Democracy from Above: Regional Organizations and Democratization

✍ Scribed by Jon C. Pevehouse

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 264
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Few scholars have systematically examined whether the world outside a state's borders can influence the prospects for democracy. Jon Pevehouse argues that regional organizations, such as the European Union and the Organization of American States, can have an important role in both the transition to, and the longevity of, democracy. Combining statistical analysis and case study evidence, Pevehouse finds that regional organizations can be a potent force for instilling and protecting democracy throughout the world.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Tables......Page 10
Acknowledgments......Page 13
Abbreviations......Page 15
1 Democratization and international relations......Page 17
The second image reversed......Page 20
Domestic actors and international institutions......Page 21
The forgotten nexus......Page 24
Organization of the book......Page 28
Regional organizations and democratic transitions......Page 31
Regional IOs and transitions: pressure for liberalization in autocratic systems......Page 32
Regional IOs and transitions: societal elites and acquiescence to liberalization......Page 36
Legitimizing transitional governments......Page 41
Regional organizations and democratic consolidation......Page 43
The perils of consolidation......Page 44
Losers and the threat to new democracies......Page 45
Winners, credible commitments, and the threat to democracy......Page 48
Regional organizations and democratic consolidation......Page 53
Regional IOs and consolidation: binding winners by creating credible commitments......Page 54
Regional IOs and consolidation: binding and bribing losers......Page 56
The supply-side of democratization......Page 62
Regional versus non-regional organizations......Page 65
Foundation or fig leaf? A realist account of regional institutions and democracy......Page 67
The dependent variables: democratic transitions and democratic consolidation......Page 72
Descriptive statistics: democratic transitions and democratic consolidation......Page 80
The independent variable: regional international organizations......Page 83
Coding IO membership......Page 86
General statistical trends: IO membership and democratization......Page 89
Conclusion......Page 92
4 Regional organizations and the transition to democracy......Page 93
Testing the argument: general transitions......Page 95
Statistical results: general transitions......Page 100
Additional tests: assessing possible omitted variables and simultaneity......Page 105
Testing the argument: modeling political liberalization......Page 108
Statistical results: liberalization......Page 109
Testing the argument: completing the transition to democracy......Page 112
Statistical results: completing the transition......Page 113
Additional tests on completing the transition: omitted variables and robustness checks......Page 115
Statistical results: full transitions......Page 118
Additional tests on full transitions: omitted variables and robustness checks......Page 120
Conclusion......Page 121
Appendix......Page 123
Case selection......Page 127
Reviewing the causal mechanisms: transitions to democracy......Page 130
Hungary: completing the transition to democracy......Page 131
Background......Page 132
Encouraging the completion of democracy: causal mechanisms......Page 133
The acquiescence effect: civil-military relations in transition......Page 134
The symbolic effects of IOs......Page 137
Direct economic benefits......Page 140
Hungary: discussion and conclusion......Page 142
Peru: a partial success......Page 143
Round 1: Peruvian democracy and the autogolpe......Page 144
IOs and democratization: the pressure of the OAS......Page 145
Did the OAS make a difference? Political will and the realist hypothesis......Page 147
Round 2: tainted elections and the OAS......Page 150
The OAS and the fall of Fujimori......Page 152
Conclusion: Peruvian democracy and the OAS......Page 153
The cycles of Turkish democracy......Page 154
IOs and democratic backsliding: failed causal mechanisms?......Page 156
IOs and Turkey: the pressure for liberalization......Page 161
Epilogue: Turkish democracy into the twenty-first century......Page 164
Conclusion......Page 165
Conclusion: assessing the transition cases......Page 166
6 Regional organizations and democratic consolidation......Page 170
Testing the argument......Page 171
Modeling regime duration......Page 172
Statistical results......Page 174
Assessing alternative hypotheses and omitted variable bias......Page 179
Selection effects?......Page 181
Conclusion......Page 182
Appendix......Page 184
Greece: European institutions and consolidation......Page 185
Greece: background......Page 186
IO membership and democratic consolidation: the causal mechanisms......Page 188
The EC and institutional change......Page 191
Critiques of the argument......Page 192
The EC as a determinant of the transition?......Page 194
Paraguay: MERCOSUR and fragile consolidation......Page 195
Paraguay: the last banana republic?......Page 196
The "almost" coup......Page 197
A second presidential crisis......Page 199
IOs and consolidation: mechanisms at work in Paraguay......Page 200
Guatemala: a foiled autogolpe and the OAS......Page 202
Guatemala: democratic history......Page 203
A Central American autogolpe......Page 204
The deterrent effect of the OAS......Page 206
Other mechanisms and arguments......Page 208
Conclusion......Page 209
Conclusion: assessing the consolidation cases......Page 210
Discussion: assessing the six case studies......Page 212
The argument......Page 215
The findings......Page 218
International relations theory......Page 222
Comparative politics......Page 224
Policymaking......Page 226
Future research avenues......Page 229
Epilogue: Venezuela, the OAS, and United States foreign policy......Page 232
Conclusion......Page 233
References......Page 235
Index......Page 259