Theoretical arguments and empirical evidence are advanced to bolster the claim that direct political participation via referenda and initiatives constitutes an advanced form of democracy with beneficial effects on Transition Countries. Direct democracy raises trust and honesty and improves social outcomes. Per capita incomes and subjective well-being are raised. Standard arguments against direc...

The major predecessor to Ringen's and my own efforts to measure democratic quality in terms of the purpose of democracy is Robert Dahl's seminal book Polyarchy (1971). Measuring the quality of democracy requires two prior judgments: (1) making sure that, in terms of institutional characteristics, a country is sufficiently democratic, and that, as a minimum, it has universal suffrage, and (2) th...

Throughout its short history, federal relations in Russia have been dominated by extra-legal political and economic relations rather than constitutionalism and the rule of law. The Russian Federation’s unique blend of constitutional, socioeconomic, and political asymmetry, far from promoting democracy, has bolstered authoritarian regimes in the regions. Federalism and regional democracy have al...

The main objective of the present study is to investigate the relationship between the levels of self-actualization of people and their attitude of democracy. In this regard it has investigated the relationship among 384 Yazd university students in 2013-14 by survey method. Thus, after collecting data, through SPSS and statistical tests including Pearson Correlation, ANOVA and etc., the data ha...

This paper elucidates the manner in which users of an online decision support system respond to spatially distributed data when assessing the solution to environmental risks, specifically, nuclear waste disposal. It presents tests for revealing whether users are responding to geographical data and whether they are influenced by their home location (Not in My Back Yard – style behavior). The tes...

Although Michael Albert is well aware of the existence of the Inclusive Democracy (ID) project, still, in his new book Parecon, Life After Capitalism he prefers to ignore its existence and follows the trouble-free path to compare Parecon with the disastrous central planning system and the narrowly ecological bio-regionalism, (or, elsewhere, with social ecology’s libertarian municipalism, which,...

Over the last two decades, public confidence and trust in Government has declined visibly in several liberal democracies, giving way instead to disillusionment with current political institutions, actors, and practices; rendering obsolete or inappropriate much of traditional democratic politics. Simultaneously, digital technologies have created huge opportunities for public bodies and agencies....

Introduction. The interpretation that Arrow’s Condition I, independence of irrelevant alternatives, prohibits the use of individuals’ intensities of preference in the construction of social choices, is not precise. Rather, it is the social welfare function (as defined in Chapter 4), which demands both individual and social orderings, and thereby prohibits cardinal utility inputs. Condition I, a...

There are competing conceptions of democracy. In particular, the terms “democracy” and “democratic” have been defined by political philosophers and political scientists in many different ways. Which one is right? How should one choose among the proposed definitions? A democracy is perhaps always a State, but the adjective “democratic” is often applied to other entities as well; for example, org...

Deliberative democracy is a form of alternative dispute resolution. Consulting the public in a thoughtful and representative way can lead to consequential public policy outcomes that might otherwise have been difficult to achieve. However, some recent literature appears to treat deliberative democracy and alternative dispute resolution as rivals.! While there are differences in emphasis and in ...