Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Democratic transition is usually understood as a critical moment in historical time created by the strategic decisions of elite actors. Although such moments may be the culmination of prolonged struggles in civil society that transform the political terrain, they do not automatically create the conditions for fully consolidated democracy. Democratic transformation, transition, and consolidation are three distinct but interrelated aspects of the more encompassing process of democratization. In Latin America democratic transformation was achieved by popular struggles for citizenship rights, with urban social movements playing a leading role, but it was elite actors and political parties that forged a new democratic consensus. But the failure to instil a secure regime of universal rights, and the continuing strength of clientelist politics, led to a constricted form of democracy that remains unconsolidated. Yet the formal institutions of democratic governance appear to work reasonably well in many countries, and there is hope that democratic performance will improve.Democracy may be defined in a minimal and procedural fashion, as a political system where multiple political parties compete for control of the government through relatively free and fair elections. By this definition, the number of democracies in the world has grown from just 35 in 1974, mainly rich and industrialized ... log in or subscribe to read full text