Books in the Perspectives on Democratic Practice series

This book brings together a distinguished panel of leading and emerging scholars in the field, and provides a critical assessment of the current role of trade unions in society. -- .

Explores the role of trade unions as products of, and agents for, democracy. -- .

A systematic treatment of the historic transformation of the West from monarchy to democracy. Revisionist in nature, it finds that monarchy is a lesser evil than democracy, but outlines deficiencies in both. It uses economic and sociological theorems to interpret historical events.

This new edition examines some of the philosophical and theoretical issues underlying the 'democratic project' which increasingly dominates the fields of comparative development and international relations. The first concern presented here is normative and epistemological: as democracy becomes more widely accepted as the political currency of legitimacy, the more broadly it is defined. But as agreement decreases regarding the definition of democracy, the less we are able to evaluate how it is working, or indeed whether it is working at all. The second issue is causal: what are the claims being made regarding how best to secure a democratic system in developing states? To what extent do our beliefs and expectations of how political relations ought to be governed distort our understanding of how democratic societies do in fact emerge; and, conversely, to what extent does our understanding of how democracy manifests itself temper our conception of what it ought to be? The volume will be of interest to those in international development studies, as well as political theorists with an interest in applied ethics.

A discussion of anti-corruption advocacy as a global movement with particular emphasis on Russia. -- .

This book addresses the growing gap between policy makers and (organised) citizens, and attempts by international organisations to implement a multi-stakeholder approach largely facilitated by the internet. -- .

This volume explores the political implications of violence and alterity (radical difference) for the practice of democracy, and reformulates the possibility of community that democracy is said to entail. Most significantly, contributors intervene in traditional democratic theory by boldly contesting the widely-held assumption that increased inclusion, tolerance and cultural recognition are democracy's sufficient conditions. Rather than simply inquiring how best to expand the 'demos', they investigate how claims to self-determination, identity and sovereignty are a problem for democracy and how, paradoxically, alterity may be its greatest strength. Drawing largely on the Left, continental tradition, contributions include an appeal to the tension between fear and love in the face of anti-Semitism in Poland, injunctions to rethink the identity-difference binary and the ideal of 'mutual recognition' that dominate liberal-democratic thought, critiques of the canonical 'we' that constitutes the democratic community, and a call for an ethics and a politics of 'dissensus' in democratic struggles against racist and sexist oppression. The authors mobilise some of the most powerful critical insights emerging across the social sciences and humanities - from anthropology, sociology, critical legal studies, Marxism, psychoanalysis and critical race theory and post-colonial studies - to reconsider the meaning and the possibility of 'democracy' in the face of its contemporary crisis. The book will be of direct interest to students and scholars interested in cutting-edge, critical reflection on the empirical phenomenon of increased violence in the West provoked by radical difference, and on theories of radical political change.

Can groups effectively link citizens to political institutions and policy processes? Are groups an antidote to emerging democratic deficits? This book will prompt senior students, researchers and seasoned scholars to think critically about the claim that groups can contribute to repairing democratic deficits.

Can terrorism and state violence cause democratic breakdown? Although the origins of violence have been studied, only rarely are its consequences. In this study of Uruguay, Spain and Peru, Holmes claims that to understand the consequences of violence on democratic stabilty, terrorism and state responses to terrorism must be studies together. -- .

This book examines whether it is possible to support the development of generalised trust through public action and education. It analyses political efforts in Palermo to break the Mafia's territorial and mental control and to turn a tradition of non-co-operation and distrust into trust and co-operation.

Provides a critical investigation of the 'global justice movement'. Drawing upon three case studies - a peasant farmers' network, a trade union network, and the social forum process - the authors argue that the role of key geographical concepts of space, place and scale are crucial to an understanding of the operational dynamics of these networks.

This textbook provides an understanding of the process of democratization in Latin America. The author explores the various paths to democracy followed in different countries of the region.

Published in association with the United Nations, this bookbuilds on the existing body of literature on gender and democratization bylooking at the relevance of national machineries for the advancement of women. -- .

Using Romania as a case study, this book develops a fresh perspective on the transition from communism to capitalism by arguing that transition and democratisation studies should turn their attention towards processes of illusion formation and disillusionment as key to understanding the shift from one ideological framework to another. -- .

The core of this book is a systematic treatment of the historic transformation of the West from monarchy to democracy.

This book explores the contribution of different Christian traditions to the waves of democratization that have swept various parts of the world in recent decades. Written in an accessible style, it will appeal to students of politics, sociology and religion, and prove useful on a range of advanced undergraduate and postgraduate courses.