Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation contains the first systematic comparative analysis of the process of democratic consolidation in southern Europe and the southern cone of South America, and it is the first book to ground post-Communist Europe within the literature of comparative politics and democratic theory.

List of Figures, Tables, and ExhibitsPreface and AcknowledgmentsPart I: Theoretical OverviewChapter 1. Democracy and its ArenasChapter 2. "Stateness," Nationalism, and Democratization Chapter 3. Modern Nondemocratic RegimesChapter 4. The Implications of Prior Regime Type for Transition Paths and Consolidation TasksChapter 5. Actors and ContextsPart II: Southern Europe: Completed ConsolidationsChapter 6. The Paradigmatic Case of Reforma Pactada–Ruptura Pactada: SpainChapter 7. From Interim Government to Simultaneous Transition and Consolidation: Portugal Chapter 8. Crisis of a Nonhierarchical Military Regime: GreeceChapter 9. Southern Europe: Concluding ReflectionsPart III: South America: Constrained TransitionsChapter 10. A Risk-Prone Consolidated Democracy: UruguayChapter 11. Crises of Efficacy, Legitimacy, and Democratic State "Presence": Brazil Chapter 12. From an Impossible to a Possible Democratic Game: ArgentinaChapter 13. Incomplete Transition/Near Consolidation? ChileChapter 14. South America: Concluding ReflectionsPart IV: Post-Communist Europe: The Most Complex Paths and TasksChapter 15. Post-Communism's PrehistoriesChapter 16. Authoritarian Communism, Ethical Civil Society, and Ambivalent Political Society: PolandChapter 17. Varieties of Post-Totalitarian Regimes: Hungary, Czechoslovakia, BulgariaChapter 18. The Effects of Totalitarianism-cum-Sultanism on Democratic Transition: RomaniaChapter 19. The Problems of "Stateness" and Transitions: The USSR and RussiaChapter 20. When Democracy and the Nation-State Are Conflicting Logics: Estonia and LatviaChapter 21. Post-Communist Europe: Concluding Comparative ReflectionsIndex

An absolutely major work that represents probably the most significant contribution to the burgeoning literature on democratization over the past decade and the most ambitious effort to move the debate beyond the seminal work on transition, Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Prospects for Democracy by Guillermo O'Donnell, Philippe Schmitter, and Laurence Whitehead (1986), by considering the problem of democratization in light of the dramatic regime changes in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. -- Gerardo L. Munck Slavic Review

This is an important volume by two major scholars on a central topic—one of broad interest to people in comparative politics, to those interested in democracy, and to regional specialists on Southern Latin America and on Central and Eastern Europe. The book will unquestionably be a major contribution to the literature on constructing democratic governance.—Abraham F. Lowenthal, University of Southern California

This is an important volume by two major scholars on a central topic-one of broad interest to people in comparative politics, to those interested in democracy, and to regional specialists on Southern Latin America and on Central and Eastern Europe. The book will unquestionably be a major contribution to the literature on constructing democratic governance. -- Abraham F. Lowenthal University of Southern California