Waves of autocratization and democratization: a rejoinder

This is a response to Luca Tomini's “Don't think of wave!” and Svend-Erik Skaaning's “Waves autocratization democratization”. With this rejoinder we make three arguments: First, the question how global waves shape processes regime transformations now more urgent than ever. Since 1994, civil liberties political rights one third population have been substantially increasingly reduced due autocratization. Second, any concept can only be studied meaningfully if underlying concepts as well are clearly defined. We argue that conceptualization episodes (ERT) in ERT dataset provides exactly such clear state-of-the-art empirical mapping democratization at national level. In addition, highlight our builds upon Huntington, 1993. It even improves it by allowing for overlap modelling closer its real world counterpart. Third, view present debate prime example fruitful scholastic argument. Ultimately, what will generate better understanding trends