Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction.
Modernization theory holds that as societies become more economically modernized, wealthier and more educated, their political institutions become increasingly liberal democratic. The "classical" theories of modernization of the 1950s and 1960s, most influentially articulated by Seymour Lipset, drew on sociological analyses of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Talcott Parsons. Modernization theory was a dominant paradigm in the social sciences in the 1950s and 1960s, and saw a resurgence after 1991, when Francis Fukuyama wrote about the end of the Cold War as confirmation on modernization theory.
The American Political Science Association (APSA) is a professional association of political science students and scholars in the United States. Founded in 1903 in the Tilton Memorial Library of Tulane University in New Orleans, it publishes four academic journals: American Political Science Review, Perspectives on Politics, Journal of Political Science Education, and PS: Political Science & Politics. APSA Organized Sections publish or are associated with 15 additional journals.
Comparative politics is a field in political science characterized either by the use of the comparative method or other empirical methods to explore politics both within and between countries. Substantively, this can include questions relating to political institutions, political behavior, conflict, and the causes and consequences of economic development. When applied to specific fields of study, comparative politics may be referred to by other names, such as comparative government.
Juan José Linz Storch de Gracia was a German-born Spanish sociologist and political scientist specializing in comparative politics. He was Sterling Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Political Science at Yale University and an honorary member of the Scientific Council at the Juan March Institute. He is best known for his work on authoritarian political regimes and democratization.
The European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) is a scholarly association that supports and encourages the training, research and cross-national cooperation of many thousands of academics and graduate students specialising in political science and all its sub-disciplines. ECPR membership is institutional rather than individual and, at its inception in 1970, comprised eight members. Membership has now grown to encompass more than 350 institutions throughout Europe, with associate members spread around the world.
Adam Przeworski is a Polish-American professor of political science specializing in comparative politics. He is Carroll and Milton Professor Emeritus in the Department of Politics of New York University. He is a scholar of democratic societies, theory of democracy, social democracy and political economy, as well as an early proponent of rational choice theory in political science.
Guillermo Alberto O'Donnell Ure was a prominent Argentine political scientist who specialized in comparative politics and Latin American politics. He spent most of his career working in Argentina and the United States, and who made lasting contributions to theorizing on authoritarianism and democratization, democracy and the state, and the politics of Latin America. His brother is Pacho O'Donnell.
Scholars at Risk (SAR) is a United States-based international network of academic institutions organized to support and defend the principles of academic freedom and to defend the human rights of scholars around the world. Network membership includes over 530 higher educational institutions in 42 countries.
Pippa Norris is a British American political scientist specializing in comparative politics. She is the McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, and she has served as the Australian Laureate Fellow and Professor of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney, and Director of the Electoral Integrity Project.
John S. Dryzek is a Centenary Professor at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the University of Canberra's Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis.
BM Jain is an Indian political scientist and Sinologist, who has developed and popularized psycho-cultural and geopsychological paradigms in the field of international relations (IR) and international security. He has developed the theory of geopsychology in IR as an alternative to mainstream IR theories. He defines it as "a set of perceptions, images, and belief systems, formed of shared history, culture, nationalism, religion, and ethnicity, which shape the mindsets and behavioral patterns of non-state and authoritarian actors and communities inhabiting a specific geographical area." In understanding China's foreign policy behavior, for instance, he has applied the geopsychology theoretical framework that lists core elements of China's geopsychology: Century of humiliation, the Middle Kingdom syndrome, cultural pride, nationalism, strategic culture, and the anti-hegemony discourse.
Philippe C. Schmitter is an American political scientist specializing in comparative politics. He is Emeritus Professor of the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute.
Dirk Berg-Schlosser is professor emeritus of political science at University of Marburg in Germany.
The Karl Deutsch Award is awarded by the International Political Science Association (IPSA) each year an IPSA World Congress of Political Science is held. The recipient of the award presents the Karl Deutsch Lecture or leads a special session at the World Congress. The purpose of the award is to honour a prominent scholar engaged in cross-disciplinary research. It was named after the prominent political scientist Karl Deutsch. According to a reputation survey conducted in 2013 and 2014, it is the third most prestigious international academic award in political science, after the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science and the Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research.
Julio Cabral Teehankee is a Filipino political scientist. He is Full Professor of Political Science and International Studies at De La Salle University (DLSU) where he served as Chair of the Political Science Department (1994–2007); Chair of the International Studies Department (2008–2013); and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts (2013–2017).
Denise Walsh is an American political scientist, currently a professor of political science and women, gender and sexuality at the University of Virginia. She studies the relationship between women's rights and political inclusion and level of democracy, as well as women's advancement during periods of democratization.
Elisabeth Jean Wood is an American political scientist, currently the Franklin Muzzy Crosby Professor of the Human Environment, professor of political science, and professor of international and area studies at Yale University. She studies sexual violence during war, the emergence of political insurgencies and individuals' participation in them, and democratization, with a focus on Latin American politics and African politics.
Mona Lena Krook is an American political scientist. She is a Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, where she is also the Chair of the Women and Politics Ph.D. Program. She studies the political representation of women, particularly gender quotas in governments and the phenomenon of violence against women in politics.
Canada 
Spain 
