Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies

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JHU Press, 2013 M04 15 - 96 pages

The foundational text for democratization studies for over 25 years.

Political science scholars consider the four-volume work Transitions from Authoritarian Rule to be a foundational text for studying the process of democratization, specifically in those cases where an authoritarian regime is giving way to some form of democratic government. The most important of the four books is without a doubt the fourth volume, Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies, also known as “the little green book.”

Transitions from Authoritarian Rule was the first book in any language to systematically compare the process of transition from authoritarianism across a broad range of countries. Political democracy is not the only possible outcome. Guillermo O’Donnell, Philippe C. Schmitter, and Laurence Whitehead emphasize that it's not the revolution but the transition that is critical to the growth of a democratic state. This ground-breaking insight remains highly relevant as the ramifications of the Arab Spring continue to play out.

This reissue features a new foreword by Cynthia J. Arnson, director of the Latin American Program at the Woodow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and Abraham F. Lowenthal, founding director of the Latin American Program, who wrote the original volume's foreword.

 

Contents

1 Introducing Uncertainty
1
2 Defining Some Concepts and Exposing Some Assumptions
5
3 Opening and Undermining Authoritarian Regimes
15
4 Negotiating and Renegotiating Pacts
42
5 Resurrecting Civil Society and Restructuring Public Space
55
6 Convoking Elections and Provoking Parties
66
7 Concluding but Not Capitulating with a Metaphor
75
Notes
85
Index
93
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About the author (2013)

Guillermo O'Donnell was a prominent Argentine political scientist who served as president of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) from 1988 to 1991, and was vice-president of the American Political Science Association (APSA) from 1999–2000. Philippe C. Schmitter is an Emeritus Professor of the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute.

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