Center for the Study of Democracy

This paper compares the first democratization wave in the early 1990s with the third wave of democratization in the late 20th century. The two "waves" thus are not so dissimilar as to make it implausible to look for guidance for the later process on the earlier. 1 If these reinforce established theories about the conditions of viable democracy, the theories themselves acquire added credibility and it seems even more prudent to base present actions on the historic lessons.An early version of this essay was presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Political Science Association, New York Hilton, September 1-4, 1994.