On the Relationships between Economic Liberalization, Democratic Transition, and Democratic Consolidation

Despite their concomitance, the economic transition from nationalism to liberalism and the political transition from authoritarianism to democracy have been studied separately by specialists. The exploration of how they are related raises two questions in particular, which are broadly answered in the affirmative in this paper, namely, has economic liberalization been a determining factor in democratic transitions in Africa and Southern Europe? Does the consolidation of new Eastern European democracies, as envisaged by the political reforms prior to entry to the European Union, constitute a new vision of democratic consolidation, which is more exogenist and liberal than endogenist and social-democratic?