International Linkage and Democratization

Abstract

This article presents a new framework for understanding the role of international factors in post-Cold War regime change.We treat the post�Cold War international environment as operating along two dimensions: western leverage, or governments' vulnerability to external pressure, and linkage to the West, or the density of a country's ties to the U.S., the European Union, and Western-led multilateral institutions. Both leverage and linkage raised the cost of authoritarianism during the post�Cold War period. However, mechanisms of leverage such as diplomatic pressure, or conditionality were--by themselves--rarely sufficient to democratize post�Cold War autocracies. Rather, the more subtle and diffuse effects of linkage contributed more consistently to democratization. The impact of linkage and leverage are examined in the context of post�Cold War hybrid or competitive authoritarian regimes.

Neopatrimonialism and Democracy: An Empirical Investigation of Africa's Political Regimes

“…Western aid flowed more freely to African countries and donors were now able to make credible threats of democratic conditionality (Dunning, 2004), even if they did not actually follow-through in practice. At the same time, greater 'linkage' to the West (Levitsky and Way, 2005) in the form of trade, communication and transnational NGO networks reinforced democratic norms and ideals among both citizens and elites. Thus, even if democratic legal authority was weaker than in Western contexts, international support for such authority had become stronger.…”

Puzzling Policy Shifts: Fickle Western Support of Democracy Promotion in Economically Salient Countries

“…This paper utilizes the theoretical framework of Levitsky and Way (Levitsky and Way 2005;Levitsky and on an authoritarian regime. The critical component for the authors are the linkage mechanisms.…”

Explaining Political Regime Diversity in Post-Communist States: An Evaluation and Critique of Current Theories

“…Many scholars agree (Vachudova 2005;Pridham 2001;Levitsky and Way 2005a;2005b) that the EU has powerfulleverage to influence not only politicians' rational calculations, but also to require changes in political institutions and even in govemments in exchange for inviting these countries to join. that the high speed of negotiations does not allow for any substantial democratic negotiations between post-communist elites and their constituencies; that EU accession process allows narrow post-communist elites to dictate the mIes and direction to the rest of society; and that these elites therefore receive EU democratic credibility even if they have undemocratic political records.…”