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Author: Lungisile Ntsebeza
Publisher: BRILL
Published: 2005-06-01
Total Pages: 336
ISBN-13: 9047407903
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book argues that the promulgation of the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework and Communal Land Rights Acts runs the risk of compromising South Africa's democracy. The acts establish traditional councils with land administration powers. These structures are dominated by unelected members.
Author: Caleb Maina
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: 2023-03-07
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKCompromised democracy refers to a form of government where the interests of a minority group, often composed of political elites and their family and friends, take precedence over the interests of the broader population. This type of government is characterized by corruption, nepotism, and cronyism, which result in a skewed distribution of resources and opportunities. As a result, compromised democracies often fail to deliver basic services, protect individual rights, and foster economic growth. The literature on compromised democracy highlights the dangers of this type of government and its impact on the rule of law, political stability, and economic development. Scholars have argued that compromised democracies are prone to authoritarianism, populism, and political polarization. They have also emphasized the need for strong institutions, civil society, and an independent media to prevent the erosion of democratic norms and values. The concept of compromised democracy has gained increasing attention in recent years, as many countries have experienced democratic backsliding and increasing authoritarianism. Some examples of compromised democracies include Hungary, Turkey, Venezuela, and the Philippines. The literature on this topic provides valuable insights into the challenges facing democratic governance in the 21st century and the ways in which democratic institutions can be strengthened to ensure that they serve the interests of all citizens, not just a privileged few.
Author: Angela Y. Davis
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Published: 2011-01-04
Total Pages: 128
ISBN-13: 9781609801038
DOWNLOAD EBOOKRevelations about U.S policies and practices of torture and abuse have captured headlines ever since the breaking of the Abu Ghraib prison story in April 2004. Since then, a debate has raged regarding what is and what is not acceptable behavior for the world’s leading democracy. It is within this context that Angela Davis, one of America’s most remarkable political figures, gave a series of interviews to discuss resistance and law, institutional sexual coercion, politics and prison. Davis talks about her own incarceration, as well as her experiences as "enemy of the state," and about having been put on the FBI’s "most wanted" list. She talks about the crucial role that international activism played in her case and the case of many other political prisoners. Throughout these interviews, Davis returns to her critique of a democracy that has been compromised by its racist origins and institutions. Discussing the most recent disclosures about the disavowed "chain of command," and the formal reports by the Red Cross and Human Rights Watch denouncing U.S. violation of human rights and the laws of war in Guantánamo, Afghanistan and Iraq, Davis focuses on the underpinnings of prison regimes in the United States.
Author: Freedom House
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Published: 2019-01-31
Total Pages: 1040
ISBN-13: 1538112035
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFreedom in the World is the standard-setting comparative assessment of global political rights and civil liberties. The methodology of this survey is derived in large measure from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and these standards are applied to all countries and territories.
Author: Lesley Chiloane
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Published: 2010-07
Total Pages: 186
ISBN-13: 9781453539910
DOWNLOAD EBOOKLesley Boitumelo Chiloane's "Compromised Democracy: The Not So Successful Side of Our Freedom" is an essay on the effects of the Democratic Government in South Africa. The author explains, "While I have no doubt in my mind that our democracy has surely been compromised, I however, have a question that continues to haunt me, which is whether is it the ordinary people's version and definition of democracy and their expectations thereof that has been compromised or is it that our more than ten years experience of democracy has produced exactly what democracy by its basic form and definition should?" The piece discusses the election in 1994, which was a monumental event. "In 1994, most of us, especially black South Africans, if not all, voted for the African National Congress for many reasons. We wanted to ensure the transition of power from the white minority to black majority." Notably, in the next election in 1999, "most people were complaining about how the ANC had failed to deliver on its promises." Indications of the democracy benefiting the minority versus the majority were evident, according to the piece. Analysts explained that the ANC needed more time to make the changes, as stated in the essay. The author concludes, "Yes, indeed the last fourteen years have been filled with drama, tears, joy and excitement, and we owe it to ourselves as South Africans to celebrate that. Sustained economic growth, a strengthening currency, and social welfare for more people are just some of the positive developments we have to celebrate. However, I believe that we have the capacity, potential and ability to do more and we are not." He also poetically finishes the book by say: "However negative it may seem to many of you out there, I find comfort in the last two paragraphs of Ehrmann's Desiderata: " You are the child of the universe, no less than the trees and stars, you have the right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and inspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy". Don't you feel good after reading this book? You must, this book had to be written, either by me or somebody else" This manuscript is designed to be a political discussion. It might appeal to readers who appreciate political pieces. You will also appreciate his conversational style of writing, he is talking to the reader, not writing a book for the reader to read.
Author: M. Steven Fish
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2005-08-29
Total Pages: 466
ISBN-13: 1139446851
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWhy has democracy failed to take root in Russia? After shedding the shackles of Soviet rule, some countries in the postcommunist region undertook lasting democratization. Yet Russia did not. Russia experienced dramatic political breakthroughs in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but it subsequently failed to maintain progress toward democracy. In this book, M. Steven Fish offers an explanation for the direction of regime change in post-Soviet Russia. Relying on cross-national comparative analysis as well as on in-depth field research in Russia, Fish shows that Russia's failure to democratize has three causes: too much economic reliance on oil, too little economic liberalization, and too weak a national legislature. Fish's explanation challenges others that have attributed Russia's political travails to history, political culture, or to 'shock therapy' in economic policy. The book offers a theoretically original and empirically rigorous explanation for one of the most pressing political problems of our time.
Author: Aurelien Mondon
Publisher: Verso Books
Published: 2020-04-28
Total Pages: 271
ISBN-13: 1788734246
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDemocracy is not necessarily progressive, and will only be if we make it so. What Mondon and Winter call 'reactionary democracy' is the use of the concept of democracy and its associated understanding of the power to the people (demos cratos) for reactionary ends. The resurgence of racism, populism and the far right is not the result of popular demands as we are often told. It is rather the logical conclusion of the more or less conscious manipulation by the elite of the concept of 'the people' and the working class to push reactionary ideas. These narratives place racism as a popular demand, rather than as something encouraged and perpetuated by elites, thus exonerating those with the means to influence and control public discourse through the media in particular. This in turn has legitimised the far right, strengthened its hand and compounded inequalities. These actions diverts us away from real concerns and radical alternatives to the current system. Through a careful and thorough deconstruction of the hegemonic discourse currently preventing us from thinking beyond the liberal vs populist dichotomy, this book develops a better understanding of the systemic forces underpinning our current model and its exploitative and discriminatory basis. The book shows us that the far right would not have been able to achieve such success, either electorally or ideologically, were it not for the help of elite actors (the media, politicians and academics). While the far right is a real threat and should not be left off the hook, the authors argue that we need to shift the responsibility of the situation towards those who too often claim to be objective, and even powerless, bystanders despite their powerful standpoint and clear capacity to influence the agenda, public discourse, and narratives, particularly when they platform and legitimise racist and far right ideas and actors.
Author: Joshua Patterson
Publisher:
Published: 2018-04-09
Total Pages: 98
ISBN-13: 9780692034897
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: Sara Wallace Goodman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2022-01-20
Total Pages: 235
ISBN-13: 1009076981
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWhat do citizens do in response to threats to democracy? This book examines the mass politics of civic obligation in the US, UK, and Germany. Exploring threats like foreign interference in elections and polarization, Sara Wallace Goodman shows that citizens respond to threats to democracy as partisans, interpreting civic obligation through a partisan lens that is shaped by their country's political institutions. This divided, partisan citizenship makes democratic problems worse by eroding the national unity required for democratic stability. Employing novel survey experiments in a cross-national research design, Citizenship in Hard Times presents the first comprehensive and comparative analysis of citizenship norms in the face of democratic threat. In showing partisan citizens are not a reliable bulwark against democratic backsliding, Goodman identifies a key vulnerability in the mass politics of democratic order. In times of democratic crisis, defenders of democracy must work to fortify the shared foundations of democratic citizenship.
Author: Lawrence Lessig
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2018-10-22
Total Pages: 264
ISBN-13: 022631667X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAn analysis of “the Trump era, but not about Trump. . . . but on how incentives across a range of institutions have created corruption” (New York Times Book Review). “There is not a single American awake to the world who is comfortable with the way things are.” So begins Lawrence Lessig's sweeping indictment of modern-day American institutions and the corruption that besets them—from the selling of Congress to special interests to the corporate capture of the academy. And it’s our fault. What Lessig brilliantly shows is that we can’t blame the problems of contemporary American life on bad people, as our discourse all too often tends to do. Rather, he explains, “We have allowed core institutions of America’s economic, social, and political life to become corrupted. Not by evil souls, but by good souls. Not through crime, but through compromise.” Through case studies of Congress, finance, the academy, the media, and the law, Lessig shows how institutions are drawn away from higher purposes and toward money, power, quick rewards—the first steps to corruption. Lessig knows that a charge so broad should not be levied lightly, and that our instinct will be to resist it. So he brings copious detail gleaned from years of research, building a case that is all but incontrovertible: America is on the wrong path. If we don’t acknowledge our own part in that, and act now to change it, we will hand our children a less perfect union than we were given. It will be a long struggle. This book represents the first steps. “A devastating argument that America is racing for the cliff's edge of structural, possibly irreversible tyranny.” —Cory Doctorow
