16 December 2011

Report: Democracy Index 2011: Democracy under stress

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Report: Democracy Index 2011: Democracy under stress

The Economist Intelligence Unit just released its worldwide "Democracy Index 2011", titled "Democracy under stress".

Excerpt: "Eastern Europe experienced another decline in democracy in 2011. In 12 countries of the region the democracy score declined in 2011. ... Seven countries in western Europe had a decline in their democracy score in 2011; none had an increase. ... The near-term political outlook for Europe is disturbing."

The full text is available for download at the link.

Book: Creative Crises of Democracy

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Book: Creative Crises of Democracy

Just published: "Creative Crises of Democracy", a contributed volume edited by Joris Gijsenbergh, Saskia Hollander, Tim Houwen, and Wim de Jong (all Radboud University Nijmegen), is apparently already available (Peter Lang, January 2012).

Quote: "The 'crisis of democracy' is as old as democracy itself. From the first democracy in Athens up until western democracy in the twenty-first century, criticism and complaints about the deficiencies of democracy have recurred. ... This collection of essays ... draws attention to the creativity inherent in these 'crises of democracy' ... in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries".

15 December 2011

Article: Dangers to Democracy: Current Problems in Historical Perspective (in German)

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Article: Dangers to Democracy: Current Problems in Historical Perspective (in German)

The article, "Gefährdungen der Demokratie: Aktuelle Probleme in historischer Sicht" ("Dangers to Democracy: Current Problems in Historical Perspective"; publisher's translation), by Horst Möller (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich), appeared in the "Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte" ("Contemporary History Quarterly"; my translation), a German-langage journal (55 [3], July 2007: pp. 379-91).

Quote (publisher's English abstract): "[D]emocracy, the rule of law and parliamentary constitutions are not to be taken for granted, but instead have to be legitimised and reformed time and time again if they are to escape collapse ... Thus the essay is ... a premonitory plea to rapidly and sweepingly engage in the necessary reforms to avert the threatening but often ignored dangers for democracy."

Article: It is high time Africans came to their senses on democratization

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Article: It is high time Africans came to their senses on democratization

Jean Paul Kimonyo, an advisor to the President of Rwanda, titled a front-page opinion piece in the country's "New Times" newspaper of 14 December 2011 "It is high time Africans came to their senses on democratization".

Quote: "With very few exceptions, it seems that 15 years after the initial democratization wave, the electoral processes in weak states leads [sic] more and more to instability. One of the fundamental problems of the Western ideological insistence for rigid 'democratic access' processes is the total disregard of what comes after ..., crowding out the debate and rendering it completely one sided and insensitive to the real lives of Africans."

13 December 2011

Article: Depression and Democracy

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Article: Depression and Democracy

Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize-winning Princeton economist, warns of anti-democratic tendencies in Europe in his latest syndicated "New York Times" column, dated 11 December 2011, "Depression and Democracy".

Excerpt: "Leaders and institutions are increasingly discredited. And democratic values are under siege. ... Not surprisingly, the loss of faith in democracy has been greatest in the countries that suffered the deepest economic slumps. And in at least one nation, Hungary, democratic institutions are being undermined as we speak ..., all this amounts to the re-establishment of authoritarian rule, under a paper-thin veneer of democracy, in the heart of Europe. And it's a sample of what may happen much more widely if this depression continues."

CFP: Crisis of Politics - Politics in Crisis?

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CFP: Crisis of Politics - Politics in Crisis?

Call for papers for an international conference on the theme, "Crisis of Politics - Politics in Crisis?", organized by the Institute of Political Science at the University of Prešov, Slovakia, 15-16 February 2012. Deadline: 31 December 2011.

Quote: "Various critics of authority attempt to make use of the crisis situation to criticize the ruling elites, their policies and governance procedures. ... [C]onsidering following starting points: ... crisis of democracy as ideology and political system".

Application form: http://www.upr.si/fileadmin/user_upload/mednarodno_sodelovanje/razpisi/Drugi_razpisi/APP_Uni_Presov_znanstvena_konf__feb_2012.doc

11 December 2011

Article: Democracy and democratic values in the Balkans

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Article: Democracy and democratic values in the Balkans

Vedran Dzihic (Johns Hopkins University) is the author of the article, "Democracy and democratic values in the Balkans", published in a political science journal affiliated with the Dutch Democrats 66 party ("idee: Publication of the Mr. Hans van Mierlo Stichting", 32 [6], December 2011: pp. 12-16).

Excerpt: "While the certain crisis of democracy or - to put it differently - democracy fatigue in the Balkans parallel to post-democratic tendencies in the West has emerged, certain percentage of citizens in the Balkans societies started to be rather skeptical towards the 'role model' and values of the West and the EU. ... The global crisis of democracy and of traditional values and norms attached to democracy has become the part of the Balkans present [sic]."

The article forms part of an English-language special issue of the journal on "The rule of law: fundamental rights & shared values in South East Europe".

The link is to a full-text copy of the journal.

Article: Bankers are the dictators of the West

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Article: Bankers are the dictators of the West

Robert Fisk, veteran Middle East correspondent for the British "Independent", titled his latest opinion piece, on the "Arab Spring" and Occupy movements, published on the paper's website on 10 December 2011, "Bankers are the dictators of the West".

Excerpt: "[T]hey have for decades bought into a fraudulent democracy: they dutifully vote for political parties - which then hand their democratic mandate and people's power to the banks and the derivative traders and the rating agencies, all three backed up by the slovenly and dishonest coterie of 'experts' from America's top universities and 'think tanks', who maintain the fiction that this is a crisis of globalisation rather than a massive financial con trick foisted on the voters."

Book: Confronting Fascism in Egypt: Dictatorship versus Democracy in the 1930s

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Book: Confronting Fascism in Egypt: Dictatorship versus Democracy in the 1930s

On (anti-)democracy in interwar Egypt: Israel Gershoni (Tel Aviv University) and James Jankowski (University of Colorado), "Confronting Fascism in Egypt: Dictatorship versus Democracy in the 1930s" (Stanford University Press, 2009).

Quote: "Though scholarship has commonly emphasized Arab political and military support of Axis powers, this work reveals that the shapers of Egyptian public opinion were largely unreceptive to fascism, openly rejecting totalitarian ideas and practices, Nazi racism, and Italy's and Germany's expansionist and imperialist agendas."

07 December 2011

Report: Confidence in Democracy and Capitalism Wanes in Former Soviet Union

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Report: Confidence in Democracy and Capitalism Wanes in Former Soviet Union

Earlier this year, the US-based Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project conducted a survey in Russia, Ukraine, and Lithuania. The report on its findings was released on 5 December 2011 under the title, "Confidence in Democracy and Capitalism Wanes in Former Soviet Union".

Excerpt: "When asked whether they should rely on a democratic form of government or a leader with a strong hand to solve their national problems, only about three-in-ten Russians and Ukrainians choose democracy, down significantly from 1991. Roughly half (52%) say this in [EU member state] Lithuania, a 27-percentage-point decline from the level recorded two decades ago."

The link is to a full-text copy of the report.

Article: Trends in Authoritarianism: Evidence from 31 European Countries

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Article: Trends in Authoritarianism: Evidence from 31 European Countries

On authoritarian attitudes and anti-democracy in Europe today: Sabrina de Regt (University of Antwerp), Tim Smits (Catholic University of Leuven), and Dimitri Mortelmans (University of Antwerp), "Trends in Authoritarianism: Evidence from 31 European Countries" ("International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanity Studies", 3 [1], January 2011: pp. 395-404).

Quote: "[I]n some, mostly Eastern European countries, levels of authoritarianism actually increased significantly during the last decade. Changing levels of authoritarianism were linked to extreme-right and anti-democratic sentiment in European societies."

The link is to a full-text copy of the article.

06 December 2011

Article: The failures of democracy in the West offer hope for Islamic movements everywhere

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Article: The failures of democracy in the West offer hope for Islamic movements everywhere

"Crescent International", the Toronto-based news magazine of the global Islamic movement, just published on its website an undated opinion article by the magazine's former editor, Iqbal Siddiqui, titled "The failures of democracy in the West offer hope for Islamic movements everywhere".

Excerpt: "As Egyptians struggle to achieve real freedom, rather than the model offered by the West, the fact that democracy is facing new challenges even in the countries that have hitherto been its supposed shining models, can only make it easier for a counter-democratic discourse to emerge, offering a genuine Islamic alternative as a model for the entire Muslim world."

Book: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Authoritarianism: Puritanism, Democracy, and Society

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Book: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Authoritarianism: Puritanism, Democracy, and Society

On "Puritanism's links to political and social authoritarianism": Milan Zafirovski (University of North Texas), "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Authoritarianism: Puritanism, Democracy, and Society" (Springer, 2007).

Quote: "Perhaps no conventional wisdom is more common and enduring in Western societies, especially America, than that of Protestant Puritanism as the source of modern liberty and democracy. ... The book exposes 'Puritanism and liberty' as a cherished myth or 'sweet lie' ... If Puritanism is as American as the apple pie, then it is the 'apple pie' of authoritarianism and theocracy rather than of liberty and democracy."

03 December 2011

Article: The Austere Demagogue: Thucydides on the Uses and Abuses of Periclean Rhetoric

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Article: The Austere Demagogue: Thucydides on the Uses and Abuses of Periclean Rhetoric

Just published: Odysseus Makridis (Fairleigh Dickinson University), "The Austere Demagogue: Thucydides on the Uses and Abuses of Periclean Rhetoric" ("Atlantic Journal of Communication", 19 [5], 2011: pp. 268-84).

Quote: "The portrait I draw here, of Pericles as an austere demagogue, shows us that it is not always easy to distinguish between the demagogic manipulator of collective desires and the ostensibly rational leader of a people in crisis. It is not only extravagant speech that poses a threat in democracy; so does an austere rhetoric, if applied by one as skillful as Pericles."

02 December 2011

Public discussion: Attack on Democracy: An Intervention (in German)

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Public discussion: Attack on Democracy: An Intervention (in German)

Those near Berlin, Germany, may be interested in a public discussion, scheduled to take place at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) on 18 December 2011, on the topic, "Angriff auf die Demokratie: Eine Intervention" ("Attack on Democracy: An Intervention").

Quote: "What does the euro crisis actually consist of? From a political point of view, it is less a matter of debt and more a question of the risks posed to democracy by the supposed rescue of the currency: the German chancellor now speaks of 'market-conform democracy'. ... Democracy is a form of order based on the consideration of alternatives and it is under constant threat - especially when apparent necessities suggest that there is 'no time' to go through energy and time-consuming parliamentary procedures."

The announcement in German: https://hkw.de/de/programm/2011/andere2011/veranstaltungen_53180/veranstaltungsdetail_69747.php

Journal special issue: Inside the Authoritarian State

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Journal special issue: Inside the Authoritarian State

The latest issue of Columbia University's "Journal of International Affairs" is dedicated to the theme, "Inside the Authoritarian State" (65 [1], fall/winter 2011).

Quote (Editors' Foreword): "[W]hile many scholars have focused their attention on the causes of the Arab Spring revolutions - asking 'Why there?' and 'Why now?' - our aim is deeper. We asked our contributors ... to examine the factors that underpin regime durability, not democratization. Our questions are, 'Why not there?' and 'Why not now?'"

01 December 2011

CONF: Global Dissatisfaction: Criticism of Democracy, Longing for Democracy

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CONF: Global Dissatisfaction: Criticism of Democracy, Longing for Democracy


The LUISS School of Government at LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome will be holding a conference, under the auspices of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Political Science Association (IPSA), on "Global Dissatisfaction: Criticism of Democracy, Longing for Democracy", 15-16 December 2011.

Speakers include the former Prime Minster of Italy, Giuliano Amato.

15-16 December 2011: Jean Monnet Conference: Global Dissatisfaction: Criticism of Democracy, Longing for Democracy -
School of Government - LUISS Guido Carli

29 November 2011

Article: How the EU oligarchy has downsized democracy

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Article: How the EU oligarchy has downsized democracy

An article by Frank Furedi (University of Kent), published on 29 November 2011 by the British online magazine, "Spiked", was originally titled "How the EU oligarchy has downsized democracy", but now bears the rather nondescript title, "Frank Furedi on the EU".

Excerpt: "[I]t isn't the old-fashioned conservative detractors of the multitude who are at the forefront of the current cultural turn against democratic will-formation - no, it is liberal advocates of expert-driven technocratic rule who are now the most explicit denouncers of democracy. ... [A]nti-democratic ideologues believe that governments, especially democratic governments, have lost the capacity to deal with the key problems facing societies in today's globalised world."

28 November 2011

Article: The New Authoritarianism: From Decaying Democracies to Technocratic Dictatorships and Beyond

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Article: The New Authoritarianism: From Decaying Democracies to Technocratic Dictatorships and Beyond

James Petras (Binghamton University) is the author of an article on "The New Authoritarianism: From Decaying Democracies to Technocratic Dictatorships and Beyond", published on 28 November 2011 on the alternative news website of the Montreal-based Centre for Research on Globalization, GlobalResearch .ca.

Excerpt: "We delineate a two-stage process of political regression. The first stage involves the transition from a decaying democracy to an oligarchical democracy; the second stage currently unfolding in Europe involves the transition from oligarchical democracy to colonial-technocratic dictatorship." (italics removed)

27 November 2011

Article: Aesthetics of emptiness and withdrawal: contemporary European art and actually existing democratization

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Article: Aesthetics of emptiness and withdrawal: contemporary European art and actually existing democratization

Against the "aesthetics of democratization": Anthony Gardner (University of Melbourne), "Aesthetics of emptiness and withdrawal: contemporary European art and actually existing democratization" ("Postcolonial Studies", 13 [2], 2010: pp. 179-97).

Quote: "Why, since the late 1980s, have a number of European artists critiqued democracy as the political, critical and aesthetic frame within which to identify their work? How have they done this? And what aesthetic and political discourses have artists proposed in lieu of the democracy they critique?"

Chapter: Democracy and Its (Muslim) Critics: An Islamic Alternative to Democracy?

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Chapter: Democracy and Its (Muslim) Critics: An Islamic Alternative to Democracy?

Abdelwahab El-Affendi (University of Westminster) is the author of the chapter, "Democracy and Its (Muslim) Critics: An Islamic Alternative to Democracy?", in the contributed volume, "Islamic Democratic Discourse: Theory, Debates, and Philosophical Perspectives", ed. M.A. Muqtedar Khan (Lexington Books, 2006: pp. 227-56).

Excerpt: "One can find what seems like a consensus among the various lines of thinking which object to democracy on Islamic grounds and seek to promote more authentic alternatives. All these schools of thought ... see the Islamic state as an 'Islamic constitutional' polity where Islamic law is supreme. All seem to agree that the establishment of Islamic law is the prerogative of certain privileged and especially qualified individuals".

Article: The Failure of Democracy in Turkey: A Comparative Analysis

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Article: The Failure of Democracy in Turkey: A Comparative Analysis

Just published: Lauren McLaren and Burak Cop (both University of Nottingham), "The Failure of Democracy in Turkey: A Comparative Analysis" ("Government and Opposition: An International Journal of Comparative Politics", 46 [4], October 2011: pp. 485-516).

Quote: "Although Turkey took its initial steps toward establishing democracy in 1950, it has thus far failed to become a fully functioning democracy. ... The article ultimately contends that despite the EU's attempt to push Turkey towards full democracy in the modern day it is unlikely that it will become a fully functioning democracy".

26 November 2011

Article: Democracy put to the test (from Spanish)

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Article: Democracy put to the test (from Spanish)

A further article by José Ignacio Torreblanca (National University of Distance Education, Madrid), originally published in Spanish on the website of "El País" on 12 November 2011, "La democracia puesta a prueba", was translated into English by Ollie Brock for openDemocracy .net, where it appeared under the title, "Democracy put to the test".

Excerpt: "We find ourselves in a situation unprecedented in the history of democracy. Historically, democracy has only existed on two levels: the Greek polis and the nation state. As we know, there was no transition from one to the other, nor any coexistence between the two forms: one disappeared and the other emerged centuries later. ... The problem is that just as the mechanisms that made democracy function in city states were not adequate for governing nation states, representative democracies today are showing themselves incapable of managing, effectively and democratically, the system that is emerging in Europe."

Original article: http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2011/11/12/actualidad/1321119086_848312.html

25 November 2011

Article: It is not inevitable that the EU - or democracy - will survive this mess

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Article: It is not inevitable that the EU - or democracy - will survive this mess

A column by veteran British journalist Simon Jenkins, first published on the website of the "Guardian" on 24 November 2011, bears the title, "It is not inevitable that the EU - or democracy - will survive this mess".

Excerpt: "Are we all doomed? America's fiscal democracy this week collapsed in disarray. The Arab spring ran out of steam. Emergency regimes have taken power in Greece and Italy, while Germany could not sell a third of its bonds. ... Democracy is everywhere in tears ... Who is laughing? Dictatorial China, while Europe grovels for money at its feet. Moscow's oligarchs, just two decades after suffering the greatest humiliation in Russian history."

23 November 2011

Article: It's not just our leaders who are in a crisis. Democracy itself is failing

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Article: It's not just our leaders who are in a crisis. Democracy itself is failing

Major media outlets from the right to the left now concede the abject failure of democracy. Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor of the centre-left UK Sunday paper, "The Observer", titled an article, published in that paper on 20 November 2011, "It's not just our leaders who are in a crisis. Democracy itself is failing".

Excerpt: "The dispiriting reality is that the west, even as it has preached the virtues of western democracy to other countries, has been moved inexorably towards an ever more procedural and debased version of democracy. ... We abrogated our engagement in the democratic process to politicians who abrogated influence to an unaccountable system as part of a pact that saw us happy as long as we were relatively comfortable. With that arrangement breaking down, we discover we have given up more than we bargained for."

20 November 2011

Article: Anarchy in the U.S.A.

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Article: Anarchy in the U.S.A.

Matthew Continetti, opinion editor of the conservative US "Weekly Standard", wrote an article, dated 28 November 2011, but published already on the magazine's website, titled "Anarchy in the U.S.A.".

Excerpt: "Both left and right have made the error of thinking that the forces behind Occupy Wall Street are interested in democratic politics and problem solving. ... Occupy Wall Street's supporters cried, 'You can't evict an idea whose time has come.' ... The idea is utopian socialism. The method is revolutionary anarchism. ... An anarchist does not distinguish between types of government. Democracy to him is just another form of control. ... By denying the legitimacy of democratic politics, the anarchists undermine their ability to affect people's lives. ... The reason that Occupy Wall Street has no agenda is that anarchism allows for no agenda. All the anarchist can do is set an example - or tear down the existing order through violence."

19 November 2011

CFP: Crisis

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CFP: Crisis

The Santa Barbara Global Studies Conference, organized by the Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies and faculty of the G&IS Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will be held 24-25 February 2012 on the general theme, "Crisis". The deadline for paper and panel proposals has just been extended to 15 December 2011. (Notifications of acceptance to be sent by 1 January 2012.)

In addition to the topics listed in the original call for papers they now also explicitly invite papers on "Crises of politics/authority/democracy(ies)".

Keynotes and other presentations by: Saskia Sassen, Bill Robinson, Craig Calhoun, Manfred Steger, Roland Robertson, Chris Chase-Dunn, Richard Falk, Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Alison Brysk, Mark Juergensmeyer, and others.

17 November 2011

Article: Political Crisis and Social Transformation in Antonio Gramsci: Elements for a Sociology of Political praxis

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Article: Political Crisis and Social Transformation in Antonio Gramsci: Elements for a Sociology of Political praxis

On the recurrence of crisis: Fabio de Nardis (University of Salento) and Loris Caruso (University of Turin), "Political Crisis and Social Transformation in Antonio Gramsci: Elements for a Sociology of Political praxis" ("International Journal of Humanities and Social Science", 1 [6], June 2011: pp. 13-23).

Quote: "The paper deals with the analogy between the concepts by which Gramsci, in his Prison Notebooks, analyzes the post-war crisis of democracy and the contemporary crisis of representative democracy."

The link is to a full-text copy of the article.

15 November 2011

Article: Western democracies are undermining people's rights

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Article: Western democracies are undermining people's rights

Tariq Ramadan (Oxford) titled a column for the Dubai-based daily, "Gulf News", published on the paper's website on 15 November 2011, "Western democracies are undermining people's rights".

Excerpt: "We talk about separating religious authority from state authority - but who will protect the state from the economic, financial and media powers that are imposing their anti-democratic decisions and policies? It is all well and good to celebrate an idealised democratic model, but the truth of the matter remains that western democracies are eroding; people are losing their rights and prerogatives. ... The Arab world needs political creativity; but the West, deep in crisis, cannot be a model. It is time to find other ways, new horizons."

14 November 2011

Article: Academic Politics between Democracy and Aristocracy

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Article: Academic Politics between Democracy and Aristocracy

Then, as today, in Greece: Michael S. Kochin (Tel Aviv University), "Academic Politics between Democracy and Aristocracy" ("Political Research Quarterly", 64 [2], June 2011: pp. 247-59).

Quote: "Socrates' alternative to democracy is thus an academic rather than an aristocratic elite - an elite of those who know. Yet the academic elite Plato imagined does not dispute the right of the people to decide between it, the aristocrats, and the men of the people."

Chapter: Hobbes's theory of representation: anti-democratic or proto-democratic?

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Chapter: Hobbes's theory of representation: anti-democratic or proto-democratic?

The chapter, "Hobbes's theory of representation: anti-democratic or proto-democratic?", by David Runciman (Cambridge), was published in the contributed volume, "Political Representation", eds. Ian Shapiro, Susan C. Stokes, Elisabeth Jean Wood, and Alexander S. Kirshner (Cambridge University Press, January 2010: pp. 15-34).

Excerpt: "[F]or all its apparent modernity, Hobbes's theory of representation suffers from one obvious flaw when judged by the standards of contemporary politics: it appears to be strikingly anti-democratic, and it is very hard to see how an anti-democratic theory can also be viewed as foundational for the political world we now inhabit. ... In this chapter, I want to argue that it is possible to close the gap".

Article: Democracy in the Age of Populism, or the Self-Enmity of Democracy

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Article: Democracy in the Age of Populism, or the Self-Enmity of Democracy

Ivan Krastev, editor-in-chief of the Bulgarian edition of "Foreign Policy", wrote an article, "Democracy in the Age of Populism, or the Self-Enmity of Democracy", published in a special issue of the Estonian journal, "Diplomaatia" (May 2011: no page numbers given).

Excerpt: "[T]here is a growing fear that the democratisation of society that has taken place in the last 40 years has led to the paralysis of democratic institutions. Democratic societies are becoming ungovernable ... The extension of citizens' rights and freedoms has not produced a feeling of empowerment. Democratic institutions are more transparent than ever, but they are less trusted than ever. Democratic elites are more meritocratic than ever, but they are more hated than ever."

The link is to a full-text copy of the article.

12 November 2011

Book: Seeing

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Book: Seeing

A 2004 novel by the late Nobel prize-winning Portuguese author, José Saramago, explores how blank votes and peaceful protest might be construed as "terrorism" against democracy: "Seeing", trans. Margaret Jull Costa (Harvill Secker, 2006).

Quote: "José Saramago has deftly created the politician's ultimate nightmare: disillusionment not with one party, but with all, thereby rendering the entire democratic system useless. Seeing explores how simply this could be achieved and how devastating the results might be."

11 November 2011

Article: Farewell to Democracy?

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Article: Farewell to Democracy?

On fascist "Authoritarian Populism" in the US: Philip Green (New School for Social Research), "Farewell to Democracy?" ("Logos: a journal of modern society & culture", 10 [2], 2011: no page numbers given).

Excerpt: "[I]n the traditional heartland of democracy - Western Europe and its offshoots - the long, world-changing democratic upsurge appears to be coming to an end. After three hundred and fifty years of advance, the counter-revolution is well under way, and there do not appear to be any long-term countervailing forces moving to successfully oppose it."

Apparently an electronic journal, and the link is to the full text.

09 November 2011

CONF: The Rise of the Extreme Right and the Future of Liberal Democracy

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CONF: The Rise of the Extreme Right and the Future of Liberal Democracy

The Luxembourg Institute for European and International Studies (IEIS) is organizing a conference on "The Rise of the Extreme Right and the Future of Liberal Democracy", to take place 9-10 December 2011, at Cercle-Cité, a conference centre in Luxembourg City.

The programme does not (yet) include speakers' names, but lists topics such as "Is liberal democracy in Crisis?" and "Dysfunction/failure of democracy and the rise of political alienation?".

If you're interested, please contact the IEIS Director: armand.clesse@ieis.lu

http://www.ieis.lu/conferences/Programme%20The%20Rise%20of%20the%20Extreme%20Right.pdf

08 November 2011

Book: Avant-Garde Fascism: The Mobilization of Myth, Art, and Culture in France, 1909-1939

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Book: Avant-Garde Fascism: The Mobilization of Myth, Art, and Culture in France, 1909-1939

On modern art as the harbinger of fascist revolution: Mark Antliff (Duke University), "Avant-Garde Fascism: The Mobilization of Myth, Art, and Culture in France, 1909-1939" (Duke University Press, 2007).

Review: " Avant-Garde Fascism puts a spotlight on theories of aesthetics and revolution that some anticapitalist, anti-democratic intellectuals propounded in France from 1909 to 1939. The fountainhead of those theories was the writing of Georges Sorel, the anarcho-syndicalist who shifted his hopes to the ultra-royalist, anti-Semitic, and Catholic right (the Action Française in particular) around 1909." (Charles Rearick, University of Massachusetts, Amherst)

Welcome To Duke University Press

Article: Europe's democratic deficit grows wider by the day

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Article: Europe's democratic deficit grows wider by the day

The wife of the Polish Foreign Minister, political columnist for the British "Sunday Telegraph", Janet Daley, just penned her second article in as many weeks on the crisis of democracy in Europe. What's that all about? One would think that she had more direct channels to find the ear of the powers-that-be ... Her "rant" of 5 November 2011, on her paper's website, is titled "Europe's democratic deficit grows wider by the day".

Excerpt: "It isn't often that you are aware of the world order changing before your eyes. ... Welcome to post-democratic Europe. What an irony that the rise of freedom in the Middle East - the Arab Spring - should coincide with the acceptance of its decline in the West. (The European Autumn?) ... In peacetime, the voluntary renunciation of democratic rights is, so far as I know, unprecedented. But modern standards of prosperity have become so addictive ... that even the temporary loss of them may be too great a price to pay for an abstraction like political liberty. ... If you lose the right to choose who governs you - or allow some greater authority to determine the limits of their power - what recourse do you have when the promises are broken and 'security' becomes a prison?"

See also her article of last week: https://plus.google.com/u/0/109507108125539761871/posts/DwgRRBTd5yM?hl=en

Europe's democratic deficit grows wider by the day - Telegraph

05 November 2011

Article: We are at the end for now (in German)

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Article: We are at the end for now (in German)

In Germany, an essay in the "Berliner Zeitung" continues the debate on the end of democracy. Dirk Pilz und Friederike Schröter, two freelance journalists, titled their article of 5 November 2011 "Wir sind zunächst am Ende" ("We are at the end for now"; my rough translation).

Excerpts (translated by me): "Western democracy ... has become a mere administrative apparatus of its own principles ... The time has come: Democracy calls itself into question. ... Whether there is an alternative to democracy that doesn't boil down to dictatorship or the authoritarian state will only be discovered if we don't take it as an absolute. Proscribed imaginations may not block our thinking."

Essay: Wir sind zunächst am Ende

04 November 2011

Book: Sovereignty or Submission: Will Americans Rule Themselves or be Ruled by Others?

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Book: Sovereignty or Submission: Will Americans Rule Themselves or be Ruled by Others?

Just published: John Fonte (Hudson Institute), "Sovereignty or Submission: Will Americans Rule Themselves or be Ruled by Others?" (Encounter Books, August 2011).

Publisher's description (Amazon): "Global governance seeks legitimacy not in democracy, but in a partisan interpretation of human rights. It would shift power from democracies (U.S., Israel, India) to post-democratic authorities, such as the judges of the International Criminal Court. Global governance is a new political form (a rival to liberal democracy), that ... could disable and disarm democratic self-government at home and abroad."

Sovereignty or Submission: Will Americans Rule Themselves or be Ruled by Others | Encounter Books

Article: R.I.P. European democracy, 1945-2011

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Article: R.I.P. European democracy, 1945-2011

The libertarian columnist, Theodore Beale (a.k.a. Vox Day), titled an article for the conservative news site, WorldNetDaily (WND), published on 30 October 2011, "R.I.P. European democracy, 1945-2011".

Excerpt: "[I]t will become increasingly difficult for intellectuals to deny the connection between Christianity and democracy as the recognized, even celebrated, post-Christianity of Europe has been closely followed by European post-democracy. ... European democracy is effectively dead. The European political elite is no longer even pretending to be representing the will of the European people in any way ... Until both left and right unite and turn against the Washington-Wall Street axis of oligarchy, American democracy will continue to die."

R.I.P. European democracy, 1945-2011R.I.P. European democracy, 1945-2011

Article: Democracy has junk status

Erich Kofmel - Google+ 
Article: Democracy has junk status

Presseurop, a Paris-based website that compiles articles from hundreds of European newspapers every day, was quick to translate into English an article by one of the co-publishers of the major conservative German daily, "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung", Frank Schirrmacher, originally published on that paper's website on 1 November 2011 under the title, "Demokratie ist Ramsch". This was translated, not entirely accurately, to "Democracy has junk status" (actually, "Ramsch" is "junk"; "has junk status" would be "hat Ramschwert").

Excerpt: "[T]he moral conventions of the postwar period are being wiped out in the name of a supposedly higher financial and economic rationale. Such processes occur gradually ... until out of them a new ideology comes forth. That was invariably how it went in the incubation phases of the great crises of authoritarianism in the Twentieth Century. ... Europe is going through ... a power struggle between the primacy of economics and the primacy of politics. The primacy of politics has already lost ground massively. And the process is speeding up."

Original article: http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/der-griechische-weg-demokratie-ist-ramsch-11514358.html

Democracy has junk status

02 November 2011

Article: This was the week that European democracy died

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Article: This was the week that European democracy died

Janet Daley, a political columnist for the conservative British "Sunday Telegraph", wrote an article, published on 29 October 2011 on the paper's website, titled "This was the week that European democracy died".

Excerpt: "The agreed EU 'stability union' ... will have the power to approve or disapprove budgets of countries in the eurozone ... before they are submitted to the elected parliaments of those countries. In other words, parliaments which are directly mandated by, and answerable to, their own populations will not control the most essential functions of government: decisions on taxation and spending. ... And if, as a voter, you cannot influence your prospective government's tax and spending policies, what exactly are you voting for? ... When dissatisfied national populations become convinced that their democratic institutions are useless or irrelevant, they will take to the streets."

This was the week that European democracy died - Telegraph

CFP: Crisis of American Democracy

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CFP: Crisis of American Democracy

Proposals for papers on the "Crisis of American Democracy" are invited for a conference to be organized by the Human Rights Institute at Indiana University-Purdue University Forth Wayne (IPFW) on 27-28 April 2012. Deadline for submissions is 1 December 2011.

The convenor, Clark Butler (Purdue University), described the conference elsewhere as being "on the dysfunctionality of American democracy in facing the real challenges of this country. ... We anticipate a significant book to result from this conference, including some of the first scholarly reflection[s] on the Occupy movement."

Crisis of American Democracy Conference Call for Papers - News Release - IPFWNews Detail - IPFW

30 October 2011

Article: Demonomics: Leibniz and the antinomy of modern power

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Article: Demonomics: Leibniz and the antinomy of modern power

Kyle McGee, an independent scholar who was awarded a J.D. from Villanova University in 2009, is the author of "Demonomics: Leibniz and the antinomy of modern power" ("Radical Philosophy: A Journal of Socialist and Feminist Philosophy", 168, July/August 2011: pp. 33-45).

Excerpt: "Two apparently opposed approaches to power in political philosophy - political theology and biopower - are the contemporary heirs to this critical tradition. Each ... advancing something like a theory of radical democracy on its normative edge. ... Together, however, they compose an antinomy. ... Applying pressure to the antinomy yields an alternative concept of power that belongs to a non-democratic discourse. ... The conclusion restates some key findings that gesture towards a finally non-democratic political philosophy for the present."

29 October 2011

Article: In Hungary, a worrisome trend toward repression

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Article: In Hungary, a worrisome trend toward repression

András B. Göllner (Concordia University) sees, "In Hungary, a worrisome trend toward repression", in an opinion piece published by the "Montreal Gazette" on 26 October 2011.

Excerpt: "100,000 people were ... protesting against the growing authoritarianism of ... the government of Viktor Orbán ... Hungary is the first European Union member state to cross the line separating democratic from autocratic governance. ... Canadian and U.S. scholars ... are blunt in their warnings: 'The virus of autocracy does not recognize international borders and ... rogue governments, such as Orbán's, ... will simply demonstrate to other would-be autocrats that the road is open toward autocracy in Europe and the rest of the world. ...'"

Chapters: The Hatred of Democracy Revisited / What Counts as Democracy? Is Democracy Really what Counts? / The Controversy of Muslim Education

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Chapters: The Hatred of Democracy Revisited / What Counts as Democracy? Is Democracy Really what Counts? / The Controversy of Muslim Education in an Austrian Democracy / Universal Choice or Democracy

Four short papers published as chapters in the free eBook, "Problems of Democracy", eds. Nico Bechter and Gabriele De Angelis (Interdisciplinary Press, 2010). Quotes are taken from the abstracts.

Franc Rottiers (Ghent University), "The Hatred of Democracy Revisited" (pp. 11-7): "In his Hatred of Democracy Jacques Rancière defines democracy as a way to have power over two ‘excesses’. On the one hand there is the excess of public participation in democratic life. On the other hand there is the excess of individualistic consumerism. ... By drawing upon Rancière's characterization of democracy, this article will lay out the conditions under which 'control' has emerged as the democratic principle par excellence and explore how exactly this principle limits what it means to be a citizen."

Giuliana Di Biase ("G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara), "What Counts as Democracy? Is Democracy Really what Counts?" (pp. 39-46): "[A]ccording to some political scientists we are living in an age of 'post-democracy', since the ideal of democracy has entered in collision with reality. As a political system of government, democracy was born to put a limit to the absolute power of kings and aristocrats, but today it seems it has become a tool in the hands of new powerful oligarchies that control the global economy".

Cornelia Caseau (Burgundy School of Business), "The Controversy of Muslim Education in an Austrian Democracy" (pp. 131-42): "At the beginning of 2009, a Lebanese researcher living in Vienna, Mouhanad Khorchide, published a dissertation which caused a scandal. Khorchide revealed that 21.9% of Islamic teachers in Austria refuse to teach democratic values because of their incompatibility with Islam."

Mary-Ann Crumplin (Heythrop College), "Universal Choice or Democracy" (pp. 161-8): "In this paper, I argue that our idea of democracy is unthinkable because our ideal of democratic freedom, that is freedom to choose, contains the fundamental paradox which destabilises the very idea of democracy. Political disillusionment is the necessary result of our fidelity to the concept of free choice."

If you don't want to register with the publisher to obtain your free copy of the book, let me know and I'll forward it to you.

Article: The Dark Side of Citizenship: Membership, Territory, and the (Anti-)Democratic Polity

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Article: The Dark Side of Citizenship: Membership, Territory, and the (Anti-)Democratic Polity

Published in a Berkeley Law online journal: Clarissa Rile Hayward (Washington University in St. Louis), "The Dark Side of Citizenship: Membership, Territory, and the (Anti-)Democratic Polity" ("Issues in Legal Scholarship", 9 [1], 2011: art. 5).

Quote: "Linda Bosniak's ... and Ayelet Shachar's ... are important and provocative new works, each of which ... articulates a powerful critique of the institution of citizenship ... Because power relations cross the boundaries that define territorially bounded political communities, neither extending nor redistributing the benefits attached to membership in those communities is enough."

Article: Urban Politics Reconsidered: Growth Machine to Post-democratic City?

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Article: Urban Politics Reconsidered: Growth Machine to Post-democratic City?

Just published: Gordon MacLeod (Durham University), "Urban Politics Reconsidered: Growth Machine to Post-democratic City?" ("Urban Studies", 48 [12], September 2011: pp. 2629-60).

Quote: "[D]owntown renaissance is ... choreographed around an implicit consensus to 'police' the circumspect city, while presenting as ultra-politics anything that might disturb the strict ethics of consumerist citizenship. Beyond downtown, a range of shadow governments, secessionary place-makings and privatisms are remaking the political landscape of post-suburbia. ... This paper suggests that recent theorisations on post-democracy and the post-political may help to decode the contemporary landscape of urban politics beyond governance".

28 October 2011

Article: Marx and Engels' Critique of Democracy: The Materialist Character of their Concept of Autonomy

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Article: Marx and Engels' Critique of Democracy: The Materialist Character of their Concept of Autonomy

Vasilis Grollios, an independent scholar who received his PhD in 2009 from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, is the author of an article, "Marx and Engels' Critique of Democracy: The Materialist Character of their Concept of Autonomy" ("Critique: Journal of Socialist Theory", 39 [1], January 2011: pp. 9-26).

Quote: "Rather than focusing on one aspect of Marx and Engels' understanding of democracy, this article attempts to clarify the overall development of this concept in their political theory. ... Democracy for Marx and Engels was a moment of social practice, the social form taken by the most important social relationship, capital".

27 October 2011

Article: Can Democracy Cope?

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Article: Can Democracy Cope?

Just published: David Runciman (Cambridge), "Can Democracy Cope?" ("The Political Quarterly", 82 [4], October-December 2011: pp. 536-45).

Quote: "The success story of democracy over the twentieth century has given way to doubts in the twenty-first, as democracies struggle to cope with difficult wars, mounting debts, climate change and the rise of China. This essay ... distinguishes three distinct views of what can go wrong with democracy ... Democratic success creates blind spots and a reluctance to tackle long-term problems."

Article: Surveillance in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008: A Comparison of the Olympic Surveillance Modalities and Legacies in Two Different Olympic Host

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Article: Surveillance in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008: A Comparison of the Olympic Surveillance Modalities and Legacies in Two Different Olympic Host Regimes

Just published: Minas Samatas (University of Crete), "Surveillance in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008: A Comparison of the Olympic Surveillance Modalities and Legacies in Two Different Olympic Host Regimes" ("Urban Studies", 48 [15], November 2011: pp. 3347-66).

Quote: "All post-9/11 Olympic Games and sport mega events deploy super-surveillance systems, as a future security investment, albeit at the expense of rights and freedoms. This paper compares the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games' surveillance systems, to assess their authoritarian effects and legacies in democratic and authoritarian Olympic host regimes. ... It is also argued that these surveillance systems have an emerging anti-democratic legacy which stretches beyond the hosting of the Olympics."

This article forms part of a journal special issue on "Security and Surveillance at Sport Mega Events".

24 October 2011

Article: Interrogating post-democratization: Reclaiming egalitarian political spaces

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Article: Interrogating post-democratization: Reclaiming egalitarian political spaces

Just published: Erik Swyngedouw (University of Manchester), "Interrogating post-democratization: Reclaiming egalitarian political spaces" ("Political Geography", 30 [7], September 2011: pp. 370-80).

Quote: "There is now an emerging body of thought on the ... erosion of democracy and of the public sphere, and the contested emergence of a post-political or post-democratic socio-spatial configuration. I situate and explore this alleged 'post-democratization' in light of recent post-Althusserian political thought. ... In the concluding part, perspectives for re-vitalising the political possibilities of a spatialized emancipatory project are presented."

Article: Democracy and Minimal Politics: The Political Difference and Its Consequences

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Article: Democracy and Minimal Politics: The Political Difference and Its Consequences

Just published: Oliver Marchart (University of Lucerne), "Democracy and Minimal Politics: The Political Difference and Its Consequences" ("South Atlantic Quarterly", 110 [4], fall 2011: pp. 965-73).

Quote: "First, democracy as a regime in which the absence of any ultimate ground of the social is accepted has to be defended against the 'new antidemocrats' (such as Slavoj Žižek, Alain Badiou, or the Invisible Committee). ... Second, a notion of 'minimal politics' has to be developed in order to counter recurring fantasies of 'grand politics,' that is, of an ultimate revolutionary break or a decisive political act."

Article: Democracy has failed South Asia: Nepal PM

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Article: Democracy has failed South Asia: Nepal PM

The article, "Democracy has failed South Asia: Nepal PM", by Sachin Parashar, a reporter for the "Times of India" news agency, TNN, appeared on the paper's website on 23 October 2011.

Excerpt: "Nepalese Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai ..., leader of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), said democracy in its traditional form had failed the people of South Asia by not being participatory enough. ... Bhattarai said people might have to take up arms again if the traditional form of democracy fails to address their concerns. ... 'The copied traditional democracy in South Asia serves only small sections of the society. ...'".

22 October 2011

Article: The abrogation of the electorate: an emergent African phenomenon

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Article: The abrogation of the electorate: an emergent African phenomenon

From a journal special issue on "Democratization in Africa: Challenges and Prospects": Wale Adebanwia (University of California, Davis) and Ebenezer Obadareb (University of Kansas), "The abrogation of the electorate: an emergent African phenomenon" ("Democratization", 18 [2], 2011: pp. 311-35).

Quote: "This paper captures an emerging African phenomenon in which the form of democracy is brazenly used to invalidate its very substance. Drawing on particulars from Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria, we articulate the re-ascendance and re-invigoration of anti-democratic forces across Africa".

Other articles in this issue discuss specific cases.

Article: The Rise and Fall of Democracy Governance in International Law: A Reply to Susan Marks

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Article: The Rise and Fall of Democracy Governance in International Law: A Reply to Susan Marks

Has the "requirement of democratic origins of government" come to an end?: Jean d'Aspremont (University of Amsterdam), "The Rise and Fall of Democracy Governance in International Law: A Reply to Susan Marks" ("European Journal of International Law", 22 [2], May 2011: pp. 549-70).

Quote: "[T]his article argues that the rapid rise of non-democratic super-powers, growing security concerns at the international level, the 2007-2010 economic crisis, the instrumentalization of democratization policies of Western countries as well as the rise of some authoritarian superpowers could be currently cutting short the consolidation of the principle of democratic legitimacy in international law."

20 October 2011

CFP: "Predemocracy", "Postdemocracy", "Autocracy"?: On the State of the Comparative Study of Political Systems (in German)

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CFP: "Predemocracy", "Postdemocracy", "Autocracy"?: On the State of the Comparative Study of Political Systems (in German)

The annual conference of the "Comparative Political Science" section of the German Political Science Association (DVPW) will take place 29-31 March 2012 at the Philipps University of Marburg, under the theme, "'Prädemokratie', 'Postdemokratie', 'Autokratie'?: Zum Stand vergleichender Herrschaftsforschung" ("'Predemocracy', 'Postdemocracy', 'Autocracy'?: On the State of the Comparative Study of Political Systems"; my rough translation). The deadline for paper proposals, in German or English (at least for one panel), is 9 November 2011.

Please note that the German word, "Herrschaft", has various meanings, almost all of them implying some form of rule or governance or domination. The composite term, "Herrschaftsforschung", is not commonly used and basically untranslatable. It may refer to the academic study of "Herrschaft" in any one of these senses, or, more likely, that of "political regimes" or "political systems".

Article: The Jewish Community should be Wary of the Anti-Semitic "Occupy Wall St." mob

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Article: The Jewish Community should be Wary of the Anti-Semitic "Occupy Wall St." mob

On 18 October 2011, Charlie Wolf, a UK-based American radio talk-show host and political commentator, used his "Daily Mail" blog to warn: "The Jewish Community should be Wary of the Anti-Semitic 'Occupy Wall St.' mob".

Excerpt: "The 'Occupy Movement' is ... anti-democratic, anti-liberal and goes against mainstream Jewish thought. ... There has been no shortage of vile anti-Semitic slogans at the occupy Wall Street protest. ... Many Jews should be shocked to join any movement that has received endorsement from both the Communist Party and the Nazis. ... They are a mob, seeking mob rule, ... with an agenda that includes not reforming the system but bringing it down."

19 October 2011

Article: Is the Occupy Movement Anti-Democratic?

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Article: Is the Occupy Movement Anti-Democratic?

Writing for the "Washington Post"-affiliated online magazine, "Slate", columnist Anne Applebaum (Legatum Institute), on 17 October 2011, asked: "Is the Occupy Movement Anti-Democratic?".

Excerpt: "In New York, marchers chanted, 'This is what democracy looks like,' but, actually, this isn't what democracy looks like. This is what freedom of speech looks like. Democracy looks a lot more boring. Democracy requires institutions, ... designed to reflect, at least crudely, the desire for political change within a given nation. But they cannot cope with the desire for global political change, nor can they control things that happen outside their own borders ... - globalization has clearly begun to undermine the legitimacy of Western democracies. 'Global' activists, if they are not careful, will accelerate that decline."

15 October 2011

Article: Democracy - an inventory (from Spanish)

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Article: Democracy - an inventory (from Spanish)

"Democracy - an inventory" is the English translation of an opinion piece by José Ignacio Torreblanca (National University of Distance Education, Madrid), originally published in Spanish in "El País" under the title "El embudo democrático", on 7 October 2011. Translated courtesy to the Paris-based site Presseurop .eu, which compiles articles from hundreds of European newspapers every day.

Excerpt: "Greece and the United States ... are cradles of democracy: the first of direct democracy, the second of representative democracy. The ideal of democracy ... is what is being challenged today. ... From Athens to Wall Street, the ideal of democracy is struggling to survive."

Original article: http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/embudo/democratico/elpepiint/20111007elpepiint_8/Tes

Public lecture: Looming Crisis of Democracy: Lessons from Two Decades of Post-Yugoslav Democratization

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Public lecture: Looming Crisis of Democracy: Lessons from Two Decades of Post-Yugoslav Democratization

Vedran Dzihic (Johns Hopkins University) will be giving a lunch-time lecture on the "Looming Crisis of Democracy: Lessons from Two Decades of Post-Yugoslav Democratization", organized by the European Union Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, on 2 November 2011, 12.00-1.00 pm.

Quote: "This talk will focus on the past and the present of democracy in the countries of the Former Yugoslavia. It will ... conclude with an analysis of the post-conflict democratization processes and the recently emerging phenomenon of post-democratic tendencies and democracy fatigue in the region".

Free and open to the public.

13 October 2011

Article: Democracy is failing the planet

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Article: Democracy is failing the planet

To paraphrase Shakespeare: The professor doth protest too much, methinks. Stressing that he rejects the idea of "suspending democracy ... as impractical and, well, anti-democratic", Clive Hamilton (Charles Sturt University) nonetheless proceeds to bolster the argument of those environmentalists who would suspend democracy to cure climate change. His debate contribution, "Democracy is failing the planet", was published on 13 October 2011 on the Australian university-funded research news and information site, "The Conversation".

Excerpt: "[W]e should be concerned about the corpses of science, reason and expertise that democracy is leaving in its wake. ... Over the last decade or so, politically driven climate deniers have adroitly used the instruments of democratic practice to erode the authority of professional expertise. ... In this way, democracy has defeated science. ... It is this dictatorship of ignorance that is failing the planet."

More on this line of thought here: http://anti-democracy-agenda.blogspot.com/search/label/climate%20changeEdit

09 October 2011

Article: Profound shift as China marches back to Mao

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Article: Profound shift as China marches back to Mao

John Garnaut, Beijing correspondent for Australia's "Sydney Morning Herald", warns of a "Profound shift as China marches back to Mao", in an article dated 9 October 2011.

Excerpt: "China is heading into a new Mao-inspired epoch of socialism and nationalism, says the founder of China's most powerful leftist internet platform. ... Professor Han and his Utopia website ... have been given a free hand to push Maoist and extreme anti-Western ideas while launching blistering attacks on liberal opponents, including those who hold senior positions inside the party."

08 October 2011

Article: Democracy promotion - a geostrategic contest

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Article: Democracy promotion - a geostrategic contest

On 6 October 2011, the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy's "Democracy Digest" ran an article by Jakub Grygiel (Johns Hopkins University), titled "Democracy promotion - a geostrategic contest".

Excerpt: "A quick look at the world map makes apparent that in many of the regions where the United States and its allies are promoting democracy, other powers are vying for influence by either undermining our efforts or by trying to hijack the outcome. ... Only the United States has the political clout and the military might to deter and counter the aggressive behavior of revisionist regional powers. ... President Obama can therefore either ... support democratization or seek harmonious relations with Great Powers. He cannot do both. "

Article: With democracy failing what is succeeding?

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Article: With democracy failing what is succeeding?

The strange case of a liberal journalist who represents a centrist-conservative party (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) in parliament (National Assembly) and calls for "democratic fascism". Only in Pakistan ... Ayaz Amir's opinion piece, "With democracy failing what is succeeding?", appeared on 7 October 2011 in the country's largest English-language daily, "The News International".

Excerpts: "No one should be in any doubt that the democracy hatched by the 2008 elections is proving a long drawn-out failure ... because of the incompetence of the traditional governing elites, political and military. ... The most striking effect of the breakdown of democracy is the death of hope. Cynicism was the dominant Pakistani mood in the Musharraf era. The prevailing mood now is one of unrelieved pessimism. ... This excuse of a democracy is a washout."

07 October 2011

Articles: Who are Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists? / Nigeria's Boko Haram and MEND quagmire

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Articles: Who are Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists? / Nigeria's Boko Haram and MEND quagmire

Little attention has been paid outside Nigeria to the ideology of a violent Islamist group pejoratively termed "Boko Haram" - meaning: Western education is sinful -, even after the deadly bombing of the UN headquarters in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, on 26 August 2011. Here are two short articles that make some interesting points.

On the day of the UN bombing, Farouk Chothia, a journalist with the BBC African Service, asked: "Who are Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists?" (link at the bottom).

Excerpt: "Boko Haram ... is fighting to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state. ... Boko Haram promotes a version of Islam which makes it 'haram', or forbidden, for Muslims to take part in any political or social activity associated with Western society. This includes voting in elections ... Boko Haram regards the Nigerian state as being run by non-believers, even when the country had a Muslim president." (bold removed)

Already on 10 June 2011, a freelance writer, Konye Obaji Ori, commented on the site of the bimonthly Paris-based business magazine, "The Africa Report", on "Nigeria's Boko Haram and MEND quagmire": http://www.theafricareport.com/201106105141440/society-culture/commentary-nigerias-boko-haram-and-mend-quagmire.html

Excerpt: "Espousing a theological framework of social analysis, Boko Haram fervidly opposes the pluralism, tolerance and civic mutuality generated by the survival of the Nigerian state. Opposed to democracy, Western-style education, and modern science, ... Boko Haram have killed several civilians and government forces in a crusade against Western ideologies spreading around the country - especially in the north."

Book: Dissenting Electorate: Those Who Refuse to Vote and the Legitimacy of Their Opposition

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Book: Dissenting Electorate: Those Who Refuse to Vote and the Legitimacy of Their Opposition

Libertarians and individualist anarchists against democracy, compiled in "Dissenting Electorate: Those Who Refuse to Vote and the Legitimacy of Their Opposition", edited by Carl Watner with Wendy McElroy, both freelance writers and book authors (McFarland, 2001).

Quote: "This book is an anthology of articles and excerpts from a variety of sources that deal with the topic of nonvoting. In presenting the minority view that important moral and political reasons abound for not voting, the book unfolds four [sic] general arguments: voting is implicitly a coercive act because it lends support to a compulsory state; voting reinforces the legitimacy of the state; and existing nonpolitical, voluntarist alternatives better serve society."

Watner's essay, "The Case Against Democracy", can be read here: http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.4198

06 October 2011

Book: Religious Liberties: Anti-Catholicism and Liberal Democracy in Nineteenth-Century U.S. Literature and Culture

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Book: Religious Liberties: Anti-Catholicism and Liberal Democracy in Nineteenth-Century U.S. Literature and Culture

A book that explores how "Catholicism was often presented in the U.S. not only as a threat to Protestantism but also as an enemy of democracy": Elizabeth Fenton (University of Vermont), "Religious Liberties: Anti-Catholicism and Liberal Democracy in Nineteenth-Century U.S. Literature and Culture" (Oxford University Press, March 2011).

Quote (chapter 3): "Antebellum captive nun tales such as Maria Monk's Awful Disclosures of the Hôtel Dieu Nunnery in Montreal (1836) present the Church as a master of argument and suggest that an antidemocratic group could gain control over public opinion through debate."

(chapter 6) "[F]igurations of a rigid and dogmatic Catholicism facilitated Adams’s and Twain’s parodies of democratic praxis. While both Adams and Twain rehearse anti-Catholic rhetoric typical of nineteenth-century U.S. public culture, they do so to critique the absolutism that they viewed as being central to the liberal tradition."

05 October 2011

Article: Autocrats rule, democrats flounder

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Article: Autocrats rule, democrats flounder

Published on 3 October 2011, on Reuters' "The Great Debate" blog, an article by John Lloyd (Oxford) finds that "Autocrats rule, democrats flounder".

Excerpt: "[M]ost authoritarian leaders are presently both more successful and (much) more popular than most democratic ones. ... These men and one woman are democratically elected, head major political parties which depend on the favour of electorates and spend much of their time explaining their policies and seeking support. Yet everywhere, they are said to be held in contempt - often by the people who voted for them."

02 October 2011

Article: Seasteading: Striking at the Root of Bad Government

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Article: Seasteading: Striking at the Root of Bad Government

The academic reception of seasteading and experimental "competitive government" has been hampered by the lack of publications that meet the high standards of scholarly citability. While someone interested in these concepts will easily enough find relevant information online, most of it comes in the form of blog posts, newsletters, unpublished theses, and research papers that are not clearly marked as either citable or drafts/work in progress. The promised seasteading book remains elusive.

While looking at such sources I have come across one recent publication, though, that meets academic criteria: Patri Friedman and Brad Taylor (both Seasteading Institute), "Seasteading: Striking at the Root of Bad Government" ("The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty", 61 [2], March 2011: pp. 33-7).

Excerpt: "Libertarians have done a wonderful job of pointing out the inefficiency and cruelty of government and identifying some of the causes. We know that current policies are bad; we know that such policies are the inevitable outcome of unrestrained democracy ... Developing the technology to create permanent, autonomous communities on the ocean seems like a strange way to solve the problem of bad governance, but we're convinced it's the best chance we have for liberty in our lifetimes. ... The ocean is a vast frontier unclaimed by States. While they claim some jurisdiction over resources in large areas of ocean, there is much space for political experimentation within these zones and plenty of space outside any State's practical reach. Starting your own country on the ocean will be difficult and expensive, but at least it's possible."

The link at the bottom of this post is to a full-text copy of the journal.

For two earlier posts on seasteading see: http://anti-democracy-agenda.blogspot.com/search/label/seasteading

From the above article as well as from a contribution by Michael Keenan, the new President of the California-based Seasteading Institute, to the Institute's October 2011 newsletter I get the impression that their argumentative focus is shifting more and more in the direction of experimental and competitive government. Here is what Keenan writes, under the title, "Seasteading, a Common Cause for Many Ideologies":

"I used to know the best kind of government. I told my friends, argued with my opponents, and voted for my favorite political party so that the kind of government I wanted was the one that everyone would have. I didn't claim to know the single best car for everyone, or the best flavor of ice cream, or the right size of shoe that everyone should wear. But when it came to the most difficult question a citizen faces, a decision encompassing economics, history, military strategy, sociology, and many other fields, then I wanted to answer that question for you. We don't all want the same car, ice cream, or shoes. And we don't all want the same government. When seasteading becomes a reality, we won't have to have the same government.

"If you're dissatisfied with the few monolithic options on land, you'll be able to join or build a new society on the sea. I no longer think I know what government is best for you. I'd like you to choose from a diverse range of options - liberal, conservative, libertarian, socialist, futarchical, neocameralist, polycentric, whatever you want. If you don't find something you like, then I hope you start your own government. I'm no longer even sure what government is best for me, and I'm excited to see what options are available when smart, creative, entrepreneurial people are free to implement their ideas.

"The Seasteading Institute doesn't want to tell you what politics you should have. There is, however, one rule we believe all societies, land and sea, should abide by: freedom of exit. When people are free to build new societies and freedom of exit is respected, we will have the ability to choose whatever freedoms, rights, entitlements or responsibilities are valuable to us. Without freedom of exit, citizens are nearly slaves, unable to escape whatever rules or abuses their government imposes upon them.

"Soon, you won't have to just imagine your favorite society - you will join it or build it yourself. Seasteading is the common cause of many ideologies. You and I might have drastically different political ideals, but by working toward a seasteading world we can all have the societies we want."

Excellent, and surely worth quoting in full. If only the source wasn't a mere newsletter ...

Article: As Scorn for Vote Grows, Protests Surge Around Globe

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Article: As Scorn for Vote Grows, Protests Surge Around Globe

On 27 September 2011, the "New York Times" published on its website an article by Berlin-based foreign correspondent, Nicholas Kulish, titled "As Scorn for Vote Grows, Protests Surge Around Globe".

Excerpt: "[F]rom South Asia to the heartland of Europe and now even to Wall Street, these protesters share something else: wariness, even contempt, toward traditional politicians and the democratic political process they preside over. They are taking to the streets, in part, because they have little faith in the ballot box. ... 'We're the first generation to say that voting is worthless.'"

Book: Stealth Democracy: Americans' Beliefs About How Government Should Work

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Book: Stealth Democracy: Americans' Beliefs About How Government Should Work

A book that has been mentioned in the context of recent proposals in the US to reduce the scope of parliamentary decision making in favour of expert commissions: John R. Hibbing and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse (both University of Nebraska, Lincoln), "Stealth Democracy: Americans' Beliefs About How Government Should Work" (Cambridge University Press, 2002).

Description (Amazon): "[T]his study finds that Americans don't like many of the practices associated with democracy: the conflicts, the debates, the compromises. It finds that Americans don't want to have to see democracy in practice, nor do they want to be involved in politics. If American citizens had their way, political decisions would be made by unselfish decision-makers, lessening the need for monitoring government."

27 September 2011

CFP: Fascist Criminal Law

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CFP: Fascist Criminal Law

The second conference of the European Society for Comparative Legal History (ESCLH) will take place at VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 9-10 July 2012. Paper proposals are invited in particular on the subject of "Fascist Criminal Law".

Quote: "A recurrent theme in recent and ongoing work on law and democracy in Europe has been the challenge of dealing with 'darker' aspects of law's ideological, substantive and methodological roots in anti-democratic legal orders. ... Arguably, the area of criminal law brings into sharp relief the power-relationship between State and citizen, and as such, it is a key area of law to be studied in order to understand the nature of fascist systems."

More information on the conference is to be found here: http://www.rechten.vu.nl/nl/onderzoek/conferenties-en-projecten/conference-esclh/index.asp

26 September 2011

Article: Insurrection VS Democracy

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Article: Insurrection VS Democracy

Just published: An unsigned article, "Insurrection VS Democracy", in the latest issue of the Central Valley, California-based anarchist magazine, "Modesto Anarcho: the valley's insurrectionary journal of class struggle" (17, September 2011: pp. 30-2).

Excerpt: "The myth of democracy is a powerful one; it allows us to believe we are free when everywhere we are not. ... As the economic and ecological crisis deepens, those seeking change will be faced with a choice between insurrection and democracy. ... The time for dialogue, the time for begging is over. We won't be putting our futures up for a vote or asking the opinion of those who are destroying our lives and our world anymore."

The link below is to a full-text copy of the magazine.

Article: Security against Democracy: The Legacy of the Cold War at Home

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Article: Security against Democracy: The Legacy of the Cold War at Home

A revised version of the author's presidential address to the Organization of American Historians: Elaine Tyler May (University of Minnesota), "Security against Democracy: The Legacy of the Cold War at Home" ("The Journal of American History", 97 [4], March 2011: pp. 939-57).

Quote: "Antidemocratic policies, from the early Cold War purges of suspected Communists and homosexuals to the erosion of individual rights in the war on terror, have received extensive attention from scholars. Less studied are the ways citizens, in their private lives, have adopted and internalized the preoccupation with security. I will argue that the undermining of democracy in the name of security has penetrated much deeper into American life than our public policies, right down to the level of daily life. In fact, the obsession with security at the personal level may be even more corrosive of democracy than the public policies promoted in the name of national security."

Book: The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics

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Book: The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics

Just published: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith (both New York University), "The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics" (PublicAffairs, September 2011).

Quote: "This clever and accessible book shows that the difference between tyrants and democrats is just a convenient fiction. Governments do not differ in kind but only in the number of essential supporters, or backs that need scratching. The size of this group determines almost everything about politics: what leaders can get away with, and the quality of life or misery under them."

25 September 2011

Book: Social and Political Thought of Julius Evola

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Book: Social and Political Thought of Julius Evola

An Italian philosopher's intellectual influence on violent neo-fascist groups and the (democratic) European New Right alike is the theme of a recent book by Paul Furlong (Cardiff University), "Social and Political Thought of Julius Evola" (Routledge, April 2011).

Quote: "Julius Evola's writing ... has been extremely influential on a significant number of extreme right thinkers, activists and organisations. This book is the first full length study in English to present his political thought to a wider audience ... His following comes from an important if largely ignored political movement: activists and commentators whose political positions are, like his, avowedly traditionalist, authoritarian, anti-modern, anti-democratic and anti-liberal."

24 September 2011

Press release: Germany's Federal Minister of the Interior bans neo-Nazi prisoner aid organization (in German)

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Press release: Germany's Federal Minister of the Interior bans neo-Nazi prisoner aid organization (in German)

On 21 September 2011, Hans-Peter Friedrich, Germany's Federal Minister of the Interior, banned the country's largest association of neo-Nazis, the "Hilfsorganisation für nationale politische Gefangene und deren Angehörige e.V." (HNG; "Aid organization for national political prisoners and their families"; my translation).

In a press release titled "Bundesinnenminister verbietet neonazistische Gefangenenhilfsorganisation" ("Federal Minister of the Interior bans neo-Nazi prisoner aid organization"), it is stressed "that the HNG is dedicated to the active struggle against the liberal democratic order", and "imprisoned right-wing extremists are ... being motivated to continue in their 'fight against the system'".

Articles: The world after democracy / What is wrong with democracy? / Politicians are too powerful to be true servants of the masses

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Articles: The world after democracy / What is wrong with democracy? / Politicians are too powerful to be true servants of the masses / Contract government - the alternative to democracy

More criticisms of democracy out of Africa: Over recent weeks, the newly founded Botswana weekly newspaper, "Weekend Post", published a string of articles by Gaborone-based freelance writer, book author, and businessman, Mash Udenula.

First, marked as "analysis", "The world after democracy", on 13 July 2011: http://www.weekendpost.co.bw/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=301%3Athe-world-after-democracy&catid=49%3Aanalysis&Itemid=68

Excerpt: "Democracy as a government system, is fast reaching a stage where an increasing number of citizens are becoming disillusioned and are rapidly losing faith in it. Events are accelerating to a stage where literally, the world will need a new government system to replace democracy! ... In fact, without this transition from democracy to something better, the world is going to spiral into increased levels of internal and external conflicts."

Second, the colum, "What is wrong with democracy?", on 28 July 2011: http://www.weekendpost.co.bw/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=381%3Awhat-is-wrong-with-democracy&catid=41%3Acolumn&Itemid=68

Excerpt: "As I explore the acute deficiencies and inadequacies of the democratic model of government, I will put the basic definition of democracy in the docket and see how it relates to the current operations of so called democratic countries. ... African countries ... wrongly think the day they get free of their dictators would spell a dawn of a better life."

Then, the column, "Politicians are too powerful to be true servants of the masses", on 8 August 2011: http://www.weekendpost.co.bw/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=453%3Apoliticians-are-too-powerful-to-be-true-servants-of-the-masses&catid=41%3Acolumn&Itemid=68

Excerpt: "Politicians in so called democratic set ups, do not fear nor respect the masses. To make matters worse, once elected, politicians control the police, the army, the media and other resources leaving the masses as helpless observers ... that live in fear of the people they elected to represent them."

Lastly, the column, "Contract government - the alternative to democracy", on 22 August 2011: http://www.weekendpost.co.bw/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=517%3Acontract-government-the-alternative-to-democracy&catid=41%3Acolumn&Itemid=68

Excerpt: "I call it contract government because in this government, whoever aspires to head any government function will do so on a strict performance contract basis. Whether a particular leadership performs well or not will no longer be determined by campaigns and national votes but against clearly outlined measurable deliverables."

The link below is to a search for all articles by the author published in this paper. It will therefore be updated with future columns, if any.

The paper's website may be down for lenghty periods of maintenance.