Confronting the Weakest Link

Aiding Political Parties in New Democracies

Bibliographic Data

ID6318432
AuthorsRegina Smyth (0009-0008-5102-2898, Indiana University, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume5
Issue3
Pages653-655
Publication date2007-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePerspectives on Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1537-5927 • E-ISSN: 1541-0986
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1537592707071952
OpenAlexW2149905273
LanguageEN
Citations received11

Confronting the Weakest Link: Aiding Political Parties in New Democracies. By Thomas Carothers. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2006. 272p. $57.95 cloth, $22.95 paper. Thomas Carothers is a leading voice in the investigation of the success and failure of democratic transitions. Writing from the viewpoint of a practitioner, Carothers provides a unique perspective on the scholarly discussion of democratic transition and the actions of democracy assistance organizations. His previous insights into the weakness of the “transition paradigm” or modal framework that scholars use to study democratic transitions underscored important flaws: the expectation of linear democratic development, the lack of attention to state building, and the focus on democracy as the only potential outcome of the process. While most of these flaws have been extensively addressed in the second wave of literature on postcommunist transitions and other regions, it is undeniable that much of the early work suffered from a sort of groupthink that drew overly optimistic predictions about the success of regime transitions

Contingency · Democracy · Economics · Endowment · Epistemology · Law and economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Sociology · State (computer science · Transition (genetics · Law · Political Conflict and Governance

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