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"Democracy Cross-cultural studies."
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Democracy, Intermediation, and Voting on Four Continents
This book presents the results of systematic comparative analyses of electoral behaviour and support for democracy in thirteen countries on four continents. It is based on national election surveys held in ‘old’ and ‘new’ democracies in Europe (Germany, Britain, Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Bulgaria), North and South America (the United States, Chile and Uruguay), and Asia (Hong Kong) between 1990 and 2004. The book's core concern is ‘political intermediation’ (i.e. the flow of political information from parties and candidates to voters through the mass media, membership in secondary associations, and face-to-face contacts within interpersonal networks), which was first introduced to the study of electoral behaviour by Paul Lazarsfeld and his collaborators in the 1940s. In addition to reviving that long-neglected analytical framework, this book explores the impact of socio-political values on electoral behaviour. It also analyzes the role of political intermediation in forming basic attitudes towards democracy (which are crucial for the consolidation of new democracies) and, in turn, channelling those orientations into various forms of political behaviour. Some of the findings presented in this book are dramatic, and clearly reveal that these channels of information are among the most powerful factors influencing the development of political attitudes and partisan electoral behaviour. So, too, are socio-political values in some countries (particularly the United States).
eBook
Understanding Tahrir Square
Amid the current turmoil in the Middle East,Understanding Tahrir Squaresounds a rare optimistic note. Surveying countries in other parts of the world during their transitions to democracy, author Stephen Grand argues that the long-term prospects in many parts of the Arab world are actually quite positive. If the current polarization and political violence in the region can be overcome, democracy will eventually take root. The key to this change will likely be ordinary citizens-foremost among them the young protestors of the Arab Spring who have filled the region's public spaces-most famously, Egypt's Tahrir Square.
The book puts the Arab Spring in comparative perspective. It reveals how globalization and other changes are upending the expectations of citizens everywhere about the relationship between citizen and state. Separate chapters examine the experiences of countries in the former Eastern bloc, in the Muslim-majority states of Asia, in Latin America, and in Sub-Saharan Africa during the recent Third Wave of democratization. What these cases show is that, at the end of the day, democracy requires democrats.
Many complex factors go into making a democracy successful, such as the caliber of its political leaders, the quality of its constitution, and the design of its political institutions. But unless there is clear public demand for new institutions to function as intended, political leaders are unlikely to abide by the limits those institutions impose. If American policymakers want to support the brave activists struggling to bring democracy to the Arab world, helping them cultivate an effective political constituency for democracy-in essence, growing the Tahrir Square base-should be the lodestar of U.S. assistance.
eBook
Unequal political participation worldwide
\"Political equality is an essential political ideal and it is the cornerstone of moral justifications of democracy. Most people would agree with the proposition that the interests and preferences of each citizen must be given equal consideration in the political process because no person is intrinsically superior to others in ways that can justify preferential consideration. A second premise is that each person is the best judge of her own interests and preferences and is capable of expressing them, hence ruling out an enlightened ruler as the best interpreter of citizens' preferences. Taken together, these two claims provide a powerful case for democracy. Only in electoral democracies can all citizens, in principle, have an equal influence in the political process(Dahl 1971, 2008; Przeworski 2010)\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
The Making and Unmaking of DEMOCRACY
First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Theodore K. Rabb is Professor of History at Princeton University. He is the founder and coeditor of The Journal of Inter-Disciplinary History He the author or editor of more than a dozen books and contributes book reviews to the TLS, The New York Review of Books, Commentary, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. He is the founder and coeditor of The Journal of Inter-Disciplinary History and has served as an advisor for numerous PBS documentaries. Ezra N. Suleiman is IBM Professor in International Studies and Professor of Politics at Princeton University, where he also directs the Committee for European Studies. He serves on the editorial committee of Comparative Politics, and is the author of twelve books.
eBook
We decide! : theories and cases in participatory democracy
Participatory democracy calls for the creation and proliferation of practices and institutions that enable individuals and groups to better determine the conditions in which they act and relate to others. Michael Menser's timely book We Decide! is arguably the most comprehensive treatment of participatory democracy. He explains the three waves of participatory democracy theory to show that this movement is attentive to the mechanics of contemporary political practices. Menser also outlines \"maximal democracy,\" his own view of participatory democracy that expands people's abilities to shape their own lives, reduce inequality, and promote solidarity.
We Decide! draws on liberal, feminist, anarchist, and environmental justice philosophies as well as in-depth case studies of Spanish factory workers, Japanese housewives, and Brazilian socialists to show that participatory democracy actually works. Menser concludes his study by presenting a reconstructed version of the state that is shaped not by corporations but by inclusive communities driven by municipal workers, elected officials, and ordinary citizens working together. In this era of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, the participatory democracy proposed in We Decide! is more significant than ever.
eBook
Education for Civic and Political Participation
Participation as an element of active citizenship in democracies is a key project of international and national educational policy. Institutionalized approaches for compulsory schools provide participatory access to all young European citizens. But does this picture depict the possibilities and practices of participation appropriately? Can this standard approach to participation be translated into action in view of diverse polities, policies, political cultures, institutions and practices of participation? This book explores what prerequisites must be given for a successful implementation of such a comprehensive international project.
eBook