Popular Politics and the Path to Durable Democracy

When protests swept through the Middle East at the height of the Arab Spring, the world appeared to be on the verge of a wave of democratization. Yet with the failure of many of these uprisings, it has become clearer than ever that the path to democracy is strewn with obstacles. Mohammad Ali Kadivar examines the conditions leading to the success or failure of democratization, shedding vital new light on how prodemocracy mobilization affects the fate of new democracies.

Drawing on a wealth of new evidence, Kadivar shows how the longest episodes of prodemocracy protest give rise to the most durable new democracies. He analyzes more than one hundred democratic transitions in eighty countries between 1950 and 2010, showing how more robust democracies emerge from lengthier periods of unarmed mobilization. Kadivar then analyzes five case studies—South Africa, Poland, Pakistan, Egypt, and Tunisia—to investigate the underlying mechanisms. He finds that organization building during the years of struggle develops the leadership needed for lasting democratization and strengthens civil society after dictatorship.

Popular Politics and the Path to Durable Democracy challenges the prevailing wisdom in American foreign policy that democratization can be achieved through military or coercive interventions, revealing how lasting change arises from sustained, nonviolent grassroots mobilization.

Bio:

Mohammad Ali Kadivar is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and International Studies in Boston College. His work contributes to political and comparative-historical sociology by exploring the causes, dynamics, and consequences of protest movements. Kadivar’s research has been published in the American Sociological Review, Social Forces, Comparative Politics, Socius, Mobilization, Sociology of Development and has won awards from different sections of the American Sociological Association. Kadivar's first book Popular Politics and the Path to Durable Democracy is forthcoming in November 2022 with Princeton University Press.