ABSTRACT
Democratization processes around the world have been analysed differently
by political theorists. Some postulate necessary economic prerequisites,1
others social ones such as the emergence of a civil society,2 or a merchant
bourgeoisie taking precedence over the landed gentry.3 Emphasis is often
placed on political culture,4 and democracies outside the Christian Western
world have been viewed as pure imported products, be they the legacy of
colonization or the result of international factors. Still other theorists have
analysed democratization as a way of regulating conflicts and distributing resources among e´lites.5 But if one tries to leave aside any kind of deter-
minism, as well as any kind of ethnocentrism, one has no choice but to
adopt a historical sociology perspective that considers changes as products
of concrete historical situations, within which contingent factors can play a
decisive part. With respect to democracy itself, and not to speak of the
normative connotations attached to the concept, Giovanni Sartori has
pointed to the fact that any definition is closely linked to the historical
experience that has produced a particular democracy.6
