Democratization ''for'' the third world: Critique of a hegemonic project

This paper analyses the current democratization project as a major ideological pillar in the structure of international hegemony. An examination of the main agents and appeals of neo-liberal democratization is followed by a description of the principal classes and groups who support it. The heterogeneous mass basis for democratization underlies the ''struggle for definition'' that is now taking place. Challenging the neo-liberal definition of democratization, the article ''deconstructs'' economic liberalism into ''decommodification,'' and political liberalism into ''polyarchization.'' This redefinition provides some insight into the limitations of the prevailing definition, and permits the process of democratization to be ''essentially'' contested and perhaps, re-appropriated.