Compound Democracies

Author : Sergio Fabbrini
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2010-08-19
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780191614187

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Compound Democracies by Sergio Fabbrini Pdf

This is a major new comparison of the American and European political systems. By deploying a powerful new model to analyse the two systems it draws some challenging conclusions about their increasing similarity. Professor Fabbrini argues that the process of regional integration in Europe over the last 60 years, has significantly reduced the historical differences between the democracies on either side of the Atlantic. The EU and the US are now similar because they represent two different species of the same political genus: the compound democracy. The defining feature of compound democracy is the union of states and their citizens. Through such union, the states agree to pool their sovereignty within a larger integrated supra-state or supranational framework. They do so because these unions are primarily pacts for avoiding war. Because the states which made those unions were, and continue to be, asymmetrically correlated, any attempt to create a unified polity - that is a political system where the decision-making power is monopolized by only one institution - is likely to fail. He goes on to argue that the US and the EU are based on a multiple diffusion of powers which guarantees that any interest can have a voice in the decision-making process and no majority will be able to control all the institutional levels of the polity. This type of system allows an inter-states organization to operate as a supra-state polity - but it does so at the expense of decision-making capacity and accountability.

Author : Vivien A. Schmidt
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2006-10-20
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780191532962

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Democracy in Europe by Vivien A. Schmidt Pdf

Democracy in Europe is about the impact of European integration on national democracies. It argues that the oft-cited democratic deficit is indeed a problem, but not so much at the level of the European Union per se as at the national level. This is because national leaders and publics have yet to come to terms with the institutional impact of the EU on the traditional workings of their national democracies. The book begins with a discussion of what the EU is-a new form of 'regional state' in which sovereignty is shared, boundaries are variable, identity composite, and democracy fragmented. It then goes on to examine the effects of this on EU member-states' institutions and ideas about democracy, finding that institutional 'fit' matters. The 'compound' EU, in which governing activity is highly dispersed among multiple authorities, is more disruptive to 'simple' polities like Britain and France, where governing activity has traditionally been more concentrated in a single authority, than to similarly 'compound' polities like Germany and Italy. But the book concludes that the real problem for member-states is not so much that their practices have changed as that national ideas and discourse about democracy have not. The failure has been one of the 'communicative' discourse to the general public-which again has been more pronounced for simple polities, despite their potentially greater capacity to communicate through a single voice, than for compound polities, where the 'coordinative' discourse among policy actors predominates.

Author : Vincent Ostrom,Barbara Allen
Publisher : Lexington Books
Page : 315 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2007-11-29
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780739159149

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The Political Theory of a Compound Republic by Vincent Ostrom,Barbara Allen Pdf

The Political Theory of a Compound Republic examines the foundation of American constitutional design expressed in theFederalist. Through meticulous textual analysis, the logical principles of federalism_the extended and compound republic envisioned by James Madison and Alexander Hamilton_are revealed as thirteen propositions broadly applicable to any effort to design the institutions of a self-governing polity. The final chapters, expanded and revised by Vincent Ostrom and Barbara Allen, turn to the American experiment in constitutional choice at the threshold of the twenty-first century. In this revised edition, Ostrom and Allen consider the continuing story of federal institutional development by focusing on two current concerns: the 'imperial presidency' and the ideal of universal human rights. This third, revised and expanded edition of The Political Theory of a Compound Republic continues to be of interest to scholars of federalism, institutional analysis and development, political economy and public choice, and students of the American founding. It is also useful in undergraduate and graduate courses on American government and political thought.

Author : Joseph Lacey
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2017-03-31
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780192517142

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Centripetal Democracy by Joseph Lacey Pdf

Centripetal democracy is the idea that legitimate democratic institutions set in motion forms of citizen practice and representative behaviour that serve as powerful drivers of political identity formation. Partisan modes of political representation in the context of multifaceted electoral and direct democratic voting opportunities are emphasised on this model. There is, however, a strain of thought predominant in political theory that doubts the democratic capacities of political systems constituted by multiple public spheres. This view is referred to as the lingua franca thesis on sustainable democratic systems (LFT). Inadequate democratic institutions and acute demands to divide the political system (through devolution or secession), are predicted by this thesis. By combining an original normative democratic theory with a comparative analysis of how Belgium and Switzerland have variously managed to sustain themselves as multilingual democracies, this book identifies the main institutional features of a democratically legitimate European Union and the conditions required to bring it about. Part One presents a novel theory of democratic legitimacy and political identity formation on which subsequent analyses are based. Part Two defines the EU as a demoi-cracy and provides a thorough democratic assessment of this political system. Part Three explains why Belgium has largely succumbed to the centrifugal logic predicted by the LFT, while Switzerland apparently defies this logic. Part Four presents a model of centripetal democracy for the EU, one that would greatly reduce its democratic deficit and ensure that this political system does not succumb to the centrifugal forces expected by the LFT.

Author : Arthur Benz,Jared Sonnicksen
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Page : 330 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2021-04-07
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781487539498

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Federal Democracies at Work by Arthur Benz,Jared Sonnicksen Pdf

Scholars widely agree that a federal system cannot work effectively without democracy. As a result of the division or sharing of powers between levels of government, there remains considerable uncertainty about how rules or patterns of politics between the executive and legislative branches interact. Combining theoretical analyses and selected case studies, Federal Democracies at Work contributes to our understanding of the complex relations between federalism and democracy. Throughout the volume, contributing authors elaborate and apply an innovative analytical framework to provide greater clarity on the complex relations between federalism and democracy. As a whole, the volume explores how different institutional configurations of federal democracies alleviate or intensify inherent tensions; how actors grapple and cope with the challenge of these complexities; and how structures evolve as a result of rising conflicts and institutional reforms or adjustments. In doing so, Federal Democracies at Work advances research on comparative federalism and works toward a better understanding of how these compound systems work.

Author : Vincent Ostrom
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 274 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 1987
Category : Law
ISBN : UOM:39015018646821

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The Political Theory of a Compound Republic by Vincent Ostrom Pdf

Author : Sergio Fabbrini
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 375 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2015-02-26
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781107103948

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Which European Union? by Sergio Fabbrini Pdf

This book asks how the European Union can tackle the constitutional conundrum caused by the Euro crisis.

Author : Vivien Ann Schmidt
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 346 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : Political Science
ISBN : UOM:39015066827935

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Democracy in Europe by Vivien Ann Schmidt Pdf

Democracy in Europe is about the impact of European integration on national democracies. It argues that the oft-cited democratic deficit is indeed a problem, but not so much at the level of the European Union per se as at the national level. This is because national leaders and publics have yet to come to terms with the institutional impact of the EU on the traditional workings of their national democracies. The book begins with a discussion of what the EU is-a new form of 'regional state' in which sovereignty is shared, boundaries are variable, identity composite, and democracy fragmented. It then goes on to examine the effects of this on EU member-states' institutions and ideas about democracy, finding that institutional 'fit' matters. The 'compound' EU, in which governing activity is highly dispersed among multiple authorities, is more disruptive to 'simple' polities like Britain and France, where governing activity has traditionally been more concentrated in a single authority, than to similarly 'compound' polities like Germany and Italy. But the book concludes that the real problem for member-states is not so much that their practices have changed as that national ideas and discourse about democracy have not. The failure has been one of the 'communicative' discourse to the general public-which again has been more pronounced for simple polities, despite their potentially greater capacity to communicate through a single voice, than for compound polities, where the 'coordinative' discourse among policy actors predominates.

Author : Ferdinand Muller-Rommel,Fernando Casal Bértoa
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 286 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2015-08-11
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781317627074

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Party Politics and Democracy in Europe by Ferdinand Muller-Rommel,Fernando Casal Bértoa Pdf

This edited collection, in honour of the late political scientist Peter Mair, contains original chapters that are directly linked to his theoretical and/or methodological ideas and approaches. Peter Mair demonstrated that political parties have traditionally been central actors in European politics and an essential focus of comparative European political science. Though the nature of political parties and the manner in which they operate has been subject to significant change in recent decades, parties remain a crucial factor in the working of European liberal democracies. This volume analyses recent developments and current challenges that European parties, party systems and democracy face. The volume will be of key interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, democracy studies, political parties, and European politics and European Union studies.

Author : Manuel Alcántara,Jean Blondel,Jean-Louis Thiébault
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 274 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2017-09-07
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781351622707

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Presidents and Democracy in Latin America by Manuel Alcántara,Jean Blondel,Jean-Louis Thiébault Pdf

This new textbook provides students with a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the presidents and presidential leadership in Latin America. Unlike other texts, Presidents and Democracy in Latin America integrates both political analysis and major theoretical perspectives with extensive country-specific material. Part One examines the developments in recent years in Latin American presidentialism and identifies different characteristics of society and politics which have influenced Latin American governments. The personalization of political life and of presidential government help to illustrate the character of Latin American politics, specifically on the type of political career of those who occupied the presidential office, the leadership style of these presidents and the type of government which they led. Part Two studies two presidents in each of six countries in the region which reflect the broad trends in the political and electoral life: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. Each case study first provides the biographical background of the president; it outlines the political career of the president both inside and outside of a party, including at the local level; the popularity of the president at the time of the presidential election is given, as well as the mode of selection of the candidates (selection by party leaders only, by party members or by a primary). The relation of the president with the government or ministers, especially if there is a coalition government, is detailed. This textbook will be essential reading for all students of Latin American Politics and is highly recommended for those studying executive politics, political leadership, and the state of democratic governance in Latin America.

Author : Richard Bellamy,Sandra Kröger
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 176 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2016-04-14
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781317580768

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Representation and Democracy in the EU by Richard Bellamy,Sandra Kröger Pdf

This book explores the various ways in which citizens are represented in EU policy-making. Most accounts naturally focus on the European Parliament as the prime source of democratic representation. This collection focuses instead on four other channels that are as and often more important: namely, representation via governments, national parliaments, civil society organisations and directly, via referenda. Based on original research, the book combines democratic theory with detailed empirical analysis to provide an innovative, timely and up-to-date evaluation of the nature of representation in the EU. Policy advisors, practitioners and those scholars interested in democracy and the European Union will find this volume to be a valuable resource. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration.

Author : Daniel Innerarity
Publisher : Springer
Page : 283 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2018-03-01
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9783319721972

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Democracy in Europe by Daniel Innerarity Pdf

This book calls for a philosophical consideration of the development, challenges and successes of the European Union. The author argues that conceptual innovation is essential if progress on the European project is to be made; new meanings, rather than financial or institutional engineering solutions, will help solve the crisis. By applying a philosophical approach to diagnosing the EU crisis, the book reconsiders the basic concepts of democracy in the context of the complex reality of the EU and the globalised world where profound social and political changes are taking place. It will be of interest to students and scholars interested in EU politics, political theory and philosophy.

Author : Vivien A. Schmidt,Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration and Professor of International Relations Vivien A Schmidt
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 334 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2006-10-19
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780199266975

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Democracy in Europe by Vivien A. Schmidt,Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration and Professor of International Relations Vivien A Schmidt Pdf

This eagerly awaited volume, from a leading scholar on Europeanization, explores the impact of European integration on national democracies. Focusing on the case studies of France, Britain, Italy, and Germany, this is an exciting contribution to work on the implications of European integration for democratic government.

Author : Sanford A. Lakoff
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 388 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 1996
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0813332273

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Democracy by Sanford A. Lakoff Pdf

Written with remarkable erudition and clarity, this is the most comprehensive introduction to democracy available in a single volume. Tocquevillian in its scope and historical-philosophical in its orientation, Democracy traces popular government from its classical origins through the authoritarian and totalitarian backlash of the twentieth century. Unified by the theme of democracy as the expression of the belief in autonomy - communal, plural, and individual - the text examines democratic government and politics in normative, institutional, and procedural terms. Students of the history of political thought will find especially valuable its account of the democratic ideal, from Athenian direct democracy and Roman republicanism to the rise of liberal democracy: Stressing the interplay of theory and practice, Lakoff moves from history to the present by examining modern democracy as "compound autonomy", expressed in voting and electoral systems, federalism, and efforts of democratization around the world. His synthesis leads to the conclusion that although democracy is neither perfect nor inevitable, it is humanity's best hope for free, stable, and peaceful government.

Author : Nelli Babayan
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 221 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2014-08-21
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781317750628

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Democratic Transformation and Obstruction by Nelli Babayan Pdf

Although "democracy promotion" has become a popular term for policy makers and scholars, democratization is rarely a smooth or linear transition. While some countries quickly democratize, others lag behind despite a long period of democracy promotion activities. Furthermore, while democracy promotion itself has been widely studied, there is a paucity of literature available assessing the outcome or the impact of democracy promotion. This book investigates democracy promotion by the European Union and the United States of America, and seeks to uncover why intensive democracy promotion has resulted in limited democratic progress. Exploring case studies of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, this book examines the conditions in which democracy promotion is more likely to result in democratic transformation. In addition, it introduces the concept of the "democracy blocker," a powerful authoritarian regional actor that is capable of blocking democratization in other countries. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Political Science, Democracy, Democratization, EU Studies, US Politics, Comparative Politics, and Foreign Policy.