The End of the Transition Paradigm

Issue Date January 2002
Volume 13
Issue 1
Page Numbers 5-21
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Must countries where authoritarian regimes have fallen therefore be “in transition” to democracy? Many democracy promoters seem to think so. Yet trends on the ground in country after country are raising doubts about whether it is true or useful to think of democracy’s prospects in this way.

About the Author

Thomas Carothers is the Harvey V. Fineberg Chair and director of the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His most recent book is Democracies Divided: The Global Challenge of Political Polarization (2019, coedited with Andrew O’Donohue).

View all work by Thomas Carothers

Further Reading

Volume 16, Issue 4

The Emperor Has No Clothes

What can be done with regimes that proclaim their devotion to democratic principles but violate them in practice?

Volume 14, Issue 1

Deliberalization in Jordan

After a decade of partial liberalization begun by the late King Hussein, freedoms are now being rolled back by an anxious regime.

Volume 13, Issue 1

South Asia Faces the Future: Democracy on Hold in Pakistan

After September 11 and the start of the U.S.-led war on terrorists in Afghanistan, the Pakistani military regime of Pervez Musharraf found itself at the center of world attention. What…