Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"One of Foreign Affairs Best of Books 2017 – Political and Legal / Globalization"
"Highly recommended. . . . The conclusion is especially strong and provocative, speculating that though democracy has advantages that prevent crises from becoming so severe they threaten stability, autocratic capitalism may be a viable alternative if democracy fails to provide security and prosperity for its people." * Choice *
"In this landmark study, Gunitsky . . . illuminates the deep connections between global shfits in power and waves of domestic regime change. . . . No book has made a stronger case that the fate of democracy is tied to the rise and fall of great powers and the leadership of liberal hegemonic states." * Foreign Affairs *
"An important, well-argued and well-written contribution to the literature on the international dimension of change in political regimes across different countries."
---Nicholas Bouchet, International Affairs"
Aftershocks is a tour de force, traveling across the twentieth century, simultaneously providing a parsimonious theoretical map of the entire century's experience with democratic breakthroughs and breakdowns, while also remaining immersed in rich historical detail. . . . Gunitsky has given us a powerful lens to understand not only the past but the present as well."
---Daniel Ziblatt, Perspectives on PoliticsTable of ContentsList of Illustrations vii Preface and Acknowledgments ix 1 Introduction: A Century of Shocks and Waves 1 2 From Crests to Collapses: The Sources of Failure in Democratic Waves 33 3 The Alchemy of War 60 4 A Low Dishonest Decade 101 5 Two Ways of Life 152 6 The Winds from the East 198 7 Conclusion: Beyond the Great Plateau 231 Appendix 1: Regime Classifications, 1900-2000 245 Appendix 2: Regime Impositions 247 Bibliography 253 Index 279
