Elites and Democratic Consolidation in Latin America and Southern Europe

Elites and Democratic Consolidation in Latin America and Southern Europe PDF Author: John Higley
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521424226
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
A distinguished group of scholars examine recent transitions to democracy and the prospects for democratic stability in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay. They also assess the role of elites in the longer-established democratic regimes in Columbia, Costa Rica, Italy, Mexico and Venezuela. The authors conclude that in independent states with long records of political instability and authoritarian rule, democratic consolidation requires the achievement of elite 'consensual unity' - that is, agreement among all politically important elites on the worth of existing democratic institutions and respect for democratic rules-of-the-game, coupled with increased 'structural integration' among those elites. Two processes by which consensual unity can be established are explored - elite settlement, the negotiating of compromises on basic disagreements, and elite convergence, a more subtle series of tactical decisions by rival elites which have cumulative effect, over perhaps a generation.

Elites and Democratic Consolidation in Latin America and Southern Europe

Elites and Democratic Consolidation in Latin America and Southern Europe PDF Author: John Higley
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521424226
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 372

Get Book Here

Book Description
A distinguished group of scholars examine recent transitions to democracy and the prospects for democratic stability in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay. They also assess the role of elites in the longer-established democratic regimes in Columbia, Costa Rica, Italy, Mexico and Venezuela. The authors conclude that in independent states with long records of political instability and authoritarian rule, democratic consolidation requires the achievement of elite 'consensual unity' - that is, agreement among all politically important elites on the worth of existing democratic institutions and respect for democratic rules-of-the-game, coupled with increased 'structural integration' among those elites. Two processes by which consensual unity can be established are explored - elite settlement, the negotiating of compromises on basic disagreements, and elite convergence, a more subtle series of tactical decisions by rival elites which have cumulative effect, over perhaps a generation.

Elites, Non-Elites, and Political Realism

Elites, Non-Elites, and Political Realism PDF Author: John Higley
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 153816289X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
This provocative and groundbreaking book challenges accepted wisdom about the role of elites in both maintaining and undermining democracy in an increasingly authoritarian world. John Higley traces patterns of elite political behavior and the political orientations of non-elite populations throughout modern history to show what is and is not possible in contemporary politics. He situates these patterns and orientations in a range of regimes, showing how they have played out in revolutions, populist nationalism, Arab Spring failures to democratize, the conflation of ultimate and instrumental values in today’s liberal democracies, and American political thinkers’ misguided assumption that non-elites are the principal determinants of politics. Critiquing the optimistic outlooks prevalent among educated Westerners, Higley considers them out of touch with reality because of spreading employment insecurity, demoralization, and millennial pursuits in their societies. Attacks by domestic and foreign terrorists, effects of climate change, mass migrations from countries outside the West, and disease pandemics exacerbate insecurity and further highlight the flaws in the belief that democracy can thrive and spread worldwide. Higley concludes that these threats to the well-being of Western societies are here to stay. They leave elites with no realistic alternative to a holding operation until at least mid-century that husbands the power and political practices of Western societies. Drawing on decades of research, Higley’s analysis is historically and comparatively informed, bold, and in some places dark—and will be sure to foster debate.

Authoritarianism and the Elite Origins of Democracy

Authoritarianism and the Elite Origins of Democracy PDF Author: Michael Albertus
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110819642X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
This book argues that - in terms of institutional design, the allocation of power and privilege, and the lived experiences of citizens - democracy often does not restart the political game after displacing authoritarianism. Democratic institutions are frequently designed by the outgoing authoritarian regime to shield incumbent elites from the rule of law and give them an unfair advantage over politics and the economy after democratization. Authoritarianism and the Elite Origins of Democracy systematically documents and analyzes the constitutional tools that outgoing authoritarian elites use to accomplish these ends, such as electoral system design, legislative appointments, federalism, legal immunities, constitutional tribunal design, and supermajority thresholds for change. The study provides wide-ranging evidence for these claims using data that spans the globe and dates from 1800 to the present. Albertus and Menaldo also conduct detailed case studies of Chile and Sweden. In doing so, they explain why some democracies successfully overhaul their elite-biased constitutions for more egalitarian social contracts.

China's Scientific Elite

China's Scientific Elite PDF Author: Cong Cao
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134337299
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
China's Scientific Elite is a study of those scientists holding China's highest academic honour - membership of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Having carried out extensive systematic data collection of CAS members Cao examines the social stratification system of the Chinese science community and the way in which politics and political interference has effected the stratification. The book then goes on to compare the Chinese system to the stratification of the US scientific elite. The conclusions are fascinating, not least because one national elite resides in a democratic liberal social system, and the other in an authoritarian social system.

The Transition Playbook for ATHLETES

The Transition Playbook for ATHLETES PDF Author: Phil Costa
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780578457697
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
100+ Elite Athletes, including 25 Olympians, share advice on success, routine, and winning in life after sports.

China's Elite Politics

China's Elite Politics PDF Author: Zhiyue Bo
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9812700412
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 467

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Book Description
'China's Elite Politics' provides a theoretical perspective on elite politics in China to explain power transfer from Jiang Zemin to Hu Jintao, and political dynamics between different factional groups since the Sixteenth Party Congress of November 2002.

Dynamics of Democratization

Dynamics of Democratization PDF Author: Graeme Gill
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0333985540
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
The author assesses the main theories developed to account for and explain why and how authoritarian regimes give way to democratic ones. The book takes issue with the predominantly élite-centred focus of much of the literature, and illustrates how an understanding of democratization can be gained only if the role of civil society is taken into account.

China's Elite Politics

China's Elite Politics PDF Author: Zhiyue Bo
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 981283673X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
Introduction : China's political elites and their challenges -- pt. I. Who governs : China's political elites. 1. Top leadership. 2. Central committee. 3. Institutional representation. 4. Factional balance -- pt. II. How to govern : challenges. 5. Snowstorms in the South. 6. The Tibet issue. 7. Sichuan earthquake. 8. Beijing olympic games -- Conclusion : China's prospects for democratization

Elites and Classes in the Transformation of State Socialism

Elites and Classes in the Transformation of State Socialism PDF Author: David Stuart Lane
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 141284231X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
The year 2011 marks the twentieth anniversary of the end of the Soviet Union. This may be an appropriate time to evaluate the adoption by previously state socialist societies of other economic and political models. The transition has sometimes been described in positive terms, as a movement to free societies with open markets and democratic elections. Others have argued that the transition has created weak, poverty-stricken states with undeveloped civil societies ruled by unresponsive political elites. Which is the more accurate assessment? David Lane examines a few of the theoretical approaches that help explain the trajectory of change from socialism to capitalism. He focuses on two main approaches in this volume—elite theories and social class. Theories dwelling on the role of elites regard the transformation from socialism to capitalism as a type of system transfer in which elites craft democratic and market institutions into the space left by state socialism. Lane contrasts this interpretation with class-based theories, which consider transformation in terms of revolution, and explain why such theories have not been considered the best way of framing the transition in the post-socialist states. While recogniing that elites can play important roles and have the capacity to transform societies, Lane contends that elite theories alone are inadequate to explain a system change that brings free markets. In contrast, he proposes a class approach in which two groups characterie state socialism: an administrative class and an acquisition class.

Capitalists in Spite of Themselves

Capitalists in Spite of Themselves PDF Author: Richard Lachmann
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195159608
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
Here, Lachmann offers a new explanation for the origins of nation-states and capitalist markets in early modern Europe. Comparing regions and cities within and across England, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands from the 12th through 18th centuries, he shows how conflict among feudal elites---landlords, clerics, kings, and officeholders---transformed the bases of their control over land and labor, forcing the winners of feudal conflicts to become capitalists in spite of themselves as they took defensive actions to protect their privileges from rivals in the aftermath of the Reformation.