Legitimacy under Military Rule: Burma: McCarthy / LEGITIMACY UNDER MILITARY RULE
In: Politics & policy, Volume 38, Issue 3, p. 545-569
ISSN: 1747-1346
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In: Politics & policy, Volume 38, Issue 3, p. 545-569
ISSN: 1747-1346
Altres ajuts: SEJ2009-14381-C03-02 ; En este trabajo, los autores verifican si, entre 1977 y 2008, ha habido un aumento de la democracia interna en los principales partidos políticos españoles. Para ello, analizan el proceso de selección del líder, al tiempo que cuestionan si ha habido un incremento de la igualdad en la participación para elegirlo, favoreciendo sistemas representativos o de elección directa. El artículo plantea también la hipótesis de si el grado de igualdad en las reglas de la elección influye en el grado de competencia en la lucha por el liderazgo del partido. Para comprobar tal supuesto, los autores examinan las condiciones de elegibilidad así como la representatividad del cuerpo electoral que escoge al líder, la participación efectiva de los miembros y el nivel de competencia en el momento de la elección. Los resultados muestran que los partidos españoles han reforzado los mecanismos representativos de selección de los líderes. Por el contrario, no se observó una relación directa entre las reglas de la elección y el grado de competencia. ; The aim of this article is to test whether between 1977 and 2008 has been an increase in internal democracy in the main Spanish political parties. We will focus on the process of selecting the leader. Our research question is whether parties have fostered equality in the participation to select party leader, favouring representative tools or direct election either. We also test the hypothesis that the degree of equality in the selection party rules affects the degree of political competition amongst candidates for party leadership. The paper observes the conditions of eligibility (certification), the selectorate who chooses the leader, the level of participation of members and the level of competitiveness in the election. The results show that the parties have strengthened representation mechanisms for leader selection. Conversely, we didn't find empirical relation between selection party rules and the degree of competition for leadership.
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The paper deals with refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). Considering their numbers, Serbia is the first in Europe and fourteenth on the globe. Their destiny is not only a tragic epilogue to the political dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, but also to the breakdown of the common dream of "Yugoslav" nationality (which was meant to be a "melting pot" of various nations, ethnic groups, and religions). Unfortunately, due to the specific strategy of nation-state building based on ethnic cleansing, refugees were one of the direct objectives of civil wars taking place in the 1990s. At the same time, massive floods of IDPs were instigated by the bombing campaign of Kosovo and Metohija conducted by the NATO alliance in 1999. Having come to Serbia, the majority of both refugees and IDPs who are ethnic Serbs have attained all the features of minority groups. The reasons for their social exclusion must be discussed in terms of their exceptionally low social position, high levels of unemployment and poverty, and lack of social inclusion. Moreover, it must be taken into account that contemporary Serbia faced many unresolved political challenges, delayed accession to the EU, secession of Kosovo and Metohija in 2008, hardships in establishing a market economy and liberal democracy since 2000, and economic deprivation, all of which were accompanied by poor social services. Serbian authorities adopted four major action plans targeted at forced migrants. However, the main challenges to their applicability stem from lack of institutional capacities, ineffective implementation of development strategies, and limited resources. ; La Serbie occupe le premier rang en Europe et le quatorzième rang sur terre parmi les pays ayant le plus de réfugiés et de déplacés internes. Leur destin n'est pas seulement l'épilogue tragique de la dissolution politique de l'ex-Yougoslavie, mais aussi de la fin du rêve commun d'une nationalité « yougos-lave » (censée être un « melting pot » de différentes nations, groupes ethniques et ...
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In: Doctoral thesis, UCL (University College London).
Although perceived changes in political participation patterns amongst young people in recent years have attracted much academic research in established democracies this remains an understudied area in the newer post-communist democracies of Central and Eastern Europe. In established democracies, researchers have shown that although many young people are increasingly shunning traditional forms of political involvement, such as voting and political party membership, instead they are turning to more direct methods such as volunteering and protest. Despite evidence that young people in newer democracies may also have low levels of electoral participation and party membership, there is little understanding of whether this is due to communist legacies of forced participation, economic and social hardship or indeed reflects trends in established democracies. As active political participation plays a vital role in the improvement of the quality of democracy, this represents an important gap in our knowledge. The aim of this thesis is to start to address this by analysing the logics behind youth political participation in two contrasting newer democracies, Poland and Romania. To do this, I employ a multi-method comparative approach which combines qualitative findings of fieldwork and quantitative data on electoral turnout. The thesis assesses electoral participation, party membership and involvement in informal forms of participation such as volunteering and protest. It finds that many young people in postcommunist democracies choose to opt out of traditional forms of political participation because, as in established democracies, they feel alienated from formal political agents. However, this exit from formal methods of participation is not generally coupled with active participation in informal forms of involvement. The thesis concludes that despite sharing some important characteristics with young people in established democracies, legacies of communism and the rapid nature of post-communist political and socioeconomic transformation continue to negatively influence youth political participation in Poland and Romania.
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The transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa is widely regarded as an exemplary case of an elite political settlement. Moreover, South Africa's political history in the last two decades can certainly be understood in terms of the way old, new, political and economic elites interacted in different domains and sectors to resolve major collective problems and produce institutional solutions that would work – even if some of these solutions appeared contentious – and cater to broad interests. The political settlement achieved by opposing elites produced a unique democratic pact. However, less attention has been paid to the economic pact achieved by these elites. As a liberation movement, the African National Congress (ANC) advocated nationalisation to undo the socioeconomic legacies of apartheid, but once the political transition had commenced, it discarded nationalisation. Instead, ANC elites opted for pro-business/market policies, which stabilised the economy and attracted much needed foreign direct investment. Their decision was partly attributable to the negotiated political and economic pacts that they concluded with National Party elites and 'white' capital. With the political or democratic pact in place, the negotiation and consolidation of the economic pact was achieved with the formation of numerous formal and informal coalitions with first 'white' and later 'black' capital to undo the economic legacies of apartheid. Not only did the pact result led to a stable political transition, it also in political and economic transformation. More importantly, early signs are now evident of a developmental pact that may result in a successful developmental state capable of achieving equality and equity for all in post-apartheid South Africa. ; CONTENTS -- PART ONE: INTRODUCTION -- PART TWO: LEADERS, ELITES AND COALITIONS PRIOR TO PACT-MAKING (1986-91)-- PART THREE: DEMOCRATISATION PACT-MAKING (1991-94) -- PART FOUR: ECONOMIC PACT-MAKING -- PART FIVE: EMERGENCE OF DEVELOPMENT PACT-MAKING? -- PART SIX: CONCLUSION
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Die in den Jahren 2007 und 2008 ergangenen EuGH-Urteile in den Fällen Viking, Laval, Rüffert und Kommission gegen Luxemburg haben Irritationen in Politik und Verbänden hervorgerufen und eine kontroverse Diskussion zum Stand der europäischen Wirtschaftsintegration und zum Stellenwert der Integration durch Recht angestoßen. Dieser Aufsatz schlägt eine historisch-institutionalistische Perspektive auf den EuGH vor und stellt die jüngste Urteilsserie in den Kontext eines langen Prozesses politisch unkontrollierter Usurpation von Zuständigkeiten. Die vier Urteile beruhen auf Grundlagen, die ihrerseits durch Richterrecht geschaffen wurden: Vorrang europäischen Primär- und Sekundärrechts, Direktwirkung und Drittwirkung auf Private, allgemeine Beschränkungsverbote (statt Nichtdiskriminierung), soziale Grundrechte als allgemeine Rechtsgrundsätze der Gemeinschaft. Der Beitrag diskutiert die machtpolitischen Quellen der Handlungsfreiheit des EuGH und hinterfragt, ob eine Aufnahme sozialer Grundrechte in die europäischen Verträge die vom Gericht angestoßene Radikalisierung der Binnenmarktintegration stoppen würde. Zur Erreichung dieses Ziels ist eine politisch kontrollierte Selbstzurückhaltung des EuGH notwendig, die im Sinne des Art. 137 Abs. 5 EGV den autonomieschonenden Umgang mit nationalen Lösungen zum Ausgleich zwischen sozialer Demokratie und kapitalistischer Ökonomie sicherstellt. ; The 2007 and 2008 ECJ decisions on Viking, Laval, Rüffert and Commission versus Luxembourg have caused political irritations and sparked a controversial debate on the state of European economic integration and integration through law. The paper offers a historical-institutionalist perspective and puts the recent controversial rulings in the context of a long history of politically uncontrolled usurpation of competencies. The four ECJ decisions rely on principles that were constructed by case law: supremacy, direct effect, bans on restrictions on the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by European law (rather than non-discrimination) and social fundamental rights as elements of the general principles of Community law. The paper discusses the sources of the ECJ's freedom to introduce new principles and questions whether an inclusion of social fundamental rights in European Union treaties would put a stop to the judicially imposed radicalization of common market integration. I doubt that such an inclusion would fundamentally change the situation. Rather, in order to maintain distinct national solutions to the conflict between social democracy and capitalist economy, the paper recommends a strategy of politically enforced judicial self-restraint (in the sense of Article 137 [5] EC).
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In: Local government studies, Volume 34, Issue 2, p. 221-243
ISSN: 1743-9388
In this article, I use public opinion data collected over the past decade to probe three widely held assumptions about local government and public participation in South Africa. The first, widely held by advocates of political decentralisation and devolution of power, posits a direct relationship between the physical proximity of government institutions from the citizens they serve and the level of popular goodwill toward that government. However, public evaluations of local government have consistently been worse than those of either provincial or national government. Not only do people see local government as more corrupt than any other government institution, their levels of performance approval and trust in political institutions are inversely related to the proximal distance between them and that institution. The second assumption, widely held by advocates of 'participatory democracy', assumes that citizens have a natural predisposition to participate in public affairs. Accordingly, the participatory movement in South Africa has tended to define its central task as one of creating the mechanisms and forums for citizens to debate with each other and communicate with policy makers. However, citizen engagement with local government (measured in the form of individual contact with local councilors) is very low, both in absolute terms but also in relative terms compared to other African countries (though various pieces of evidence suggests that participation is increasing). Third, more recent analyses have assumed that low levels of voter turnout in local elections and increasing levels of public protest are a function of enduring poverty and inequality and growing dissatisfaction with service delivery. Yet analyses of individual participation in both local politics and government, and in protests and demonstrations, reveals that the poor are more likely to participate (rather than less), and that neither dissatisfaction nor satisfaction with local government performance provides an adequate account of this participation.
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The text develops two observations and then highlights some critical points. First observation: the proposed construction has a cornerstone in the affirmation of the intrinsic interdependence between democracy and law and between law and reason; hereof comes the choice of an axiomatic theory of law. Therefore the formal axiomatic system is not an additional and eliminable part of the work but its intrinsic structure and reason. Second: the structure that emerges is of a «strong constitutionalism», which outlines a system of obligations and limits to the power of the majority, otherwise unlimited. Starting from these preliminary observations, some critical points are discussed. The first point lies in the inherently incompleteness of the system, although such a characteristic is seen by FERRAJOLI as an additional value of the system. The second is the relationship between formalization and understandability of language, and then between formalization and communicability of law. The third point is the dual role of an axiomatic system: to define a possible universe of discourse, or to describe a universe already strictly defined otherwise. Finally —that is the last critical point discussed in the text— the applicability of the proposed method to contemporary legal systems, strongly influenced by direct contact with the systems of common law. ; El texto desarrolla dos observaciones y evidencia, sucesivamente, algunos puntos críticos. La primera observación es que la construcción propuesta tiene fundamento en la afirmación que señala una intrínseca interdependencia entre la democracia y el Derecho y entre el Derecho y la razón: de aquí nace la elección de una teoría axiomatizada del Derecho. El sistema axiomático formal, por tanto, no es parte accesoria, eliminable de la obra; es, por el contrario, su intrínseca estructura y razón. La segunda observación es que la estructura que surge es la de un «constitucionalismo fuerte» que identifica un sistema de límites y también de obligaciones al poder, que sin ellas sería ...
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This work is aimed at describing and analyzing the linguistic attitudes of the inhabitants of the Brasil Colombia Perú border and describes the Portuguese and Spanish linguistics varieties udes there, as well as their attitudes with regard to the phenomenon of code switching and interferences born from linguistic contact. Through interviews and direct observation, this work analyses linguistic attitudes from three dimensions: cognitive, affective and behavioral. Data shows that high percentages of negative judgement exist among inhabitants, territories and linguistic varieties. The presence of this kind of stigmatization proves that the phenomenon of discrimination is real in the region and that it goes beyond linguistic boundaries. Through this work discussions about linguistic policies which promote local speech forms are proposed. Also stated is the importante role which mass media and Education play in finding possible ways to guarantee processes of both the consolidation of linguistic democracy and social equity. ; Este trabajo apunta a describir y analizar las actitudes lingüísticas de los habitantes de la trifrontera Brasil-Colombia-Perú y presenta las variedades de portugués y español usadas en el lugar, así como las actitudes frente al fenómeno de alternancias e interferencias lingüísticas surgidas del contacto. A través de las entrevistas y la observación directa, este trabajo analiza las actitudes desde sus dimensiones cognitiva, afectiva y conductual. Los datos muestran altos porcentajes de valoraciones negativas entre habitantes, territorios y variedades lingüísticas; estigmatización que prueba la existencia de un fenómeno de discriminación que trasciende los límites lingüísticos. Este trabajo propone un ejercicio de reflexión sobre políticas lingüísticas que promuevan las formas de habla locales e insiste en el gran papel que juegan los medios de comunicación y la educación en encontrar caminos posibles para la consolidación de la democracia lingüística y la equidad social.
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The global and everlasting quest for the limited resources of the earth has developed into a need to chisel out how each spatial area will be able to sustain its inhabitants. The connection between global and local sustainability is direct and undisputed. However, the global vision of sustainability and its concrete meaning in local terms are vastly separate. In order to be able to bridge this gap, there is a need to anchor the vision and make it more tangible locally. Physical planning at a local level has in many ways been pin-pointed as the tool to achieve this, since local planning results in a merging of the economic, ecological and social aspects of sustainable development. Alongside this broadened view, the governmental vision of democracy is turning towards increased decentralization. Citizen participation is therefore becoming a part of, and even a uniting link, in the realization of sustainable development. This has created entirely new demands for the individual municipal planner. His/her new task is mainly to merge local stakeholders into functioning planning processes. As a response to this new network-based view of society, collaborative-or communicative-planning is being tested both theoretically and practically as a tool for realizing it. There are, however, major reservations as to how well it serves this purpose. The main objective of this thesis is to contribute to this discourse on these reservations, perhaps offering some useful input for further research and/or future development of guidelines for the practising planner. It is based on two case studies of communicative planning processes carried out in a Swedish context. The main conclusions are that communicative planning, both theoretical and practical, should be developed in a more post-modern and pragmatic sense, anchoring it firmly in its local, spatial setting and releasing it from preset assumptions of the formal and informal rules and boundaries of government and/or governance ; Godkänd; 2006; 20070109 (haneit)
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In: Journal of peace research, Volume 41, Issue 1, p. 25-46
ISSN: 1460-3578
Previous models of nationalism have been unable to adequately account for variation in forms or levels of contentious nationalist activity. Building on the most important theoretical tools from the literatures on social movements and nationalism, an alternative model is proposed in which structure, politics, and action assume equal roles in an interdependent causal system. It is further proposed that violent and nonviolent contention, though conceptually distinct phenomena, are the products of a fundamentally similar set of factors. The model posits that sociostructural 'root causes' are vital to the development of ethnonationalist contentious politics, but indirectly via mobilization. The direct determinants of protest and rebellion are a conjunction of organizational mobilization and political opportunity structures. In particular, a shared identity gives groups of people the basis for organizational mobilization; mobilizational resources provide the means for such mobilization; grievances lend the reason; and a series of political factors structure the opportunities of mobilized groups to contend in a conventional, violent or nonviolent manner. The opportunity structures are then themselves transformed by the nature of the contention that takes place. Using a 3SLS structural equation model and original data from the 17 autonomous communities of Spain between 1977 and 1996, the results show that structure, politics, and action are, as predicted, three fundamental components of an interdependent causal system. The vital, yet indirect role of grievances and group identity in the generation of ethnonationalist conflict is confirmed, and a number of powerful relationships obtain with the individual elements of the political opportunity structure. Higher levels of democracy are related to increased protest, more intense repression is associated with lower levels of contentious activity, and the level of regional autonomy has no apparent impact on conflict. In the short term, moreover, Spain's major democratic transition is shown to exacerbate existing conflict propensities.
In: Human relations: towards the integration of the social sciences, Volume 29, Issue 5, p. 453-469
ISSN: 1573-9716, 1741-282X
The paper describes certain parts of "The Industrial Democracy Program, " (IDP), an action research project which was started in Norwegian industry in 1962 with the joint sponsorship of the Norwegian Trade Union Confederation and the Confederation of Employers. Although the emphasis is on the practical application of a strategy for social change, some background information and description of the content of this program is also given. Under the assumption that changes in the concrete work situation might be the key to a process whereby employees could improve their conditions for taking part in decisions, a series of experiments have been staged in companies representing different technologies. Some results from the program are discussed. One conclusion is that it is possible within existing companies and under the existing economic system to make changes in work organization, job design, etc., so that workers experience a more meaningful and rewarding situation, become more committed to their work, and take a more extensive part in decision-making. Under certain conditions, as demonstrated in a number of cases, this leads to developments through which employees' influence in the organization increases considerably beyond the immediate daily shop-floor matters. Some of the conditions for such development are discussed. As a central conclusion stands the assumption that lack of a general breakthrough for IDP ideas in Norway is due to the combined effect of company and trade union bureaucracy. The social-science-based program which aimed at conveying a strategy for direct participation and the debureaucratization of organizations thus has contributed to strengthening the bureaucracies that have been under attack. This is because some of the central ideas which have been strongly promoted through the project have been picked up by the establishment and made the subject for legislation and bureaucratic control.
In: Modern Asian studies, Volume 3, Issue 4, p. 321-342
ISSN: 1469-8099
Centenary celebrations of the birth of any prominent man attract assessments of his character, career and influence. Nothing could be more understandable, particularly in the case of M. K. Gandhi, who was by common consent one of the greatest leaders Asia has produced in an era of colonial nationalisms and decolonization, who in his own life time was called a saint and a machiavellian politician, and who has become in independent India both a national myth and an embarrassment. Accounts of the importance of Gandhi in modern India tend to fall into two main categories. There are those who dismiss him, often regretfully, as an idealist whose Utopian plans for a democracy of village commonwealths and a non-violent society have collapsed in the face of economic and political necessity and the machinations of unscrupulous politicians. In the words of Jayaprakash Narayan, 'If you consider the political ideologies attaining in India today, you would find that somehow one who is called the Father of the Nation is completely missing from all of them'. Such pessimism assesses Gandhi as if he had been solely a dispenser of blue-prints for a brave new world, and fails to see him as a dynamic leader whose greatest influence flowed from the type of movement he led and the techniques he used, rather than from the peculiarly personal ideals he held. On the other hand, there are those who hail him as the Father of India and try to draw direct causal connexions between his ideals and many of the major changes which have occurred in India since 1947, particularly the official abolition of Untouchability and the institution ofpanchayat raj.But this is the perspective of the biographer. It underrates the complexities of politics and society and their interaction, and turns a blind eye to the innumerable cross currents which make up the main stream of Indian social and political activity.
In: American political science review, Volume 14, Issue 1, p. 34-52
ISSN: 1537-5943
To understand the real nature of the government which now, under its new constitution, is attempting to guide the German nation through the perils of reconstruction is indeed a baffling problem. We are as yet too close to the events which brought it into existence and clothed it with constitutional forms to attempt their evaluation or to determine their significance. The revolution was so unlike what we should have expected as necessary to shift the ultimate power in the state from a narrow military and landed oligarchy to the masses of the people, that a doubt forces itself upon us as to its genuineness. The war, with its shattering of national ideals, its appalling toll of life, the grinding misery which it imposed, and the insuperable financial bondage to which it condemned the nation for an indefinite future, might account for a thorough popular disillusionment which would sweep the nation into the current of democracy. But if this were the case, we would expect a general enthusiasm for the new government, an evident popular sense of the passing of the dark night of autocratic rule and a joy in the light of a new and happier day.This is exactly what does not exist. There are three classes in Germany today. The first, who constitute only a small minority, are the nationalists and militarists who are bitterly opposed to the republic, and even now are agitating at every favorable opportunity for the restoration of the monarchy in its old form. The second class are likewise a comparatively small minority. They are the revolutionaries, the Spartacists with some of the Independent Socialists, who are just as strongly opposed to the government, using wherever possible the instruments of direct action to inaugurate the revolution which they believe has not yet been achieved. The vast mass of the nation appear to be utterly indifferent with respect to forms of government.