Suchergebnisse

We respond to Greta Thunberg's call for democracy to protect, restore and fund forests by taking it to the commoner s' assemblies of baldios – mountain community forests returned to the local people, in Portugal, in the aftermath of the Carnation Revolution. We highlight that when trees are considered as a technology to repair climate, they must be understood as a tool whose purpose is set by the people. By telling the tale of the afforestation of baldios, we show that trees can be harmful for local populations when their plantation disrupts local ways of being without providing alternatives, changing fire regimes. We argue the ontological transformation that results from the break-up of mutually constitutive relationships between the people and mountain places opened the way for 'Faustian contracts' – a loss of 'the soul' – by selling the long-term provision of goods to address short-term needs. When decentralization processes are captured by Faustian contracts, they can result in a battle of democracies, opposing participatory democracies to representative democracies of parishes and municipalities. Community forestry is then reframed as a struggle not so much about local control, but to gain back the soul and collectively set directions to face adversities.

The constituent process in which Chile is currently engaged has opened a new phase in the history of the Latin American nation. On the table, in fact, there is not "only" the adoption of a new constitution, but a fundamental pillar of the dictatorial legacy. Legacy that calls into question the profound lacerations produced by the extremely complex civic-military regime, which guided the country from 1973 to 1990, as well as the limits, contradictions and complicities of the period of democratic governments. ; The constituent process in which Chile is currently engaged has opened a new phase in the history of the Latin American nation. On the table, in fact, there is not "only" the adoption of a new constitution, but a fundamental pillar of the dictatorial legacy. Legacy that calls into question the profound lacerations produced by the extremely complex civic-military regime, which guided the country from 1973 to 1990, as well as the limits, contradictions and complicities of the period of democratic governments.

L'opera collettanea che viene presa in considerazione si inserisce in un filone ormai consolidato di studi consacrati alle più recenti insidie al costituzionalismo e, in particolare, al ricco versante delle "democrazie illiberali". ; L'opera collettanea che viene presa in considerazione si inserisce in un filone ormai consolidato di studi consacrati alle più recenti insidie al costituzionalismo e, in particolare, al ricco versante delle "democrazie illiberali".

Aircraft silhouettes on front and back covers. Table of aircraft silhouettes on p. [23]. ; Issued also in French, Portuguese and Spanish. ; Label on cover: Restricted . Not for distribution in the United States or to American . personnel overseas. ; "Pubblicato dall'Ufficio informazioni di guerra degli Stati Uniti d'America." ; Mode of access: Internet.

"Restricted this publication is not for distribution in the United States or to American civilian or military personnel overseas"--Cover. ; Cover title. ; Digital reproduction. ; Mode of access: Internet. ; Description based on print version record.

Ascertaining that today immigration phenomenon has considerable effects on legal systems, the paper aims to demonstrate that foreigner and, in particular, his hospitality, should not be conceived as a challenge. In fact, if we analyze it such a challenge, it suggests an opposition and a hostility between a winner (which normally is the State and the citizens) and a loser (which is the foreigner). Furthermore, it implies a dichotomy between an unconditional openness to immigration and the hostile and rigid closure of the territories, and, at the same time, it could also lead to a "fragmentation" of citizenship and to the "dissolution" of the statÈs sovereignty. Therefore, it is more appropriate to interpret it as a chance and an opportunity for constitutional democracies and for the process of European integration.

To discuss, after the end of twentieth-century utopias, the possibility and meaning of the idea of "the alternative" within the social and political realm entails the necessity to understand opportunities and limits inherent in the structural and cultural conditions of the global society. This essay introduces three theoretical insights and proposes them as fundamental axes for the analysis of the problem. The contemporary society can be described as morphogenetic and without an outside in the process of undergoing radical transformations concerning its profound symbolic nature; such transformations can be noted through the category of axiality, which is tied to the distinction between immanence and transcendence. The thesis of this essay is that the abovementioned conceptual framework uncovers some paradoxes at the heart of the global society, most notably, its complex mixture of opening and closure. The framework also facilitates analyzing emerging phenomena within such a context and helps identifying those that can still be considered "alternatives." This enables escaping the unilateralism of the new grand narratives and thinking of other possible paths of development that are void of grandeur and alternative to the current, strong tendencies that lead to the ascent of illiberal democracies and liberal post-democracies, to a renewed absolutization of Realpolitik, and to the construction of a post-social future.

This paper aims to analyze the meaning of the ideas of 'democracy' and 'humanities' according to Thomas Aquinas. In particular, some parts of his De Regno ad Regem Cypri will be considered. Questions such as the correct interpretation of individual responsibility in social action, the uniform application of the law or the role of the state in the organisation of private associations are just some of the critical issues that have not yet been answered by the passage of centuries and ideologies. And the shift from monocratic to democratic forms of government, especially in Western culture, has not helped to resolve these questions. Trying to understand how some moments in the history of thought have contributed to deal with these critical issues and thus to try to make the humanities useful for the development of democracies and to protect the individual in society, is the aim of this contribution through Thomas Aquinas.

The research is focused on the origin and the structure of the European party systems in long-standing democracies and in post-communist countries. Considering the differences between the western frozen party systems and the eastern unfrozen party systems, we propose a framework of analysis based on the theoretical and conceptual linkage between genetic approach and spatial theories of competition, identified in the normative component of a cleavage. At first, we propose some operational criteria to distinguish the dimensions of competition from the dimensions of identification through the use of the manifesto project surveys. Then, through the data of an expert survey and of some recent electoral mass surveys, we empirically test a set of propositions concerning, on the one hand, the congruence between party policy positions and party-voters policy positions and, on the other hand, the level of correlation between parties positions on different issue dimensions and their placement on the left-right axis.

The degeneration of contemporary democracies has attracted the attention of constitutional law scholars in recent years. The leading categorizations include illiberal democracies, authoritarian constitutionalism and populist constitutionalism. The paper tries to reconstruct the current debate confronting it with the theory of democratization, which was widespread in the 1990' and 2000' years. The author considers the current literature on the topic to be a specular paradigm towards the previous transitology pattern but proposes a strict understanding of the new pattern

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

"This series started in 1981 with the Erice Seminars when the danger of a nuclear East-West confrontation was menacing the world. The volumes reproduce the crucial steps, from the Nuclear Winter to the Strategic Defense Initiative. After the collapse of the U.S.S.R., new emergencies are now to be faced such as the danger of proliferation of Weapons for Mass Destruction (WMD), the North-South confrontation on ecological problems and the new deal for Science and Technology to help developing countries in their struggle for a better standard of life. The Erice Seminars have attracted the attention of world leaders in Science, Technology and Culture."--Publisher's website

This volume, on the basis of France and Italy's cases, analyses the changes in party systems and, more generally, in our democracies. The author underlines how it is possible to glimpse the personalization and mediatisation of politics in the appearance of personal and personalised parties; he also studies the rise of populists imposing their themes, language and way of doing politics. The populist style spreads within society and the public space so intensively that the people fighting the populists at the lowest level, in the end, resume their opponents' style. As Ilvo Diamanti wrote: there is now a people-ocracyor a dynamic which is currently destabilising our democracies.

Notwithstanding the global expansion of phenomena of regression and erosion affecting liberal democracies, after having been subjected to the occupation of totalitarian regimes in the 20th century, the newly independent Republics of Latvia and Lithuania are now pursuing policies aimed at improving the rule of law. The present contribution seeks to analyse from a comparative perspective the advancement of recent reforms undertaken by the two Baltic Republics. ; Notwithstanding the global expansion of phenomena of regression and erosion affecting liberal democracies, after having been subjected to the occupation of totalitarian regimes in the 20th century, the newly independent Republics of Latvia and Lithuania are now pursuing policies aimed at improving the rule of law. The present contribution seeks to analyse from a comparative perspective the advancement of recent reforms undertaken by the two Baltic Republics.

Research in comparative politics has shown a renewed interest in the relation between political parties and the state. However, we know comparatively little about patronage - defined as the power of political parties to distribute public sector posts - as a key dimension of the linkage between political parties and the state. This article, based on comparative empirical evidence on patterns of patronage in 15 European democracies, has two central goals. First, it seeks to empirically evaluate commonalities and differences among European democracies with respect to patronage and its pervasiveness, logic and mechanics. Second, it considers the new light that the empirical analysis sheds on the contemporary explanations of patronage. The empirical analysis suggests that it is the interaction of administrative legacy effects with patterns of party system consolidation and crisis that accounts for the differences in contemporary patronage practices.