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The demand for high quality of government is currently a necessary part of modern democracies and economies. It is assumed that the quality of governance affects not only economic growth but also number of other factors. There are many different approaches to defining quality of government. The research conducted by The World Bank and The Quality of Government Institute, University of Gothenburg, are recently probably most important. Using the European Quality of Government Index and correlation and regression analysis tools, the authors of this article tests the relationship of a dependency between the quality of management and selected economic and social indicators. ; Požadavek na vysokou kvalitu vlády je v současné době nezbytnou součástí moderních demokracií a ekonomik. Předpokládá se, že kvalita řízení ovlivňuje nejen hospodářský růst, ale i počet dalších faktorů. Existuje mnoho různých přístupů k definování kvality vlády. Výzkum, který provedla Světová banka a Institut pro kvalitu vládních institucí na univerzitě v Gothenburgu, je v současnosti pravděpodobně nejvýznamnější. Pomocí využití Evropského indexu kvality vládnutí a korelačních a regresních analýz autoři tohoto článku zkoumají vztah závislosti mezi kvalitou řízení a vybranými ekonomickými a sociálními ukazateli.

Discussed is The Future That Doesn't Work: Social Democracy's Failure in Britain (Tyrell, E., Jr. [Ed], New York: Doubleday, 1977). Essays included do not bear out the promise of the title. The only two competent empirical essays (by L. Lenkowski & J. Wilson) do not uncover any failure (comparatively) in GB's welfarist institutions, although Lenkowski correctly argues that British industry is not productive enough to support a large & growing service state. However, both the productive shortfall & the attractions of welfarism as a career are obviously & adequately explained by elements of GB's traditionalist & imperialist past, & its peculiarly unmodern class structure, rather than by any of the institutions of social democracy or socialism. The true interest of the book lies in the contributions of Britons P. Jay, S. Brittan, P. Worsthorne, & P. Cosgrove, who reveal an animus directed not against social democracy per se but against democracy itself. They explain GB's alleged failures as an outcome of the irrationality of the voting masses, the coming of the working class to a share of power (a share which is actually much smaller than they claim), & the willingness of governments to cater to uninformed majority opinion. Since GB is one of the least successful social democracies, the editor entirely fails in his stated purpose of warning Americans against the welfare state, a warning which would make sense only if the indictment of GB's shortcomings could also be laid at the door of the successful social democracies of Europe. The essays encourage speculation as to why members of the educated elite in GB are so peculiarly antidemocratic. AA.

Political parties have a central role to play in democratic consolidation, yet we know comparatively little about how effectively they represent social cleavages in newly emerging democracies. Using the Lipset-Rokkan framework, this article examines the role of parties in articulating social cleavages in 14 established and 6 emerging democracies using the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems datasets. The results show that the social cleavages in the emerging democracies are similar to those of the established democracies, with religion and class predominating. Parties appear to be less effective in representing social cleavages in the emerging than in the established democracies.

Political parties have a central role to play in democratic consolidation, yet we know comparatively little about how effectively they represent social cleavages in newly emerging democracies. Using the Lipset-Rokkan framework, this article examines the role of parties in articulating social cleavages in 14 established and 6 emerging democracies using the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems datasets. The results show that the social cleavages in the emerging democracies are similar to those of the established democracies, with religion and class predominating. Parties appear to be less effective in representing social cleavages in the emerging than in the established democracies.

Social class differences in political participation are a pressing issue for democracies and they are particularly severe among young people in the UK. Disadvantaged young people are the least likely to be politically engaged in the UK and it is assumed that with declining levels of participation inequalities in political participation increase. What happens to political inequality though when levels of youth participation increase? Do more advantaged young people account for most of the extra participation or do disadvantaged young people 'catch up'? Based on representative survey data, this paper investigates levels of political inequality among 16- and 17-year-olds in a context of increasing participation in Scotland. We find that in Scotland young people of all social classes were equally likely to be politically engaged, while among young people in the rest of the UK and adults from Scotland those of higher social status were more likely to be engaged in politics. Overall, social class differences in political engagement were less pronounced amongst 16- and 17-year-olds in Scotland than in the rest of the UK. The paper offers some possible explanations of this finding and suggestions for further research.

Главной целью данной статьи является анализ положительных и отрицательных аспектов демократического строя. Среди основных задач проекта стояли: доказательство преимущества демократии над различными видами авторитарной формы правления, сравнение основных прав и свобод граждан демократий и автократий, а также сопоставление политического благосостояния различных стран с вышеупомянутыми режимами. Данная работа поднимает актуальный вопрос в современной политологии и предоставляет обзор наиболее важных сторон доминирующих на сегодняшний день политических режимов; проект также может найти свое практическое применение в качестве материала для дополнительного изучения в области политических наук. ; The main goal of this article is to analyze positive and negative aspects of democratic regime. The project had several objectives, namely: showing the advantages of democracy over different forms of autocracy; comparison of basic rights and freedoms of the citizens living in democracies and countries with authoritarianism; and contrast of political and social welfare of different states with two types of regime mentioned above. This paper raises actual issue of political science nowadays and provides the overview of the most important sides of two most widespread political regimes throughout the world.

Comparative politics is a political science discipline which has in its evolution continuously reflected the developments in the field of international politics. The author outlines the genesis of this discipline, which boomed in the 1950s with the framework of American politology. He first defines this discipline and the goes on to give an account of the evolution of the fundamental research principle, the expansion of the subject matter and the importance of the key concepts that delineate this academic discipline (political power, political system, politic regime). The author analyses the role of comparative politics in the context of other disciplines of political sciences as well as its applicative potentials. As analysis of the history of this discipline he points to the connection between shift of the interest and the focus in practical politics and the thematically specialized subdisciplines within comparative politological research. In the conclusion, the author points out the importance and the applicatory value of discipline for Croatia (as a country in the process of democratic transition) regarding the comparative analysis of the experiences of developed democracies and countries in transition. (SOI : PM: S. 148)

Technocratic forms of international governance have spurred the rise of populist nationalists in Europe and around the globe. Joachim Blatter argues that we should tackle these intertwined challenges to representative democracy by transnationalising national democracies. In his kick-off text for the GLOBALCIT forum, he illustrates the underlining general problematique with the example of the Euro crisis, describes concrete steps towards a system of overlapping and transnationalised national democracies and outlines the potential benefits that would arise from a horizontal expansion of national demoi, elections and representation for democratic parties, parliaments and peoples. Blatter proposes that democracies should sign "joint declarations of interdependence" in which they express their commitment to the democratisation of their joint forms of governance and reciprocally offer their citizens the status of "consociated citizens." These consociated citizens enjoy the right to elect a limited number of "consociated representatives" in the parliaments of the consociated states. The elected and thereby directly authorised consociated representatives bring the perspectives and interests of the consociated citizens into the collective will-formation and decision-making process of the consociated states. According to Blatter, politicians and political parties would benefit since the current trade-off between being responsive and responsible would become weaker. National parliaments would regain their core place in the democratic process by serving as the central spaces for the necessary reconnect between international rule making and nationally embedded will-formation. Democratic nations would provide each other a legitimate pathway for getting involved in their domestic will-formation and decision-making processes. Citizens receive additional and constructive means for political participation and contestation. GLOBALCIT has invited eleven scholars to engage with Blatter's proposal. Most see it as stimulating and constructive but raise further questions and some concerns. Is it focussing too much on institutional reform of democratic processes instead of tackling issues of socio-economic inequality that propel the rise of populism? Is the model grounded in a coherent theory of democracy? Do the envisioned multiple and overlapping demoi undermine the necessary clarity of membership boundaries of political communities? Do consociated citizenship and limited powers of consociated representatives undermine a core democratic norm of political equality? The proposal assumes that reciprocity would be a helpful stimulus for the proposed expansion of the electorate, but what about the motivations of individual actors? Politicians might not want to give up current opportunities to mobilise domestic voters by blaming the external others. Furthermore, many commentators point to alternative ways of democratising relations of interdependence between states, which they perceive as more feasible or desirable, such as the strengthening of the European Parliament, transnational citizen assemblies or transnational referenda. In his response, Blatter points to theoretical foundations of his proposal, emphasizes its conceptual innovations in imagining fuzzy boundaries and proportional equality, and argues that the proposed pathway towards a system of horizontally overlapping representative democracies offers many advantages compared to its alternatives.

The relationship between secularism, democracy, religion, and gender equality has been a complex one across Western democracies and still remains contested. When we turn to Muslim countries, the situation is even more multifaceted. In the views of many western commentators, the question of Women Rights is the litmus test for Muslim societies in the age of democracy and liberalism. Especially since the Arab Awakening, the issue is usually framed as the opposition between liberal advocates of secular democracy and religious opponents of women's full equality. Islam, Gender, and Democracy in Comparative Perspective critically re-engages this too simple binary opposition by reframing the debate around Islam and women's rights within a broader comparative literature. Bringing together leading scholars from a range of disciplines, it examines the complex and contingent historical relationships between religion, secularism, democracy, law, and gender equality. Part One addresses the nexus of religion, law, gender, and democracy through different disciplinary perspectives (sociology, anthropology, political science, law). Part Two localizes the implementation of this nexus between law, gender, and democracy and provides contextualized responses to questions raised in Part One. The contributors explore the situation of Muslim women's rights in minority conditions to shed light on the gender politics in the modernization of the nation and to ponder on the role of Islam in gender inequality across different Muslim countries

It is difficult to fully understand the role that sport plays in contemporary global society without understanding how and why governments, NGOs and other organizations formulate and implement policy relating to sport. The Routledge Handbook of Sport Policy is the only book to offer a comprehensive overview of current perspectives, techniques and approaches to the analysis of sport policy around the world. The book introduces a diverse range of approaches to policy analysis across the full range of political and societal contexts, including developed and developing economies; state-centric, mixed economy and market-led systems, and both liberal democracies and political systems characterized by a dominant elite. It is arranged into five sections addressing the key topics and themes in the analysis of contemporary sport policy, including: theory and its implications for methodology, globalization, governance, partnerships and networks, elite sport policy, development, sport and joint policy agendas, sport policy and social theory. With contributions from leading policy analysts around the world, including Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia, this book is important reading for any student, researcher or professional working in sport management, sport development, sport and society, or mainstream public policy, policy analysis or social policy.

The paper focuses on the main conceptual issues (classifications, terminology, methodology) relating to the phenomenon of the degeneration of contemporary democracies that have attracted the attention of different social sciences in recent years. It begins with a reconstruction of the main cultural trends of democracy (classical, liberal, socialist, social, radical, and so on) then continues by exploring the current debate. The debate focuses on some leading categorizations: illiberal democracies, authoritarian constitutionalism and populist constitutionalism

It is usually said that Political Realism was one of the main sources which inspired National Security regimes. Nevertheless, the relationship is scarcely true. Probably Political Realism was born to stop authoritarianism and to protect democracies, and Nation- al Security regimes disrupted the fragile existence of Hispanic-American democracies. In this paper, following a comparative method, we aim to demonstrate this theory. Political Realism was linked to concepts such as national interest, strength or survival, whose mission was to guarantee freedom to the citizens; whereas Latin-American military regimes, concerned only for the idea of fighting communism by any means, were linked to authoritarian thought. We conclude that, in fact, political realism was barely one of the ideological sources of National Security regimes. ; Suele decirse que el realismo político fue una de las fuentes principales de las que bebieron los regímenes militares inspirados por la Doctrina de Seguridad Nacional. Sin embargo, la relación es apenas cierta. El realismo se desarrolló para frenar el autoritarismo y salvaguardar a los Estados democráticos, y los regímenes de Seguridad Nacional dañaron la vida de las frágiles democracias iberoamericanas. En este artículo, mediante un método comparativo, se intenta demostrar esta tesis. El realismo hablaba de conceptos como interés nacional, fuerza o supervivencia con el fin de garantizar que los ciudadanos libres siguieran siéndolo, mientras que los sistemas burocrático-autoritarios, sólo concernidos por la idea de combatir al comunismo con cualesquiera métodos, estaban vinculados con el pensamiento autoritario. Se concluye en este estudio que, en realidad, el realismo político apenas fue una de las bases ideológicas de los regímenes de Seguridad Nacional, por mucho que a los defensores de estos últimos les hubiera gustado.

A GROUP OF 25 SCHOLARS DRAWN FROM BRITAIN, FRANCE, & ITALY UNDERTOOK A COLLABORATIVE PROJECT. ANALYSES OF EACH NATIONAL EXPERIENCE WERE COMBINED WITH CROSS-NATIONAL COMPARATIVE CONCLUSIONS. AN ASSESSMENT OF PLANNING PRACTICES IN LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC POLICIES WAS FORMED. IF IT WAS HOPED THAT PLANNING WOULD BRING DRAMATIC CHANGES IN ECONOMY, POLITY, & SOCIETY, THE PRECONDITIONS WERE DRASTIC CHANGES TO MAKE THE IMPLEMENTED PLANS POSSIBLE. FRANCE HAD THE INSTITUTIONAL & ATTITUDINAL APTITUDES TO BRING ABOUT PLANNING EVEN THOUGH THERE WERE EXPLOSIVE PROBLEMS IN THE 1960'S. SHE HAD A FIRM POLITICAL & INFORMED TECHNO-BUREAUCRATIC LEADERSHIP TO START THIS DEVELOPMENT BECAUSE OF THE RAPID TRANSITION FROM A PREINDUSTRIAL TO A POSTINDUSTRIAL SOCIETY. THE CHRONIC STATE OF CHAOS AFFLICTING ITALY WAS AVOIDED. ITALY SEEMED TO LACK EFFECTIVE GOVERNMENT & ADMINISTRATION. BRITAIN HAD A POWERFUL BUT IMMOBILIST ADMINISTRATION. BRITISH POLITICIANS WERE "PREOCCUPIED WITH SHORT-TERM MANOEUVRES WITHIN A PARTY FRAMEWORK." PLANNING REEMERGED IN ITALY IN 1961 BECAUSE OF THE EXCESSIVE ECONOMIC GROWTH WHICH HAD AGGRAVATED GAPS BETWEEN THE NORTH & SOUTH. IN 1961, THE CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT IN BRITAIN OPENED THE PLANNING ISSUE IN ORDER TO "EVADE UNPOPULAR POLICY CHOICES." THE SECOND-RATE STATUS BY PLANNING IN THE FRENCH MANNER SEEMED TO BE AN "INVITING BUT RECEDING MIRAGE." B. MILLER.