Addressing the democratic recession

Posted on April 6th, 2009 Jack No comments  Print This Post

CDACS Executive Director Barak Hoffman and I have a draft paper online.

Abstract

According to Freedom House, the number of electoral democracies has declined for three years in a row. This is the first democratic recession since the end of the Cold War. The decline, in part, stems from the policies of the Bush Administration as well as from incomplete democratic transitions. It is also the result of deliberate reforms to strengthen authoritarian regimes. Unless the Obama administration addresses the causes of the democratic recession by focusing more attention on the difficulties of democratic consolidation, it is likely to deepen.