Democracy in Retreat

Since the end of the Cold War the assumption among most political theorists has been that as nations develop economically they will also become more democratic - especially if a vibrant middle class takes root. This assumption underlies the expansion of the European Union and much of American foreign policy bolstered by such examples as South Korea the Philippines Taiwan and even to some extent Russia. The author investigates the state of democracy in a variety of countries why the middle class has turned against democracy in some cases and whether the decline in global democratization is reversible.