Part of an annual series which brings together studies of issues in the former USSR and Eastern Europe, this title covers both domestic and international developments. It bridges the gap between specialist research and journalistic accounts.

In this text, "Research in Political Sociology," the imperative and current issues of democratic trends are presented by scholars from Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. The volume addresses worldwide changes and developments of democratization from historical and contemporary perspectives. It presents discourses on the diffusion of democracy, paths of democratic transitions, worldwide trends towards democratization, as well as discussion about democracy in retreat. Cross-cultural, comparative studies sit alongside case studies of individual countries including democratic...

Volume 19 in the "Research in Political Sociology" series is devoted to health problems, challenges and accomplishments in democratic societies. It includes papers addressing health systems, health policies, obstacles to societal healthy behaviors, and/or health conditions that are experienced in democratic societies in the world. The democratic society is understood in a broadly defined term. It includes developed Western democracies, as well as less developed or underdeveloped countries that have democratic system. According to such definition, the category "democracies" includes democratic...

This volume highlights the ways in which scholarly analysis has contributed to a rich understanding of the links between spreading democracy, gender equality, and environmental protection. Combining theoretical, empirical, and policy perspectives, the volume includes cutting-edge debates on the meaning of democracy and the processes of its development, as well as the response of democracies to environmental and gender concerns. In particular, the volume answers questions applicable to the situation of women in the democratizing world as well as to environmental problems, linking together the...

This volume addresses issues of political and economic globalization and worldwide connectedness of countries posing a question whether it symbolizes progress or regress for world's societies. Starting with the notion of modernization resulting from globalized development, and supported by the notion of "the end of civilization and the last men" envisioned as outcomes of worldwide democratization, the collection of papers focuses on economic and political issues experiences by countries at the time of rapid diffusions of democracy and of global market economy. The case studies of pertinent...

Populism comes in many guises. Both Berlusconi's personalization of politics and the Northern League's antiimmigrant regionalist movement are viewed as examples of the phenomenon of populism. A type of leftwing populism embodied by Hugo Chavez swept across Latin America. Insurgent and antisystem movements and parties in places as different as the Netherlands, India, Norway, Thailand, Russia and the United States have experienced what have been labeled populists movements. Such varied manifestations beg the question: what is populism? The objective of this edited volume is to provide an answer...