The Consequences of Democratization

Issue Date April 2009
Volume 20
Issue 2
Page Numbers 123-137
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Since the “Third Wave” of democratic reforms got underway, a set of issues that has largely remained under-researched concerns the broad implications of political reforms: Does democracy come at a cost-be it an increase in violent conflict, slower economic growth, higher inequality, or anything else-or, on the contrary, are there virtuous transformations triggered by democratization? The paper examines some of the theoretical and empirical questions that lay behind the choice of taking democracy not as an endpoint, but as a starting point-a crucial approach for understanding the future prospects of democracy.

About the Author

Giovanni Carbone is lecturer in political science at the Università degli Studi di Milano and visiting fellow at the Crisis States Research Centre of the London School of Economics. This essay is part of a research project cofunded by the Italian Ministry of Universities and Research and the Università degli Studi di Milano.

View all work by Giovanni Carbone