For over a hundred years, the Republican Party used the word “liberal” positively in its platforms and proudly wore the liberal mantle. That may surprise you, but it is true. The finding comes from analyzing words used in all 40 Republican Party presidential year platforms from the party’s origin in 1856 to its 2012 election campaign. In contrast, the 44 Democratic Party platforms staunchly—but...

Under the asymmetry hypothesis, political tolerance and intolerance differ in their underlying psychology, making it easier to persuade tolerant become less than convince intolerant more tolerant. Using a representative sample of Dutch population (N = 546), we examined this hypothesis for people’s or socially disruptive protest actions least-liked gr...

Societies concerned with preventing acts of violent extremism often target the ideas that are thought to motivate such acts. The state's use educational institutions is one mechanism by which those subjected challenge. Teaching liberal democratic values students method. Here, David Stevens argues this model misguided. First, commitment methods not primarily driven attractiveness radical themsel...

Long remembered for its warning that the United States, divided by racism, was becoming “two societies, one black, white – separate and unequal,” report of Kerner commission (National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders) made a landmark contribution to public debate in 1968. The paperback edition quickly became bestseller year, even though it failed influence Lyndon B. Johnson’s embattled pr...

This paper explores the connections between democracy, peace and development in three cases of recent history Uganda, Kenya and Sri Lanka. It is shown that there are no simple and universal relationships. The experience of all three countries shows that democratic institutions are not sufficient to prevent conflict and can foment it in sharply divided societies. The case of Sri lanka suggests t...