ABSTRACT
The replacement of rulers who hold power through tradition or violence with officials chosen by citizens in free, fair and inclusive elections marks a singular, and usually celebratory, moment in any country's political history. This chapter selectively reviews social-science theories on the forces leading societies to that moment, which we will call a ‘democratic transition’. Here, the relevant officials are understood to be the ones charged with establishing and executing national laws and policy – that is, both legislators and the chief executive, who may be a prime minister or president – and any regime in which those rulers have not been chosen by free, fair and competitive elections is regarded as authoritarian.
