Abstract
The term, “waves of democratization,” popularized by Huntington (1991), can be conceptualized in at least three ways: as rises in the global level of democracy, as periods of positive net transitions to democracy, and as linked sets of transitions to democracy. Each of these approaches to the concept carries distinct theoretical implications and generates somewhat different historical patterns. The three approaches are examined using four cross-national, time-series operationalizations of democracy.
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Charles Kurzman is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is currently studying the wave of democratization of the early twentieth century.
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Kurzman, C. Waves of democratization. St Comp Int Dev 33, 42–64 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02788194
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02788194