The Meaning of Democracy and the Vulnerability of Democracies PDF Download

Author: Vincent Ostrom
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 9780472084562
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 358

View

Book Description
Considers the social requirements for a thriving democracy

Author:
Publisher: punctum books
ISBN: 1685710808
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 479

View

Book Description
A worldwide struggle between democracy and authoritarianism set against a backdrop of global surveillance capitalism is unmistakable. Examples range from Myanmar, China, and the Philippines to Hungary, Turkey, Russia, and the United States. Fascism, Vulnerability, and the Escape from Freedom offers a multidisciplinary analysis drawing on psychology and literature to provide readers with a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that drive people to abandon democracy in favor of vertically organized authoritarianism and even fascism. In a comparative study of texts selected for their insights and occasional blind spots regarding fascist experiments of the past 100 years, Delogu examines fascism’s exploitation of fear (of change, loss, and death), disruption, and extreme inequality. The book offers an accessible and persuasive argument linking fascist authoritarianism, also called “right-wing populism,” to certain underlying conditions, such as a rise in us-versus-them thinking; distrust or simple apathy regarding democratic institutions, norms, and results; the vulnerabilities that result from extreme inequality (economic, social, racial); and addictions and codependency. Stressful events, such as a pandemic, an environmental disaster, or deep recession aggravate these harmful factors and make the fascist temptation, including the use of violence, almost irresistible. Delogu’s distinctive examination of texts that plumb the unconscious reveal linkages between actions and unavowable motives that purely historical and theoretical studies of fascism leave out. Erich Fromm’s neglected 1941 classic Escape from Freedom serves as a key reference in Delogu’s study, as does Robert Paxton’s authoritative history, The Anatomy of Fascism (2004). After underscoring the argument and urgent context around these two studies (Hitler’s Germany and George W. Bush’s post-9/11 America), Delogu examines novels, a diary, memoirs, and manifestos to show how vulnerability forces individuals to choose between exclusionary fascist authoritarianism and inclusive, collaborative democracy.

Author: Vincent Ostrom
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 324

View

Book Description

Author: Azar Gat
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 9781442201156
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 240

View

Book Description
Azar Gat provides a politically and strategically vital understanding of the peculiar strengths and vulnerabilities that liberal democracy brings to the formidable challenges ahead. Arguing that the democratic peace is merely one manifestation of much more sweeping and less recognized pacifist tendencies typical of liberal democracies, Gat offers a panoramic view of their distinctive way in conflict and war.

Author: Rex Van Schalkwyk
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781606935033
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 224

View

Book Description
After the largest bailout in United States history, Rex van Schalkwyk reveals how the duplicitous, arrogant and deluded have redefined the purpose of democracy for their financial and personal gain. With a deceitful political agenda and a compliant media an alliance of money and politics threatens the collapse of democracy and a crushing debt that can never be repaid. Panic for Democracy examines how the financial downfall of the proprietary giants on Wall Street has its origin in the deception routinely practiced by professional politicians. In fifteen meticulously researched and skillfully written chapters van Schalkwyk analyzes the vulnerabilities of society, which lead inevitably to the equivalent vulnerability in the democratic process. Is society not, by its nature, susceptible to political humbug? When, as now, the victims of an institutionalized deception are rendered helpless in the face of an uncomprehended crisis, it is revealed that the supposed remedy is the perpetuation of the same deception that has caused all the trouble. Does the democratic process have the capacity to overcome the unmanageable chaos that the nation's politicians and leaders have created? Has the material society duped its participants into a set of false and insupportable values that are only now being exposed, and that will likely cause greater loss than can be imagined? Panic for Democracy takes an uncompromising look at the destructive role of activist pressure groups and the potential tyranny of their ideologies, and of the resultant establishment, by democratic means, of undemocratic and illiberal institutions of authority. Rex van Schalkwyk has written numerous articles and published two books. He is an advocate and former judge of the Supreme Court of South Africa and is active in commercial enterprises. A student of international finance, he lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Author: Freedom House
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538112035
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1040

View

Book Description
Freedom in the World is the standard-setting comparative assessment of global political rights and civil liberties. The methodology of this survey is derived in large measure from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and these standards are applied to all countries and territories.

Author: Christopher Hobson
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 0748692827
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 264

View

Book Description
Explores democracy's remarkable rise from obscurity to centre stage in contemporary international relations, from the rogue democratic state of 18th Century France to Western pressures for countries throughout the world to democratise.

Author: Graham Smith
Publisher: University of Westminster Press
ISBN: 1914386183
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 200

View

Book Description
Covid-19 has highlighted limitations in our democratic politics – but also lessons for how to deepen our democracy and more effectively respond to future crises. In the face of an emergency, the working assumption all too often is that only a centralised, top-down response is possible. This book exposes the weakness of this assumption, making the case for deeper participation and deliberation in times of crises. During the pandemic, mutual aid and self-help groups have realised unmet needs. And forward-thinking organisations have shown that listening to and working with diverse social groups leads to more inclusive outcomes. Participation and deliberation are not just possible in an emergency. They are valuable, perhaps even indispensable. This book draws together a diverse range of voices of activists, practitioners, policy makers, researchers and writers. Together they make visible the critical role played by participation and deliberation during the pandemic and make the case for enhanced engagement during and beyond emergency contexts. Another, more democratic world can be realised in the face of a crisis. The contributors to this book offer us meaningful insights into what this could look like.

Author: Vincent Ostrom
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
ISBN: 0817304185
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 229

View

Book Description
This revised and expanded third edition extends Ostrom's analysis to account for the most resent developments in American politics, including those of the Clinton and Bush administrations.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 9780309059299
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 534

View

Book Description
This ground-breaking new volume focuses on the interaction between political, social, and economic change in Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States. It includes a wide selection of analytic papers, thought-provoking essays by leading scholars in diverse fields, and an agenda for future research. It integrates work on the micro and macro levels of the economy and provides a broad overview of the transition process. This volume broadens the current intellectual and policy debate concerning the historic transition now taking place from a narrow concern with purely economic factors to the dynamics of political and social change. It questions the assumption that the post-communist economies are all following the same path and that they will inevitably develop into replicas of economies in the advanced industrial West. It challenges accepted thinking and promotes the utilization of new methods and perspectives.