Forum on The End of the Transition Paradigm

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Other

Forum on The End of the Transition Paradigm

By Thomas Carothers

Published on Jul 1, 2002

Source: Carnegie

A forum responding to Thomas Carothers' "The End of the Transition Paradigm," which was published in January 2002 in The Journal of Democracy. The forum includes contributions by Guillermo O'Donnell, Ghia Nodia, Kenneth Wollack, Gerald Hyman, and "A Reply to My Critics" by Thomas Carothers.

Guillermo O'Donnell argues that the scholarly literature on democratic transitions is more subtle than the practitioner approach to democracy promotion described by Carothers. Ghia Nodia defends the transition paradigm as a way of measuring how near or far a given country is from democracy, which is still the only desirable goal of government evolution. Kenneth Wollack of the National Democratic Institute and Gerald Hyman of USAID argue for the efficacy of democracy promotion programs based on prevailing ideas of democratic transition. Finally, Thomas Carothers addresses each of these authors' essays.

Full text is available only from The Journal of Democracy.

About the Author

Thomas Carothers

Harvey V. Fineberg Chair for Democracy Studies; Director, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program

Thomas Carothers, director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, is a leading expert on comparative democratization and international support for democracy.

Recent Work

Paper
The Effects of U.S. Democratic Backsliding on U.S. Power
- Thomas Carothers
Paper
Post-U.S. International Democracy Support: Aspiration in Search of Substance
- Richard Youngs, Thomas Carothers

Political Reform Democracy Trade Foreign Policy

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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