Kategoria BISAC: Political Science >> Political Ideologies - Democracy

Democratization is a field where unexpected and sudden events have repeatedly challenged conventional wisdom. For example, who in the mid-1970s would have foreseen the democratization of Cambodia, Albania, South Africa or East Timor? Our current 'wave' of democratization is complex and diverse and understanding it requires a variety of theoretical approaches.

Most of the literature on democracy assumes that it is the best form of government. Theoretical works on democratic transition and democratization have also emphasized the internal conflict resolution capacity of democracy. It...

Eight political scientists offer their analyses of the political situations, institutions, and future of democracy in the regions of Western Europe, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Near East, South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, and the Soviet Union and eastern Europe. The contributors survey the movement in these regions toward or away from democracy.

With the people of more than one hundred nations living under totalitarian or authoritarian rule, the promotion of democratic development and democratic institutions is likely to be a complex and difficult endeavor for many decades to come. In this collection of papers, eight experienced practitioners and scholars report and analyze what they have learned regarding practical complexities and difficulties. The opening chapter sets current United States' endeavors at promoting democracy into historical context, describing the American sense of mission regarding the promotion of democracy. A...

Radical new technologies are developing in Western societies at ever-increasing rates but contemporary democracies often lack the appropriate organizational forms to confront these developments. "Creative Democracy" discusses the failure of politicians and democratic institutions to cope with modern challenges, and proposes a specific strategy to address these problems in contemporary society. The authors propose new strategies to increase public awareness of, and democratic control over, major technological developments explaining the advantage of democratic discourse and consensus...

Democratization involves far more than instituting a few democratic practices, such as universal sufferage. Instead, people must be able to debate issues, have access to diverse sources of information, be able to tolerate viewpoints that are disliked, and have access to every aspect of government. But before today's society can be considered truly democratic, the entire culture must be democratized. Thus persons will demand autonomy and the freedom required to be self-governed.

Yet, as Murphy and Peck and the analysts brought together for this collection point out, self-government or...

This timely and fascinating historical study of democracy in non-Western societies will increase the reader's appreciation of the continued struggle for democratic change and independence that still occurs in many countries all over the world. Clearly written and extremely readable, this book provides a scholarly perspective on democracy and despotism, explores events and ideologies in various non-Western areas such as India, Africa, Mesopotamia, Korea, and Japan, and it offers some new and important thoughts in recent developments around the world.

This documentary collection traces the development and meaning of democracy in America from colonial times to the present. It includes classic writings and speeches such as Lincoln's Gettysburg Address as well as lesser-known gems such as Fannie Lou Hamer's testimony before the Credentials Committee of the Democratic Party convention and Cesar Chavez's Letter from Delano. Written or spoken by Presidents and ex-slaves, political theorists and poets, labor leaders and songwriters, Supreme Court justices and suffragettes, liberals and conservatives, these documents reflect the diversity and...

What makes for an ongoing, successful democracy in Latin America? The essays in this collection emphasize the inherent dynamicism needed to sustain democratic governance. Organized around analyses of political institutions, political parties, public administration and corruption, public opinion, and continuity and change in Venezuelan politics, the essays advance the proposition that Venezuelan democracy survived recent threats because of its capacity to reform institutions and absorb new actors.

The chapter authors include prominent scholars from both the United States and Venezuela,...

In this provocative book, Stein Ringen argues that the world's democracies are failing to live up to their ideals--the United States and Great Britain most especially. The core value of democracy, he contends, is freedom, the freedom to live a good life according to one's own choosing. Yet he shows that democracy's freedom is on the decline. Citizens are increasingly distrustful of political systems weighted by money, and they don't participate in political affairs as they once did. Ringen warns of the risks we face if this trend continues, and puts forth an ambitious proposal for...

This important text explores the widespread contention that new challenges and obstacles have arisen to democratization, assessing the claim that support for democratization around the world is facing a serious challenge.

Bringing together leading international scholars of democratization, including Thomas Carothers, Michael McFaul, Laurence Whitehead, Bassma Kodmani, Nancy Bermeo, Marina Ottaway, Shaun Breslin and, Renske Doorenspleet, this book examines the issues relating to developments within non-democratic states and issues related to the democratic world and its efforts to...

George W. Bush's foreign policy touted America as the model of democracy worth exporting to the four corners of the globe. Osama bin Laden has painted a picture of our society as soulless and materialistic, representing values that are the antithesis of his version of Islam. Such starkly contrasting images of America fuel much heated debate today and drive conflicts around the world. But foreigners have long had a love/hate relationship with the United States, as this book reveals.

Contributors from comparative literature, history, philosophy, and political science combine their...

"Luciak has taken two taboo subjects in Cuban political thought, gender and democracy, and fused them together in an analytically elegant way. Many people shy away from studying democracy in Cuba because it seems such an oxymoron. Luciak's astute analysis makes this book highly original and significant."--Julie Shayne, Emory University

"A fascinating book on an important issue, employing unique sources of information. . . . A must-read for anyone interested in gender equality, electoral politics, and democratization in Cuba."--Lorraine Bayard de Volo, University of Kansas

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