“The book by Denk and Lehtinen is a new approach to the relation between state formation and democratization. It provides a well-designed argument to support a thesis that both analysed processes are linked, and utilizes clearly triangulated methods to show it. Many scholars will appreciate the study for its clarity and consistency – a valuable point of departure especially for more contextual and dynamic analyses of fundamental political processes in the times of global flux.” (Krzysztof Kasianiuk, Democratization, Vol. 27 (2), 2020)
This book examines the connection between two major developments in the world: state-formation and democratization. Since 1946, the number of states has increased from 66 to almost 200 independent states, but our knowledge of these state-formation processes is limited. The authors present a new database on state-formation and democratization, which enables novel classifications and analyses of these processes on the global level. They argue that the form of state-formation affects the probability for democratization in new states and that the initial regime that state-formation establishes at the time of independence has long-term effects on new states’ democratization.
