POLI 212 Quiz: Thomas Carothers Summary.pdf
23 Apr 2014
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Carothers argues that in the last quarter of the twentieth century, a trend of democratization appeared to occur in southern eruope, latin america, east and south. Asia, eastern europe, the soviet union, sub-saharan africa, and in some limited way, in the middle east. He credits this third wave as giving rise to the transition paradigm. He argues however, that it is increasingly clear that reality is no longer conforming to the model . As carothers argues, the transition paradigm has ve core assumptions. First, it assumes a linear movement away from authoritarianism and towards democracy. Second, it goes through this process sequentially in terms of opening, breakthrough, and consolidation. Third, elections are assumed to be not only a foundation stone but. A key generator over time of further democratic reforms . Fourth, structural features (such as socio-economic conditions and institutionalized legacies) are considered largely irrelevant to the democratization process.
