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Patterns of democracy : government forms and performance in thirty-six countries
In this updated and expanded edition of his classic text, Arend Lijphart offers a broader and deeper analysis of worldwide democratic institutions than ever before. Examining thirty-six democracies during the period from 1945 to 2010, Lijphart arrives at important - and unexpected - conclusions about what type of democracy works best. Summary reprinted by permission of Yale University Press
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TIES OF BLOOD, RIVERS OF BLOOD
Nevertheless, most studies of ethnic strife have confined themselves to one or a few cases, and virtually nobody has had the ambition and courage to treat it as a general occurrence. Notable exceptions are Pierre L. van den Berghe's ''Ethnic Phenomenon'' (1981) and now [Donald L. Horowitz]'s admirable ''Ethnic Groups in Conflict.'' Mr. Horowitz announces in his preface that his ''primary focus is on Asia and Africa, with secondary attention to the Middle East and Caribbean,'' but he also touches on a large number of European, North American and South American cases of ethnic conflict - in Belgium, Northern Ireland, Canada and Colombia. To a large extent, Mr. Horowitz's policy recommendations parallel and strengthen those formulated by political scientists, myself included, of the consociational school (which argues for interethnic power sharing, cultural autonomy and proportionality as means of managing ethnic conflicts). He rejects the ''radical surgery'' of partition not as a matter of principle but because there are more attractive, less radical possibilities. His positive advice is to apply the structural techniques of federalism and electoral engineering, especially the use of proportional representation, as well as several types of preferential policies to aid disadvantaged ethnic groups. I agree, though, with the general tenor of Mr. Horowitz's arguments: ''The principal impediments to democracy [and peace] in severely divided societies do not derive from deficiencies of knowledge.'' If violence continues or intensifies in places like Lebanon, South Africa and Northern Ireland, a failure of political will must be blamed for it, not the absence of peaceful and democratic alternatives.
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