Suchergebnisse

The democratization of political institutions in the Republic of Azerbaijan is considered in the context of the formation of a new world order and at the same time as a natural process of transformation of the Azerbaijani society, taking into account the historical, geopolitical and other features of the country. The author emphasizes the causal relationship between the cardinal transformation and the acceleration of the pace of globalization, which is reflected in the formation of a new understanding of the essence of democracy in transformational societies, and, accordingly, in the positive and negative results of changes. The development of constitutionalism in Azerbaijan from 1918 to 2016 is traced as a reflection of the gradual democratization of the country's political system and the strengthening of unifying tendencies. Particular attention is paid to the periodization of democratization in Azerbaijan, starting from the time of gaining political independence in 1991. The assessment of institutional changes by both domestic and foreign political analysts is provided. The article deals with the relations of the Republic of Azerbaijan with partner countries and neighbors - Turkey, EU, RF. The article examines the positive and negative factors of democratization. The strengthening of the institutions of an independent state, Azerbaijan's accession to the Council of Europe in 2001, the creation of ASAN public service centers on the principle of "one window" are indicated among positive achievements; the continuation of the strict rules of the oligarchy, the preservation of neo-patrimonial features of the political regime, social inequality, the unpreparedness of a certain part of the political elite for the process of deepening democracy, the underdevelopment of civil society, resistance to a real fight against corruption, and others are indicated among the negative factors.

It is concluded that the role of the state and the political class, especially the ruling elite, is significantly increasing in countries that are carrying out political and economic transformation during the transition period.

This paper shows how a world price shock can increase the likelihood that democratization must be used to resolve the threat of revolution. Initially, a ruling elite may be able to use trade policy to maintain political stability. But a world price shock can push the country into a situation where the elite face a commitment problem that only democratization can resolve. Because the world price shock may also reduce average incomes, the model provides a way to understand why the level of national income per capita and democracy may not be positively correlated. The model is also useful for understanding dictatorial regimes' rebuttal of World Bank calls to keep their export markets open in the face of the 2007-08 world food crisis.

A new understanding is offered of the democratization of international communication (IC), oriented either toward nation-state control, or toward democratization within the nation-state framework. Reference is made to the dramatic recent increase in "alternative" IC (of, or for, such new social movements as those of human rights, women, peace, & labor). After discussing the relevance of recent writings on alternative communication, a concept of internationalist communication is advanced, constructed by combining concepts of alternative communication with those on internationalism or alternative international relations. A number of propositions relating to IC are then tested in reference to the Chasquihuasi alternative international radio news service, based in Santiago, Chile. An analysis of documents, articles, & scripts shows the strengths & weaknesses of this project & demonstrates its potential value. 48 References. Modified AA

Recent public interest in employee-owned enterprises does not see them as exemplars of economic and industrial democracy, but more as a special type of partnership that can take over in the wake of the flight of capital. Their democratization is not encouraged, nor is the establishment of work cooperatives with articulated non-economic goals. A county-wide survey of work cooperatives in Lane county, Oregon, demonstrates some of the problems and some of the potentials in managing the democratization process. Their counterculture values tend to keep them in a precarious existence which agrees with the flndings of Joyce Rothschild-Whitt. In some, a learning process can be discovered, which hints at a development that portrays many of the features of the model suggested by Paul Bernstein.

Since the publication of Samuel Huntington's 1991 study of democratization, scholars have come to take for granted the notion that the spread of democracy has come in waves. Although Huntington's work has clearly proved to be an influential study, this article suggests that his analysis is far from compelling. There are two problems embodied in the work. The first is largely conceptual. Huntington's analysis fails to provide a clear and meaningful distinction between democratic and authoritarian regimes because it focuses primarily on what Dahl had defined in 1971 as the dimension of competition and pays insufficient attention to the equally important dimension of inclusion. The second problem is more empirical. Huntington has estimated the incidence of transitions to democracy in terms of thepercentagesof world states involved. Since the denominator in this equation, that is, the number of states in the world, is far from constant, this measure can be misleading. This article proposes solutions to both of these problems, and this new approach leads to conclusions that are quite different from Huntington's.The new findings are important not only because they suggest a somewhat altered sequencing and a more accurate count of democratization waves but also because they cast real doubt on the appropriateness of the wave metaphor. As the reverse waves are not really apparent from these data, these results therefore also indicate that future studies should be cautious in comparing, explaining, and forecasting different "waves" of democratization.

The United Nation's efforts to promote Afghanistan's democratization are studied. An historical overview of the United Nation's long-standing presence in Afghanistan is presented, emphasizing the conditions that initially limited the United Nation's activities to humanitarian support & peacekeeping but ultimately expanded to democracy assistance. Special Representative to the Secretary-General Lakhdar Brahimi's achievement of encouraging Afghanistans four major opposition groups to collaborate in the formation of a power-sharing authority, the subsequent enactment of the Bonn Agreement, & the initial difficulties experienced by the Interim Authority under Hamid Karzai are then discussed. Recognizing several factors that could result in the fragmentation of Afghanistan's fledgling democracy, eg, the explosion of inter-ethnic violence, it is recommended that a federalist system be established in Afghanistan to prevent such determinants from destroying the nation's democratization; suggestions for transforming the current political system into a federalist one are also offered. J. W. Parker