, and develops a theory of diffusion through democracy. I argue that politicians choose to follow certain international … networks face: that they conflict with domestic democracy. The book also explains how to design international institutions and …

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 …