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Book The Promise and Pathology of Democracy

Download or read book The Promise and Pathology of Democracy written by Cleo Calimbahin and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book The Servile Mind

Download or read book The Servile Mind written by Kenneth Minogue and published by Encounter Books. This book was released on 2012-11-20 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the grim comedies of the twentieth century was that miserable victims of communist regimes would climb walls, swim rivers, dodge bullets, and find other desperate ways to achieve liberty in the West at the same time that progressive intellectuals would sentimentally proclaim that these very regimes were the wave of the future. A similar tragicomedy is playing out in our century: as the victims of despotism and backwardness from Third World nations pour into Western states, academics and intellectuals present Western life as a nightmare of inequality and oppression. In The Servile Mind: How Democracy Erodes the Moral Life, Kenneth Minogue explores the intelligentsia’s love affair with social perfection and reveals how that idealistic dream is destroying exactly what has made the inventive Western world irresistible to the peoples of foreign lands. The Servile Mind looks at how Western morality has evolved into mere “politico-moral” posturing about admired ethical causes—from solving world poverty and creating peace to curing climate change. Today, merely making the correct noises and parading one’s essential decency by having the correct opinions has become a substitute for individual moral responsibility. Instead, Minogue argues, we ask that our governments carry the burden of solving our social—and especially moral—problems for us. The irony is that the more we allow the state to determine our moral order, the more we need to be told how to behave and what to think. Such is the servile mind.

Book Me the People

    Book Details:
  • Author : Nadia Urbinati
  • Publisher : Harvard University Press
  • Release : 2019-08-06
  • ISBN : 0674243587
  • Pages : 273 pages

Download or read book Me the People written by Nadia Urbinati and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2019-08-06 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A timely and incisive assessment of what the success of populism means for democracy. Populist movements have recently appeared in nearly every democracy around the world. Yet our grasp of this disruptive political phenomenon remains woefully inadequate. Politicians of all stripes appeal to the interests of the people, and every opposition party campaigns against the current establishment. What, then, distinguishes populism from run-of-the-mill democratic politics? And why should we be concerned by its rise? In Me the People, Nadia Urbinati argues that populism should be regarded as a new form of representative government, one based on a direct relationship between the leader and those the leader defines as the “good” or “right” people. Populist leaders claim to speak to and for the people without the need for intermediaries—in particular, political parties and independent media—whom they blame for betraying the interests of the ordinary many. Urbinati shows that, while populist governments remain importantly distinct from dictatorial or fascist regimes, their dependence on the will of the leader, along with their willingness to exclude the interests of those deemed outside the bounds of the “good” or “right” people, stretches constitutional democracy to its limits and opens a pathway to authoritarianism. Weaving together theoretical analysis, the history of political thought, and current affairs, Me the People presents an original and illuminating account of populism and its relation to democracy.

Book The Promise and Perils of Populism

Download or read book The Promise and Perils of Populism written by Carlos de la Torre and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2014-12-11 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The O.J. Simpson trial. The Lindbergh kidnapping. The death of Marilyn Monroe. The assassination of the Romanovs. The Atlanta child murders. All controversial cases. All investigated with the latest techniques in forensic science. Nationally respected investigators Joe Nickell and John Fischer explain the science behind the criminal investigations that have captured the nation's attention. Crime Science is the only comprehensive guide to forensics. Without being overly technical or treating scientific techniques superficially, the authors introduce readers to the work of firearms experts, document examiners, fingerprint technicians, medical examiners, and forensic anthropologists. Each topic is treated in a separate chapter, in a clear and understandable style. Nickell and Fisher describe fingerprint classification and autopsies, explain how fibers link victims to their killers, and examine the science underlying DNA profiling and toxicological analysis. From weapons analysis to handwriting samples to shoe and tire impressions, Crime Science outlines the indispensable tools and techniques that investigators use to make sense of a crime scene. Each chapter closes with a study of a well-known case, revealing how the principles of forensic science work in practice.

Book From Dissent to Democracy

Download or read book From Dissent to Democracy written by Jonathan C. Pinckney and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-10 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peaceful protest is a strong driver for democratization across the globe. Yet, it doesn't always lead to democratic transition, as seen in the Arab Spring revolutions in Egypt or Yemen. Why do some nonviolent transitions end in democracy while others do not? In From Dissent to Democracy, Jonathan Pinckney systematically examines transitions initiated by nonviolent resistance campaigns and argues that two key factors explain whether or not democracy will follow such efforts. First, a movement must sustain high levels of social mobilization. Second, it must direct that mobilization away from revolutionary "maximalist" goals and tactics and towards support for new institutions. Pinckney tests his theory by presenting a global statistical analysis of all political transitions from 1945-2011 and three case studies from Nepal, Zambia, and Brazil. Original and empirically rigorous, this book provides new insights into the intersection of democratization and nonviolent resistance and gives actionable recommendations for how to encourage democratic transitions.

Book Democracy and the Political Unconscious

Download or read book Democracy and the Political Unconscious written by Noëlle McAfee and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2008-04-08 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political philosopher Noëlle McAfee proposes a powerful new political theory for our post-9/11 world, in which an old pathology-the repetition compulsion-has manifested itself in a seemingly endless war on terror. McAfee argues that the quintessentially human desire to participate in a world with others is the key to understanding the public sphere and to creating a more democratic society, a world that all members can have a hand in shaping. But when some are effectively denied this participation, whether through trauma or terror, instead of democratic politics, there arises a political unconscious, an effect of desires unarticulated, failures to sublimate, voices kept silent, and repression reenacted. Not only is this condition undemocratic and unjust, it may lead to further trauma. Unless its troubles are worked through, a political community risks continual repetition and even self-destruction. McAfee deftly weaves together her experience as an observer of democratic life with an array of intellectual schemas, from poststructural psychoanalysis to Rawlsian and Habermasian democratic theories, as well as semiotics, civic republicanism, and American pragmatism. She begins with an analysis of the traumatic effects of silencing members of a political community. Then she explores the potential of deliberative dialogue and other "talking cures" and public testimonies, such as the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to help societies work through, rather than continually act out, their conflicts. Democracy and the Political Unconscious is rich in theoretical insights, but it is also grounded in the practical problems of those who are trying to process the traumas of oppression, terror, and brutality and create more decent and democratic societies. Drawing on a breathtaking range of theoretical frameworks and empirical observations, Democracy and the Political Unconscious charts a course for democratic transformation in a world sorely lacking in democratic practice.

Book American History  A Very Short Introduction

Download or read book American History A Very Short Introduction written by Paul S. Boyer and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-08-16 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume in Oxford's A Very Short Introduction series offers a concise, readable narrative of the vast span of American history, from the earliest human migrations to the early twenty-first century when the United States loomed as a global power and comprised a complex multi-cultural society of more than 300 million people. The narrative is organized around major interpretive themes, with facts and dates introduced as needed to illustrate these themes. The emphasis throughout is on clarity and accessibility to the interested non-specialist.

Book The Promise of the New South

Download or read book The Promise of the New South written by Edward L. Ayers and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007-09-07 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a public picnic in the South in the 1890s, a young man paid five cents for his first chance to hear the revolutionary Edison talking machine. He eagerly listened as the soundman placed the needle down, only to find that through the tubes he held to his ears came the chilling sounds of a lynching. In this story, with its blend of new technology and old hatreds, genteel picnics and mob violence, Edward Ayers captures the history of the South in the years between Reconstruction and the turn of the century. Ranging from the Georgia coast to the Tennessee mountains, from the power brokers to tenant farmers, Ayers depicts a land of startling contrasts. Ayers takes us from remote Southern towns, revolutionized by the spread of the railroads, to the statehouses where Democratic Redeemers swept away the legacy of Reconstruction; from the small farmers, trapped into growing nothing but cotton, to the new industries of Birmingham; from abuse and intimacy in the family to tumultuous public meetings of the prohibitionists. He explores every aspect of society, politics, and the economy, detailing the importance of each in the emerging New South. Central to the entire story is the role of race relations, from alliances and friendships between blacks and whites to the spread of Jim Crows laws and disfranchisement. The teeming nineteenth-century South comes to life in these pages. When this book first appeared in 1992, it won a broad array of prizes and was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. The citation for the National Book Award declared Promise of the New South a vivid and masterfully detailed picture of the evolution of a new society. The Atlantic called it "one of the broadest and most original interpretations of southern history of the past twenty years.

Book The Promise of India s Secular Democracy

Download or read book The Promise of India s Secular Democracy written by Rajeev Bhargava and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2010 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book pioneers a conceptual and normative account of Indian politics. It will interest social scientists, political theorists, historians, and philosophers. Scholars, students, teachers, and intelligent readers in both non-western and western societies must read it. --Book Jacket.

Book The Oxford Handbook of Political Philosophy

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Political Philosophy written by David Estlund and published by Oxford University Press, USA. 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.

Book The Promise and Perils of Populism

Download or read book The Promise and Perils of Populism written by Carlos de la Torre and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2015-01-13 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square to the Tea Party in the United States to the campaign to elect indigenous leader Evo Morales in Bolivia, modern populist movements command international attention and compel political and social change. When citizens demand "power to the people," they evoke corrupt politicians, imperialists, or oligarchies that have appropriated power from its legitimate owners. These stereotypical narratives belie the vague and often contradictory definitions of the concept of "the people" and the many motives of those who use populism as a political tool. In The Promise and Perils of Populism, Carlos de la Torre assembles a group of international scholars to explore the ambiguous meanings and profound implications of grassroots movements across the globe. These trenchant essays explore how fragile political institutions allow populists to achieve power, while strong institutions confine them to the margins of political systems. Their comparative case studies illuminate how Latin American, African, and Thai populists have sought to empower marginalized groups of people, while similar groups in Australia, Europe, and the United States often exclude people whom they consider to possess different cultural values. While analyzing insurrections in Latin America, advocacy groups in the United States, Europe, and Australia, and populist parties in Asia and Africa, the contributors also pose questions and agendas for further research. This volume on contemporary populism from a comparative perspective could not be more timely, and scholars from a variety of disciplines will find it an invaluable contribution to the literature.

Book Pathology of Democracy in Latin America

Download or read book Pathology of Democracy in Latin America written by William Whatley Pierson (Jr.) and published by . This book was released on 1950 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Handbook on the Geographies of Corruption

Download or read book Handbook on the Geographies of Corruption written by Barney Warf and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2018-09-28 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Handbook on the Geographies of Corruption offers a comprehensive overview of how corruption varies across the globe. It explores the immense range of corruption among countries, and how this reflects levels of wealth, the centralization of power, colonial legacies, and different national cultures. Barney Warf presents an original and interdisciplinary collection of chapters from established researchers and leading academics that examine corruption from a spatial perspective.

Book Designing for Democracy

    Book Details:
  • Author : Jennifer Forestal
  • Publisher : Oxford University Press
  • Release : 2021
  • ISBN : 0197568750
  • Pages : 233 pages

Download or read book Designing for Democracy written by Jennifer Forestal and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "How should we 'fix' digital technologies to support democracy instead of undermining it? In Designing for democracy, Jennifer Forestal argues that accurately evaluating the democratic potential of digital spaces means studying how the built environment-a primary component of our 'modern public square'-structures our activity, shapes our attitudes, and supports the kinds of relationships and behaviors democracy requires. Through extended analyses of Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit, Forestal shows precisely how well these digital platforms meet the criteria for democratic spaces, or whether they do so at all. The result is a more nuanced analysis of the democratic communities that form-or fail to emerge-in these spaces, as well as more concrete suggestions for how to improve them."--Page 4 of cover

Book Democracy Without Shortcuts

Download or read book Democracy Without Shortcuts written by Cristina Lafont and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book defends the value of democratic participation. It aims to improve citizens' democratic control and vindicate the value of citizens' participation against conceptions that threaten to undermine it.

Book Networks of  Dis Trust

Download or read book Networks of Dis Trust written by Vicente Chua Reyes and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Networks of Distrust: The Impact of Automation, Corruption, and Media on Philippine Elections discusses how in a Philippine context, the bureaucracy and the Commission on Elections is dysfunctional and that corruption has a ubiquitous impact on governance and administration that has defined how the state operates. Scholars and commentators have described Philippine democracy as a paradox. This book uses the unprecedented May 2010 synchronized automation of elections — an attempt at electoral engineering — to better understand the lingering paradox of Philippine politics and its public administration system.

Book The Imperative of Integration

Download or read book The Imperative of Integration written by Elizabeth Anderson and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-21 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A powerful new argument for reviving the ideal of racial integration More than forty years have passed since Congress, in response to the Civil Rights Movement, enacted sweeping antidiscrimination laws in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. As a signal achievement of that legacy, in 2008, Americans elected their first African American president. Some would argue that we have finally arrived at a postracial America, but The Imperative of Integration indicates otherwise. Elizabeth Anderson demonstrates that, despite progress toward racial equality, African Americans remain disadvantaged on virtually all measures of well-being. Segregation remains a key cause of these problems, and Anderson skillfully shows why racial integration is needed to address these issues. Weaving together extensive social science findings—in economics, sociology, and psychology—with political theory, this book provides a compelling argument for reviving the ideal of racial integration to overcome injustice and inequality, and to build a better democracy. Considering the effects of segregation and integration across multiple social arenas, Anderson exposes the deficiencies of racial views on both the right and the left. She reveals the limitations of conservative explanations for black disadvantage in terms of cultural pathology within the black community and explains why color blindness is morally misguided. Multicultural celebrations of group differences are also not enough to solve our racial problems. Anderson provides a distinctive rationale for affirmative action as a tool for promoting integration, and explores how integration can be practiced beyond affirmative action. Offering an expansive model for practicing political philosophy in close collaboration with the social sciences, this book is a trenchant examination of how racial integration can lead to a more robust and responsive democracy.