Transitions from authoritarian rule : tentative conclusions about uncertain democracies
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
Print Book, English, 2013
Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2013
Case studies
XXII, 96 p. ; 24 cm
9781421410135, 1421410133
913071131
Foreword / Cynthia J. Arnson and Abraham F. Lowenthal
Foreword to the 1986 edition / Abraham F. Lowenthal
Preface
Introducing uncertainty
Defining some concepts (and exposing some assumptions)
Opening (and undermining) authoritarian regimes
Negotiating (and renegotiating) pacts
Resurrecting civil society (and restructuring public space)
Convoking elections (and provoking parties)
Concluding (but not capitulating) with a metaphor
Papers originally commissioned for a conference sponsored by the Latin American Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars between 1979 and 1981
Originally published as part 4 of Transitions from authoritarian rule