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The last fifteen years have witnessed a "democratic recession." Democracies previously thought to be well-established--Hungary, Poland, Brazil, and even the United States--have been threatened by the rise of ultra-nationalist and populist leaders who pay lip-service to the will of the people while daily undermining the freedom and pluralism that are the foundations of democratic governance. The possibility of democratic collapse where we least expected it has added new urgency to the age-old inquiry into how democracy, once attained, can be made to last. In Democracy in Hard Places, Scott Mainwaring and Tarek Masoud bring together a distinguished cast of contributors to illustrate how democr...
Building upon the growing body of scholarship on the factors and actors that influence the extent to which states implement human rights law, this cutting-edge Research Handbook takes an interdisciplinary approach to exploring the roles of actors within supranational human rights bodies, the decisions and judgements they make, and the tools they use to facilitate human rights implementation.
In the context of the global decline of democracy, The Authoritarian Divide analyzes the tactics that populist leaders in Turkey, Venezuela, and Ecuador have used to polarize their countries. Political polarization is traditionally viewed as the result of competing left/right ideologies. In The Authoritarian Divide, Orçun Selçuk argues that, regardless of ideology, polarization is driven by dominant populist leaders who deliberately divide constituents by cultivating a dichotomy of inclusion and exclusion. This practice, known as affective leader polarization, stymies compromise and undermines the democratic process. Drawing on multiple qualitative and quantitative methodologies for support, as well as content from propaganda media such as public speeches, Muhtar Meetings, Aló Presidente, and Enlace Ciudadano, Selçuk details and analyzes the tactics used by three well-known populist leaders to fuel affective leader polarization: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, and Rafael Correa in Ecuador. Selçuk’s work provides a rubric for a better understanding of—and potential defense against—the rise in polarizing populism across the globe.
Looking at eight case studies of Asian democracies, the contributors to this volume analyze the role of political parties in stabilizing and institutionalizing democracies. How have democracies such as Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines survived against the odds, despite struggling economic performance and highly unequal distribution of income? How have formerly authoritarian regimes in places like South Korea and Taiwan evolved into stable democracies? The contributors to this volume examine these case studies, along with Mongolia, Malaysia, and India, arguing that the common element is the extent to which political parties, including opposition parties, have become institutionalized...
When governments of countries involved in territorial or maritime disputes choose to pursue peaceful resolution, there is great uncertainty about whether they can resolve the disputes in their favor. Governments need to decide which path to take in peaceful resolution--bilateral negotiations, mediation, arbitration, or adjudication. The authors argue that two major factors can influence this decision--past experience with specific resolution methods and the relationship between domestic and international law for the countries involved in the disputes. Governments also need to reduce uncertainty about winning and losing by framing their claims in certain ways and shaping the procedures of the resolution process to garner more control with the process.
"The volume analyses the rise of modern taxation around the world from the late eighteenth century to today. It is based on a new 'Tax Introduction Dataset' that records the historical dates of first adoption of six key taxes of the modern state in 220 countries worldwide, 1750-2018. The taxes include personal and corporate income tax, inheritance tax, social security contributions, as well as general sales taxes and VAT. Based on these data, the chapters map the diffusion of modern taxation across space, time, tax, and mode of tax adoption (sovereign or colonial). They explore the applicability of Western theories of fiscal development to non-Western contexts. They highlight the role of colonial tax introductions for fiscal development and state formation in Africa and Asia. And they compare the correlates of tax introduction across time and across different types of tax"--Publisher's description.
The arrival of democracy and globalization was a watershed moment for Latin America. It produced a changing political and economic environment, where democracy provided challengers with expanding political opportunities but globalization precipitated economic threats to livelihoods and human welfare. This changing environment removed the state from modes of political representation, such as urban labor movements and their affiliated mass-party organizations, while unleashing more pluralistic, heterogenous, and decentralized patterns of popular representation. Reducing its role in production, the state became mostly a regulator of economic activities. Arce and Wada's volume examines the conse...
In The Pitfalls of Family Rule, Barbara Junisbai questions the conceptual divide separating democracy from nondemocracy as well as that separating "strong" authoritarian rulers from "weak" ones. Focusing on patronage, endemic to post-Soviet Eurasia but also present the world over, she untangles the spoils agreements that bind elites to strongman presidents. Incorporating multiple case studies, including an in-depth investigation into Kazakhstan over the span of twenty plus years, Junisbai demonstrates the power of institutional norms to hold seemingly unconstrainable rulers accountable in surprising and unexpected ways. "Strong" autocrats can stumble even when they set in place robust, pro-presidential institutions, while "weak" autocrats can endure by upholding normative contracts that elites perceive as fair and just. An important lesson emerges from The Pitfalls of Family Rule: not even the most personalist of regimes functions free of rules. The institutions over which autocrats claim control also lay claim over them.
This topical textbook outlines conflict, crisis, and war as central challenges in the international security arena, exploring their history, evolution, nature, dynamics, and trends. Patrick James and James M. Scott discuss the major approaches to analysing conflict, crisis, and war and identify the key avenues for managing them.
This collection examines the difficult task of reforming governments worldwide to meet citizens’ needs and aspirations. It advances constructive efforts to enhance public accountability while recognizing the complex ways in which corruption, greed, and state capture undermine the legitimacy and performance of government. The contributors are political scientists, lawyers, and economists who bring a cross-disciplinary approach to their chosen subjects. The first group of chapters deals with public sector performance, development, and public participation. Complementary pieces by a practitioner and a scholar confront the challenges of achieving reform in countries with difficult political en...