Democratic Transitions: Conversations with World Leaders

by Sergio Bitar (Editor), Abraham F. Lowenthal (Editor)

Overview

Thirteen former presidents and prime ministers discuss how they helped their countries end authoritarian rule and achieve democracy.

National leaders who played key roles in transitions to democratic governance reveal how these were accomplished in Brazil, Chile, Ghana, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, and Spain. Commissioned by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), these interviews shed fascinating light on how repressive regimes were ended and democracy took hold.

In probing conversations with Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Patricio Aylwin, Ricardo Lagos, John Kufuor, Jerry Rawlings, B. J. Habibie, Ernesto Zedillo, Fidel V. Ramos, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, F. W. de Klerk, Thabo Mbeki, and Felipe González, editors Sergio Bitar and Abraham F. Lowenthal focused on each leader’s principal challenges and goals as well as their strategies to end authoritarian rule and construct democratic governance. Context-setting introductions by country experts highlight each nation’s unique experience as well as recurrent challenges all transitions faced. A chapter by Georgina Waylen analyzes the role of women leaders, often underestimated. A foreword by Tunisia’s former president, Mohamed Moncef Marzouki, underlines the book’s relevance in North Africa, West Asia, and beyond.

The editors’ conclusion distills lessons about how democratic transitions have been and can be carried out in a changing world, emphasizing the importance of political leadership. This unique book should be valuable for political leaders, civil society activists, journalists, scholars, and all who want to support democratic transitions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421417615
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press / IDEA (Co-published)
Publication date:	09/15/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	488
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Sergio Bitar, president of Chile’s Foundation for Democracy, is a political leader and public intellectual. Abraham F. Lowenthal, professor emeritus of the University of Southern California, was the founding director of the Inter-American Dialogue and the Wilson Center’s Latin American Program.

Abraham F. Lowenthal is professor emeritus of the University of Southern California, president emeritus of the Pacific Council on International Policy, a nonresident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, and an adjunct professor at Brown University. He was founding director of both the Inter-American Dialogue and the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Latin American Program.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1.Brazil
Chapter 2. Chile
Chapter 3. Ghana
Chapter 4. Indonesia
Chapter 5. Mexico
Chapter 6. The Philippines
Chapter 7. Poland
Chapter 8. South Africa
Chapter 9. Spain
Chapter 10. Women Activists in Democratic Transitions
Chapter 11. From Authoritarian Rule toward Democratic Governance
Acknowledgments
About the Editors and Contributors
Selected Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Fareed Zakaria

What makes countries become successful democracies? There is much theoretical literature on the topic, but this book is different and special. It answers the question through interviews with the key players in some of the most important transitions to democracy in recent decades. The result is a fascinating empirical exploration of a vital issue, rich with detail and insights.

Philip Oxhorn

Timely and ambitious, this unique hybrid project combines practical insights for struggling proponents of democratization with important original research geared toward promoting inclusive democratic governance.

Kofi Annan

The pragmatic wisdom and unique outlook of the experienced political leaders interviewed in Democratic Transitions are critical to the global dialogue on building open, democratic, and sustainable societies. The lessons of their failures and successes can help others to overcome tenacious global challenges, and support democratic transitions of political power.

Francis Fukuyama

Democratic Transitions accomplishes a remarkable feat, providing a readable and engaging history of the Third Wave of democratization for general readers and students, while filling in countless important details that specialists will appreciate. The lessons the editors draw from the unique individuals they interviewed provide critical guidelines for future political leaders and for those who want to help build democracies.

Archie Brown

Sergio Bitar and Abraham Lowenthal have done a great job in eliciting from leaders who played crucial roles in the transition from authoritarian to democratic rule in different continents the practical lessons to be drawn from their experience. They emphasize not ‘great men’ or charismatic leaders, but rather the importance of teamwork, inclusivity, coalition-building, and patient persuasion rather than a peremptory maximalism. The leaders and authors are at one in seeing a willingness to compromise, far from being an abandonment of principle, as fundamental to the construction of genuine democracy.

Michelle Bachelet

This book provides impressive insights on how political leaders helped their countries navigate from dictatorships toward democracy. A must-read for future transitions.

From the Publisher

What makes countries become successful democracies? There is much theoretical literature on the topic, but this book is different and special. It answers the question through interviews with the key players in some of the most important transitions to democracy in recent decades. The result is a fascinating empirical exploration of a vital issue, rich with detail and insights.
—Fareed Zakaria, CNN

Democratic Transitions accomplishes a remarkable feat, providing a readable and engaging history of the Third Wave of democratization for general readers and students, while filling in countless important details that specialists will appreciate. The lessons the editors draw from the unique individuals they interviewed provide critical guidelines for future political leaders and for those who want to help build democracies.
—Francis Fukuyama, Stanford University

No one is more qualified to provide lessons about how dictatorships have been ended, and democracies constructed in their place, than the political leaders who have actually shaped successful transitions over the past 3 decades. This timely and valuable book shares the experiences, reflections and political learning of 13 such leaders from around the world. It is a 'must read' for anyone who wants to understand the complex processes of democratic transitions or to participate in them effectively.
—Moises Naim, Distinguished Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Contributing Editor, Atlantic  and El Pais

Timely and ambitious, this unique hybrid project combines practical insights for struggling proponents of democratization with important original research geared toward promoting inclusive democratic governance.
—Philip Oxhorn, McGill University

The pragmatic wisdom and unique outlook of the experienced political leaders interviewed in Democratic Transitions are critical to the global dialogue on building open, democratic, and sustainable societies. The lessons of their failures and successes can help others to overcome tenacious global challenges, and support democratic transitions of political power.
—Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, and founder and chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation for better global governance

This book provides impressive insights on how political leaders helped their countries navigate from dictatorships toward democracy. A must-read for future transitions.
—Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile

Sergio Bitar and Abraham Lowenthal have done a great job in eliciting from leaders who played crucial roles in the transition from authoritarian to democratic rule in different continents the practical lessons to be drawn from their experience. They emphasize not ‘great men’ or charismatic leaders, but rather the importance of teamwork, inclusivity, coalition-building, and patient persuasion rather than a peremptory maximalism. The leaders and authors are at one in seeing a willingness to compromise, far from being an abandonment of principle, as fundamental to the construction of genuine democracy.
—Archie Brown, author of The Myth of the Strong Leader: Political Leadership in the Modern Age

Moises Naim

No one is more qualified to provide lessons about how dictatorships have been ended, and democracies constructed in their place, than the political leaders who have actually shaped successful transitions over the past 3 decades. This timely and valuable book shares the experiences, reflections and political learning of 13 such leaders from around the world. It is a 'must read' for anyone who wants to understand the complex processes of democratic transitions or to participate in them effectively.

Editorial Reviews

"Democratic Transitions is a balanced, thoughtful, empirically-based volume that adds an important dimension to our understanding of both the theoretical and the policy issues surrounding the spread of democracy abroad. It is a major addition to the literature on post-authoritarian transitions and on the "how-to" of consolidating democracy after dictatorship. In an era of undue pessimism about the fate of democracy worldwide, it is a timely reminder of how democratic transitions can be made to work."

Orbis: A Journal of World Affairs

Democratic Transitions is a balanced, thoughtful, empirically-based volume that adds an important dimension to our understanding of both the theoretical and the policy issues surrounding the spread of democracy abroad. It is a major addition to the literature on post-authoritarian transitions and on the “how-to” of consolidating democracy after dictatorship. In an era of undue pessimism about the fate of democracy worldwide, it is a timely reminder of how democratic transitions can be made to work.
—Orbis: A Journal of World Affairs

. . . In evoking all of these collective distilled experiences from some of the world most successful politicians from recent decades, Bitar and Lowenthal also convey their passion for democracy forcefully, and they enable the college freshman and the scholar to understand better the events and processes that have shaped the world for the better in which we live.
—ReVista

From the Publisher

. . . In evoking all of these collective distilled experiences from some of the world most successful politicians from recent decades, Bitar and Lowenthal also convey their passion for democracy forcefully, and they enable the college freshman and the scholar to understand better the events and processes that have shaped the world for the better in which we live.

ReVista

Democratic Transitions is a balanced, thoughtful, empirically-based volume that adds an important dimension to our understanding of both the theoretical and the policy issues surrounding the spread of democracy abroad. It is a major addition to the literature on post-authoritarian transitions and on the “how-to” of consolidating democracy after dictatorship. In an era of undue pessimism about the fate of democracy worldwide, it is a timely reminder of how democratic transitions can be made to work.

Orbis: A Journal of World Affairs