Center for the Study of Democracy

During the past three decades, democracy has become a truly global phenomenon. This chapter discusses the important characteristics of the third wave of democratization in comparison to the earlier waves. How have the ordinary citizens of new democracies reacted to the process of democratizing their age-old authoritarian rule? How broadly and strongly have they embraced the values and norms of democracy as a political system and as a political process while rejecting those of authoritarian rule? What forces have oriented them toward or away from democracy? This essay addresses these two sets of questions concerning the contours, dynamics, and sources of the current wave of democratization still in progress from the perspectives of ordinary citizens.