Democratic Consolidation in Eastern Europe: Volume 1: Institutional Engineering

Democratic Consolidation in Eastern Europe: Volume 1: Institutional Engineering PDF Author: Jan Zielonka
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199241678
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 506

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is the first volume in a series of books on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe. The series focuses on three major aspects of democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe: institutional engineering, transnational pressures and civil society. This first volume analyses constraints on and opportunities of institutional engineering in Eastern Europe: to what extent and how elites in Eastern Europe have been able to shape, if not manipulate, the politics of democraticconsolidation through institutional means.The aim is to contrast a set of democracy theories with empirical evidence accumulated in Eastern Europe over the last ten years. The volume tries to avoid complex debates about definitions, methods and the uses and misuses of comparative research. Instead it tries to establish what has really happened in the region, and which of the existing theories have proved helpful in explaining these developments.The volume starts with a presentation of conceptual and comparative frameworks, followed by in-depth empirical analyses of the thirteen individual countries undergoing democratic consolidation. The first conceptual and comparative part contains three chapters. The first chapter explains what institutional engineering is about and describes our experiences with institutional engineering in former transitions to democracy. It also focuses on the import and export of institutional designs. Thesecond chapter analyses the utility of constitutions in the process of democratic consolidation. The third chapter compares constitutional designs and problems of implementation in Southern and Eastern Europe. The empirical case studies deal with the following countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and Poland. And the conclusions evaluate the enormous impact of institutions on politics in Eastern Europe and show how central constitutional designs are to the institutional engineering in the societies undergoing transitions to democracy.

Democratic Consolidation in Eastern Europe: Volume 1: Institutional Engineering

Democratic Consolidation in Eastern Europe: Volume 1: Institutional Engineering PDF Author: Jan Zielonka
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199241678
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 506

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is the first volume in a series of books on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe. The series focuses on three major aspects of democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe: institutional engineering, transnational pressures and civil society. This first volume analyses constraints on and opportunities of institutional engineering in Eastern Europe: to what extent and how elites in Eastern Europe have been able to shape, if not manipulate, the politics of democraticconsolidation through institutional means.The aim is to contrast a set of democracy theories with empirical evidence accumulated in Eastern Europe over the last ten years. The volume tries to avoid complex debates about definitions, methods and the uses and misuses of comparative research. Instead it tries to establish what has really happened in the region, and which of the existing theories have proved helpful in explaining these developments.The volume starts with a presentation of conceptual and comparative frameworks, followed by in-depth empirical analyses of the thirteen individual countries undergoing democratic consolidation. The first conceptual and comparative part contains three chapters. The first chapter explains what institutional engineering is about and describes our experiences with institutional engineering in former transitions to democracy. It also focuses on the import and export of institutional designs. Thesecond chapter analyses the utility of constitutions in the process of democratic consolidation. The third chapter compares constitutional designs and problems of implementation in Southern and Eastern Europe. The empirical case studies deal with the following countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and Poland. And the conclusions evaluate the enormous impact of institutions on politics in Eastern Europe and show how central constitutional designs are to the institutional engineering in the societies undergoing transitions to democracy.

Democratizing Central and Eastern Europe

Democratizing Central and Eastern Europe PDF Author: Luca Tomini
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317566750
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 195

Get Book Here

Book Description
At first, it was believed that accession to the EU would have a positive effect on the process of democratization in former communist countries. However, over time it became clear that difficulties with the democratic system endured in a number of these countries. This book reconsiders the results of the process of democratization in Central and Eastern Europe and evaluates the nature and effectiveness of the Europeanization process. It comparatively explores the process of democratic consolidation and accession to the European Union in Poland, Slovakia and Bulgaria. Using these case studies, the book assesses the impact of the EU on the accountability and integrity of governments in this part of Europe. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of democratization studies, European studies, EU studies, transition studies, area studies, and international relations.

Developments in Central and East European Politics 4

Developments in Central and East European Politics 4 PDF Author: Stephen White
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822339496
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Get Book Here

Book Description
The face of Central and Eastern Europe has been dramatically transformed since the collapse of communism. The region faces new challenges, including the needs to find a balance between effective leadership and accountability and to reverse the economic decline of the late communist years. Addressing these concerns and others, Developments in Central and East European Politics 4 brings together specially commissioned chapters by leading scholars from both sides of the Atlantic. The chapters, all of which are new to this edition, focus on key features of the political systems that have emerged following the transition to postcommunist rule and the enlargement of the European Union through 2006. Full attention is given to the pattern of events in individual nations, but the main emphasis is on the framework of politics across the region--constitutions, leadership, parliaments, parties, and electoral systems--and the process of politics, as it is revealed in political participation, civil society, economic change, and the quality of democratic government within and beyond the region. Clearly written and well supported with references and suggestions for further reading, Developments in Central and East European Politics 4 is the ideal guide to the process of change in a group of states that were formerly modeled on the Soviet Union but are now a distinctive and varied presence within a continent that has been redefining its boundaries, its values, its economic systems, and its international allegiances. Contributors. Judy Batt, Dirk Berg-Schlosser, Sarah Birch, Heather Grabbe, Tim Haughton, Krzysztof Jasiewicz, Petr Kopecký, Paul G. Lewis, Frances Millard, Cas Mudde, D. Mario Nuti, Mark Pittaway, Ray Taras, Stephen White, Andrew Wilson, Kataryna Wolczuk

Elections, Parties and Representation in Post-Communist Europe

Elections, Parties and Representation in Post-Communist Europe PDF Author: F. Millard
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 023000086X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 375

Get Book Here

Book Description
Elections, Parties and Representation in Post-Communist Europe 1990-2002 stresses the ways in which the development of political parties affected the quality of democracy, the nature of political representation, and political accountability in the early stages of post-communist politics. It also analyzes the nature and consequences of the corpus of parliamentary candidates and deputies for the representation of social classes, women and minorities. In contrast with the wide social profile of communist parliaments, politics largely became the playground of new highly educated male elites.

Persistent State Weakness in the Global Age

Persistent State Weakness in the Global Age PDF Author: Vesna Bojicic-Dzelilovic
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317082060
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 230

Get Book Here

Book Description
Persistent State Weakness in the Global Age addresses the question of why state weakness in the global era persists. It debunks a common assumption that state weakness is a stop-gap on the path to state failure and state collapse. Informed by a globalization perspective, the book shows how state weakness is frequently self-reproducing and functional. The interplay of global actors, policies and norms is analyzed from the standpoint of their internalization in a weak state through transnational networks. Contributors examine the reproduction of partial and discriminatory rule at the heart of persistent state weakness, drawing on a wide geographical range of case studies including the Middle East, the Balkans, the post-Soviet states and sub-Saharan Africa. The study of state-weakening dynamics related to institutional incapacity, colonial and war legacies, legitimacy gaps, economic informality, democratization and state-building provides an insight into durability and resilience of weak states in the global age.

EU Enlargement and the Constitutions of Central and Eastern Europe

EU Enlargement and the Constitutions of Central and Eastern Europe PDF Author: Anneli Albi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521845410
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book explores the adaptation of the constitutions of Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) for membership in the European Union.

Migration, Refugee Policy, and State Building in Postcommunist Europe

Migration, Refugee Policy, and State Building in Postcommunist Europe PDF Author: Oxana Shevel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139502336
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Get Book Here

Book Description
Why do similar postcommunist states respond differently to refugees? Why do some states privilege certain refugee groups, while other states do not? This book presents a theory to account for this puzzle, and it centers on the role of the politics of nation-building and of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). A key finding of the book is that when the boundaries of a nation are contested (and thus there is no consensus on which group should receive preferential treatment in state policies), a political space for a receptive and nondiscriminatory refugee policy opens up. The book speaks to the broader questions of how nationalism matters after communism and under what conditions and through what mechanisms international actors can influence domestic polices. The analysis is based on extensive primary research the author conducted in four languages in the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia and Ukraine.

The State of Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe

The State of Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe PDF Author: Ramona Coman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131737987X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 175

Get Book Here

Book Description
The State of Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe brings together scholars specialising in the study of Central and Eastern Europe, and provides a comprehensive analysis of some of the major issues in the democratic make-up of the EU’s new member states. The book covers the main dimensions of the state, and contributors discuss questions about the development of democracy in Central and Eastern Europe over the past twenty years. What is the present state of democracy in Central and Eastern Europe more than twenty years since the end of communist regimes? What is the actual functioning of the political institutions of these countries? How is political participation structured, and what role do political parties play in these democracies? What guarantees are provided to limit governmental powers and abuse? What is the role of the judicial system, and the relationship between justice and politics? How can we evaluate the EU’s influence regarding democratic consolidation? What is the role of the public opinion? This book was originally published as a special issue of Europe-Asia Studies.

Constitutionalism and Political Reconstruction

Constitutionalism and Political Reconstruction PDF Author: Saïd Amir Arjomand
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 904742784X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 401

Get Book Here

Book Description
The themes of nation-building, post-colonial modernization and constitution-making, post-communist return to the rule of law and constitutional reconstruction, the global expansion of judicial power and judicial activism by the constitutional courts are usually studied by different specialists with somewhat narrow foci. This book is a unique and ambitious interdisciplinary attempt at the integration of these related fields, and offers a timely theoretical synthesis of the most important global constitutional trends in the last half-century. These essays by prominent authorities on different subjects and geographical areas offer a comprehensive, comparative view of the most important constitutional developments of two eras, bringing together the transplantation of the constitutional pattern of the nation-state and the current wave of globalization of constitutionalism and the rule of law. Contributors are: S.A.Arjomand, Nathan J. Brown, Ruth Gavison, Julian Go, Keyvan Tabari, Heinz Klug, Jill Cottrell, Yash Ghai, László Sólyom, Jacek Kurczewski, Anders Fogelklou, Grażyna Skąpska, Dieter Grimm, Kim Lane Scheppele, Ruth Rubio Marín , and Dicle Kogacioğlu.

Legal Symbolism

Legal Symbolism PDF Author: Jiří Přibáň
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317105990
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 410

Get Book Here

Book Description
Jirí Pribán's book contributes to the field of systems theory of law in the context of European legal and political integration and constitution-making. It puts recent European legislative efforts and policies, especially the EU enlargement process, in the context of legal theory and philosophy. Furthermore, the author shows that the system of positive law has a symbolic meaning, reflecting how it also contributes to the semantics of political identity, democratic power and moral values, as well as the complex relations between law, politics and morality.