Vägar till demokrati : sekvenser och konsekvenser i den tredje demokratiseringsvågen

Authors

• Niklas Lampi

Abstract

In the West, democracy has for many decades meant not only free elections, but also basic liberties and the rule of law. Today, free elections are held in an increasing number of countries in the Third world, yet at the same time many of these regimes do not honour the rule of law and the rights of their citizens. These illiberal or electoral democracies seem to follow a different path towards democracy than the one followed in the West, where a gradual expansion of constitutionalism preceded free elections. In the democratisation literature it has often been presumed that the ”western” sequence, i.e. civil liberties and rule of law before free elections, is more likely to produce a stable democratic outcome. However, the adequacy of these assumptions, put forth by Robert Dahl and other theorists, must be questioned. In this article I analyse the sequential argument by comparing the process of democratisation in 66 countries during the period 1972–2001. It appears that the theory has no potential to explain different levels of democratic stability. The findings remain the same when a set of potentially rivalling variables is taken into consideration.