ABSTRACT
The transition begins when the political and civil rights that characterize any liberal-democratic arrangement begin to gain open recognition and several formal and actual constraints on the manifestations of political pluralism are overcome. A democratic establishment is the process of installing a set of structures and rules that are common to and recurring in democratic regimes. Beginning with the modalities and forms of establishment, the duration of the process is relevant only to the extent that it serves as a basic frame of reference for the other aspects of the process. The impact of the authoritarian regime on the process of establishment is obvious but requires some elaboration. The international factor catalyzes actors inside the existing nondemocratic regime and pushes them to initiate the transition and, eventually, the establishment. Empirical attempts to build typologies of democratic regimes have focused on democratic systems established a long time ago.
