democratizing postcommunist transformation representation

books:

The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World

4 reviews
Larry Diamond

Times Books, 2008

Insightful and engaging
The author opens this extremely interesting book by asking whether it will be possible for the entire world to become democratic and asserts that the answer is yes. What follows in the book is an explanation of why he believes this is the case and what can be done to help expedite the process. The book is extremely impressive in both its breadth and its depth. The author has detailed ...

As It Was in the Beginning: The Coming Democratization of the Catholic Church

3 reviews
Robert McClory

The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2007

McClory's Loving Critique
McClory's life in the church has equipped him with a knowledge of how it works, and his love of justice leads him to critique these inner workings. The most prominent feature of this latest book of his is the love he obviously bears for his native place, the Church. (A preview of this attitude appeared in his earlier book, Faithful Dissenters: Stories of Men and Women Who Loved and Changed the ...

Beyond the Facade: Political Reform in the Arab World

1 review

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2008

Arab States Only Give Appearance Of Change
A superb review of political reform (or lack thereof) in ten nations in the Arab world - Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen. Significantly, chapters are written by specialists in that region, not idealists. Most of these governments admit change is necessary, but do not want to surrender power. Most change toward democratization has been ...

Democracy, Asian Values, and Hong Kong: Evaluating Political Elite Beliefs

2 reviews

Praeger Publishers, 2003

Watching Chinese Politicians
Bob Beatty's Democracy, Asian Values, and Hong Kong makes a clear and often counterintuitive argument. Seeking to discern the future of democracy in one of the newest parts of the People's Republic of China, Beatty shows quite clearly that many of the movers and shakers of Hong Kong envision direct election of the chief executive, expansion of direct elections for the Legislative Council, and ...

Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025

4 reviews
Mark Palmer

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2005

Single Most Important Work of the Century for American Moral Diplomacy
Edit of 21 Dec 07 to add links and new comment, New Comment: In my view, this is the single most important work of the century with respect to American moral diplomacy. I note with concern that under Bush-Cheney "Failed States" have increased from 75 in 2005 to 177 in 2007. We've lost our mind, and our morals, as a Nation. Ambassador Mark Palmer puts to rest all those generally unfair ...

Albania In Transition: The Rocky Road To Democracy (Nations of the Modern World : Europe)

1 review
Elez Biberaj

Westview Press, 1998

Insightful!
Anyone that wants to understand about Albania and Albanian politics in the Balkans should read this book. This book is very insightful and provides information that will develop ones understanding of Albania, its history, and politics. For those that are also seeking a clearer understanding of the Kosovo conflict will also find this book to be rewarding. This book is written by an Albanian. ...

Better Governance and Public Policy: Capacity Building for Democratic Renewal in Africa

1 review

Kumarian Press, 2003

A scholarly, heavily researched, wide-ranging study
Collaboratively compiled and edited by Dele Olowu and Soumana Sako, Better Governance And Public Policy: Capacity Building For Democratic Renewal In Africa is a resource of informed and informative essays accessibly written by a variety of learned authors, and presented with three overall goals: to describe recent governance alterations in African countries; to analyze the effects these changes ...

Poland's Transformation: A Work in Progress

2 reviews

Leopolis Press, 2003

A Broad overview of Recent Polish History
In this anthology, Roszkowski recounts how former US President Reagan had been a friend of freedom and friend of Poland. How diametrically opposite was Reagan from Roosevelt, who habitually dismissed the Poles as an irritating nuisance and who cultivated a hear-no-evil-see-no-evil mindset towards the Soviets! Radzilowski reviews the ?Polish Revolution? that began with the election of John Paul ...

Democracy Delayed: The Case of Castro's Cuba

2 reviews
Juan J. López

The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002

Details and overview clear and cogent understanding complete
Details of Value, Overview Clear and Cogent, Understanding Complete This book (Juan Lopez 2002 Democracy Delayed John Hopkins University Press) is a "must read" for one trying understanding the complexities of Cuba. Too often in books on Cuba, one sees errors of fact, misunderstandings and omissions of history, and above all blindness to what is really happens on that sad island. You will find ...

Alternate Civilities: Democracy And Culture In China And Taiwan

1 review
Robert Paul Weller

Westview Press, 1999

Oustanding comparative sociology of emerging "civil society"
By comparing civil society in contemporary China to that in Taiwan before and after the lifting of martial law in 1987, in Alternate Civilities Boston University professor Robert P. Weller shows that democracy can grow out of Chinese cultural roots and authoritarian institutions. Both the Chinese communist party leadership and the similarly geriatric authoritarianism of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew ...

Cities, Nationalism and Democratization (Questioning Cities)

1 review
Scott A. Bollens

Routledge, 2007

Description of book by publisher
From Jerusalem to Johannesburg, Mumbai to Beirut, and from Sarajevo to Baghdad, numerous cities across the world have faced intense inter-communal conflict and violence. Many of these cities reside in countries that are seeking to advance democratization or to reinforce past democratic gains. What can be done in cities to address deep-rooted nationalistic group conflict? How do social and ...

Communism and the Emergence of Democracy

1 review
Harald Wydra

Cambridge University Press, 2007

German-language review
Harald Wydras umfassende neue Monographie stellt eine machtvolle Attacke auf einige Allgemeinplätze in der heutigen westlichen Transformationsforschung dar. Das Buch erscheint aus diesem und einigen anderen Gründen als eine der wichtigsten jüngsten Beiträge zur internationalen Demokratieforschung und müsste sich daher über kurz oder lang zu einem Standardwerk zumindest in den Osteuropastudien ...

Democracy And Democratization 2E: Processes And Prospects In A Changing World, Second Edition (Dilemmas in ...

1 review
Georg Sorensen

Westview Press, 1998

Good overview
I bought this book to help me teach a course. I was pleasantly surprised by the level of clarity and straight talk. It defines democracy, and says a few things about controversies and how to promote democratization. Given the complexity of the issues involved, you could do no better by way of an introductory text. I will, in fact, be assigning it in my course.

Bounded Missions: Military Regimes and Democratization in the Southern Cone and Brazil

1 review
Craig L. Arceneaux

Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001

An articulated survey & analysis of civil-military relations
Bounded Missions: Military Regimes And Democratization In The Southern Cone And Brazil by Craig L. Arceneaux (Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo) is an extensive and articulated survey and analysis of civil-military relations and history, especially during the latter half of the twentieth century. Ranging from ...

Democratization (Democracy--from Classical Times to the Present, 2)

1 review

Polity Press, 1997

Great Text for Intro to Comparative Politics Class
A big problem with many introductory comparative politics texts is their rather limited nature. In focusing on basic institutional differences between the world's various sovereign states, books that tend to focus the relative merits of, say, presidential versus parliamentary systems don't often provide much context or comparative analysis. Students get from these books a good sense of how the ...

Democratization Without Representation: The Politics Of Small Industry In Mexico

1 review
Kenneth C. Shalden

Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006

A compelling and indispensable volume!
Kenneth Shadlen has produced a compelling, timely, thoughtful, innovative, and well-written book which is sure to secure a place as a "classic" in the literature on comparative politics. Far too little attention is paid to small industry, especially its role in political participation. While various classes of enterprise may indeed benefit from market liberalization, concurrent developments in ...

Democratic Imperialism: Democratization vs. Islamization

1 review
Farid Younos

AuthorHouse, 2008

What an amazing book!
With elegance, grace and preciseness, Dr. Farid Younos has handed down for the generations, a book that speaks wonders. This is a must-read for all races, genders, and religious backgrounds! ~Maryam Ayam

Defeat of Solidarity: Anger And Politics In Postcommunist Europe

1 review
David Ost

Cornell University Press, 2005

One of the best post-Communist studies
I strongly recommend this work as one of the finest studies of "the missing link" in democracy-building in post-Communist eastern Europe. The author's thesis is that "little people don't matter" - democracy is "too serious a business" to be left to the herd - echoes the political elitism which has always dominated this region, reinforced by contemporary "money first" free market Western ...

The Building of Consensus in Egypt's Transition Process

1 review
Noha El-Mikawy

American University in Cairo Press, 1999

The Building of Consensus in Egypt's Transition Process
This is a superb study of the process of building consensus for liberalisation in Egypt. Though consensus building is central to many important areas of inquiry, both within Political Science and throughout the social sciences, it is a process that, as el-Mikawy rightfully points out, is insufficiently understood. This finely written, argued, and documented study makes an important contribution ...

Democratizing the European Union: Issues for the Twenty-First Century (Perspectives on Democratization)

1 review
Michael Newman, Catherine Hoskyns

Transaction Publishers, 2007

For anyone interested in the current and future state of the EU.
Democratizing the European Union: Issues for the Twenty-First Century is an anthology of scholarly essays by learned authors addressing the European Union's "democratic deficit" and ways that might help resolve it. Individual essays include "Reconciling Suprastatism and Accountability: A View from Sweden", "How Democratic is the European Parliament?", "Controlling Monetary Union", ...

search for books
democratization, democratizing, postcommunist, representation, transformation

Impressum / about us