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The US 1968 elections represent a departure from the traditional Amer pattern. For the first time since the Civil War, 3 presidential candidates presented themselves to the voters in all the States of the Union. This points to a malaise in Amer pot & to a feeling that the 2 big parties do not adequately represent the electorate. 3rd parties in Amer history have played the role of promoting new ideas that were eventually enacted by one of the 2 big parties. But they faced overwhelming odds & did not last more than a few yrs. A picture of the 2 big parties in America is presented: their composition, org & the soc & pol'al forces they represent. The history of Amer 3rd parties is traced from the early 19th' cent until the 1968 election. The parties at the present time, org'al changes that have taken place in recent yrs, new cleavages in Amer society & new problems & new concerns of the electorate are examined. The final section examines the electoral Coll & its effect on pol'al life in America. The fact that Amer elections have traditionally been decided by a narrow margin of votes, it is concluded, shows that the 2 parties are very similar & that they are pragmatic rather than ideological. The broad soc composition of each party maintained the unity of the republic. But the past few yrs have witnessed a fragmentation of Amer society, & movements of the right & left demand to be heard, whether within each of the 2 parties & or by the electorate itself. The G. Wallace campaign & the votes he obtained showed that the demand for change cannot be ignored by pol'al leaders. The discussions in the Democratic Party about a democratization of the decision-making process prove that a reevaluation is already under way. Radical changes in the Democratic Party will be bound to be followed by similar changes in the Republican Party. It is quite possible that in the future state- & nation-wide primaries will decide the choice of the President, thus changing & democratizing the system of presidential elections. A. Peskin.

Latin Amer att's toward democracy differ from those in the US; they put more emphasis on soc & econ equalitarianism. Nonetheless, it is important to try to measure how democracy in Latin America (as seen by informed persons) changes. This survey is the 5th quinquennial analysis in a series dating back to 1945. It was based on evaluations by 50 specialists giving ratings on 15 criteria, constituting 'components of democracy,' for each of the 20 Latin Amer states. Data were analyzed by computer. The analysis provides rankings by states for each survey, as well as by criteria, presented both tabularly & graphically. The tendency of R's to spread or concentrate their evaluations is examined. R's among the criteria are analyzed. The self-assessed 'familiarity level' of R's with both states & criteria is studied. A comparison between subjective evaluations, used as the basis of this analysis, & objective evaluations drawn from 'census type' data is made. Consensus of the specialists is that Uruguay, Costa Rica, & Chile (in that order) are the most democratic Latin Amer states, & Haiti, Paraguay & Cuba (in that order) the least democratic. IPSA.

Important changes are taking place in the industrial relations system of the Netherlands, & it is not clear yet whether the long established pattern of stable & peaceful relations can be preserved. The Catholic & socialist labor federations have merged into a single organization whose left wing is rethinking the issue of industrial democracy. The relatively new legislation of the early 1970s, which enlarged the rights of works councils & opened corporate board membership to representatives of employee interests, was still based on ideas generated in the 1960s. However, the new structures which resulted from this legislation are already considered insufficient by some sections of the trade unions, although they command the support of the separate Protestant labor federation & of the expanding unions of white-collar employees. The two principal viewpoints are based on different models or concepts of industrial relations, with the older one relying on an essentially cooperative relationship while the new groups tend to think in terms of permanent conflict or adversary relations. Historically, the Netherlands has had an integrative industrial relations system, but the continued strength of this tradition is in question. Modified HA.

Most presidential heads of state in parliamentary and semi-presidential democracies have constitutional powers to influence early election calling, which enable them to influence the conditions under which prime ministers are held accountable by the electorate. We examine whether presidents use theses powers to shape the timing of early elections for partisan advantage and to influence the electoral performance of prime ministers. Drawing on data from 193 elections in 18 European democracies (1945–2013), we find that presidents with significant dissolution powers enable incumbents in governments that include the president's party to realise a significant electoral bonus compared with governments that exclude the party of the president.

Addressing essential questions of women's movement activism and political change in Western democracies.

RESUMEN El artículo analiza algunos temas presentes en la concepción de J. Habermas acerca de democracia y estado de derecho. El autor destaca mediado por su hermenéutica como método, la filosofía moral y política con la que reconstruye el estado de derecho en términos de teoría del discurso. Asimismo, interpreta la conformación de la comunidad política por intermedio de la racionalidad dialógica, por lo que aquí se destacan partes de los momentos de su teoría política para concebir el derecho en perspectiva discursiva, mediado por principios dialógicos para definir a la democracia procedimental. Con ello justifica la idea comunicativa del estado de derecho, cuestión que encuentra contraejemplos en aquellos sistemas democráticos solo formales. ABSTRACT The paper analyzes some themes present in the conception of J. Habermas about democracy and State of Law. The author stands out mediated by his hermeneutics as a method the moral and political philosophy with which he reconstructs the State of Law in terms of Discourse Theory. Also, he interprets the conformation of the political community through dialogical rationality, which is why parts of the moments of his political theory are highlighted here to conceive law in a discursive perspective, mediated by dialogical principles to define procedural democracy. This justifies the communicative idea of the State of Law, a question that finds counterexamples in those democratic systems only formal.

The paper analyzes some themes present in the conception of J. Habermas about democracy and State of Law. The author stands out mediated by his hermeneutics as a method the moral and political philosophy with which he reconstructs the State of Law in terms of Discourse Theory. Also, he interprets the conformation of the political community through dialogical rationality, which is why parts of the moments of his political theory are highlighted here to conceive law in a discursive perspective, mediated by dialogical principles to define procedural democracy. This justifies the communicative idea of the State of Law, a question that finds counterexamples in those democratic systems only formal. ; El artículo analiza algunos temas presentes en la concepción de J. Habermas acerca de democracia y estado de derecho. El autor destaca mediado por su hermenéutica como método, la filosofía moral y política con la que reconstruye el estado de derecho en términos de teoría del discurso. Asimismo, interpreta la conformación de la comunidad política por intermedio de la racionalidad dialógica, por lo que aquí se destacan partes de los momentos de su teoría política para concebir el derecho en perspectiva discursiva, mediado por principios dialógicos para definir a la democracia procedimental. Con ello justifica la idea comunicativa del estado de derecho, cuestión que encuentra contraejemplos en aquellos sistemas democráticos solo formales.

Collects and presents the essential political data from 29 democracies for 1993.

This is the final version. Available from Springer Nature via the DOI in this record. ; At the time of writing in mid-2021, policy on child genital cutting and modification is inconsistent in the UK, US, and most European states, and there is growing consensus that this inconsistency should end [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. The question addressed here, is whether Western liberal democracies ought to discourage, if not legally prohibit, all forms of medically unnecessary child genital cutting and modification, or permit some relatively minor forms. Given the core political values of Western liberal democracies, including a commitment to human rights, this piece takes a liberal normative approach and argues that individual rights to bodily – and especially genital – integrity should take priority over group rights if they come into conflict.

AbstractThis paper explores a major road to substantive representation in democracies, by clarifying whether demands of rich and poor citizens are taken up in the electoral platforms of political parties. Doing so constitutes a substantial broadening and deepening of our understanding of substantive representation – broadening the countries, issue‐areas and years that form the empirical basis for judging whether democracies manifest unequal representation; and deepening the process of representation by clarifying a key pathway connecting societal demands to policy outcomes. The paper hypothesises that party systems in general will respond more strongly to wealthy than to poor segments of a polity. It also hypothesises that left parties will more faithfully represent poorer and less significantly represent richer citizens than do right parties. We find substantial support for these expectations in a new dataset that combines multi‐country, multi‐issue‐area, multi‐wave survey data with data on party platforms for 39 democracies.

This paper explores a major road to substantive representation in democracies, by clarifying whether demands of rich and poor citizens are taken up in the electoral platforms of political parties. Doing so constitutes a substantial broadening and deepening of our understanding of substantive representation – broadening the countries, issue-areas and years that form the empirical basis for judging whether democracies manifest unequal representation; and deepening the process of representation by clarifying a key pathway connecting societal demands to policy outcomes. The paper hypothesises that party systems in general will respond more strongly to wealthy than to poor segments of a polity. It also hypothesises that left parties will more faithfully represent poorer and less significantly represent richer citizens than do right parties. We find substantial support for these expectations in a new dataset that combines multi-country, multi-issue-area, multi-wave survey data with data on party platforms for 39 democracies.

"Postcommunist elites play rational power games throughout East Central and Eastern Europe today. But their games differ according to the structure, behavioral codes, and informal orientations associated with the paths of elite change. Although democratic institutions and procedures are in place just about everywhere, the differing elite power games account for major differences in extra-electoral politics and, thus, for wide variations in the quality of postcommunist democracies. The extent of the particularisms - clientelism and patronage, blurred functional autonomies and boundaries, violations of horizontal accountabilities, manipulations of the media and judiciary, harassment of Opposition elites, personal vendettas, persecutions of minorities - define these power games, and they can be linked systematically to the patterns of elite unity, differentiation, and circulation. We view combinations of these patterns as constituting the critical elite conditions for different types of political regimes, including consolidated democracies." (author's abstract)