Arrivals and departures: A preliminary classification of democratic failures and their explanation

Many instances of democratic disappointment are beginning to emerge in the wake of the high tide of the most recent ‘wave’ of democratisation. This article offers a categorisation, as a preliminary to investigating the reasons. A review of theoretical frameworks on democratic transition and consolidation reveals a rich choice of possible approaches to explaining the varied experiences summed up by the categories. A reversal of political liberalisation, a stalling or the unpicking of democratic transition, failures to consolidate democracy, and deconsolidation are all analytically distinct. In regard to their explanation, there are both symmetries and asymmetries with the many approaches to understanding successful democratisation. Any framework of analysis should be sensitive to possible new challenges to democratisation and to the established democracies.