What Democracy Is…and Is Not

Philippe C. Schmitter, professor emeritus in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute, previously taught at the University of Chicago and Stanford University. He is the coeditor (with Guillermo O’Donnell and Laurence Whitehead) of the seminal four-volume series Transitions from Authoritarian Rule.

Terry Lynn Karl is professor of political science at Stanford University, director of its Center for Latin American Studies, and a senior fellow at the Institute for International Studies. She is the author of The Paradox of Plenty: Oil Booms and Petro-States (1997).