Karpovich, O. G. Democratization in Modern Concepts Presented by Russian and American Researchers

Abstract: At the present time Western and Russian researchers are paying much attention to one of the forms of political process – democratization. This may be due to the fact that over the last few decades many countries have been facing the collapse of authoritarian regimes and consequently attempts to establish the democracy institutions. One of the researchers in this sphere, S. Huntington, called that process ‘the third wave of democratization’ that covered a significant number of countries. However, noteworthy that the history of the countries which have experienced the third wave of democratization partly rejected Huntington’s conclusions. Their political development has demonstrated how controversial and complex this process is. A bright example is the other side of democratization – establishment of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes in the former USSR countries.

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