Democracy
Anthony Arblaster
Language: English
Pages: 144
ISBN: 0335209696
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
In praise of previous editions:
"...brilliant introduction." - New Statesman and Society
"From start to finish, Arblaster's book is stimulating and highly readable." - Times Higher Educational Supplement
"...an ideal first book to place in the hands of a student embarking on the study of democracy." - Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics
- What is the meaning of democracy?
- Why has democracy provoked hostility in the past? Has the hostility entirely vanished?
- * How democratic are contemporary Western societies in reality and how might they be made more democratic?
The revised and updated edition of this widely acclaimed survey takes account of the very different global context in which any discussion of democracy must now take place, including the mighty power of the multinationals vis-a-vis elected governments, the resurgence of the idea of an Islamic alternative to the Western democratic ideal, and the suggestion that unelected but powerful international bodies are effectively eroding the authority of the democratic state.
Anthony Arblaster looks first at the history of both the theory and practice of democracy, and the fierce opposition it has often provoked, showing how the representative version of democracy we are now familiar with was a relatively late arrival on the scene. He finds the core of the idea of democracy in the notion of popular power, and in the second part of the book he explores the meaning of this and the problems it involves.
Drawing on the classic writings of Rousseau, Paine and John Stuart Mill, he shows how wide the gap is between their vision of a fully democratic society and the limited realities of the Western democracies of today. Democracy, he argues, remains a relevant ideal and a challenge to much conventional political thinking, as well as to the centralizing tendencies of global power.
Vultures' Picnic: In Pursuit of Petroleum Pigs, Power Pirates, and High-Finance Carnivores
The Democracy Index: Why Our Election System Is Failing and How to Fix It
The Science of Liberty: Democracy, Reason, and the Laws of Nature
Allah, Liberty and Love: The Courage to Reconcile Faith and Freedom
Con ventional pluralism, it is easier and more plausible to urge com promise when it is interests rather than principles which are in conflict.! If Roman Catholics believe that abortion is always wrong and contrary to God's law, there is no compromise they can be offered, or which they can accept, which will satisfy their principles. Or take capital punishment. Either you have it, or you don't. The issue can be resolved at different levels - within the United States some states have it, others.
Endorse illib eral and anti-democratic policies. The phenomenon of popular authoritarianism is not altogether the invention of frightened bour geois liberals. But if we now recall the alternative definition of democracy as popular power, or popular sovereignty, then clearly it cannot be a democratic act for the people to vote away their own power and their own rights, any more than if I freely renounce my freedom I can remain free because the renunciation was a free act. For democracy to exist,.
Not more than, we need democracy at the national and subnational levels. The outlook for democracy is, therefore, far from being as rosy and beneficent as has often been suggested in recent years. And it is further complicated by the recent resurgence of militant Islam. In some respects contemporary Islam simply follows the traditional pattern of all theistic religions - which are at one in proclaiming Conclusion 1 07 that the will of God should take precedence over any and every human.
Global economy, sexuality and power, and race and ethnicity. Finally, the book analyses the problem of essentialism for feminism and the challenge of postmodem and poststructuralist theories. Written in a jargon-free style, this book presents a clear and concise introduction to a wide range of feminist thought. Contents Introduction: Feminism or feminisms? - Equal or different? The perennial feminist problematic - Feminism and the political: the fight for women 's citizenship - Employment and.
Because the religion itself is popularly accepted. Where that popular base does not exist such laws are only imposed on the population with great difficulty, if at all. Even strict Muslim movements, which do not have any qualms about imposing a rigid version of shariah law on those they govern, whether they consent or not, are ready to use democratic argu ments to boost their legitimacy. It was on the basis that they were set to win the elections in Algeria in 1992 that the Islamic opposi tion.