Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that works on the reverse process should be recognized as part of an autonomous research agenda within the field of democratization studies. It presents a first empirical assessment of the reverse process and its forms in the contemporary period, confronting several indices of democracy and trying to map the phenomenon. The book provides an explanation of the necessary and sufficient conditions for de-democratization and regime change from democracy to non-democratic regime. It describes the "incumbent entrenchment" model where the main actors responsible for the reverse process are the incumbent political forces that react to social and political pressures from society and opposition by turning authoritarian. The book focuses on causes and modalities of the transition from democratic rule by proposing a typology that allows to consider different patterns of change in a single analytical framework.