Download or read book Countries at the Crossroads 2010 written by Freedom House and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2010-07-16 with total page 714 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Countries at the Crossroads: An Analysis of Democratic Governance evaluates government performance in seventy strategically important countries from across the globe, including emerging market countries and at-risk states. The in-depth comparative analyses and quantitative ratings_examining Accountability and Public Voice, Civil Liberties, Rule of Law, and Anticorruption and Transparency_serve as a valuable tool for public analysts, educators and students, government officials, and the business community.

Download or read book Countries at the Crossroads 2011 written by Freedom House and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2012 with total page 773 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Countries at the Crossroads: An Analysis of Democratic Governance evaluates government performance in seventy strategically important countries from across the globe, including emerging market countries and at-risk states. The in-depth comparative analyses and quantitative ratings--examining Accountability and Public Voice, Civil Liberties, Rule of Law, and Anticorruption and Transparency--serve as a valuable tool for public analysts, educators and students, government officials, and the business community.

Download or read book Judges and Democratization written by B. C. Smith and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-02-24 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Judiciaries must be politically impartial and immune from political interference if democracy is to be consolidated in countries in transition from authoritarian rule. Without an independent judiciary there can be no rule of law, and without the rule of law there can be no democracy. Judges and Democratization is based on the premise that democracy cannot be consolidated without the rule of law of which judicial independence is an indispensable part. It pays particular attention to the restraints placed upon judicial independence, and the reforms which are being applied, or remain to be adopted, in order to guard against the different kinds of interference which prevent judicial decisions being taken in a wholly impartial way. It examines the paradox of judicial activism arising from the independence endowed upon the judiciary by post-authoritarian constitutions. The book asks how, in the context of this endowed authority, such accountability can be made compatible with the preservation of judicial independence when the concept of an accountable, independent judiciary appears to be a contradiction in terms. This text will be of key interest to teachers and students of politics, comparative government/politics, combined politics and law, democracy and governance, human rights and democratization, and democratic development.

Download or read book Routledge Handbook of African Politics written by Nic Cheeseman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Providing a comprehensive and cutting edge examination of this important continent, Routledge Handbook of African Politics surveys the key debates and controversies, dealing with each of the major issues to be found in Africas politics today. Structured into 6 broad areas, the handbook features over 30 contributions focused around:The State Identity Conflict Democracy and Electoral Politics Political Economy & Development International Relations Each chapter deals with a specific topic, providing an overview of the main arguments and theories and explaining the empirical evidence that they are based on, drawing on high-profile cases such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. The Handbook also contains new contributions on a wide range of topical issues, including terrorism, the growing influence of China, civil war, and transitional justice, making it required reading for non-specialists and experts alike. Featuring both established scholars and emerging researchers, this is a vital resource for all students of African Studies, democratization, conflict resolution and Third World politics.

Download or read book The University in Africa and Democratic Citizenship written by Thierry M. Luescher and published by African Minds. This book was released on 2011 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Report on student surveys conducted at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Download or read book The University in Africa and Democratic Citizenship written by M. Luescher-Mamashela and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2011-06-01 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether and how higher education in Africa contributes to democratisation beyond producing the professionals that are necessary for developing and sustaining a modern political system, remains an unresolved question. This report, then, represents an attempt to address the question of whether there are university specific mechanisms or pathways by which higher education contributes to the development of democratic attitudes and behaviours among students, and how these mechanisms operate and relate to politics both on and off campus. The research contained in this report shows that the potential of a university to act as training ground for democratic citizenship is best realised by supporting students' exercise of democratic leadership on campus. This, in turn, develops and fosters democratic leadership in civil society. Thus, the university's response to student political activity, student representation in university governance and other aspects of extra-curricular student life needs to be examined for ways in which African universities can instil and support democratic values and practices. Encouraging and facilitating student leadership in various forms of on-campus political activity and in a range of student organisations emerges as one of the most promising ways in which African universities can act as training grounds for democratic citizenship. The project on which this report is based forms part of a larger study on Higher Education and Democracy in Africa, undertaken by the Higher Education Research and Advocacy Network in Africa (HERANA). HERANA is coordinated by the Centre for Higher Education Transformation in South Africa.

Download or read book Reforming Civil Military Relations in New Democracies written by Aurel Croissant and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-03-20 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses the challenge of reforming defense and military policy-making in newly democratized nations. By tracing the development of civil-military relations in various new democracies from a comparative perspective, it links two bodies of scholarship that thus far have remained largely separate: the study of emerging (or failed) civilian control over armed forces on the one hand; and work on the roots and causes of military effectiveness to guarantee the protection and security of citizens on the other. The empirical and theoretical findings presented here will appeal to scholars of civil-military relations, democratization and security issues, as well as to defense policy-makers.

Download or read book Contesting Trade in Central America written by Rose J. Spalding and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2004, the United States, five Central American countries, and the Dominican Republic signed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), signaling the region’s commitment to a neoliberal economic model. For many, however, neoliberalism had lost its luster as the new century dawned, and resistance movements began to gather force. Contesting Trade in Central America is the first book-length study of the debate over CAFTA, tracing the agreement’s drafting, its passage, and its aftermath across Central America. Rose J. Spalding draws on nearly two hundred interviews with representatives from government, business, civil society, and social movements to analyze the relationship between the advance of free market reform in Central America and the parallel rise of resistance movements. She views this dynamic through the lens of Karl Polanyi’s “double movement” theory, which posits that significant shifts toward market economics will trigger oppositional, self-protective social countermovements. Examining the negotiations, political dynamics, and agents involved in the passage of CAFTA in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, Spalding argues that CAFTA served as a high-profile symbol against which Central American oppositions could rally. Ultimately, she writes, post-neoliberal reform “involves not just the design of appropriate policy mixes and sequences, but also the hard work of building sustainable and inclusive political coalitions, ones that prioritize the quality of social bonds over raw economic freedom.”

Download or read book The Low Countries at the Crossroads written by Koen Ottenheym and published by Brepols Publishers. This book was released on 2013 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the diffusion of architectural inventions from the Low Countries to other parts of Europe from the late fifteenth until the end of the seventeenth century. Multiple pathways connected the architecture of the Low Countries with the world, but a coherent analysis of the phenomenon is still missing. Written by an international team of specialists, the book offers case-studies illustrating various mechanisms of transmission, such as the migration of building masters and sculptors who worked as architects abroad, networks of foreign patrons inviting Netherlandish artists, printed models and the role of foreign architects who visited the Low Countries for professional reasons. Its geographical scope is as broad as the period under review and includes all European regions where Netherlandish elements were found: from Spain to Scandinavia and from Scotland to Transylvania.

Download or read book Minority Rights in Turkey written by Gözde Yilmaz and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-02-03 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The issue of minority rights is highly contested in both member and candidate states of the European Union. Compared with other policy areas, the Europeanization process in minority rights is much slower and more problematic. Turkey, though, differs from the majority of the member states by showing positive development, although admittedly it is still characterised by both accelerations and slowdowns. This book examines how minority protection, as a highly sensitive and controversial issue, is promoted or constrained in the EU’s neighbourhood, by focusing on the case of Turkey. It draws on current external Europeanization theories and suggests a rationalist model comprising both the role of the EU and also domestic factors. It integrates two models of external Europeanization provided by Schimmelfennig and Sedelmier (2005), i.e. the external incentives and lesson-drawing models, and the framework of the pull-and-push model of member state Europeanization by Börzel (2000), to derive a comprehensive model for external Europeanization. The book argues that the push by EU conditionality and the pull by domestic dissatisfaction are influential in promoting change. Without one or the other, domestic change remains incomplete, as it is either shallow or selective. Focusing on the Turkish case, the book enhances the theoretical understanding of external Europeanization by shifting focus away from EU conditionality to voluntarily driven change, and by providing a theoretical model that is applicable to other countries. It will therefore be a valuable resource for students and scholars studying minority rights and Turkish and European ethnic politics.

Download or read book Policing and Human Rights written by Amanda Dissel and published by African Minds. This book was released on 2012 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Political Corruption in Comparative Perspective written by Charles Funderburk and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-08 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political corruption adversely affects the efficiency and effectiveness of governments, slows the rate of economic development and poisons public attitudes towards the legitimacy of the state. Affecting governmental and non-governmental organizations, developed and developing nations and millions of people's lives, it is a subject of great interest to students from a wide variety of academic disciplines. Using a concise, comparative approach based on original case studies Political Corruption in Comparative Perspective: Sources, Status and Prospects provides context and clarity on this complex problem. Cases analysed include countries and organizations as diverse as the United States, Brazil, Russia, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, NGOs and the United Nations. International contributors discuss the historical background of political corruption in a particular country, region or organization and focus on the causes and consequences of that corruption before offering overviews and opinion on how the problem might be addressed. The range of cases used ,each contributor's depth of knowledge and consistency of style applied throughout ensures that Political Corruption in Comparative Perspective: Sources, Status and Prospects is an important addition to the debate and fills a significant gap between academic study and general public knowledge of a truly global problem.

Download or read book Sharing Power Securing Peace written by Lars-Erik Cederman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-07-07 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does power sharing bring peace? Policymakers around the world seem to think so. Yet, while there are many successful examples of power sharing in multi-ethnic states, such as Switzerland, South Africa and Indonesia, other instances show that such arrangements offer no guarantee against violent conflict, including Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Zimbabwe and South Sudan. Given this mixed record, it is not surprising that scholars disagree as to whether power sharing actually reduces conflict. Based on systematic data and innovative methods, this book comes to a mostly positive conclusion by focusing on practices rather than merely formal institutions, studying power sharing's preventive effect, analyzing how power sharing is invoked in anticipation of conflict, and by showing that territorial power sharing can be effective if combined with inclusion at the center. The authors' findings demonstrate that power sharing is usually the best option to reduce and prevent civil conflict in divided states.

Download or read book When China Rules the World written by Martin Jacques and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009-11-12 with total page 631 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Greatly revised and expanded, with a new afterword, this update to Martin Jacques’s global bestseller is an essential guide to understanding a world increasingly shaped by Chinese power Soon, China will rule the world. But in doing so, it will not become more Western. Since the first publication of When China Rules the World, the landscape of world power has shifted dramatically. In the three years since the first edition was published, When China Rules the World has proved to be a remarkably prescient book, transforming the nature of the debate on China. Now, in this greatly expanded and fully updated edition, boasting nearly 300 pages of new material, and backed up by the latest statistical data, Martin Jacques renews his assault on conventional thinking about China’s ascendancy, showing how its impact will be as much political and cultural as economic, changing the world as we know it. First published in 2009 to widespread critical acclaim - and controversy - When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order has sold a quarter of a million copies, been translated into eleven languages, nominated for two major literary awards, and is the subject of an immensely popular TED talk.

Download or read book Small Arms Survey 2014 written by Small Arms Survey, Geneva and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-03 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Small Arms Survey 2014 considers the multiple roles of women in the context of armed violence, security, and the small arms agenda. The volume's thematic section comprises one chapter on violence against women and girls - with a focus on post-conflict Liberia and Nepal - and another on the recent convergence of the small arms agenda with that of women, peace and security. Complementing these chapters are illustrated testimonies of women with experience as soldiers, rebels and security personnel. The 'weapons and markets' section assesses the potential impact of the Arms Trade Treaty, presents the 2014 Transparency Barometer and an update on the authorised small arms trade, and analyses recent ammunition explosions in the Republic of the Congo. Additionally, it examines ammunition circulating in Africa and the Middle East, maps the sources of insurgent weapons in Sudan and South Sudan, and evaluates crime gun records in the United States.

Download or read book Public Administration in Africa written by Shikha Vyas-Doorgapersad and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2016-04-19 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With contributions from leading regional scholars, Public Administration in Africa: Performance and Challenges examines the complexities of the art of governance from the unique African perspective. The editors bring together a cohesive study of the major issues and regions by taking an analytic approach with the strong problem-solution application. Regions addressed range from South Africa, Congo, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Mauritius, and Botswana. Themes include colonialism, reform, poverty, economy, decentralization, financing, media, political structures, and more. Beginning with an analysis of the relationship of policy design and its destination, service delivery, the book discusses the historical development of a state that has gone through upheavals in government and explores a decayed political economy that ultimately results in a need for sweeping measures. The text examines the issues emerging policy-makers in Africa must tackle, namely poverty and the denial or lack of resources to keep a dignified human life. It highlights how the media can be a catalyst for good governance and provides analytical aspects of implementing good governance reforms. The book concludes with an examination of the concepts of decentralization and devolution in measuring service delivery performance and an exploration of Africa’s economic success story. It also details the African Peer Review Mechanisms in selected African countries and provides a holistic analysis of local government functioning in Africa. These features and more make it an interdisciplinary reference for diverse social, economic, political, and administrative issues.

Download or read book International Negotiation in China and India written by R. Kumar and published by Springer. This book was released on 2011-11-22 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Negotiation is an important managerial skill. The ability to negotiate across cultures becomes even more challenging due to differences in institutional practices. This book explores how the institutional environment in India and China shapes their negotiating behaviour.