Download or read book The Social Construction of Democracy 1870 1990 written by George Reid Andrews and published by . This book was released on with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Social Construction of Democracy written by George Reid Andrews and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 1997-05 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The recent revival of democracy across much of the globe, and the fragility of many of the new regimes, have inspired renewed interest in the origins of dictatorship and democracy in modern times. This book assembles renowned specialists on Eastern and Western Europe, the U.S., Latin America, and Japan to explore why democracies have succeeded and why they have failed over the past 100 years.
Download or read book The Social Construction of Democracy 1870 1990 written by George Andrews and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 2014-01-14 with total page 391 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Major specialists on Europe, the Americas, and Japan explore why democracies succeeded and failed over the past hundred years. Each essay applies the perspective of the social historian - a focus on mentalities, social movements, and the relationship between states and societies - to explain why political participation has changed as it has. What emerges are new national portraits of the social origins of democracy, as well as new comparative explanations that take global processes and national peculiarities into account.
Download or read book Wrestling with Democracy written by Dennis Pilon and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2013-06-17 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though sharing broadly similar processes of economic and political development from the mid-to-late nineteenth century onward, western countries have diverged greatly in their choice of voting systems: most of Europe shifted to proportional voting around the First World War, while Anglo-American countries have stuck with relative majority or majority voting rules. Using a comparative historical approach, Wrestling with Democracy examines why voting systems have (or have not) changed in western industrialized countries over the past century. In this first single-volume study of voting system reform covering all western industrialized countries, Dennis Pilon reviews national efforts in this area over four timespans: the nineteenth century, the period around the First World War, the Cold War, and the 1990s. Pilon provocatively argues that voting system reform has been a part of larger struggles over defining democracy itself, highlighting previously overlooked episodes of reform and challenging widely held assumptions about institutional change.
Download or read book Faith in Democracy written by Mahmoud Masaeli and published by Gompel&Svacina. This book was released on 2020-01-02 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the spiritual potential of faith, mysticism and transcendence in answer to the dangers of a mythologised state and the sacro-sanctification of (liberal) democracy and its rule of law. It searches for a curative for the pathological transformation of these institutions into – so called – political religions. Along this line, it explores the importance of spirituality and transcendence for political legitimacy, democratic participation and international cooperation, law and politics. There being no general agreed-upon definition of ‘spirituality’, the authors examine what may be seen as ‘spiritual’ dimensions of the political. These dimensions have in common a focus on transcendence as a vanishing point of rationality and rational justification. This vanishing point may become manifest, for example, in a primordial requisite of becoming an individual person; in responding – in freedom – to the call of theocracy; in the phenomenon of prophecy or political wisdom; in the remaining shards of formerly all-pervasive religious institutions; in tenacious hope for a democracy-to-come; in the courageous resilience and resistance of citizens of ‘non-’ or ‘un-democratic’ states; etc. The authors of this book, philosophers, theologians, psychologists, jurists and others, are more or less suspicious of the Modern theories of the social contract allegedly justifying democracy. It may turn out, however, that the inexhaustive and unfathomable dimension of ‘faith’ which comes up as an alternative is not so easy to handle as a ‘rational argument’. This ‘impracticality’ of faith and transcendence might be the irreducible yet indispensable predicament of democracy.
Download or read book Democracy and Crisis written by B. Isakhan and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-05-27 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent years have seen constant reports on the failures of governance and the crisis of democracy. By examining cases like Global Financial Crisis, the Arab Revolutions and Wikileaks this volume highlights tensions between governance and democracy during times of crisis and examines the prospects of democratising governance in the 21st Century.
Download or read book The Other Mirror written by Miguel Angel Centeno and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-12-08 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If social science's "cultural turn" has taught us anything, it is that knowledge is constrained by the time and place in which it is produced. In response, scholars have begun to reassess social theory from the standpoints of groups and places outside of the European context upon which most grand theory is based. Here a distinguished group of scholars reevaluates widely accepted theories of state, property, race, and economics against Latin American experiences with a two-fold purpose. They seek to deepen our understanding of Latin America and the problems it faces. And, by testing social science paradigms against a broader variety of cases, they pursue a better and truly generalizable map of the social world. Bringing universal theory into dialogue with specific history, the contributors consider what forms Latin American variations of classical themes might take and which theories are most useful in describing Latin America. For example, the Argentinian experience reveals the limitations of neoclassical descriptions of economic development, but Charles Tilly's emphasis on the importance of war and collective action to statemaking holds up well when thoughtfully adapted to Latin American situations. Marxist structural analysis is problematic in a region where political divisions do not fully expresses class cleavages, but aspects of Karl Polanyi's socioeconomic theory cross borders with relative ease. This fresh theoretical discussion expands the scope of Latin American studies and social theory, bringing the two into an unprecedented conversation that will benefit both. Contributors are, in addition to the editors, Jeremy Adelman, Jorge I. Domínguez, Paul Gootenberg, Alan Knight, Robert M. Levine, Claudio Lomnitz, John Markoff, Verónica Montecinos, Steven C. Topik, and J. Samuel Valenzuela.
Download or read book Cultivating Democracy written by Mukulika Banerjee and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book is an anthropological study of the relationship of formal political democracy and the cultivation of active citizenship in one particular rural setting in India, studied from 1998 to 2013. It draws on deep ethnographic engagement with the people and social life in two villages both during elections and in the time in between them, to show how these two temporalities connect. The analysis shows how an agrarian village society produces the social imaginaries required for democratic and republican values. The ethnographic microscope on a single paddy growing setting allows us to examine how the various social institutions of kinship, economy and religion are critical sites for the continual civic cultivation of cooperation, vigilance, redistribution, inviolate commitment and hope - values that are essential for democracy"--
Download or read book Militarism in a Global Age written by Dirk Bönker and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the turn of the twentieth century, the United States and Germany emerged as the two most rapidly developing industrial nation-states of the Atlantic world. The elites and intelligentsias of both countries staked out claims to dominance in the twentieth century. In Militarism in a Global Age, Dirk Bonker explores the far-reaching ambitions of naval officers before World War I as they advanced navalism, a particular brand of modern militarism that stressed the paramount importance of sea power as a historical determinant. Aspiring to make their own countries into self-reliant world powers in an age of global empire and commerce, officers viewed the causes of the industrial nation, global influence, elite rule, and naval power as inseparable. Characterized by both transnational exchanges and national competition, the new maritime militarism was technocratic in its impulses; its makers cast themselves as members of a professional elite that served the nation with its expert knowledge of maritime and global affairs. American and German navalist projects differed less in their principal features than in their eventual trajectories. Over time, the pursuits of these projects channeled the two naval elites in different directions as they developed contrasting outlooks on their bids for world power and maritime force. Combining comparative history with transnational and global history, Militarism in a Global Age challenges traditional, exceptionalist assumptions about militarism and national identity in Germany and the United States in its exploration of empire and geopolitics, warfare and military-operational imaginations, state formation and national governance, and expertise and professionalism.
Download or read book Democracy in South Asia written by Aijaz Ashraf Wani and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-09-13 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume examines the state of democracy in South Asia after the first two decades of the millennium. It shows how the inroads made by democracy that surged through South Asia at the turn of the century stands at the crossroads after two decades. The Taliban regaining strength in Afghanistan, tricky civil-military relations in Pakistan, the political stand-off in Nepal, as well as the undermining of civil rights in other countries point to the deepening challenges to democracy in the region. At the same time the region presents many positives to be taken forward and opportunities to be carried forward. The chapters in the volume map the gains made and challenges faced by every South Asian country, especially since 2000. Going beyond the usual regional powers like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the volume includes detailed analysis of the state of democracy and future trajectories of Nepal, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Maldives. The volume will be of great interest to scholars, researchers and students of politics and international relations and South Asian studies.
Download or read book Crossing the Neoliberal Line written by Katharyne Mitchell and published by Temple University Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As wealthy immigrants from Hong Kong began to settle in Vancouver, British Columbia, their presence undid a longstanding liberal consensus that defined politics and spatial inequality there. Riding the currents of a neoliberal wave, these immigrants became the center of vigorous public controversies around planning, home building, multiculturalism, and the future of Vancouver. Because of their class status and their financial capacity to remake space in their own ways, they became the key to a reshaping of Vancouver through struggles that are necessarily both global and local in context, involving global-real estate enterprises, the Canadian state, city residents, and others.In her examination of the story of the integration of transnational migrants from Hong Kong, Katharyne Mitchell draws out the myriad ways in which liberalism is profoundly spatial, varying greatly depending on the geographical context. In doing so, Mitchell shows why understanding the historically and geographically contingent nature of liberal thought and practice is crucial, particularly as we strive to understand the ongoing societies' transition to neoliberalism. Author note:Katharyne Mitchellis Professor of Geography and the Simpson Professor of the Public Humanities at the University of Washington.
Download or read book Popular Politics and the Path to Durable Democracy written by Mohammad Ali Kadivar and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2022-11-22 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking account of how prolonged grassroots mobilization lays the foundations for durable democratization When protests swept through the Middle East at the height of the Arab Spring, the world appeared to be on the verge of a wave of democratization. Yet with the failure of many of these uprisings, it has become clearer than ever that the path to democracy is strewn with obstacles. Mohammad Ali Kadivar examines the conditions leading to the success or failure of democratization, shedding vital new light on how prodemocracy mobilization affects the fate of new democracies. Drawing on a wealth of new evidence, Kadivar shows how the longest episodes of prodemocracy protest give rise to the most durable new democracies. He analyzes more than one hundred democratic transitions in eighty countries between 1950 and 2010, showing how more robust democracies emerge from lengthier periods of unarmed mobilization. Kadivar then analyzes five case studies—South Africa, Poland, Pakistan, Egypt, and Tunisia—to investigate the underlying mechanisms. He finds that organization building during the years of struggle develops the leadership needed for lasting democratization and strengthens civil society after dictatorship. Popular Politics and the Path to Durable Democracy challenges the prevailing wisdom in American foreign policy that democratization can be achieved through military or coercive interventions, revealing how lasting change arises from sustained, nonviolent grassroots mobilization.
Download or read book The Politics of the Right written by Leo Panitch and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2015-12-22 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today the Left faces new challenges from political forces amassing on the radical right. The 52nd volume of the Socialist Register presents a serious calibration and a careful political mapping of these forces. It addresses pivotal questions on the reordering of the new right. These essays - very broad in terms of themes and places - speak to the global challenges the new right poses for the left at this historical moment. * What is the nature of the right's populism, nationalism and militarism? * What is the social base and organizational strength and range of far right political forces? * To what extent are they influencing mainstream parties and opinion? * How have they penetrated state institutions?* What role do state security services and police forces play?* Does our political situation today require comparison with 1930s Fascism? * How should the left respond to defend democratic and human rights?
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of International Organizations written by Jacob Katz Cogan and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-11-24 with total page 1304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Virtually every important question of public policy today involves an international organization. From trade to intellectual property to health policy and beyond, governments interact with international organizations in almost everything they do. Increasingly, individual citizens are directly affected by the work of international organizations. Aimed at academics, students, practitioners, and lawyers, this book gives a comprehensive overview of the world of international organizations today. It emphasizes both the practical aspects of their organization and operation, and the conceptual issues that arise at the junctures between nation-states and international authority, and between law and politics. While the focus is on inter-governmental organizations, the book also encompasses non-governmental organizations and public policy networks. With essays by the leading scholars and practitioners, the book first considers the main international organizations and the kinds of problems they address. This includes chapters on the organizations that relate to trade, humanitarian aid, peace operations, and more, as well as chapters on the history of international organizations. The book then looks at the constituent parts and internal functioning of international organizations. This addresses the internal management of the organization, and includes chapters on the distribution of decision-making power within the organizations, the structure of their assemblies, the role of Secretaries-General and other heads, budgets and finance, and other elements of complex bureaucracies at the international level. This book is essential reading for scholars, practitioners, and students alike.
Download or read book Taiwan in Dynamic Transition written by Ryan Dunch and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2020-02-28 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following a remarkable transition from authoritarian rule to robust democracy, Taiwan has grown into a prosperous but widely unrecognized nation-state for which no uncontested sovereign space exists. Increasingly vigorous assertions of Taiwanese identity expose the fragility of relationships between the United States and other great powers that assume Taiwan will eventually unite with China. Perhaps because of their precarious international position, the Taiwanese have embraced cosmopolitan culture and democratic institutions. The 2014 Sunflower Movement thrust Taiwan’s politics into the global media spotlight, as did the resounding electoral victory of the once-illegal Democratic Progressive Party in 2016. Taiwan in Dynamic Transition provides an up-to-date assessment of contemporary Taiwan, highlighting Taiwan’s emergent nationhood and its significance for world politics. Taiwan’s path has important implications for broader themes and preoccupations in contemporary thought, such as consideration of why political transitions in the aftermath of the Arab Spring have sputtered or failed while Taiwan has evolved into a stable and prosperous democratic society. Taiwan serves as a test case for nation and state building, the formation of national identity, and the emergence of democratic norms in real time.
Download or read book Democratic Stability in an Age of Crisis written by Agnes Cornell and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-15 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The interwar period has left a deep impression on later generations. This was an age of crises where representative democracy, itself a relatively recent political invention, seemed unable to cope with the challenges that confronted it. Against the backdrop of the economic crisis that began in 2008 and the rise of populist parties, a new body of scholarship - frequently invoked by the media - has used interwar political developments to warn that even long-established Western democracies are fragile. Democratic Stability in an Age of Crisis challenges this 'interwar analogy' based on the fact that a relatively large number of interwar democracies were able to survive the recurrent crises of the 1920s and 1930s. The main aim of this book is to understand the striking resilience of these democracies, and how they differed from the many democracies that broke down in the same period. The authors advance an explanation that emphasizes the importance of democratic legacies and the strength of the associational landscape (i.e., organized civil society and institutionalized political parties). Moreover, they underline that these factors were themselves associated with a set of deeper structural conditions, which on the eve of the interwar period had brought about different political pathways. The authors' empirical strategy consists of a combination of comparative analyses of all interwar democratic spells and illustrative case studies. The book's main takeaway point is that the interwar period shows how resilient democracy is once it has had time to consolidate. On this basis, recent warnings about the fragility of contemporary democracies in Western Europe and North America seem exaggerated - or, at least, that they cannot be sustained by interwar evidence. Comparative Politics is a series for researchers, teachers, and students of political science that deals with contemporary government and politics. Global in scope, books in the series are characterized by a stress on comparative analysis and strong methodological rigour. The series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research. For more information visit: www.ecprnet.eu The series is edited by Susan Scarrow, Chair of the Department of Political Science, University of Houston, and Jonathan Slapin, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Zurich.
Download or read book Democratizing Democracy written by Boaventura De Sousa Santos and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2007-08-17 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The majorconflicts between the Global North and the South can be expected toresult from the confrontation of alternative conceptions of democracy,mainly between liberal or representative democracy and participatorydemocracy. The hegemonic model of democracy, while prevailing on aglobal scale, guarantees no more than low-intensity democracy. Inrecent times, participatory democracy has exhibited a new dynamic,engaging mainly subaltern communities and social groups that fightagainst social exclusion and the suppression of citizenship. In thiscollection of reports from the Global South—India, South Africa,Mozambique, Colombia, and Brazil—De Sousa Santos and his colleaguesshow how, in some cases, the deepening of democracy results from thedevelopment of dual forms of participatory and representativedemocracy, and points to the emergence of transnational networks ofparticipatory democracy initiatives. Such networks pave one of the waysto the reinvention of social emancipation. This is volume 1 of the Reinventing Social Emancipation project, edited by Boaventura de Sousa Santos.
