Democracies in Danger

Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-0-8018-9290-5
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press

Buch, Englisch, 200 Seiten, Format (B × H): 146 mm x 225 mm, Gewicht: 345 g

Reihe: Democratic Transition and Consolidation

New governments established during the third wave of democratization in Latin America, Eastern and Central Europe, Africa, and Asia face increasing threats to stabilization and consolidation. Alfred Stepan, a major voice in democratization studies, gathers leading experts in political science and government to better understand what is going wrong and how it can be fixed.

The contributors identify and analyze three key problems that endanger these democracies: ethnonational conflicts, domestic security and the role of police and military, and power sharing in presidential and semi-presidential systems. For each of these issues, essays evaluate promising new policies, advance alternatives, and suggest political reforms that could increase the success of democratic governance.

Stepan's introduction reflects on why these three critical issues have been neglected or misconceptualized by practitioners and theorists alike. A conclusion by Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil, offers unique insight on how to successfully manage and solve these problems.

Democracies in Danger is the product of informed and productive dialogue between former prime ministers and presidents of new democracies and leading democratization scholars. It will be essential in setting research agendas and policy discussions for a broad range of scholars and practitioners.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Stepan, Alfred

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Staats- und Regierungsformen, Staatslehre
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Undertheorized Political Problems in the Founding Democratization Literature
Part I: Managing Potential Cultural Conflicts Democratically
Chapter 1. Civil Society, Islam, and Ethnocommunal Conflict
Chapter 2. Debating Secession Peacefully and Democratically: The Case of Canada
Part II: Toward Creating and Controlling Democratically Usable Security Services
Chapter 3. The New "Double Challenge": Democratic Control and Efficacy of Military, Police, and Intelligence
Chapter 4. Beyond Threats to Democracy from the Armed Forces, Police, and Intelligence: The Spanish Case
Part III: Refining Presidentialism and Semi-Presidentialism
Chapter 5. Latin America's Interrupted Presidencies: Alternatives?
Chapter 6. The Predicament of Semi-presidentialism
Conclusion: The Way Forward
Notes
List of Contributors
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Stepan, Alfred
Alfred Stepan is the Wallace Sayre Professor of Government at Columbia University. His books include Democracies in Danger, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation, and The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes, all also published by Johns Hopkins, the last two with Juan J. Linz.

Alfred Stepan is the Wallace Sayre Professor of Government at Columbia University, coauthor, with Juan J. Linz, of Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe, and coeditor, also with Juan J. Linz, of The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes, both published by Johns Hopkins.