Recent studies of democratization generally emphasize the role of elites and political pacts in transitions to democracy. They usually give little attention to the institutional conditions for elite's successful pact making. This article argues that although choices by elites are important, pact making does require certain institutional conditions. By examining the democratization experiences of Spain, Brazil, the Soviet Union, and China in 1989, this article argues that only some types of authoritarian regimes have the historical possibility of following a pacted transition. Specifically, the author argues that corporatist regimes have unique advantages in following such a path. On the other hand, the totalitarian institutional legacies of once-entrenched communist regimes left democratic oppositions as broadly based social movements and their leaders with strong populist tendencies. These, the author argues, create structural obstacles to democratization through elite's pactmaking for these regimes.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Almond, Gabriel A. , & Verba, Sidney. (1963). The civic culture. Boston: Little, Brown.
2.
Amodia, Jose . (1977). Franco's political legacy. London: Penguin.
3.
Amsden, Jon . (1972). Collective bargaining and class conflict in Spain. London: London School of Economic and Political Science.
4.
Arango, E. Ramon . (1978). The Spanish political system: Franco's legacy. Boulder: Westview.
5.
Baretta, Silvio R. Duncan , & Markoff, John. (1987). Brazil's Abetura: A transition from what to what? In James M. Malloy & Mitchell A. Seligson (Eds.), Authoritarians and democrats: Regime transition in Latin America. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
6.
Brzezinski, Zbigniew K. , & Friedrich, Carl J. (1956). Totalitarian dictatorship and autocracy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
7.
Cohen, Youssef . (1989). The manipulation of consent: The state and working-class conciousness in Brazil. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
8.
Comisso, Ellen . (1991). Political coalitions, economic choices. Journal of International Affairs, 45, 1-30.
9.
Erickson, Kenneth Paul . (1977). The Brazilian corporative state and working-class politics. Berkeley: University of California Press.
10.
Fishman, Robert M. (1982). The labor movement in Spain: From authoritarianism to democracy. Comparative Politics, 14, 281-305.
11.
Fishman, Robert M. (1990). Working-class organization and the return to democracy in Spain. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
12.
Garcia-Nieto, Juan N. (1978). Workers' participation in management in Spain (Research Series No. 35). Barcelona: International Institute for Labour Studies.
13.
Gunther, Richard , Suni, Giacomo, & Shabad, Goldie. (1986). Spain after Franco: The making of a competitive party system. Berkeley: University of California Press.
14.
Hagopian, Frances . (1990). Democracy by undemocratic means? Elites, political pacts, and regime transition in Brazil. Comparative Political Studies, 23, 147-170.
15.
Hall, Michael M. , & Garcia, Marcom Aurelio. (1989). Urban labor. In Michael L. Conniff & Franj D. McCann (Eds.), Modern Brazil: Elites and masses in historical perspective (pp. 161-191). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
16.
Hertz, John . (Ed.). (1982). From dictatorship to democracy: Coping with the legacies of authoritarianism and totalitarianism. Westwood, CT: Greenwood.
17.
Higley, John , & Burton, Michael G. (1989). The elite variable in democratic transitions and breakdown. American Sociological Review, 54(1), 17-32.
18.
Higley, John , & Gunther, Richard. (1991). Elites and democratic consolidation in Latin America and Southern Europe. New York: Cambridge University Press.
19.
Huntington, Samuel . (1992). How countries democratize. Political Science Quarterly, 106, 579-616.
20.
Institute for the Study of Chinese Communist Problems . (1989). The truth of fire and blood: A documentary on the pro-democracy movement in mainland China in 1989. Taipei, Taiwan: Author.
21.
Jowitt, Ken . (1991). Weber, Trotsky and Holmes on the study of Leninist regimes. Journal of International Affairs, 45, 31-50.
Karl, Terry Lynn . (1990). Dilemmas of democratization in Latin America. Comparative Politics, 23, 1-21.
24.
Keck, Margaret. E. (1989). The new unionism in the Brazilian transition. In Alfred Stepan (Ed.), Democratizing Brazil: Prolems of transition and consolidation. New York: Oxford University Press.
25.
Kuran, Timur . (1991). Now out of never: The element of surprise in the East European revolution of 1989. World Politics, 44, 7-48.
26.
Linz, Juan , & Stepan, Alfred. (1992). Political identities and electoral sequences: Spain, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia. Daedalus, 121, 123-139.
27.
Mainwaring, Scott . (1987). Urban popular movements, identity, and democratization in Brazil. Comparative Political Studies, 20, 131-159.
28.
Malefakis, Edward . (1982). Spain and its Francoist heritage. In John H. Herz (Ed.), From dictatorship to democracy. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
29.
Mandelbaum, Michael . (1992). Coupe de grâce: The end of the Soviet Union. Foreign Affairs, 71, 164-183.
30.
Markoff, John , & Baretta, Silvio R. Duncan. (1990). Economic crisis and regime change in Brazil: The 1960s and the 1980s. Comparative Politics, 22, 421-444.
31.
McDonough, Peter . (1982). Repression and representation in Brazil. Comparative Politics, 73-99.
32.
Mericle, Kenneth S. (1977). Corporatist control of the working class: Authoritarian Brazil since 1964. In James M. Malloy (Ed.), Authoritarianism and corporatism in Latin America. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
33.
Mujul-Leon, Eusebio . (1983). Communist and political change in Spain. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
34.
Oberschall, Anthony . (1980). Loosely structured collective conflict: A theory and an application. In Louis Kriesberg (Ed.), Research in social movements, conflicts and change (Vol. 3). Green-wich, CT: JAI.
35.
O'Donnell, Guillermo . (1973). Modernization and bureaucratic - authoritarianism: Studies in South American politics. Berkeley: University of California, Institute of International Studies.
36.
O'Donnell, Guillermo . (1986). Introduction to the Latin American cases. In Guillermo O'Donnell, Philippe C. Schmitter, & Laurence Whitehead (Eds.), Transitions from authoritarian rule: Prospects for democracy (Vol. 2). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
37.
O'Donnell, Guillermo , & Schmitter, Philippe C. (1986). Transitions from authoritarian rule: Tentative conclusions about uncertain democracy. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
38.
Oliver, E. Pamela . (1989). Bring the crowd back in: The nonorganizational elements of social movements. In Louis Kriesberg (Ed.), Research in social movements, conflicts and change (Vol. 11). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
39.
Pakulski, Jan . (1988). Social movements in comparative perspective. In Louis Kriesberg & Bronislaw Misztal (Eds.), Research in social movements, conflicts and change (Vol. 10). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
40.
Payne, Leigh A. (1991). Working class strategies in the transition to democracy in Brazil. Comparative Politics, 23, 221-238.
41.
Remmer, Karen L. (1991). New wine or old bottlenecks? The study of Latin American democracy. Comparative Politics, 23, 479-466.
Schmitter, Philippe C. (1971). Interest conflict and political change in Brazil. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
44.
Schmitter, Philippe C. (1974). Still the century of corporatism? In Fredrick Pike & Thomas Stritch (Eds.), The new corporatism. Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame Unversity Press.
45.
Selcher, Wayne A. (1986). Contradictions, dilemmas, and actors in Brazil's Abertura, 1979-1985. In Wayne A. Selcher (Ed.), Political liberalization in Brazil. Boulder, CO: Westview.
46.
Share, Donald . (1982). The making of Spanish democracy. New York: Praeger.
47.
Share, Donald , & Mainwaring, Scott. (1986). Transitions through transaction: Democratization in Brazil and Spain. In Wayne A. Selcher (Ed.), Political liberalization in Brazil. Boulder, CO: Westview.
48.
Smith, Peter H. (1991). Crisis and democracy in Latin America. World Politics, 43, 608-634.
Tavares de Almeida , Maria Herminia. (1987). Novo Sindicalismo and politics in Brazil. In John D. Wirth (Ed.), State and society in Brazil: Continuity and change. Boulder, CO: Westview.
51.
Valenzuela, J. Samuel . (1989). Labor movements in transitions to democracy: A framework of analysis. Comparative Politics, 21, 445-472.
52.
Viola, Eduardo , & Mainwaring, Scott. (1984). Transitions to democracy: Brazil and Argentina in the 1980s (Working Paper No. 21). University of Notre Dame, The Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies.
