Employing a framework that focuses on the actions and choices of elites in creating consolidated democracies, a distinguished group of scholars examine in this book the recent transitions to democracy and the prospects for democratic stability in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Portugal, Spain, and Uruguay. The role of elites in creating, democratizing, and consolidating the longer-established democratic regimes in Colombia, Costa Rica, Italy, and Venezuela is also assessed, and an analysis of the stable but not very democratic Mexican regime is presented.