An advanced market society is not strictly necessary for the existence of a robust democratic culture, neither is it sufficient. The latter does not emerge automatically from the socio-economic modernization, while the former can also constitute the basis for hierarchical and unequal arrangements. As a result, there is no unique path that links development, the type of political regime and the democratic culture, but three: the Western one, in which democratization and its values preceded and favored the economic modernization; the authoritarian modernization, in which the sequence was reversed; and a third, incremental one, in which all three elements develop slowly and reinforce each other. In consequence, on the one hand, democratization does not have to pass through all the historical stages that define the Western experience, and hence can proceed at a faster pace; on the other, authoritarian reversals are possible anytime in those places where democratic political culture is still weak.