The book analyzes different critical attitudes towards European integration from a multidisciplinary perspective. By applying both quantitative and normative-theoretical approaches, the contributors assess the causes and effects of the popularity of EU-critical positions and doctrines, such as souverainism, neo-nationalism and neo-populism. The book also presents country studies to compare populist movements and parties, such as the Five Stars Movement in Italy, Syriza in Greece and UKIP in the UK. It offers insights into the historical and normative roots of the diverse anti-European standpoints, and the various political demands and agendas connected with these views, ranging from rejections of EU institutions to demands for institutional reforms and propositions for alternative projects.

Calhoun innovatively examines how the ideology of liberal democracy influences one of the most contentious and potentially traumatic and divisive issues facing countries transitioning from authoritarian regimes to democracy: how to confront the past violations of human rights. Competing views of liberal democracy frame debates about how to confront the past and in particular how to deal with the truth of systematic human rights violations. Democratic values may not determine the precise method of dealing with the past--whether through truth commissions, lustration, or tribunals--but the very process of debate inherent in democratic theory and practice has important implications for the perceived fairness of the result. These implications are examined through a comparison of transitional justice in East Germany, Poland, and Russia. The result is a provocative integration of democratic theory and comparative politics.

This book tackles questions related to democracy, populism and truth, with results that are sure to inform pressing academic and popular debates. It is common to describe many of today's most energizing politicians and political movements as populist. Some are progressive advocates of greater economic democracy or individual rights, while others are recognizably authoritarian and anti-democratic, even while claiming to defend democracy. What all populist leaders share in common is a rhetorical approach: their ability to articulate, or at least profess to channel, the wishes of 'the people', a group that populist leaders claim a unique ability to understand and govern, especially with regard to their dissatisfaction with ruling elites. They decry corruption (although not necessarily with any sincerity), and they sometimes identify more mainstream politicians and bureaucrats as 'enemies of the people.' The rise of populist politics raises pressing questions about the nature of populism, but also about relationships between populism and democratic institutions. For example, is populism ever a democratic tendency, or does its invocation of a monolithic demos ('the people') signify a fundamentally anti-democratic worldview? Populist political rhetoric also raises concerns about the relationship between truth, democracy, and journalistic integrity. While the history of anti-democratic advocacy (famously illustrated by Plato) has often highlighted the tendency of a democratic style of politics to prioritize popularity over truth, the development of social media-and evolving norms of journalistic communication and public political discourse-raise these misgivings in new forms.

This book contributes to our understanding of the trajectories and prerogatives of female political leaders in the varying context of democratization, political institutions and cultural norms. No woman had been elected leader of a country before 1960, but with democratic transitions on the rise since the 1970s, the number of women in executive office gradually became a trend of global scope. In 2015, nineteen countries had an elected female Head of State and/or Government, a proportionally small number that is expected to climb as more women compete for high office, sometimes against other female candidates. This volume compares how women executives differ in promoting gender equality and advocating for women's rights and interests, as well as in their ability to negotiate gender policy agendas. Comparative and theoretical chapters on post-transition women leaders are complemented by case studies in eight countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern and Central Europe. This book will be of use to students and scholars interested in gender studies, comparative politics, and political leadership.

In one of the first attempts to link the expanding field of leadership studies with classic works in political theory, Kenneth Ruscio places the study of political leadership squarely within the field of democratic thought and argues that claims about the legitimate duties and responsibilities of leaders depend upon claims about principles of democracy.It is impossible to imagine effective democracies without effective leaders. Yet leaders are often seen as the problem democratic governance is designed to solve, not the solution. Through a careful but lively critique of some of the classic works in modern democratic thought - from Machiavelli to Locke and from The Federalist Papers to Rawls - The Leadership Dilemma in Modern Democracy explains what is meant by effective political leadership in a system and culture of government where the power and discretion of leaders are severely limited. A compelling and provocative study, this volume will be of interest to scholars of leadership studies, political scientists, democratic theorists, and all those interested in concepts of democracy and the challenges faced by leaders.

Trade unions, burial societies, students, religious and gender movements, riots and mafias. Not to mention class. The kaleidoscope of African social movements is complex and broad. But their histories have strong common threads - the experience of past oppression and the constant struggle for an identity that will encompass survival. How have they contributed to the nature of African civil society and the formation of democracy? The chapters are a living dialogue on the interpretation of these movements, and a critical and analytical appraisal of the African intellectual heritage itself. The book brings together a vast array of writers and topics from all over Africa - from bread riots in Tunisia, Communist Parties in Sudan, the "Kaduna Mafia" in Nigeria, burial societies in Zimbabwe, and the working class in Algeria.

This volume describes and analyzes the proliferation of new mechanisms for participation in Latin American democracies and considers the relationship between direct participation and the consolidation of representative institutions based on traditional electoral conceptions of democracy. Encompassing case studies of Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and Venezuela, the book draws on original fieldwork to assess how institutions operate in practice, thus illuminating the conditions under which direct participation enhances broader aims of democratic participation. In so doing, it conveys fresh perspectives on the quality of democracy in Latin America today and about future prospects for deepening democratic citizenship.

Pluralist democratic systems, according to Philipe Braud, do not do what they claim to do, but rather, serve to channel, diffuse, or reconcile society's conflicts. As one reviewer of the original French edition notes, the book can be seen as part of a long tradition in European political thought that "sees democracy as a front for capitalism." Braud asserts that pluralist democracy is credible only because of the complete failure of communism. There is no government by the people; "the rule of law" is a tautology. What fundamental changes occur happen because of the forces of economics, culture, and labor, and in response to political direction. The efficacy of democracy comes from its ability to manage social emotions, specifically by addressing anguish with promises of security and identity: by meeting the need to be wooed and seduced by constant personalization of politics, offering the illusion of choice; by transposing the frustrations of gender, age, and class inequalities into the political domain; by providing pleasure in the game of politics; and by promising greed, power, and its prerequisites. Pluralist democracies know best how to manage these emotions, and how to use them without suffocating them. A powerful and disturbing vision of pluralist democracy that will be of great interest to students and scholars of contemporary political thought.

It may be tempting to view political development and democratization in East Asia from a global view and conclude that the contours of democracy will converge throughout the world. However, a close examination of the cultural and economic development of Asian societies suggests a contrary picture. The story of Asia is one of political and economic survival, in which political elites sought to legitimate their authority through the use of both traditional and modern symbols. Traditional communitarian values and the modern symbols of economic growth and materialism coexist in Asian political systems. The stability and legitimacy of Asian governments depend on the ability of political elites to balance these symbols. As globalization proceeds, the standard traditional and modern symbols have waned in their effectiveness. Therefore, democracy as a symbol and practice can provide new sources of legitimacy to these political systems.

Compton's Asian political development model is tested with quantitative indicators and through a series of case studies. The three case studies--Japan, South Korea, and Thailand--build on each other through a rigorous historical comparison. While the case studies themselves are interesting, he makes connections to the model and tests the congruence of these cases to the model, and concludes that the model's validity is predicated on the internal environment, including culture and economy. Of particular interest to scholars, students, and researchers involved with comparative and Asian politics, political development, and political culture.

This edited collection brings together experts from Europe and the United States to examine how the foundering of the autocracies of Central and Eastern Europe brought about important changes in civil-military relations. Divided into three parts, the volume focuses on international organizations (NATO, WEU, OSCE) and Central-East Europe, the problems of transition to democracy in the region, and relevant developments elsewhere in the world. The work explores the following trends: the increased transparency of defense politics; civilianization of the defense ministries; personnel changes in the upper echelons of the military; national emancipation and new security doctrines; political neutralization of the armed forces; discontinuation of the military's internal security role; and ideological pluralization, among others. An important volume for scholars and students in comparative politics, international relations, and the military and politics.

This collection presents a varied picture of the state of democracy in Asia, revealing unique findings from a project entitled the 'Asia Democracy Initiative' which explored the role of ordinary people in democratization through the rise of expressive social values in Indonesia, South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand.

Under which conditions do democracies participate in war, and when do they abstain? Providing a unique theoretical framework, Mello identifies pathways of war involvement and abstention across thirty democracies, investigating the wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Democracy promotion is an established principle in US and EU foreign policies today, but how did it become so? This comparative study explores the promotion of democracy, focusing on exponents from emerging democracies alongside more established Western models, and investigates the impact of democratic interests on foreign policy.

This distinguished collection of Dennis Mueller's papers discusses the economic challenges faced as a result of events in the latter third of the twentieth century; the formation of the European Union, the collapse of Communism in East Europe, and the deregulation and privatization movement that spread from North America to Europe and then across the rest of the world. The book explores the design of political institutions and the functioning of economies, and goes on to prescribe the types of fiscal and competition policies that are required as we enter the twenty-first century, posing questions such as: * What should a new democracy's constitution comprise? * Should the European Union be organized as a federal system? * What should a global competition policy consist of? Academics specializing in public choice theory, political economy, and industrial organization will warmly welcome this outstanding volume, as will those with an interest in globalization and the European Union.

Political constitutions alone do not guarantee democracy; a degree of economic equality is also essential. Yet contemporary economies, dominated as they are by global finance and political rent-seekers, often block the realization of democracy. The comparative essays and case studies of this volume examine the contradictory relationship between the economy and democracy and highlight the struggles and visions needed to make things more equitable. They explore how our collective aspirations for greater democracy might be informed by serious empirical research on the human economy today. If we want a better world, we must act on existing social realities.

Throughout history, authoritarian governments have outnumbered democratic ones to an overwhelming degree. Even today, true democracies are an exception. In this book, Somit and Peterson argue that the main reason for this pattern is, that humans are social primates with an innate tendency for hierarchical and authoritarian social and political structures. Democracy requires very special 'enabling conditions' before it can be supported by a state, conditions that require decades to evolve. As a result, attempts to export democracy through nation-building to states, without these enabling conditions are doomed to failure. The authors argue that money and energy devoted to nation-building around the globe, by the US would be better spent on problems facing the country domestically.

This book argues that ancient democracy did not stop at the door of economic democracy, and that ancient Athens has much to tell us about the relationship between political equality and economic equality. Athenian democracy rested on a foundation of general economic equality, which enabled citizens to challenge their exclusion from politics.

This is a unique book. It is a book, like a door that opens itself for the citizens of the world to enter. Reading it is like reading an autobiography compiled and redacted by the citizens of the world. It is an eye-opener that veers into the lives of the past and present political players, as well as the lives of the past and present avant-garde writers. First published in 1991, reading it today is like reading Ifa-Ife, the Book of Enlightenment, or the Bible whose prophecies have come to past in the 21st century. It is a must-read for every heart that lives.

"Policy Horizons and Parliamentary Government" introduces a new hypothesis concerning the formation and survival of coalition governments in Western European parliamentary democracies, the policy horizon hypothesis. Although the hypothesis itself is very simple, it implies a fundamental change in our understanding of how parliamentary systems function in the absence of a majority party. The book finds support for the hypothesis in a wide array of evidence, including findings based on a new survey of experts in West European political systems.

Mozambique and the Construction of the New African State analyzes the international inspired to rebuild this war-torn country. It seeks to understand the role of the international community in constructing a new kind of African state in the aftermath of conflict and socialism. At the heart of the book is the question of sustainability of the post-conflict African state against the backdrop of the multiple legacies of war, socialism, and regional and international intervention upon an enervated Mozambican society.

This book explores the relationship between the religious beliefs of presidents and their foreign policymaking. Through the application of a new methodological approach that provides a cognetic narrative of each president, this study reveals the significance of religion's impact on U.S. foreign policy.

After decades of stable and seemingly semi-permanent single-party dominance, Japanese politics have gone through fundamental changes since the early 1990s. Government ministries have been reorganised, prime ministerial powers strengthened, and rules for electing the lower house of parliament overhauled. Furthermore, frequent formation, merger, splintering and disappearance of new parties have continued for more than two decades. How do citizens make sense of politics amidst such rapid shifts? The authors address this question by focusing on attitudinal and behavioural changes and continuities with respect to political ideology. They explore what issues citizens associate with ideological terms, where they perceive various parties on a conservative-progressive dimension, and to what extent ideology affects their vote choice. Results of new surveys are also presented to shed light on distinctions between different ideological labels and profiles of radical right supporters. In addition, all topics are discussed with an eye to identifying divergent patterns between older and younger generations.