Basic Documents

The process of democratization is a long and complicated one. Despite its increasing relevance, the consolidation of democracy is neither an easy, nor a monolithic process. There is great debate within the field about possible pre-conditions for democracy as well as the very origins of the democratization drive and the process of popular political participation. The texts listed here represent some of the classical studies of this process.

• What is Democracy
• Basic Readings in U.S. Democracy
• The Warsaw Declaration
Copp, David, Hampton, Jean & Roemer, John (eds.): The Idea of Democracy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).
• Dahl, Robert: Democracy and its Critics, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989).
• Di Palma, Giuseppe: To Craft Democracies, (Berkeley, CA: The University of California Press, 1990).
• Diamond, Larry”: Consolidating Democracy: Toward Consolidation (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1999).
• Dryzek, John S.: Democracy in Capitalist Times, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996).
• Dunn, John, ed.: Democracy, The Unfinished Journey, 508 BC to AD 1993, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992).
• Elster, Jon ed.: Deliberative Democracy, (Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
• Holmes, Stephen: “Constitutionalism,” in Seymour Martin Lipset, ed., Encyclopedia of Democracy.
• Lijphart, Arend: Electoral Systems and Party Systems (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994).
• Linz, Juan J. and Stepan, Alfred: Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1996).
• Moore, Barrington: Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1993).
• O’Donnell, Guillermo, Schmitter, Philippe & Whitehead, Laurence: Transitions from Authoritarian Rule (1986).