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Book The Origins of Democracy in Costa Rica in Comparative Perspective

Download or read book The Origins of Democracy in Costa Rica in Comparative Perspective written by Fabrice Edouard Lehoucq and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 742 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy

Download or read book Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy written by Daron Acemoglu and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book develops a framework for analyzing the creation and consolidation of democracy. Different social groups prefer different political institutions because of the way they allocate political power and resources. Thus democracy is preferred by the majority of citizens, but opposed by elites. Dictatorship nevertheless is not stable when citizens can threaten social disorder and revolution. In response, when the costs of repression are sufficiently high and promises of concessions are not credible, elites may be forced to create democracy. By democratizing, elites credibly transfer political power to the citizens, ensuring social stability. Democracy consolidates when elites do not have strong incentive to overthrow it. These processes depend on (1) the strength of civil society, (2) the structure of political institutions, (3) the nature of political and economic crises, (4) the level of economic inequality, (5) the structure of the economy, and (6) the form and extent of globalization.

Book Democracy in Latin America

Download or read book Democracy in Latin America written by Peter H. Smith and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2005 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democracy in Latin America: Political Change in Comparative Perspective examines processes of democratization in Latin America from 1900 to the present. Organized thematically, with a unique historical perspective, the book provides a widespread view of political transformation throughout the entire region. In clear and jargon-free prose, the book: * Traces the origins and evolution of democracy in Latin America * Examines the adoption and reform of electoral institutions * Assesses the policy performance of contemporary democracies * Explores the political representation of women, workers, and indigenous peoples * Evaluates trends in public opinion * Reveals the recent rise of "illiberal democracy" Adroitly blending qualitative and quantitative approaches, Democracy in Latin America offers a new and startling explanation for the prevalence of electoral democracy in modern-day Latin America and presents an in-depth analysis of political challenges now confronting the region as a whole--including poverty, inequality, and criminality. In addition to maps, tables, and figures, the book provides carefully selected illustrations and numerous boxes containing anecdotal material and conceptual commentary. Comprehensive in scope, rigorous in method, and thoroughly accessible to students and general readers, Democracy in Latin America: Political Change in Comparative Perspective is ideal for a broad variety of undergraduate courses in political science, history, and sociology.

Book Latin American Politics

Download or read book Latin American Politics written by Edward J. Williams and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book The History of Costa Rica

    Book Details:
  • Author : Iván Molina Jiménez
  • Publisher : Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica
  • Release : 1998
  • ISBN : 9789977674681
  • Pages : 188 pages

Download or read book The History of Costa Rica written by Iván Molina Jiménez and published by Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica. This book was released on 1998 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Swiss Democracy

    Book Details:
  • Author : Wolf Linder
  • Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan
  • Release : 2010-05-15
  • ISBN : 9780230231894
  • Pages : 272 pages

Download or read book Swiss Democracy written by Wolf Linder and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 2010-05-15 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An updated third edition of this authoriative analysis of Swiss democracy, the institutions of federalism, and consensus democracy through political power sharing. Linder analyses the scope and limits of citizen's participation in direct democracy, which distinguishes Switzerland from most parliamentary systems.

Book The Decline and Rise of Democracy

Download or read book The Decline and Rise of Democracy written by David Stasavage and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-08-24 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Historical accounts of democracy's rise tend to focus on ancient Greece and pre-Renaissance Europe. The Decline and Rise of Democracy draws from global evidence to show that the story is much richer--democratic practices were present in many places, at many other times, from the Americas before European conquest, to ancient Mesopotamia, to precolonial Africa. Delving into the prevalence of early democracy throughout the world, David Stasavage makes the case that understanding how and where these democracies flourished--and when and why they declined--can provide crucial information not just about the history of governance, but also about the ways modern democracies work and where they could manifest in the future."--

Book Costa Rica

    Book Details:
  • Author : John A Booth
  • Publisher : Routledge
  • Release : 2018-02-19
  • ISBN : 0429980906
  • Pages : 246 pages

Download or read book Costa Rica written by John A Booth and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-19 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did Costa Rica become Central America’s first successful democracy? How does Costa Rican democracy work? How does democracy survive despite regional turmoil, foreign intervention, and economic crisis? Beginning with Costa Rica’s history within the Central American context, John Booth traces democratic development in Costa Rica through its institutions, rules of the political game, parties, elections, and interest groups. After a review of socioeconomic and political forces, the author examines political participation and culture, political economy, and foreign affairs. The book’s overview of Costa Rican politics is accessible and useful for students, scholars, and general readers.

Book Democracy and the Market

Download or read book Democracy and the Market written by Adam Przeworski and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1991-07-26 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The quest for freedom from hunger and repression has triggered in recent years a dramatic, worldwide reform of political and economic systems. Never have so many people enjoyed, or at least experimented with democratic institutions. However, many strategies for economic development in Eastern Europe and Latin America have failed with the result that entire economic systems on both continents are being transformed. This major book analyzes recent transitions to democracy and market-oriented economic reforms in Eastern Europe and Latin America. Drawing in a quite distinctive way on models derived from political philosophy, economics, and game theory, Professor Przeworski also considers specific data on individual countries. Among the questions raised by the book are: What should we expect from these experiments in democracy and market economy? What new economic systems will emerge? Will these transitions result in new democracies or old dictatorships?

Book The Origins of Democratic Thinking

Download or read book The Origins of Democratic Thinking written by Cynthia Farrar and published by CUP Archive. This book was released on 1988 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr Farrar argues that the development of political theory accompanied the growth of democracy at Athens in the fifth century BC. By analysing the writings of Protagoras, Thucydides and Democritus in the context of political developments and speculation about the universe, she reveals the existence of a distinctive approach to the characterisation of democratic order, and in doing so demonstrates the virtues of Thucydides' historical conception of politics.

Book The Legacies of Liberalism

Download or read book The Legacies of Liberalism written by James Mahoney and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2001-06 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Barrington Moore Jr. Prize for the Best Book in Comparative and Historical Sociology from the American Sociological AssociationWinner of the Best Book Award in the Comparative Democratization Section from the American Political Science Association Despite their many similarities, Central American countries during the twentieth century were characterized by remarkably different political regimes. In a comparative analysis of Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua, James Mahoney argues that these political differences were legacies of the nineteenth-century liberal reform period. Presenting a theory of "path dependence," Mahoney shows how choices made at crucial turning points in Central American history established certain directions of change and foreclosed others to shape long-term development. By the middle of the twentieth century, three types of political regimes characterized the five nations considered in this study: military-authoritarian (Guatemala, El Salvador), liberal democratic (Costa Rica), and traditional dictatorial (Honduras, Nicaragua). As Mahoney shows, each type is the end point of choices regarding state and agrarian development made by these countries early in the nineteenth century. Applying his conclusions to present-day attempts at market creation in a neoliberal era, Mahoney warns that overzealous pursuit of market creation can have severely negative long-term political consequences. The Legacies of Liberalism presents new insight into the role of leadership in political development, the place of domestic politics in the analysis of foreign intervention, and the role of the state in the creation of early capitalism. The book offers a general theoretical framework that will be of broad interest to scholars of comparative politics and political development, and its overall argument will stir debate among historians of particular Central American countries.

Book Crises of Democracy

Download or read book Crises of Democracy written by Adam Przeworski and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-09-26 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the economic, social, cultural, as well as purely political threats to democracy in the light of current knowledge.

Book Militarization  Democracy  and Development

Download or read book Militarization Democracy and Development written by Kirk S. Bowman and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2010-11-01 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do Third World countries benefit from having large militaries, or does this impede their development? Kirk Bowman uses statistical analysis to demonstrate that militarization has had a particularly malignant impact in this region. For his quantitative comparison he draws on longitudinal data for a sample of 76 developing countries and for 18 Latin American nations. To illuminate the causal mechanisms at work, Bowman offers a detailed comparison of Costa Rica and Honduras between 1948 and 1998. The case studies not only serve to bolster his general argument about the harmful effects of militarization but also provide many new insights into the processes of democratic consolidation and economic transformation in these two Central American countries.

Book How Democracies Die

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

Book Coffee and Power

Download or read book Coffee and Power written by Jeffery M. Paige and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the revolutionary years between 1979 and 1992, it would have been difficult to find three political systems as different as El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua, yet they found a common destination in democracy and free markets. Paige shows that the divergent political histories and the convergent outcome were shaped by one commodity: coffee.

Book Democracies and Dictatorships in Latin America

Download or read book Democracies and Dictatorships in Latin America written by Scott Mainwaring and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-01-31 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a new theory for why political regimes emerge, and why they subsequently survive or break down. It then analyzes the emergence, survival and fall of democracies and dictatorships in Latin America since 1900. Scott Mainwaring and Aníbal Pérez-Liñán argue for a theoretical approach situated between long-term structural and cultural explanations and short-term explanations that look at the decisions of specific leaders. They focus on the political preferences of powerful actors - the degree to which they embrace democracy as an intrinsically desirable end and their policy radicalism - to explain regime outcomes. They also demonstrate that transnational forces and influences are crucial to understand regional waves of democratization. Based on extensive research into the political histories of all twenty Latin American countries, this book offers the first extended analysis of regime emergence, survival and failure for all of Latin America over a long period of time.

Book Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy

Download or read book Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy written by Daniel Ziblatt and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-04-18 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do democracies form and what makes them die? Daniel Ziblatt revisits this timely and classic question in a wide-ranging historical narrative that traces the evolution of modern political democracy in Europe from its modest beginnings in 1830s Britain to Adolf Hitler's 1933 seizure of power in Weimar Germany. Based on rich historical and quantitative evidence, the book offers a major reinterpretation of European history and the question of how stable political democracy is achieved. The barriers to inclusive political rule, Ziblatt finds, were not inevitably overcome by unstoppable tides of socioeconomic change, a simple triumph of a growing middle class, or even by working class collective action. Instead, political democracy's fate surprisingly hinged on how conservative political parties - the historical defenders of power, wealth, and privilege - recast themselves and coped with the rise of their own radical right. With striking modern parallels, the book has vital implications for today's new and old democracies under siege.