February 09, 2009
Recent setbacks in Bolivia, Venezuela, Russia, and Georgia have raised concerns about democracy's viability in developing countries. In their CGD-sponsored book, The Fate of Young Democracies, CGD visiting fellow Ethan Kapstein and co-author Nathan Converse draw on a unique data set of every democratization episode since 1960 to explore the reasons for backsliding and reversal in the world’s fledgling democracies. In a new Q&A, the authors suggest ways the international community, President Obama, and Secretary of State Clinton can support young democracies.