The Routledge Handbook of Autocratization comprehensively and systematically explores the current understanding, and unchartered research paths, of autocratization.With wide-reaching regional coverage and expert analysis from Asia, North and South America, Europa, the Middle East, and North Africa, this handbook reveals cross-country, and cross-regional, analysis and insights and presents in-depth explanations and consequences of autocratization. Arranged in five thematic ...

This book deals with post-Cold War processes of autocratization, that is, regime change towards autocracy. While these processes are growing in number and frequency, autocratization remains a relatively understudied phenomenon, especially its most recent manifestations. In this volume, the authors offer one of the first cross-regional comparative analyses of the recent processes of regime change towards autocracy. Building on an original conceptual framework, the two authors engage in the ...

While the process of democratization is nowadays an established scholarship, the reverse process of de-democratization has generated less attention even when the regression or even breakdown of democracy occurred on a regular basis over past decades.This book investigates both the different combination of explanatory factors triggering the transition from democratic rule as well as the role of the actors’ involved in the process. It aims to integrate different levels of analysis an...

At first, it was believed that accession to the EU would have a positive effect on the process of democratization in former communist countries. However, over time it became clear that difficulties with the democratic system endured in a number of these countries.This book reconsiders the results of the process of democratization in Central and Eastern Europe and evaluates the nature and effectiveness of the Europeanization process. It comparatively explores the process of democrat...

The State of Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe brings together scholars specialising in the study of Central and Eastern Europe, and provides a comprehensive analysis of some of the major issues in the democratic make-up of the EU’s new member states. The book covers the main dimensions of the state, and contributors discuss questions about the development of democracy in Central and Eastern Europe over the past twenty years.What is the present state of democracy in Central a...

The effectiveness and capacity of survival of democratic regimes has been recently and widely questioned in the public and political debate. Both democratic institutions and political actors are increasingly confronted with rapid economic and societal transformations that, at least according to some observers and commentators, they not seem to be ready or equipped to manage effectively.This book evaluates and challenges recent scholarly literature on the quality of democracy. It pr...

Arend Lijphart is one of the world's leading and most influential political scientists whose work has had a profound impact on the study of democracy and comparative politics.Thinking about Democracy draws on a lifetime's experience of research and publication in this area and collects together for the first time his most significant and influential work. The book also contains an entirely new introduction and conclusion where Professor Lijphart assesses the development of...

A rigorous and comprehensive account of recent democratic transitions around the worldFrom the 1980s through the first decade of the twenty-first century, the spread of democracy across the developing and post-Communist worlds transformed the global political landscape. What drove these changes and what determined whether the emerging democracies would stabilize or revert to authoritarian rule? Dictators and Democrats takes a comprehensive look at the tran...

Is democratic governance good for economic prosperity? Does it accelerate progress towards social welfare and human development? Does it generate a peace-dividend and reduce conflict at home? Within the international community, democracy and governance are widely advocated as intrinsically desirable goals. Nevertheless, alternative schools of thought dispute their consequences and the most effective strategy for achieving critical developmental objectives. This book argues that both libera...

This open access book is the first monograph that brings together insights from comparative politics, political sociology, and migration studies to introduce the current state of knowledge on external voting and transnational politics. Drawing on new data gathered within the DIASPOlitic project, which created a comparative dataset of external voting results for 6 countries of origin and 17 countries of residence as well as an extensive qualitative dataset of 80 in-depth interviews with fou...

The European Union (EU) is facing one of the rockiest periods in its existence. No time in its history has it looked so economically fragile, so unsecure about how to protect its borders, so divided over how to tackle the crisis of legitimacy facing its institutions, and so under assault of Eurosceptic parties. The unprecedented levels of integration in recent decades have led to increased public contestation, yet at the same the EU is more reliant on public support for its continued legit...

The Routledge Handbook of Comparative Political Institutions (HCPI) is designed to serve as a comprehensive reference guide to our accumulated knowledge and the cutting edge of scholarship about political institutions in the comparative context. It differs from existing handbooks in that it focuses squarely on institutions but also discusses how they intersect with the study of mass behaviour and explain important outcomes, drawing on the perspective of comparative politics. The Handbook i...