This quantity analyzes regime politics within the constructing global. via concentrating on the civilian, collective actors that forge democracy and maintain it, this booklet strikes past materialist arguments concentrating on GDP, poverty, and inequality. With case fabric from 4 continents, this quantity emphasizes the decisive function performed via events and routine in forging democracy opposed to the chances. those pivotal collectivities are constantly the most important civilian collectivities that effectively mobilized for democracy, that helped forge enduring democratic associations, and that formed the standard of the democracies that emerged; they're those tasked with mobilizing alongside a variety of social cleavages, confronting probably inhospitable stipulations, and coordinating the method of regime swap. whereas the presence of events and events on my own isn't adequate to give an explanation for democracy, their absence is harmful to enduring democratic regimes. therefore, this quantity refocuses our recognition on events and activities as severe mechanisms of regime change.