1. Democratic transition – definition

Democratization is a process not exclusive to post-authoritarian societies. Even current consolidated democracies have undergone a historical process of democratic transition and their democratic systems continue to be the subject of various democratic reforms (Dahl 1998). However, the process of democratic transition from authoritarianism to democracy differs substantially from limited reforms pursued by authoritarian governments or political and legal reforms in consolidated constitutional democracies (Przeworski et al. 2000).

The possibility of democratization without democracy conducted by authoritarian regimes to actually secure their power and the risk of the ‘authoritarian backlash’ (Ambrosio 2009) are always present in democratic transitions. Democratic transitions even can be completely torn by wars, such as in post-Soviet Armenia and Georgia (Dryzek & Holmes 2002: 131-57) and modern history is full of failed or stalled democratizations, such as in Bolivia between 1977 and 1980 (Whitehead 1986: 49), Russia in the 1990s (Barany & Moser 2001) or China after the 1989 democracy movement (McCormick et al. 1992: 182). Contemporary China and its rapid economic development and societal transformation is a particularly persuasive example of specific processes of limited liberalization and participation without democracy as finality of political reforms strictly controlled and exclusively executed by the ruling Party. While some scholars predictChina’s democratic future, others ask why the country actually is not democratizing itself and whether it can emerge as democratic society (Gilley 2004).

Linzand Stepan write:

A democratic transition is complete when sufficient agreement has been reached about political procedures to produce an elected government, when a government comes to power that is the direct result of a free and popular vote, when this government de facto has the authority to generate new policies, and when the executive, legislative and judicial power generated by the new democracy does not have to share power with other bodies de jure (Linz and Stepan 1996: 3).

Democratic transitions, therefore, are contingent processes during which structural factors, group interests and the commitment of major actors often change and thus influence and redesign initial goals and systemic reforms. Though consolidated democracy is democratic transitions’ finality (Schedler 1998), the process is reversible: its final goal may not be achieved and the outcomes of democratization can be varieties of semi-democratic and/or semi-authoritarian regimes emerging on the spectrum between fully authoritarian and democratic rule.

Democratic transition thus can be defined as a political process of establishing or enlarging the possibility of democratic participation and liberalization. Liberties and rights to political participation need to be further cemented by constitution-making and the rule of law state-building. Despite the variety of democratic regimes, the common understanding of democratic transitions associates these processes with the concept of constitutional and liberal democracy (Beetham 1992: 40) and the political virtues of constitutionalism. Democratization thus involves constitutional transformations and changes commonly described as transitional justice.