Democracy Is A Good Thing


Democracy Is A Good Thing
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Democracy Is A Good Thing


Democracy Is A Good Thing
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Author : Yu Keping
language : en
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Release Date : 2009-11-01

Democracy Is A Good Thing written by Yu Keping and has been published by Rowman & Littlefield this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2009-11-01 with Political Science categories.


"Democracy is a good thing. This is true not only for individuals or certain officials but also for the entire nation and for all the people of China."–Yu Keping So begins "Democracy Is a Good Thing," an essay of great influence that has commanded attention and provoked discussion throughout the world. It is the touchstone of this important volume of the same name. As one of China's foremost political thinkers and a leading proponent of democratizing the People's Republic, Yu Keping is a major figure not only in his native land, but also in the international community. This book brings together much of his most important work and makes it readily accessible to readers in the West for the first time. "Democracy Is a Good Thing" created a stir internationally. Perhaps more important, however, is the heated debate it spurred within China on the desirability of democratic reform. That important essay appears here, along with several of Yu Keping's other influential works on politics, culture, and civil society. His topics include China's economic modernization, its institutional environment, and the cultural changes that have accompanied the nation's reforms. Democracy Is a Good Thing pulls back the curtain to reveal ongoing discourse in Chinese political and intellectual circles, discussions that will go a long way toward determining the future of the world's most populous nation.



Democracy Rules


Democracy Rules
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Author : Jan-Werner Müller
language : en
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date : 2021-07-06

Democracy Rules written by Jan-Werner Müller and has been published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2021-07-06 with Political Science categories.


A much-anticipated guide to saving democracy, from one of our most essential political thinkers. Everyone knows that democracy is in trouble, but do we know what democracy actually is? Jan-Werner Müller, author of the widely translated and acclaimed What Is Populism?, takes us back to basics in Democracy Rules. In this short, elegant volume, he explains how democracy is founded not just on liberty and equality, but also on uncertainty. The latter will sound unattractive at a time when the pandemic has created unbearable uncertainty for so many. But it is crucial for ensuring democracy’s dynamic and creative character, which remains one of its signal advantages over authoritarian alternatives that seek to render politics (and individual citizens) completely predictable. Müller shows that we need to re-invigorate the intermediary institutions that have been deemed essential for democracy’s success ever since the nineteenth century: political parties and free media. Contrary to conventional wisdom, these are not spent forces in a supposed age of post-party populist leadership and post-truth. Müller suggests concretely how democracy’s critical infrastructure of intermediary institutions could be renovated, re-empowering citizens while also preserving a place for professionals such as journalists and judges. These institutions are also indispensable for negotiating a democratic social contract that reverses the secession of plutocrats and the poorest from a common political world.



Against Democracy


Against Democracy
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Author : Jason Brennan
language : en
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Release Date : 2017-09-26

Against Democracy written by Jason Brennan and has been published by Princeton University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2017-09-26 with Philosophy categories.


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.



Conflicting Objectives In Democracy Promotion


Conflicting Objectives In Democracy Promotion
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Author : Julia Leininger
language : en
Publisher: Routledge
Release Date : 2017-07-05

Conflicting Objectives In Democracy Promotion written by Julia Leininger and has been published by Routledge this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2017-07-05 with Political Science categories.


The agenda of external actors often includes a number of objectives that do not necessarily and automatically go together. Fostering security and stability in semi-authoritarian regimes collides with policies aimed at the support of processes of democratization prone to conflict and destabilization. Meanwhile, the promotion of national self-determination and political empowerment might lead to forms of democracy, partially incompatible with liberal understandings. These conflicting objectives are often problematized as challenges to the effectiveness of international democracy promotion. This book presents systematic research about their emergence and effects. The contributing authors investigate (post-) conflict societies, developing countries, and authoritarian regimes in Southeast Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. They identify the socio-economic and political conditions in the recipient country, the interaction between international and local actors, and the capacity of international and local actors as relevant for explaining the emergence of conflicting objectives. And they empirically show that faced with conflicting objectives donors either use a ‘wait and see’-approach (i.e. not to act to overcome such conflicts), they prioritize security, state-building and development over democracy, or they compromise democracy promotion with other goals. However, convincing strategies for dealing with such conflicts still need to be devised. This book was published as a special issue of Democratization.



The Good State


The Good State
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Author : A. C. Grayling
language : en
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Release Date : 2020-02-27

The Good State written by A. C. Grayling and has been published by Simon and Schuster this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2020-02-27 with Political Science categories.


The foundations upon which our democracies stand are inherently flawed, vulnerable to corrosion from within. What is the remedy? A. C. Grayling makes the case for a clear, consistent, principled and written constitution, and sets out the reforms necessary – among them addressing the imbalance of power between government and Parliament, imposing fixed terms for MPs, introducing proportional representation and lowering the voting age to 16 (the age at which you can marry, gamble, join the army and must pay taxes if you work) – to ensure the intentions of such a constitution could not be subverted or ignored. As democracies around the world show signs of decay, the issue of what makes a good state, one that is democratic in the fullest sense of the word, could not be more important. To take just one example: by the simplest of measures, neither Britain nor the United States can claim to be truly democratic. The most basic tenet of democracy is that no voice be louder than any other. Yet in our ‘first past the post’ electoral systems a voter supporting a losing candidate is unrepresented, his or her voice unequal to one supporting a winning candidate, who frequently does not gain a majority of the votes cast. This is just one of a number of problems, all of them showing that democratic reform is a necessity in our contemporary world.



Democracy S Good Name


Democracy S Good Name
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Author : Michael Mandelbaum
language : en
Publisher: Hachette UK
Release Date : 2007-12-07

Democracy S Good Name written by Michael Mandelbaum and has been published by Hachette UK this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2007-12-07 with Political Science categories.


The last thirty years have witnessed one of the most remarkable developments in history: the rapid rise of democracy around the world. In 1900, only ten countries were democracies and by 1975 there were only 30. Today, 119 of the world's 190 countries have adopted this form of government, and it is by far the most celebrated and prestigious one. How did democracy acquire its good name? Why did it spread so far and so fast? Why do important countries remain undemocratic? And why do efforts to export democracy so often fail and even make conditions worse? In Democracy's Good Name, Michael Mandelbaum, one of America's leading foreign policy thinkers, answers these questions. He surveys the methods and risks of promoting democracy, and analyzes the prospects for the establishment of democratic governments in Russia, China, and the Arab world. Written in Mandelbaum's clear and accessible style, Democracy's Good Name presents a lucid, comprehensive, and surprising account of the history and future of democracy from the American Revolution to the occupation of Iraq.



Rethinking The Value Of Democracy


Rethinking The Value Of Democracy
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Author : Renske Doorenspleet
language : en
Publisher: Springer
Release Date : 2018-07-21

Rethinking The Value Of Democracy written by Renske Doorenspleet and has been published by Springer this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2018-07-21 with Political Science categories.


This book is the first comprehensive analysis of the instrumental value of democracy in a comparative perspective. Based on extensive analyses of quantitative studies from different disciplines, it explores both the expected beneficial and harmful impact of democracy. Democracy’s reputation as delivering peace and development while controlling corruption is an important source of its own legitimacy. Yet, as this book acutely demonstrates, the arguments tend to be normatively driven interventions in ideologically charged policy debates. The book argues that we need neither a utopian framing of democracy as delivering all ‘good things’ in politics nor a cynical one that emphasizes only the ‘dangerous underbelly’ of this form of government. The author also raises critical questions about the value of the study of democracy: the choice for particular concepts and measures, the unknown mechanisms, and the narrow focus on specific instrumental values. This volume will be necessary reading for anyone interested in debates on democracy in the contemporary global context.



The Idea Of Democracy In The Modern Era


The Idea Of Democracy In The Modern Era
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Author : Ralph Louis Ketcham
language : en
Publisher:
Release Date : 2004

The Idea Of Democracy In The Modern Era written by Ralph Louis Ketcham and has been published by this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2004 with POLITICAL SCIENCE categories.




Democracy


Democracy
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Author : Ross Harrison
language : en
Publisher: Routledge
Release Date : 2002-09-11

Democracy written by Ross Harrison and has been published by Routledge this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2002-09-11 with Philosophy categories.


Democracy surrounds us like the air we breath, and is normally taken very much for granted. Across the world democracy has become accepted as an unquestionably good thing. Yet upon further examination the merits of democracy are both paradoxical and problematic, and the treasured values of liberty and equality can be used to argue both for and against it. In the historical section of the book, Ross Harrison clearly traces the history of democracy by examining the works of, amongst others, Plato and Aristotle, Hegel and Marx. Informed by facts and detailed knowledge of these famous thinkers, Harrison provides a clear and cogent justification of democracy.



Good Government


Good Government
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Author : Pierre Rosanvallon
language : en
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Release Date : 2018-03-09

Good Government written by Pierre Rosanvallon and has been published by Harvard University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2018-03-09 with Political Science categories.


Few would disagree that Western democracies are experiencing a crisis of representation. In the United States, gerrymandering and concentrated political geographies have placed the Congress and state legislatures in a stranglehold that is often at odds with public opinion. Campaign financing ensures that only the affluent have voice in legislation. Europeans, meanwhile, increasingly see the European Union as an anti-democratic body whose “diktats” have no basis in popular rule. The response, however, has not been an effective pursuit of better representation. In Good Government, Pierre Rosanvallon examines the long history of the alternative to which the public has gravitated: the empowered executive. Rosanvallon argues that, faced with everyday ineptitude in governance, people become attracted to strong leaders and bold executive action. If these fail, they too often want even stronger personal leadership. Whereas nineteenth-century liberals and reformers longed for parliamentary sovereignty, nowadays few contest the “imperial presidency.” Rosanvallon traces this history from the Weimar Republic to Charles De Gaulle’s “exceptional” presidency to the Bush-Cheney concentration of executive power. Europeans rebelling against the technocratic EU and Americans fed up with the “administrative state” have turned to charismatic figures, from Donald Trump to Viktor Orbán, who tout personal strength as their greatest asset. This is not just a right-wing phenomenon, though, as liberal contentment with Obama’s drone war demonstrates. Rosanvallon makes clear that contemporary “presidentialism” may reflect the particular concerns of the moment, but its many precursors demonstrate that democracy has always struggled with tension between popular government and concentrated authority.