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A coauthor of the pathbreaking study Transitions from Authoritarian Rule reflects on the lessons that he has learned about democratic transition and consolidation since the publication of that work nearly 25 years ago. Among Schmitter’s “fifteen findings”: Democratization has proven far easier to accomplish in the contemporary historical context than the author had at first thought it would be; really existing democracy has been disappointing to both its intended beneficiaries and to academics; and despite the neoliberal enthusiasm for privatization and globalization, democratization continues to rely on the state.