What's wrong with the elite theory of democracy?
Essay - 7 pages - Political science
The elite theory of democracy has emerged out of two major concerns of its precursors: no theory of democracy until now has given leadership the importance it ought to have, and none has really settled the issue of whether the common man is up to the task of governing a modern and...
Is Islam an obstacle to democracy?
Thesis - 17 pages - Journalism
‘On my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention', Tocqueville reports in Democracy in America. Even though religion cannot be considered formally as a part of the American political system, Tocqueville depicts it as...
United States versus democracy
Thesis - 10 pages - Political science
Throughout history individuals have discussed the term democracy, which has its origins in ancient Greece, and is derived from the words demos and kratos. The literal definition of this term is “rule by the people.” However, this definition is ambiguous and has allowed scholars...
How can corruption occur in a democracy as France? Analysis through the ELF scandal
Thesis - 9 pages - Journalism
The Elf scandal started in 1994 with an ordinary trial of the dubious conditions in which Elf oil company and the Crédit Lyonais funded Bidermann's textile firm. This financial bail-out turned out to be a tremendous embezzlement scandal. ELF's executive officers misused their company assets for...
How and why has the adoption of free market economic policies affected the consolidation of democracy?
Essay - 6 pages - Economy general
“Economic factors have significant impact on democratization but they are not determinative.” (Huntington 1991: 59). To Huntington, there is a clear link between economy and democracy as a form of regime, bond that few people could deny nowadays. Actually, this bond can be shown...
Critical review of Robert Putnam's Making Democracy Work
Book review - 6 pages - Political science
In the 1970s, new representative institutions were created in the twenty regions that make up Italy. The Italian government wanted to bring governance closer to the people, so that 'the citizens of Seveso and Pietrapertosa were now directed to nearby Milan and Potenza rather than distant...
Jürgen Habermas overemphasises the role of the public sphere in his theory of law and democracy
Essay - 7 pages - Other law subjects
Jürgen Habermas (born June 18, 1929 in Düsseldorf) is a German philosopher, political scientist and sociologist in the tradition of critical theory. His work focuses on the analysis of advanced capitalist industrial society and of democracy and the rule of law in a critical...
Democracy in Nigeria at the dawn of the 21st century
Thesis - 6 pages - Political science
“« Democracy is good, » says Godwin Eweye, a video-store owner, « but Nigeria is not yet fully democratic. »” A few days only after Nigeria's 2003 parliamentary elections, this local comment illustrates the enduring difficulties that the country faces in its attempt to...
Asking questions about the popular sphere, media and democracy.
Thesis - 7 pages - Journalism
An important question, right now, according to a recent Globe and Mail article, as well as chatter heard recently while riding the grid-lock streets listening to a taxi driver's radio, is if daily newspapers collapse, is this a sign that democracy is in trouble? Perusing the numerous blogs...
The business lobby in government and the threat to democracy
Thesis - 4 pages - Social, moral & civic education
In political discourse, the term lobbying is often thought of in a negative way. This is because lobbyists have earned themselves a reputation of being untrustworthy and even corrupt. Lobbying in itself is certainly not bad though. When a citizen bumps into their elected official on the street...
Former Soviet Republics of Central Asia and democracy
Essay - 6 pages - Political science
Nowadays, Central Asia can be considered as the “Heartland”, that is to say the center of geopolitical positioning, given the abundance of natural resources in the region. Indeed this area, particularly Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, benefits from oil and natural gas reserves among the...
Critical summary and reflective analysis of Gerard Alexander's essay, "Making Democracy Stick."
Essay - 2 pages - Political science
Published in the issue of December 2005 & January 2006, the article “Making Democracy Stick” written by Gerard Alexander is part of a wider movement distancing itself from the American muscled intervention in Iraq and its lack of preparation for democratic consolidation. The...
Democracy, globalization and emerging/declining media
Thesis - 5 pages - Social, moral & civic education
An important question, right now, according to a recent Globe and Mail article, as well as chatter heard recently while riding the grid-lock streets listening to a taxi driver's radio, is if daily newspapers collapse, is this a sign that democracy is in trouble? Is the increasingly...
Democracy and totalitarism
Thesis - 6 pages - Philosophy
Nowadays the term ‘democracy ‘has become a widespread reality which is practically accepted everywhere. Even China's leaders argue that their country is on the path to democracy but “it needs time” (Wen Jiabao, China's Prime Minister). Nevertheless many...
The United States: A "theodemocracy"? The ambiguous relationship between religion and politics
Essay - 9 pages - Political science
As Julia Gronnevet said, “comparing the United States to the Roman Empire is a popular pastime” . For instance, in his book entitled Are we Rome?: the Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America (2007), Cullen Murphy established some parallels between these two political entities both...
Bulgaria: Transition towards democracy
Essay - 22 pages - Political science
Bulgaria is due for accession to the European Union in 2007. According to most international reporting mechanisms the country has reached the final stages of democracy, and is ready to proceed with accession. While on many levels, such as economically and politically, Bulgaria may have...
The paradox of American democracy (Chap. 1), by John B. Judis
Thesis - 3 pages - Journalism
John B. Judis is a senior editor at The New Republic, where he is working since 1982. He graduated at the University of California at Berkeley in 1965 and taught philosophy there later on. He was an active leftist activist during the 60es and founded the leftwing journal The Socialist Revolution...
Freedom, Liberty and Democracy
Thesis - 5 pages - Political science
Democracy is considered by many to be the best type of political system possible, and among this group many believe the system of democracy in the United States is also the best of the best. This notion is one worth examining, and one that in some way has become more relevant in the...
Euro communism: Linking democracy and socialism
Thesis - 8 pages - Political science
Simply speaking, Euro communism was a political trend that developed in the 1970s and 1980s in many of the Western European communist parties as a way of applying their political agenda in a way that would be more acceptable in a Western European democracy as it would have less affiliation...
India: The state of the children in the world's most populous democracy
Essay - 5 pages - Sociology & social sciences
In December 2001, a farrago of representatives of intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, and concerned members of the civil society around the world convened in Yokohama, Japan, at the 2nd World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of...
Cuba: Prospects for democracy
Essay - 6 pages - Political science
Cuba, largest and most western island of the West Indies. For most of its past, Cuba was the wealthiest island of the Caribbean due to its fertile soil and abundant sugar and tobacco production. Its strategic location and wealth of resources contribute to a long history of external intervention,...
Citizenship & Democracy: Civil Society and the Democratization of Kosovo
Case study - 5 pages - Political science
The emergence of Kosovo as a modern nation-state is a recent development, tracing its immediate roots to the 1990s. At this time Kosovo was still a province of Serbia and under the authority of Serbia's leader, Slobodan Milosevic. Milosevic went to extreme measures to put down the insurgency...
The German threat to the democracy, the economy and morality of the United States
Essay - 9 pages - Modern history
When the origin of the United States' entrance into World War II is reviewed Pearl Harbor is the event that justified American intervention. Once bombs were dropped in Hawaii the U.S. had no choice but to declare war on Japan. The United States' values and interests were threatened and within...
The struggle for democracy: An analysis of false flag terrorism in post-war Italy and its contemporary relevance
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
To analyze politics is to attempt to understand the evolution and application of ideas in circumstances that are seldom clearly defined. These ideas are formulated into ideological structures that become the governing principles of specific political philosophies. Words such as morals, culture,...
How well has India's democracy served its citizens since 1947?
Essay - 5 pages - Sociology & social sciences
Since India's move to democracy in 1947, many have questioned the success, or lack thereof, of the democratization process, its advantages and detriments, the effect on society, and its role in religious conflict. There are contradictory and mixed assessments of the state of political,...
Mestizo Democracy
Essay - 5 pages - Social, moral & civic education
Introduction John Francis Burke (2004) in his text Mestizo Democracy argues that as the diversity of the United States increases, changes will occur in the context of democracy. In particular, this author contends that as cultural diversity increases in the United States, the rise...
Western-style Democracy and non-Western religions - the case of Islam
Thesis - 5 pages - Political science
"Is Western-style democracy compatible with non-Western religions? Discuss primarily the question of the Islamic religion." Although the suggestion that certain religious traditions were more suitable for democracy came under increasing attack from the early 1980s onwards,...
A Critique of Democracy through Aristotle (and Plato)
Essay - 2 pages - Journalism
Democracy is defined today as “a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.” In the time of Plato and Aristotle, there was a simple definition that was essentially...
Deliberative democracy is theoretically plausible and institutionally impracticable
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
What we mean today when referring to 'democracy' is, according to some scholars, 'a way of organising the state that has come to be narrowly identified with territorially based competitive elections of political leadership for legislative and executive offices' . The...
"Adenauer's pursuit of Western integration consolidated democracy in the West at the cost of the East." Comment
Essay - 7 pages - Political science
According to the newspaper die Frankfurte Allgemeine Zeitung, the number of the unemployed people in Germany has decreased by 25.000 in November, reaching the stage of 4.531.000 jobless persons. The Federal Minister of the Economy, Michael Glos (CSU) spoke in the Bundestag „vom ersten...
