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Showing 1 - 15 of 15 matches in All Departments
Europe Unbound provides an analysis of the enlargement of the European Union and examines from both a theoretical and a political approach issues such as: * Where does Europe end? * Should Europe's borders be open or closed? * How does the evolution of territorial politics impact on the course of European integration? This book draws upon such diverse fields as History, Sociology, Political Science and International Relations and contains contributions from an international range of respected academics.
What is the relationship between democracy and political culture in
countries undergoing major systemic change? Have subjective
political orientations of citizens been important in shaping the
development of democracy in central and eastern Europe after the
fall of communism?
Focusing upon the emerging patterns of unity and diversity in the enlarged European Union, this study explores enlargement from the East and the impact this will have on the future identity of Europe.
The European Union will be a much more diversified entity after the forthcoming eastward enlargement. The applicant states from Eastern Europe are much poorer than the current member states from Western Europe. Their democracy and in some cases even their statehood is newly established and presumably more fragile. Their economic, legal and administrative structures are less developed. This collection of essays will try to examine the origin, nature, scale and implications of this divergence. How much divergence is likely to be imported by the Union and will it hamper the process of European integration?
What is the relationship between democracy and political culture in countries undergoing major systemic change? Have subjective political orientations of citizens been important in shaping the development of democracy in central and eastern Europe after the fall of communism? These core questions are tackled by an impressive range of twenty political scientists, sixteen of which are based in the central and eastern European countries covered in this essential new book. Their analyses draw on a unique set of data collected and processed by the contributors to this volume within the framework of the World Values Survey project. This data enables these authors to establish similarities and differences in support of democracy between a large number of countries with different cultural and structural conditions as well as historical legacies. The macro-level findings of the book tend to support the proposition that support of democracy declines the further east one goes. In contrast, micro-level relationships have been found to be astonishingly similar. For example, support of democracy is always positively related to higher levels of education - no matter where an individual citizen happens to live. This new book builds a clear understanding of what makes democracies strong and resistant to autocratic temptation.
This book provides a unique insight into the institution building process and constitutional politics in new democracies of Eastern Europe. For the first time, an in-depth empirical analysis of thirteen individual post-communist countries is provided within a sound comparative and theoretical context.
This text is the second volume in a series of books on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe. The first volume focused on the issue of institutional engineering. This second volume analyzes the external parameters of democratic consolidation in 13 Eastern European countries, exploring how different international actors and various economic, cultural and security types of transnational pressures have shaped democratic politics in the region. The aim is to contrast a set of democracy theories with empirical evidence accumulated in Eastern Europe over the last ten years of the 20th century. The volume tries to avoid complex debates about definitions, methods and the uses and misuses of comparative research. Instead it seeks to establish what has really happened in the region, and which of the existing theories are helpful in explaining these developments The volume is divided into two parts. The first part presents a conceptual and comparative frame of analysis, the second consists of detailed studies of individual countries undergoing democratic consolidation.
This book provides an unprecedented country-by-country examination of the specific experience of the democratic transitions experienced by the states of Eastern Europe. It concentrates on the influence of the international environment on these fledgling democracies.
This book analyses the relationship between the media and politics in new democracies in Europe and other parts of the world. It does so from both theoretical and empirical angles. How is power being mediated in new democracies? Can media function independently in the unstable and polarised political environment experienced after the fall of autocracy? Do major shifts in economic and ownership structures help or hinder the quality of the media? How much can new media laws alter old journalistic habits and political cultures? And how do new technologies impact the media and democracy? The book examines these questions, drawing on a vast set of data assembled by a large international project. Media and Politics in New Democracies focuses chiefly on new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe, but chapters analysing new democracies in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia are also included. These new democracies represent a variety of what sociologists call 'glocalism': homogenisation and heterogenisation coexist, revealing hybrid models and multiple modernities. It is local culture that assigns meaning to global and regional influences. 'Ideal' liberal models and best practices are being promoted and aspired to, but these models and practices are often being adopted in opaque ways generating results opposite to those intended. The book finds many new democracies to be fragile if not deficient, and tries to show what is really going on in these countries, how they compare to each other, and what they can learn from each other.
This book seeks to comprehend the evolving nature of the European
Union following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the failure of the
European Constitution. Its prime focus is the last wave of
enlargement that has profoundly transformed the EU. Although there
are many parallels between the European integration process and
state building processes, the Union is nothing like a Westphalian
super state. The new emerging polity resembles a kind of
neo-medieval empire with a polycentric system of government,
multiple and overlapping jurisdictions, striking cultural and
economic heterogeneity, fuzzy borders, and divided sovereignty. The
book tries to spell out the origin, the shape, and the implications
of this empire.
This book provides a unique insight into the institution building process and constitutional politics in new democracies of Eastern Europe. For the first time, an in-depth empirical analysis of thirteen individual post-communist countries is provided within a sound comparative and theoretical context.
A timely and compelling argument for a revitalized and restructured global politics The future seems increasingly uncertain. Our democracies are failing to prevent financial crises, energy shortages, climate change, and war-so how can we look to the future with confidence? Jan Zielonka argues that it is democracy's shortsightedness that makes politics stumble in our increasingly connected world. With our governments still confined to the borders of nation-states, defending the short-term interests of present-day voters, the consequences for future generations are dire. In this incisive account, Zielonka makes a bold case for a new politics of time and space. He considers how democracy should adjust to the world of high speed, and he questions our everyday experiences as citizens: Is it acceptable for authorities and firms to monitor our whereabouts? Why is the distribution of time and space so unequal? And, most crucially, can we construct a new system of governance that will allow us to plan ahead with certainty?
The European Union's foreign policy is full of paradoxes. The Union aspires to be a powerful international actor without becoming a super-state. It hopes to prevent and manage conflicts, but refrains from acquiring the military means to do so. It embarks on the project of widening its borders, but continues its deepening project which makes the entrance hurdles for applicant countries ever higher. It wishes to maintain strong transatlantic links, but continues to build institutions that make the EU more independent from - if not competitive with - the United States. In this stimulating book, distinguished European and American intellectuals offer solutions to imperative but unanswered questions: How can the Union's enormous normative `power of attraction' combined with its operational weakness be explained? Can the Union remain a `civilian power' when coping with an `uncivilized' world? Can a European foreign policy get off the ground without prior emergence of a European demos? Are national policies within the Union increasingly convergent or divergent? And how can the Union's international performance be assessed?
Can open society survive? Is Europe disintegrating? How to overcome the economic crisis? Will Europeans feel secure again? Counter Revolution is a bold attempt to make sense of the extraordinary events taking place in Europe today. It examines the counter-revolution developing in Europe, exploring its roots and implications. The book takes the form of a series of heartfelt letters to the late European guru Ralf Dahrendorf. Several months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Dahrendorf wrote a book fashioned on Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. Like Burke, he chose to put his analysis in the form of a letter, reflecting on the implications of the turbulent period around 1989. Thirty years' later, and faced with an equally turbulent period, Jan Zielonka asks: what next? This is not a book on populism, however: it is a book about liberalism. Populism has become a favourite topic within liberal circles and few have exposed populist deceptions and dangers better than liberal writers. Yet, liberals have shown themselves better at finger-pointing than at self-reflection. This book addresses the imbalance; it is a self-critical book by a life-time liberal. Counter-Revolution suggests that Europe and its liberal project need to be reinvented and recreated. There is no simple way back. Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel will not produce wonders. Europe failed to adjust to enormous geopolitical, economic, and technological changes that swept the continent over the past three decades. European models of democracy, capitalism, and integration are not in sync with new complex networks of cities, bankers, terrorists, or migrants. Liberal values that made Europe thrive for many decades have been betrayed. The escalation of emotions, myths, and ordinary lies left little space for reason, deliberation, and conciliation. This book examines these different aspects, proposing a way out of the labyrinth.
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