Suchergebnisse

American foreign policy identifies the ongoing spread of democracy around the world as a vital national interest, seeing other democratic states as "effective partners joining with us to promote global freedom and prosperity," in the words of the 2006 National Security Strategy. But events in the last few months of 2007-in countries as different as Pakistan, Kenya and Georgia-demonstrated that the challenges in spreading democracy are different than the ones the United States confronted more than a decade ago. It is no longer a clear-cut struggle between anti-Western dictators and pro-American masses struggling to be free, nor one of helping right-minded post authoritarian leaders move their countries toward democracy.

Dieser Aufsatz greift die in den Siebzigerjahren entwickelten Argumente zur "Unregierbarkeit" einerseits und zum "Spätkapitalismus" andererseits auf und befragt sie nach ihrer heutigen Relevanz. Beide Denkschulen erkannten eine Überforderung des Staats. Während linke Autoren die Ursache in den Widersprüchen des Kapitalismus verorteten, machten Konservative die Anspruchsinflation von Transferempfängern und die Überdehnung demokratischer Partizipation verantwortlich. Anhand empirischer Trends aus den OECD-Staaten wird dargestellt, wie der Staat seit der Unregierbarkeitsdebatte gesellschaftliche Ansprüche abwehrt, indem er dem Markt mehr Geltung verschafft und die eigenen Steuerungsansprüche reduziert. Gemessen an den damaligen Prognosen hat der Staat Handlungsfähigkeit gewonnen. Dadurch ist jedoch der Vertrauensverlust in die Politik nicht gestoppt, sondern beschleunigt worden. Diese Analyse lässt die Konturen einer neuen Krisendiagnose erkennbar werden, die der Begriff "Postdemokratie" kennzeichnet.

"What is the state of democracy in Canada? This is the central question of Stephen Brooks's best-selling introduction to Canadian politics textbook, Canadian Democracy. In this revised ninth edition, Brooks continues to explore the characteristics and controversies associated with Canadian politics. He begins by addressing the social and economic contexts of the country's politics before covering the basic elements and structures of government (e.g., the constitution, federalism, and the administrative state), political participation, and the current issues and challenges in Canadian political life. Highlights of this revised edition include: comprehensive updates throughout to bring readers the latest data, research, and analysis of current events; additional coverage of such topics as multiculturalism and interculturalism in Quebec, current trends in political communication, and Canadian foreign policy. This edition features a revised ancillary suite for students and instructors that includes podcasts, a test generator, an instructor's manual, PowerPoint slides, and a student study guide. The ninth edition of Canadian Democracy is also available with an e-version of the textbook, flashcards of key terms and definitions, the Constitution Acts, 1867 et 1982 (including the Charter of Rights and Freedoms), and simulation activities that speak to Canadian politics, governance, and institutions."--

Large sections of democracy and its basic structures have recently been hijacked. By stealth, powerful elites have gradually gained control of the political sphere and transformed it to serve their own interests. The political systems of what appear to be established democracies in all corners of the world are showing signs of this takeover, which has led to widespread citizen disaffection and indignation. Kidnapped Democracy uses the metaphor of captivity to illustrate the differences and similarities between conventional kidnappings and the hijacking of a political system. The book's nine chapters identify the kidnappers, the accomplices, the hostages, the victims and the negotiators before examining the effect of a peculiar Stockholm syndrome and, finally, reflecting on possible ways to secure the release of democracy

The Bolivian coup of last July violently interrupted a two-and-a-half-year experiment in democracy that was showing heartening signs of success. Indeed, following twelve years of military rule, democracy had begun to reopen the developing society's doors to some new possibilities for social change – possibilities that were brutalized by the military's seizure of power.The new regime soon gained international notoreity as news leaked out of cocaine smuggling by top junta members; of the Argentine military's technical and material assistance to the coup; and the unprecedented, for Bolivia, scale of human rights violations and repression accompanying the military takeover. Despite Bolivia's reputation as a chronically coup-ridden country, it has become apparent that, in many ways, this coup is different.

This volume is an expanded version of the Weil lectures given at the University of North Carolina in 1931 and is one of the two texts of Laski's quasi Marxist period.

This paper presents a general equilibrium model of conflict based on a world populated by representative democracies. At the individual state level, when information regarding a leader's ability to defend the state against unavoidable conflict is va luable to voters, an incumbent leader seeking reelection may be tempted into potentially avoidable conflicts to demonstrate his ability and enhance his reelection prospects. As a result, democratic states may be responsible for at least some international conflict. In this paper, we investigate whether this motive is sufficiently important for war to persist in equilibrium if all countries are democracies. Three key findings emerge. First, the perpetual peace equilibrium hypothesized by Immanuel Kant (1795, 1991) always exists. The reason is that in the absence of the threat of war, leaders are unable to divert the public's attention away from domestic considerations. Consequently, the incentive for potentially avoidable conflicts vanishes. Second, if leader s are not sufficiently benevolent and wars are costly in expectation, then additional equilibria exist with a positive war frequency. Third, if multiple equilibria exist, the perpetual peace equilibrium may be unstable in which case an equilibrium with po sitive war frequency becomes the only stable outcome. The model is further extended to analyze the role of appropriative conflicts and non-democratic regimes. It is shown that if the diversionary motive of democratic leaders is strong, a more democratic world may not necessarily be more peaceful. We discuss the role that norms and institutions can play in facilitating a more peaceful world with democracies - for example, free trade areas and alliance formation.

Deliberative democracy is a growing branch of democratic theory. It suggests understanding and assessing democracy in terms of the quality of communication among citizens, politicians, as well as between citizens and politicians. In this interview, drawing on his extensive research on deliberative practice within and beyond parliaments, André Bächtiger reflects on the development of the field over the last two decades, the relationship between normative theory and empirical research, and the prospects for practicing deliberation in populist times.

THIS ARTICLE ADDRESSES THE QUESTION OF WHAT IS THE ACTUAL NATURE OF LIBERAL DEMOCRACIES? AND HENCE, WHAT IS TO BE SAID FOR THEM. SOME POLITICAL PHILOSOPHERS AND MORE POLITICAL SCIENTISTS DECLINE TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS, BECAUSE OF CERTAIN CONCEPTUAL AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL DIFFICULTIES. SOME POLITICIANS STILL SUM UP LIBERAL DEMOCRACY BY SAYING THAT IT IS RULE BY THE PEOPLE. CERTAINLY HERE IS AN ATTENUATED IDEA OF RULING ON WHICH THEY DEPEND. BUT THIS AUTHOR DISCUSSES THREE ELEMENTS OF WHAT THERE IS REASON TO CALL THE ORDINARY CONCEPTION OF DEMOCRACY INCLUDING THIS: THE PEOPLE, INFLUENCED IN THE COURSE OF AN ELECTION, CHOOSE WHO IS TO RULE, THEREBY LIMITING POSSIBLE POLICIES FOR THE SOCIETY TO ONE SET. THE PEOPLE, AFTER CHOOSING THEIR RULERS, ALSO INFLUENCE THEM, THEREBY CONTRIBUTING FURTHER TO SOCIETY'S ACTUAL POLICIES.

A review of Democracy in Education - Boyd H. Bode, by Robert V. Bullough, Jr.