From Liberal Values to Democratic Transition PDF Download

Author: J nos Kis
Publisher: Central European University Press
ISBN: 9639241776
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
The book contains twelve essays by Stephen Holmes, Frances M. Kamm, Maria Ludassy, Steven Lukes, Gyorgy Markus, Andras Sajo, Gaspar Miklos Tamas, Andrew Arato, Timothy Garton Ash, Bela Greskovits, Will Kymlicka, and Aleksander Smolar. The studies explore a wide scope of subjects that belong to disciplines ranging from moral philosophy, through theory of human rights, democratic transition, constitutionalism, to political economy. The common denominator of the studies collected is their reference to the scholarly output of Janos Kis, in honor of his sixtieth birthday. Janos Kis is a distinguished political philosopher who, after many years spent as a dissident under the Communist regime, emerged as an important political figure in Hungary's transition to democracy. Currently he is University Professor of Philosophy at Central European University, Budapest."

Author: Sabrina P. Ramet
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 1585445878
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
With the fall of communism and the breakup of Yugoslavia, the successor states have faced a historic challenge to create separate, modern democracies from the ashes of the former authoritarian state. Central to the Croatian experience has been the issue of nationalism and whether the Croatian state should be defined as a citizens’ state (with members of all nationality groups treated as equal) or as a national state of the Croats (with a consequent privileging of Croatian culture and language, but also with a quota system for members of national minorities). Sabrina P. Ramet and Davorka Mati´c have gathered here a series of studies by important scholars to examine the development of Croatia in the aftermath of communism and the war that marred the transition. Sixteen scholars of the region discuss the values and institutions central to Croatia’s transformation from communism and toward liberal democracy. They discuss economic change, political parties, and the uses of history since 1989. To understand the patterns in Croatia, they examine how civic values have been expressed, reinforced, and sometimes challenged through religion, education, and the media. The implications of nationalism in its various manifestations are treated thematically in all the analyses. This book is a companion volume to a similar study on Slovenia, edited by Sabrina P. Ramet and Danica Fink-Hafner and released in fall 2006. Together, these two works form an important case study in comparison and contrast between two countries in the same region going through the transition from communism to liberal democracy. Scholars and policy makers will find a wealth of material in these two volumes.

Author: Ted Piccone
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815725787
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
Shifting power balances in the world are shaking the foundations of the liberal international order and revealing new fault lines at the intersection of human rights and international security. Will these new global trends help or hinder the world's long struggle for human rights and democracy? The answer depends on the role of five rising democracies—India, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, and Indonesia—as both examples and supporters of liberal ideas and practices. Ted Piccone analyzes the transitions of these five democracies as their stars rise on the international stage. While they offer important and mainly positive examples of the compatibility of political liberties, economic growth, and human development, their foreign policies swing between interest-based strategic autonomy and a principled concern for democratic progress and human rights. In a multipolar world, the fate of the liberal international order depends on how they reconcile these tendencies.

Author: Noel O'Sullivan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135359040
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
During the past two decades there has been increasing dissatisfaction with established political categories, on the grounds that they no longer fit many of the facts of contemporary life, or adequately express many contemporary political ideals. Political Theory in Transition explores the principal reasons for this dissatisfaction and outlines some of the most influential responses to it. Key features of this textbook: * covers many of the important areas in political theory including: Communitarianism; Identity; Feminism; Liberalism; Citizenship; Democracy; Power; Authority; Legitimacy; Nationalism; Globalization; and the Environment * includes chapters written by some of the foremost authorities in the field of political theory * divided into four useful sections, beginning with the concept of the individual, and progressing to beyond the nation-state.

Author: Samuel P. Huntington
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806186046
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
Between 1974 and 1990 more than thirty countries in southern Europe, Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe shifted from authoritarian to democratic systems of government. This global democratic revolution is probably the most important political trend in the late twentieth century. In The Third Wave, Samuel P. Huntington analyzes the causes and nature of these democratic transitions, evaluates the prospects for stability of the new democracies, and explores the possibility of more countries becoming democratic. The recent transitions, he argues, are the third major wave of democratization in the modem world. Each of the two previous waves was followed by a reverse wave in which some countries shifted back to authoritarian government. Using concrete examples, empirical evidence, and insightful analysis, Huntington provides neither a theory nor a history of the third wave, but an explanation of why and how it occurred. Factors responsible for the democratic trend include the legitimacy dilemmas of authoritarian regimes; economic and social development; the changed role of the Catholic Church; the impact of the United States, the European Community, and the Soviet Union; and the "snowballing" phenomenon: change in one country stimulating change in others. Five key elite groups within and outside the nondemocratic regime played roles in shaping the various ways democratization occurred. Compromise was key to all democratizations, and elections and nonviolent tactics also were central. New democracies must deal with the "torturer problem" and the "praetorian problem" and attempt to develop democratic values and processes. Disillusionment with democracy, Huntington argues, is necessary to consolidating democracy. He concludes the book with an analysis of the political, economic, and cultural factors that will decide whether or not the third wave continues. Several "Guidelines for Democratizers" offer specific, practical suggestions for initiating and carrying out reform. Huntington's emphasis on practical application makes this book a valuable tool for anyone engaged in the democratization process. At this volatile time in history, Huntington's assessment of the processes of democratization is indispensable to understanding the future of democracy in the world.

Author: Sabrina P. Ramet
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 1585445258
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
The first of the Yugoslav successor states to successfully build a democratic system and to enter the European Union, Slovenia stands as a model for democratic transition. This ground-breaking volume analyzes the challenges confronting the post-Communist government and evaluates the strategies adopted in refashioning its value system. Sabrina P. Ramet and Danica Fink-Hafner have assembled a team of outstanding specialists to analyze various aspects of the country’s transformation from socialism to democracy. The editors note that while a great deal has been written on political and economic questions, relatively little attention has been paid to the transformation and transmission of values and norms in Eastern Europe over the past fifteen years. Slovenia’s experience, reflected in these pages, demonstrates how a small country has created the preconditions necessary to the construction of a civic, democratic culture. Six values are emphasized as central to this project: tolerance, equality, church-state separation, respect for democratic procedure and the rule of law, human rights, and civic-mindedness. The volume editors join the other contributors in discussing the way in which Slovenia has set out to build democracy, the ways in which values are transmitted, the role of the media in a free society, the structure of educational systems, and other questions which are of concern not just to Slovenes, but to everyone who aspires to live in an open, democratic society.

Author: Peter Burnell
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351522787
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
In Democratization through the Looking-Glass, Peter Burnell provides a revealing image of how our knowledge and understanding of democratization could be improved by viewing the topic through a more multi- disciplinary lens and from the perspective of more broadly based comparative analyses. Burnell and his contributors encourage readers to both "look and think outside of the box," beyond the limited parameters that usually shape the study of democratization. The goal of Democratization through the Looking-Glass is to pursue a more comprehensive understanding of democratization as a process taking many forms rather than just as a political phenomenon. With a viewpoint from a wider multi-disciplinary stance, and broader global geopolitical knowledge base, the contributors hope to get readers to better recognize and address gaps in the political science literature on the subject of democratization. The contributors seek to do this by specifically: explaining what democratization is while also making sense of the wide variety of experiences undergone by different societies at different times going through this very process; anticipating the wider effects of democratization's consequences for all human conditions at all levels; and critically assessing strategies for extending and deepening democracy by improving its positive qualities and chances of being sustained in societies into which it is introduced. This volume takes readers in the direction of predicting and foretelling the future of democracy and democratization with greater accuracy. In all, Democratization through the Looking-Glass provides a wide-ranging review of themes, issues, and topics concisely written by leading experts in their fields while advancing its case for more inclusive comparative studies covering Europe and North America, as well as developing regions, showing precisely how multi-disciplinary approaches enhance a global vision and understanding of democratization.

Author: Kasey McCall-Smith
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1789909899
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
This timely book explores the extent to which national security has affected the intersection between human rights and the exercise of state power. It examines how liberal democracies, long viewed as the proponents and protectors of human rights, have transformed their use of human rights on the global stage, externalizing their own internal agendas.

Author: Ronald Dworkin
Publisher: Central European University Press
ISBN: 6155211116
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
The book contains twelve essays by Stephen Holmes, Frances M. Kamm, Mária Ludassy, Steven Lukes, Gyorgy Markus, András Sajó, Gáspár Miklós Tamás, Andrew Arato, Timothy Garton Ash, Béla Greskovits, Will Kymlicka, and Aleksander Smolar. The studies explore a wide scope of subjects that belong to disciplines ranging from moral philosophy, through theory of human rights, democratic transition, constitutionalism, to political economy. The common denominator of the studies collected is their reference to the scholarly output of János Kis, in honor of his sixtieth birthday. János Kis is a distinguished political philosopher who, after many years spent as a dissident under the Communist regime, emerged as an important political figure in Hungary's transition to democracy. Currently he is University Professor of Philosophy at Central European University, Budapest.

Author: Yin-wah Chu
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136991093
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
This collection brings us up-to-date on the contemporary situations in the new democracies of East Asia, and debates on the prospect of introducing liberal democracy to this part of the world. The chapters cover a wide range of cases, including in-depth examination of China, Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, and broad comparisons of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and other countries. The contributors, who are foremost experts in their fields, examine the roles performed by civil society, social classes, and strategic groups, as well as the intertwining of values and interests in the transition to, consolidation of, and reversal from democracy. They also evaluate the extent to which these new democracies have facilitated regional peace, helped extend social welfare benefits, bolstered poverty alleviation, and upheld the rule of law and human rights. Grounding their analyses in the historical development of these societies, and/or examining them through the comparative strategy they also explore the desirability of liberal democracy, whether in the subjective assessment of the Asian people or in relation to the social-political challenges faced by these Asian countries. East Asia’s New Democracies will be of interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, political science, political sociology, East and Southeast Asian studies.