Democracy, Clientelism, and Civil Society

Democracy, Clientelism, and Civil Society PDF Author: Luis Roniger
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
ISBN: 9781555873400
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description

Democracy, Clientelism, and Civil Society

Democracy, Clientelism, and Civil Society PDF Author: Luis Roniger
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
ISBN: 9781555873400
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description


Clientelism in Everyday Latin American Politics

Clientelism in Everyday Latin American Politics PDF Author: T. Hilgers
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137275995
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
This book improves understandings of how and why clientelism endures in Latin America and why state policy is often ineffective. Political scientists and sociologists, the contributors employ ethnography, targeted interviews, case studies, within-case and regional comparison, thick descriptions, and process tracing.

The Illusion of Civil Society

The Illusion of Civil Society PDF Author: Jon Shefner
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271076399
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
Much has been written about how civil society challenges authoritarian governments and helps lead the way to democratization. These studies show that neoliberal economic policies have harmed many sectors of society, weakening the state and undermining clientelistic relationships that previously provided material benefits to middle- and low-income citizens, who are then motivated to organize coalitions to work for greater social justice and equality. Recognizing this important role played by civil society organizations, Jon Shefner goes further and analyzes the variegated nature of the interests represented in these coalitions, arguing that the differences among civil society actors are at least as important as their similarities in explaining how they function and what success, or lack thereof, they have experienced. Through an ethnographic examination extending over a decade, Shefner tells the story of how a poor community on the urban fringe of Guadalajara mobilized through an organization called the Unión de Colonos Independientes (UCI) to work for economic improvement with the support of Jesuits inspired by liberation theology. Yet Mexico’s successful formal democratic transition, won with the elections in 2000, was followed by the dissolution of the coalition. Neither political access for the urban poor, nor their material well-being, has increased with democratization. The unity and even the concept of civil society has thus turned out to be an illusion.

Clientelism, Interests, and Democratic Representation

Clientelism, Interests, and Democratic Representation PDF Author: Simona Piattoni
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521804776
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
This book charts the evolution of clientelist practices in several western European countries. Through the historical and comparative analysis of countries as diverse as Sweden and Greece, England and Spain, France and Italy, Iceland and the Netherlands, the authors study both the "supply-side" and the "demand-side" of clientelism. This approach contends that clientelism is a particular mix of particularism and universalism, in which interests are aggregated at the level of the individual and his family "particularism," but in which all interests can potentially find expression and accommodation in "universalism."

Civil Society, Democracy, and Civic Renewal

Civil Society, Democracy, and Civic Renewal PDF Author: Robert K. Fullinwider
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 462

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Book Description
Civil society is receiving renewed attention from academics, politicians, journalists, community leaders, and participants in the voluntary sector. Civil Society, Democracy, and Civic Renewal brings together several of AmericaOs leading scholars_of history, sociology, political science, and philosophy_to explore the meaning of civil society, its positive and negative effects, its relation to government, and its contribution to democracy. The chapters range widely, taking up the connection between social trust and civic renewal, the role of citizen councils in environmental decisionmaking, the growth of self-help groups and their impact on community, historical patterns of civic activity by women and African Americans, and the place of expertise in public deliberation on scientific and medical issues. By examining the many disparate views of the civil society debate, this important volume will contribute to the process of civic renewal.

Civil Society and Democracy

Civil Society and Democracy PDF Author: Carolyn M. Elliott
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 526

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Book Description
This book seeks to make accessible a selection of the best pieces written on civil society and brings together theoretical and empirical material. The essays discuss the theory of civil society, civil society in South Asia in particular and ways of strengthening civil society.

The Politics of Local Participatory Democracy in Latin America

The Politics of Local Participatory Democracy in Latin America PDF Author: Françoise Montambeault
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804796572
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Participatory democracy innovations aimed at bringing citizens back into local governance processes are now at the core of the international democratic development agenda. Municipalities around the world have adopted local participatory mechanisms of various types in the last two decades, including participatory budgeting, the flagship Brazilian program, and participatory planning, as it is the case in several Mexican municipalities. Yet, institutionalized participatory mechanisms have had mixed results in practice at the municipal level. So why and how does success vary? This book sets out to answer that question. Defining democratic success as a transformation of state-society relationships, the author goes beyond the clientelism/democracy dichotomy and reveals that four types of state-society relationships can be observed in practice: clientelism, disempowering co-option, fragmented inclusion, and democratic cooperation. Using this typology, and drawing on the comparative case study of four cities in Mexico and Brazil, the book demonstrates that the level of democratic success is best explained by an approach that accounts for institutional design, structural conditions of mobilization, and the configurations, strategies, behaviors, and perceptions of both state and societal actors. Thus, institutional change alone does not guarantee democratic success: the way these institutional changes are enacted by both political and social actors is even more important as it conditions the potential for an autonomous civil society to emerge and actively engage with the local state in the social construction of an inclusive citizenship.

Barriers to Democracy

Barriers to Democracy PDF Author: Amaney A. Jamal
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691140995
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
Democracy-building efforts from the early 1990s on have funneled billions of dollars into nongovernmental organizations across the developing world, with the U.S. administration of George W. Bush leading the charge since 2001. But are many such "civil society" initiatives fatally flawed? Focusing on the Palestinian West Bank and the Arab world, Barriers to Democracy mounts a powerful challenge to the core tenet of civil society initiatives: namely, that public participation in private associations necessarily yields the sort of civic engagement that, in turn, sustains effective democratic institutions. Such assertions tend to rely on evidence from states that are democratic to begin with. Here, Amaney Jamal investigates the role of civic associations in promoting democratic attitudes and behavioral patterns in contexts that are less than democratic. Jamal argues that, in state-centralized environments, associations can just as easily promote civic qualities vital to authoritarian citizenship--such as support for the regime in power. Thus, any assessment of the influence of associational life on civic life must take into account political contexts, including the relationships among associations, their leaders, and political institutions. Barriers to Democracy both builds on and critiques the multifaceted literature that has emerged since the mid-1990s on associational life and civil society. By critically examining associational life in the West Bank during the height of the Oslo Peace Process (1993-99), and extending her findings to Morocco, Egypt, and Jordan, Jamal provides vital new insights into a timely issue.

Civil Society in Asia

Civil Society in Asia PDF Author: Dr Fahimul Quadir
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 1472423313
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Providing much needed analytical context to explore the theoretical and empirical dimensions of the role of civil society in the democracy and development of Bangladesh, Civil Society in Asia brings together well established international authors to explore key ideas and debates from a wide range of disciplines. Through this the contributors raise intriguing questions about the prospects for liberal democracy and social development in a Muslim majority country.

Civil Society in Democratization

Civil Society in Democratization PDF Author: Peter J. Burnell
Publisher: Taylor & Francis US
ISBN: 9780714684741
Category : Civil society
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
Featuring a broad range of perspectives on the democratic process, this collection of essays explores the development of civil society and how civil societies manage democratic change around the world.