The article looks at why some countries became democracies during the Third Wave of Democratization. The researchers studied data from 174 countries between 1960 and 2005. They found 63 countries switched to democracy permanently, 3 went back to autocracy, and 6 made small progress towards democracy. They also identified countries that stayed autocratic or democratic. The study focused on what factors helped countries successfully transition to democracy, especially those that were not democratic at the start of the Third Wave.