The Quality Of Democracy

Author : Guillermo O'Donnell,Jorge Vargas Cullell,Osvaldo M. Iazzetta
Publisher : University of Notre Dame Pess
Page : 281 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2016-12-15
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780268160678

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The Quality of Democracy by Guillermo O'Donnell,Jorge Vargas Cullell,Osvaldo M. Iazzetta Pdf

In 1996, Guillermo O’Donnell taught a seminar at the University of Notre Dame on democratic theory. One of the questions explored in this class was whether it is possible to define and determine the “quality” of democracy. Jorge Vargas Cullell, a student in this course, returned to his native country of Costa Rica, formed a small research team, and secured funding for undertaking a “citizen audit” of the quality of democracy in Costa Rica. This pathbreaking volume contains O’Donnell’s qualitative theoretical study of the quality of democracy and Vargas Cullell’s description and analysis of the empirical data he gathered on the quality of democracy in Costa Rica. It also includes twelve short, scholarly reflections on the O’Donnell and Cullell essays. The primary goal of this collection is to present the rationale and methodology for implementing a citizen audit of democracy. This book is an expression of a growing concern among policy experts and academics that the recent emergence of numerous democratic regimes, particularly in Latin America, cannot conceal the sobering fact that the efficacy and impact of these new governments vary widely. These variations, which range from acceptable to dismal, have serious consequences for the people of Latin America, many of whom have received few if any benefits from democratization. Attempts to gauge the quality of particular democracies are therefore not only fascinating intellectual exercises but may also be useful practical guides for improving both old and new democracies. This book will make important strides in addressing the increasing practical and academic concerns about the quality of democracy. It will be required reading for political scientists, policy analysts, and Latin Americanists.

Author : Larry Diamond,Leonardo Morlino
Publisher : JHU Press
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2005-11-25
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0801882869

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Assessing the Quality of Democracy by Larry Diamond,Leonardo Morlino Pdf

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Author : Andreas Bågenholm,Monika Bauhr,Marcia Grimes,Bo Rothstein
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 881 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2021-07-20
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780191899003

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The Oxford Handbook of the Quality of Government by Andreas Bågenholm,Monika Bauhr,Marcia Grimes,Bo Rothstein Pdf

Recent research demonstrates that the quality of public institutions is crucial for a number of important environmental, social, economic, and political outcomes, and thereby human well-being. The Quality of Government (QoG) approach directs attention to issues such as impartiality in the exercise of public power, professionalism in public service delivery, effective measures against corruption, and meritocracy instead of patronage and nepotism. This Handbook offers a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of this rapidly expanding research field and also identifies viable avenues for future research. The initial chapters focus on theoretical approaches and debates, and the central question of how QoG can be measured. A second set of chapters examines the wealth of empirical research on how QoG relates to democratization, social trust and cohesion, ethnic diversity, happiness and human wellbeing, democratic accountability, economic growth and inequality, political legitimacy, environmental sustainability, gender equality, and the outbreak of civil conflicts. The remaining chapters turn to the perennial issue of which contextual factors and policy approaches—national, local, and international—have proven successful (and not so successful) for increasing QoG. The Quality of Government approach both challenges and complements important strands of inquiry in the social sciences. For research about democratization, QoG adds the importance of taking state capacity into account. For economics, the QoG approach shows that in order to produce economic prosperity, markets need to be embedded in institutions with a certain set of qualities. For development studies, QoG emphasizes that issues relating to corruption are integral to understanding development writ large.

Author : DAVID F J. CAMPBELL
Publisher : Palgrave MacMillan
Page : 564 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2019-11-22
Category : Democracy
ISBN : 3030102211

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Global Quality of Democracy as Innovation Enabler by DAVID F J. CAMPBELL Pdf

This book assesses the interconnectedness of democracy and economic development. It concentrates on how to conceptualize and to measure democracy and quality of democracy in global comparison. The author makes the argument that a quality-of-democracy understanding based on sustainable development relates crucially with economic growth, but more so with economic development. The empirical macro-model focuses on approximately over hundred countries (in a world model) and covers about a fourteen-year period of 2002-2015, identifying the following basic dimensions as being relevant for further analysis: freedom, equality, control, sustainable development, and self-organization (political self-organization). Readers will appreciate the global perspective the work offers.

Author : Seymour Martin Lipset,Jason M. Lakin
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
Page : 494 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0806136189

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The Democratic Century by Seymour Martin Lipset,Jason M. Lakin Pdf

In this study on democracy and democratic systems, two scholars offer an expansive view of democratic systems and explain why democracy has succeeded in some countries and has failed in others.

Author : Diego Abente Brun,Larry Diamond
Publisher : JHU Press
Page : 284 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2014-03
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781421412290

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Clientelism, Social Policy, and the Quality of Democracy by Diego Abente Brun,Larry Diamond Pdf

Abente Brun and Diamond invited some of the best social scientists in the field to systematically explore how political clientelism works and evolves in the context of modern developing democracies, with particular reference to social policies aimed at reducing poverty. Clientelism, Social Policy, and the Quality of Democracy is balanced between a section devoted to understanding clientelism's infamous effects and history in Latin America and a section that draws out implications for other regions, specifically Africa, Southeast Asia, and Eastern and Central Europe.

Author : Luca Tomini,Giulia Sandri
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2018-05-08
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781351209496

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Challenges of Democracy in the 21st Century by Luca Tomini,Giulia Sandri Pdf

The effectiveness and capacity of survival of democratic regimes has been recently and widely questioned in the public and political debate. Both democratic institutions and political actors are increasingly confronted with rapid economic and societal transformations that, at least according to some observers and commentators, they not seem to be ready or equipped to manage effectively. This book evaluates and challenges recent scholarly literature on the quality of democracy. It provides a critical assessment of the current state of the studies on the subject, identifying the key questions and discussing open issues, alternative approaches, problems and future developments. Bringing together some of the most prominent and distinguished scholars who have developed and discussed the topic of the quality of democracy during the last decade, it deals with a highly relevant topic in political science and extremely sensitive subject for our democratic societies. This text will be of key interest to scholars of democracy and democratization and more broadly to comparative politics, electoral studies, political theory, power and comparative political institutions.

Author : Larry Diamond
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 471 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2015-07-16
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781317411369

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In Search of Democracy by Larry Diamond Pdf

This book evaluates the global status and prospects of democracy, with an emphasis on the quality of democratic institutions and the effectiveness of governance as key conditions for stable democracy. Bringing together a wide range of the author’s work over the past three decades, it advances a framework for assessing the quality of democracy and it analyzes alternative measures of democracy. Drawing on the most recent data from Freedom House, it assesses the global state of democracy and freedom, as of the beginning of 2015, and it explains why the world has been experiencing a mild but now deepening recession of democracy and freedom since 2005. A major theme of the book across the three decades of the author’s work is the relationship between democratic quality and stability. Democracies break down, Diamond argues, not so much because of economic factors but because of corrupt, inept governance that violates individual rights and the rule of law. The best way to secure democracy is to ensure that democracy is accountable, transparent, genuinely competitive, respectful of individual rights, inclusive of diverse forms and sources of participation, and responsive to the needs and aspirations of ordinary citizens. Viable democracy requires not only a state that can mobilize power to achieve collective goals, but also one that can restrain and punish the abuse of power—a particularly steep challenge for poor countries and those with natural resource wealth. The book examines these themes both in broad comparative perspective and with a deeper analysis of historical trends and future prospects in Africa and Asia,. Concluding with lessons for sustaining and reforming policies to promote democracy internationally, this book is essential reading for students and scholars interested in democracy, as well as politics and international relations more generally.

Author : David Beetham
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 32 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Comparative government
ISBN : 9185724440

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Assessing the Quality of Democracy by David Beetham Pdf

Author : Arend Lijphart
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 457 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2012-01-01
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780300189124

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Patterns of Democracy by Arend Lijphart Pdf

Examining 36 democracies from 1945 to 2010, this text arrives at conclusions about what type of democracy works best. It demonstrates that consensual systems stimulate economic growth, control inflation and unemployment, and limit budget deficits.

Author : Jonathan van Eerd
Publisher : Springer
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2017-04-07
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9783319508382

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The Quality of Democracy in Africa by Jonathan van Eerd Pdf

This book shows that democratization in sub-Saharan Africa can be successful, even if the government remains dominated by one major political party. If an institutionalized and strong opposition party – even when too weak to take power – challenges the dominant government party, the quality of democracy improves substantially. The comparative study demonstrates that competitive opposition parties in dominant party systems are rooted in the historical legacy of political cleavages related to de-colonization that precede the third wave of democratization of the 1990s and have survived the instability of post-independence political developments to the present day. The study covers 19 African countries and 55 elections overall, including four in-depth case studies of Botswana, Lesotho, Ghana and Mali. It offers scholars and practitioners of electoral democracies and competitive authoritarian regimes a novel view on the role of party systems in processes of democratization. It makes an important contribution to the general literature on state building intertwined with democratization and representation in old and new democracies.

Author : Daniel H. Levine,José Enrique Molina
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Democracy
ISBN : 158826761X

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The Quality of Democracy in Latin America by Daniel H. Levine,José Enrique Molina Pdf

In considering the nature and future prospects of the current wave of democracies in Latin America, analysis has shifted from a concern with regime change, transitions, and consolidation to a focus on the quality of these democracies. To what extent, for example, do citizens participate and influence decision making? Are elections free and fair? Are there ways of ensuring government accountability? Do unelected power brokers exert undue influence?Furthering this new approach, the authors of The Quality of Democracy in Latin America provide a rich, nuanced analysis-centered on a multidimensional theoretical foundation-of democratic systems in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

Author : Andrew Roberts
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 253 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780521110334

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The Quality of Democracy in Eastern Europe by Andrew Roberts Pdf

This book presents a positive assessment of democratic quality as it has developed in ten postcommunist countries.

Author : Paul E. Smith
Publisher : punctum books
Page : 520 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2016
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780998237503

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Rescuing Democracy by Paul E. Smith Pdf

This book proposes a new institution - the 'People's Forum' - to enable democratic governments to effectively address long-running issues like global warming and inequality. It would help citizens decide what strategic problems their government must fix, especially where this requires them to suffer some inconvenience or cost.The People's Forum is first based on a new diagnosis of government failure in democracies. The book tests its own analyses of government failure by seeing whether these might help us to explain the failures of particular democracies to address (and in some cases, to even recognize) several crucial environmental problems. The essential features of a new design for democracy are described and then compared with those of previous institutional designs that were also intended to improve the quality of democratic government. In that comparison, the People's Forum turns out to be not only the most effective design for developing and implementing competent policy, but also the easiest to establish and run. The latter advantage is crucial as there has been no success in getting previous designs into actual trial practice. It is hoped that this book may inspire a small group to raise the money to set up and run the People's Forum. Then, as citizens see it operating and engage with it, they may come to regard the new Forum as essential in helping them to deliberate long-running issues and to get their resulting initiatives implemented by government. Smith also discusses how the People's Forum must be managed and how groups with different political ideologies may react to it.An Afterword sets out the method by which this design was produced, to help those who might want to devise an institution themselves. The new concepts in environmental science that the book develops to test its diagnosis are applied in an Appendix to outline crucial options for the future of Tasmania. Similar options apply to many countries, states and provinces. As indicated above, those choices are currently beyond the capacity of democratic governments to address and in some cases, even to recognize. But the People's Forum may lift them out of that morass.

Author : Jason Brennan
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 312 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2017-09-26
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781400888399

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Against Democracy by Jason Brennan Pdf

A bracingly provocative challenge to one of our most cherished ideas and institutions Most people believe democracy is a uniquely just form of government. They believe people have the right to an equal share of political power. And they believe that political participation is good for us—it empowers us, helps us get what we want, and tends to make us smarter, more virtuous, and more caring for one another. These are some of our most cherished ideas about democracy. But Jason Brennan says they are all wrong. In this trenchant book, Brennan argues that democracy should be judged by its results—and the results are not good enough. Just as defendants have a right to a fair trial, citizens have a right to competent government. But democracy is the rule of the ignorant and the irrational, and it all too often falls short. Furthermore, no one has a fundamental right to any share of political power, and exercising political power does most of us little good. On the contrary, a wide range of social science research shows that political participation and democratic deliberation actually tend to make people worse—more irrational, biased, and mean. Given this grim picture, Brennan argues that a new system of government—epistocracy, the rule of the knowledgeable—may be better than democracy, and that it's time to experiment and find out. A challenging critique of democracy and the first sustained defense of the rule of the knowledgeable, Against Democracy is essential reading for scholars and students of politics across the disciplines. Featuring a new preface that situates the book within the current political climate and discusses other alternatives beyond epistocracy, Against Democracy is a challenging critique of democracy and the first sustained defense of the rule of the knowledgeable.