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5 J. Democracy 55 (1994)
Delegative Democracy

handle is hein.journals/jnlodmcy5 and id is 53 raw text is: DELEGATIVE DEMOCRACY Guillermo O'Donnell Guillermo O'Donnell, an Argentine political scientist, is Helen Kellogg Professor of International Studies and Academic Director of the Kellogg Institute of International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. His books include Modernization and Bureaucratic-Authoritarianism (1979); Bureaucratic-Authoritarianism: Argentina, 1966-1973, in Comparative Perspective (1988); and, with Philippe Schmitter and Laurence Whitehead, Transitions from Authoritarian Rule (1986). Here I depict a new species, a type of existing democracies that has yet to be theorized. As often happens, it has many similarities with other, already recognized species, with cases shading off between the former and some variety of the latter. Still, I believe that the differences are significant enough to warrant an attempt at such a depiction. The drawing of neater boundaries between these types of democracy depends on empirical research, as well as more refined analytical work that I am now undertaking. But if I really have found a new species (and not a member of an already recognized family, or a form too evanescent to merit conceptualization), it may be worth exploring its main features. Scholars who have worked on democratic transitions and consolidation have repeatedly said that, since it would be wrong to assume that these processes all culminate in the same result, we need a typology of democracies. Some interesting efforts have been made, focused on the consequences, in terms of types of democracy and policy patterns, of various paths to democratization.' My own ongoing research suggests, however, that the more decisive factors for generating various kinds of democracy are not related to the characteristics of the preceding authoritarian regime or to the process of transition. Instead, I believe that we must focus upon various long-term historical factors, as well as the degree of severity of the socioeconomic problems that newly installed democratic governments inherit. Let me briefly state the main points of my argument: 1) Existing Journal of Democracy Vol. 5, No. 1 January 1994