Book

The poisoned chalice of US democracy : studies from the Horn of Africa

Young, John, 1951- author

Overview

\"Western-style democracy is in decline the world over. The US-led international order, which has largely been responsible for pushing Western-style democracy on the rest of the world, is increasingly challenged by China, Russia, and the former US client-states in the Middle East. To understand why this is happening and where we can go from here, it makes sense to look to the Global South, where Western-style democracy has never developed strong roots, and where alternative models have already begun to emerge. Drawing on decades of personal, on-the-ground experience as well as on extensive research, renowned investigative journalist John Young offers a groundbreaking new account of this history and these emerging alternatives. Focusing on the countries in which his expertise is most authoritative-Ethiopia, Sudan, and South Sudan-Young shows how Western democracy repeatedly, inevitably fails not because of flaws in its political model, but rather because of flaws in its development model. Its exclusive focus on the supremacy of market capitalism, Young demonstrates, necessarily entails a loss of national sovereignty and a truncated notion of human rights that leaves little room for citizens' engagement or socio-economic justice. Such blind-spots and shortcomings account for much of the struggle and conflict that have plagued the Horn of Africa since the 1970s, they reverberate throughout similar developments across the Global South, and they are what have refocused new and innovative grassroots struggles to overcome national oppression, end unequal development, and raise living standards. For its rich first-hand accounts of grassroots social and economic developments in the Horn of Africa, and for its theoretical rigor in extrapolating the lessons of those developments to interactions between Western market-democracy and democracy in the Global South, this book is a must-read for researchers and students interested in development studies, international political economy, African studies, and politics and international relations\"-- Provided by publisher.

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Subject: Democracy Horn of Africa Case studies. / Democracy Economic aspects Horn of Africa. / Economic policy Political aspects Horn of Africa. / Horn of Africa Politics and government 20th century. / Horn of Africa Politics and government 21st century.
• ISBN: 9781350374591, 9781350374584

Item info:

1 item available

1 item total in all locations

Holdings :

Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
DT367.8 .Y68 2024	1	BOOK	CATALOGING