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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political structure & processes > Democracy
This important new volume, sponsored by the Indiana Center on Global Change and World Peace, brings together academicians and practitioners in comparative politics and international relations to examine the impact of civil-military relations on the process of democratization. Contributors take an unprecedented look at current and emerging patterns of linkages between civil-military relations and democratization, especially in areas which have embarked on the path of democratization since the 1980s. They also challenge or refine many of the concepts and models that have figured prominently in discussions of civil-military relations and democratization. These include the notion that democratization requires adoption of the traditional Western model of civil-military relations.
How did Tunisia succeed in eliminating the threat of militant Islamic fundamentalism? Borowiec examines the actions, which begin with the removal of the senile President Habib Bourguiba in 1987, known in Tunisia as the change. Today, while its next door neighbor, Algeria, is in the midst of an upheaval threatening modernization and a secular government, Tunisia is the only Muslim country to ban polygamy and to introduce state-funded contraception. Borowiec begins by sketching Tunisia's history from the Phoenician era onward. He provides a detailed analysis of the country's Islamic movement, and then examines the efforts of Bourguiba's successor, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, to liberalize the economy, foster a Western orientation, and make education accessible to all. Interviews with leading government officials as well as educators, writers, and average Tunisians puts a human face on a process that may allow Tunisia to make the transition to become a young developed nation at the beginning of the next millennium. This book is important to scholars, researchers, and the general public concerned with events in North Africa and the Arab world.
One of the dark sides to democratization can be crime and corruption. This book looks at the way political liberalization affects these practices in a number of ways whilst also challenging some of the scare stories about democracy. The book also brings the politics of power back into an examination of corruption.
The book investigates the substance of the European Union's (EU) democracy promotion policy. It focuses on elections, civil and political rights, horizontal accountability, effective power to govern, stateness, state administrative capacity, civil society, and socio-economic context as components of embedded liberal democracy.
This groundbreaking review and analysis of relations between the United States and Italy since the early postwar years is distinguished by the author's use of a unique combination of sources: hundreds of reports and analyses published by the author in U.S. and Italian dailies and magazines as events unfolded; his frequent interviews with ranking politicians and other leading figures in the two countries; U.S. and Italian government documents to which he has been the first outsider to gain access; and reports and comments by other journalists and students of Italian affairs and Italo-American relations. The result is the most comprehensive and balanced study of relations between the two countries published to date. Demonstrating that the U.S. media has often conveyed a view of Italian politics that does not correspond with reality, the author argues that the roots of Italian democracy have proved to be less fragile than most observers thought. Students of European politics will find Wollemborg's analysis a welcome counterweight to those who have frequently forecast impending Communist takeovers, military coups, political anarchy, and economic collapse in Italy. Wollemborg asserts that most U.S. observers have badly underestimated the resources and resiliency of the Italian economy as well as the Italian people's capacity to stand up to and defeat such threats to their democratic institutions as the surge of terrorism in the mid-1970s. He also shows that at some critical junctures, the U.S. government's approach was badly out of step with Italian developments, most notably in the late 1950s when they opposed the inclusion of Socialists in the ruling coalition. Both the U.S. and Italian media, Wollemborg shows, have contributed to strains in the relationship by portraying the other country unfavorably or by ascribing the wrong motives and beliefs to political parties and actors. Finally, Wollemborg explores present-day relations, demonstrating that cooperation between the United States and Italy is closer now than at any time during the postwar period--reflecting both the weakening of Communist influence in Italy and the rise of the Italo-American community in the United States.
This is a comparison of the process of democratization in Chile and Argentina. Utilizing models of citizenship, the book examines the impact of constitutional change, institutional development and participation in both political parties and social movements from the perspective of the citizen. It finds that citizen participation, once dominated by the welfare model, has been enhanced by the individualism associated with neo-liberalism in relation to local, social issues but that elite relationships dominate political activity in the formal political arena.
Surveying all referendums around the world since 1793, Dr Qvortrup and contributors provide a thorough account of why and when citizens have been asked to vote on policy issues. Referendums Around the World is essential reading for political scientists and others interested in direct democracy as well as representative government.
This book examines the role of the military in the wave of democratization that has swept through Latin America in the past decade. Although much of the leading literature on the transition to democracy recognizes the importance of hardline and softline factions within the military in this process, the author takes this study one step further to investigate the motivations of the military officers themselves. Using the cases of Brazil and Bolivia, and relying on dozens of interviews with military officers, politicians, jurists, and other observers throughout Latin America, he determines that the factions' attitudes do not depend primarily on ideological commitment but on the leaders' calculation, as to the career benefits to their followers of either supporting or opposing democratization. In terms of policy making, it is important to recognize this distinction in order to help preserve the fragile democracies which are already under threat from the military once again.
China and Taiwan have similar political cultures. However, the Chinese intellectual and political elite have failed to democratize the Middle Kingdom since the 4 May 1919 Movement; whilst their Taiwanese counterpart succeeded in making the island state fairly democratic in just over four decades since the 28 February 1947 Uprising.;After an examination of the approaches they applied, the author finds that the former have pursued a culturalist route by trying to change the psycho-cultural make-up of the Chinese people. Conversely, Taiwan followed an institutional road in which they tried to win elections and to set up political organizations, such as parties.
In the 1980s a large number of Latin American countries reverted from military dictatorships to civilian democracies. In most cases the new democratic governments inherited an extremely precarious economic situation, which left little room to manoeuvre. This book analyzes the special problems that governments face in the formulation and implementation of economic policy after the restoration of democracy. In each of six cases - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay - an analysis is made of the difficulties encountered and the performance of the democratic governments.
This book uses recent experience in participatory innovations at the city level to explore the practice of participation. Taking examples from Latin America, which are closer to participatory democracy, and the UK, which are closer to participatory governance, it argues the case for revitalizing democracy and quality of life through participation.
After a turbulent century characterized by vast bloodshed, but also by the spread of democratic government and humane values, the author suggests that the great democracies - led by Britain, France, Germany, Japan and the United States - should form an intercontinental community of democracies - a Pax Democratica according to the author. He argues that such a union will culminate centuries of evolution in world order: from empires to balance-of-power Realpolitik , more recently from cooperative international institutions to an era of supranational communities, composed of likeminded peoples and organized around democratic principles.
This collection explores transnational peace and social-justice movements, their implications for international relations, and their potential for democratizing global governance. Contributors examine case studies on issue areas including human rights, security, environment, and social/economic justice. The core objective is to determine whether and how progressive actors are able to break free of the entrapments of global arrogance.
In light of the limited achievements of the Arab Spring and other pro-democracy movements, volume 39 examines and unpacks arguments that these protests represent both a new phase and new prospects for democratic mobilization. The volume engages with new theoretical and methodological perspectives and illuminates novel aspects of transnational social movement dynamics, such as the evolving role of information technology, deterritorialisation and government counter-responses.
The Federal Republic of Germany has long been held up as a 'model society' on account of its economic and social policy achievements. Largely ignored, however, has been the crucial part played by extra-parliamentary protest in the maturing of democracy in that society. In this, the first comprehensive study of the subject in English, the authors trace the rich history of political protest in West Germany and examine the political role of critical intellectuals. The book will give the reader a good understanding of the crucial changes that have taken place in the political culture of the Federal Republic since the mid 1960s.
The topic of electoral reform is an extremely timely one. The accelerated expansion of the number of new democracies in the world generates increasing demands for advice on the choice of electoral rules; at the same time, a new reformism in well established democracies seeks new formulas favoring both more representative institutions and more accountable rulers. This book addresses the theoretical and comparative issues of electoral reform in relation to democratization, political strategies in established democracies and the relative performance of different electoral systems. Case studies on virtually every major democracy or democratizing country in the world are included.
The Arab Spring put non-governmental public action centre-stage in the drive for greater social justice. Governments, politicians and international institutions increasingly court non-governmental public actors, engaging them in policy dialogue, inviting them to participate in the delivery of social services, and looking to them to re-invigorate democratic politics. This unique collection explores the different organizational forms, strategies and tactics that activists adopt to pursue social justice goals and analyses how histories of resistance impinge on contemporary activism in both positive and negative ways. The authors examine how established corporatist trades unions struggle to reform as new forms of labour resistance challenge their legitimacy and proximity to government. They analyse how non-governmental public actors negotiate various 'civil society dilemmas' that emerge in the new spaces for collaboration opened up by government, focusing particularly on threats to their values, autonomy and legitimacy. They also explore the efforts of non-governmental public actors to secure greater justice in the sphere of production and distribution, be that through co-operatives or through consumer rights activism around access to essential drugs.
This volume highlights the ways in which scholarly analysis has contributed to a rich understanding of the links between spreading democracy, gender equality, and environmental protection. Combining theoretical, empirical, and policy perspectives, the volume includes cutting-edge debates on the meaning of democracy and the processes of its development, as well as the response of democracies to environmental and gender concerns. In particular, the volume answers questions applicable to the situation of women in the democratizing world as well as to environmental problems, linking together the issues of gender and environment. It discusses the difference between democratic and non-democratic countries in terms of protection and care for their citizens; security of women's rights and women's opportunities offered by democratic vs. non-democratic states; relations between environmental issues and gender; and women's response to environmental problems.
The Handbook of Democratic Government is the first compact and comprehensive data collection for 20 countries which simultaneously provides comparative and complete information on the composition of governments. Parties, ministries, portfolios, ministers and parliamentary support are listed, as well as duration, type of government and reasons for termination. The data are organised in such a manner that every researcher can use them as a basic data set, ready to be transformed according to the particular needs dictated by the research undertaken. Various levels of analysis are possible, both cross-nationally and across time, ranging from individual ministers and separate ministries to specific parties, governments or countries. Given its format, the data set is also a very useful background to the special annual issue of the European Journal of Political Research: Political Data Yearbook. It will save researchers in the field of comparative politics valuable time as it can be utilised in connection with, or in addition to other data sources.
Owing to a poor economy and renewed political repression, Philip Oxhorn was one of only a handful of individuals able to conduct research in Chilean shantytowns in the 1980s. His book focuses on the emergence of popular organizations among the Chilean urban poor under the Pinochet regime and their place in the larger political system. Oxhorn develops an original theoretical framework for understanding the emergence of popular organizations and their potential for forming a new social movement that can contribute to the democratization of civil society independently of a change in regime. He then offers a comprehensive account of popular sector organizational activity in Chile over the past twenty years, based on extensive interviews with shantytown organization leaders and political party elites, various primary documents, and participant-observer experiences carried out since 1984. He finds, paradoxically, that changes in the political system provided the necessary conditions under which a new social movement representing the urban poor could emerge, but simultaneously made such an emergence very difficult because of the problems that political parties faced after prolonged political repression. Oxhorn's conclusions offer insights for understanding Chilean democracy today, as well as the nature of popular social movements among the urban poor and their relations with political parties in Latin America more generally.
Democracy is back, at least as a topic of concern among rural sociologists. The Neoliberal cast of the recent pursuit of globalization in world politics has led to the development of a wide range of critiques united by the same question: what about democracy? From this perspective, the main issue with globalization is the globalization of what - the market or the policy, the citizen as consumer or the citizen as citizen. This volume brings together some of the recent work of rural sociologists on democracy, in an effort to bring into sharper focus this work's distinctive contributions to the understanding the question of what is and should be globalized, with particular emphasis on rural concerns and rural people. Half the world still lives in rural areas, and the entire world depends upon the success of rural areas in providing the means for human subsistence. The impact of globalization on rural democratization thus has implications for everyone. The volume has three sections. The first draws together a range of theoretical work on rural democratization. The second explores processes of rural democratization in the rich countries of the world. The third investigates the distinctive manifestations of rural democratization efforts in the poor countries.
This timely book presents a critique of binary majority rule and provides insights into why, in many instances, the outcome of a two-option ballot does not accurately reflect the will of the people. Based on the author's first-hand experience, majority-voting is argued to be a catalyst of populism and its divisive outcomes have prompted countless disputes throughout Europe and Asia. In like manner, simple majority rule is seen as a cause of conflict in war zones, and of dysfunction in so-called stable democracies. In order to safeguard democracy, an all-party power-sharing approach is proposed, which would make populism less attractive to voters and governments alike. In geographically arranged chapters, well-tested alternative voting procedures (e. g. non-majoritarian Modified Borda Count) are presented in case studies of Northern Ireland, Central Europe, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Russia, China, North Korea and Mongolia.
Exam Board: Edexcel Level: A level Subject: History First teaching: September 2015 First exams: June 2017 This book: covers the essential content in the new specifications in a rigorous and engaging way, using detailed narrative, sources, timelines, key words, helpful activities and extension material helps develop conceptual understanding of areas such as evidence, interpretations, causation and change, through targeted activities provides assessment support for both AS and A level with sample answers, sources, practice questions and guidance to help you tackle the new-style exam questions. It also comes with three years' access to ActiveBook, an online, digital version of your textbook to help you personalise your learning as you go through the course - perfect for revision.
The relationship between democracy and foreign policy has always been controversial. Whether good or bad, the influence of public opinion --a central factor in all democracies--on political decision making is more important than ever. This book examines what we know about nature, content, and influence of public opinion on matters of war and peace. By thorough analysis of survey data from European countries and the United States, it discusses how the end of the Cold War affected popular attitude.
Drawing on case studies from the global South, this book explores the politics of mediated citizenship in which citizens are represented to the state through third party intermediaries. The studies show that mediation is both widely practiced and multi-directional and that it has an important role to play in deepening democracy in the global South. |
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