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

http://www.rechten.vu.nl/nl/Images/call%20for%20papers_tcm22-235647.pdf

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.

http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2011/09/15/ma17web.pdf

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."

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

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."

PublicAffairs Books: THE DICTATOR'S HANDBOOK

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."

Social and Political Thought of Julius Evola (Hardback) - Routledge

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'".

BMI - Pressemitteilungen -Bundesinnenminister verbietet neonazistische Gefangenenhilfsorganisation

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.

Search

Article: Down with democracy! (in Dutch)

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Article: Down with democracy! (in Dutch)

The Dutch free weekly, "Intermediair", a magazine directed at "highly educated" 25- to 45-year-olds, this week runs a cover story titled "Weg met de democratie!" ("Down with Democracy!"; my translation), authored by its editor-in-chief, Kees Versluis (38, 2011: pp. 22-7).

Lead (rough translation): "In search of alternative forms of popular consultation. Democracy does not work anymore. See euro crisis, the political deadlock in Belgium and the economic success of Asia. 'Democracy may become a danger to our future.'"

Anyone here who speaks Dutch, and could translate this article for me?

Intermediair38

Article: The Democracy Worshipers

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Article: The Democracy Worshipers

A new article by the conservative commentator and former senior advisor to Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Reagan, and Reform Party presidential candidate of 2000, Pat Buchanan, published on 16 September 2011 online at Townhall. com, despairs of the Arab Spring and what he calls "The Democracy Worshipers".

Excerpt: "Indeed, the fanaticism of this faith in democracy as the path to worldly salvation causes many to hail any and all revolutions against any and all autocrats. ... What our democracy-worshipers, our 'power-to-the-people' lovers of revolution fail to understand is that revolutions unleash all the forces in a society, including the most noxious. ... Do they care, or is democracy the right way, results be damned?"

Already in January 2010, Buchanan penned an article critical of democracy, titled "Another God That Failed": http://anti-democracy-agenda.blogspot.com/2010/01/article-another-god-that-failed.html

The Democracy Worshipers

Article: The Arab Spring and Russian Policy in the Middle East

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Article: The Arab Spring and Russian Policy in the Middle East

Zvi Magen, former Israeli ambassador to Ukraine and Russia and now a Research Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv, is the author of the institute's periodical, INSS Insight No. 282, of 20 September 2011, titled "The Arab Spring and Russian Policy in the Middle East".

Excerpt: "[S]eemingly coordinated statements have recently been sounded in important settings and the media by senior Russian figures (leading experts on the Middle East, politicians, and even the president himself). These statements have included criticism of the revolutionary process underway in the Middle East, portrayed as fundamentally negative and rife with risks for both regional and global stability. ... According to the Russians, democracy does not stand a chance in Middle Eastern countries, characterized as they are by archaic societies. Future regimes can be expected to be anti-democratic and primarily Islamic in nature."

INSS - המכון למחקרי ביטחון לאומי >
Publications > Periodicals‎

Articles: The Current Crisis of Democracy / The Ontology of Political Decisionism, Negative Statecraft, and the Nigerian State

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Articles: The Current Crisis of Democracy / The Ontology of Political Decisionism, Negative Statecraft, and the Nigerian State: Exploring Moral Altruism in Politics

The doyen of the European New Right, the French philosopher, Alain de Benoist, thinks about "The Current Crisis of Democracy" in an article published in the latest issue of the journal, "Telos" (156, fall 2011: pp. 7-23). The article forms part of a special issue of the journal on "Democracy and Nations".

From the editor's introduction: "At stake are the limits of contemporary politics in the developed western democracies. Telos has elsewhere addressed political economy in China and the problems of Putinism in post-Communist Russia. The political dynamics of such non-democratic regimes can offer comparative examples, as could the tendencies toward neo-totalitarianism in Islamist radicalism. Yet what we can currently watch is the dysfunctionality of the most democratic systems, not their antipodes. What hampers political decision-making in democratic Europe and in the United States? How close to the brink does a democracy have to stumble in order to reach a decision?

"As Alain de Benoist writes at the conclusion of the opening essay in this issue, 'The current crisis of democracy is above all a crisis of politics,' which can only mean that we are facing systemic problems in democratic politics. For Benoist, democracy is buckling under the pressure of seemingly antithetical, but ultimately compatible, evil twins: 'In short, trapped between economics and morality, the ideology of the marketplace and the ideology of human rights, contemporary democracy is less and less democratic because it is less and less political. The economy is able to impose its law under the cover (and in the language) of rights.'"

Also included in this special issue is an article by Roland Olufemi Badru (University of Ibadan), "The Ontology of Political Decisionism, Negative Statecraft, and the Nigerian State: Exploring Moral Altruism in Politics" (pp. 47-60).

This essay was originally written for a conference section on "Political Decisionism and Statecraft in Africa" that I organized and chaired at the Eleventh Conference of Africanists of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow in May 2008. It is always gratifying to see that papers written for SCIS events get published in well-regarded journals.

The editor writes: "In Badru's account, [Carl] Schmitt's concern with the sovereign and his maintenance of power points directly to issues of the personal power of the sovereign and its power-political consequences. This moral egoism, Badru argues, has damaged the fabric of Nigerian politics; the alternative he presents is a moral altruism, which he elaborates via Aristotle, Aquinas, and Kant."

Curiously, at the time of the conference the paper had a co-author, Tayo Eegunlusi (University of Ibadan), whom the published version does not seem to mention.

TELOS 156 (Fall 2011): Democracy and Nations : Telos Press

Chapter: Nationalism versus democracy: China's bloggers and the Western media

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Chapter: Nationalism versus democracy: China's bloggers and the Western media

The chapter, "Nationalism vs. democracy: China's bloggers and the Western media", by David K. Herold (Hong Kong Polytechnic University), was published in the contributed volume, "Sustainable Reform and Development in Post-Olympic China", eds. Shujie Yao, Wu Bin, Stephen Morgan, and Dylan Sutherland (Routledge, October 2010; pp. 172-90).

Abstract (from an institutional repository): "Over 300 Million Chinese access the Internet regularly. While these netizens (Internet + citizens) have often been portrayed as a potential force for democracy, this changed with the unrest in Tibet, and the run-up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008. As this chapter shows, many Chinese netizens began to defend China's honour against the perceived betrayal and attacks by the Western media. They began to see democracy and the protection of Chinese interests as polar opposites as Western comments on China damaged democracy's reputation among the upwardly mobile, emerging Middle Class active in Chinese cyberspace."

Sustainable Reform and Development in Post-Olympic China (Hardback) - Routledge

Article: Revitalizing and de-territorializing fascism in the 1950s: the extreme right in France and Italy, and the pan-national ("European") imaginary

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Article: Revitalizing and de-territorializing fascism in the 1950s: the extreme right in France and Italy, and the pan-national ("European") imaginary

Just published: Andrea Mammone (Kingston University), "Revitalizing and de-territorializing fascism in the 1950s: the extreme right in France and Italy, and the pan-national ('European') imaginary" ("Patterns of Prejudice", 45 [4], September 2011: pp. 295-318).

Quote: "In this article Mammone explores ... the attempts by some French and Italian right-wing extremists to revitalize fascist ideology after the war by means of two interconnected strategies, namely, radicalization (rejection of the democratic system) and 'de-territorialization' (in the sense of converting narrow fascist nationalism into pan-European nationalism)."

Taylor & Francis Online :: Revitalizing and de-territorializing fascism in the 1950s: the extreme right in France and Italy, and the pan-national (‘European’) imaginary - Patterns of Prejudice - ...

Book: Can Life Prevail?

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Book: Can Life Prevail?

The first English translation of the writings of an influential Finnish ecofascist fisherman-philosopher: Pentti Linkola, "Can Life Prevail?" (Integral Tradition, April 2009).

Excerpts: "'[T]he people know.' From this absurd assumption derives a suicidal form of government, parliamentary democracy, born among the tyrants of mankind, the West. ... Democracy is the most miserable of all known societal systems, the building block of doom. Under such a system of government unmanageable freedom of production and consumption and the passions of the people are not only tolerated, but cherished as the highest values. The most serious environmental disasters occur in democracies. Any kind of dictatorship is superior to democracy".

An article I shared last year referred to this book in passing: http://anti-democracy-agenda.blogspot.com/2010/09/alternative-to-new-wave-of-ecofascism.html

The link below is to the successor company of the book's publisher, where it currently seems to be out of stock. It remains available, though, from Amazon.

Pentti Linkola: Can Life Prevail? (Softcover)

Article: Netanyahu's Partners, Democracy's Enemies

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Article: Netanyahu's Partners, Democracy's Enemies

On 16 September 2011, the "New York Times" published an op-ed by Carlo Strenger (Tel Aviv University), titled "Netanyahu's Partners, Democracy's Enemies".

Excerpts: "[F]oreign minister ... Lieberman’s open disdain for European leaders and diplomats is not a failure of diplomacy; he ... believes that the West's hegemony has come to an end, and that the future lies with autocratic governments like those ruling Russia and China. Hence he believes that Israel has no reason to pander to the West's values. To him, liberal democracy represents weakness ... Mr. Lieberman wants a secular state; the religious parties want a theocracy. What unites them is that, for completely different reasons, they have no investment in the values of liberal democracy".

Netanyahu’s Partners, Democracy’s Enemies

Journal special issue: Citizenship Education: In Search of the Political in "Postdemocracy" (in German)

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Journal special issue: Citizenship Education: In Search of the Political in "Postdemocracy" (in German)

Another special issue of a German-language journal on post-democracy: The Austrian open-access "Magazin erwachsenenbildung .at: Das Fachmedium für Forschung, Praxis und Diskurs" ("Magazine adulteducation .at: The Specialist Medium for Research, Practice and Discourse"; my translation) dedicated issue no. 11 (November 2010) to "Citizenship Education: Auf der Suche nach dem Politischen in der 'Postdemokratie'" ("Citizenship Education: In Search of the Political in 'Postdemocracy'"). All abstracts have been provided in English too.

Quote (editorial): "That the meaning of 'politics' and 'the political' is deteriorating more and more quickly doesn't seem to surprise anyone. ... In times of post-democracy, what significance and what status do civic education and citizenship education have in adult education?"

Archiv :: Magazin :: erwachsenenbildung.at

Book: Competing Chinese Political Visions: Hong Kong vs. Beijing on Democracy

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Book: Competing Chinese Political Visions: Hong Kong vs. Beijing on Democracy

One country, two systems, and the consequences: Sonny Shiu-Hing Lo (University of Waterloo), "Competing Chinese Political Visions: Hong Kong vs. Beijing on Democracy" (Praeger, February 2010).

Quote: "A fascinating analysis of the features of the Hong Kong-style democracy viewed as alien, hostile, potentially subversive, and substantially dangerous by the mainland Chinese Communist Party."

ABC-CLIO - Product - Competing Chinese Political Visions: Hong Kong vs. Beijing on Democracy - Sonny Shiu-Hing Lo

Book: Democracy and the Fall of the West

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Book: Democracy and the Fall of the West

From the publisher of my own volume on anti-democratic thought: Craig Smith (University of St Andrews) and Tom Miers (independent scholar), "Democracy and the Fall of the West" (Imprint Academic, March 2011).

Quote: "Democracy is killing the West. That is the stunning conclusion of this book that tears apart the consensus underpinning modern political assumptions. ... Craig Smith and Tom Miers demonstrate that, since the introduction of democracy, the power of the state has re-grown at the expense of the liberty of the individual. Far from underpinning our freedoms, Democracy is in fact undermining them. It has unshackled the coercive power of the state, and will result in the inevitable decline of the West as we know it."

Democracy and the Fall of the West

Books: Phantom Democracy: Corporate Interests and Political Power in America / Empire Versus Democracy: The Triumph of Corporate and Military Power

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Books: Phantom Democracy: Corporate Interests and Political Power in America / Empire Versus Democracy: The Triumph of Corporate and Military Power

Just published: Carl E. Boggs (National University, Los Angeles), "Phantom Democracy: Corporate Interests and Political Power in America" (Palgrave Macmillan, August 2011).

Quote: "Boggs traces the historical evolution of American politics by focusing on the gradual triumph of corporate and military power over democratic institutions and practices ... in a society that ostensibly embraces democratic values. Such developments, Boggs argues, have deep origins in American history going back to the founding documents, ideological precepts of the Constitution, early oligarchic rule, slavery, the Indian wars, and westward colonial expansion."

The strange case of a seemingly "popular" non-fiction title that sells at the price of a scholarly monograph.

Even stranger, though, in January 2011 Routledge published an 84-page paperback by the same author, bearing the title, "Empire Versus Democracy: The Triumph of Corporate and Military Power". If the two publishers' descriptions are anything to go by the latter appears to be an abridged (or concise) version of the above work's 300-odd pages: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415892018/

Phantom Democracy : Carl E. Boggs : Palgrave Macmillan

Book: The Historical Traditions of the Australian Senate: A Bastion Against Democracy?

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Book: The Historical Traditions of the Australian Senate: A Bastion Against Democracy?

A PhD thesis submitted at the Australian National University and now published: Sylvia Marchant (independent scholar), "The Historical Traditions of the Australian Senate: A Bastion Against Democracy?" (LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, January 2011).

Quote: "This is an examination of the raison d'etre of Australia's upper house established in 1901. ... Answers were sought to the questions of how and why it was conceived and created and what role it was expected to play. ... The work explores the literature that might have influenced its establishment and structure, and the attitudes, ideals, experience and expectations of the men who initiated its existence and designed its structure".

The Historical Traditions of the Australian Senate

Book: State Power and Democracy: Before and During the Presidency of George W. Bush

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Book: State Power and Democracy: Before and During the Presidency of George W. Bush

Looking behind the facade of democracy in the US, too: Andrew Kolin (Hilbert College), "State Power and Democracy: Before and During the Presidency of George W. Bush" (Palgrave Macmillan, December 2010).

Includes a sequence of chapters titled "Growth of State Power and the Assault on Democracy", "Eroding Democracy in a Time of Crisis", "Accelerating the Assault on Mass Democracy", and "Absolute Power at the Expense of Democracy".

Endorsements: "Andrew Kolin provides both a powerful warning and a wake-up call about the death of democratic ideals in the United States." (Henry Giroux, McMaster University)

"This compelling book traces ... the rise of a police state that ... has used surveillance, preventive detention, torture, and a climate of fear to consolidate its power and neutralize dissent. Under the guise of nurturing democracy at home and abroad, the U.S. government has actually undermined it." (Marjorie Cohn, Thomas Jefferson School of Law)

State Power and Democracy : Andrew Kolin : Palgrave Macmillan

Book: The State in Postdemocracy: State, Politics, Democracy and Law in Recent French Thought (in German)

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Book: The State in Postdemocracy: State, Politics, Democracy and Law in Recent French Thought (in German)

More on post-democracy from Germany and France: Edited by Michael Hirsch (Technical University Munich) and Rüdiger Voigt (University of Siegen), the contributed volume in German, "Der Staat in der Postdemokratie: Staat, Politik, Demokratie und Recht im neueren französischen Denken" ("The State in Postdemocracy: State, Politics, Democracy and Law in Recent French Thought"; my translation), was published by Franz Steiner Verlag in March 2009.

Quote (translated by me): "In Germany, the thesis of a structural democratic deficit has accompanied the emergence of the democratic republic from the outset. In recent French state and political thought this postdemocratic situation has been analyzed particularly thorough. A comprehensive assessment of these approaches, their theoretical classification and the appraisal of their implications for the state discourse have so far been lacking, though."

Franz Steiner Verlag: Titel

Article: Moving Past Democracy: Post-Democracy in Austria

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Article: Moving Past Democracy: Post-Democracy in Austria

Just published: Lauren Boc and Chris Lettner, "Moving Past Democracy: Post-Democracy in Austria" ("The New Presence: Prague's Journal of Central European Affairs", summer 2011: pp. 41-6[?]).

Frustratingly, while the journal seems to be well regarded, all further information on the article is hidden behind a pay wall. Neither the authors' institutional affiliation nor an abstract is available.

Note to future readers: The link below is to the "current issue" of the journal. I couldn't find a more permanent link to the particular issue this article was published in.

Update 12 October 2011: A version of the article has been published on the journal's website under the title, "Moving Past Democracy: Post-Democracy in Austria and its implications for Europe". The full text appears to be accessible to logged-in subscribers only: http://www.new-presence.com/2011/10/moving-past-democracy-post-democracy-in-austria-and-its-implications-for-europe/

Excerpt: "Many Austrian intellectuals have embraced the concept of post-democracy, with some of them stating that their country is already there. Political involvement is in sharp decline, indicating that Austrians are increasingly isolated from the political system."

Current Issue | www.new-presence.com

CFP: Parliamentary communication against democracy / Nationalism, majoritarianism and democracy

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CFP: Parliamentary communication against democracy / Nationalism, majoritarianism and democracy: Facing the challenge of neo-liberal globalization and its coming crisis

Paper proposals are now invited for the 22nd World Congress of Political Science, organized by the International Political Science Association (IPSA) in Madrid, Spain, 8-12 July 2012. The theme of the congress, "Reshaping Power, Shifting Boundaries", seems to have caused the creation of quite a number of panels concerned with the crisis of democracy.

Here, I am only listing two panels that seem particularly relevant and do not already have a sufficient number of papers linked to them. Persons involved in both panels have previously participated in events I organized.

First, I'd like to highlight the panel on "Parliamentary communication against democracy", which forms part of the session (conference section) organized by Research Committee (RC) 22, "Political Communication": http://www.ipsa.org/my-ipsa/events/madrid2012/panel/parliamentary-communication-against-democracy

Quote: "From a theoretical perspective of liberal democracy, parliamentary communication should only allow for democratic ways of speaking. ... But, what happens if parliamentary communication renders anti-democratic or even a-democratic parlance possible? ... This panel aims at discussing the impact of anti-democratic rhetoric in parliamentary discourses from different points of view."

Convenor: Alexander Weiss (University of Hamburg): 1weiss@web.de

Second, a panel titled "Nationalism, majoritarianism and democracy: Facing the challenge of neo-liberal globalization and its coming crisis", under the purview of RC 14, "Politics and Ethnicity": http://www.ipsa.org/my-ipsa/events/madrid2012/panel/nationalism-majoritarianism-and-democracy-facing-challenge-neo-liber

Quote: "Michael Mann's 'The Dark Side of Democracy' argues that extreme crimes like genocide and ethnic cleansing tend to occur, or at least be legitimized, within a majoritarian democracy framework. This panel ... explores whether majoritarian democracy should be conceived as the pre-existing institutional context in which democracy, via populism, can degenerate into self-destruction."

Convenor: Adrian Guelke (Queen's University Belfast): a.guelke@qub.ac.uk

To submit a paper proposal, you'll need to create a free IPSA website account. It appears not to be possible to submit a proposal to a panel directly. Panel convenors are expected to find the paper in the database once it has been submitted and link it to their respective panels. This means that if you wish to submit your proposal to a particular panel, you'll need to inform the panel convenor by e-mail too.

It may also be possible to submit a paper to the general pool, rather than a particular session/panel. Papers may then be allocated to an existing panel, or further panels may be formed.

An as yet incomplete list of panels accepted into the programme of this triennial conference has been posted on the IPSA website.

The deadline to submit paper proposals has been extended to 17 October 2011.

Submit an Abstract/Paper Proposal | IPSA / AISP

Book: Popular Support for an Undemocratic Regime: The Changing Views of Russians

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Book: Popular Support for an Undemocratic Regime: The Changing Views of Russians

Quite intriguing: Richard Rose (University of Aberdeen), William Mishler (University of Arizona), and Neil Munro (University of Edinburg), "Popular Support for an Undemocratic Regime: The Changing Views of Russians" (Cambridge University Press, June 2011).

Quote: "This book uses a unique source of evidence, eighteen surveys of Russian public opinion from the first month of the new regime in 1992 up to 2009, to track the changing views of Russians. ... Russia is not only an outstanding example of popular support increasing for a government that rejects democracy, but is also representative of a surprising number of regimes around the world that have been able to mobilize popular support for undemocratic regimes."

Popular Support for an Undemocratic Regime - Academic and Professional Books - Cambridge University Press

Article: Governance for development in Africa: building on what works

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Article: Governance for development in Africa: building on what works

A five-year international multi-institutional multi-million research programme has come to the conclusion that democracy is not the "best fit" for development in most African countries.

The Africa Power and Politics Programme (APPP), carried out by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), and partner organizations in the US and Africa, is funded by the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) and Irish Aid. Few findings have been communicated thus far, but those that have go head on against the pro-democracy bias to be found in development studies departments, NGOs, think tanks, and among western donor nations.

More remarkable than the findings, though (which aren't really news to any unprejudiced observer), is that this kind of thought, finally, seems to have arrived in the intellectual powerhouses of development thinking.

The programmatic "Policy Brief 01" by the programme's director, David Booth (ODI), titled "Governance for development in Africa: building on what works", was released in April 2011.

Excerpts: "Should the governance of poor developing countries mimic what works in advanced capitalist democracies? Of course not. Yet for 20 years 'good governance' has meant exactly that. ... Democracy ... depends on social and economic conditions that are not yet enjoyed in most developing countries. ... Many young democracies are not particularly developmental ... In many settings, clientelism (vote-buying in its various forms) is cheaper and more reliable ... What poor developing countries really need are leaders who ... are able to show that they can ‘get things done’. ... It is important, therefore, that external actors such as donors are capable of: recognising developmental leadership when they see it, by becoming more attuned to the variety of types of regimes and how they work".

More publications are to be found on the programme's website: http://www.institutions-africa.org/page/publications

All discussion and working papers (unlike the policy briefs) come with the disclaimer that "[t]he views expressed in them are those of the authors, and are not to be attributed to the programme as a whole, or to our funders". As far as I can see, most of these papers are however linked to key areas highlighted in Booth's policy brief, including developmental patrimonialism, modes of local governance, variations among parliamentarians, and hybrid institutions. Some publications are available in French, too.

http://www.institutions-africa.org/filestream/20110406-appp-policy-brief-01-governance-for-development-in-africa-building-on-what-works-by-david-booth-april-2011

Article: Democracy as Anti-Democracy

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Article: Democracy as Anti-Democracy

An older article, but likely still of interest: Barry Hindess (Australian National University), "Democracy as Anti-Democracy" ("Southern Review: Communication, Politics & Culture", 34 [1], 2001: pp. 9-21).

Excerpt: "[A]ny modification of current arrangements to increase popular involvement in government - for example, through greater participation or public deliberation - should also be expected to involve new ways of keeping the people at a distance.’’

Quoted from a citation in the recent article on Hindess: https://plus.google.com/109507108125539761871/posts/3QvM2yP23Ud

No abstract provided.

Informit - Southern Review: Communication, Politics & Culture - Democracy as Anti-Democracy (Humanities & Social Sciences Collection)

Book: The Coming Revolution: Struggle for Freedom in the Middle East

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Book: The Coming Revolution: Struggle for Freedom in the Middle East

Published just before the Arab Spring: Walid Phares (National Defense University, Washington, DC), "The Coming Revolution: Struggle for Freedom in the Middle East" (Simon & Schuster, December 2010).

Quote: "Walid Phares ... argues that a fierce race for control of the Middle East is on, and the world's future may depend on the outcome. ... Western democracies display a dangerous misunderstanding of precisely who opposes democracy and why ... - including a brotherhood against democracy that is fighting to bring the region under totalitarian control ... He urges policy makers to first identify the threat and define its ideology, or there will be no victory."

Coming Revolution

Book: Reconciling France against Democracy: The Croix de Feu and the Parti Social Français, 1927-1945

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Book: Reconciling France against Democracy: The Croix de Feu and the Parti Social Français, 1927-1945

On a nationalist movement in interwar France: Sean Kennedy (University of New Brunswick), "Reconciling France against Democracy: The Croix de Feu and the Parti Social Français, 1927-1945" (McGill-Queen's University Press, February 2007).

Quote: "Previous studies have focused on whether the Croix de Feu and the Parti Social Français should be considered fascist. Reconciling France against Democracy assesses them from a variety of perspectives and considers the extent to which they foreshadowed Jean-Marie Le Pen's Front National. ... [A]uthoritarian nationalist groups can fail to attain power yet still exert a profound influence on a nation's political culture."

Reconciling France against Democracy

Book: Post-Democracy / Article: Postdemocracy (in German)

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Book: Post-Democracy / Article: Postdemocracy (in German)

The nationalist German New Right, too, seem to have discovered the "post-democracy" label: The book, "Post-Demokratie" ("Post-Democracy"; my translation), by Karlheinz Weissmann (Institut für Staatspolitik) was published by Edition Antaios in March 2009. Both author and publisher are well known in conservative and far-right circles.

Quote (translated by me): "What follows when the 'democratic age' comes to an end? Weissmann takes up the debate in the English-speaking countries and drives it forward. Views on democracy have always been split into 'for' and 'against'. Weissmann discusses the arguments of both sides and shows why now, with great predictive power, an 'after', a 'post-democratic view', appears in addition."

A year earlier, an article by the same author was published under the title "Postdemokratie" ("Postdemocracy") in the journal "Sezession", 25, August 2008. The full text of that article is available here: http://www.sezession.de/1702/postdemokratie.html

Edition Antaios - Post-Demokratie

Journal special issue: Postdemocracy - a new discourse? (in German)

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Journal special issue: Postdemocracy - a new discourse? (in German)

Recently, I happened across a special issue of the German "Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen: Analysen zu Demokratie und Zivilgesellschaft" ("Research Journal Social Movements: Analyses on Democracy and Civil Society"; my translation), titled "Postdemokratie - Ein neuer Diskurs?" ("Postdemocracy - a new discourse?"). Although published a few years back (19 [4], 2006), the articles retain their interest, and all abstracts have been provided in English too.

Quote (introduction): "Interestingly enough, the term [postdemocracy] appears almost simultaneously in five different languages and in as many different contexts. In all these contexts, the term has different evaluative and descriptive dimensions."

Abstracts (engl.): Postdemocracy - A new discourse? | Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen

Article: This is why Team Anna makes me nervous

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Article: This is why Team Anna makes me nervous

Bhanwar Megwanshi, a Dalit (lower caste) social activist and magazine editor, is credited with an opinion piece, "This is why Team Anna makes me nervous", posted on the website of the Indian political weekly, "Tehelka", on 1 September 2011. The lead reads: "Anna Hazare’s core group appears to be instinctively anti-democracy, anti-constitution, anti-parliament and possibly anti-minorities".

Excerpts: "In the name of a crusade against corruption, a number of supporters of the caste system ... have got together to stir up a massive agitation against India’s democratic system, insisting that democracy must bow before their dictates. ... It is not far-fetched to suspect that certain forces propelling the movement seek to scrap democracy through the institution of the Jan Lokpal ... Team Anna and the movement that it is spearheading have emerged, despite their populist face, as a potent challenge to democracy."

Tehelka - India's Independent Weekly News Magazine

Book: 9/11 Ten Years Later: When State Crimes Against Democracy Succeed

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Book: 9/11 Ten Years Later: When State Crimes Against Democracy Succeed

Just published: David Ray Griffin (Claremont School of Theology), "9/11 Ten Years Later: When State Crimes Against Democracy Succeed" (Olive Branch Press, September 2011).

Quote: "Griffin points out that 9/11 has been categorized by some social scientists as a state crime against democracy. ... Griffin suggests that the basic faith of Americans is not Christianity but 'nationalist faith' - which most fundamentally prevents Americans from examining evidence that 9/11 was orchestrated by U.S. leaders - and argues that the success thus far of the 9/11 state crime against democracy need not be permanent."

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