Prospects of Democracy: A Study of 172 CountriesThis book provides the most extensive comparative survey of the state and conditions of democracy ever made. It focuses on 172 contemporary states, with historical data on the measures of democracy and on explanatory variables extending back to the 1850s. It presents a comprehensive exploration of democratization, its successes and failures, making predictions on the prospects for democracy for single countries and for seven regions of the world. As well as presenting empirical analyses of democratization on the basis of Vanhanens's resource distribution theory of democratization and making predictions on the prospects, the book includes contributions from five commentators, Mitchell A. Seligson on Latin America, Samuel Decalo and John W. Forje on Africa, John Henderson on Oceania and Ilter Turan on why some of the countires that pass Vanhanen's democratic threshold cannot in fact be seen as democracies. The volume also includes an introductory chapter which examines and compares other theoretical interpretations of democratization. Prospects for Democracywill be essential reading for all serious students of comparative politics and democracy. |
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Seems that the book is interesting; however, as the book is not available here in Nepal, and will take longer time to get access, It will be good if it is made generously available to the readers of LDCs.
Contents
Theoretical interpretations of democratization | 10 |
Research design | 27 |
18501993 | 67 |
Predictions for single countries by regions | 99 |
Regularities since the 1850s | 155 |
Appendices | 176 |
Appendix 2 | 208 |
Appendix 3 | 215 |
Tatu Vanhanen thesis and the prospects of democracy | 277 |
Conclusions | 283 |
The lack of political community as an impediment to democracy | 289 |
The political economy of democratic evolution | 296 |
References | 313 |
Prospects of democracy in Oceania | 334 |
References | 343 |
361 | |
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Common terms and phrases
172 countries 1980 World Census arithmetic means authoritarian average basis Census Census Bulletin Census of Agriculture comparison group competition concentration Concurrent powers Parliamentary correlations cracy crossed the threshold degree of resource demo democratic institutions democratization deviating democracies deviating non democracies Distribution of seats Eastern Europe 1994 economic development economic power resources elected presidential candidate electoral empirical enterprises Estimation ethnic Europa explanatory variables factors Family Farms Gambia independent index points indicators IPR and IPRI IPR values Keesing's Kurian land Latin America level of democracy level of IPR measure Middle East military North Africa Oceania Pacific Island Papua New Guinea Parliamentary dominance participation political systems political variables polyarchy positive residuals powers Parliamentary elections predict Presidential elections prospects of democracy regimes regional group regression analysis resource distribution socialist Solomon Islands Sources sub-Saharan Africa Table threshold of democracy tion total votes Number transition level Vanhanen Vanuatu