Download or read book International IDEA Handbook on Democracy Assessment written by Iain Kearton and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-11-15 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The International IDEA Handbook on Democracy Assessment is a robust and sensitive guide to assessing the quality of democracy and human rights in any country around the world. The Handbook introduces an easy-to-use and universal methodology for assessing the condition of democracy in any country, or its progress in democratisation, that has been developed in a three-year action programme at IDEA, the inter-governmental Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance in Sweden. The Handbook provides a means to measure systematically the full range of values, institutions and issues relating to modern democracy that is sensitive to the underlying principles and democracy and the differences between democracies themselves. It is therefore both universal in application and capable of responding to particular aspects of any one nation's democratic arrangements. The animating principle of the Handbook is that only citizens of a nation themselves are qualified to assess the quality of their own democratic arrangements. Thus, it provides a self-help guide, which gives academics, lawyers, political practitioners, journalists and interested citizens the tools to assess the state of their democracy, or any key aspects of their democracy. The Handbook is above all a practical working document that draws on the actual experience of assessing democracy in different countries, comparative knowledge and research, and democratic principles and practice. It gives a step-by-step guide to the purposes and methods of democracy assessment; who to involve; how to use the research tools; how to validate the findings; what standards of practice to adopt; and how to present and publicise a finished assessment. It contains extracts from completed assessments, guidance on the use of qualitative and quantitative data, examples of codes of democratic practice and international and regional standards, and a vast list of accessible data sources. The methodology was created by a team of political scientists assembled from all regions of the world by International IDEA and has been tried and tested in a variety of countries, including Bangladesh, El Salvador, Italy, Kenya, Malawi, New Zealand, Peru, South Korea and the United Kingdom. International organisations like the World Bank and UNECA are adapting it for in-country use. The four main authors and editors have been directly involved from the inception of the project - in developing and refining the methodology and participating in and advising on the nine country studies that form the essential practical core of experience on which this invaluable Handbook is based.
Download or read book Electoral System Design written by Andrew Reynolds and published by Stockholm : International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. This book was released on 2005 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher Description
Download or read book Voting from Abroad written by Andrew Ellis and published by International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA). This book was released on 2007-11-14 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The constitutions of many countries guarantee the right to vote for all citizens. However, in reality, voters who are outside their home country when elections take place are often disenfranchised because of a lack of procedures enabling them to exercise that right. Voting from Abroad: The International IDEA Handbook examines the theoretical and practical issues surrounding external voting. It provides an overview of external voting provisions in 115 countries and territories around the world, including a map illustrating the regional spread.
Download or read book State of Local Democracy Assessment Framework written by Brechtje Kemp and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Monitoring Democracy written by Judith G. Kelley and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2012-03-25 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent decades, governments and NGOs--in an effort to promote democracy, freedom, fairness, and stability throughout the world--have organized teams of observers to monitor elections in a variety of countries. But when more organizations join the practice without uniform standards, are assessments reliable? When politicians nonetheless cheat and monitors must return to countries even after two decades of engagement, what is accomplished? Monitoring Democracy argues that the practice of international election monitoring is broken, but still worth fixing. By analyzing the evolving interaction between domestic and international politics, Judith Kelley refutes prevailing arguments that international efforts cannot curb government behavior and that democratization is entirely a domestic process. Yet, she also shows that democracy promotion efforts are deficient and that outside actors often have no power and sometimes even do harm. Analyzing original data on over 600 monitoring missions and 1,300 elections, Kelley grounds her investigation in solid historical context as well as studies of long-term developments over several elections in fifteen countries. She pinpoints the weaknesses of international election monitoring and looks at how practitioners and policymakers might help to improve them.
Download or read book Funding of Political Parties and Election Campaigns written by Julie Ballington and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook provides a general description of the different models of political finance regulations and analyses the relationship between party funding and effective democracy. The most important part of the book is an extensive matrix on political finance laws and regulations for about 100 countries. Public funding regulations, ceilings on campaign expenditure, bans on foreign donations and enforcing an agency are some of the issues covered in the study. Includes regional studies and discusses how political funding can affect women and men differently, and the delicate issue of monitoring, control and enforcement of political finance laws.
Download or read book Introducing Democracy written by David Beetham and published by UNESCO. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a selection of questions and answers covering the principles of democracy, including human rights, free and fair elections, open and accountable government, and civil society.
Download or read book Contesting Democracy written by Jan-Werner Muller and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2011-09-20 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DIVThis book is the first major account of political thought in twentieth-century Europe, both West and East, to appear since the end of the Cold War. Skillfully blending intellectual, political, and cultural history, Jan-Werner Müller elucidates the ideas that shaped the period of ideological extremes before 1945 and the liberalization of West European politics after the Second World War. He also offers vivid portraits of famous as well as unjustly forgotten political thinkers and the movements and institutions they inspired. Müller pays particular attention to ideas advanced to justify fascism and how they relate to the special kind of liberal democracy that was created in postwar Western Europe. He also explains the impact of the 1960s and neoliberalism, ending with a critical assessment of today's self-consciously post-ideological age./div
Download or read book Five Rising Democracies written by Ted Piccone and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2016-02-23 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shifting power balances in the world are shaking the foundations of the liberal international order and revealing new fault lines at the intersection of human rights and international security. Will these new global trends help or hinder the world's long struggle for human rights and democracy? The answer depends on the role of five rising democracies—India, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, and Indonesia—as both examples and supporters of liberal ideas and practices. Ted Piccone analyzes the transitions of these five democracies as their stars rise on the international stage. While they offer important and mainly positive examples of the compatibility of political liberties, economic growth, and human development, their foreign policies swing between interest-based strategic autonomy and a principled concern for democratic progress and human rights. In a multipolar world, the fate of the liberal international order depends on how they reconcile these tendencies.
Download or read book The State of Democracy Democracy Assessments in Eight Nations Around the World written by David Beetham and published by Springer. This book was released on 2002-10-23 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The State of Democracy: Democracy Assessments in Eight Nations Around the World is the robust and sensitive study of democratisation in eight very different countries at varying stages of democratisation - Bangladesh, El Salvador, Italy, Kenya, Malawi, New Zealand, Peru and South Korea. This unique comparative study first presents the findings of in-country teams of experts in the eight countries on the state of democracy in their own country; and concludes with an analysis and synthesis of their findings to suggest an overall general trajectory of the democratisation process. In doing so, the conclusions examine a variety of issues of significance to democracy, including for example the creation of electoral space, the formation of political parties, the political inclusion of minorities, mechanisms of accountability, and the reduction of corruption.The strength of The State of Democracy lies in the common use by the eight teams of the same democracy assessment framework developed under the auspices of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), Stockholm. This innovative assessment framework covers every aspect of democracy: citizen rights and the rule of law, representative and accountable government, civil society and popular participation, and the international dimensions of democracy. The expert teams used the same methodology to answer the same questions: how democratic are we? In what respects have we made progress? What are the major defects of our governing arrangements from a democratic point of view? How do we stand in comparison with our past and with other comparator countries?Thus their findings are both comprehensive and directly comparable. The State of Democracy contains summaries of each democracy assessment; presents detailed comparative data on key democratic indicators for the eight countries; and then concludes with an overall analysis. The eight studies were pilot schemes, funded and organised by International IDEA, to validate and test the democracy assessment framework, set out in the companion volume, The International IDEA Handbook on Democracy Assessment, also published by Kluwer Law International. Some studies are also being published separately in their country of origin as promotional tools for democratic reform. International IDEA is continuing to cumulate these comparative studies and analysis of democratic trends around the world, see www.idea.int.The State of Democracy: Democracy Assessments in Eight Nations Around the World comprises: an introduction explaining the methodology being used; summary findings in systematic form for each of the eight countries; comparative tables covering a range of democratic features in both qualitative and quantitative aspects; a conclusion drawing out the implications of the country findings for the future of democratisation generally. The book will be of value to all those interested in the progress of democracy, whether as academics, practitioners or citizens, and in finding effective ways to assess it.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Political Philosophy written by David Estlund and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-07-19 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume includes 22 new pieces by leading political philosophers, on traditional issues (such as authority and equality) and emerging issues (such as race, and money in politics). The pieces are clear and accessible will interest both students and scholars working in philosophy, political science, law, economics, and more.
Download or read book Electoral Justice written by and published by International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA). This book was released on 2010-11-24 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An effective electoral justice system is a key element in the unfolding of a free, fair and genuine democratic process. Without a system to mitigate and manage inequality or perceptions of inequality, even the best management of an electoral process may lead to mistrust in the legitimacy of the elected government. This Handbook examines the concept of electoral justice and how to prevent electoral disputes. Using examples from countries such as Afghanistan, Argentina, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, France, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States, it will assist any country with the design and implementation of an electoral justice system that best suits their situation.
Download or read book How Democracies Die written by Steven Levitsky and published by Crown. This book was released on 2019-01-08 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Comprehensive, enlightening, and terrifyingly timely.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice) WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITH BOOK PRIZE • SHORTLISTED FOR THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • Time • Foreign Affairs • WBUR • Paste Donald Trump’s presidency has raised a question that many of us never thought we’d be asking: Is our democracy in danger? Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have spent more than twenty years studying the breakdown of democracies in Europe and Latin America, and they believe the answer is yes. Democracy no longer ends with a bang—in a revolution or military coup—but with a whimper: the slow, steady weakening of critical institutions, such as the judiciary and the press, and the gradual erosion of long-standing political norms. The good news is that there are several exit ramps on the road to authoritarianism. The bad news is that, by electing Trump, we have already passed the first one. Drawing on decades of research and a wide range of historical and global examples, from 1930s Europe to contemporary Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela, to the American South during Jim Crow, Levitsky and Ziblatt show how democracies die—and how ours can be saved. Praise for How Democracies Die “What we desperately need is a sober, dispassionate look at the current state of affairs. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, two of the most respected scholars in the field of democracy studies, offer just that.”—The Washington Post “Where Levitsky and Ziblatt make their mark is in weaving together political science and historical analysis of both domestic and international democratic crises; in doing so, they expand the conversation beyond Trump and before him, to other countries and to the deep structure of American democracy and politics.”—Ezra Klein, Vox “If you only read one book for the rest of the year, read How Democracies Die. . . .This is not a book for just Democrats or Republicans. It is a book for all Americans. It is nonpartisan. It is fact based. It is deeply rooted in history. . . . The best commentary on our politics, no contest.”—Michael Morrell, former Acting Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (via Twitter) “A smart and deeply informed book about the ways in which democracy is being undermined in dozens of countries around the world, and in ways that are perfectly legal.”—Fareed Zakaria, CNN
Download or read book Democracy and the Marketplace of Ideas written by Erik Asard and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1997-01-28 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the institutional links between society and government that shape political communication.
Download or read book Measuring Democracy written by Gerardo L. Munck and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2009-04-15 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on years of academic research on democracy and measurement and practical experience evaluating democratic practices for the United Nations and the Organization of American States, the author presents constructive assessment of the methods used to measure democracies that promises to bring order to the debate in academia and in practice. He makes the case for reassessing how democracy is measured and encourages fundamental changes in methodology. He has developed two instruments for quantifying and qualifying democracy: the UN Development Programme's Electoral Democracy Index and a case-by-case election monitoring tool used by the OAS.
Download or read book Development First Democracy Later written by Anna Lekvall and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Development First, Democracy Later? explores how politics and democracy plays out in reality in Africa as the major aid-receiving continent. It points to the seriously challenged political situations that aid countries engage in. Moreover, it looks at the Paris agenda aid modalities from a democracy perspective. It illustrates the on-and-off relationship with democracy concerns in the aid system. In addition, the book points to the challenges of aid, which are too often, based on a wrongful assumption that development comes first and democracy only (hopefully) later. The book brings to question the fundamental construction of the aid system and the values that drive it. While making a push for seeing the value of democracy on its own merits, as well as its advantages for development, the book poses some serious questions on the way the aid system is built and argues for substantive changes in the aid landscape. Issues raised are relevant for many discussions - from China as a development model, the aid system and - not least - for the debate on the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals."--
Download or read book Fragmented Democracy written by Jamila Michener and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-03-22 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Medicaid is the single largest public health insurer in the United States, covering upwards of 70 million Americans. Crucially, Medicaid is also an intergovernmental program that yokes poverty to federalism: the federal government determines its broad contours, while states have tremendous discretion over how Medicaid is designed and implemented. Where some locales are generous and open handed, others are tight-fisted and punitive. In Fragmented Democracy, Jamila Michener demonstrates the consequences of such disparities for democratic citizenship. Unpacking how federalism transforms Medicaid beneficiaries' interpretations of government and structures their participation in politics, the book examines American democracy from the vantage point(s) of those who are living in or near poverty, (disproportionately) Black or Latino, and reliant on a federated government for vital resources.
