Larry Jay Diamond (born October 2, 1951)[1] is an American political sociologist and scholar in the field of democracy studies.

As Diamond stated in his book, The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World, "for democratic structures to endure – and be worthy of endurance – they must listen to their citizens' voices, engage their participation, tolerate their protests, protect their freedoms, and respond to their needs.

"[17] Diamond has written and edited many pieces on the growth of democracy and its current recession on an international level.

In his paper "The Democratic Rollback: The Resurgence of the Predatory State," Diamond states that one of the main reasons for this recession in democracy is a surge of young democratic countries which employ rigged elections, intense intimidation of any opposing political party, and unstoppable expansion in executive power.

Due to the growth of these corrupted semi-democracies, which Diamond calls electoral authoritarianism, there has been a worldwide fall in the confidence in democracy, especially in developing countries.

[citation needed] Unlike many other political scientists, Diamond doesn't hold economic development, or lack thereof, as the number one factor in the decline of democracy.

Kibaki helped Kenya reach some of its highest levels of economic growth but failed to address massive corruption, which led to claims of fraud in his 2007 presidential election, which in turn exploded into violence.

Predatory states produce predatory societies: people do not gain wealth and a better quality of life through ways beneficial to the entire country, but get rich by taking advantage of power and privilege, by stealing from the state, and diminishing the power of the law.

Under this policy, it says a country will receive aid dependent on "whether they rule justly, whether they invest in basic health care and education, and whether they promote economic freedom."