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This book provides an introduction to theory and research on democracy and democratization. From this foundation, it elucidates a systematic framework to conceptualize democracy for comparative study.
This book explains why several democracies during the period between the two world wars broke down and others survived, and examines the extent to which present-day democracies are fragile in the face of crises.
Through critical analysis of key concepts and measures of the rule of law, this book shows that the choice of definitions and measures affects descriptive and explanatory findings about nomocracy. It argues a constitutionalist legacy from centuries ago explains why European civilizations display higher adherence to rule of law than other countries.
A short but engaging look at democracy: what it is, how it compares to other forms of rule, and why it makes a difference. What is democracy? And even if it can be defined, can true democracy ever be achieved? Without a definition, dictators can pose as democrats and the oppressed can see despotism as the answer to their prayers. But true democracy, author Svend-Erik Skaaning argues, will not automatically solve the world's problems. It is contentious and unfair, even as it keeps tyrants at bay. In Democracy, Skaaning defines democracy, charts its rise, revival, and resurgence across history and nations, and discusses when democracy has made a difference—and when and why it has failed. Reflections In Reflections, a series copublished with Denmark's Aarhus University Press, scholars deliver 60-page reflections on a key concept that encapsulates their years of study and research. These books present unique insights on a wide range of topics and concepts—everything from love, trust, and play to corruption, welfare, and sleep—that entertain and enlighten readers with exciting discoveries and new perspectives.
This book examines theoretical and empirical approaches to measuring, defining and understanding democracy, and brings together the conceptual and theoretical writings of Joseph Schumpeter, Robert A. Dahl, Guillermo O’Donnell, and T. H. Marshal.
Varieties of Democracy is the essential user's guide to The Varieties of Democracy project (V-Dem), one of the most ambitious data collection efforts in comparative politics. This global research collaboration sparked a dramatic change in how we study the nature, causes, and consequences of democracy. This book is ambitious in scope: more than a reference guide, it raises standards for causal inferences in democratization research and introduces new, measurable, concepts of democracy and many political institutions. Varieties of Democracy enables anyone interested in democracy - teachers, students, journalists, activists, researchers and others - to analyze V-Dem data in new and exciting ways. This book creates opportunities for V-Dem data to be used in education, research, news analysis, advocacy, policy work, and elsewhere. V-Dem is rapidly becoming the preferred source for democracy data.
Exploring and updating the controversial debates about the relationship between democracy and development, this Research Handbook provides clarification on the complex and nuanced interlinkages between political regime type and socio-economic development. Distinguished scholars examine a broad range of issues from multidisciplinary perspectives across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.
The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy offers a powerful criticism of the inconsistencies of representative democracy. Described both as "the Hobbes of our age" and as "the philosophical godfather of Nazism," Carl Schmitt was a brilliant and controversial political theorist whose doctrine of political leadership and critique of liberal democratic ideals distinguish him as one of the most original contributors to modern political theory. The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy offers a powerful criticism of the inconsistencies of representative democracy. First published in 1923, it has often been viewed as an attempt to destroy parliamentarism; in fact, it was Schmitt's attempt to defend the Weimar constitution. The introduction to this new translation places the book in proper historical context and provides a useful guide to several aspects of Weimar political culture. The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy is included in the series Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought, edited by Thomas McCarthy.
Democratization since the implosion of the communist bloc displays a mixed balance. While the neo-democracies in Central Eastern European Countries can be seen as largely consolidated, many other processes of democratization in other parts of the world such as Africa, Asia and Latin America got stuck as unconsolidated or became defective democracies, some ‘regressed’ into hybrid regimes or were even turned into autocracies. While transitology dealt with the transition from authoritarian rule, the reverse process, the transition from democratic rule, remained almost completely outside the scholarly attention. This special issue will address the problems of the regression of democracy and aims at closing the gap between research on democracy and democratization on one side and the emergence of authoritarian regimes on the other. The contributions of this volume analyse the different phenomena in which decline of democracy fans out: the loss of quality, which means a silent regression; the backslide into hybrid regimes (hybridization); and the breakdown of democracy.
Why did democratization suffer reversal during the interwar years, while fascism and authoritarianism spread across many European countries?