Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #105369 in Books
• Published on: 1993-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Customer Reviews

A good primer on the march towards democratization
While not as heavily theoretical as some of Huntington's other works, this book is laden with apercus about why and how countries develop democracies, especially in the most recent wave (just to clarify, the first wave started in the early 1800's, the second occurred after World War II, and the third began in 1974 and included the countries liberated by the end of communism in the late 1980's.) The success of democratization is tied to various factors - the type and strength of the authoritarian regime that is facing this choice, its willingness to permit democratization, the strength of the movement that seeks to democratize, and that country's conditions (i.e. has it attempted to democratize before? How does religion affect the culture of that country?) Huntington's genius is to look at scores of seemingly disparate cases and discern patterns where democratization succeeds and fails.

An interesting side note is Huntington's analysis of why countries democratize. Each wave had its own conditions, but several variables merit mentioning. As a country industrializes, it becomes increasingly difficult for an authoritarian regime to maintain its monopoly on power, which becomes more diffused. Industrialization also fosters the growth of a questioning middle class that becomes more vocal as its wealth increases (not to mention a vibrant working class that is also a vital force for democracy, as Rueschemeyer, Stephens, and Stephens note in Capitalist Development and Democracy.) In addition, authoritarian regimes inevitably weaken over time as they fail to meet expectations and public dissatisfaction increases; they also become stale and are usually incapable of renewing themselves. They eventually lose legitimacy as the coalition of interests that supports them begins to splinter. Just a few more headaches for Jiang Jemin and his crew.

Samuel Huntington, "The Third Wave"
"The Third Wave" by Samuel Huntington is a good introduction into democratization studies. Huntington, same as in his other books, uses a light style without too much specialist vocabulary and gives numerous fascinating examples from the history of the countries that underwent systemic transformation after 1974. Since his book is a comparative study, though, it leaves out many details crucial for understanding the specific path of democratization adopted in a given country. It also does not pay enough attention to the process of consolidation which has just began when the book was published. "The Third Wave, however, is just the right book for a beginning democratization student. I think even the critics of "The Clash of Civilizations" will be satisfied with "The Third Wave", which is less ideological and more fact-focused than Huntongton's most famous work.

Kamil Marcinkiewicz
University of Passau, Germany

Setting the standard for democracy...
While somewhat dated (the book was published in 1991), Huntington lays out a clear analysis of what led to the "third wave" of democratic development around the world.

He considers the third wave as the countries that became democratic between 1973 and 1990 but it could be argued that, with changes in the Balkans and the "color revolutions" in Georgia, Ukraine and elsewhere, the third wave continued into the beginning of the 21st century. He looks at the authoritarian regimes that gave way to democracy and breaks the process down into transformations (authoritarian governments taking the lead in changing to democracy), replacements (opposition leaders moving a country to democracy) and transplacements (government and opposition negotiating the transition to democracy). In many cases this meant that reformers in the government and moderates in the opposition compromised to bring about the change. Huntington avoids predictions about the future, thereby avoiding mistakes where subsequent years could have proved him wrong.

My standard for a "real democracy" has been whether or not there could be a peaceful transfer of power. Huntington sets the bar much higher - to consider democracy as taking hold there has to have been two peaceful transfers of power.