Editing Democratization (section)

== By country ==
{{republicanism sidebar}}
Throughout the [[history of democracy]], enduring democracy advocates succeed almost always through peaceful means when there is a window of opportunity. One major type of opportunity include governments weakened after a violent shock.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Michael K. |title=Shock to the system: coups, elections, and war on the road to democratization |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-691-21701-7 |location=Princeton Oxford |chapter=Ch. 2}}</ref> The other main avenue occurs when autocrats are not threatened by elections, and democratize while retaining power.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Miller |first=Michael K. |date=April 2021 |title=Don't Call It a Comeback: Autocratic Ruling Parties After Democratization |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0007123419000012/type/journal_article |journal=British Journal of Political Science |language=en |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=559–583 |doi=10.1017/S0007123419000012 |s2cid=203150075 |issn=0007-1234|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The path to democracy can be long with setbacks along the way.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |last=Berman |first=Sherri |date=January 2007 |title=How Democracy Works: Lessons from Europe |url=http://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/gratis/Berman-18-1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211151623/http://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/gratis/Berman-18-1.pdf |archive-date=2012-02-11 |access-date=2008-04-17 |website=[[Journal of Democracy]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hegre |first=Håvard |date=May 15, 2014 |title=Democratization and Political Violence |url=https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/democratization-and-political-violence |access-date=2021-02-14 |website=ourworld.unu.edu}}</ref><ref name=":13">{{Cite journal|last=Andersen|first=David|date=2021|title=Democratization and Violent Conflict: Is There A Scandinavian Exception?|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-9477.12178|journal=Scandinavian Political Studies|language=en|volume=44|issue=1|pages=1–12|doi=10.1111/1467-9477.12178|s2cid=225624391|issn=1467-9477}}</ref>

=== Athens ===
{{Excerpt|Athenian Revolution|paragraphs=1}}

=== Benin ===
{{Excerpt|1989–1990 unrest in Benin|paragraphs=1}}

=== Brazil ===
{{Excerpt|Redemocratization in Brazil|paragraphs=1}}

=== Chile ===
{{Excerpt|Chilean transition to democracy|paragraphs=1}}

=== France ===
The [[French Revolution]] (1789) briefly allowed a wide franchise. The [[French Revolutionary Wars]] and the [[Napoleonic Wars]] lasted for more than twenty years. The [[French Directory]] was more oligarchic. The [[First French Empire]] and the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]] restored more autocratic rule. The [[French Second Republic]] had universal male suffrage but was followed by the [[Second French Empire]]. The [[Franco-Prussian War]] (1870–71) resulted in the [[French Third Republic]].

=== Germany ===
Germany established its first democracy in 1919 with the creation of the [[Weimar Republic]], a parliamentary republic created following the [[German Empire]]'s defeat in [[World War I]]. The Weimar Republic lasted only 14 years before it collapsed and [[Adolf Hitler's rise to power|was replaced]] by [[Nazi Germany|Nazi dictatorship]].<ref name="Berger">Stefan Berger, "The Attempt at Democratization under Weimar" in ''European Democratization since 1800''. Eds. John Garrard, Vera Tolz & Ralph White (Springer, 2000), pp. 96–115.</ref> Historians continue to debate the reasons why the Weimar Republic's attempt at democratization failed.<ref name="Berger" /> After Germany [[End of World War II in Europe|was militarily defeated in World War II]], democracy was reestablished in [[West Germany]] during the [[Allied-occupied Germany|U.S.-led occupation]] which undertook the [[denazification]] of society.<ref>Richard L. Merritt, ''Democracy Imposed: U.S. Occupation Policy and the German Public, 1945–1949'' (Yale University Press, 1995).</ref>

=== United Kingdom ===
[[File:Magna Carta (British Library Cotton MS Augustus II.106).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Magna Carta in the British Library. The document was described as "the chief cause of Democracy in England".]]
In Great Britain, there was [[Magna Carta#17th–18th centuries|renewed interest in Magna Carta]] in the 17th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=From legal document to public myth: Magna Carta in the 17th century |url=https://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/videos/from-legal-document-to-public-myth-magna-carta-in-the-17th-century |access-date=2017-10-16 |website=The British Library |postscript=none |archive-date=2017-10-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018101349/https://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/videos/from-legal-document-to-public-myth-magna-carta-in-the-17th-century |url-status=dead }}; {{Cite web |title=Magna Carta: Magna Carta in the 17th Century |url=https://www.sal.org.uk/events/2015/06/magna-carta-magna-carta-in-the-17th-century/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925053248/https://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/videos/from-legal-document-to-public-myth-magna-carta-in-the-17th-century |archive-date=2018-09-25 |access-date=2017-10-16 |website=The Society of Antiquaries of London }}</ref> The [[Parliament of England]] enacted the [[Petition of Right]] in 1628 which established certain liberties for subjects. The [[English Civil War]] (1642–1651) was fought between the King and an oligarchic but elected Parliament,<ref>{{cite web |title=Origins and growth of Parliament |url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/citizen_subject/origins.htm |access-date=7 April 2015 |publisher=The National Archives}}</ref> during which the idea of a political party took form with groups debating rights to political representation during the [[Putney Debates]] of 1647.<ref>{{cite web |title=Putney debates |url=https://www.bl.uk/taking-liberties/articles/putney-debates |access-date=22 December 2016 |publisher=The British Library |archive-date=22 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222223321/https://www.bl.uk/taking-liberties/articles/putney-debates |url-status=dead }}</ref> Subsequently, [[the Protectorate]] (1653–59) and the [[Stuart Restoration|English Restoration]] (1660) restored more autocratic rule although Parliament passed the [[Habeas Corpus Act 1679|Habeas Corpus Act]] in 1679, which strengthened the convention that forbade detention lacking sufficient cause or evidence. The [[Glorious Revolution]] in 1688 established a strong Parliament that passed the [[Bill of Rights 1689]], which codified certain rights and liberties for individuals.<ref>{{cite web |title=Britain's unwritten constitution |url=http://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/articles/britains-unwritten-constitution |access-date=27 November 2015 |publisher=British Library |quote=The key landmark is the Bill of Rights (1689), which established the supremacy of Parliament over the Crown.... The Bill of Rights (1689) then settled the primacy of Parliament over the monarch's prerogatives, providing for the regular meeting of Parliament, free elections to the Commons, free speech in parliamentary debates, and some basic human rights, most famously freedom from 'cruel or unusual punishment'. |archive-date=8 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208232341/http://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/articles/britains-unwritten-constitution |url-status=dead }}</ref> It set out the requirement for regular parliaments, free elections, rules for freedom of speech in Parliament and limited the power of the monarch, ensuring that, unlike much of the rest of Europe, [[Absolute monarchy|royal absolutism]] would not prevail.<ref>{{cite web |title=Constitutionalism: America & Beyond |url=http://www.ait.org.tw/infousa/zhtw/DOCS/Demopaper/dmpaper2.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024130317/http://www.ait.org.tw/infousa/zhtw/DOCS/Demopaper/dmpaper2.html |archive-date=24 October 2014 |access-date=30 October 2014 |publisher=Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP), U.S. Department of State |quote=The earliest, and perhaps greatest, victory for liberalism was achieved in England. The rising commercial class that had supported the Tudor monarchy in the 16th century led the revolutionary battle in the 17th, and succeeded in establishing the supremacy of Parliament and, eventually, of the House of Commons. What emerged as the distinctive feature of modern constitutionalism was not the insistence on the idea that the king is subject to law (although this concept is an essential attribute of all constitutionalism). This notion was already well established in the Middle Ages. What was distinctive was the establishment of effective means of political control whereby the rule of law might be enforced. Modern constitutionalism was born with the political requirement that representative government depended upon the consent of citizen subjects.... However, as can be seen through provisions in the 1689 Bill of Rights, the English Revolution was fought not just to protect the rights of property (in the narrow sense) but to establish those liberties which liberals believed essential to human dignity and moral worth. The "rights of man" enumerated in the English Bill of Rights gradually were proclaimed beyond the boundaries of England, notably in the American Declaration of Independence of 1776 and in the French Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Rise of Parliament |url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/rise_parliament/citizenship2.htm |access-date=2010-08-22 |publisher=The National Archives}}</ref> Only with the [[Representation of the People Act 1884]] did a majority of the males get the vote.

=== Greece ===
{{Excerpt|Metapolitefsi|paragraphs=1}}

=== Indonesia ===
{{Further|Liberal democracy period in Indonesia|Post-Suharto era in Indonesia}}

=== Italy ===
[[File:Carlo Alberto firma lo Statuto.jpg|thumb|right|King [[Charles Albert of Sardinia]] signs the [[Statuto Albertino|Albertine Statute]], 4 March 1848.]]
[[File:Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana.jpg|thumb|[[Constitution of Italy|Constitution of the Italian Republic]], came into force on 1 January 1948 after the [[1946 Italian institutional referendum]].]]

In September 1847, [[Insurrection of 1847 in the Two Sicilies|violent riots inspired by Liberals]] broke out in [[Reggio Calabria]] and in [[Messina]] in the [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]], which were put down by the military. On 12 January 1848 a [[Sicilian revolution of independence of 1848|rising in Palermo]] spread throughout the island and served as a spark for the [[Revolutions of 1848]] all over Europe. After similar revolutionary outbursts in [[Salerno]], south of [[Naples]], and in the [[Cilento]] region which were backed by the majority of the intelligentsia of the Kingdom, on 29 January 1848 King [[Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies]] was forced to grant a constitution, using for a pattern the French [[Charter of 1830]]. This constitution was quite advanced for its time in liberal democratic terms, as was the proposal of a unified [[Italy|Italian]] confederation of states.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pti.regione.sicilia.it/portal/page/portal/PIR_PORTALE/PIR_150ANNI/PIR_150ANNISITO/PIR_Schede/PIR_Gliautonomistisiciliani|title=AUTONOMISMO E UNITÀ|access-date=16 September 2023|language=it}}</ref> On 11 February 1848, [[Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany|Leopold II of Tuscany]], first cousin of Emperor [[Ferdinand I of Austria]], granted the Constitution, with the general approval of his subjects. The Habsburg example was followed by [[Charles Albert of Sardinia]] ([[Statuto Albertino|Albertine Statute]]; later became the constitution of the [[Proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy|unified Kingdom of Italy]] and remained in force, with changes, until 1948<ref>{{cite book|last=Mack Smith|first=Denis |title=Modern Italy: A Political History|publisher=Yale University Press |year=1997}}</ref>) and by [[Pope Pius IX]] (Fundamental Statute). However, only King Charles Albert maintained the statute even after the end of the riots.

The [[Kingdom of Italy]], after the [[unification of Italy]] in 1861, was a [[constitutional monarchy]]. The new kingdom was governed by a parliamentary constitutional monarchy dominated by liberals.{{efn|In 1848, [[Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour]] had formed a parliamentary group in the [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861)|Kingdom of Sardinia]] Parliament named the ''Partito Liberale Italiano'' (Italian Liberal Party). From 1860, with the [[Italian unification|Unification of Italy]] substantially realized and the death of Cavour himself in 1861, the Liberal Party was split into at least two major factions or new parties later known as the ''Destra Storica'' on the right-wing, who substantially assembled the Count of Cavour's followers and political heirs; and the ''Sinistra Storica'' on the left-wing, who mostly reunited the followers and sympathizers of [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] and other former [[Giuseppe Mazzini|Mazzinians]]. The Historical Right (''Destra Storica'') and the Historical Left (''Sinistra Storica'') were composed of royalist liberals. At the same time, radicals organized themselves into the [[Italian Radical Party|Radical Party]] and republicans into the [[Italian Republican Party]].}} The [[Italian Socialist Party]] increased in strength, challenging the traditional liberal and conservative establishment. From 1915 to 1918, the Kingdom of Italy took part in [[World War I]] on the side of the [[Allies of World War I|Entente]] and against the [[Central Powers]]. In 1922, following a period of crisis and turmoil, the [[Italian Fascism|Italian fascist]] dictatorship was established. During [[World War II]], Italy was first part of the [[Axis powers|Axis]] until it surrendered to the [[Allies of World War II|Allied powers]] (1940–1943) and then, as part of its territory was occupied by [[Nazi Germany]] with [[Italian Social Republic|fascist collaboration]], a co-belligerent of the Allies during the [[Italian resistance]] and the subsequent [[Italian Civil War]], and the [[liberation of Italy]] (1943–1945). The aftermath of World War II left Italy also with an anger against the monarchy for its endorsement of the [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Fascist regime]] for the previous twenty years. These frustrations contributed to a revival of the Italian republican movement.<ref>{{Citation|year=1970|title=Italia|encyclopedia=Dizionario enciclopedico italiano|volume=VI|page=456|publisher=[[Treccani]]|language=it}}</ref> [[Italy]] became a republic after the [[1946 Italian institutional referendum]]<ref>{{cite video |year=1946 |title=Damage Foreshadows A-Bomb Test, 1946/06/06 (1946) |url=https://archive.org/details/1946-06-06_Damage_Foreshadows_A-Bomb_Test |publisher=[[Universal Newsreel]] |access-date=22 February 2012}}</ref> held on 2 June, a day celebrated since as ''[[Festa della Repubblica]]''. Italy has a written democratic [[Constitution of Italy|constitution]], resulting from the work of a [[Constituent Assembly of Italy|Constituent Assembly]] formed by the representatives of all the [[anti-fascist]] forces that contributed to the defeat of Nazi and Fascist forces during the [[liberation of Italy]] and the [[Italian Civil War]],<ref>Smyth, Howard McGaw Italy: From Fascism to the Republic (1943–1946) ''The Western Political Quarterly'' vol. 1 no. 3 (pp. 205–222), September 1948.{{JSTOR|442274}}</ref> and coming into force on 1 January 1948.

=== Japan ===
In [[Japan]], limited democratic reforms were introduced during the [[Meiji (era)|Meiji]] period (when the industrial modernization of Japan began), the [[Taishō]] period (1912–1926), and the early [[Shōwa (1926–1989)|Shōwa]] period.<ref name="Calder">Kent E. Calder, "East Asian Democratic Transitions" in ''The Making and Unmaking of Democracy: Lessons from History and World Politics'' (eds. Theodore K. Rabb & Ezra N. Suleiman: Routledge, 2003). pp. 251–59.</ref> Despite pro-democracy movements such as the [[Freedom and People's Rights Movement]] (1870s and 1880s) and some proto-democratic institutions, Japanese society remained constrained by a highly conservative society and bureaucracy.<ref name="Calder" /> Historian [[Kent E. Calder]] notes that writers that "Meiji leadership embraced constitutional government with some pluralist features for essentially tactical reasons" and that pre-World war II Japanese society was dominated by a "loose coalition" of "landed rural elites, big business, and the military" that was averse to pluralism and reformism.<ref name="Calder" /> While the [[National Diet#History|Imperial Diet]] survived the impacts of [[Japanese militarism]], the [[Great Depression]], and the [[Pacific War]], other pluralistic institutions, such as [[Political parties of the Empire of Japan|political parties]], did not. After World War II, during the [[Occupation of Japan|Allied occupation]], Japan adopted a much more vigorous, pluralistic democracy.<ref name="Calder" />

[[File:Elecciones 1888 valpo.png|thumb|upright=1.5| Voting in Valparaíso, Chile, in 1888]]

=== Madagascar===
{{Excerpt|1990–1992 movement in Madagascar|paragraphs=1}}

=== Malawi===
{{Excerpt|1993 Malawian democracy referendum|paragraphs=2}}

=== Latin America ===
Countries in [[Latin America]] became independent between 1810 and 1825, and soon had some early experiences with representative government and elections. All Latin American countries established representative institutions soon after independence, the early cases being those of [[Colombia]] in 1810, [[Paraguay]] and [[Venezuela]] in 1811, and [[Chile]] in 1818.<ref>Adam Przeworski and Henry Teune, ''Democracy and the Limits of Self-Government''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010, p. 47.</ref> [[Adam Przeworski]] shows that some experiments with representative institutions in Latin America occurred earlier than in most European countries.<ref>Adam Przeworski and Henry Teune, ''Democracy and the Limits of Self-Government''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010, p. 2; Przeworski, Adam, "The Mechanics of Regime Instability in Latin America." ''Journal of Politics in Latin America'' 1(1) 2009: 5–36.</ref> Mass democracy, in which the working class had the right to vote, become common only in the 1930s and 1940s.<ref>Collier, Ruth Berins, and David Collier. ''Shaping the Political Arena: Critical Junctures, the Labor Movement, and Regime Dynamics in Latin America''. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991; Rueschemeyer, Dietrich, Evelyne Huber Stephens, and John D. Stephens, ''Capitalist Development and Democracy''. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1992; Collier, Ruth Berins, ''Paths Toward Democracy: The Working Class and Elites in Western Europe and South America''. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1999; Drake, Paul W.. ''Between Tyranny and Anarchy: A History of Democracy in Latin America, 1800–2006''. Redwood City: Stanford University Press, 2009.</ref>

=== Portugal ===
{{Excerpt|Portuguese transition to democracy|paragraphs=1}}

=== Senegal ===
{{Excerpt|Democratization in Senegal|paragraphs=1}}

=== Spain ===
{{Excerpt|Spanish transition to democracy|paragraphs=1,2}}

=== South Africa===
{{Excerpt|Negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa|paragraphs=1}}

=== South Korea ===
{{Excerpt|June Democratic Struggle|paragraphs=1}}

=== Soviet Union ===
{{Excerpt|Demokratizatsiya (Soviet Union)|paragraphs=1}}

=== Switzerland ===
{{Excerpt|Switzerland as a federal state|paragraphs=1|only=paragraphs}}

=== Roman Republic ===
{{Excerpt|Overthrow of the Roman monarchy|paragraphs=1}}

=== Tunisia ===
{{Excerpt|Tunisian Revolution|paragraphs=1}}

=== Ukraine ===
{{Excerpt|1989–1991 Ukrainian revolution|paragraphs=1|only=paragraphs}}

=== United States ===
The [[American Revolution]] (1765–1783) created the United States. The new [[Constitution of the United States|Constitution]] established a relatively strong federal national government that included an [[President of the United States|executive]], a [[Supreme Court of the United States|national judiciary]], and a bicameral [[United States Congress|Congress]] that represented states in the [[United States Senate|Senate]] and the population in the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]].<ref name="Wood, 1992">Wood, ''The Radicalism of the American Revolution'' (1992)</ref><ref>Greene and Pole (1994) chapter 70</ref> In many fields, it was a success ideologically in the sense that a true republic was established that never had a single dictator, but [[Voting rights in the United States|voting rights]] were initially restricted to [[White Americans|white]] male property owners (about 6% of the population).<ref>{{cite web |title=Expansion of Rights and Liberties – The Right of Suffrage |url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/charters_of_freedom_13.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160706144856/http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/charters_of_freedom_13.html |archive-date=July 6, 2016 |access-date=April 21, 2015 |website=Online Exhibit: The Charters of Freedom |publisher=National Archives}}</ref> Slavery was not abolished in the Southern states until the constitutional [[Reconstruction Amendments|Amendments]] of the [[Reconstruction era]] following the [[American Civil War]] (1861–1865). The provision of [[Civil rights movement|Civil Rights]] for African-Americans to overcome post-Reconstruction [[Jim Crow]] segregation in the South was achieved in the 1960s.