ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to clarify what is at stake in the debate, by linking the empirical research to the widest democratization literature. It argues that there is a growing specific research agenda on the reverse process that needs to be recognized as an integral part of the democratization literature. The chapter highlights the shortcomings and gaps that need to be filled in this research agenda, claiming the importance of more empirically-oriented research focused especially on the contemporary period, through the combination of different levels of analysis into a coherent analytical framework. It discusses the four theoretical tradition has focused on: economi factors, political and institutional factors, social forces and international conditions. Studies on the reverse process should be considered a fully-fledged part of the most wide-ranging research agenda on democratization and regime change. The recognition of the asymmetry which characterizes the reverse process is therefore the basic starting point for all subsequent analysis.
