+ Daniel L. Tavana (2022). "After Repression: How Polarization Derails Democratic Transition." Democratization 29(5): 974-976. [DOI][PDF]
Elizabeth Nugent’s After Repression opens with the central challenge of democratic transitions: the collapse of autocracy may initiate a transition, but these transitions do not always result in democratic consolidation. The aftermath of the “Arab Spring” serves as a tragic reminder of this lesson. With the exception of Tunisia – whose future is still uncertain – transitions across the region have not resulted in democratic consolidation, much less a deepening of mass support for democracy. After Repression provides a theoretically ambitious and empirically rich explanation of the elite polarization that imperiled these transitions. Scholars of democratization and specialists in Middle East and North African politics will find the argument bold and the evidence compelling.