from Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Program and Latin America Studies Program

Pathways to Freedom

Political and Economic Lessons From Democratic Transitions

Book
Foreign policy analyses written by CFR fellows and published by the trade presses, academic presses, or the Council on Foreign Relations Press.

Read an excerpt of Pathways to Freedom.

Many developing countries have launched transitions from authoritarianism to democracy over the past twenty-five years. While some have succeeded in building relatively strong democracies with shared prosperity, others have stumbled.

More on:

Democracy

Political Transitions

Civil Liberties

Development

As a wave of change continues to unfold across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, the policy-relevant insights that can be gleaned from recent transitions are more salient than ever. Through case studies on Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Poland, South Africa, Thailand, and Ukraine, Pathways to Freedom explores the structural factors and policy choices that shaped eight important transitions—some successful, others less so. The case studies focus on six themes: socioeconomic inclusion and exclusion, economic structure and policies, civil society and media, legal system and rule of law, government structure, and education and demography. Additional chapters examine these themes in light of the quantitative evidence on democratization and highlight concrete policy recommendations from across the case studies.

With concise historical analysis and forward-looking prescriptions, Pathways to Freedom offers an authoritative and accessible look at what countries must do to build durable and prosperous democracies—and what the United States and others can do to help.

Professors: To request an exam copy, contact [email protected]. Please include your university and course name.

Bookstores: To order bulk copies, please contact Ingram. Visit https://ipage.ingrambook.com, call 800.234.6737, or email [email protected]. ISBN: 978-0-87609-566-9

More on:

Democracy

Political Transitions

Civil Liberties

Development

Top Stories on CFR

Turkey

Despite the destabilizing effects of his economic and foreign policies, as well as a major election loss, President Erdogan shows no sign of interest in course correction.

Economics

The CFR Global Inflation Tracker allows you to gauge trends in prices across the world over time.

China

Brad Setser, the Whitney Shepardson senior fellow at CFR, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the causes and consequences of China’s export surge.