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Subject Area: Democracy
Carter, John J.2012 0-7734-4067-4 240 pages
National security poses a dilemma to our democratic desire for political transparency. If the government gives away information about its covert operations then it will jeopardize national security. The paradox is that without national security agencies in a free society democracy will be threatened externally, and with them democracy is threatened internally. While this book does not resolve this dilemma it provides readers with more knowledge of this dilemma, and thereby gives them a fighting chance to work for at least its partial resolution by showing how Truman and Eisenhower utilized covert military operations to swing the tides of the early Cold War.
Miller, Geralyn M.
2004 0-7734-6386-0 148 pages
Election 2000 made America aware that its voting system was rife with problems. In a country that prides itself on its self-governing ability, Election 2000 pointed to a crack in the foundation of the mechanism by which the majority of those who participate in the political process chose their leaders.
Since the Bush vs. Gore decision chartered the course of history in America, scholars and practitioners alike have struggled to arrive at a comprehensive plan of attack for improving the voting process. The President has signed into law a reform measure enacted by the United States Congress that is being billed as a sweeping bi-partisan effort to effectuate that change. The question is, will America really see a significant and fundamental improvement in the voting process, one that ensures the equal protection of voting rights for all of its citizens?
This book analyses electoral reforms in America in the context of the larger picture of public policy theory, specifically that represented by an incrementalist paradigm. Given that the current congressional reform measure is based on a set of ideological compromises, the likelihood that it will result in sweeping change is doubtful. It is more likely that this is a cosmetic attempt to resolve a systematic problem. Still, the measure has some features that could serve to enhance our democratic system of governance.
Peden, W. Creighton
1992 0-7734-9656-4 336 pages
Papers selected from the International Social Philosophy Conference in Vermont, 1990. The papers provide a continuing discussion of the issues related to liberalism, communitarianism, and distributive justice among scholars in social philosophy, and for class reading and discussion in college and university courses on social philosophy and politics. Headings include: The Foundations of Liberal Moral Theory; Liberal Morality in Practice; Liberalism in a Conservative Society; Philosophy and Community.
Riser, John
2004 0-7734-6439-5 231 pages
This book provides an examination of democracy in a different light, specifically in the author’s identification, explication and elaboration of three fundamental criteria. These three fundamental criteria of democracy and democratic practice often discounted or simply disregarded are: 1) democracy is a form of human activity relevant not just for the conventionally political state but also, as much or more, for other social contexts of various magnitudes and functions; 2) democracy is a practice of positive freedom, incorporating negative freedom but subsuming the latter within the project of the mutual empowerment of human beings in accordance with humanistic values; 3) democracy is embodied most adequately in a communally (not merely socially) cooperative model that is different, in most important respects, from unitary, adversary or deliberative models (herein subjected to critique).
Explicit analyses are provided of a variety of socio-political concepts that are philosophically integrated with these criteria, concepts such as representation, participation, elitism, preferences, interests, the common good, human needs and human rights, negative freedom and positive freedom, justice, equality, difference, legitimacy, obligation and loyalty. The author’s own model of democracy – acknowledged to be unrealizable at the level of the nation-state (where adversary quasi-democracy is most practicable) – is explicated, at the same time, dealing with problems and prospects for it and emphasizing its importance for the social activity of human beings in the immediacy of their lifeworld.
Gustafson, Lowell S.
2003 0-7734-6584-7 250 pages
These essays explain and evaluate the experience of democracy in recent years, considering the historical, economic, cultural, and social factors that aided its re-emergence, as well as the continued poverty and inequality in the region that challenge it.
Rey, Denis
2010 0-7734-3764-9 164 pages
Examines whether electoral rules impact the level of multilateralism, or cooperative policies, that countries pursue. Specifically, this research looks at International Governmental Organization membership, foreign aid donations, and trade tariffs to determine whether some democracies, because of the degree of representativeness afforded by their political institutions, pursue such preferences to a greater extent than others.
Lauck-Dunlop, Penny L.
2013 0-7734-4541-2 228 pages
Democratic governments who need public opinion on their side to make decisions use different strategies to win popular support for their wars. This book chronicles that process in specific how popular support for the Iraq Wars were won by the two Bush Presidents, and how the leaders can often twist the truth. There is a tacit assumption that the public wants to trust the President, and that there are things the leaders know that the general public is not privy to. In certain cases, like wars of retaliation, little marketing is necessary. The use of polling data can also aide the government in determining with certainty which marketing strategies will convince people to support the war policy.
Stockton, Hans
2003 0-7734-6546-4 200 pages
Razavi, Reza
2023 1-4955-1157-X 648 pages
"The relationship between state and society in Iran has evolved in the last hundred years and the state's grip on power has increased. ...State repression and public resistance have developed hand-in-hand and have formed a major part of Iran's contemporary history. Iran has experienced reform, revolution and military coups in the last century. ...The aim [of this book is] to concentrate on the certain aspects of Iranian history that have contributed to the state's repressive policy and public resistance." -Reza Razavi (Preface)
Senigaglia, Cristiana
2017 1-4955-0629-0 584 pages
This is the first comprehensive book that discusses thoroughly Weber's political thought from the parliamentary perspectives including interpreting his views on bureaucracy. It is a welcome response to the view initiated by Wolfgang J. Mommsen that Weber had in this last years given up parliamentarism in favor of presidentialism and plebiscitarian leadership democracy.
Pattnayak, Satya R.
2006 0-7734-5765-8 276 pages
In this book, an international group of distinguished scholars analyze how Latin Americans are struggling with the question of how they can provide for their security while they govern themselves. They explain Latin Americans’ complex definitions of security and current threats to it. Various external forces – from Al Qaeda and the International Monetary Fund to certain policies of the United States government – threaten Latin Americans’ autonomy.
Economic and political elites may restrict popular self-government, sometimes by promising to provide for security at the cost of liberty. The lives, property, and well-being of Latin American peoples often remain in the balance. The authors show how Latin American nations, individuals, and peoples are seeking to make themselves more secure through their democracies. They consider how Latin Americans are asserting their democratic rights and seeking to deepen the practices of freedom during the current domestic transitions and the war on terror. They judge the prospects for the success of Latin American democracies meeting the severe threats to the region’s security. Given Latin American political history and contemporary insecurities, the chapters demonstrate why the future of these democracies is at risk.
Bradley, Matthew Todd
2003 0-7734-6688-6 224 pages
Ulloth, Dana
2023 1-4955-1144-8 36 pages
This is a softcover book. "For many years, an active exchange of journalists between newsroom and classroom have been fostered in the view that is essential to improving standards. This is the story of one reporter's complicated path to becoming a faculty member. In 2020, the Hussman School of Journalism at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill opened discussions with Nikole Hannah-Jones, a journalist and opinion writer at the New York Times, about joining its faculty. Hannah-Jones had been responsible for "The 1619 Project," and effort that tried to recast the American story around the role that slavery had played." -from the author's Introduction
Eidelberg, Paul
1992 0-7734-9171-6 232 pages
Considers the effects of moral relativism on the writings of prominent authors in the fields of literature, foreign policy, economics, social policy, education, philosophy, and theology. Discusses the relevance of the political regime of modern democracy and the intellectual regime of modern science to the pervasive influence of moral relativism in our culture.
Chen, Kevin
1992 0-7734-9833-8 272 pages
Using 1960-1988 cumulative survey data from the National Election Study, this study identifies four basic dimensions of political alienation; uses regression and algebraic decomposition methods to examine the increases in alienation and decline in voter turnout; probes the relationship between the two; examines the sources for the decline in turnout.
Harrison, Graham
2000 0-7734-7652-0 236 pages
Monfries, John
2011 0-7734-1584-X 332 pages
This book is a collection of works by the late Geoffrey Forrester, an Australian analyst who spent over 40 years closely observing the end of Indonesia’s first presidency.
Razavi, Reza
2011 0-7734-1439-8 388 pages
An examination of Iran’s post-revolutionary political system. In particular, the study analyzes contemporary Iranian history and the composition of competing political factions. The tension between the central authority of the Supreme Leader and these factions continues to be a major source of instability in the country.
Kenney, Matthew T.
2003 0-7734-6581-2 198 pages
This book examines the interplay between political values and the health and stability of today’s liberal democracies. It examines a set of core political values by drawing on the insights and arguments of leading political theorists past and present. The new democracies are represented by Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico, and the established democracies by Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the United States. The study uses data from the 1990 and 1995-7 World Values Surveys. Statistical analyses provide strong support for the theoretical claims of John Rawls and others that such liberal virtues as tolerance, trust, independence, and responsibility are conducive to democratic stability and to a more robust version of citizenship that goes well beyond the unfettered pursuit of private interests. Instead, this study argues that individuals who score high on the index of liberal virtues are more likely to discuss politics, to participate in politics, to resist authority, to view democracy as the best form of governance, and to demand equality of opportunity for all. This bridging of classical normative theory and contemporary empirical analysis in this work represents a much-needed contribution to scholarship in both political theory and comparative politics.
Vasillopulos, Christopher
2024 1-4955-1252-5 156 pages
"Trump allows the People to feel that they matter. He allows them to believe their concerns, how trivial they seem to Elites, define their decency and significance. Thus we come to our question: how is Trump different? He is the archetypal Outsider, who not only threatens the Establishment's monopoly of power but their monopoly of statue. He is the billionaire who exemplifies the values and the speech, of ordinary Americans. He is the Outsider, who wears a custom made suit and a baseball cap. He is the Outsider who cannot be corrupted by the lure of playing golf at Burning Tree Country Club. Above all, he is the Outsider, who just might drain the Swamp." -Christopher Vasillopulos *This is an 8 x 10 softcover book.*
Tan, Qingshan
2006 0-7734-5537-X 376 pages
This study considers the institutional evolution and progress of village elections in China. China’s dramatic economic growth in less than 30 years is the result of economic reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s, and thus has lifted more than 200 million people out of poverty. This change began with the “household responsibility system” permitting peasants to farm their own land, which eventually led to the abolishment of the commune system. In an effort to establish viable rural governance after de-communization, villagers took the initiative in establishing village self-government and electing their own leaders to manage village affairs. This book studies the creation and evolution of democratic institution of village election. It examines the causes of village election, the making of state and provincial election legislation, state implementation and improvement of village election rules and procedures, and the role of domestic and foreign players in influencing electoral institutionalization of village self-governance, and it assesses the impact of village election on Chinese political development. It argues for the institutional buildup of democratic infrastructures to ensure what could eventually be the beginning of a more extensive move towards democracy.