Author: Martin Legassick Publisher: Nordic Africa Institute ISBN: 9789171065049 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 68
Book Description
The impact of the concept(s) of armed struggle for the notion(s) of democracy in South(ern) Africa is the focus of this paper. Originally submitted to a conference on (Re-) Conceptualising Democracy and Liberation in Southern Africa, held in Windhoek, Namibia during July 2002, it argues from the point of departure of the personal involvement of the author in the issues raised.The author was part of a group which criticised the strategy of armed struggle in the ANC. With this paper he inspires a debate, which can claim relevance for current issues of democracy in South Africa and the Southern African region more generally. Given the degree of personal involvement of its author, this analysis is contemporary history based on personal insights, and provides arguments for a necessary discussion.
Author: Cas Mudde Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0190234881 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 152
Book Description
Populism is a central concept in the current media debates about politics and elections. However, like most political buzzwords, the term often floats from one meaning to another, and both social scientists and journalists use it to denote diverse phenomena. What is populism really? Who are the populist leaders? And what is the relationship between populism and democracy? This book answers these questions in a simple and persuasive way, offering a swift guide to populism in theory and practice. Cas Mudde and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser present populism as an ideology that divides society into two antagonistic camps, the "pure people" versus the "corrupt elite," and that privileges the general will of the people above all else. They illustrate the practical power of this ideology through a survey of representative populist movements of the modern era: European right-wing parties, left-wing presidents in Latin America, and the Tea Party movement in the United States. The authors delve into the ambivalent personalities of charismatic populist leaders such as Juan Domingo Péron, H. Ross Perot, Jean-Marie le Pen, Silvio Berlusconi, and Hugo Chávez. If the strong male leader embodies the mainstream form of populism, many resolute women, such as Eva Péron, Pauline Hanson, and Sarah Palin, have also succeeded in building a populist status, often by exploiting gendered notions of society. Although populism is ultimately part of democracy, populist movements constitute an increasing challenge to democratic politics. Comparing political trends across different countries, this compelling book debates what the long-term consequences of this challenge could be, as it turns the spotlight on the bewildering effect of populism on today's political and social life.
Author: Seymour Martin Lipset Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company ISBN: 9780393322545 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 388
Book Description
Why socialism has failed to play a significant role in the United States - the most developed capitalist industrial society and hence, ostensibly, fertile ground for socialism - has been a critical question of American history and political development. This study surveys the various explanations for this phenomenon of American political exceptionalism.
Author: Ricardo Blaug Publisher: Edinburgh University Press ISBN: 074869613X Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 632
Book Description
Put together specially for students of democracy, this invaluable reader gathers key statements from political thinkers, explained and contextualised with editorial commentaries. This new edition includes a new introduction, new sections and 29 new readings published since the first edition. Arranged into four sections "e; Traditional Affirmations of Democracy, Key Concepts, Critiques of Democracy and Contemporary Issues "e; it covers democratic thinking in a remarkably broad way. A general introduction highlights democracy's historical complexity and guides you through the current areas of controversy. The extensive bibliography follows the same structure as the text to help you deepen your study.
Author: Paul,Q,Hirst Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1135027226 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 178
Book Description
This book explores the political and legal institutions necessary for a democratic socialism in advanced industrial societies. It argues that a democratic socialist society needs a firm framework of public law, and a formal constitution. Populist conceptions of direct democracy and informal justice are argued to be inadequate as the primary means of democratic control in a complex society; likewise Marxist views of the "withering away of the state" are challenged as utopian. The book maintains that radical reforms in political institutions are necessary in order to effect social change.
Author: David Cortright Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1108415938 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 307
Book Description
An evidence-based analysis of governance focusing on the institutional capacities and qualities that reduce the risk of armed conflict.
Author: Raquel da Silva Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 9780367787028 Category : Political violence Languages : en Pages : 158
Book Description
In exploring how political violence is constructed by examing the life stories of former militants, this book innovatively combines a critical theory approach with a narrative paradigm.
Author: Ludger Mees Publisher: Springer ISBN: 1403943893 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 238
Book Description
Ludger Mees offers the first comprehensive study of one of Europe's most protracted ethnic conflicts. He carefully analyzes both the historical roots of the conflict and its later growing violent dimension. Special attention is paid to the framing of a new opportunity structure during the 1990s, which facilitated the first serious, but ultimately frustrated, attempt to broker a settlement. In the light of different theoretical and comparative approaches, the reasons for the dramatic return of terrorism and the possibilities of a more successful conflict de-escalation in the near future are discussed.
Author: Perry Anderson Publisher: Verso Books ISBN: 1786633736 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 193
Book Description
A major essay on the thought of the great Italian Marxist Perry Anderson’s essay “The Antinomies of Antonio Gramsci,” first published in New Left Review in 1976, was an explosive analysis of the central strategic concepts in the thought of the great Italian Marxist. Since then it has been the subject of book-length attacks across four decades for its disentangling of the hesitations and contradictions in Gramsci’s highly original usage of such key dichotomies as East and West, domination and direction, hegemony and dictatorship, state and civil society, and war of position and war of movement. In a critical tribute to the international richness of Gramsci’s work, the essay shows how deeply embedded these notions were in the revolutionary debates in Tsarist Russia and Wilhelmine Germany. Here arguments crisscrossed between Plekhanov, Lenin, Kautsky, Luxemburg, Lukács and Trotsky, with later echoes in Brecht and Benjamin. A new preface considers the objections the essay provoked and the reasons for them. This edition also includes the first English translation of Athos Lisa’s report on Gramsci’s lectures in prison.
Author: Martin Legassick
Author: Cas Mudde
Author: Seymour Martin Lipset
Author: Ricardo Blaug
Author: Paul,Q,Hirst
Author: David Cortright
Author: Raquel da Silva
Author: Ludger Mees
Author: Perry Anderson
Author: Vladimir Ilʹich Lenin