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Analyzes survey data from Spain & Latin America to argue that the increase in negative attitudes toward political parties is caused not so much by the performance of parties, but by inconsistencies & contradictions in citizen's beliefs, unrealistic expectations of party performance, & the increased number of demands on modern parties (Linz, 2000). Nonpartisan leaders are respected because they are 'above politics,' & parties are criticized for dividing societies. This belief is contradictory since it is the basic function of parties to represent segments of society & to compete with others for electoral positions. Citizens want their interests represented, but criticize representation of other's beliefs as 'special interests.' Although some populist reforms have been adopted, it appears that currently the ambivalence toward political parties has not led to their rejection or to the rejection of democracy. 4 Tables. L. A. Hoffman

The pursuit of sustainable development requires a political system that secures effective citizen participation in decision-making, an economic system that is able to generate surpluses on a sustained basis and a social system providing for a solution to tensions arising from disharmonious development; it recognizes also the rights of the individual to adequate conditions of life through balancing environmental, economic and social norms. Although international law is neutral towards different forms of government, increasingly democracy is regarded as the only form of government truly reflecting the "consent of the governed" and therefore being in accordance with the right of the self-determination of people and thus the basis for the realization of human rights. But the theoretical and practical linkage between democracy and sustainable development is still weak. Although there is a burgeoning literature on democratic mechanisms and sustainability, democracy is not regarded as prerequisite for sustainability. The authors argue in this paper that although sustainable development seemingly does not need democratic forms of governance as the values attached to SD could also be implemented in a non-democratic system, research on democracy, human rights and sustainable norms need to be better linked to each other in order to be able to implement the political requirements simultaneously. The authors propose an integrated approach that respects the ideas of sustainable development, as well as human rights and democratic forms of governance. Thus, the authors present different systems of democratic governance, sustainable development indicators systems as well as human rights systems. From there the authors develop ideal-type models that represent those ideas and develop an integrated approach to a democratic sustainable development system in accordance with human rights.

Compares the functioning of the US presidential with Italian and British parliamentary democracies; focuses on both domestic and foreign policy; 6 articles, with discussion.

Democratic erosion—the undermining of republican government by a leader with authoritarian tendencies—depends on the improper use of the state apparatus of the state against opponents ("political targeting"). Because political targeting sometimes falls into a legally gray area, and because officials have some maneuvering room in how to respond to the orders they receive, their preferences matter. In the United States, officials' behavior seems to be most influenced by a) the professional risks of refusing improper orders, b) normative obligations to uphold the rule of law and to act ethically, and c) attitudes toward the leader. These factors are, in turn, largely a function of 1) how officials are selected and 2) the extent of oversight and procedural checks they face. These findings have potentially broad implications for democratic erosion.