Review
"An important and compelling book. Its scrupulous analysis of democratization in Germany and Poland in different historical periods is essential for understanding the conditions that make new democracies work. For anyone concerned with democracy this is a must read; it represents comparative research in political science at its best."
--Grzegorz Ekiert, Harvard University
"In his well-chosen and illuminating comparison of the sources and consequences of the design of political institutions, Michael Bernhard reminds political scientists—who have become increasingly reductionist in their studies—that politicians have complex interests, competing values, and contrasting ideas, that all of these factors and their interactions shape institutional choices, and that both these choices and the evolving economic and political context, both at home and abroad, are responsible for whether democracy survives or dies."
--Valerie Bunce, Cornell University
From the Back Cover
"An important and compelling book. Its scrupulous analysis of democratization in Germany and Poland in different historical periods is essential for understanding the conditions that make new democracies work. For anyone concerned with democracy this is a must read; it represents comparative research in political science at its best."--Grzegorz Ekiert, Harvard University
"In his well-chosen and illuminating comparison of the sources and consequences of the design of political institutions, Michael Bernhard reminds political scientists--who have become increasingly reductionist in their studies--that politicians have complex interests, competing values, and contrasting ideas, that all of these factors and their interactions shape institutional choices, and that both these choices and the evolving economic and political context, both at home and abroad, are responsible for whether democracy survives or dies."--Valerie Bunce, Cornell University
