{"id":252149,"date":"2026-07-13T01:47:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T22:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1kitap1.com\/en\/arduous-paths-azmi-bishara\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T01:47:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T22:47:53","slug":"arduous-paths-azmi-bishara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1kitap1.com\/en\/arduous-paths-azmi-bishara\/","title":{"rendered":"Arduous Paths – Azmi Bishara"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Instead of looking for prerequisites, Karl\u2019s model suggests that researchers focus their efforts on the following tasks: first, examining how a regime falls and the way it shapes the context for strategic interactions; second, investigating how, in turn, these interactions help to determine whether democracy will arise and endure; and third, analysing the kind of democracy that will emerge and how it will be institutionalized.11 Karl asserts that any foundational pact that sets the terms by which civic rule will be established should encompass all the major political actors, both military and civilian.<\/p>\n

This kind of pact deals with policies as well as the rules of policymaking. Only once all the conflicting forces agree to compromise can discussions on power-sharing begin. The preliminary bargain lays the foundation for mutual trust after a kind of familiarity among competing groups emerges. For Larry Diamond,12 the primary requisite for transition, apart from consensus on the state, are political actors who consider the realization of democracy to be in their interest, regardless of their reasons, an assessment that corresponds with O\u2019Donnell and Schmitter\u2019s line of thinking.<\/p>\n

In a poor country like Mali, a successful transition may be very difficult, as any external shock could destabilize the process, but, Diamond asserts, we should not dismiss the potential for success in unexpected places, even when everything points in the opposite direction.13 Thus, we return to the notion that modernization theory is useful for explaining the consolidation of democracy but not the transition from authoritarian rule to democracy.<\/p>\n

In Diamond\u2019s opinion, a democratic transition concludes when democracy, in its most basic definition, is realized: the establishment of a political system that allows the people to choose their rulers in reasonably free and fair elections in an environment with a minimum threshold of liberties and accountability between one election and the next.14 Clearly, one or even two elections are not sufficient to ascertain whether the transition has been fully completed. This underscores the importance of democratic consolidation, meaning that no major political or social force wants to change the system or has a realistic alternative vision it seeks to realize.<\/p>\n

In his response to Carothers,15 O\u2019Donnell states that there is no \u2018transition paradigm\u2019\u2014that is, no guiding model that encompasses all claims and argues that every transition from authoritarianism is a transition to democracy. After all, the democratic transition project\u2019s main work is entitled \u2018Transitions from Authoritarian Rule\u2019, not \u2018transition to democratic rule\u2019, and a central thesis of the study is that democracy is not a certain outcome of liberation from authoritarianism, which may give rise to revolutions, hybrid regimes, or even a reversion to authoritarianism.<\/p>\n

In fact, as pointed out above, the fourth volume\u2019s subtitle explicitly underlines the tentative nature of its conclusions. O\u2019Donnell et al. even developed terms that mirror what Carothers calls \u2018the grey zone\u2019.<\/p>\n

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First published in the United Kingdom in 2026 by C. Hurst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., New Wing, Somerset House, Strand, London, WC2R 1LA \u00a9 Azmi Bishara, 2026 All rights reserved. The right of Azmi Bishara to be identified as the author of this publication is asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. A Cataloguing-in-Publication data record for this book is available from the British Library.<\/p>\n

Published in collaboration with the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, Doha, Qatar. ISBN: 9781805263005 EU GPSR Authorised Representative Easy Access System Europe O\u00fc, 16879218 Address: Mustam\u00e4e tee 50, 10621, Tallinn, Estonia Contact Details: gpsr.requests@easproject.com, +358 40 500 3575 www.hurstpublishers.com 1kitap1.com\/en CONTENTS Foreword to the English Edition Introduction PART ONE 1. Modernization and the Structural Conditions for Democracy 2. Modernization Theory and Understanding Legitimacy Through the Nature of Democratic Transition 3. Modernization Theory and Democratic Transition: On the Concept of Gradual Democratization 4. The Bourgeoisie and the Emergence of Democracy 5.<\/p>\n

A Critique of Modernization Theory PART TWO: DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION STUDIES 6. The Turn to Studies of Democratic Transition and a Typology of Transitology 7. Democratic Transition Studies: Strategic Choices 8. A Critique of the \u2018Transition Paradigm\u2019 and a Response 9. Authoritarian Regimes Before and After the Transition Process PART THREE 10. A Consensus on the State: The Nation and Ethnic Groups 11.<\/p>\n

External Factors in Democratic Transitions 12. On Political Culture and Democratic Transition PART FOUR 13. On the Similarities and Differences of Reform, Revolution, and Reformist Revolutions 14. On Authoritarianism and State-Building in Revolutionary Arab Countries 15. The Military and the Resilience of Authoritarian Regimes: Observations on Chile and Egypt 16.<\/p>\n

Potential Lessons from Divergent Outcomes: The Cases of Tunisia and Egypt Concluding Remarks Select Bibliography Index 1kitap1.com\/en FOREWORD TO THE ENGLISH EDITION As I reviewed the English translation of this book in mid-2025, democratization seemed a less gripping subject than it once was, having seemingly fallen out of fashion worldwide. Since the 2010s, not only democratization, but democracy itself has been widely perceived to be in crisis.<\/p>\n

The prevailing conviction is that autocratization has pushed transitions to democracy off the world stage while liberal democracy is grappling with internal crises due to populism, identity politics, and various chauvinisms. The crisis might even pose an institutional threat within long- established democracies, particularly in the United States, where the election of Donald Trump to a second presidential term has ushered in a power-politics agenda that marginalizes democratic values in both domestic and international policies. According to the Varieties of Democracy (V- Dem) Institute 2025 report,1 democracy is on the decline worldwide.<\/p>\n

For the average person in the world, the level of democracy has dropped to its 1985 level; on a country-specific basis, it is comparable to 1996 levels. Freedom of expression has witnessed a worrying retreat, with conditions deteriorating in 44 countries in 2024, compared with 35 countries in 2023.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.<\/em><\/p>\n

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