In the term paper, you are expected to select a country that underwent democratic transition in the recent past which is commonly referred to as the third and fourth waves of democracy. The notion of waves of democracy was introduced by Samuel P. Huntington’s in his historical analysis of the global democratic process. According to Huntington, the adoption of democracy happened in three waves:

•       The first wave began in the early 19th century across North America and Western Europe in the aftermath of the American and French revolutions.

•       The second wave began after World War II.

•       The third wave began in the mid-1970s starting in Portugal and Spain before spreading across Asia, Africa Central Europe and Latin America.

•       The fourth wave has recently been added by some scholars and refers to the Arab spring that spread in the Middle East after 2011.

Your essay should include descriptive and explanatory analyses. In the descriptive portion, you will ask questions such as: when and how did the transition to democracy transpire? Who were/are the major actors? What were their interests and how did they reach consensus? What were the institutional changes in the pre and post-transition period? What can be said about the success and/or failure of the democratic transition? The explanatory analyses of your essay deal with questions like: what factors explain the outbreak, successful transition or failure of democracy to take hold in that specific country?

·      Organization: your essay should have clear logical structure with an introduction, main body, and conclusion. There should be logical flow and transition from one idea to the next, regularly developing or building on the previous one.

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The paper should be between 3500-4000 words long