Parties, Movements, and Democracy in the Developing World

A comparative study of the role of political parties and movements in the founding and survival of developing world democracies.

Nancy Bermeo (Edited by), Deborah J. Yashar (Edited by)

9781316610053, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 8 February 2018

241 pages, 7 b/w illus. 9 tables
23 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.38 kg

'Parties, Movements, and Democracy in the Developing World makes a major contribution to the comparative study of democratization. Bermeo and Yashar make a compelling case that strictly materialist theories - which take for granted the centrality of class cleavages and class-based identities and organizations - are insufficient to understand democratization movements in the developing world. In Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, class is but one of multiple cleavages around which actors mobilize. The chapters in this volume map out the diversity of collective organizations that make up contemporary democratization movements, and they provide new theoretical tools to understand the consequences of that diversity. The chapters take history seriously, showing how the organizational legacies of authoritarian rule and transitions shape subsequent party system and regime trajectories. I learned much from this book. It is required reading for anyone interested in regime change or party systems in the developing world.' Steven Levitsky, Harvard University, Massachusetts

This volume analyzes regime politics in the developing world. By focusing on the civilian, collective actors that forge democracy and sustain it, this book moves beyond materialist arguments focusing on gross domestic product (GDP), poverty, and inequality. With case material from four continents, this volume emphasizes the decisive role played by parties and movements in forging democracy against the odds. These pivotal collectivities are consistently the key civilian collectivities that successfully mobilized for democracy, that helped forge enduring democratic institutions, and that shaped the quality of the democracies that emerged; they are the ones tasked with mobilizing along a range of social cleavages, confronting seemingly inhospitable conditions, and coordinating the process of regime change. While the presence of parties and movements alone is not sufficient to explain democracy, their absence is detrimental to enduring democratic regimes. Thus, this volume refocuses our attention on parties and movements as critical mechanisms of regime change.

1. Parties, movements and the making of democracy Nancy Bermeo and Deborah J. Yashar
2. The content of democracy: nationalist parties and inclusive ideologies in India and Indonesia Maya Tudor and Dan Slater
3. Social cleavages, political parties, and the building of performance legitimacy in Southeast Asia Erik Martinez Kuhonta
4. Democratic divergence and party systems in Latin America's third wave Kenneth M. Roberts
5. Strong parties, weak parties: divergent pathways to democracy in sub-Saharan Africa Rachel Beatty Riedl
6. Parties in transitional democracies: authoritarian legacies and post-authoritarian challenges in the Middle East and North Africa Ellen Lust and David Waldner
7. Mechanisms matter Nancy Bermeo and Deborah J. Yashar.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP], Religion & politics [HRAM2], Social & cultural history [HBTB]