Drawn from outstanding articles published in the Journal of Democracy, The Global Divergence of Democracies follows the enthusiastically received earlier volume, The Global Resurgence of Democracy. The tremendous momentum of democratic expansion that characterized the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s has drawn to a halt. Significantly, this halt has not yet been followed by a "reverse wave"of democratic breakdowns, and democracy remains unchallenged as a global model and ideal of governance. The values of freedom, human rights, and popular sovereignty have continued to gain strength in the world. The first section of The Global Divergence of Democracies presents a few outstanding examples of the accumulating body of argument and evidence in favor of the universality of democratic principles and their basic compatibility with diverse religious and cultural traditions. Nonetheless, in practice, the performance of the world's newer democracies has become increasingly varied, a trend reflected in the title of this volume: The Global Divergence of Democracies. The divergence in the quality or depth of democracy is matched by a parallel divergence in progress toward the consolidation of democracy. The second section of this volume is devoted to the hotly contested debate among leading scholars of comparative democracy of the utility and meaning of the concept of consolidation. A third section examines some of the key building blocks of successful democracy, including political party systems, elections, federalism, the rule of law, a market economy, an independent judiciary, and civilian control of the military. The volume concludes with a series of appraisals of the divergent paths that democracy is taking both among and within various regions of the world, as well as in such key countries as Russia and China. With contributions by more than thirty of the world's leading scholars of democracy, this volume presents the most comprehensive assessment available of the state of democracy in the world at the beginning of the new millennium.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Acknowledgments Introduction - Larry Diamond and Marc F. Plattner I - Democracy and Liberty: Universal Values? 1 Democracy as a Universal Value - Amartya Sen 2 Buddhism, Asian Values, and Democracy - His Holiness the Dalai Lama 3 Confucianism and Democracy - Francis Fukuyama 4 Muslims and Democracy - Abdou Filali-Ansary 5 How Far Can Free Government Travel? - Giovanni Sartori 6 Democracy and Liberty: The Cultural Connection - Russell Bova 7 From Liberalism to Liberal Democracy - Marc F. Plattner II - Consolidating Democracy 8 Toward Consolidated Democracies - Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan 9 Illusions about Consolidation - Guillermo O'Donnell 10 O'Donnell's "Illusions": A Rejoinder - Richard Gunther, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, and Hans Jurgen Puhle 11 Illusions and Conceptual Flaws: A Response - Guillermo O'Donnell 12 What Is Democratic Consolidation? - Andreas Schedler III - Foundations of Successful Democracy 13 What Makes Democracies Endure? - Adam Przeworski, Michael Alvarez, Jose Antonio Cheibub, and Fernando Limongi 14 Party Systems in the Third Wave - Scott Mainwaring 15 What Makes Elections Free and Fair? - Jorgen Elklit and Palle Svenson 16 Federalism and Democracy: Beyond the U.S. Model - Alfred Stepan 17 Markets, Law, and Democracy - Charles Fried 18 Free Politics and Free Markets in Latin America - Jorge I. Dominguez 19 A New Jurisprudence for Africa - H. Kwasi Prempeh 20 How Democracies Control the Military - Richard H. Kohn IV - Prospects and Challenges for Democracy in the New Century 21 A Quarter-Century of Declining Confidence - Susan J. Pharr, Robert D. Putnam, and Russell J. Dalton 22 Latin America at the Century's Turn - Abraham F. Lowenthal 23 The Postcommunist Divide - Jacques Rupnik 24 Putin's Russia: One Step Forward Two Steps Back - Michael McFaul 25 Will China Democratize? - Michel Oksenberg 26 Is Pakistan the (Reverse) Wave of the Future? - Larry Diamond Index