Democracy Between Consolidation and Crisis

"...a most exciting comparative study...il will become a classic in the field..." Juan J. Linz "higly illuminating,....a fine work of scholarship", Robert A. Dahl. place in countries where there are few democrats, and where, for decades, politics has been characterized by non-democratic rule? If external and internal elements allow some degree of consolidation, is a subsequent phase of crisis inevitable? These are the two important questions addressed in this insightful, comparative study of contemporary experiences in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece. The author generates and analyses various models of democractic consolidation and crisis, offering fresh evidence about the `quality' of democracy achieved in these countries.