Going beyond democratic theory, March and Olsen draw on social science to examine how political institutions create and sustain democratic solidarity, identities, capabilities, accounts, and adaptiveness; how they can maintain and elaborate democratic values and beliefs - and how governance might be made honorable, just, and effective. They show how democratic governance is both preactive and r…
C. Douglas Lummis writes as if he were talking with intelligent friends rather than articulating political theory. He reminds us that democracy literally means a political state in which the people (demos) have the power (kratos). The people referred to are not people of a certain class or gender or color. They are, in fact, the poorest and largest body of citizens. Democracy is and always has …
In this compelling book, Fidele Lumeya outlines the history of the crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo, from the Lumumba era, through the reigns of Mobutu and Laurent-Désiré Kabila, to the current struggles for power. He highlights the issues of social and group identity, and focuses on the abhorrent mobilization of child soldiers. Lumeya also comments on peace efforts that have achiev…
In this age of Democracy Victorious, why have the most successful governments disdained the ideals of America's founding fathers in favor of the sometimes cruel efficiency of authoritarianism? Why have thinly disguised dictatorships like Taiwan and Singapore achieved enormous successes, while the West is continually mired in gridlock? Because, Kennon asserts, the world has become so complicated…
A cutting-edge exploration of America's stake in India's ongoing efforts to become a global power depicts the region as the world's fastest-growing center of technology, global economics, and democracy, outlining the challenges facing the country to enable rapid change in environmentally sustainable and politically viable ways.
Reviewing 40 years of hard, empirical data, from China and India to Chile and Iraq, the authors show that poor democracies beat poor autocracies in every economic measure. In addition, the authors offer dramatic evidence that democracies are less likely to fight each other and that terrorists more often find safe haven in authoritarian countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan.
Justice and democracy have alternated as dominant themes in political philosophy over the last fifty years. Since it revival in the middle of the twentieth century, political philosophy has focused on first one and then the other of these two themes. Rarely, however, has it succeeded in holding them in joint focus. This volume attempts to remedy this by bringing together leading authors to cons…
Our main purpose is to encourage a focussed debate and discussion on such issues so that the peoples of South Asia as well as the policy community put them high on their agenda. That step by itself could provide hope for the Individual citizen in South Asia whose quality of life evokes a sense of despair in the region
The Arab Spring: New Patterns for Democracy and International Law explores a number of critical issues brought to the forefront of the international community as a result of the uprisings which began in the Middle East and North Africa in early 2011. Particularly prominent among these are issues concerning the right to democracy within international law, self-determination, recognition of newly…
Is liberal democracy a universal ideal? Proponents of "Asian values" argue that it is a distinctive product of the Western experience and that Western powers shouldn't try to push human rights and democracy onto Asian states. Liberal democrats in the West typically counter by questioning the motives of Asian critics, arguing that Asian leaders are merely trying to rationalize human rights viola…