Democratic Transitions: Exploring the Structural Sources of the Fourth Wave

by Renske Doorenspleet

Many of the researchers on the "fourth wave" of democratization that began in 1989 pursue actor-oriented analyses, neglecting structural variables, suggests Doorenspleet (political science, Leiden U., the Netherlands). Here he takes the opposite approach comparing structural variables mentioned by development, world- system and dependency, class, and democratic diffusion theories between democratizing and non-democratizing countries. He concludes his investigation by selecting several of those factors, combining them in a single generalized model of the structural determinants of democratization, and testing them by quantitative empirical analysis. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

203 pages, Hardcover

First published May 31, 2005