Anyone interested in the wave of democracy that swept the world in the 1960s and 1970s and early 1980s, 4 small books, together regarded as a classic, are "Tran

Anyone interested in the wave of democracy that swept the world in the 1960s and 1970s and early 1980s, 4 small books, together regarded as a classic, are "Transitions from Authoritarian Rule" and the 4th volume (a small book that can easily be read in one day) is: Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1421410133/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1421410133/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b... This book has a lot to say about why some transitions to democracy fail, and by implication it says a lot about why some long-standing democracies also fail. Anyone who is currently worried about the survival of democracy in the West might find this book interesting. The most interesting thing I learned from this is how much each elite faction and institution (the military, the church, the business elites, etc) are constantly guessing how the other elite factions are going to react to any change to the status quo, and it is the uncertainty of support that often inhibits an elite faction from engaging in a course of radical change. And likewise, if any one elite faction hopes to establish itself as dominant, it is its own uncertainty about the complacency of other elite factions that has a big effect on inhibiting its own boldness. Likewise, each faction worries about the ability of other elite factions to make an appeal to the general public, as no elite faction wants to be caught out as alone in taking action when there might be a surprising upsurge of activity from the general public. It's the fact that everyone is guessing about the power of everyone else that keeps the situation both dynamic and yet, at times, helps reinforce the status quo.