Indirect Representation Versus a Democratic System: Relative Advantages for Resolving the Tibet Question

2017 ◽  
pp. 115-134
Keyword(s):  
Representation Versus ◽  
Democratic System

Conclusions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piero Ignazi
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Present Condition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Dead End ◽  
Democratic System

The Conclusion addresses the parties’ present condition in the European political systems. Indeed, at the dawn of the new century parties have become Leviathan with clay feet: powerful in the political arena thanks to control of state resources, but very weak in terms of legitimacy in the eyes of public opinion. Only by abandoning the citadelle in which they are entrenched, recasting societal linkages, relinquishing all their privileges, and dismissing their self-referential attitude might they recover the confidence of the electorate. Maintaining a state-centred status will only lead to a dead end, and this will also harm the democratic system itself. The collapse of parties’ legitimacy inevitably affects democratic institutions: the mounting populist and plebiscitary wave suggests how pervasive is the crisis and how dramatic the challenge.

scholarly journals Attrition as a bottom-up pathway to subnational democratization

2021 ◽  
pp. 019251212110192
Author(s):  
Trix van Mierlo
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Causal Process ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
System A ◽  
Extensive Field ◽  
Democratic System

Oftentimes, democracy is not spread out evenly over the territory of a country. Instead, pockets of authoritarianism can persist within a democratic system. A growing body of literature questions how such subnational authoritarian enclaves can be democratized. Despite fascinating insights, all existing pathways rely on the actions of elites and are therefore top-down. This article seeks to kick-start the discussion on a bottom-up pathway to subnational democratization, by proposing the attrition mechanism. This mechanism consists of four parts and is the product of abductive inference through theory-building causal process tracing. The building blocks consist of subnational democratization literature, social movement theory, and original empirical data gathered during extensive field research. This case study focuses on the ‘Dynasty Slayer’ in the province of Isabela, the Philippines, where civil society actors used the attrition mechanism to facilitate subnational democratization. This study implies that civil society actors in subnational authoritarian enclaves have agency.

scholarly journals The kiss of death. Public service media under right-wing populist attack

2021 ◽  
pp. 026732312199133
Author(s):  
Christina Holtz-Bacha
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
Democratic Control ◽  
The Media ◽  
Democratic System ◽  
Public Scrutiny

With the surge of populism in Europe, public service broadcasting has come under increased pressure. The established media are considered part of the corrupt elite not serving the interests of the people. The public service media, for which pluralism is at the core of their remit, are a particular thorn in the side of the populists. Therefore, they attack the financial basis of public service, which is supposed to guarantee their independence. The populist attacks on the traditional broadcasting corporations meet with the interests of neoliberal politics and of those political actors who want to evade public scrutiny and democratic control and do no longer feel committed to democratic accountability. The assaults on the public service media are thus an assault on freedom of the media and further increase the pressure on the democratic system.

CORRUPTION IN ADVERSARIAL SYSTEMS: THE CASE OF DEMOCRACY

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (02) ◽  
pp. 221-241
Author(s):  
Daniel M. Weinstock
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Design ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Institutional Framework ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Central Task ◽  
Perverse Incentives ◽  
Democratic System ◽  
Democratic Systems ◽  
Positive Traits ◽  
In Virtue Of

Abstract:In this essay I argue that adversarial institutional systems, such as multi-party democracy, present a distinctive risk of institutional corruption, one that is particularly difficult to counteract. Institutional corruption often results not from individual malfeasance, but from perverse incentives that make it the case that agents within an institutional framework have rival institutional interests that risk pitting individual advantage against the functioning of the institution in question. Sometimes, these perverse incentives are only contingently related to the central animating logic of an institution. In these cases, immunizing institutions from the risk of corruption is not a theoretically difficult exercise. In other cases, institutions generate perverse or rival incentives in virtue of some central feature of the institution’s design, one that is also responsible for some of the institution’s more positive traits. In multi-party democratic systems, partisanship risks giving rise to too close an identification of the partisan’s interest with that of the party, to the detriment of the democratic system as a whole. But partisanship is also necessary to the functioning of such a system. Creating bulwarks that allow the positive aspects of partisanship to manifest themselves, while offsetting the aspects of partisanship through which individual advantage of democratic agents is linked too closely to party success, is a central task for the theory and practice of the institutional design of democracy.

scholarly journals Did Secularism Fail? The Rise of Religion in Turkish Politics

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 528-554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeynep Taydas ◽  
Yasemin Akbaba ◽  
Minion K. C. Morrison
Keyword(s):  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
Religious Nationalism ◽  
Palestinian Territories ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Turkish Politics ◽  
Religious Parties ◽  
Democratic System ◽  
The Republic

AbstractReligious movements have long been challenging the modernist and secularist ideas around the world. Within the last decade or so, pro-religious parties made significant electoral advances in various countries, including India, Sudan, Algeria, and the Palestinian territories. In this article, we focus on the rise of the pro-religious Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi- AKP) to power in the 2002 elections in Turkey. Using the Turkish experience with political Islam, we evaluate the explanatory value of Mark Juergensmeyer's rise of religious nationalism theory, with a special emphasis on the “failed secularism” argument. Our analysis indicates that the theoretical approach formulated by Juergensmeyer has a great deal of explanatory power; however, it does not provide a complete explanation for the success of the AKP. The rise of religion in Turkish politics is the result of a complex process over long years of encounter and confrontation between two frameworks of order, starting with the sudden imposition of secularism from above, when the republic was established. Hence, to understand the rise of religion in contemporary Turkish politics, an in-depth understanding of history, politics, and the sources of tension between secularists and Islamists is essential. The findings of this article have important implications for other countries, especially those that are experiencing a resurgence of religion in politics, and are struggling to integrate religious parties into a democratic system.

scholarly journals Hate Speech Prosecution of Politicians and its Effect on Support for the Legal System and Democracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Roderik Rekker ◽  
Joost van Spanje
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Entire Group ◽  
Multicultural Society ◽  
Guilty Verdict ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
Democratic System ◽  
Quasi Experiment

Abstract This study examined if and for whom prosecution of politicians for hate speech undermines support for the legal system and democracy. Three research designs were combined to investigate the case of Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who was convicted for hate speech against minorities in 2016. First, an experiment showed that observing a guilty verdict decreased support among ‘assimilationists’ who oppose the multicultural society. This deterioration of support was found among the entire group of assimilationists, regardless of whether they voted for Wilders. Secondly, a quasi-experiment demonstrated that assimilationists who were interviewed after Wilders' conviction indicated less support than those who were interviewed before the verdict and compared to a pre-test. Thirdly, a nine-year panel study suggested that these effects accumulate into long-term discontent. This case therefore demonstrates that hate speech prosecution can damage the democratic system it is intended to defend.

Koncepcja „demokracji zakorzenionej” Wolfganga Merkela w kontekście współczesnego populizmu i kryzysu demokracji

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-82
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Guczalska
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Functional Model ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Proper Functioning ◽  
Democratic System ◽  
The Impact

Wolfgang Merkel’s concept of rooted democracy in the context of contemporary populism and the crisis of democracy: The article presents the concept of “rooted democracy” by Wolf‐ gang Merkel, which was presented in the context of the democratic crisis. The German poli‐ tical scientist indicates what democracy is — specifying the proper functioning of the regula‐ tions of the democratic system (regimes). Speaking of the weakness or strength of democracy, we must have a well‐described set of system principles that determine the degree of strength of democracy or its erosion. The above set of principles of the democratic system is thoroughly discussed in the article. In particular, the functional model of civil society is analysed. The text also explores how the crisis of democracy is understood and Merkel’s view of the impact of global capitalism on democratic institutions, which contributes to the transformation of democracy into an oligarchy. The topics discussed in the article also concern alternative, non‐ ‐liberal forms of democracy and populism. The question is whether Merkel’s concept is useful in explaining populism and its political consequences.

Stages of Hong Kong’s democratic movement

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 352-380
Author(s):  
Benny Yiu-ting Tai
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Significant Shift ◽  
Democratic Movement ◽  
Democratic System

Bill Moyer observed that there are eight stages in a social movement: seeming normal, exposing injustice, ripening conditions, taking off, losing heart, winning the majority, reaping success and consolidating achievement. For more than 30 years, Hong Kong people have been striving for democracy. Applying Moyer’s model, Hong Kong should be now at a stage close to reaching its ultimate goal of establishing a genuine democratic system in the territory after years of work, especially the triggering event in September 2014 and the occupation during the Umbrella Movement. However, Moyer’s model cannot be mechanically applied to the case of Hong Kong in light of the unique situation faced by Hong Kong people. Hong Kong’s authoritarian sovereign holds the final key to Hong Kong’s door to democracy. Unless there is a significant shift in the balance of powers in the Chinese polity, Hong Kong’s democracy may be so near and yet so far.

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