Although they stress that structural factors are not important, the authors bring in such variables when it suits their purposes. For example, they argue that the social structures that most support democracy are ones where there is minimal polarization, economic growth, a sizeable middle class, and deconcentration of wealth. A strong civil society that checks the power of the state contributes to democracy. A state that is too strong leads to corruption and a lack of democracy. They argue that a stong state also increases ethnic confllicts.
Decentralized power helps reduce ethnic conflict and thus contributes to democracy.
Militarism is the result of bad administration, chaos, and external threats on a government. The authors reject the notion that repression in third world countries is the product of international factors such as big powers interfering in the internal affairs of these countries. They haven't studied Chile or U.S. involvement in Central America or want to overlook it. They argue that colonialism was good for third world countries because it provided liberal democratic values and experience in self-government and in administration. This was seldomly the case.