Coalitions for Representation 1 About Us Core Themes Activities Publications Online Materials By Ronald D. Holmes Published by Ateneo School of Government and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung(FES), Philippine Office April 2001 The 20 th century has been described by Freedom House as the century of democracy. For this organization that had monitored the progress of societies on a predefined scale of civil liberties and political rights, the world has progressed politically over the last hundred years. Tracking of Democratic Polities 2 Political Order 2000 1950 1900 FES Dialogue on Globalization FES International Policy Analysis Unit FES Journal ­International Politics and Society Democratic 120 22 0 Restricted 16 21 25 Democratic Practice Constitutional Monarchy 0 9 19 Traditional Monarchy 10 4 6 Absolute Monarchy 0 2 5 Authoritarian Regimes 39 10 0 Totalitarian 5 12 0 Others 2 74 75 TOTAL 192 154 130 The democratization evidenced by the table above, however, does not reflect the travails that many of the newly democratized countries experienced. As continually monitored by comparative politics scholars, a number of the societies that have democratized in the phase referred to by Huntington as the"Third Wave" 3 have been beset by problems. The Philippine experience alone indicates the struggle that comes with democratic transitions. Fifteen years after the first people power uprising deposed a dictator, the foundations of our fledgling democratic order was rocked anew recently, by an inflamed crisis of leadership that did not only indicate the weakness of the popularly elected but morally depraved former President Joseph"Erap" Estrada, but also mirror the problematic nature of Philippine elections. This recent episode completes the range of