Abstract
I shall discuss the role of knowledge in transitions to democracy. More accurately, I shall discuss the role of beliefs in the transition, whether or not they turn out to be accurate. The main thrust of my argument is, in fact, that in this area reliable knowledge is hard to come by and, even when it exists, may not be used. I limit myself to cases in which the pre-democratic regime was lacking in legitimacy and maintained itself in power by sheer force.
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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Elster, J. (2001). Knowledge and the Politics of Transition. In: Viale, R. (eds) Knowledge and Politics. Physica, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-57564-8_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-57564-8_3
Publisher Name: Physica, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-7908-1422-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-57564-8
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