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A review essay on a book by Tatu Vanhanen, Democratization: A Comparative Analysis of 170 Countries (London: Routledge, 2003). References.

For the most of the time of the sixty years of its history, as a constitutional monarchy, Thailand has been ruled by authoritarian governments. The author examines the process of democratization in this country paying special attention to citizen partizipation, electoral competition, civil liberties and prospects for democracy. (DÜI-Sen)

In light of Jurgen Habermas's theory of communicative action (see IRPS No. 41/88c09222 & 88c09223), an analysis is offered of two opposing phenomena now occurring: fascist, despotic destruction vs radical-/eco-democratic extension of modern democracies. These phenomena, it is suggested, are both realizations of democracy's normative content; discursive solutions for social conflicts should replace the polemic of class struggle. Distinctions between formal & actual democracies are identified, & the coevolution of modern structural potentialities' variants in light of the fall of Stalinism & fascism is reviewed. Specifically modern forms of competition & the coevolution of modern structures were dysfunctional under accepted Marxist-Leninist ideologies. It is proposed that a cultural form of competition take the evolutionary lead, thus controlling the economic forms of competition through radical democratization. 32 References. J. Sadler