The Rise of the State

Abstract

Earlier in this book (Chapter 2), we saw that emerging democratic states of the third wave display several important characteristics that clearly differentiate them from mature democracies. These include the rapidity of change experienced by new states and the resulting disconnect between law and practice, the deliberate concentration of power, the concerted struggle for control of the national discourse, the impact of elites, and the power and size imbalance between most new states and more established nations. These notable characteristics are sufficient to argue that emerging democratic states require a less generalised approach, in particular when it comes to analysing media-state relations within them.