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Different concepts of local democracy imply different tasks, functions and reform strategies for local political leadership. This article draws a map of local democracy that entails four non-exclusive components: representative democracy, user democracy, network democracy and participatory democracy. After reflecting on the nature of local democracy in governance and the functions of political leadership generally, the article considers in turn the bases of constructing the common good within each form of democracy. Special attention is given to the role of political leadership within these forms.

This article explores political trust, delving into its subcomponents and the relationship between them. It is interested in explaining why governmental trust and trust in regulative state institutions are similar in some countries and different in others. It argues that the variation can best be explained by checks on the executive. This is the case because the more restricted the executive, the less regulative state institutions are affected by the fluctuations in governmental trust. When the government cannot encroach upon state institutions, the impartiality and efficacy of regulative institutions are maintained. The less governmental interference to regulative state institutions, the more such institutions will be devoted to the public rather than partisan interests, resulting in a wider gap between state and government trust. The argument is tested through an empirical analysis of a cross-national panel data based on all existing waves of the World Values Survey.

The relationship between political culture & the delivery of health care is discussed. Specifically, the importance of political culture in describing & explaining similarities & differences in health care policy & delivery systems between & within nations is examined. Certain components of political culture, eg, ideology, religion, & ethnicity, are identified & applied to specific national scenes. The limitations of the political culture approach, & the need to use it in conjunction with other closely related types of explanation of a structural, institutional, & functional nature, are noted. Modified AA.

The Rushdie affair has raised 5 important issues. These concern: the status of the immigrant; equality before the law; communal libel or defamation; the grounds and limits of free speech; and the nature and role of political philosophy. (SJK)

The aim of this research is to analyze statistics to understand the effect of political parties on women organizations and the obstacles they create for these organizations as they work for gaining their members' rights. In the research, the quantitative method was used for collecting data, using a questioner. The research participants were chosen through snowball sampling in Erbil Governorate. The size of the sampling was 195 persons that their level of education was different. For analyzing the collected data SPSS software was used. The findings show that politics to a very low extent were obstacles for women's organization and thus these organizations were unable to effectively operate in obtaining their members' rights. The results also show that women themselves were unable to play an effective role for gaining their rights. In addition, the findings show that not having their own sources of finance makes women's organizations depend on political parties. Key words: Women's Organizations, Political Parties, Radical Feminist, Liberal Feminist.

AbstractHow does a political party become 'mainstream'? And what makes some parties receive arguably the opposite designation – 'pariah party'? This conceptual article examines the processes by which parties' mainstream or pariah status must be constructed, negotiated and policed, not only by political scientists in the pursuit of case selection, but by several actors actively involved in the political process, including media actors and political parties themselves. It explains how these actors contribute to these processes of 'mainstreaming' and 'pariahing', considers their motivations and provides illustrative examples of how such processes take place. As such, the article moves beyond the literature on the ways in which mainstream parties seek to deal with or respond to threats from a variety of pariah parties, instead paying attention to how those parties have been constructed as pariahs in the first place, and how these processes simultaneously contribute to the maintenance of mainstream party identities.

Winner of the North American Society for Social Philosophy's major prize - The Most Important Social Philosophy Title to be Published in 2000The mass movement of people across the globe constitutes a major feature of world politics today. Whatever the cause of the movement - often war, famine, economic hardship, political repression or climate change - the governments of western capitalist states see this 'torrent of people in flight' as a serious threat to their stability and the scale of this migration indicates a need for a radical re-thinking of both political theory and practice, for the sake of political, social and economic justice. This book argues that there is at present a serious gap between the legal and social practices of immigration and naturalisation in liberal democratic states and any theoretical justification for such practices that can be made within the tradition of liberal political philosophy. How can liberal states develop institutions of democratic citizenship and at the same time justifiably exclude 'outsiders' from participating in those institutions? The book examines various responses to this contradiction within the liberal tradition, and finds none of them satisfactory - there are no consistently liberal justifications for immigration control and this has serious implications both for liberal practice and theory. Key FeaturesAn original contribution to political philosophy - fills a significant gap in the marketA comprehensive review and critique of theoretical arguments within political philosophy which attempt to justify practices of exclusionAn outline of a radical position on that questionA review of immigration and naturalisation practices of liberal democratic states including the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia and New ZealandApplies theoretical perspectives to the practices of immigration and naturalisation.

The political economy of Indias economic growth is an issue of abiding interest. Higher and sustained economic growth has, all over the world, been the surest and most time tested means of raising living standards and reducing poverty. Further, given that it is a functioning democracy, economic policy in India can often be dictated by political expediency as political parties indulge in competitive populism in the face of improvements in social indicators such as literacy, infant mortality and the like lagging behind rises in the rate of economic growth. Thus the political economy of policy formulation is an important area of concern. Finally, an analysis of what policies can be undertaken given these constraints is an important indicator of potential welfare implications of policies for such a large section of humanity. Several recent reviews of Indias recent growth experience exist (Rodrik and Subrahmanian, 2004, Kelkar, 2004, and Thirlwell, 2004 are three examples). The value added of the present paper is to place Indias growth experience within a broader political economy perspective. It documents the broad contours of economic growth in India; it then analyzes some emerging obstacles to higher economic growth and finally the prospects for accelerating the economic reforms program to place India on a sustained higher economic growth path.

The political economy of Indias economic growth is an issue of abiding interest. Higher and sustained economic growth has, all over the world, been the surest and most time tested means of raising living standards and reducing poverty. Further, given that it is a functioning democracy, economic policy in India can often be dictated by political expediency as political parties indulge in competitive populism in the face of improvements in social indicators such as literacy, infant mortality and the like lagging behind rises in the rate of economic growth. Thus the political economy of policy formulation is an important area of concern. Finally, an analysis of what policies can be undertaken given these constraints is an important indicator of potential welfare implications of policies for such a large section of humanity. Several recent reviews of Indias recent growth experience exist (Rodrik and Subrahmanian, 2004, Kelkar, 2004, and Thirlwell, 2004 are three examples). The value added of the present paper is to place Indias growth experience within a broader political economy perspective. It documents the broad contours of economic growth in India; it then analyzes some emerging obstacles to higher economic growth and finally the prospects for accelerating the economic reforms program to place India on a sustained higher economic growth path.