THE DIFFICULT ART OF CLASSIFYING REGIMES - THE CASE OF PARAGUAY

This article deals with the difficult art of classifying political reg imes. Such classifications are important since they lay the ground for a central field of research in political science, namely the causes a nd consequences of regime changes. The article focuses on Paraguay, wh ich has experienced a process of transition from authoritarian to demo cratic rule over the past five years. Four criteria of democracy are u sed to evaluate the state of democracy in this country in early 1994: competitive elections and universal suffrage, broad and autonomous pol itical participation, political freedoms and accountability of elected organs. The investigation of the Paraguayan case highlights the probl ems involved in using a dichotomous regime variable in empirical resea rch. Paraguay is a democracy when it comes to freedom of speech, but h ardly in terms of the political situation in the countryside. It also demonstrates that the widely used Schumpeterian definition of democrac y is risky in the sense that it may conceal more than it reveals about the regime under study. Finally, the article sheds light on the need for in-depth case studies for the classification of political regimes.