Vice-chair (2006-2008)
Catherine Boone
Professor of Government
University of Texas, Austin
e-mail: cboone@mail.la.utexas.edu
Secretary (2006-2008)
Ellen Lust-Okar
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Yale University
e-mail: ellen.lust-okar@yale.edu
Treasurer (2007-2009)
Marc Morjé Howard
Associate Professor of Government
Georgetown University
e-mail: mmh@georgetown.edu
Newsletter Editor (ex officio)
Diego Abente
Deputy Director
International Forum for Democratic Studies
National Endowment for Democracy
e-mail: diegoa@ned.org
Associate Newsletter Editor (ex officio)
Melissa Aten
Research and Conferences Officer
International Forum for Democratic Studies
National Endowment for Democracy
e-mail: MelissaA@ned.org
Plans for APSA’s Convention in Boston are well underway and I look forward to seeing all of you there. Our Program Chair, Michele Penner Angrist, has made the most of the fifteen panel slots our section was allocated this year. Our panels promise to be especially good, so I urge you to attend as many as you can. Your attendance adds to the richness of our discussions and the quality of our work, which is most important, but attendance also determines our panel allocations for subsequent conventions. Our allocation was cut this year, in part because our panel attendance was below the convention average, so mobilize your comrades and come along.
3. SECTION NEWS
Elections to the Comparative Democratization Executive Committee
Leslie Anderson, professor of political science, University of Florida, has been awarded a titled professorship in recognition of her research accomplishments. Her new title is Research Foundation Professor of Political Science.
Call for Applications: Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellowships
In addition to seeing you at our section panels, I hope to see you at our business meeting and section reception. The meeting gives us the opportunity to celebrate the achievements of this year’s section prize winners. Come along and join in congratulating the winners of the best paper, best article, best book and best fieldwork awards. The Juan Linz Prize for the Best Dissertation will be given out as well. Our reception will follow our business meeting and promises to be lively affair. In addition to offering a free drink to all new members, we shall toast our outgoing officers, Catherine Boone and Ellen Lust-Okar, and welcome their successors. Watch your e-mail for our electronic ballot for the Section positions of Vice Chair and Secretary. Our Nominations Committee, chaired by Marc Morjé Howard, has identified excellent candidates for both positions.
I welcome any suggestions you might have on how our section might expand and or serve your interests better. Please don't hesitate to contact me, especially regarding any items that you might want on the agenda for our business meeting in Boston.
Nancy Bermeo
Nuffield Professor of Comparative Politics
University of Oxford
This summer, the Section will hold elections for Section Vice-Chair and Secretary. The nominees for Vice-Chair are Leslie E. Anderson, Research Foundation Professor of Political Science, University of Florida, and Edward Gibson, associate professor of political science, Northwestern University. The nominees for Secretary are Jonathan T. Hiskey, associate professor of political science, Vanderbilt University, and José Antonio Cheibub, associate professor of political science and the Boeschenstein Scholar of Political Economy and Public Policy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. You will receive an electronic ballot with candidate statements and instructions on voting in June.
The Juan Linz Archive of the Spanish Transition to Democracy
The Library of the Centre for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences of the Juan March Institute in Madrid, Spain, maintains a free, online digital archive of over 76,000 articles (from the early 1970s to the early 1980s) from Spanish newspapers selected and organized by Professor Juan Linz. The archive reflects the transition by covering every aspect of daily events, actors, public reactions, and the evolving network of decisions that brought Spain to a successful democratic transition. The archive includes research aids such as 4000 descriptors, a biographical dictionary with short biographies of more than 4000 people mentioned in the texts, a dictionary of more than 2,000 institutions with short descriptions, and a dictionary of legislation for more than 300 laws mentioned in the articles of the archive. The final result of the project enables scholars to follow the Spanish transition, accessing primary documents as events unfold, see the succession of events as decisions were made, and construct statistical analysis of trends.
Ms. Anderson is also currently working as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Buenos Aires, where she is conducting research on a new book on institutional relations in Argentina’s democratization process and teaching a doctoral seminar.
Archie Brown, Emeritus Professor of Politics, Oxford University, published “Gorbachev, Lenin, and the Break with Leninism” in the Spring 2007 Demokratizatsiya, in which he examines the paradox of Mikhail Gorbachev’s esteem for Lenin in combination with his growing rejection of Leninism and demonstrates how Gorbachev’s views moved closer to those of Eduard Bernstein, a democratic socialist thinker whom Lenin despised, rather than to Leninism.
Michael Coppedge, associate professor of political science, University of Notre Dame, published “Continuity and Change in Latin American Party Systems” in the December 2007 Taiwan Journal of Democracy, in which he compares recent trends in volatility, fragmentation, left-right tendency, polarization, the quality of representation, and legislative governability with longer historical tendencies in Latin America to show that, in some respect, the more things change, the more they remain the same.
Eric Davis, professor of political science, Rutgers University, was the featured speaker at plenary session of the annual meeting of the United Kingdom Political Science Association on “The Dilemmas of Iraq and After: Theory and Practice.” His speech on “Taking Democracy Seriously in Iraq” is also the title of his forthcoming book under contract with Cambridge University Press.
Todd Eisenstadt was recently appointed associate professor of government with tenure at American University. Mr. Eisenstadt will continue work this summer on a research project that seeks to understand the impact of legal changes intended to foster multicultural recognition on local governance in Oaxaca, Mexico. The project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development in coordination with researchers at the Benito Juarez Autonomous University in Oaxaca.
Miriam Fendius Elman was recently appointed associate professor of political science at Syracuse University. Ms. Elman and Carolyn M. Warner recently served as guest editors of the January–April 2008 Asian Security, a special issue on “Faith and Security: The Effects of Democracy on Religious Political Parties, and contributed the introductory article on “Democracy, Security, and Religious Political Parties: A Framework for Analysis” to the volume.
Ms. Elman also contributed an article on “Does Democracy Tame the Radicals? Lessons from Israel’s Jewish Religious Political Parties” to the issue, in which she argues that although party ideology strongly influences the extent to which Israel’s religious parties have taken moderate positions regarding Israel’s internal and external security policies, regular participation in the electoral process and access to government resources has also worked to moderate initially hard-line party positions.
John P. Entelis, professor of political science and director of the Middle East Studies program, Fordham University, serves as the editor of the Journal of North African Studies, a quarterly, peer-reviewed scholarly journal published by Routledge that is devoted to North Africa cutting across all the disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. He invites section members to consider the Journal in their future publication plans.
Jonathan A. Fox, professor of Latin American and Latino Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, published Accountability Politics: Power and Voice in Rural Mexico (Oxford University Press, 2007). The book explores how civil society is strengthened by comparing two decades of rural citizens’ struggles to hold the Mexican state accountable, exploring both change and continuity before, during, and after national electoral turning points. Mr. Fox concludes that new analytical frameworks are needed to understand transitions to accountability, which involves unpacking the interaction between participation, transparency, and accountability.
Kenneth F. Greene, assistant professor of government, University of Texas at Austin, published Working Paper 345 on “Creating Competition: Patronage Politics and the PRI’s Demise” for the Kellogg Institute of International Studies in December 2007, in which he tests a theory of single-dominance that focuses on an incumbent’s ability to divert public resources for partisan use to explain why dominant party systems persist despite meaningful electoral competition.
Henry E. Hale, assistant professor of political science and international affairs, The George Washington University, published “The Double-Edged Sword of Ethno-federalism: Ukraine and the USSR in Comparative Perspective” in the April 2008 Comparative Politics. Mr. Hale compares four time periods in Ukraine, each corresponding to a different Soviet leadership strategy, to confirm the theory that the effects of ethno-federalism ultimately depends on context and institutions, as well as leadership strategy.
Frances Hagopian, Michael P. Grace II Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Notre Dame, published “Latin American Catholicism in an Age of Religious and Political Pluralism: A Framework for Analysis” in the January 2008 Comparative Politics, in which she proposes a framework to explain the responses of Latin America’s Roman Catholic Churches to a new strategic dilemma posed by religious and political pluralism.
John Harbeson will be concluding his full time teaching at City College and at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York at the end of the semester. He will be moving to Washington, D.C., where he will teach part time and focus on his research and consulting.
Jonathan Hartlyn, professor of political science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Jana Morgan, assistant professor of political science, University of Tennessee; and Rosario Espinal published “Gender Politics in the Dominican Republic: Advances for Women, Ambivalence from Men” in the March 2008 Politics & Gender, in which the authors trace the evolution of gender differences in citizens’ political interest, civic engagement, and support for women in politics in the Dominican Republic in 1994–2004.
Mr. Hartlyn, Jennifer McCoy, and Thomas M. Mustillo published “Electoral Governance Matters: Explaining the Quality of Elections in Latin America” in the January 2008 Comparative Political Studies, in which the authors provide a systematic cross-national analysis of the role of electoral administration in explaining acceptable democratic presidential elections in 19 countries in Latin America since the year 1980 or the first pivotal, transitional election.
Finally, Mr. Hartlyn was elected to the Executive Council of the Latin American Studies Association.
Marc Morjé Howard, associate professor of government, Georgetown University, coedited the March 2008 special issue of Political Studies with Dietlind Stolle on “Civic Engagement and Civic Attitudes in Cross-National Perspective.” The issues includes a coauthored introduction by Ms. Stolle and Mr. Howard, an article by Mr. Howard and Leah Gilbert entitled “A Cross-National Comparison of the Internal Effects of Participation in Voluntary Organizations,” and articles by Jack Citrin and John Sides; Dietlind Stolle, Stuart Soroka, and Richard Johnston; and Russell Dalton. The articles in the special symposium are based on data from the U.S. “Citizenship, Involvement, Democracy” (CID) survey, which provides an unusually rich perspective on American civic engagement in both the public and private realms, as well as extensive comparisons to the 22 countries that were included in the European Social Survey. More information about the U.S. CID survey, including the questionnaire and data, is available at www.uscidsurvey.org.
Thomas A. Koelble, professor of business administration, University of Cape Town, and Edward LiPuma published “Democratizing Democracy: A Postcolonial Critique of Conventional Approaches to the ‘Measurement of Democracy’” in the February 2008 Democratization. The authors argue that conventional measuring paradigms are insufficient to adequately measure progress towards democracy in postcolonial settings due to different historical trajectories of state construction; the limits of the postcolonial state in terms of its domestic capacities; the positioning of emerging market economies and democracies in the global financial system; and the variety of cultural conceptions of the proper relationship between community and individual.
Staffan I. Lindberg, assistant professor of political science, University of Florida, presented a paper on “Elections, Leadership, and Democratization in Africa” at the conference on “Leaders, Elections, and Democracy in Africa” at Miami University on April 10–11, 2008. He also gave a presentation on “Democracy and Elections in Africa: Past Lessons and Future Prospects” to a group of analysts at DFID and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London on March 13, 2008, a presentation on “Democratization in Africa: Prospects and Promises” at Cornell University in February, and on “The Power of Elections and Democratization in Africa” at the University of Texas at Austin in January.
Mr. Lindberg and Minion K. C. Morrison published “Are African Voters Really Ethnic or Clientelistic?: Survey Evidence from Ghana” in the Spring 2008 Political Science Quarterly. Mr. Lindberg and John F. Clark published “Does Democratization Reduce the Risk of Military Interventions in Politics in Africa?” in the February 2008 Democratization.
Carrie Manning, associate professor of political science, Georgia State University, published The Making of Democrats: Elections and Party Development in Postwar Bosnia, El Salvador, and Mozambique (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). Her article, “Party-Building on the Heels of War: El Salvador, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Mozambique” (April 2007) shared the Frank Cass Prize for best article published in Democratization in 2007.
Lauren McLaren, associate professor of politics, University of Nottingham, published Constructing Democracy in Southern Europe: A Comparative Analysis of Italy, Spain, and Turkey (Routledge, 2008), in which she narrows the range of possible explanations for differences in democratic consolidation by examining why Spain and Italy have managed to become democratic, while Turkey, which shares many similar characteristics, has not.
Ellen Mickiewicz, James R. Shepley Professor of Public Policy Studies, director of the Dewitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy, and professor of political science, Duke University, published Television, Power, and the Public in Russia (Cambridge University Press, 2008), in which she uses original and extensive focus group research to unveil a profound mismatch between the complacent assumption of Russian leaders that the country will absorb their messages through the media, and the viewers on the other side of the screen, to reveal what the Russian audience really thinks of its news and the mental strategies they use to process it.
Bryon J. Moraski, assistant professor of political science, University of Florida, received a 2008–09 short-term travel grant from the International Research and Exchanges (IREX) Board to support field work this summer in Armenia and Georgia on a project examining the roles that courts can play in election disputes.
Maria Popova, assistant professor of political science, McGill University, won APSA’s 2007 Edward S. Corwin Award for best dissertation in the field of public law for her dissertation on “Judicial Independence and Political Competition: Electoral and Defamation Disputes in Russia and Ukraine.” She has been an assistant professor at McGill University since January 2007.
John Quinn, associate professor of political science, Truman State University, published “The Effects of Majority State Ownership of Significant Economic Sectors on Corruption: A Cross-Regional Analysis” in the January–March 2008 International Interactions. Using cross-national, regression analysis Mr. Quinn finds that majority state ownership of significant economic sectors, levels of GDP per capita, levels of government spending, and levels of democracy are the best indicators of a country’s level of corruption or bureaucratic inefficiency.
Carsten Q. Schneider was recently promoted to associate professor of political science at Central European University in Budapest. He was also appointed as the founding director of the Center for the Study of Imperfections in Democracy (DISC, www.ceu.hu/disc), a new research center at the University. The opening conference on “The Qualities of Old and New Democracies” will occur on June 18–19, 2008. Further information on the conference panels and participants can be found on the Center’s website.
Rein Taagepera, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of California at Irvine and Tartu University, Estonia, was awarded the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science for 2008 for “his profound analysis of the function of electoral systems in representative democracy.”
Jan Teorell, associate professor of political science, Lund University, and Bo Rothstein, professor of political science, University of Gothenburg, published “What is Quality of Government? A Theory of Impartial Government Institutions” in the April 2008 Governance, in which the authors propose a more coherent and specific definition of the quality of governance: the impartiality of institutions that exercise government authority. The article is followed by a published symposium with two critics and the authors’ reply.
Alexei Trochev, adjunct professor of policy studies, Queen’s University at Kingston, published Judging Russia: The Role of the Constitutional Court in Russian Politics, 1990–2006 (Cambridge University Press, 2008), in which he argues that judicial empowerment is a non-linear process with unintended consequences and that courts that depend on their reputation flourish only if an effective and capable state is there to support them. Drawing upon systematic analysis of all decisions of the Russian court, this study of the actual role of the Russian Constitutional Court in both Yeltsin’s and Putin’s Russia shows how and why judges attempted to reform Russia’s governance and fought to ensure compliance with their judgments.
Mr. Trochev also contributed “Judicial Self-Empowerment under Authoritarian Rule: The Case of the Russian Constitutional Court” to Festskrift Till Anders Fogelklou, edited by ?ke Frändberg, Stefan Hedlund, and Torben Spaak and published by Iustus Förlag in 2008. Drawing on the psychological theories of judicial behavior, the chapter show how and why Russian judges chose to assert more jurisdictional powers despite the growth of non-democratic trends in today’s Russia.
Rebecca Weitz-Shapiro, PhD candidate, Columbia University, published “The Local Connection: Local Government Performance and Satisfaction with Democracy in Argentina” in the March 2008 Comparative Political Studies, in which the author demonstrates that there is an important link between local government performance and support for democracy in Argentina, but also that citizens distinguish between qualitatively different types of government performance.
Christian Welzel, professor of political science, Jacobs University, and Ronald Inglehart published “Democratization as Human Empowerment: The Role of Ordinary People” in the January 2008 Journal of Democracy, in which the authors argue that “human empowerment” is the most important driving force behind effective democratization. Though elite agreements are central to establish nominal democracy, effective democracy does not emerge because elites concede it to the masses, but because ordinary people become increasingly capable and willing to place effective mass pressures on the elites. Effective democracy is thus the outcome of a broader process of “human empowerment.”
Herbert Werlin, retired University of Maryland professor and former researcher, writer, and editor for the World Bank, published “Corruption and Democracy: Is Lord Acton Right?” in the Fall 2007 Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies, in which the author examines Lord Acton’s famous assertion, “power tends to corrupt and absolute power, to corrupt absolutely.”
The Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program at the Washington, D.C.-based National Endowment for Democracy invites applications from candidates throughout the world for fellowships in 2009–2010. Established in 2001, the program enables democracy activists, practitioners, scholars, and journalists from around the world to deepen their understanding of democracy and to enhance their ability to promote democratic change. The program is intended primarily to support activists, practitioners, and scholars from new and aspiring democracies; distinguished scholars from the United States and other established democracies are also eligible to apply. Projects may focus on the political, social, economic, legal, and cultural aspects of democratic development and may include a range of methodologies and approaches. A working knowledge of English is an important prerequisite for participation in the program. The application deadline for fellowships in 2009–2010 is Monday, November 3, 2008. For more information, including instructions on how to apply, please visit www.ned.org/forum/fellows.html.
Fellowship Opportunities at the East Asia Institute
The East Asia Institute (EAI) based in Seoul, Korea invites applications to its Fellows Program on Peace, Governance, and Development in East Asia. Funded by the Henry Luce Foundation of New York, the East Asia Foundation of Seoul, and the Chang Ching-Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly of Taipei, the Fellows Program targets United States-based East Asianists with cutting-edge expertise in political science, international relations, and sociology for an international exchange program with the goal of encouraging interdisciplinary research with a comparative perspective in the study of East Asia. Fellows choose the subjects of their articles, seminars, and lectures within the broadly defined themes of peace, governance, and development in East Asia in order to make the visit an integral part of their on-going research. Fellows are free to decide how they will divide their time among two or more member institutions, giving a seminar and a lecture apiece at each of the site chosen. The member institutions are the East Asia Institute in Seoul, Fudan University in Shanghai, Keio University in Tokyo, Peking University in Beijing, and Taiwan National University in Taipei. The East Asia Institute plans to select five Fellows in 2008. The program provides a total of US$10,000 for each of the Fellows for a three-week visit or more. More information is available online at www.eai.or.kr/eng/program/fellows.html. The application deadline for fellowships is May 31, 2008. For further information, contact fellowships@eai.or.kr, ATTN: Executive Director Ha-jeong Kim.
Call for Paper for Panel on “Anti-Democratic Development”
The Development Studies Association will hold its annual conference on “Development’s Invisible Hands” on November 8, 2008, in Westminster, London. Anti-democratic thinking is one of the most important factors impinging on the success or failure of social and economic development efforts in developing countries. The panel on “Anti-Democratic Development” will assess the ways in which anti-democratic thought shapes social and economic development. It will study cases of successfully developing countries, such as China, that are openly hostile to democratic values. Is the social and economic development discourse about to be delinked from the democracy agenda? Can we understand cases like Zimbabwe without understanding the inherent opposition between ethnic- and clan-based politics in Africa and liberal parliamentarism? And what role do fundamentalist interpretations of religion play in the formation of anti-liberal (and thus anti-parliamentarian, anti-capitalist and anti-democratic) thought in the Middle East and elsewhere? Can a model of "development" be found that takes anti-democratic thought (and the public support for it in many developing countries) seriously? What is the role of countries with an arguably less than democratic approach to politics (such as Russia and China) in Africa's, Asia's and Latin America's development? The panel welcomes theoretical as well as empirical contributions. Please send paper proposals (abstracts of 750-1000 words) to e.kofmel@sussex.ac.uk or erich.kofmel@sciences-po.org. The deadline for proposals is June 6, 2008.
6. RECENT CONFERENCES
The International Studies Association held its 49th annual convention on March 26–29, 2008, in San Francisco, California. The theme of this year’s conference was “Bridging Multiple Divides” and democracy-related panels included “Regional Integration and Illiberal Democracy: Mexico’s Dilemma,” “Truth, Democracy, and Justice for All? Routes and Reflections on Transitional Justice,” “Non-Traditional Security and Regionalism in Southeast Asia: Does Democracy Matter?” and “From Dictatorship to Democracy: The Role of Strategic Nonviolent Movements.” The final program, list of participants, and paper archive are available here.
On April 1–3, 2008, the Political Studies Association held its 58th annual conference on “Democracy, Governance, and Conflict: Dilemmas of Theory and Practice” at Swansea University. Panels included “Democracy in Southern Europe and Institutional Adaptation,” “EU Eastern Enlargement, Democracy, and Governance,” “Institutionalizing Deliberative Democracy, and “Party Models and Party Organization.” More information about the conference, including a final program and list of papers presented, can be found here.
On April 3–6, 2008, the Association for Asian Studies held its annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. Panel topics in the array of 223 panels included “Formal Political Institutions and India’s Democracy,” “Democracy, Anti-democracy: People’s Politics in the Global South,” and “Politics in Post-democracy Taiwan.” A final program and paper abstracts are available here.
On May 16, 2008, Oxford University launched the Oxford Centre for the Study of Inequality and Democracy (OCSID). The centre is dedicated to analyzing the multifaceted and reciprocal relationships between inequalities of all types and democratization. Its projects will focus on deepening democracy in formally democratic states and on the advance of democracy elsewhere. The Centre will foster problem-driven research that engages scholars from a wide range of disciplines in the United Kingdom and abroad. For more information see http://ocsid.politics.ox.ac.uk
7. FUTURE CONFERENCES
The American Political Science Association will hold its 104th annual meeting in Boston, Massachusetts on August 28–31, 2008. The theme of this year’s conference is “Categories and the Politics of Inequalities.” More information about the conference is available at http://www.apsanet.org/section_222.cfm.
8. NEW RESEARCH
Journal of Democracy
The April 2008 (Volume 19, no. 2) issue of the Journal of Democracy features clusters of articles on progress and retreat in Africa and trends in democracy assistance, as well as individual articles on Russia, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, China, and public opinion. The full texts of selected articles and the tables of contents of all issues are available on the Journal’s Web site.
“Russia’s Transition to Autocracy” by Pierre Hassner
Just as Russia’s leaders pretend that they are ruling over a democracy, they also pretend that they are ruling over an empire.
“Argentina: From Kirchner to Kirchner” by Steven Levitsky and Maria Victoria Murillo
Despite key improvements during Nestor Kirchner’s presidency, Argentine democracy remains vulnerable to crisis. The near collapse of the party system and weakness of political and economic institutions continue to threaten stability.
“Politics, Markets, and Society in Lula’s Brazil” by Lourdes Sola
Brazil under Lula offers a test case of how politicians and societal interests in developing countries react when economic growth and new possibilities change the name of the game from shock and scarcity to boom and prosperity.
“Ecuador: Correa’s Plebiscitary Presidency” by Catherine M. Conaghan
Long an extreme case of institutionalized instability, Ecuador now has a dynamic young president who is determined to remake its constitution, and eventually its society, in the name of “twenty-first-century” socialism.
The 2007 Freedom House Survey
“Is the Tide Turning?” by Arch Puddington
Authoritarian pushback continued to affect key regions and countries in 2007, but the courage, energy, and creativity that democrats continued to show gives reason to think that their cause has brighter days ahead.
“Public Opinion and Democratic Legitimacy” by Yun-han Chu, Michael Bratton, Marta Lagos, Sandeep Shastri, and Mark Tessler
Do young democracies have to “deliver the goods” economically in order to win political legitimacy in their citizens’ eyes? Public opinion data from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Arab world suggest some fascinating answers.
“China: From Prison to Freedom” by Yang Jianli
Why has China’s transition to democracy been so delayed, and what can be done to hasten it?
Progress and Retreat in Africa
I. “Challenges of a ‘Frontier’ Region” by Richard Joseph
In Africa today, investment flows in and civil societies grow stronger, yet many of the continent’s leaders continue to behave autocratically, defending their privileges against the spread of law-based rule.
II. “Presidents Untamed” by H. Kwasi Prempeh
Despite sweeping political and constitutional changes in Africa, a notable feature of the ancien régime survives—the imperial presidency. African presidents may be term-limited, but they have not been tamed.
III. “Legislatures on the Rise?” by Joel D. Barkan
The legislature is emerging as a “player” in some African countries, through not in others. What is the relationship between legislative development and democratic consolidation in Africa?
IV. “The Rule of Law versus the Big Man” by Larry Diamond
Africa is a battleground between formal democratic institutions and rule by the will of the “big man.” Civil society groups are waging this struggle, and technology is equipping them with surprising new tools.
Trends in Democracy Assistance
I. “What Has the United States Been Doing?” by Dinorah Azpuru, Steven E. Finkel, Anibal Perez-Linan, and Mitchell A. Seligson
Democracy assistance has been a growing priority for the United States since the end of the Cold War. The record shows that its focus goes well beyond elections and other procedural dimensions of democracy.
II. “What Has Europe Been Doing?” by Richard Youngs
In recent years, European aid in support of political development has been on the rise. What kind of programs have these funds been supporting, and where are they being spent?
Democratization
The February 2008 (Volume 15, no. 1) Democratization includes articles on military interventions in Africa, democracy promotion in Moldova, the mass media in Central and Eastern Europe, and universal suffrage.
“Democratizing Democracy: A Postcolonial Critique of Conventional Approaches to the ‘Measurement of Democracy’” by Thomas A. Koelble and Edward Lipuma
“Who Should Vote? Conceptualizing Universal Suffrage in Studies of Democracy” by Ludvig Beckman
“The Perils of Semi-Presidentialism: Are They Exaggerated?” by Robert Elgie
“Microstate Democracy: Majority or Consensus; Diffusion or Problem-Solving?” by Dag Anckar
“Does Democratization Reduce the Risk of Military Interventions in Politics in Africa?” by Staffan I. Lindberg and John F. Clark
“Examining the Lagged Effect of Economic Development on Political Democracy: A Panel-VAR Model” by Min Tang
“Consensus to Contestation: Reconfiguring Democratic Representation in the European Union in the Light of 19th Century United States Democratization” by Andrew Glencross
“Is Democracy Promotion Effective in Moldova? The Impact of European Institutions on Development of Civil and Political Rights in Moldova” by Ecaterina McDonagh
“Media Dependency: Mass Media as Sources of Information in the Democratizing Countries of Central and Eastern Europe” by Matthew Loveless
The April 2008 (Volume 15, no. 2) Democratization includes articles on hybrid regimes, democratic governance, ethnically divided societies, human rights in the Middle East, and civil society in Mexico.
“An Elemental Definition of Democracy and its Advantages for Comparing Political Regime Types” by Lise Storm
“Mapping ‘Hybrid Regimes’: Regime Types and Concepts in Comparative Politics” by Mikael Wigell
“Evaluating Democratic Governance: A Bottom-Up Approach to European Union Enlargement” by Richard Rose
“International Integration and Democratization: An Event History Analysis” by Jay Ulfelder
“Support for Strongman Rule in Ethnically Divided Societies: Evidence from Estonia and Latvia” by Kadri Lühiste
“The Status of Democracy and Human Rights in the Middle East: Does Regime Type Make a Difference?” by B. Todd Spinks, Emile Sahliyeh, and Brian Calfano
“Defending the Nation: The Role of Nationalism in Chinese Thinking on Human Rights” by Robert Weatherley
“Exclusionary Democracy in Nepal, 1990¬-2002” by Mahendra Lawoti
“Political Learning as a Catalyst of Moderation: Lessons from Democratic Consolidation in Greece” by Neovi M. Karakatsanis
“Thickening Civil Society: Explaining the Development of Associational Life in Mexico” by Daniel Sabet
SELECTED JOURNAL ARTICLES ON DEMOCRACY
This section features selected articles on democracy that appeared in journals received by the NED’s Democracy Resource Center, January 21–May 2, 2008.
African Affairs, Vol. 107, no. 427, April 2008
“Emerging Patterns in Liberia’s Post-Conflict Politics: Observations from the 2005 Elections” by Amos Sawyer
“Fluid Loyalties in a Regional Crisis: Chadian ‘Ex-Liberators’ in the Central African Republic” by Marielle Debos
“Briefing: South Africa: Jacob Zuma and the Difficulties of Consolidating South Africa’s Democracy” by William M. Gumede
Asian Affairs, Vol. XXXIX, no. 1, March 2008
“Pakistan’s Surprising Stability” by Anatol Lieven
“Impunity Resurgent: The Politics of Military Accountability in Indonesia, 1998-2001” by John Virgoe
China Quarterly, No. 193, March 2008
“Protest Leadership in Rural China” by Lianjiang Li and Kevin J. O’Brien
“Local Governments and the Suppression of Popular Resistance in China” by Yongshun Cai
“Making Sense of Participation: The Political Culture of Pro-Democracy Demonstrators in Hong Kong” by Francis L. F. Lee and Joseph M. Chan
“Reconsidering the Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries” by Yang Kuisong
Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Vol. 41, no. 1, March 2008
“A Disaffected New Democracy? Identities, Institutions, and Civic Engagement in Post-Communist Poland” by Hubert Tworzecki
“National Identity and Europeanization in Post-Communist Romania. The Meaning of Citizenship in Sibiu: European Capital of Culture 2007” by Dragos Dragoman
“An Independent Ukraine: Sustainable or Unsustainable Development?” by Alexander Gorobets
“Patronage and Betrayal in the Post-Stalin Succession: The Case of Kruglov and Serov” by Timothy K. Blauvelt
Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 41, no. 1, January 2008
“Who Gives, Who Receives, and Who Wins?: Transforming Capital into Political Change through Nongovernmental Organizations” by David S. Brown, J. Christopher Brown, and Scott W. Desposato
“Policy Positions, Issue Importance, and Party Competition in New Democracies” by Margit Tavits
“Electoral Governance Matters: Explaining the Quality of Elections in Contemporary Latin America” by Jonathan Hartlyn, Jennifer McCoy, and Thomas M. Mustillo
Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 41, no. 3, March 2008
“Legitimacy and Institutional Change: The Case of China” by Bruce Gilley
“The Local Connection: Local Government Performance and Satisfaction with Democracy in Argentina” by Rebecca Weitz-Shapiro
“Government Responsiveness and Political Competition in Comparative Perspective” by Sara Binzer Hobolt and Robert Klemmensen
“The Global Impact of Quotas: On the Fast Track to Increased Female Legislative Representation” by Aili Mari Tripp and Alice Kang
“Economic Origins of Electoral Support for Authoritarian Successors: A Cross-National Analysis of Economic Voting in New Democracies” by Byong-Kuen Jhee
Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 41, no. 4/5, April/May 2008
“Does Religion Distract the Poor? Income and Issue Voting Around the World” by Ana L. De La O and Jonathan A. Rodden
“The Sensitive Left and the Impervious Right: Multilevel Models and the Politics of Inequality, Ideology, and Legitimacy in Europe” by Christopher J. Anderson and Matthew M. Singer
“Partisan Politics, the Welfare State, and Three Worlds of Human Capital Formation” by Torben Iversen and John D. Stephens
“Beyond Clientelism: Incumbent State Capture and State Formation” by Anna Grzymala-Busse
“Workers’ Rights in Open Economies: Global Production and Domestic Institutions in the Development World” by Layna Mosley
“Credible Power-Sharing and the Longevity of Authoritarian Rule” by Beatriz Magaloni
Comparative Politics, Vol. 40, no. 2, January 2008
“Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy Revisited: Colonial State and Immigrant in the Making of Modern Southeast Asia” by John T. Sidel
“Latin American Catholicism in an Age of Religious and Political Pluralism: A Framework for Analysis” by Frances Hagopian
“Exit without Leaving: Political Disengagement in High Migration Municipalities in Mexico” by Gary L. Goodman and Jonathan T. Hiskey
“Political Trust and Petitioning in the Chinese Countryside” by Lianjiang Li
Contemporary Southeast Asia, Vol. 30, no. 1, April 2008
“Democracy and American Grand Strategy in Asia: The Realist Principles Behind an Enduring Idealism” by Michael J. Green and Daniel Twining
Current History, Vol. 197, no. 706, February 2008
“Ukraine’s Orange Evolution” by Mark Kramer
“Energy and Democracy: The European Union’s Challenge” by Steve Wood
Current History, Vol. 197, no. 707, March 2008
“Lula’s Brazil: A Rising Power, but Going Where?” by Andrew Hurrell
“Requiem for the Monroe Doctrine” by Daniel P. Erikson
“Argentina’s Troubled Transition” by Hector E. Schamis
“A New Path for Latin America?” by Michael Shifter
Current History, Vol. 197, no. 708, April 2008
“Ethiopia’s Convergence of Crises” by Terrence Lyons
“Nigeria Confronts Obasanjo’s Legacy” by Richard Joseph and Darren Kew
“Africa’s Religious Resurgence and the Politics of Good and Evil” by Stephen Ellis and Gerrie ter Haar
East European Politics and Societies, Vol. 22, no. 1, Winter 2008
“Intellectuals and Post-Communist Politics in Romania: An Analysis of Public Discourse, 1990–2000” by Cosmina Tanasoiu
“The Successful Laggards: Bulgaria and Romania’s Accession to the EU” by Gergana Noutcheva and Dimitar Becher
East European Politics and Societies, Vol. 22, no. 2, Spring 2008
“Post-Communist Transitional Justice in Albania” by Robert C. Austin and Jonathan Ellison
Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 60, no. 1, January 2008
“Who Has Led Russia? Russian Regional Political Elites, 1954–2006” by Joel C. Moses
“Intelligence Agencies and Democratization: Continuity and Change in Serbia after Milosevic” by Timothy Edmunds
“Do Russians See Their Future in Europe or the CIS?” by Richard Rose and Neil Munro
“Voting ‘Against All’ in Postcommunist Russia” by Ian McAllister and Stephen White
“Inequality, Democracy, and Taxation: Lessons from the Post-Communist Transition” by Christopher J. Gerry and Tomasz M. Mickiewicz
“From Semi-Presidentialism to Parliamentarism: Regime Change and Presidential Power in Moldova” by Steven D. Roper
“Reluctant Terrorists? Transcaucasian Social-Democracy, 1901-1909” by Erik van Ree
Foreign Affairs, Vol. 87, no. 2, March/April 2008
“The Democratic Rollback” by Larry Diamond
“An Empty Revolution” by Francisco Rodriguez
“China and India Go to Africa” by Harry G. Broadman
Government and Opposition, Vol. 43, no. 1, Winter 2008
“Comparative Theory and Political Practice: Do We Need a ‘State-Nation’ Model as Well as a ‘Nation-State’ Model?” by Alfred Stepan
“Governing in the Media Age: The Impact of the Mass Media on Executive Leadership in Contemporary Democracies” by Ludger Helms
Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, Vol. 24, no. 1, March 2008
“Domination, Power, and Authority in Russia: Basic Characteristics and Forms” by Valeri Ledyaev
“The Changing Role of the State and State Bureaucracy in the Context of Public Administration Reforms: Russian and Foreign Experience” by Oxana Gaman-Golutvina
“The Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development in Eastern Europe” by Rumen Gechev
“New Social Movements in Russia: A Challenge to the Dominant Model of Power Relationships?” by Karine Clement
Journal of East Asian Studies, Vol. 8, no. 1, January-April 2008
“Bound to Rule: Party Institutions and Regime Trajectories in Malaysia and the Philippines” by Jason Brownlee
“Veterans, Organization, and the Politics of Martial Citizenship in China” by Neil J. Diamant
Middle East Journal, Vol. 62, no. 2, Spring 2008
“Russian-Iranian Relations in the Ahmadinejad Era” by Mark Katz
“Occultation in Perpetuum: Shi’ite Messianism and the Policies of the Islamic Republic” by Ze’ev Maghen
“Militarizing Welfare: Neo-liberalism and Jordanian Policy” by Anne Marie Baylouny
Pacific Affairs, Vol. 80, no. 3, Fall 2007
“Civil Society and Interest Groups in Contemporary Japan” by Yutaka Tsujinaka and Robert Pekkanen
“Christian Evangelical Conversions and the Politics of Sri Lanka” by Bruce Matthews
Party Politics, Vol. 14, no. 1, January 2008
“The Politics of Institutional Change: Electoral Reform in Latin America, 1978–2002” by Karen L. Remmer
“Rational Expectations or Heuristics? Strategic Voting in Proportional Representation Systems” by Ignacio Lago
“Fluid Party Systems, Electoral Rules and Accountability of Legislators in Emerging Democracies: The Case of Ukraine” by Kazimierz M. Slomczynski, Goldie Shabad, and Jakub Zielinski
“Dominant Party Systems and Electoral Volatility in Africa: A Comment on Mozaffar and Scarritt” by Matthijs Bogaards
Party Politics, Vol. 14, no. 2, March 2008
“The Parameters of Party Systems” by Luciano Bardi and Peter Mair
“The Effective Number of Parties at Four Scales: Votes, Seats, Legislative Power and Cabinet Power” by Adrian Blau
“Party Polarization and Citizens’ Left-Right Orientations” by Andrew Freire
“Recognition Rules, Party Labels, and the Number of Parties in India: A Research Note” by Csaba Nikolenyi
“Online Electoral Competition in Different Settings: A Comparative Meta-Analysis of the Research on Party Websites and Online Electoral Competition” by Kim Strandberg
Policy Review, no. 147, February/March 2008
“Resurgent Russia? A Still-Faltering Military” by Zoltan Barany
“Resurgent Russia? Rethinking Energy Inc.” by Andreas Goldthau
“The Advantage to Islam of Mosque-State Separation” by Alexander Benard
World Policy Journal, Vol. XXIV, no. 4, Winter 2007/08
“Violence and Elections: Will Kenya Collapse?” by Jacqueline Klopp and Prisca Kamungi
SELECTED NEW BOOKS ON DEMOCRACY
ADVANCED DEMOCRACIES
American Sovereigns: The People and America’s Constitutional Tradition Before
the Civil War. By Christian G. Fritz. Cambridge University Press, 2008. 427 pp.
Democracy and Lobbying in the European Union. By Karolina Karr. University of Chicago Press, 2008. 240 pp.
Dissenting Voices in America’s Rise to Power. By David Mayers. Cambridge University Press, 2007. 446 pp.
The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America. By David Domke and Kevin Coe. Oxford University Press, 2007. 231 pp.
Growing Apart? America and Europe in the Twenty-First Century. Edited by Jeffrey Kopstein and Sven Steinmo. Cambridge University Press, 2008. 237 pp.
Inventing the “American Way”: The Politics of Consensus from the New Deal to the Civil Rights Movement. By Wendy L. Wall. Oxford University Press, 2008. 320 pp.
Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America’s Reputation and Leadership. By Madeline Albright with Bill Woodward. HarperCollins, 2008. 328 pp.
Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith & Politics After the Religious Right. By E.J. Dionne, Jr. Princeton University Press, 2008. 251 pp.
Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles Over Schools, Unions, Race, and Democracy. By Richard Kahlenberg. Columbia University Press, 2007. 552 pp.
Winners Without Losers: Why Americans Should Care More About Global Economic
Policy. By Edward J. Lincoln. Cornell University Press, 2007. 267 pp.
ASIA
Against the Law: Labor Protests in China’s Rustbelt and Sunbelt. By Ching Kwan Lee. University of California Press, 2007. 325 pp.
Divided We Stand: India in a Time of Coalitions. By Paranjor Guha Thakurta and Shankar Raghuraman. Sage, 2007. 524 pp.
Electoral Processes and Governance in South Asia. Edited by Dushyantha Mendis. Sage, 2008. 479 pp.
How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban, and the Hijacking of Afghanistan. By Roy Gutman. United States Institute of Peace Press, 2008. 321 pp.
Rural Democracy in China: The Role of Village Elections. By Baogang He. Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. 292 pp.
Whither the Philippines in the 21st Century? Edited by Rodolfo C. Severino and Lorraine Carlos Salazar. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2007. 370 pp.
EASTERN EUROPE AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION
Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia. By Yegor Gaidar. Brookings, 2007. 332 pp.
Democratic Designs: International Intervention and Electoral Processes in Postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina. By Kimberly Coles. University of Michigan Press, 2007. 297 pp.
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
In From the Cold: Latin America’s New Encounter with the Cold War. Edited by Gilbert M. Joseph and Daniela Spenser. Duke University Press, 2008. 439 pp.
Insurgent Citizenship: Disjunctions of Democracy and Modernity in Brazil. By James Holston. Princeton University Press, 2007. 416 pp.
Participatory Budgeting in Brazil: Contestation, Cooperation, and Accountability. By Brian Wampler. Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007. 312 pp.
Rethinking Venezuelan Politics: Class, Conflict and the Chavez Phenomenon. By Steve Ellner. Lynne Rienner, 2008. 255 pp.
MIDDLE EAST
Algeria: Anger of the Dispossessed. By Martin Evans and John Phillips. Yale University Press, 2007. 352 pp.
Beyond the Facade: Political Reform in the Arab World. By Marina S. Ottaway and Julia Choucair-Vizoso. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2008. 288 pp.
Debating Arab Authoritarianism: Dynamics and Durability in Nondemocratic Regimes. Edited by Oliver Schlumberger. Stanford University Press, 2007. 345 pp.
Democratization in Morocco: The Political Elite and Struggles for Power in the Post-Independence State. By Lise Storm. Routledge, 2007. 226 pp.
The Epicenter of Crisis: The New Middle East. Edited by Alexander T. J. Lennon. The Center for Strategic and International Studies and MIT Press, 2008. 363 pp.
The New Turkish Republic: Turkey as a Pivotal State in the Muslim World. By Graham E. Fuller. United States Institute of Peace Press, 2008. 196 pp.
Remaking Turkey: Globalization, Alternative Modernities, and Democracy. Edited by E. Fuat Keyman. Lexington Books, 2007. 266 pp.
Women and Politics in Iran: Veiling, Unveiling, and Reveiling. By Hamideh Sedghi. Cambridge University Press, 2007. 341 pp.
COMPARATIVE, THEORETICAL, GENERAL
After War: The Political Economy of Exporting Democracy. By Christopher J. Coyne. Stanford University Press, 2007. 238 pp.
American Naturalism and Greek Philosophy. By John P. Anton. Humanity Books, 2008. 320 pp.
Among Empires: American Ascendancy and Its Predecessors. By Charles S. Maier. Harvard University Press, 2006. 373 pp.
Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights 2007. International Trade Union Confederation, 2008. 379 pp.
Beyond the National Interest: The Future of UN Peacekeeping and Multilateralism
in an Era of U.S. Primacy. By Jean-Marc Coicaud. United States Institute of Peace Press, 2007. 297 pp.
The Big Picture: Why Democracies Need Journalistic Excellence. By Jeffrey
Scheuer. Routledge, 2007. 187 pp.
Caesar: Life of a Colossus. By Adrian Goldsworthy. Yale University Press, 2006. 583 pp.
Citizenship: The Rise and Fall of a Modern Concept. By Andreas Fahrmeir. Yale University Press, 2007. 299 pp.
Complicity with Evil: The United Nations in the Age of Modern Genocide. By Adam Lebor. Yale University Press, 2006. 326 pp.
The Construction of Democracy: Lessons from Practice and Research. By Jorge I. Domínguez and Anthony Jones. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007. 253 pp.
Contract and Domination. By Carole Pateman and Charles Mills. Polity Press, 2007. 306 pp.
Crafting Transnational Policing: Police Capacity-Building and Global Policing Reform. Edited by Andrew Goldsmith and James Sheptycki. Hart Publishing, 2007. 406 pp.
Democracy and the Police. By David Alan Sklansky. Stanford University Press, 2008. 269 pp.
Democracy Without Borders: Global Challenges to Liberal Democracy. By Marc. F. Plattner. Rowman & Littlefield, 2008. 163 pp.
Democratic Authority: A Philosophical Framework. By David M. Estlund. Princeton University Press, 2007. 324 pp.
Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation. By Karen Mossberger,
Caroline J. Tolbert, and Ramona S. McNeal. MIT Press, 2007. 221 pp.
An East Asian Model for Latin American Success: The New Path. By Anil Hira. Ashgate, 2007. 186 pp.
Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism: A Call to Action. By George Weigel. Doubleday, 2007. 195 pp.
From Soldiers to Politicians: Transforming Rebel Movements After Civil War. Edited by Jeroen De Zeeuw. Lynne Rienner, 2008. 296 pp.
Gender and International Relations: Issues, Debates, and Future Directions. By Jill Steans. Polity Press, 2006. 183 pp.
Going Local: Decentralization, Democratization, and the Promise of Good Governance. By Merilee S. Grindle. Princeton University Press, 2007. 228 pp.
Interim Governments: Institutional Bridges to Peace and Democracy? Edited by Karen Guttieri and Jessica Piombo. United States Institute of Peace Press, 2007. 352 pp.
Is Democracy Possible? The Alternative to Electoral Democracy. By John Burnheim. Sydney University Press, 2006. 147 pp.
The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All. By Peter Linebaugh.
University of California Press, 2008. 352 pp.
Modern Liberty and the Limits of Government. By Charles Fried. W.W. Norton, 2007. 217 pp.
The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies. By Bryan Douglas Caplan. Princeton University Press, 2007. 280 pp.
Political Communication and Deliberation. By John Gastil. Sage, 2008. 325 pp.
Social Movements for Global Democracy. By Jackie Smith. John Hopkins University
Press, 2008. 286 pp.
The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout
the World. By Larry Diamond. Times Books, 2008. 464 pp.
Thinking About Democracy: Power Sharing and Majority Rule in Theory and Practice. By Arend Lijphart. Routledge, 2008. 306 pp.
Torture and Democracy. By Darius Rejali. Princeton University Press, 2007. 849 pp.
Unsettling Accounts: Neither Truth nor Reconciliation in Confessions of State
Violence. By Leigh A. Payne. Duke University Press, 2008. 374 pp.
Voting Technology: The Not-So-Simple Act of Casting a Ballot. By Paul S. Herrnson et al. Brookings, 2008. 215 pp.