This paper analyzes the effect of political and economic factors on the risk of regime change in countries between 1975 and 2010, using survival analysis with time-dependent covariates. The findings show that negative economic growth increases the risk of regime change in the following year, and that a higher level of GDP per Capita, as well as international trade, has an inhibiting effect on the risk of regime change in democracies. The results also show that countries with young regimes are more likely to experience a regime change, and that countries with a long tradition of democratic governance suffer virtually no risk of experiencing a regime failure. These findings lend heavy support to the democratic consolidation theory, while giving mixed support to other theories of economic and political causes of regime change. The more generalized approach to regime change used in this paper provides a stepping stone for opening up a greater understanding of the mechanisms which cause regime change in all types of governments, and regardless of the direction of the change in relation to democracy.

The study explored when, under what conditions, and to what extent did European integration, particularly the European Union’s requirement for democratic conditionality, contribute to democratic consolidation in Spain, Poland, and Turkey? On the basis of a four-part definition, the dissertation examined the democratizing impact of European integration process on each of the following four components of consolidation: (i) holding of fair, free and competitive elections, (ii) protection of fundamental rights, including human and minority rights, (iii) high prospects of regime survival and civilian control of the military, and (iv) legitimacy, elite consensus, and stateness. To assess the relative significance of EU’s democratizing leverage, the thesis also examined domestic and non-EU international dynamics of democratic consolidation in the three countries. By employing two qualitative methods (case study and process-tracing), the study focused on three specific time frames: 1977-1986 for Spain, 1994-2004 for Poland, and 1999-present for Turkey. In addition to official documents, newspapers, and secondary sources, face-to-face interviews made with politicians, academics, experts, bureaucrats, and journalists in the three countries were utilized. The thesis generated several conclusions. First of all, the EU’s democratizing impact is not uniform across different components of democratic consolidation. Moreover, the EU’s democratizing leverage in Spain, Poland, and Turkey involved variations over time for three major reasons: (i) the changing nature of EU’s democratic conditionality over time (ii) varying levels of the EU’s credible commitment to the candidate country’s prospect for membership, and (iii) domestic dynamics in the candidate countries. Furthermore, the European integration process favors democratic consolidation but its magnitude is shaped by the candidate country’s prospect for EU membership and domestic factors in the candidate country. Finally, the study involves a major policy implication for the European Union: unless the EU provides a clear prospect for membership, its democratizing leverage will be limited in the candidate countries.

This essay aims to explore and analyze Ukraine’s democratic development over time. This will be done within two time periods from 2007 to 2014 and 2014 to 2019 to enable drawing reasonable conclusions regarding what challenges prevent further democratic development and what similarities and differences can be seen between the periods. Democracy is often described as a complex concept that can vary between being defined minimalistic and maximalistic. This essay will study the maximalistic perception through the theory of Linz and Stepans four arenas of democratic consolidation, political society, civil society, the rule of law and state bureaucracy and be doing so as a qualitative theory consuming diachronical comparative study. The arenas will in turn be broken down into statements to make them easier to measure. This essay concludes that both periods have had democratic problems regarding all arenas. The widespread corruption remains as a main problem through both periods as do the low institutional trust, although in the second period the Crimea-conflict becomes the bigger political priority which affects the ongoing democratic process. Despite this civil society has remained strong and forced forward change when needed. To conclude there has been improvements but Ukraine still faces large democratic challenges.

In recent years, Gambia is one of the few countries having experienced development in a more democratic direction. As part of democratic consolidation, the process of reviewing the constitution was started in 2017 with an aim to be participatory and inclusive. This thesis seeks to investigate how the Gambian civil society organization TANGO has tried to impact the constitutional review process, to further contribute to the understanding of civil society in democratic consolidation. This is achieved through an explorative and descriptive case study focusing on TANGO’s practice of advocacy and accountability. The method used is mainly semi-structured informant interviews with persons central to civil society in the constitutional review process together with secondary sources such as legal documents and news articles. The results show that TANGO has exercised advocacy mainly in terms of position papers to the Constitutional Review Commission, whereas accountability has primarily been exercised through press conferences and lobbying. However, statements on their efforts as lacking and too late have been persistent in the study, meaning that even if efforts were done, they could have been improved or have other focal points for leveraged impact in the constitutional review process.

This study has been inspired by the political events in the past few years that signalled a general decline, instead of consolidation, of democracy in South Africa. The decline has caused a rising trust deficit between the government and the citizens of South Africa. These events have raised questions of the role of the media in the consolidation of democracy. Katrin Voltmer's pioneering work, The Media in Transitional Democracies (2013) shines an important light in delineating the role of the media in transitions, including democratic consolidation. Much of the focus of scholastic research in the subject of media and democracy has been on news and journalistic content. Jurgen Habermas' seminal work, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (1989) also accorded more weight to the rational and cognitive, as opposed to the affective and emotive aspects of the media when arguing in favour of emancipatory potential of the public sphere. The rational and cognitive aspects are generally associated with news and journalistic content (McGuigan, 2005: 430). Unlike Habermas, this study follows the lead by scholars like Van Zoonen (2006) and McGuigan's (2005) interest in the popular entertainment content which has often been regarded as having little significance in politics, especially democracy. In its emphasis on the consolidation aspect of South African democratic transition, the study is conducted against the backdrop of the broader ‘third wave' transitions of the early 1990's (Huntington, 1991). The study's theoretical framework is aligned with Christians et al.'s (2009) revision of the Four Theories (Siebert, et al, 1956) of the press. Their approach is useful because of its normative strength that opens the possibilities of media roles in democratization. The normative approach allows a free exploration of the potential of the media, instead of restricting the media to the political systems within which they operate. In addition, it aligns itself to Jim McGuigan's theory of the cultural public sphere which highlights the often-ignored political potency of popular cultural texts in the public sphere. McGuigan (2005: 430) argues that the affective or emotive aspects of popular cultural texts enhance, rather than hinder, the quality of political engagement in the public sphere. Through entertainment television programmes, democratic ways of life can be portrayed as part of everyday, ordinary life (Stevenson, 2010: 276). Against the widely held expectation that the media should play a positive role in democracies, some scholars have noted that in reality, “this is not necessarily so” (Jebril, Stetka & Loveless, 2013: 3). Rather, the media can serve dictatorships as happily as they serve democracies (Voltmer, 2013: 23). Using the case studies of two soap operas of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Muvhango and 7de Laan, the study explores the role of popular media in the enhancement or consolidation of democracy, and the circumstances under which this is carried out. The media of interest for this study is public service broadcasting (PSB). For most democracies of the third wave, especially in Africa, PSB has been an easy victim of political power. Because of its dependence on the state, PSB tends to be more susceptible to political interference than other media types. Like other PSBs, the SABC has clearly spelt-out objectives that are linked to the national developmental objectives, including the goal of promoting and deepening democracy. This connection makes it possible to evaluate the selected entertainment case studies against these objectives. The study uses Multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) because it allows for the analysis of text in its multimodal form such as visuals and audio. It equally allows for the application of analytical tools borrowed from film and television theories. By indirect measurement, MCDA model is used in the study to evaluate how democracy is represented (promoted, negated, omitted) in various aspects of the text.

In the last fifteen years, conflict resolution, a collaborative, problem-solving approach to social conflicts, was introduced to new democracies in an attempt to develop civil society¿s capacity for conflict management (Mayer, 2000). Conflict resolution provides people with an opportunity to advocate effectively for their own interests in a non-violent, constructive manner through systematic educational efforts, skills trainings, dialogue initiatives, and mediation practices (Mayer, 2000). It empowers people to address, manage, and transform difficulties and antagonism into a source of positive social change and, thus, change people¿s negative psychological responses to conflicts (Bush & Folger, 1994). In this view, conflict resolution in new democracies¿ civil society provides citizens as well NGO practitioners with the skills and opportunities to practice how to express and resolve differences in a safe and constructive environment (Shonholtz, 1997). In an effort to provide additional information about civil society¿s conflict resolution practices and their affect in new democracies, this dissertation examines the existing efforts of South Korean civil society organisations to promote conflict resolution methodologies. Specifically, three organisations are examined to understand better South Korean civil society¿s response to PCR issues. Furthermore, by closely examining these three civil society organisations, this dissertation aims to explore what affect increased awareness and engagement in conflict resolution methodologies have on the democratic quality of civil society.

No description available.

Tesis por compendio / [ES] La deconstrucción de la teoría entendida como ciencia normal, comienza desde la comprensión de que el proceso de construcción de un sistema democrático tradicional presenta grandes inconsistencias, además de que el propio sistema está sumergido en una crisis de representación y legitimidad ante la falta de confianza de la ciudadanía en quién toman las decisiones, así como, la falta de participación en la toma de decisiones públicas. Por ello, se parte de un cambio de enfoque fundamental que siguiendo la lógica que inspira el principio de Conservación del Momento Lineal, las TIC actúan como catalizador que conlleva a una transformación del sistema directo, por ello, las sociedades deben diseñar y adaptarse al impacto de esta ola, al igual que en la física cuando un objeto se mueve en respuesta a la aplicación de una fuerza. El análisis conceptual crítico revela que las teorías tradicionales sobre democracia adoptan un enfoque de programación orientado a objetos (OOP), centrado en instituciones y actores como componentes estáticos de una democracia y sus interacciones. la participación ciudadana en la toma de decisiones públicas, interpretando Demos como 'pueblo' y Kratos como 'poder' o 'gobierno'. Así, propone una transformación hacia un enfoque orientado a funciones, centrando la consolidación democrática en procesos dinámicos que integran el sis-tema y enfocándose en la participación ciudadana como función principal que integra a su vez distintos elementos. La adopción de este enfoque permite la propuesta del concepto de 'Democracia Dinámica' que surge de esta Tesis. Esta Tesis propone tres principios después de una validación rigurosa a través de estudios de caso y análisis de datos: el Principio de la Dinámica Política y Tecnológica, el Principio del Liderazgo Público en la Gestión de la Transformación Digital, y el Principio de la Transformación Digital para la Consolidación Democrática en Contextos en Desarrollo. Estos principios ofrecen un marco teórico renovado para comprender el patrón que rige el proceso de consolidación democrática en la era digital. Esto desafía directamente las nociones convencionales, abriendo nuevas vías que explican como las tecnologías emergentes, si son utilizadas de manera estratégica, pueden servir para consolidar procesos democráticos en diferentes contextos. La adopción de estos principios por un país podría guiar sus futuras políticas hacia el desarrollo efectivo y rápido, marcando así una nueva manera en la cual los Estados y as sociedades abordan la democratización en un mundo cada vez más tecnológico, además, en el cual el sistema democrático se pone en duda. En resumen, lo que se propone es que la democracia se convierte en resultado y función de un proceso, y en esta tesis, se ha encontrado el patrón que rige el proceso. Por lo tanto, siguiendo el principio hermenéutico de lo que es afuera, es adentro, si se desarrolla el proceso el resultado que es la democracia (con todos los elementos oportunos) se consolida. Esta Tesis Doctoral se estructura de un marco teórico que desemboca en la concreción de tres hipótesis, las cuales se validan a través de tres estudios regionales que involucran un total de 84 países, lo que permite que las hipótesis emerjan como principios son validados empírica-mente. Los tres estudios regionales se presentan en publicaciones científicas con un índice de impacto alto (Q1 JCR). Finalmente, la Tesis propone líneas de investigación desarrollar por la autora centradas en la supervivencia y el liderazgo del sistema democrático en el siglo XXI. Se enfatiza la importancia de explorar cómo la digitalización puede contribuir a la consolidación de la democracia a nivel global, destacando tanto los límites de los hallazgos actuales como los riesgos asociados con la transición sociotécnica. / [CA] La deconstrucció de la teoria entesa com a ciència normal, comença des de la comprensió que el procés de construcció d'un sistema democràtic tradicional presenta grans inconsistències, a més del fet que el propi sistema està immers en una crisi de representació i legitimitat davant la manca de confiança de la ciutadania en qui pren les decisions, així com la manca de participació en la presa de decisions públiques. Per això, es parteix d'un canvi d'enfocament fonamental que seguint la lògica que inspira el principi de Conservació del Moment Lineal, les TIC actuen com a catalitzador que comporta una transformació del sistema directe, per això, les societats han de dissenyar i adaptar-se a l'impacte d'aquesta onada, així com en la física quan un objecte es mou en resposta a l'aplicació d'una força. L'anàlisi conceptual crític revela que les teories tradicionals sobre democràcia adopten un enfocament de programació orientat a objectes (OOP), centrat en institucions i actors com a components estàtics d'una democràcia i les seves interaccions. La tesi argumenta que aquest enfocament no compleix amb la funció essencial del sistema polític: la participació ciutadana en la presa de decisions públiques, interpretant Demos com 'poble' i Kratos com 'poder' o 'govern'. Així, proposa una transformació cap a un enfocament orientat a funcions, centrant la consolidació democràtica en processos dinàmics que integren el sistema i centrant-se en la participació ciutadana com a funció principal que integra al seu torn diferents elements. L'adopció d'aquest enfocament permet la proposta del concepte de 'Democràcia Dinàmica' que sorgeix d'aquesta Tesi. Aquesta Tesi proposa tres principis després d'una validació rigorosa a través d'estudis de cas i anàlisi de dades: el Principi de la Dinàmica Política i Tecnològica, el Principi del Lideratge Públic en la Gestió de la Transformació Digital, i el Principi de la Transformació Digital per a la Consolidació Democràtica en Contextos en Desenvolupament. Aquests principis ofereixen un marc teòric renovat per comprendre el patró que regeix el procés de consolidació democràtica a l'era digital. Això desafia directament les nocions convencionals, obrint noves vies que expliquen com les tecnologies emergents, si s'utilitzen de manera estratègica, poden servir per consolidar processos democràtics en diferents contextos. L'adopció d'aquests principis per part d'un país podria guiar les seves futures polítiques cap al desenvolupament efectiu i ràpid, marcant així una nova manera en què els Estats i les societats aborden la democratització en un món cada vegada més tecnològic, a més, en el qual el sistema democràtic es posa en dubte. En resum, el que es proposa és que la democràcia es converteix en resultat i funció d'un procés, i en aquesta tesi, s'ha trobat el patró que regeix el procés. Per tant, seguint el principi hermenèutic de que és fora, és dins, si es desenvolupa el procés el resultat que és la democràcia (amb tots els elements oportuns) es consolida. Aquesta Tesi Doctoral s'estructura d'un marc teòric que desemboca en la concreció de tres hipòtesis, les quals es validen a través de tres estudis regionals que involucren un total de 84 països, el que permet que les hipòtesis emergeixin com a principis són validats empíricament. Els tres estudis regionals es presenten en publicacions científiques amb un índex d'impacte alt (Q1 JCR). Finalment, la Tesi proposa línies de recerca desenvolupar per l'autora centrades en la supervivència i el lideratge del sistema democràtic al segle XXI. S'emfatitza la importància d'explorar com la digitalització pot contribuir a la consolidació de la democràcia a nivell global, destacant tant els límits dels descobriments actuals com els riscos associats amb la transició sociotècnica. / [EN] The deconstruction of theory understood as normal science begins with the understanding that the process of constructing a traditional democratic system presents significant inconsistencies. Additionally, the system itself is immersed in a crisis of representation and legitimacy due to the lack of trust from citizens in decision-makers, as well as the lack of participation in public decision-making. Therefore, a fundamental shift in focus is initiated, following the logic that inspires the principle of Conservation of Linear Momentum, where ICT acts as a catalyst leading to a transformation of the system. Societies must thus design and adapt to the impact of this wave, akin to physics where an object moves in response to the application of a force. Critical conceptual analysis reveals that traditional theories of democracy adopt an object-oriented programming (OOP) approach, focusing on institutions and actors as static components of democracy and its interactions. The thesis argues that this approach fails to meet the essential function of the political system: citizen participation in public decision-making, interpreting Demos as 'people' and Kratos as 'power' or 'government'. It proposes a transformation towards a function-oriented approach, focusing democratic consolidation on dynamic processes that integrate the system and emphasizing citizen participation as the primary function that in turn integrates various elements. Adopting this approach allows for the proposal of the concept of 'Dynamic Democracy' arising from this Thesis. This Thesis proposes three principles following rigorous validation through case studies and data analysis: the Principle of Political and Technological Dynamics, the Principle of Public Leadership in Digital Transformation Management, and the Principle of Digital Transformation for Democratic Consolidation in Developing Contexts. These principles offer a renewed theoretical framework for understanding the pattern governing the process of democratic consolidation in the digital age. This directly challenges conventional notions, opening up new avenues explaining how emerging technologies, if strategically utilized, can serve to consolidate democratic processes in different contexts. The adoption of these principles by a country could guide its future policies towards effective and rapid development, thus marking a new way in which States and societies address democratization in an increasingly technological world, as well as one in which the democratic system is questioned. In summary, it is proposed that democracy becomes the result and function of a process, and in this thesis, the pattern governing the process has been found. Therefore, following the hermeneutic principle that what is outside is inside, if the process is developed, the result which is democracy is consolidated. This Thesis is structured within a theoretical framework that leads to the concretization of three hypotheses, which are validated through three regional studies involving a total of 84 countries, allowing the hypotheses to emerge as empirically validated principles. The three regional studies are presented in scientific publications with a high impact index (Q1 JCR). Finally, the Thesis proposes lines of research to be developed by the author focused on the survival and leadership of the democratic system in the 21st century. Emphasis is placed on exploring how digitalization can contribute to the consolidation of democracy globally, highlighting both the limits of current findings and the risks associated with socio-technical transition. / Stratu Strelet, D. (2024). Unveiling the Power of Digital Transformation in Developing Countries: Towards a Theory of Democratic Consolidation from Inside Out [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/204134 / Compendio

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa's history led to an unequal distribution in land ownership, which is not conducive to democratic consolidation. Land refortn is the means to address this problem. However, land reform, part of the larger process of transformation, is a potentially dangerous process: it can have negative implications on the rule of law. The objective of this study is to provide an analysis of the dynamic relationship between land reform, the rule of law and transformation in South Africa, within the debate on democratic consolidation. One can distinguish two paradigms regarding democracy: the liberal paradigm and the liberationist paradigm. These two paradigms have divergent views on the way land reform and transformation should be implemented, and what the goal of these two processes is. The liberal paradigm would seem to be more favourable for democratic consolidation, while the liberationist paradigm is a breeding ground for populist transformation. Furthermore, the negotiated constitutional settlement has left land reform with an ambiguity. On the one hand the constitution forces the govemment to address land reform, but on the other hand it firmly entrenches the private property rights by enforcing the 'willing buyer, willing seller' principle, which makes the process more costly and time consuming. The main hypothesis of this study is: Demographic indicators (race, party affiliation and provincial setting) influence support or rejection of the land reform policies of the South African govemment. Tbe dependent variable is 'support or rejection of the government's land reform policies'. Support for the govemment's land reform policies is indicative of the liberal paradigm and rejection of the govemment's policies is indicative of the liberationist paradigm. It is found that the majority of South Africans reject the govemment's land reform policies. However, strong divisions are evident. Respondents differ along racial, party affiliation and provincial lines. Thus, the liberationist paradigm dominates, but the liberal paradigm has a strong presence, creating an ideologically divided society. This means that the legitimacy of South Africa's land reform project, as well as the legitimacy of the constitution, is under stress. This does not bode well for democratic consolidation, as the rule of law is under severe threat. Thus, one can conclude that land reform is not going to make a positive contribution to the consolidation of South Africa's democracy, if a substantial financial injection is not found to increase the efficiency of the process. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Suid-Afrika se geskiedenis het aanleiding gegee tot 'n ongelyke verspreiding van grondeienaarskap. Dit is nie gunstig vir demokratiese konsolidasie nie. Grondhervorming IS die mamer waarmee die probleem aangespreek kan word. Grondhervorming, deel van die groter proses van transformasie, is egter 'n potensieel gevaarlike proses: dit kan negatiewe implikasies vir regsoewereiniteit hê. Die doel van hierdie tesis is om 'n analise van die dinamiese wisselwerking tussen grondhervorming, regsoewereiniteit en transformasie te verskaf, binne die debat oor demokratiese konsolidasie. Daar kan aangaande demokrasie tussen twee paradigmas onderskei word: die liberale paradigma en die bevrydings (liberationist) paradigma. Hierdie twee paradigmas het teenstrydige perspektiewe oor die manier waarop grondhervorming, sowel as transformasie, geïmplementeer behoort te word, sowel as wat die doel van hierdie twee prosesse is. Die liberale paradigma is meer geskik vir demokratiese konsolidasie, terwyl die bevrydings paradigma 'n teelaarde vir populistiese transformasie is. Verder het die onderhandelde grondwetlike skikking grondhervorming in 'n teenstrydigheid geplaas. Aan die een kant vereis die grondwet dat die regering grondhervorming moet aanspreek, maar aan die anderkant bied dit 'n ferm onderskraging van private eiedomsreg deur op die 'gewillige koper, gewillige verkoper' beginsel aan te dring. Dit maak die grondhervormings proses langer en duurder. Die hoof hipotese van die studie is: Demografiese indikatore (ras, partyaffiliasie en provinsie) beïnvloed ondersteuning of verwerpmg van die regering se grondhervormingsbeleid. Die afhanklike veranderlike IS 'ondersteuning of verwerping van die regering se grondhervormingsbeleid '. Ondersteuning van die regering se grondhervormingsbeleid dui op die liberale paradigma, en die verwerping daarvan dui op die bevrydings paradigma. Daar word bevind dat die meerderheid Suid-Afrikaners die regenng se Respondente verskil volgens ras, partyaffiliasie en provinsie. Dus, die bevrydings paradigma domineer, maar die liberale paradigma het ook 'n sterk teenwoordigheid. Dit sorg vir 'n ideologies verdeelde samelewing. Dit beteken dat die legitimiteit van Suid-Afrika se grondhervormings projek, sowel as die legitimiteit van die grondwet, in gedrang is. Dit is nie 'n goeie teken vir demokratiese konsolidasie nie, aangesien dit regsoewereiniteit in die gedrang bring. Daarom kan daar tot die gevolg gekom word dat grondhervorming nie 'n positiewe bydrae ten opsigte van die konsolidasie van Suid-Afrikaanse demokrasie sal maak nie, tensy daar 'n beduidende finansiële inspuiting gevind kan word.

On cover: Degree of Master of Philosophy in Political Management. / Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Before a country can have democracy a consolidated democracy, democracy is a prerequisite. The term democracy can be traced back to ancient Greece and the studies of the consolidation of democracy dates since the transition of the seventies. The notion of democratic consolidation has been defined by authors as a process of making new democracies secure, deepening institutions and liberties and making them immune against the threat of authoritarian regression. But authors have also found that there are socioeconomic conditions favourable to consolidation such as sufficient affluence. This study compares Botswana and South Africa's democracy, the reason being to find out which is the most consolidated and why? To compare these two countries' democracies, the study focuses on the following; affluence, institutions suitable for democracy, free and fair elections and electoral systems. There are similarities and differences between these countries. They share British parliamentary traditions. Both practice multiparty elections but neither experienced turnovers, for example; Botswana started practicing from 1965 until now, while South Africa started in 1994. The major institutional difference is the electoral system. Their ratings in the human development indexes are declining, but South Africa scores better. The other major difference is in their Freedom House ratings, where South Africa's rating is better than Botswana's. The issue of HIV/AIDS infections remains a big problem for these countries. To what extent this would impact on democracy is uncertain as little research of this kind has been done. In concluding this study, it is explicitly stated that these countries are free electoral democracies but not consolidated yet, because they have not passed Huntington's "two turnover test", and their socio-economic conditions are also problematic. At this stage, however South Africa is slightly better off for the reasons cited above. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Demokrasie is "n voorvereiste vir "n gekonsolideerde demokrasie. Hoewel die term demokrasie sy oorsprong het by die antieke Grieke dateer studies oor die konsolidasie van demokrasieë slegs terug na die sewentigerjare van die 20ste eeu. Demokratiese konsolidasie verwys na die proses waarvolgens nuwe demokrasieë na hul aanvanklike vestiging teen die gevaar van outoritêre verval beveilig word deur die daarstelling van demokratiese instellings en vryhede. Navorsing het bevind dat sekere sosio-ekonomiese faktore of omstandighede soos byvoorbeeld voldoende ekonomiese voorspoed die konsolidasie van jong demokrasieë bevorder. Die studie behels "n vergelyking van die demokrasieë van Suid-Afrika en Botswana ten opsigte van hulle graad van demokratiese konsolidasie en die redes daarvoor. Die studie fokus in die verband op aspekte soos: ekonomiese voorspoed, die demokratiese aard van hulle instellings, vrye en regverdige verkiesings en hulle kiesstelsels. Daar is beide ooreenkomste en verskille tussen die twee state. Beide is gesetel in die Britse parlementêre stelsel. Beide gebruik sedert hulle vestiging as demokrasieë veelparty vekiesings - Botswana sedert 1965 en Suid-Afrika sedert 1994. Die belangrikste institusionele verskil is in hulle kiesstelsels geleë. Hoewel die lande se klassifikasies beide in die indekse sowel as die verslae oor menslike ontwikkeling daal, vaar Suid-Afrika steeds beter as Botswana. Die duidelikste verskil is ten opsigte van hulle Freedom House klassifikasie. Die kwessie van MIVjVIGS-infeksies bly steeds "n belangrike probleem vir beide state. Vanweë die gebrek aan navorsing in die verband is dit onseker in watter mate die VIGS-kwessie demokrasie in die lande in die toekoms gaan beinvloed. Die gevolgtrekking van die tesis is dat hoewel beide state vrye demokrasieë is hulle nog nie as gekonsolideerde demokrasieë geklassifiseer kan word nie. Die gevolgtrekking is hoofsaaklik gebaseer op hulle problematiese sosioekonomiese omstandighede en die feit dat hulle nog nie Huntington se /I two turnover test" geslaag het nie. Suid-Afrika is egter op grond van die redes wat hierbo aangevoer is, tans beter as Botswana daaraan toe.