Learning Objectives

After finishing this chapter, you should be able to:

  • Distinguish the core features that make a regime democratic or authoritarian.
  • Define terms like “democratization” and “competitive authoritarianism”.
  • Identify major historical trends in the development of democracy.
  • Understand what the state of democracy is today in the world.
  • Make arguments about why some countries are democratic while others are not.
  • Pinpoint the ways in which the global forces of international studies are shaping democracy.