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democratization
Sign in to savethumb|upright=1.3|Since 1900, the number of countries democratizing (yellow) has been higher than those autocratizing (blue), except in the late 1920s through 1940s and since 2010.
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- Democratization
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~61 min read
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65 sectionsContents
- Description
- Measures of democratization
- Waves of democratization
- By country
- Athens
- Benin
- Brazil
- Chile
- France
- Germany
- United Kingdom
- Greece
- Indonesia
- Italy
- Japan
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Latin America
- Portugal
- Philippines
- Senegal
- Spain
- South Africa
- South Korea
- Soviet Union
- Switzerland
- Roman Republic
- Tunisia
- Ukraine
- United States
- Causes and factors
- Economic factors
- Economic development and modernization theory
- Capital mobility
- Classes, cleavages and alliances
- Political-economic factors
- Rulers' need for taxation
- Inequality and democracy
- Natural resources
- Cultural factors
- Values and religion
- Education
- Social capital and civil society
- Theories based on political agents and choices
- Elite-opposition negotiations and contingency
- Elite-driven democratization
- Scrambled constituencies
- Death or ouster of dictator
- Women's suffrage
- International factors
- War and national security
- War and peace
- International institutions
- Promotion, foreign influence, and intervention
- Geographic factors
- Historical factors
- Historical legacies
- Sequencing and causality
- Notes
- References
- Sources
- Further reading
- Key works
- Overviews of the research
- External links
thumb|upright=1.3|Since 1900, the number of countries democratizing (yellow) has been higher than those autocratizing (blue), except in the late 1920s through 1940s and since 2010.
Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. The opposite process of democratic transition is known as democratic backsliding or autocratization. Whether and to what extent democratization occurs can be influenced by various factors, including economic development, historical legacies, civil society, and international processes. Some accounts of democratization emphasize how elites drove democratization, whereas other accounts emphasize grassroots bottom-up processes. How democratization occurs has also been used to explain other political phenomena, such as whether a country goes to a war or whether its economy grows.