-- Andrew J. Nathan, Columbia University.

ste es uno de los primeros estudios comparativos de las transiciones a la democracia de Espa a y M xico. Espa a es como un esquema para entender el proceso de democratizaci n de M xico. Ambos son tipos ideales de una transici n pactada y abrupta (Espa a) y una transici n no pactada y dilatada (M xico). En los dos pa ses, los movimientos de trabajadores y estudiantes, y los partidos pol ticos de oposici n desempe aron un papel crucial como agentes en las transiciones. Los recursos superiores de los partidos de centro-derecha en Espa a y M xico frente a los de izquierda son una variable importante para explicar los resultados de las primeras elecciones competidas en ambos casos.

For Central America, the last third of the 20th century was a time of dramatic change in which most countries shifted from dictatorships to formal political democracy. This study demonstrates how revolt and revolution served as the motors of political change in Central America. The book examines the various ways in which democratic transition has taken place - all of which have been distinct from countries in South America, where democratization was relatively sudden and peaceful. It analyzes the major forces shaping change in the region and provides the recent political history of all six Central American countries: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama. Each country's particular transition should add to the reader's understanding of democratization.

The breakdown of authoritarian regimes in Greece, Spain and Portugal in the mid-70s was the beginning of a new cycle of democratization at the world scale. The 1980s have seen the emergence of formal, constitutional democracies in many countries, especially in Latin America and Southeast Asia. This book analyses in a comparative perspective the causes, the modalities and the prospects of these political changes in three regions: Southern Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia.