Editing Democratization (section)

{{short description|Society becoming more democratic}}
{{about|the process by which political systems become more democratic|other uses}}
[[File:Number of countries experiencing autocratization and democratization, 1900–2000.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Since 1900, the number of countries democratizing (yellow) has been higher than those [[autocratizing]] (blue), except in the late 1920s through 1940s and since 2010.]]
{{democracy|related}}

'''Democratization''', or '''democratisation''', is the structural government transition from an [[democratic transition|authoritarian government to a more democratic]] political [[regime]], including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction.<ref name="Arugay 2021 pp. 1–7">{{cite book | last=Arugay | first=Aries A. | title=The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Global Security Studies | chapter=Democratic Transitions | publisher=Springer International Publishing | publication-place=Cham | year=2021 | isbn=978-3-319-74336-3 | doi=10.1007/978-3-319-74336-3_190-1 | pages=1–7| s2cid=240235199 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lindenfors |first1=Patrik |last2=Wilson |first2=Matthew |last3=Lindberg |first3=Staffan I. |title=The Matthew effect in political science: head start and key reforms important for democratization |journal=[[Humanities and Social Sciences Communications]] |date=2020 |volume=7 |issue=106 |doi=10.1057/s41599-020-00596-7 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Whether and to what extent democratization occurs can be influenced by various factors, including economic development, historical legacies, civil society, and international processes. Some accounts of democratization emphasize how elites drove democratization, whereas other accounts emphasize grassroots bottom-up processes.<ref name="Schmitz 2004 pp. 403–426">{{cite journal | last=Schmitz | first=Hans Peter | title=Domestic and Transnational Perspectives on Democratization | journal=International Studies Review | publisher=[International Studies Association, Wiley] | volume=6 | issue=3 | year=2004 | issn=1521-9488| jstor=3699697 | pages=403–426 | doi=10.1111/j.1521-9488.2004.00423.x | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/3699697 | url-access=subscription }}</ref> How democratization occurs has also been used to explain other political phenomena, such as whether a country goes to a war or whether its economy grows.<ref name="Bogaards 2010 pp. 475–488">{{cite journal |last=Bogaards |first=Matthijs |year=2010 |title=Measures of Democratization: From Degree to Type to War |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/20721505 |journal=Political Research Quarterly |publisher=[University of Utah, Sage Publications, Inc.] |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=475–488 |doi=10.1177/1065912909358578 |issn=1065-9129 |jstor=20721505 |s2cid=154168435|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The opposite process is known as [[democratic backsliding]] or autocratization.