MODES OF TRANSITION AND DEMOCRATIZATION - SOUTH-AMERICA AND EASTERN-EUROPE IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

While the literature on democratization has devoted considerable atten tion to the concept of modes of transition, which captures the alterna tive ways in which transitions occur, attempts to explain the conseque nces of the mode of transition for democratic consolidation have been inconclusive. We argue that the mode of transition, defined in terms o f the identity of actors in the transition and their strategies, affec ts the pattern of elite competition, new institutional rules, and disp osition of key actors to accept or reject the new rules of the game. T he mode of transition thus helps explain whether and how democracies e merge and consolidate. The argument is substantiated through a cross-r egional comparison of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Bulgaria, Czechoslovak ia, Hungary, and Poland.