Book Presentation: "Democratic Transitions Conversations with World Leaders"
Democratic Transitions Conversations with World Leaders (Johns Hopkins University Press and International IDEA, 2015), edited by Sergio Bitar and Abraham F. Lowenthal, features probing interviews with 13 former presidents on five continents, who relate how repressive regimes ended and democracy took hold. The editors distill lessons about how democratic transitions have been and can be carried out in a changing world, emphasizing the importance of political leadership.
“What makes countries become successful democracies? There is much theoretical literature on the topic, but this book is different and special. It answers the question through interviews with the key players in some of the most important transitions to democracy in recent decades. The result is a fascinating empirical exploration of a vital issue, rich with detail and insights.”
—Fareed Zakaria, CNN
[[{"fid":"1282","view_mode":"one_third_right","fields":{"format":"one_third_right","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Lowenthal","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Lowenthal","field_folder[und]":"_none"},"type":"media","attributes":{"alt":"Lowenthal","title":"Lowenthal","height":"200","width":"200","class":"media-element file-one-third-right"}}]]Abraham Lowenthal is known as a consummate institution builder as well as a distinguished scholar of international affairs and democratic governance. Most recently, with Chilean policymaker Sergio Bitar, he coedited Democratic Transitions: Conversations with World Leaders (Johns Hopkins University Press and International IDEA, 2015). Lowenthal was the founding director of the Inter-American Dialogue and the Latin American Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the founding president of the Pacific Council on International Policy.
A longtime friend and advisor to the Kellogg Institute, Lowenthal helped organize the Wilson Center’s landmark project on transitions from authoritarian rule, leading to the classic volume coedited by Kellogg founding academic director Guillermo O’Donnell (1986). He is the author or editor of seventeen books and numerous articles.
Lowenthal has served on the boards of the Inter-American Dialogue, the Fulbright Association, the Latin American Studies Association, and the American Political Science Association, among others, and as director of studies and vice president at the Council on Foreign Relations. A member of the Research Council of the International Forum for Democratic Studies, National Endowment of Democracy, he has received numerous accolades, including decorations by the governments of Brazil and the Dominican Republic. He holds an MPA and PhD from Harvard University as well as an honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame.
