ABSTRACT
The increasing number of emerging democracies and the expansion of electoral politics and parties have called for a new revision of the left-right axis of political competition. This revision should take into account the fact that in some newly competitive party systems, democracy cannot be taken for granted. As shown in Chapters 3and 4, in some cases democracy itself is a central issue of party competition. Party elites and voters may not view democracy—or a market economy—as die best system, sometimes because they fear that democracy will bring disorder and economic failure. This book shows that a strong attitudinal divide on the democracy issue characterizes some emerging democracies in the post-Communist world and Latin America. In many cases, opposing views toward democracy and their translation into party preferences constitute relevant political cleavages. Some voters in emerging democracies may use democratic means—free and fair elections—to attain the nondemocratic goals of retaining nondemocratic elites or returning them to power.
