Around two-thirds of the world's population now live in a democracy of some sort. But many of these are hybrid democracies that are vulnerable to backsliding because informal practices undermine formal democratic institutions. Our work in this area explores the socio-political and economic factors that shape transition processes, and how external actors might better engage with these. Our current focus is on elections, the interaction between different dimensions of governance transitions, political voice and accountability, and democracy and development in a post-2015 framework.