Suchergebnisse

Abstract: Three leading areas of democratic studies today are 1) the quality of democracy, 2) the "gray zone," (regimes that combine features of authoritarianism and democracy in previously unfamiliar ways), and 3) post-conflict democracy-building. The latter deals with failed or war-torn states that would seem to be the least promising candidates for democratization. Why, then, has state-building or political reconstruction in these cases come to be identified with democracy-building? The most important reason is the unrivaled legitimacy that democracy today enjoys as a form of governance. Those international organizations and countries that have taken the lead in responding to postconflict situations cannot easily evade their public commitment to democracy.

Abstract: Noble and sensible motives have led political scientists to begin to focus on the quality of democracy, but this area of study raises questions that lead to the deepest regions of political philosophy and are not easily resolvable within the boundaries of empirical political science. Studies of the quality of democracy face two principal complications: First, modern democracy has a composite nature, and its liberal and majoritarian aspects are frequently in conflict with each other. Second, democracy is a form of government , and maximizing democracy may be in tension with effective governance. On the practical level, there is a danger that assessments of the quality of democracy may be distorted by the political biases of the assessors.