This bold and comprehensive reassessment of democracy in Venezuela explains why one of the oldest and most admired democracies in Latin America became fragile after more than three decades of apparent stability.

Democratization and Research Methods is a coherent survey and critique of both democratization research and the methodology of comparative politics. The two themes enhance each other: the democratization literature illustrates the advantages and disadvantages of various methodological approaches, and the critique of methods makes sense of the vast and bewildering democratization field. Michael Coppedge argues that each of the three main approaches in comparative politics case studies and comparative histories, formal modeling, and large-sample statistical analysis accomplishes one fundamental...

Democratization and Research Methods is a coherent survey and critique of both democratization research and the methodology of comparative politics. The two themes enhance each other: the democratization literature illustrates the advantages and disadvantages of various methodological approaches, and the critique of methods makes sense of the vast and bewildering democratization field. Michael Coppedge argues that each of the three main approaches in comparative politics case studies and comparative histories, formal modeling, and large-sample statistical analysis accomplishes one fundamental...