Democratization has been studied by several scholars, who have argued about significance of various factors for democratization of a certain country. One of these scholars was Seymour Martin Lipset and he claimed that there is a linear correlation between democracy and socioeconomic development. Thus, the aim of this study is to test Lipset’s hypothesis in the case of Azerbaijan, which is an oil rich authoritarian country. The study was conducted with the help of mixed analysis methods (i.e. combination of qualitative and quantitative methods) and a case study research design.  To measure socioeconomic development’s impact on democratization of Azerbaijan, some socioeconomic indicators were chosen in this study, such as economic growth, income inequality, poverty and unemployment rates in the country. Results of the empirical data analysis showed that, socioeconomic development has a positive correlation with democratization and therefore, Lipset’s hypothesis is plausible in the case of Azerbaijan. In addition, socioeconomic development has a great impact on democratization of the country, i.e. of Azerbaijan. / Demokratisering är ett ämne som har studerats av flera forskare under flera år. Några av dessa forskare har hävdat att det finns diverse faktorer som kan ha inverkan på demokratiseringen av ett land. En av dessa forskare var Seymour Martin Lipset, som hävdade att det finns en positiv korrelation mellan demokrati och socioekonomisk utveckling. Därmed, syftet med denna studie är att testa Lipsets hypotes om socioekonomiska utvecklingens samband med demokratin på fallet av Azerbajdzjan. Azerbajdzjan är ett oljerik autoritär land som har upplevt hög ekonomisk tillväxt.  Studien har genomförts med hjälp av blandade analysmetoder (dvs. kombinationen av kvalitativ och kvantitativ analysmetod) och en fallstudie forskningsdesign. För att genomföra studien, några socioekonomisk utveckling indikatorer har valts, såsom ekonomiskt tillväxt, inkomstskillnader, fattigdoms- och arbetslöshetsnivån i landet. Resultatet av det empiriska data analysen visade att, Lipsets hypotes stämmer i fallet av Azerbajdzjan och det finns ett positivt samband mellan demokratisering och socioekonomisk utveckling. Därmed, socioekonomisk utveckling har en stor inverkan på demokratiseringen av landet, dvs. av Azerbajdzjan.

This final thesis deals with the theoretical prerequisites and preconditions of democracy and the possibilities of its permanent establishing in Egypt. The main goal of the thesis is to answer the research question, if Egypt is prepared for democracy. In this case study, the role and the specific status of the Egyptian army is examinand as well. The first part deals with the theory of favorable conditions for establishing and maintaining of democracy, published by Robert Dahl, and Lipset's theoretical approach to conditions leading to the stability of democratic regimes. The second theoretical part is dedicated to the relationship among the army and democracy and the civilian control over the military. In this part Samuel Huntington's and Nordlinger's theories are used as well as the Lawson, May and Selochan's alternative concept, which is contributed to developing countries. All the theories used in the thesis are applied on the specific political reality of Egypt. Also theories related with the issue of the military and its position within the Egyptian political system are applied in the empirical part.