Author: Steven J. Hood
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315289954
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 188
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Book Description
Most comparativists have assumed that democratization is best understood by looking at regimes in the transition and consolidation phases of democracy without really considering the essence of democracy - liberal rights and democratic virtues. Democracy is seen as a mechanistic process without considering the ideas that build democratic regimes. This book begins afresh by proposing that comparativists need to consider democracy to be a combination of rights and virtues, and that the difficulties of democratic transitions, consolidation, and maintenance are essentially problems relating to balancing rights and virtues in the regime. How do we reemphasize these aspects of democracy at a time when comparative literature focuses almost solely on democratic procedure? By combining the best elements of comparative theory and liberal democratic philosophy, Hood argues that comparativists can sharpen the scholarly tools we need to understand both the problems of democratization and maintaining democracy. He provides the reader with a valuable overview of comparative theory and how our abandonment of political philosophy has led to our acceptance of social science methods that can only lead to superficial analyses of democratizing regimes and established democracies.
Author: Hood
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788120326187
Category : Democracy
Languages : en
Pages : 188
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Book Description
Author: Ian Shapiro
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400836832
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304
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Book Description
In this book Ian Shapiro develops and extends arguments that have established him as one of today's leading democratic theorists. Shapiro is hardheaded about the realities of politics and power, and the difficulties of fighting injustice and oppression. Yet he makes a compelling case that democracy's legitimacy depends on pressing it into the service of resisting domination, and that democratic theorists must rise to the occasion of fashioning the necessary tools. That vital agenda motivates the arguments of this book. Tracing modern democracy's roots to John Locke and the American founders, Shapiro shows that they saw more deeply into the dynamics of democratic politics than have many of their successors. Drawing on Lockean and Madisonian insights, Shapiro evaluates democracy's changing global fortunes over the past two decades. He also shows how elusive democracy can be by exploring the contrast between its successful establishment in South Africa and its failures elsewhere--particularly the Middle East. Shapiro spells out the implications of his account for long-standing debates about public opinion, judicial review, abortion, and inherited wealth--as well as more recent preoccupations with globalization, national security, and international terrorism. Scholars, students, and democratic activists will all learn from Shapiro's trenchant account of democracy's foundations, its history, and its contemporary challenges. They will also find his distinctive democratic vision both illuminating and appealing.
Author: Carole Pateman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521290043
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 134
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Book Description
Shows that current elitist theories are based on an inadequate understanding of the early writings of democratic theory and that much sociological evidence has been ignored.
Author: Richard S. Katz
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195044290
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 358
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Book Description
Analyzing the electoral systems of various countries, including those of developing nations, this work examines the relationship between democratic theory values and the electoral institutions used to achieve them. Empirical data is used to find the institutions most appropriate to each model.
Author: Irene L. Gendzier
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781786801470
Category : Developing countries
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
Author: Mathew Humphrey
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134380429
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 188
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Book Description
This volume examines the reasons why some despair at the prospects for an ecological form of democracy, and challenges the recent ‘deliberative turn’ in environmental political thought. Deliberative democracy has become popular for those seeking a reconciliation of these two forms of politics. Demand for equal access to a public forum in which the best argument will prevail appears to offer a way of incorporating environmental interests into the democratic process. This book argues that deliberative theory, far from being friendly to the environmental movement, shackles the ability those seeking radical change to make their voices heard in the most effective manner. Mathew Humphrey challenges beliefs about the relationship between ecological politics and democracy at a time when those who take direct action are being swept up in the War on Terror. By calling for a more open and contested form of democracy, in which the boundaries of what constitutes ‘acceptable’ behaviour are not decided in advance of actual debate, Ecological Politics and Democratic Theory is an original contribution to the literature on environmental politics, ecological thought and democracy.
Author: Mark I. Lichbach
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107025818
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249
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Book Description
Barrington Moore bequeathed comparativists a problem: how to reconcile his causal claim of "no bourgeoisie, no democracy" with his normative "dream of a free and rational society." In this book, Mark I. Lichbach harmonizes causal methodology and normative democratic theory, illustrating their interrelationship. Using a dialogue among four specific texts, Lichbach advances five constructive themes. First, comparativists should study the causal agency of individuals, groups, and democracies. Second, the three types of collective agency should be paired with an exploration of three corresponding moral dilemmas: ought-is, freedom-power, and democracy-causality. Third, at the center of inquiry, comparativists should place big-P Paradigms and big-M Methodology. Fourth, as they play with research schools, creatively combining prescriptive and descriptive approaches to democratization, they should encourage a mixed-theory and mixed-method field. Finally, comparativists should study pragmatic questions about political power and democratic performance: In building a democratic state, which democracy, under which conditions, is best, and how might it be achieved?
Author: Adam Przeworski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521793797
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 344
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Book Description
Examines impact of political regimes on economic development between 1950 and 1990.
Author: Guillermo O'Donnell
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess
ISBN: 0268160678
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 281
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Book Description
In 1996, Guillermo O’Donnell taught a seminar at the University of Notre Dame on democratic theory. One of the questions explored in this class was whether it is possible to define and determine the “quality” of democracy. Jorge Vargas Cullell, a student in this course, returned to his native country of Costa Rica, formed a small research team, and secured funding for undertaking a “citizen audit” of the quality of democracy in Costa Rica. This pathbreaking volume contains O’Donnell’s qualitative theoretical study of the quality of democracy and Vargas Cullell’s description and analysis of the empirical data he gathered on the quality of democracy in Costa Rica. It also includes twelve short, scholarly reflections on the O’Donnell and Cullell essays. The primary goal of this collection is to present the rationale and methodology for implementing a citizen audit of democracy. This book is an expression of a growing concern among policy experts and academics that the recent emergence of numerous democratic regimes, particularly in Latin America, cannot conceal the sobering fact that the efficacy and impact of these new governments vary widely. These variations, which range from acceptable to dismal, have serious consequences for the people of Latin America, many of whom have received few if any benefits from democratization. Attempts to gauge the quality of particular democracies are therefore not only fascinating intellectual exercises but may also be useful practical guides for improving both old and new democracies. This book will make important strides in addressing the increasing practical and academic concerns about the quality of democracy. It will be required reading for political scientists, policy analysts, and Latin Americanists.
