This essay deals with democracy promotion & protection by established democracies. It first describes how the dynamics and understanding of regime transitions changes from the first to the present fourth wave of democratization. Subsequently, it defines democracy promotion & protection and...

What happens to revolutionary movements when they assume power? While the literature in political science and sociology has traditionally argued that new parties will reflect societal cleavages within nation states, recent analyses have challenged the assumption that new political parties will...

Despite criticism of the elite-centered model of "transitions to democracy", the mechanism by which collective actors influence paths of democratization remains unspecified. In this paper I argue that demands by collective actors mobilizing popular support can introduce issues and limit the...

For a long time, European integration has only occasionally and intermitently affected domestic politica, and onbly in few countries. The near future is likely to see the growing impact of this process on forms of political representation and patterns of competition, and on national political...

The paper presents in a simple model the possible choices and constraints facing democratic governments when confronting an anti-democratic party challenge that is able to seriously endanger the survival of the democratic system.

This article compares processes of nation-building at three historical junctures in the postwar period : postcolonialism, postcommunism, and postfacism. The comparison is organized around three analytical dimensions of nation-building : modular adaptation, state-making, and primordialization....

This paper deals with some elements of Machiavelli's theory of political action and its relation with tragedy and choice. 1) I will sketch 3 different interpretations of his work. 2) I will analyse how political action often involves tragic choices between common good and justice, and how this...

Although the Treaty of Rome did not initially contain any legal basis for European environmental policy, the past 10 or 15 years have witnessed an impressive sidening and deepening of European policy competences in this field. This article aims to explain this process of policy development and...

European regulatory policy - making unfolds in the context of the diverse regulatory interests and traditions of member states. The latter meet in the European arena, have to be balanced and brought to a compromise. As aresult European regulation often gains features of a "policy patchwork" in...