The Dynamics of Democratization: A Comparative Approach

341 Pages·2001·19.584 MB·English

by  Geoffrey Pridham

The Dynamics of Democratization
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The Dynamics of Democratization
A Comparative Approach
Geoffrey Pridham
CONTINUUM
London and New York
Continuum
The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SEI 7NX
370 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017-6503
First published 2000
© Geoffrey Pridham 2000
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 0-8264-5038-5 (hardback)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pridham, Geoffrey, 1942-
Dynamics of democratization/by Geoffrey Pridham.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8264-5038-5
1. Democratization — Europe. 2. Post-communism — Europe. 3. Europe —
Politics and government 1989—. I. Title.
JN12.P74 2000
320.94-dc21
00-043137
Typeset by YHT Ltd., London
Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall
Contents
Preface vii
1 Theory of regime change and interactive dynamics 1
1.1 Democratization studies and new challenges 1
1.2 Transitology and consolidology: a critical review 4
1.3 Defining democratization 16
1.4 Democratization: a model of interactive dynamics 24
2 Historical determinants of democratization 29
2.1 Bringing history back in 29
2.2 History and democratization theory 31
2.3 'Confining conditions': historical patterns and historical
memory 34
2.4 Historical legacies and 'overcoming the past' 42
2.5 Political learning and anticipating democratic consolidation 53
2.6 Regime change and historical perspectives 57
3 Non-democratic regimes, deconsolidation and authoritarian
breakdown 59
3.1 Focusing on authoritarian breakdown 59
3.2 Non-democratic regimes: their deterioration and liberalization 63
3.3 The emergence of 'preferable alternatives' and societal
pressures under authoritarian rule 77
3.4 Authoritarian collapse and the shift to democratic transition 89
4 Formal regime change, the constitutional dimension and
institutional design 93
4.1 Institutional design and democratization 93
4.2 Motivation in formal regime change: backwards
institutionalization and transition dynamics 98
CONTENTS
4.3 The constituent: process and institutional design 107
4.4 The consequences of institutional choice: forwards
institutionalization and the prospects for democratic
consolidation 127
5 Actors, linkages and democratization 136
5.1 Theorizing about elite choice 136
5.2 Actor differentiation and elite autonomy 140
5.3 Political elites, party development and democratic
consolidation 148
5.4 The military, non-political elites and regime change
dynamics 164
5.5 Inter-elite relations and the democratization process 177
6 Economic transformation, policy performance and new regime
consolidation 180
6.1 Approaching dual transformation 180
6.2 Policy performance, economic transformation and regime
change 184
6.3 Economic policy consequences for regime consolidation 203
6.4 New democracies and dual transformation 217
7 Creating democratic traditions: top-down/bottom-up dynamics
on the road to consolidation 220
7.1 Democratization and society 220
7.2 Top-down interactions: vertical dynamics in democratization 223
7.3 Civil society and the achievement of democratic consolidation 233
7.4 Fostering democratic traditions 247
8 Stateness, national identity and democratization 252
8.1 Focusing on the third transformation 252
8.2 The crisis of state authority and the challenge of nation-
building 256
8.3 Ethnicity and the prospects for democratic consolidation 273
8.4 Democratization and the third transformation 282
9 The international dimensions of democratization 285
9.1 Regime change and international factors 285
9.2 Theorizing about external causes of democratization 289
9.3 European integration and democratic consolidation: external
influences and interactions with domestic politics 299
9.4 Consolidating new democracies in the international context 312
Conclusion 315
Index 324
vi
Preface
This book follows a long interest in the subject of democratization in different
parts of Europe; and, by comparative extension, in other areas of the world. It
is possible even to trace this interest in regime change back to my first research
as a doctoral student on the Weimar Republic. Since that time, I have chosen
to specialize in the politics of the Federal Republic and in that of Italy as well
as focusing specifically on problems of democratic transition and consolidation
in first Southern Europe and then Central and Eastern Europe. Empirical work
for this book has therefore concentrated on European experience of demo-
cratization, as explained at the end of Chapter 1, where the theoretical
approach adopted is also outlined.
In pursuing this long interest, I have had the benefit of contact and
exchange of ideas with wider circles of scholars working on this subject. In
particular, I would like to mention the following: the six-year project
(1989-95) on the Nature and Consequences of Democracy in the New
Southern Europe of the Joint Committee on Western Europe of the American
Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council, New
York; the four-year project (1992—96) on Regime Change in East-Central
Europe, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK under
its East/West Change Programme; a range of comparative projects on demo-
cratization in both Southern Europe and Central and Eastern Europe under the
Démocratisation Research Programme of the Centre for Mediterranean Stud-
ies, University of Bristol; the Research Committee on Démocratisation in
Comparative Perspective of the International Political Science Association;
and, more recently, the four-year project on Europe—East Asia comparisons of
the Research Group on Démocratisation of the European Consortium for
Political Research (ECPR) and the Japanese Political Science Association
(JPSA). I would also like to add various workshops on democratization themes
vii
PREFACE
of the ECPR through the 1990s as well as regular conferences on post-
Communist regime changes in the UK and abroad.
In addition, various colleagues gave their time during the course of writing
this book to comment on draft chapters, discuss issues arising from them and
answer specific queries. I would like to mention in this respect Will Bartlett,
Nikiforos Diamandouros, Karen Henderson and George Sanford. Mushroom
Hamilton and Elizabeth Grundy of the Department of Politics at Bristol
University gave me much-appreciated practical help with the production of
the book at crucial moments.
One special thank-you goes to my department at Bristol, and in particular
to Richard Little as Head of Department, for allowing me a year off to make
considerable progress with the book. During the time of writing it, I have also
benefited in a different way from two passions. Between and towards the end
of chapters, thoughts were refreshed through long-distance walks including in
the mountains of Wales, along several canals and in completing a coast-to-
coast walk across England. More regularly, inspiration was gained from
listening to recorded music while writing; and not least, the live musical skills
at home of my son Tom helped to carry the work along.
Geoffrey Pridham
Bristol, February 2000
viii
To Tom