Synopsis

If the past is any guide, many of the new "Third Wave" democracies can be expected to fall by the wayside. Moreover, a significant part of the world's peoples do not enjoy democratic government. This volume brings together studies of many of the small number of previously established states that have retained and/or restored democracy despite, in many cases, formidable economic, social or political challenges. It seeks to establish common themes, whether or not they appear to fit a grand causal theory. It is, after all, the very adaptability of democratic systems that characterizes their persistence, durability and resilience.

Contents

• Democratic society and its enemies, Anthony Arblaster;
• enduring elite democracy in Botswana, Kenneth Good;
• democracy in the Commonwealth Caribbean, Paul Sutton;
• why Costa Rica remains a democracy, Lloyd Pettiford;
• the possibility of democratic consolidation in Ghana, Jeff Haynes;
• parties and the people - India's changing party system and the resilience of democracy, Subrata Kumar Mitra;
• Israel's democracy at 50 - from resilience to residue?, Clive Jones;
• the consolidation of democracy in Mauritius, Barbara Wake Carroll, Terrance Carroll;
• survival of an imperfect democracy in the Phillippines, James Putzel;
• political space in South East Asia - "Asian-Style and Other Democracies", Kevin Hewison; Venezuela - degenerative democaracy, Julia Buxton.