The 3rd wave of globalization vs. authoritarianism

Samuel Huntington created a theory of the Third Wave of globalization.  Most of these events started happening in the mid 1990s.  Now we see a reverse trend toward authoritarianism.

According to Huntington, the rise of the Third Wave is derived from five main causative factors:

• decrease of legitimacy of authoritarian regimes due to increased popular expectation of periodic and competitive election, and/or poor economic performance or military failure.
• Growth in global economic output helped modernize many less developed economies. Economic modernization, which includes structural changes like increased rates of urbanization, education, unleashing a constellation of social forces with the organizational capacity and education to press for democratic governance.
• Changes in the Catholic Church brought about by Vatican II emphasized individual rights and opposition to authoritarian rule. This shift in world view was especially important for the Catholic countries of the Mediterranean and Latin America, as well as the Phillipines, Poland and Hungary.
• Regional Contingency Factor (Domino theory), also known as demonstration effects, happens when success of democracy in one country causes other countries to democratize.
• External factors, most notably the efforts to spread democracy by the EU and the United States

We also discuss IMF & World Bank.