Download or read book Renewal in European Local Democracies written by Linze Schaap and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-02-11 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the dynamics of democratic reform processes in European local government. On the basis of analyses of theoretical challenges to present developments, the book pays attention to processes of democratic innovation inspired by classical representative democracy and by new forms of democracy influenced by notions of governance, participation, e-governance, empowering civil society and the like. Also attention is given to the role of regionalization and of leader- ship in efforts to revitalize local democracy. Cases from all over Europe are being studied.
Download or read book Globalism and Local Democracy written by R. Hambleton and published by Springer. This book was released on 2002-06-06 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new book argues that cities and citizens are not helpless victims in a global flow of events. Three crucial questions are addressed through the three part structure: What is the nature of the globalization? What resulting challenges now confront cities and localities? How can local leaders respond to this changing environment in ways which strengthen local democracy? Written by leading urban scholars in Europe and North America the book draws on a range of disciplines to enhance academic understanding and illuminate lessons for policy and practice.
Download or read book Local Government in Europe written by Lackowska, Marta and published by Policy Press. This book was released on 2021-09-08 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on classical and emerging research perspectives, this comprehensive book provides an up-to-date review of local government in Europe. Featuring an impressive range of contributors from both eastern and western Europe, the book addresses three main topics: territorial reforms, democratic empowerment of citizens and the role of local leadership, as well as new trends in local finances. Acknowledging their inherent diversity, the book examines the ways that local governments have responded to shared challenges, such as climate change, increasing populism and democratic deficit in order to identify both the variety and communalities between the country-specific features. In doing so, it provides a rich picture of the latest trends in local government, as well as pointing the way for future developments.
Download or read book Rebuilding European democracy written by Richard Youngs and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In recent years serious concerns emerged over the state of European democracy. Many democracy indices are reporting a year-on-year drift towards less liberal politics in the countries of the European Union. Polls regularly suggest that the voters are coming to question democratic norms more seriously than for many decades. Here, Richard Youngs assesses these risks as many analysts, journalists and politicians stressed the danger of Europe descending into an era of conflict, driven by xenophobic nationalism and nativist authoritarians slowly dismantling liberal democratic rights. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has intensified these fears. There is another side of the democratic equation, however. Youngs argues that governments, EU institutions, political parties, citizens and civil society organisations have gradually begun to push back in defence of democracy. With each chapter, Youngs shows how many governmental, political and social actors have developed responses to Europe s democratic malaise at multiple levels. Europe s democracy problems have been grave and far-reaching. Yet, a spirit of democratic resistance has slowly taken shape. This book argues that the pro-democratic fightback may be belated, but it is real and has assumed significant traction with various types of democratic reform underway, including citizen initiatives, political-party changes, digital activism and EU-level responses."--
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Local and Regional Democracy in Europe written by John Loughlin and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2012-11-08 with total page 812 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford Handbook of Local and Regional Democracy in Europe analyses the state of play of democracy at the subnational level in the 27 member states of the EU plus Norway and Switzerland. It places subnational democracy in the context of the distinctive Anglo, the French, the German and Scandinavian state traditions in Europe asking to what extent these are still relevant today. The Handbook adapts Lijphart's theory of democracy and applies it to the subnational levels in all the country chapters. A key theoretical issue is whether subnational (regional and local) democracy is derived from national democracy or whether it is legitimate in its own right. Besides these theoretical concerns it focuses on the practice of democracy: the roles of political parties and interest groups and also how subnational political institutions relate to the ordinary citizen. This can take the form of local referendums or other mechanisms of participation. The Handbook reveals a wide variety of practices across Europe in this regard. Local financial systems also reveal a great variety. Finally, each chapter examines the challenges facing subnational democracy but also the opportunities available to them to enhance their democratic systems. Among the challenges identified are: Europeanization, globalization, but also citizens disaffection and switch-off from politics. Some countries have confronted these challenges more successfully than others but all countries face them. An important aspect of the Handbook is the inclusion of all the countries of East and Central Europe plus Cyprus and Malta, who joined the EU in 2004 and 2007. This is the first time they have been examined alongside the countries of Western Europe from the angle of subnational democracy.
Download or read book Renewing Democratic Deliberation in Europe written by Jean De Munck and published by P.I.E-Peter Lang S.A., Editions Scientifiques Internationales. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democracy is not merely a political and legal system; it depends on social and economic commitments as well. Democracy is not only realized through elections; it requires civic participation through permanent dialogue. This volume addresses this central, yet often overlooked, issue in a series of essays by renowned scholars from Europe and the United States, reviving a concept that dates back to the foundation of the European Union: social dialogue as a fundamental part of the construction of the union. Having neglected the social dimensions of its institutions, the European Union is currently in deep crisis. European democracy is confronted with a radical new situation and new definitions of work and family, as well as of growth and economic achievement, must be embedded in European public policy. The contributors to this book identify social and civil dialogue as key institutional processes that will help overcome the current crisis. Civic participation can no longer be limited to representative institutions as we know them; a new combination of deliberation, bargaining and social experimentation is required. This book maps out the complexity of this vital issue and its implications for the future of the European democratic project.
Download or read book Citizen and City written by Harry Daemen and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Local Government in Central and Eastern Europe written by Andrew Coulson and published by Taylor & Francis US. This book was released on 2008 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the democratic changes that took place in civil society in Central and Eastern Europe after the break up of the Soviet Union.
Download or read book Reforming Local Government in Europe written by Norbert Kersting and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-29 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nearly all Western and Central European local government systems have been reformed since the 1990's. Taking into account variations in historical and national context, the book looks for different ways of local government reform, their emphases and their divergent trajectories.
Download or read book Strengthening Regional and Local Democracy in the European Union written by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Deepening Local Democracy in Latin America written by Benjamin Goldfrank and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2015-09-10 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The resurgence of the Left in Latin America over the past decade has been so notable that it has been called “the Pink Tide.” In recent years, regimes with leftist leaders have risen to power in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and Venezuela. What does this trend portend for the deepening of democracy in the region? Benjamin Goldfrank has been studying the development of participatory democracy in Latin America for many years, and this book represents the culmination of his empirical investigations in Brazil, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In order to understand why participatory democracy has succeeded better in some countries than in others, he examines the efforts in urban areas that have been undertaken in the cities of Porto Alegre, Montevideo, and Caracas. His findings suggest that success is related, most crucially, to how nationally centralized political authority is and how strongly institutionalized the opposition parties are in the local arenas.
Download or read book Democratisation in the European Neighbourhood written by Michael Emerson and published by CEPS. This book was released on 2005 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Approaches democratization of the European neighbourhood from two sides, first exploring developments in the states themselves and then examining what the European Union has been doing to promote the process.
Download or read book Direct Democracy in the EU written by Steven Blockmans and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-01-15 with total page 467 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The European Union is grappling with a democracy problem. The succession of crises which have plagued the increasingly executive EU for years, has led to a rising cacophony of voices calling for fundamental change to the integration project. Yet despite the seismic shock of the Brexit referendum and the electoral upsets by nativist parties across the continent, few of the plans for EU reform include concrete proposals to reduce the age-old democratic deficit. This book is concerned with the two-pronged question of how the relationship between citizens, the state and EU institutions has changed, and how direct democratic participation can be improved in a multi-layered Union. As such, this edited volume focuses not on populism per se, nor does it deeply engage with policy and output legitimacy. Rather, the research is concerned with process and polity. Building on the notion of increasing social, economic and political interdependence across borders, this volume asks how a sense of solidarity and European identity can be rescued from the bottom up by politically empowering citizens to ‘take back control’ of their EU.
Download or read book Renewing Local Democracy written by Lawrence Pratchett and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-04-04 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing together research on different features of the democratic renewal agenda to investigate how local authorities are responding, this text includes a contribution from the main architect of the modernization, Local Government Minister Hilary Armstrong.
Download or read book Developing Democracy in Europe written by Lawrence Pratchett and published by Council of Europe. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published as part of the integrated project "Making democratic institutions work"
Download or read book Reclaiming Local Democracy written by Ines Newman and published by Policy Press. This book was released on 2014-05-07 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book Ines Newman raises new questions about the fundamental principles that should guide local government decision making in an era when austerity measures leave local governments struggling to meet the demands for services. Drawing on a lifetime of experience as a practitioner and academic within local government, she shifts the agenda toward a more ethical view of how local governments can enact policies that improve social justice and local democracy. Newman argues that local governments should provide a voice for those who lack power, and she does so through an energizing call to reengage politics with ethics and an examination of how local governments can develop active citizens, make a difference in the well-being of the disadvantaged, and, in the end, promote real democracy.
Download or read book State of democracy human rights and the rule of law 2021 written by Council of Europe and published by Council of Europe. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democracy is in distress! The Secretary General of the 47-nation Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, has highlighted a “clear and worrying degree of democratic backsliding” in her latest annual report on the state of democracy, human rights and the rule of law across the continent. “In many cases, the problems we are seeing predate the coronavirus pandemic but there is no doubt that legitimate actions taken by national authorities in response to Covid-19 have compounded the situation. The danger is that our democratic culture will not fully recover,” said the Secretary General. “Our member states now face a choice. They can continue to permit or facilitate this democratic backsliding or they can work together to reverse this trend, to reinforce and renew European democracy and to create an environment in which human rights and the rule of law flourish. “This is the right option for the 830 million people who live in the Council of Europe area.” Based on the findings of different Council of Europe bodies, including the European Court of Human Rights, the Secretary General’s report assesses recent developments in areas including political institutions and judicial independence, freedom of expression and association, human dignity, anti-discrimination and democratic participation. The report encourages member states to use existing and future Council of Europe mechanisms to address many of the challenges identified, on the basis of the following key principles: - National authorities should return to fundamental democratic principles and recommit to Council of Europe legal standards, including the implementation of judgments from the European Court of Human Rights; - Member states should fully embrace the multilateralism embodied by the Council of Europe for more than 70 years; - Covid-related restrictions and measures must not only be necessary and proportionate, but also limited in duration; - National authorities should embrace democratic culture, recognising where their words, activities or legislation have diminished that culture by reducing civic space, by intimidating or preventing individuals, organisations and NGOs from exercising their freedom of speech or assembly, or by excluding people from participating fully in society.
