The Social Requisites of Democracy Revisited

Bibliographic Data

ID20072840
AuthorsSeymour Martin Lipset (George Mason University, corresponding author)
Year1995
Pages287-314
Publication date1995-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueEinigung und Zerfall : Deutschland und Europa Nach Dem Ende des Ost-West-Konflikts (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherVS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/978-3-322-93673-8_18
OpenAlexW1574895500
ISBN9783322936738
LanguageEN
Citations received234
References cited105

The recent expansion of democracy, what Samuel Huntington (1991) has called „the third wave,“ started in the mid-1970s, first in southern Europe, then throughout Latin America and Asian countries like Korea, Thailand and the Philippines in the early and mid-1980s, as well as in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and parts of sub-Saharan Africa in the same period. Not long ago, the overwhelming majority of the members of the United Nations had authoritarian systems. As of 1993 over half, 99 out of 186 countries, have competitive elections and various guarantees of political and individual rights, over twice the number two decades earlier in 1970 (Freedom Review, 1993, 3–4, 10). Democracy is weakest in Islamic countries, where, as will be discussed later, few nations are democratic, and in parts of Africa. However, through not fully democratic, „more than 30 African countries are in the process of transition from an authoritarian civilian or military government to one that is more pluralistic“ (Schneidman, 1992, 1; Diamond, 1992b, 38–39; Diamond, 1993b 3–4)

Authoritarianism · Democracy · Development economics · Economics · Latin Americans · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Religion and Society Interactions

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