more satisfactory explanation, yet all too often they are marred by a tendency to see the basic dynamic as an internal one, merely influenced by, and rarely influencing, an external environment. It is the contention of this book that the redefinition of a country’s external relations is an integral part of the process of democratization. While external events and international developments clearly play a greater role in initiating some democratic transitions than in others, a reshaping of external relations based on a realistic assessment of the international scene and the potential and interests of the country in transition will normally feature prominently in the process of consolidating a new democracy.
