The recent revival of democracy across much of the globe, and the fragility of many of the new regimes, have inspired renewed interest in the origins of dictatorship and democracy in modern times. This book assembles renowned specialists on Eastern and Western Europe, the U.S., Latin America, and Japan to explore why democracies have succeeded and why they have failed over the past 100 years.

How have democracies formed and developed over the course of the twentieth century? How have political mobilization and popular demands "from below" interacted with institutional reforms and policies "from above" to produce the expansion, or contraction, of popular political participation over time? In what ways have the institutions and programs of given democratic regimes determined the forms and avenues of such participation?

And ultimately, what patterns of interaction between state institutions and social groups seem to favor, or impede, the strengthening and expanding of democratic governance?

The Social Construction of Democracy explores these questions in a range of national settings in an effort to chart the evolution of political participation from the late nineteenth century to the present. With its sharp portraits of nations on four continents, the volume sheds light on the historical process by which state institutions and social movements interact to create political systems based on the principle of popular sovereignty.