Democratisation in Southern Europe: a contingent or inevitable process?

Debates on democratisation often struggle to reconcile structural and agency approaches. Structural explanations highlight factors like economic development, natural resources, inequality, and international power shifts. Agency-based explanations focus on the choices of political actors, including elites and social movements, and their interactions leading to democracy. This study compares Greece, Portugal, and Spain, harmonising these perspectives. Structural and agency forces are not contradictory when temporal scope conditions are clearly defined. Despite differing democratisation paths, Southern European countries experienced rapid modernisation, and political, social, and economic convergence during the consolidation phase. Modernisation favoured liberal democracy and democratic consolidation through varied events and actor combinations. Our analysis underscores the importance of considering both structural and agency-based factors in understanding democratisation processes.

Democratisation in Southern Europe: a contingent or inevitable process? Articles