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Since the publication of Samuel Huntington's 1991 study of democratization, scholars have come to take for granted the notion that the spread of democracy has come in waves. Although Huntington's work has clearly proved to be an influential study, this article suggests that his analysis is far from compelling. There are two problems embodied in the work. The first is largely conceptual. Huntington's analysis fails to provide a clear and meaningful distinction between democratic and authoritarian regimes because it focuses primarily on what Dahl had defined in 1971 as the dimension of competition and pays insufficient attention to the equally important dimension of inclusion. The second problem is more empirical. Huntington has estimated the incidence of transitions to democracy in terms of thepercentagesof world states involved. Since the denominator in this equation, that is, the number of states in the world, is far from constant, this measure can be misleading. This article proposes solutions to both of these problems, and this new approach leads to conclusions that are quite different from Huntington's.The new findings are important not only because they suggest a somewhat altered sequencing and a more accurate count of democratization waves but also because they cast real doubt on the appropriateness of the wave metaphor. As the reverse waves are not really apparent from these data, these results therefore also indicate that future studies should be cautious in comparing, explaining, and forecasting different "waves" of democratization.

The United Nation's efforts to promote Afghanistan's democratization are studied. An historical overview of the United Nation's long-standing presence in Afghanistan is presented, emphasizing the conditions that initially limited the United Nation's activities to humanitarian support & peacekeeping but ultimately expanded to democracy assistance. Special Representative to the Secretary-General Lakhdar Brahimi's achievement of encouraging Afghanistans four major opposition groups to collaborate in the formation of a power-sharing authority, the subsequent enactment of the Bonn Agreement, & the initial difficulties experienced by the Interim Authority under Hamid Karzai are then discussed. Recognizing several factors that could result in the fragmentation of Afghanistan's fledgling democracy, eg, the explosion of inter-ethnic violence, it is recommended that a federalist system be established in Afghanistan to prevent such determinants from destroying the nation's democratization; suggestions for transforming the current political system into a federalist one are also offered. J. W. Parker

Based on the current literature on democratization, democracy in Indonesia is not yet consolidated. The masses and lites need to learn to adjust their political practices and institutions to modern liberal political behaviour. This article argues that democratization may be more fruitful if seen from an Indonesian context. In Indonesias political history, Western ideas of liberalization and freedom, and local political ideas, such as the New Orders Pancasila democracy, religious and traditional attitudes, and mass movements, inspire many of the political practices in post-Soeharto politics. It is through exchanges of those ideas, political practices, and institutional experiences that new social agreements on the future form of democracy in Indonesia will emerge.(Contemp Southeast Asia/DÜI)

"Seit 1989 ist die Entwicklung demokratischer Regierungen in Osteuropa dauerhafter Gegenstand politischer und sozialwissenschaftlicher Diskussionen. Im Mittelpunkt steht dabei die Stabilität und die zukünftige Entwicklung der Demokratie innerhalb der gesellschaftlichen Transformationsprozesse dieser Staaten (Huntington 1991), die einerseits auf der Institutionalisierung der Demokratie, d.h. der Internalisierung demokratischer Verhaltensweisen in der Bevölkerung und der Ausbildung demokratisch legitimierter politischer Institutionen (Lipset 1981), andererseits auf der Unterstützung des politischen und wirtschaftlichen Transformationsprozesses durch die Bevölkerung (Easton 1979) beruht. Die Unterstützung und das Vertrauen der Bürger zeigt sich ihren Einstellungen zu den Maßnahmen, dem Erscheinungsbild und den neuen demokratischen Repräsentanten ebenso wie in der Beurteilung des neuen demokratischen Systems und seiner Institutionen. Substantielle empirische Ergebnisse zur politischen Unterstützung folgen einer vergleichenden Betrachtungsweise und reflektieren Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede zwischen den Staaten. Um einen Überblick über den zeitlichen Verlauf und die Situation des Demokratisierungsprozesses anhand der politischen Unterstützung in den verschiedenen osteuropäischen Staaten geben können, werden drei zentrale Zugänge miteinander verbunden: a) eine quantitativ-empirisch komparative Betrachtungsweise über verschiedene osteuropäische Staaten b) eine Betrachtung der Entwicklung von Indikatoren politischer Unterstützung seit 1990 c) eine sozialstrukturelle Verortung der politischen Unterstützung in den Bevölkerungen. Durch diese Kombination von Daten der Makro- und Mikroebene einerseits und der Verbindung von Zeitverlaufs-, Vergleichs- und Sozialstrukturdaten andererseits, ist es möglich, ein fundiertes Bild der Entwicklung politischer Unterstützung und Demokratisierung in den neuen Demokratien zu geben." (Autorenreferat)

'The Politics Of Democratization In Hong Kong' by Lo Shiu-hing with a foreword by Paddy Ashdown is reviewed.

Abstract: This article summarizes some of the key findings from a forthcoming book, Democratization by Elections: A New Mode of Transition? (Johns Hopkins, 2009, edited by the author). Building on Robert Dahl's insight that "the more the cost of suppression exceeds the costs of toleration, the greater the chance for a competitive regime," this article argues that when repetitive electoral processes contribute to changing the costs that rulers must face when either using oppression or (alternatively) accepting more opposition and competition, then elections may be broadly said to serve as causal factors in both democratization and its reverse: "autocratization." Electoral contests thus can become not only (or even mainly) about winning votes or offices, but about changing the expected costs and benefits of allowing or resisting democratic transition.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Introduction: The Paradoxes of Local Empowerment -- Part 1 State Formation and Political Change -- 2 Centralization and Informal Power -- 3 Decentralization and Democratization -- Part 2 A Tale of Three Cities -- 4 Chilpancingo: The Continuation of Corporatism? -- 5 Tijuana: Liberal Democracy? -- 6 Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl: Social Movement Democracy? -- Part 3 Conclusions -- 7 Pathways of Democratic Change -- Index

This book examines the connection between two major developments in the world: state-formation and democratization. Since 1946, the number of states has increased from 66 to almost 200 independent states, but our knowledge of these state-formation processes is limited. The authors present a new database on state-formation and democratization, which enables novel classifications and analyses of these processes on the global level. They argue that the form of state-formation affects the probability for democratization in new states and that the initial regime that state-formation establishes at the time of independence has long-term effects on new states' democratization.

This study explains why Buddhists, Protestants, and Catholics in Korea have shown different voting behavior since democratization. The study argues that the differing institutional adjustments of the major religions during the democratic transition affect believers' electoral decisions. While Buddhists have supported conservative parties, Protestants and Catholics have changed their voting choices.