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.

Democracy Index 2011 - Economist Intelligence Unit

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".

Creative Crises of Democracy

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."

oldenbourg-link|Gefährdungen der Demokratie. Aktuelle Probleme in historischer Sicht (Dangers to Democracy: Current Problems in Historical Perspective)

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."

The New Times - Rwandas First Daily :: Issue 14839 :: It is high time Africans came to their senses on democratization

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."

Depression and Democracy

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

http://www.upr.si/fileadmin/user_upload/mednarodno_sodelovanje/razpisi/Drugi_razpisi/Conference_IPOL_invitation_Feb2012.pdf

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.

http://www.d66.nl/d66nl/document/idee_6_2011/f=/viv0leookwmw.pdf

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."

Robert Fisk: Bankers are the dictators of the West

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."

Confronting Fascism in Egypt: Dictatorship versus Democracy in the 1930s - Israel Gershoni and James Jankowski

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.

http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2011/12/Pew-Global-Attitudes-Former-Soviet-Union-Report-FINAL-December-5-2011.pdf

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.

http://www.sobiad.org/eJOURNALS/journal_IJSS/arhieves/2011_1/sabrina_deregt.pdf

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."

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

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."

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Authoritarianism

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."

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

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

Attack on Democracy. An Intervention

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?'"

Journal of International Affairs

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

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."

sp!ked | Question Everything essays | How the EU oligarchy has downsized democracy

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)

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

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?"

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

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".

Rowman.com: 9780739106440

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".

The Failure of Democracy in Turkey: A Comparative Analysis - McLaren - 2011 - Government and Opposition - Wiley Online Library

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

Democracy put to the test | openDemocracy

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."

It is not inevitable that the EU – or democracy – will survive this mess

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."

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

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."

Anarchy in the U.S.A. | The Weekly Standard

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.

The Santa Barbara Global Studies Conference : : Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies

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.

http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol._1_No._6%3B_June_2011/3.pdf

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."

Western democracies are undermining people's rights

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."

Academic Politics between Democracy and Aristocracy