Dr. Wang Shikai from East China University of Political Science and Law gave a research project report on “Theory of the Emergence of Democracy and Its Three explanation Models” on October 17, 2012.

Dr. Wang’s research mainly based on his critical reading of the democratization literature since 1970s. He criticized the mainstream consciousness of democratization research, and gave a logical reconstruction of the explanatory elements provided by democratization literature. He believed that the theory of the emergence of democracy originates mainly from the three major disciplines of comparative political science, historical sociology and political economics, and therefore the three explanatory models are developed. He made a brief explanation of the discipline division method and grounds, and analyzed the main explanatory factors and contents of the three explanatory models respectively.