Seems you have not registered as a member of localhost.saystem.shop!
You may have to register before you can download all our books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Peacebuilding and Ex-Combatants
The book examines how ex-combatants in post-war and peacebuilding settings engage in politics, as seen in the case of Liberia. The political mobilization of former combatants after war is often perceived as a threat, ultimately undermining the security and stability of the state. This book questions this simplified view and argues that understanding the political voice of former combatants is imperative. Their post-war role is not black and white; they are not just bad or good citizens, but rather engage in multiple political roles: spoilers, victims, disengaged, beneficiaries, as well as motivated and active citizens. By looking at the political attitudes and values of former combatants, an...
Political Opposition and Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa
This book takes a closer look at the role and meaning of political opposition for the development of democracy across sub-Saharan Africa. Why is room for political opposition in most cases so severely limited? Under what circumstances has the political opposition been able to establish itself in a legitimate role in African politics? To answer these questions this edited volume focuses on the institutional settings, the nature and dynamics within and between political parties, and the relationship between the citizens and political parties. It is found that regional devolution and federalist structures enable political opposition to organize and gain local power, as a supplement to influence at the central level. Generally, however, opposition parties are lacking in organization and institutionalization, as well as in their ability to find support in civil society and promote the issues that voters find most important. Overall, strong executive powers, unchecked by democratic institutions, in combination with deferential values and fear of conflict, undermine legitimate opposition activity. This book was originally published as a special issue of Democratization.
Institutional Reforms and Peacebuilding
This book deals with the question how institutional reform can contribute to peacebuilding in post-war and divided societies. In the context of armed conflict and widespread violence, two important questions shape political agendas inside and outside the affected societies: How can we stop the violence? And how can we prevent its recurrence? Comprehensive negotiated war terminations and peace accords recommend a set of mechanisms to bring an end to war and establish peace, including institutional reforms that promote democratization and state building. Although the role of institutions is widely recognized, their specific effects are highly contested in research as well as in practice. This ...
Handbook of Qualitative Cross-Cultural Research Methods
This Handbook provides an in-depth discussion on doing cross-cultural research more ethically, sensibly and responsibly with diverse groups of people around the globe. It focuses on cross-cultural research in the social sciences where researchers who are often from Western, educated and rich backgrounds are conducting research with individuals from different socio-cultural settings that are often non-Western, illiterate and poor.
Religion and Political Change in the Modern World
The purpose of the book is to ascertain whether there is a generic impact that ‘religion’ brings to bear on recent political changes in the modern world. Over the last two decades or so, there have been increasing numbers of political issues with which various manifestations of religion engage. This impact is not restricted exclusively to countries in the ‘developed’ or ‘developing’ world. Instead, we seem to be seeing a widespread impact of religion on politics which defies earlier assumptions about secularisation. This presumed that the more ‘modern’ a country is then the less likely it is that religion will play a significant political role. Recent evidence is, however, fi...
Twenty Years of Studying Democratization
Democratization emerged at a time of epochal change in global politics: the twin impacts of the end of the Soviet Union and the speeding up and deepening of globalisation in the early 1990s meant a whole new ball game in terms of global political developments. The journal’s first issue appeared in early 1994. Over time, the editorial position has been consistently to focus on ‘the third wave of democracy’ and its aftermath. The third wave is the most recent exemplar of a long-term, historical trend towards more democratically viable regimes and away from authoritarian systems and leaders. In short, the journal wants to promote a better understanding of democratization – defined as th...
Building Sustainable Peace
Countries emerging from civil war or protracted violence often face the daunting challenge of rebuilding their economy while simultaneously creating the political and social conditions for a stable peace. The implicit assumption in the international community that rapid political democratisation along with economic liberalisation holds the key to sustainable peace is belied by the experiences of countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Often, the challenges of post-conflict reconstruction revolve around the timing and sequencing of different reform that may have contradictory implications. Drawing on a range of thematic studies and empirical cases, this book examines how post-conflict reconstruction policies can be better sequenced in order to promote sustainable peace. The book provides evidence that many reforms that are often thought to be imperative in post-conflict societies may be better considered as long-term objectives, and that the immediate imperative for such societies should be 'people-centred' policies.
Contemporary Nigerian Politics
Looks at how Nigeria's political parties compete for power in a context of transition, terrorism, and religious and ethnic tension.
Just Peace After Conflict
As contemporary studies have increasingly viewed just post bellum to the concept of peace, or the law of peace, so opinions concerning what a 'just peace' could look like have diverged. Is it merely an elusive ideal? Or is it predominantly procedural justice? Is it dependent on concessions and compromise? In this volume, the third output of a major research project on Jus Post Bellum, Carsten Stahn, Jens Iverson, and Jennifer Easterday bring together a team of experts to explore the issues surrounding a just peace, what it is composed of, and how it makes itself felt in the modern world, concluding that a just peace is not only related to form and
Conflicting Objectives in Democracy Promotion
The agenda of external actors often includes a number of objectives that do not necessarily and automatically go together. Fostering security and stability in semi-authoritarian regimes collides with policies aimed at the support of processes of democratization prone to conflict and destabilization. Meanwhile, the promotion of national self-determination and political empowerment might lead to forms of democracy, partially incompatible with liberal understandings. These conflicting objectives are often problematized as challenges to the effectiveness of international democracy promotion. This book presents systematic research about their emergence and effects. The contributing authors invest...
