This chapter examines the causes of failed consolidation embedded in democratic waves. The first half outlines the four recurring mechanisms that create counterwaves—shifting hegemonic pressures, collapsing ad hoc coalitions, autocratic adaptation, and bounded rationality. The second half examines the book's arguments in light of some alternatives, particularly domestic explanations and theories of diffusion. It argues that these failures happen because the same systemic pressures that create powerful bursts of regime change also spread to countries that are unlikely to sustain any reforms once the shock passes. The chapter therefore combines two large but rarely intersecting literatures—on democratic waves and on democratic reversals—into a single explanatory framework.