The proposed research will look at the causes for the weakening of democratic processes in four selected countries. The study will examine closely the role of the following variables: class conflict, economic conditions, formal political structures and processes, and the international context. In the case of the Philippines, the period from 1986 to 2022 will be the period studied. Interviews of selected respondents will be done, along with analysis of electoral data and primary and secondary documents. In the case of India and Hungary, the period of study will be from 2000 to 2022 and will involve the same methods as the Philippines. The study will be comparative across contemporary political systems as well as historically. The reason for this is that there may be trends or developments that can only be caught by a longitudinal methodology. Weimar Germany and Post-World War I Italy have been chosen owing to the wealth of both documentary and electoral data available on them.