Answer:
(a) Democracy has in part spread through popular struggles, also because certain conditions in the twentieth century have enabled the idea of democracy to become popular. Given a chance people have sought to replace other forms of government by democracy. (b) Democracy has been established in countries where deep rooted socio-economic inequalities have existed. For the under-privileged democracy is a beacon of hope for it promises access to power. (c) Democracy also spreads when those excluded from power began to voice their aspirations in a democratic language and use political instruments to struggle for democracy. Thus struggle by the working classes has played a decisive role in promoting democracy in Europe. (d) External changes like the Second World War, decolonisation and the collapse of the Soviet Union have triggered a chain of events which have led to spread of democracy in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. (e) The Second World War helped to weaken the major colonial powers - Britain and France. Their economies were destroyed and their troops were war weary and wanted to go home. Public opinion in the imperialist countries was in favour of giving the colonies their (f) Freedom movements in the colonies had also become too strong for the colonial powers to suppress. Many of them had already become independent when the fascist countries occupying them were defeated. It was difficult for the colonial powers to now re-establish their rule. Therefore a wave of decolonization occurred after 1945 with many former colonies adopting a democratic form of government. (g) The collapse of the Soviet Union led to mass upheavals in Eastern Europe. For decades the people of Eastern Europe had been exploited by the USSR. In the 1980's living standards declined and economies began to collapse. Increasing unemployment created an angry generation which staged widespread uprisings. Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, East Germany, Czechoslovakia
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