| Summary: | The aim of this study is to examine the democratization process of Kosovo in the years after the countries independence was assured. Two central questions for the case study consist of whether a democratic improvement in the country has occurred and which factors, positive and negative, are present to further improve or impede the democratizationprocess. The study builds upon two central definitions, democratic states and democratization in order to gain theoretical background to be able to measure these two quite abstract expressions. A socioeconomic model is used to measure favorable or negative developments within Kosovos society and the findings of this model confirms the hypothesis of modernization theory, namely that increased socioeconomic development increases the chance of a positive democratizationprocess. There has been a positive democratic development aswell as socioecomic progress but since the nature of this study is merely descriptive and not explanatory, it doesnt make claims on the explanatory power of modernization theory. A transition model is used for gaining a general overview of where in the democratizationprocess Kosovo currently resides. The findings of this model suggests that Kosovo currently sits in the transitionsphase of the model with problems like corruption and ethnical conflicts between minorities aswell as gender inequality as the main forces holding back the quality aspect of the consolidationphase.
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