| Summary: | Studies about the consolidation process in the post- Soviet era has become more popular since the countries gained their independence, one of them was Azerbaijan. However, the country has difficulties in consolidating democracy since it regained its independence. The mail goal of this study is to find out why the democratization process in Azerbaijan have faltered and the main factors behind it. Such as the role of the electoral process, civil society, and the constitutional state. This qualitative case study will mainly rely on material from Freedom House Index report & Nations in Transit. The theories that will be used in this study is Juan Linz and Alfred Stepan's theories "Towards consolidated democracies". They argue that in order to achieve a consolidated democracy there has to be a functioning political society, active civil society and a constitutional state. To strengthen the main theory in this study, we will rely on Robert Dahls five criterions that are needed in order to achieve a democracy. Results show that main factors behind Azerbaijan's faltering democratization is a relatively weak opposition, fragmented civil society and a legislative body that is not independent. Other main reasons for the faltering of democracy is high institutionalized corruption on every level of society
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