Transition without intervention? - Multiple arenas and the impact of the domestic and external variables in the contemporary processes of democratization

This study examines the role played by the domestic and external variables inside the democratic transitions processes in the twenty-first century. The internal variables are demonstrated by the economic development, political stability, ethnic, religious and cultural diversity, historical background and mobilization of the civil society, while the external factor is expressed by the use of military force from abroad. For this purpose, it scrutinizes the democratization cases of Afghanistan and Iraq, where the North American intervention was essential for the change of the political regime. Subsequently, the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt are anlized under the same variables, concluding that the external intervention is necessary in contexts where the citizens are ethnically and religiously heterogeneous, since this arena of popular conflict hinders the organization of the civil society in order to establish a democratic system.