subjects may exit. In a simple model, both kinds of competition are substitutes. Internal competition (democracy) benefits … democracy, and rulers are less eager to oppose it, when external competition is high. In a panel of countries, there are fewer … changes towards democracy when states have low GDP relative to their neighbours. -- political competition ; dictatorship …

democratization in the sense of expansion of the elite leads to an increased investment in state capacity and to a reduction in … changes may lead either to democratization or to the entrenchment of an immovable elite …

Scholars have highlighted how local elites can use their de facto power to capture democracy. This makes electoral … competition particularly vulnerable in armed conflicts driven by politics. Would a reduction in politically motivated violence …-in-differences strategy within the context of paramilitary demobilization in Colombia. Following demobilization, I observe a 13% increase in …

freedom is frequently associated with electoral democracy, developments in countries such as Hungary, Poland, Turkey and … Russia, where elected populist leaders with authoritarian tendencies rule, suggest that electoral democracy may not be the … provide a firmer foundation. We investigate empirically how electoral democracy and judicial independence relate to personal …

Regimes controlled by a rich elite often collapse and make way for democracy amidst widespread social unrest. Such … why the elite may have to resort to full-scale democratization, despite its apparent costs to themselves, may be that … therefore be forced to choose between repression and the most generous concession, a transition to full democracy …

unrest or revolution and this may force the elite to democratize. Democracy may not consolidate because it is more … redistributive than a nondemocratic regime, and this gives the elite an incentive to mount a coup. Because inequality makes democracy … more costly for the elite, highly unequal societies are less likely to consolidate democracy and may end up oscillating …

freedom is frequently associated with electoral democracy, developments in countries such as Hungary, Poland, Turkey and … Russia, where elected populist leaders with authoritarian tendencies rule, suggest that electoral democracy may not be the … provide a firmer foundation. We investigate empirically how electoral democracy and judicial independence relate to personal …

Group-based identity undermines democracy by impeding democratic change of government. A substantial literature has … therefore studied how to make democracy consistent with group identity. We contribute to this literature by introducing the role … or replacement of local government because of disfunctionality. Our general contribution is to show how democracy can …