scholarly journals External Democracy Promotion in Time of Democratic Crisis: Linkage, Leverage, and Domestic Actors’ Diversionary Behaviours

2020 ◽  
pp. 088832542095453
Author(s):  
Antonino Castaldo
Keyword(s):  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Candidate Country ◽  
Democracy Promotion ◽  
Local Elites ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Congruence Analysis ◽  
External Actors

Since the 1990s, the literature on External Democracy Promotion (EDP) expanded exponentially. Despite widely supported conclusions on EDP (in)effectiveness in fostering democratization and preventing democratic backsliding are still lacking, the literature has generated sophisticated explanations of these processes. Among them, Levitsky and Way’s (L&W’s) linkage and leverage theory stands out as one of the most influential. According to Tolstrup, however, their underestimation of domestic agency constitutes a crucial lacuna, which he proposes to fill through the concept of “Gatekeeping Elite” that underlines a significant impact of local actors on the linkage dimension and, consequently, on EDP (in)effectiveness. I believe that Tolstrup’s intuition can be further developed, expanding even more the explanatory power of L&W’s theory. I claim that domestic actors may exert a crucial influence also on the leverage dimension, thanks to “diversionary behaviours” that local elites may use to change external actors’ interests and preferences, persuading them to limit their democratizing pressures and thus reduce their own vulnerability to EDP processes. To assess the plausibility of this claim, I perform a congruence analysis on the recent and crucial case of autocratization in Serbia (EU candidate country), which is not fully explained by the aforementioned models.

scholarly journals ORGANIZATION THEORY AND COMPLEX PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS: NOTES FROM THE MINUSTAH

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
João Marcelo Dalla Costa
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Organization Theory ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Local Elites ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
Foreign Intervention ◽  
Shed Light

How far Organization Theory can shed light on complex peacekeeping operations, observing the explanatory power and differences among more hierarchically-based approaches and network theory? It also makes the case for further research on why and how local elites, experienced with foreign intervention, hijack international organizations to advance their own interests.

scholarly journals Local Strongmen At The Village Level: The Conflict Of The Demolition Of The First Raja Brawijaya ‘Petilasan’ At Sudimoro Village, Jombang

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Mirojul Huda ◽  
Novy Setia Yunas
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Local Area ◽  
Local Elites ◽  
Village Level ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Village

Having been enacted since 2014, the Act No. 6/2014 has given a spirit and a huge authority to the villages in developing their potential resources. Unfortunately, those special authorities have not been fcollowed by the leadership’s capacity of the village’s head. This paper attempts to analyze the rise of local actors so-called local strongmen at the village level. This study uses Sidel (1999) perspective on how to seek local strongmen in local area at Sudimoro Village, Megaluh District in Jombang Regency. In case, the head of Sudimoro village produces a despotic action by unloading and dredging the historical land where there was a petilasan from King of Majapahit, well-known as Raja Brawijaya 1. Then, this action eventually triggered a conflict in the middle of its society and has been solved after the hall of cultural heritage of the government of Jombang Regency has intervened. This paper concluded that the high of authority and power would potentially rise the new local strongmen at the village level. Therefore, the existence of the principle of recognition and subsidiarity owned by the village is only used by a few local elites for their interests without any accountability and accessibility for the society. 

scholarly journals Local Strongmen At The Village Level: The Conflict Of The Demolition Of The First Raja Brawijaya ‘Petilasan’ At Sudimoro Village, Jombang

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-84
Author(s):  
Mirojul Huda ◽  
Novy Setia Yunas
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Local Area ◽  
Local Elites ◽  
Village Level ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Village

Having been enacted since 2014, the Act No. 6/2014 has given a spirit and a huge authority to the villages in developing their potential resources. Unfortunately, those special authorities have not been fcollowed by the leadership’s capacity of the village’s head. This paper attempts to analyze the rise of local actors so-called local strongmen at the village level. This study uses Sidel (1999) perspective on how to seek local strongmen in local area at Sudimoro Village, Megaluh District in Jombang Regency. In case, the head of Sudimoro village produces a despotic action by unloading and dredging the historical land where there was a petilasan from King of Majapahit, well-known as Raja Brawijaya 1. Then, this action eventually triggered a conflict in the middle of its society and has been solved after the hall of cultural heritage of the government of Jombang Regency has intervened. This paper concluded that the high of authority and power would potentially rise the new local strongmen at the village level. Therefore, the existence of the principle of recognition and subsidiarity owned by the village is only used by a few local elites for their interests without any accountability and accessibility for the society. 

Human Rights, the Rule of Law, and Democracy

2018 ◽  
pp. 415-437
Author(s):  
Tobias Berger ◽  
Milli Lake
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Historical Trajectory ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
External Actors ◽  
Key Terms ◽  
External Interventions

This chapter examines the promotion of human rights, the rule of law, and democracy by external actors in areas of limited statehood. It begins with the definition of key terms and a brief overview of the historical trajectory in which contemporary interventions by external actors unfold. We then discuss cross-cutting issues and introduce the key actors involved in the promotion of human rights, the rule of law, and democracy. Analysing each of these issue areas in turn, we make three overarching arguments. Firstly, we highlight the multiplicity of outcomes that result from external interventions, whose impacts prove highly unevenly and spatially dispersed. Secondly, we emphasize the crucial influence of local actors and pre-existing institutions in shaping the outcomes of any governance intervention. Finally, we note that external actors have tended to rely on state-centric conceptualizations of democracy, the rule of law, and human rights.

Elinvoimaista ja kestävää kehitystä kasvuseutujen ulkopuolella?

Terra ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 132 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-131
Author(s):  
Jakob Donner-Amnell
Keyword(s):  
Regional Development ◽  
Sustainability Transitions ◽  
National Policies ◽  
Research Results ◽  
The Future ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Carbon Neutral ◽  
Sustainability Challenges ◽  
External Actors ◽  
Regional Imbalance

This article studies how two peripheral Nordic regions (Jämtland, Sweden and Kainuu,  Finland) have coped with demographic, economic, and sustainability challenges during 2010s. Hard hit by depopulation and globalization, they have implemented many measures to increase vitality, diversification, and sustainability of their economies. The process, the outcome, and local actors’ views have been analysed by utilising perspectives from regional development, smart shrinking, and sustainability transitions literatures. Research results show that Jämtland and Kainuu have succeeded in diversifying their economy, better their employment, and take steps towards sustainability by relying on place-specific resources and on collaboration with external actors. They still have challenges, especially related to demography and regional imbalance, but also potential for a stronger role in achieving national goals for a sustainable, carbon neutral society. Based on these findings, some conclusions concerning the future of these and similar regions and the design of national policies affecting them can be reached.

Making the World Safe for Partial Democracy? Questioning the Premises of Democracy Promotion

2008 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur A. Goldsmith
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Regime Change ◽  
Democracy Promotion ◽  
World Peace ◽  
Global Community ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
The World ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
External Actors

Democracy promotion is a favored strategy to advance the cause of world peace, especially in the Greater Middle East, but undifferentiated democracy promotion has two faulty premises. First, all progress toward the establishment of democratic regimes does not necessarily make the global community safer. Second, regime change is not something external actors have the capacity to direct along desired pathways. The first assumption fails to consider the well-documented security problems caused by partial democracies. The second assumption overstates the ability of powerful outsiders to induce transitions to full democracy. These research findings are grounds for cautious and selective democracy promotion, not a blanket approach that is indifferent to the composition of the regimes designated to be reformed and democratized.

Between Historical Legacies and the Promise of Western Integration: Democratic Conditionality after Communism

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 142-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grigore Pop-Eleches
Keyword(s):  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Democracy Promotion ◽  
Democratic Attitudes ◽  
Political Incentives ◽  
Public Administration Reform ◽  
Political Conditionality ◽  
External Actors ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Domestic Power ◽  
East Central European

Post-communist democracy promotion has been most important in “borderline” countries, which had less favorable structural conditions than the East-Central European frontrunners, but where a domestic democratic constituency nevertheless existed and could benefit from Western support. External democracy promotion efforts have ranged from “soft” diplomatic pressure to economic and military sanctions and have acted through a variety of channels: (1) promotion of democratic attitudes among citizens yearning for Western integration, (2) political incentives for elites (in government and in the opposition), (3) domestic power balance shifts in favor of democratic politicians, and (4) promotion of better democratic governance through incentives for public administration reform. The most effective approach to democracy promotion thus far, however, has been the combination of political conditionality with significant political/economic incentives, best exemplified by the European integration process. Furthermore, the success of any strategy hinges on its fit with the geopolitical and domestic environment of the country in question. In particular, external actors must be more sensitive to the national sovereignty implications of such interventions, which can be easily exploited by domestic antidemocratic actors to undermine democracy promotion efforts.

scholarly journals Externe Expertise und lokale Wirklichkeit – Ambivalenzen des lokal-global-Paradigmas im Irak am Beispiel irakischer Frauenorganisationen

2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Henrizi
Keyword(s):  
Women Activists ◽  
Peace And Conflict Studies ◽  
Peace And Conflict ◽  
The Us ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
External Actors ◽  
External Intervention ◽  
Local Perspectives ◽  
Democratic Country

Abstract. External intervention in Iraq has been widely criticised by practitioners and academics: The armed invasion of the US and its allies in 2003 aimed at toppling the Baath Regime and transforming Iraq into a democratic country. While it succeeded in ending the Baath regime, Iraq is far from doing well concerning security, economy and political progress. This situation is often represented as at least partly due to the failure of the US to integrate local perspectives and to pay attention to local needs. Against that backdrop the paper analyses how local actors – in my case non-governmental women's organisations – perceive and interact with international actors and knowledge frameworks. My empirical data show that the assessment of external engagement from a local perspective is far more ambivalent than a binary reading of local vs. external/global as persistent in peace and conflict studies suggests. I break with this binary reading by introducing three concepts to this debate – relations, heterogeneity and assessment of external actors. Thus, I aim to draw a more nuanced picture of the role of external expertises for the Iraqi society as it is perceived by women activists.

Who Rebuilds? Local Roles in Rebuilding Shattered Societies

2017 ◽  
pp. 267-286
Author(s):  
Susan H. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Moral Imagination ◽  
International Partnerships ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
Ongoing Process ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
External Actors

The focus in this chapter is on local roles and local-international partnerships in recovery from disaster in shattered societies. The chapter does not discount the roles that external actors can usefully play but rather, as Susan Allen writes in Chapter Eleven, to highlight the opportunities for local actors to intervene in their own societies. In addressing this question, Allen considers the case study of rebuilding Georgian–South Ossetian relationships so as to consider who in practice rebuilds shattered societies, how this rebuilding unfolds as an ongoing process, and how the skills and abilities that come to the foreground in the aftermath of traumatic evolve. In turn, the chapter examines the various actions that are part of rebuilding and the different ways people contribute to such a process. Third, considered are the varied actors, the partnerships, and finally the roles of individuals involved in rebuilding. Finally, even while acknowledging partnerships, the chapter also considers individual agency and the ways that a recognised or emergent leader can exercise what John Paul Lederach (2005) refers to as the ‘moral imagination’.

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