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87 Foreign Aff. 36 (2008)
The Democratic Rollback - The Resurgence of the Predatory State

handle is hein.journals/fora87 and id is 254 raw text is: The Democratic Rollback The Resurgence of the Predatory State Larry Diamond SINCE 1974, more than 90 countries have made transitions to democ- racy, and by the turn of the century approximately 6o percent of the world's independent states were democratic. The democratization of Mexico and Indonesia in the late 199os and the more recent color revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine formed the crest of a tidal wave of democratic transitions. Even in the Arab world, the trend is visible: in 2oo5, democratic forces in Lebanon rose up to peacefully drive out Syrian troops and Iraqis voted in multiparty parliamentary elections for the first time in nearly half a century. But celebrations of democracy's triumph are premature. In a few short years, the democratic wave has been slowed by a powerful authoritarian undertow, and the world has slipped into a democratic recession. Democracy has recently been overthrown or gradually stifled in a number of key states, including Nigeria, Russia, Thailand, Venezuela, and, most recently, Bangladesh and the Philippines. In December 2007, electoral fraud in Kenya delivered another abrupt and violent setback. At the same time, most newcomers to the democratic club (and some long-standing members) have performed poorly. Even in many of the countries seen as success stories, such as Chile, Ghana, Poland, and South Africa, there are serious problems of LARRY DIAMOND is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Co-Editor of theJournalofDemocracy.This essay is adapted from his new book, The Spirit ofDemocracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World (Times Books, 2oo8), © Larry Diamond. [36]