Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

In recent decades, modernization theory has been challenged. Studies have found that richer countries are more likely to maintain democratic rule, but that the initial transition to democracy is unrelated to economic development, or that even the former relationship is spurious, disappearing once country fixed-effects are accounted for. Others counter that the relationship between development and democracy is restored if historical data stretching back to the nineteenth century is incorporated, if different estimators are used, or when conditioning the relationship on institutional or leadership changes taking place. Thus, the modernization debate, at present, rests upon a complex set of modeling …

How does democracy develop throughout a country once leaders in the national capital introduce or expand civil liberties and hold competitive elections—in other words, after democratic transition? The subnational democracy literature has shown that non-democratic subnational political regimes can endure within countries even after democratic transition. Yet, the democratic consolidation literature has not addressed how these enclaves are eliminated throughout the country or the territorial consolidation of democracy. This paper offers an explanation for the territorial consolidation of democracy. We argue that greater corruption control, a shift toward a unitary system of government, and a move toward centralized candidate selection …