A global ‘associational revolution’ appears to be underway in many parts of the world and the rise of private voluntary organizations is beginning to have significant impacts on many nations’ democratic governance (Salamon, 1993; Kim, 2003). The rise of third sector organizations (TSOs) or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the decline of nationstates are changing not only the way societ...

The end of the Cold War ushered the world into a new sphere of democratic governance. Citizens in developing countries began actively contributing to the democratic process by demanding probity and accountability within existing governance structures. The efforts by responding to the challenges of the new ‘wave’ of democratisation in the late 1980s by embracing democracy assistance as a core pr...

The formerly socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe have experienced profound political and economic changes since the demise of Communism in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Each country has its own particular history of transformation to a freer, more democratic, more market-based society. The timing and specific circumstances of the revolutions in each country vary. Even today, the...

In the aftermath of postcommunism, Slovakia did not consolidate liberal democracy. Yet the 1998 election did eventually trigger the democratic breakthrough in Slovakia. Thus this dissertation reflects upon what ushered Slovakia into a new democratic era following the pivotal election. It casts doubt at the European Union’s leverage as being a deus ex machina for rejecting an illiberal democracy...

This article considers the elite in Brazilian society as a core feature of political culture and examines its involvement in the development of democracy in post authoritarian Brazil from a socio-political and institutional point of view. Brazil’s elite have been criticized as having an ambiguous attitude towards democracy. Some scholars have suggested that Brazil’s elite exhibit no discernible...

The end of the Cold War ushered the world into a new sphere of democratic governance. Citizens in developing countries began actively contributing to the democratic process by demanding probity and accountability within existing governance structures. The efforts by responding to the challenges of the new ‘wave’ of democratisation in the late 1980s by embracing democracy assistance as Ghana ina...

To better understand why Middle Eastern states continue to languish at the bottom of world rankings on gender equality, this study presents critical discourse analysis of state and civil society organizations’ implementation of the Participative Democratic Model of gender mainstreaming. A requirement of the 1995 United Nations Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Participative Democ...

The precautionary principle has become, in European regulation of science and technology, a general principle for the protection of the health of human beings, animals, plants, and the environment. It requires that "[w]here there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent enviro...

Drawing on literature from Anthropology, Economics, Political Science and Sociology, an interdisciplinary theory is presented that links the rise of contractual forms of exchange within a society with the proliferation of liberal values, democratic legitimacy, and peace among democratic nations. The theory accommodates old facts and yields a large number of new and testable ones, including the ...

Indian Academy of Social Sciences (ISSA) has resolved to devote the 31st session of Indian Social Science Congress (XXXI ISSC) on ‘Peoples’ Struggles And Movements For Equitable Society’ with a view to discovering, developing and disseminating a new scientific knowledge relevant to creating a new democratic global society free from hunger, poverty, literacy, unemployment and violence of any sor...