ABSTRACT
This chapter explores what democracy implies and focuses on the sample countries, investigating what they have done initiate and implement democratization. If traditional scholars set tough definitional standards for democracy, their empirical research painted a more dismal prospect for democracy in most developing and post-communist countries. Swift democratizers and reverters represent opposite poles of the democratization process. Incremental democratization refers to a differential rate of creating democratic institutions. Democratization involves three stages. First, the autocratic regime falls. Second, a democratic regime assumes power. Third, the democratic system consolidates. While governments perform allocation tasks, the economy is the principal allocation institution. The absence of traditional institutions at the outset of transitions precludes not only the implementation of many reforms, but also the application of lessons learned from other regions. Robert Dahl, a distinguished scholar of democratic theory, conducted research that erected higher hurdles for the nondemocratic states of the world.
