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In 2019, Thailand represents the case of an Asian country overshadowed by authoritarian forces, though it has time and again experienced attempts at democratization. This paper argues that democracy remains deficient in Thailand because, though there have been enormous advances in terms of the economy, social improvements and state stability, political space remains elusive and dominated by the monarchy and military. State formation in Thailand is a function of how entrenched social stratification has been reflected in a highly skewed distribution of economic resources. The paper asks the following five questions: First, why has Thailand, which appears to have become relatively strong in terms of economic and political stability, been unable to achieve democracy? Second, what has been the evolution of democracy versus authoritarianism in Thailand? Third, how have the linkages among state structures, economic relations and societal institutions evolved across time in Thailand? Fourth, what are the main features of their historical development today and how have these (as conditioned by domestic and international factors) affected Thailand's political conditions? Fifth, what is the likely future of Thai democracy? (Asian Aff/GIGA)

According to the author, in just one decade, the communist powers of the USSR, Vietnam and China, have ceased to be security threats to Southeast Asia. After a look at developments in the international sphere and in Southeast Asia, he discusses the democratization process and the development of market economy in Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia and suppression of democracy by the military in Burma. (DÜI-Sen)

Two main issues form the focus of attention in this study. The first is the relationship of senior religious figures to the state in Africa and the role of the former in the region's democratization in the 1990s. The second is the political importance of "popular" religions in Africa. The overall aim is to examine the relationship of religion and politics in Africa in the context of democratization, to: (1) establish the nature of the links between senior religious figures and state elites in Africa, (2) make some preliminary observations about the political nature of popular religions in the region, and (3) comment on the overall impact of religious actors on Africa's democratization. (Democratization - www.frankcass.com/DÜI)

Anecdotal evidence from pre-modern Europe and North America suggests that rulers are forced to become more democratic once they impose a significant fiscal burden on their citizens. One difficulty in testing this taxation causes democratization hypothesis empirically is the endogeneity of public revenues. I use introductions of value added taxes and autonomous revenue authorities as sources of quasi-exogenous variation to identify the causal effect of the fiscal burden borne by citizens on democracy. The instrumental variables regressions with a panel of 122 countries over the period 1981-2008 suggest that revenues had on average a mild positive effect on democracy.

Authoritarian regimes become more likely to democratize when they face little choice or little risk. In some cases, the risk of democratization to authoritarian incumbents is so low that ending authoritarianism might not mean exiting power at all. This article develops a unified theory of authoritarian-led democratization under conditions of relatively low incumbent risk. We argue that the party strength of the authoritarian incumbent is the most pivotal factor in authoritarian-led democratization. When incumbent party strength has been substantial enough to give incumbent authoritarian politicians significant electoral victory confidence, nondemocratic regimes have pursued reversible democratic experiments that eventually culminated in stable, thriving democracies. Evidence from Europe's first wave of democratization and more recent democratic transitions in Taiwan and Ghana illustrate how party strength has underpinned authoritarian-led democratization across the world and across modern history.

Cover -- EXPLAINING CHINESE DEMOCRATIZATION -- CONTENTS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION -- AN IMPORTANT ISSUE -- DEMOCRACY AND ITS DESIRABILITY -- EXISTING ANSWERS -- AN ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATION -- NOTES -- Chapter 2 HISTORICAL LEGACIES AND DEMOCRACY -- GENERAL CONDITIONS -- CONFUCIAN DOCTRINE -- ALTERNATIVES TO CONFUCIANISM -- AUTHORITARIAN TRADITIONS -- CONCLUSION -- NOTES -- Chapter 3 LOCAL FORCES AND DEMOCRACY -- THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REPUBLIC -- THE TEMPTATION OF DICTATORSHIP -- WARLORDISM -- A LENINIST SOLUTION -- CONCLUSION -- NOTES -- Chapter 4 THE WORLD SYSTEM AND DEMOCRACY -- IMPERIALIST VICTIM -- A WEAK STATE -- THE JAPANESE INVASION -- THE CIVIL WAR -- CONCLUSION -- NOTES -- Chapter 5 SOCIALIST VALUES AND DEMOCRACY -- SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY -- SOCIALIST TRANSFORMATION -- TWO TYPES OF ERROR -- TOTALITARIAN RULE -- CONCLUSION -- NOTES -- Chapter 6 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND DEMOCRACY -- FAREWELL TO TOTALITARIANISM -- ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT -- POLITICAL REFORM -- THE LEGITIMACY CRISIS -- CONCLUSION -- NOTES -- Chapter 7 EXPLANATION AND PREDICTION -- THE IMPORTANCE OF SEQUENCE -- THE LACK OF DEMOCRATIC FORCES -- THE LIMITATIONS OF DEMOCRACY -- PROSPECTS FOR DEMOCRACY -- NOTES -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX -- About the Author.

Disintermediation allows citizens to directly access political communication. The greater diversity of interactions between political actors results in increased flow of information. This causes decreased effectiveness for gatekeepers and agenda-setters (old media), and makes way for the creation of a deregulated, non-hierarchical, and borderless space, resulting in the empowerment of citizens and the democratization of political communication. This is a modernizing time that affects the development of political process and the role of different political actors. However, this transformation is shaped by bias and structural factors that limit its universalization and, a priori, encourage the emergence of a citizen elite that is capable of managing and benefiting from change.

The two contributions featured here appeared in the 'CODESRIA Bulletin' (No. 2, 1991). They were written as a contribution to the agenda of CODESRIA's December 1991 General Assembly, organised around the theme of 'Democratization Processes in Africa'. Although intervening events may have affected the validity of one or two minor points made, their focus on the twin objectives of individual liberties and social justice provides a valuable insight into the debate unfolding in Africa. It is a debate of universal significance: the reconciliation of political rights with social justice rights remains one of the fundamental problems confronting the socialist project. We are grateful to the CODESRIA Bulletin for permitting us to publish these abridged versions of the two papers. Readers interested in consulting the full originals, and of engaging in the debates sponsored by CODESRIA should write to them at Boite Postal 3304, Dakar, Senegal