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Gerard Alexander |
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BooksThe Sources of Democratic Consolidation (Cornell University Press, 2002) Book jacket description Why did precarious and collapsed democracies in Europe develop into highly stable democracies? Gerard Alexander offers a rational choice theory of democratic consolidation in a survey of the breakdowns of and transitions to democratic institutions. Through an analysis of developments in Spain, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, Alexander explores how key political sectors established the long-term commitment to democracy that distinguishes consolidated democracies. Alexander makes a highly accessible rationalist argument about the conditions under which such commitments emerge, arguing that powerful sectors abandon options for overthrowing democratic rules only when they predict low risks in democracy. The author's argument parallels established claims about the predictability essential to the development of modern capitalism. The Sources of Democratic Consolidation outlines Alexander's claim that a political precondition, rather than an economic or social precondition, exists for consolidated democracies. Drawing on interviews and archival research, the author links his argument to evidence from the five largest countries in Western Europe from the 1870s to the 1980s and also discusses the implications for the prospects for democratic consolidation in other regions. Political pacts, power-sharing, and institutional designs, he says, may help stabilize uncertain democracies, but they cannot create consolidation. Table of Contents Part I: Theory 1. Rational Regime Preferences in Europe 2. Democracy with Whom? Authoritarianism under Whom? 3. Predictability and Democratic Consolidation Part II: Cases Introduction: Case Selection and Measuring Independent and Dependent Variables 4. The Right and the Breakdown of Spanish Democracy, 1931-1936 5. Democratic Transition and Consolidation in Spain, 1976-1986 6. Political Risks and Regime Outcomes in Europe before 1940 7. Political Risks and Regime Outcomes in Europe after 1945 8. Consolidation into the Future and outside Europe |