DEMOCRACY AND DEMOGRAPHIC INHERITANCE - THE INFLUENCE OF MODERNITY AND PROTO-MODERNITY ON POLITICAL AND CIVIL-RIGHTS, 1965 TO 1980

Macrosocial theories of democratization point to the pluralism attenda nt on industrialization, class conflicts and alliances, the state and its social environment, and transnational linkages as influential in t he growth of political and civil rights. Unfortunately, these theories neglect the ecological and technological histories of many contempora ry states. Proto-modernity, defined as a rich demographic and institut ional inheritance rooted in the preindustrial past, is theorized to la y the foundations of pluralism and class structure, in essence allowin g some states to democratize more easily than others. In this longitud inal, cross-national analysis using data from a maximum of 83 countrie s, I find robust support for the importance of modernity and proto-mod ernity to the growth of democracy. By contrast, results are inconclusi ve on whether stratification affects democratization.