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Reference.org
Peaceful transition of power
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<p> A peaceful transition or transfer of power is a concept important to <a href="/facts/Democracy/3tLdVS1C">democratic</a> governments in which the leadership of a government peacefully hands over control of government to a newly elected leadership. This may be after elections or during the transition from a different kind of political regime, such as the <a href="/facts/Post-communist/Q6UuRwbc">post-communist</a> period after the <a href="/facts/Fall_of_the_Soviet_Union/Fyn5jw3n">fall of the Soviet Union</a>. </p><p>In scholarship examining <a href="/facts/Democratization/ppbzKnhe">democratization</a> and emerging democracies, study of the successful transitions of power is used to understand the transition to <a href="/facts/Constitutional_democracy/5blgnbkS">constitutional democracy</a> and the relative stability of that government. A 2014 study concluded that 68 countries had never had a peaceful transition of power due to an election since 1788. </p>