How do political systems shape immigration policy-making? Explicitly or implicitly, comparative politics and migration policy theories suggest a 'regime effect' that links specific dynamics of immigration policy to liberal democracy. The literature's dominant focus on so-called 'Western liberal democracies', however, has left the 'regime effect' largely untested and research on variations and s...

Michael A. PetersOnce commentators and policy-makers divest themselves of deep cultural Western assumptions that only democracies can prosper economically, or capitalism liberal democracy ...

Richard E. Redding (March 2001) is to be complimented for calling attention to the incongruity between the narrowness of psychology’s liberal sociopolitical mentality and its simultaneous reverence for cultural diversity. His justified criticism, however, failed to come to grips with the moral and methodological issues underlying his complaint. Is his objection solely directed at the restricted...

Abstract Recent democratic regressions and crises suggest democracy is at risk across East Southeast Asia. One of the factors that can determine stability are citizens’ attitudes. While previous research has concentrated on support for democracy-in-principle, this contribution argues it political trust, i.e. democracy-in-practice, which crucial stability. For democracies to be stable, trust sho...

Abstract Considering recent re-assessments of Pareto and Mosca, I discuss whether these thinkers’ socio-political orientations contribute to the ‘disfiguration’ democracy (in: Urbinati, Democracy disfigured: opinion, truth, people, Harvard, Cambridge, MA, 2014) or provide a resource for renewal democratic institutions. Femia (Pareto political theory, Routledge, Abingdon, 2006) presents as being...

Current diagnoses of a crisis democracy in the Global North go hand with disparaging “look downwards.” Already nineteenth century, liberal thinkers formulated institutional precautions against “rabble.” What is striking about current devaluation discourse that return this downwards” not limited to libertarian or liberal-conservative concepts but also present progressive approaches. We demonstra...

Electronicgovernmentinitiativesplayacentralroleinopeningdoorsforpotentialvoterstoparticipate in the political process by using electronic voting systems.Electronic voting is attractingmore attentionbygovernmentsaroundtheworld,wheremanycountrieshaveexploitede-votingsystemsas analternativetotraditionalvotingintheirnationalelections.Citizensdiff...

This special issue sheds light on the shift from consensus over democracy and liberal values to increased dissensus. With a focus Central Eastern Europe, it explores nature origi...