The Third Wave of Democratization
4649843
223505763
2008-07-04T10:44:59Z
Ghormax
31336
{{Cleanup|date=August 2006}}
'''''The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century''''' is a 1991 book by [[Samuel P. Huntington]] which outlines the significance of a third wave of democratization to describe the global trend that has seen more than 60 countries experience democratic transitions since [[1974]].
==Transition==
===Causes===
Five main causative factors are outlined for the Third Wave:
*Loss of [[legitimacy]] of authoritarian regimes
*Economic change- there is a correlation between wealth and democracy [This is a contested and very Western idea]
*[[Catholic church]]- changes brought about by Vatican II emphasized individual rights
*Regional Contingency Factor (Snowball effect)- also known as demonstrational effects, happens when success of democracy in one country causes other countries to democratize
*External factors- efforts to spread democracy mostly from European institution and the United States
===Processes===
*Transformation - A top-down (elite-controlled) change from within government (as postulated by the theoreticians of the Modernization theory some 30 years ago).
*Transplacement - Negotiated reform of regime and government.
*Replacement - Regime breakdown (ruptura) and the collapse of [[authoritarianism]].
===Characteristics===
*Uncertainty
*Internal factors paramount - Especially important is role of elites and the ensuing split in the regime.
==Consolidation==
===Problems===
*Transitional problems (institution-building)
*Contextual problems.
*Systemic problems (performance of new regime)
Consolidation after "two-turnover test" (Huntington 1991)
===Elites===
Huntington believed in the importance of individual agents in the transition to [[democracy]]: “democracies are created not by causes but by causers” (Huntington 1991:107). To Huntington the transition was based on [[elite]] choice, perception, beliefs and actions, while subsequent consolidation was based on elite pacts and consensus.
==Criticisms==
===Separation of political analysis from socio-economic environment===
*Poverty, social exclusion and inequality
*Accusations of democracy without citizenship/ of disempowerment
*Role of [[IFIs]]
===Relationship between structure and agent, institutions and process===
*Overemphasis on agency rather than structure (See Rueschemeyer, Stephens and Stephens 1992)
===Dichotomy between authoritarianism and democracy===
*Enclaves of authoritarian power?
===Ideological Bias===
*[[Ethnocentric]] - "the United States is the premier democratic country of the modern world" and the “major promoter of democratization” (Huntington 1991:30 & 6)
*Endorsement of limited model of [[market democracy]]
*Lack of ecological validity in theory, as ethnocentrism means interpretation of third world is bias also.
===Lack of analysis of external factors===
General view - Contributory but insufficient condition for democratization
US - “the major promoter of democratization” (Huntington 1991:6) or “much more effective at destabilizing democracies than at stabilizing popularly
elected rulers” (Borón 1995:213)
iii