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From the act of ordinary humans in shaping the world around them, to a structuralized professional practice, the perception and meaning of design has evolved. The institutional and closed definition of design in the years since the industrial revolution has failed to recognize the ingenious designs that come from the common man, the everyday designer. These solutions are contextual, sustainable and affordable and a necessity, especially for developing countries. This paper on the democratization of design seeks to recognize the ingenuity of this 'diffuse' or non-expert design and present cases of a few successful and path breaking innovations from the grassroots of India. It further explores the idea of a democratized design world where everyone would design. It would not mean de- professionalizing design, rather a new role for the designer as a facilitator to create this new reality of a participative co-design process. As we increasingly take cognizance of the impact of design in domains like businesses, organizations and even governance we are already on our way to create a pluriverse of design which creates value through a collective design capacity.

The two contributions featured here appeared in the 'CODESRIA Bulletin' (No. 2, 1991). They were written as a contribution to the agenda of CODESRIA's December 1991 General Assembly, organised around the theme of 'Democratization Processes in Africa'. Although intervening events may have affected the validity of one or two minor points made, their focus on the twin objectives of individual liberties and social justice provides a valuable insight into the debate unfolding in Africa. It is a debate of universal significance: the reconciliation of political rights with social justice rights remains one of the fundamental problems confronting the socialist project. We are grateful to the CODESRIA Bulletin for permitting us to publish these abridged versions of the two papers. Readers interested in consulting the full originals, and of engaging in the debates sponsored by CODESRIA should write to them at Boite Postal 3304, Dakar, Senegal

After World War II, democratization came into fashion as panacea for countries in transition. This trend continues to be an issue in the 21st century too. The implications of the transformation for public as well as private life are considerably different for women than for men. Studies have shown that even in democratic states gender inequality has been reinforced than effectively attenuated. Feminist theories take up the issue of female discrimination on a theoretical level and provide explanations and measures in order to erase these inequalities. Gender mainstreaming is an approach to address gender inequalities in practice. The European Union, as a community of values, promotes gender mainstreaming not only among its member states, but also for its candidate states in the context of external democracy promotion. This paper examines the current gender initiatives in Serbia which is currently an EU candidate country. In fact, there are many gender activities form different civil society actors and NGOs around Serbia. The positivist feminist theories are more apt to explain the current gender activities. The post-structuralist theories mainly deal with micro situations. Therefore, it is difficult to apply these perspectives in a study on the overall gender situation in a specific country. By contrast, these theories could be applied for studying micro situations within a particular country. Accordingly, the theory has implications on the research design for such a study. A study based on post-structuralist theory would be based on ethnography rather than statistical data and a literature review.

How do attachments to political parties among the mass publics of East Asia affect the process of democratization in the region? Analyses of the East Asia Barometer surveys reveal that partisanship motivates East Asians to endorse the democratic performance of their political system and embrace democracy as the best possible system of government. These findings accord, by and large, with the socialization, cognitive dissonance, and rational choice theories of partisanship.

A key dilemma facing a military which considers democratization is whether it is confident that civilians will protect its interests. A military's confidence is a function of three factors: preference alignment with parties (trust), an expectation that allied parties will survive the transition (party institutionalization), and an expectation that allied parties can win power to protect it (party strength). When parties which the military trusts are institutionalized and strong, the military is confident that democratization will not endanger its interests. When these factors are absent, the military seeks to generate credible commitments through bounded democratization—a strategy of setting parameters on open contestation and popular sovereignty to constrain civilians. I test this argument using an original dataset on 525 regime transitions and a novel measure of bounded democratization. I find that when the institutionalization and strength of trusted parties decrease, the military proactively sets constraints on the developing political system.

Mass communications media play a potentially crucial role both in democratization and in ensuring democracy's survival. The essays in this volume analyse differing aspects of the complex relationship between the media and democracy in a diverse range of national contexts

Cover -- Contents -- List of Boxes -- Preface -- Introduction -- Democratization Today -- The Meaning of Democratization -- Democratization and Democracy -- The Global Politics of Democratization -- The Purpose and Structure of This Book -- 1 Democracy -- Democracy: A Simple Concept? -- From Direct to Liberal Democracy -- Empirical Democratic Theory -- Critiques of Empirical Democratic Theory -- Alternative Approaches to Democracy -- Conclusion -- 2 Democratization in Historical Perspective -- Democratization as Waves -- Explaining Democratization in History -- Contemporary Democratization -- Conclusion -- 3 Explaining Democratization -- Traditional Approaches -- Modernization Theory -- Historical Sociology -- The Agency Approach -- An Alternative Approach: The State, Civil Society and the Global Political Economy -- Conclusion -- 4 Democratization and the State -- Democratization of the State -- Institutional Transformation -- The Limitations of Institutional Change -- Obstacles to the Democratization of the State -- Conclusion -- 5 Democratization and Civil Society -- Civil Society and Democracy -- Conceptualizing the Role of Civil Society in Democratization -- Civil Society Organizations and the Making of New Democracies -- The International Dimensions of Civil Society -- Conclusion -- 6 The Global Politics of Democratization -- The Changing International System and Democracy -- Discourses of Democratization -- Democracy Assistance, Promotion and Policing -- The Securitization Agenda -- Conclusion -- 7 Democratization in Europe -- Southern Europe -- East and Central Europe -- The Balkans -- The Russian Federation and its Neighbours -- Theorizing the Transitions -- The State -- Democratization and Civil Society -- Global Factors -- Conclusion -- 8 Democratization in Latin America -- Latin American Politics in Historical Perspective.

A regulatory process of "democratizing the media" based on recent constitutional guarantees and a 2013 communications law is under way in Ecuador. The initiative comes from a demand for new forms of social accountability and participation in the mass media after the Latin American experience of media companies'direct engagement in coups and the destabilization of progressive governments. Media democratization is seen as necessary for the construction of democratic societies. It is distinct in Latin America from recent Northern approaches, which tend to be technocratic, suggesting democratic transformation through new online media and enhanced consumer options. Ecuador's process follows similar initiatives in Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, and Uruguay but is perhaps more articulate and systematic. It is instructive in that it builds on well-established public policy themes of the containment of monopoly power, redress of civil wrongs, and the promotion of participation and diversity. While media corporations mostly seek to disqualify debate on media regulation, Ecuador's approach deserves closer examination. Ecuador está llevando a cabo un proceso de "democratización de medios" basado en las recientes garantías constitucionales y la ley de comunicaciones de 2013. La iniciativa responde a una exigencia de nuevas formas de responsabilidad social y participación en los medios de comunicación masivos a raíz de experiencias latinoamericanas en las cuales ciertas compañías de medios han intervenido para desestabilizar o generar golpes de estado contra gobiernos progresistas. La democratización de los medios se considera necesaria para la construcción de sociedades democráticas, y esta aproximación se distingue de aquellas características del hemisferio norte con sus tendencias tecnocráticas, que sugieren que la transformación democrática se ha de llevar a cabo mediante nuevos medios en línea y opciones de consumo más amplias. El proceso ecuatoriano se suma a iniciativas similares en Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina y Uruguay, pero es quizá más articulado y sistemático. Se basa en temas de política pública establecidos como la contención del poder monopólico, la rectificación de delitos civiles, y la promoción de la participación y la diversidad. Si bien las corporaciones de medios han buscado descalificar los debates en torno a la mencionada regulación, los esfuerzos ecuatorianos merecen ser examinados más de cerca.

Do remittances stabilize autocracies? Remittances—money sent by foreign workers to individuals in their home country—differ from other sources of external non-tax revenue, such as foreign aid, because they accrue directly to individuals and thus raise the incomes of households. We argue that remittances increase the likelihood of democratic transition by undermining electoral support for autocratic incumbents in party-based regimes. Remittances therefore make voters less dependent on state transfers. As a result, autocracies that rely heavily on the broad-based distribution of spoils for their survival, namely party-based regimes, should prove especially vulnerable to increases in remittances. Evidence consistent with this argument suggests that remittances promote democratization in some dictatorships.

Over the past two decades authoritarian regimes in many parts of the developing world, as well as in East/Central Europe, have been replaced by democracies. This paper looks at the issue of democratization from a gender perspective. While many of the problems afflicting the 'new democracies' (such as the elitist character of political parties, and the failure of the state to guarantee civil and political rights or make a significant dent in poverty) affect all citizens, they are manifested and experienced in gender-specific ways. Women's persistent exclusion from formal politics, in particular, raises a number of specific questions about how to reform democratic institutions, since these institutions are not automatically gender-equitable. In a democratic polity citizens are presumed to have equal rights, opportunities and voice in the governance of the public domain. All versions of liberal democracy link the right to vote with the right to stand for office. Yet women are hugely under-represented in national assemblies and governments. Women's political invisibility is particularly striking in those countries where their political mobilization contributed to the demise of authoritarianism and the transition to democracy. The suppression of the conventional political arena under authoritarian rule very often shifts the political centre of gravity to 'movement-type activities' and gives prominence to women's political mobilization. What very often unites the disparate groups constituting the women's movement in these contexts is their commitment to bringing about a change in government. Nevertheless, social, political and ideological heterogeneity of women's groups, tensions between the feminist and the feminine streams, and divisions over strategy foreshadow future difficulties in forging political coalitions and aggregating interests to effect change in more 'normal' times. The new wave of democratization has not had a feminizing affect on the parliaments and the governments of the new democracies. Deeply entrenched barriers exclude women from meaningful participation in political parties. In the post-transition period, the more established political parties in countries like Brazil and Chile have remained remarkably resistant to women's participation. Newly formed parties of the left have been more accessible to women, though participation in these smaller parties may arguably produce more symbolic than real benefits. The masculine construction of political authority makes it extremely difficult for women to be elected into office without some form of electoral engineering, such as quotas or reserved seats. The adoption of quotas and reserved seats for women by the South African ANC and the Ugandan NRM, which dominate politics in their respective countries, has produced a significant increase in women's political profile. But given the lack of any realistic political options for women outside these two parties, women's political leverage vis-à-vis the party hierarchy remains strictly limited. Besides the issue of political equality and democratic justice, the argument for increasing women's representation in decision-making bodies also hinges very often on an implicit assumption that women can, more effectively than men, contribute to the formulation of woman-friendly policies because they are somehow better able to represent women's interests. But this is a controversial assumption. Questions continue to be raised about how such a diverse group as 'women' can find meaningful representation in the polity in the absence of procedures for establishing what the group wants or thinks, and in the absence of mechanisms for keeping the 'representatives' accountable to their constituents. Questions have also been raised as to why the growing presence of women in politics (in some contexts) is not translating into substantive change toward policies capable of making a positive impact on the lives of ordinary women. Given the limited success to date in feminizing political parties and getting women elected, it is not surprising that other strategies are also needed for bringing women's interests into the policy-making process. One such strategy is to enter and work directly through the public administration. Democratic transitions, however restricted, represent propitious moments for making interventions because the state is potentially more fluid than at other times. But this space is often limited because of the top-down, elitist nature of the transition. Moreover, the ability of those working on the 'inside' to push for change on a sustained basis depends less on having an institutional space per se, and much more on the relationships with autonomous women's organizations on the 'outside' that they are able to establish and exploit. But it is very often difficult to establish effective inside-outside relationships-popular women's movements and groups, in particular, may feel alienated from the 'women's machineries' in the public administration and from the women who staff these units. They may also deliberately distance themselves from public authorities because of recent experiences of corruption and co-optation. Moreover, the creation and staffing of women's spaces within the state may in itself weaken the women's movements outside the state. Although in some contexts the state has incorporated the participants and the banners of the women's movements, it has been extremely difficult for those on the 'inside' to translate even the watered-down goals of the movement into concrete policies capable of making a positive impact on the lives of female citizens. The efforts to induce change have been patchy and, in the realm of public expenditure decisions, extremely difficult. This is in part due to the lack of effective pressure from an organized women's constituency (noted above) that can articulate a coherent set of issues and priorities for policy attention, and monitor its adoption and implementation by state agencies. It is also due to the disabling environment in which women bureaucrats find themselves. The deliberate attempt to create insulated technocracies, as is currently occurring in some countries and some areas of policy, has serious implications for democratic consolidation. While gender bureaucrats well-versed in economic analytical skills may be able to contribute to what goes on inside insulated technocracies (in ministries of finance, for example), this can hardly substitute for open public debate enabling women's groups and networks, along with other social groups, to scrutinize economic decisions and policies that affect the well-being of their constituents. But women's machineries and women parliamentarians have had more significant impact in some critical areasraising the legitimacy of violence against women as a political issue; enhancing women's awareness of their existing rights through civic education; and facilitating social legislation on highly significant issues such as divorce, child custody, domestic violence, and reproductive health and rights, which address very fundamental aspects of women's oppression. But here again, success in raising these controversial issuesand maybe even legislating for themhas gone hand in hand with a failure of the state (the judiciary and the police, in particular) to guarantee such important individual civil rights across national territories and for all social strata. One cross-cutting concern in the post-transition period is that the national women's movements have been stripped of their most competent cadres, as leaders and key organizers have been drawn into the new state institutions representing gender issues, into political parties and into parliament. Another common concern is the 'NGO-ization' of women's movements, especially through donor-driven, poverty alleviation programmes. Together, it seems, they have contributed to the weakening of both national women's movements and the cross-class alliances that some had managed to forge. The formalization provoked by the proliferation of NGOs and the competition for funds has several problematic implications. Self-reliance and self-help, which characterize this model of social provisioning, can be euphemisms for reliance on the unpaid work of women (who are recruited by NGOs in voluntary and secondary positions). Moreover, politically these projects seem to have taken away the advocacy and campaigning element of local participation. The perennial issue of feminist autonomy continues to preoccupy members of women's movements-whether 'in' or 'out' of the mainstream institutions. Given the dangers of co-optation by the state or party in power, there is a distinct need for maintaining some autonomous space for interest articulation and aggregation. But at the same time, by taking an autonomous path, women's groups and movements also run the risk of becoming politically isolated-hence the need for a politics of engagement with the mainstream. Ultimately, the long-term viability and effectiveness of the women's movement depends on its ability to work at different levels and in different arenas-both 'inside' and 'outside' the mainstream-forging strategic insider-outsider alliances. This message is sometimes lost on advocates of 'mainstreaming' who see the process of institutional change as a purely technocratic exercise of tinkering with institutions in a political vacuum. To be effective and sustainable, the two sets of strategies need to go hand in hand.

Call for Papers for a Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, on September 11–13, 2024. Deadline: April 10, 2024