Editing Democratization (section)

==== Promotion, foreign influence, and intervention ====
{{main|Democracy promotion}}
The European Union has contributed to the spread of democracy, in particular by encouraging democratic reforms in aspiring member states. [[Thomas Risse]] wrote in 2009, "there is a consensus in the literature on Eastern Europe that the EU membership perspective had a huge anchoring effects for the new democracies."<ref name=":22" />

[[Steven Levitsky]] and Lucan Way have argued that close ties to the West increased the likelihood of democratization after the end of the Cold War, whereas states with weak ties to the West adopted [[Illiberal democracy|competitive authoritarian]] regimes.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Levitsky|first1=Steven|last2=Way|first2=Lucan|date=2005-07-27|title=International Linkage and Democratization|journal=Journal of Democracy|language=en|volume=16|issue=3|pages=20–34|doi=10.1353/jod.2005.0048|s2cid=154397302|issn=1086-3214}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/competitive-authoritarianism/20A51BE2EBAB59B8AAEFD91B8FA3C9D6|title=Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War|last1=Levitsky|first1=Steven|last2=Way|first2=Lucan A.|date=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511781353|isbn=9780511781353}}</ref>

A 2002 study found that membership in [[regional organization]]s "is correlated with transitions to democracy during the period from 1950 to 1992."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pevehouse|first=Jon C.|date=2002-06-01|title=Democracy from the Outside-In? International Organizations and Democratization|journal=International Organization|volume=56|issue=3|pages=515–549|doi=10.1162/002081802760199872|s2cid=154702046|issn=1531-5088}}</ref>

A 2004 study found no evidence that foreign aid led to democratization.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Knack|first=Stephen|date=2004-03-01|title=Does Foreign Aid Promote Democracy?|journal=International Studies Quarterly|language=en|volume=48|issue=1|pages=251–266|doi=10.1111/j.0020-8833.2004.00299.x|issn=0020-8833|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Democracies have often been imposed by military intervention, for example in [[Occupation of Japan|Japan]] and [[Occupation of Germany|Germany]] [[Aftermath of World War II|after World War II]].<ref name="GT">{{cite journal|last=Therborn|first=Göran|author-link=Göran Therborn|date=May–June 1977 |title=The rule of capital and the rise of democracy |url=https://newleftreview.org/issues/i103/articles/goran-therborn-the-rule-of-capital-and-the-rise-of-democracy |url-access=subscription |journal=[[New Left Review]] |number=103 |pages=3–41}}</ref><ref>[http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?issueID=47&articleID=599 ''The Independent'']</ref> In other cases, [[decolonization]] sometimes facilitated the establishment of democracies that were soon replaced by authoritarian regimes. For example, Syria, after gaining independence from [[Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon|French mandatory control]] at the beginning of the [[Cold War]], failed to [[Democratic consolidation|consolidate]] its democracy, so it eventually collapsed and was replaced by a [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Ba'athist dictatorship]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Krokowska|first1=Katarzyna|year=2011|title=The Fall of Democracy in Syria|url=http://sam.gov.tr/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/katarzyna_krokowska.pdf|journal=Perceptions|access-date=2016-02-13|archive-date=2017-03-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312042938/http://sam.gov.tr/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/katarzyna_krokowska.pdf}}</ref>

Robert Dahl argued in ''On Democracy'' that foreign interventions contributed to democratic failures, citing Soviet interventions in Central and Eastern Europe and U.S. interventions in Latin America.<ref name=":4" /> However, the delegitimization of empires contributed to the emergence of democracy as former colonies gained independence and implemented democracy.<ref name=":4" />