International Actors, Democratization and the Rule of Law: Anchoring Democracy?

A key concern in democratization studies today is the proliferation and fate of hybrid regimes which display the basic, minimal elements of an electoral democracy, but which are faulty in the substantive dimensions of modern democratic quality, i.e. accountability, respect for civil, political and fundamental rights, and the rule of law. This book explores how external influences and international actors can help these regimes to be transformed into a quality democracy.The authors seek to develop a model to analyse and assess the transitional processes of these hybrid regimes and examine the best strategies to achieve a higher quality democracy. The book focuses on the adoption, implementation and internalization of the rule of law, specifically, the protection of political and civil rights, improving institutional and bureaucratic capacity, judicial independence and capacity, the fight against corruption, and civil control of the army and police. In order to ascertain the actual and potential influence of external actors, the book isolates and concentrates on the interaction of domestic change processes with the European Union with Romania, Turkey, Serbia and Ukraine. The authors empirically examine how external influence is itself affected by the presence and absence of the 'golden carrot' of an EU membership perspective, or where this perspective is uncertain or only long-term.Making an important contribution to our knowledge of the international dimensions of democratization, this book will be of interest to scholars, students and policy-makers with an interest in democratization, the role of international actors, the linkages between international institutions and domestic actors, as well as patterns of compliance and non-compliance with democratic norms in domestic systems.Morlino, Leonardo is the author of 'International Actors, Democratization and the Rule of Law: Anchoring Democracy?' with ISBN 9780415451024 and ISBN 0415451027.