This teaching guide's principal objective is to engage students in thinking about the relationship among conflict, peace, political transition, and democracy in preparation for writing an essay on the National Peace Essay Contest's topic on "transitions to democracy." Specific objectives are: (1) to increase students' understanding of the nature of democracy and historic and contemporary efforts at democratization, especially after a conflict; (2) to make students aware of the essential elements that foster and maintain democratic governments and societies; (3) to develop students' analytical reading, writing, and research skills; (4) to reinforce students' abilities to collaborate and produce a work product with peers using traditional and electronic means of research, discussion, and document preparation; (5) to enable classroom teachers, students, and contest coordinators to write, edit, and submit their essay to the United States Institute of Peace (USIP); and (6) to provide teachers with lesson plans, worksheets, bibliographic sources, and factual material to assist them in preparing students to write essays for submission to the National Peace Essay Contest. It includes the 2004-2005 National Peace Essay Contest Question, six lessons, additional student handouts and resources, extension activities, tips for writing the essay, and national content standards.