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"The idea that democracy is contagious, that democracy diffuses across the world map, is now well established among policy makers and political scientists alike. The few theoretical explanations of this phenomenon focus exclusively on political elites. This article presents a theoretical model and accompanying computer simulation that explains the diffusion of democracy based on the dynamics of public opinion and mass revolutions. On the basis of the literature on preference falsification, cascading revolutions, and the social judgment theory, an agent-based simulation is developed and analyzed. The results demonstrate that the diffusion of attitudes, in combination with a cascading model of revolutions, is indeed a possible theoretical explanation of the spatial clustering of democracy."

When implementing democracy, local discourses of decision-making affect the ways in which the liberal democracy is comprehended, realized and practiced. One problem with the so-called 'transition paradigm' is then the neglect of local cultures and institutions and their impact on implemented democratic systems. Given this, the aim of the article is therefore to give a deep(er) understanding of the processes of change in implemented democracies through a close empirical reading of interviews with Cambodian politicians and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). A critical examination of the conditions in Cambodia reveals how liberal democracy is not only re-interpreted and hybridized but also occasionally resisted in line with the local discourses of power.

I will discuss the historical development of the study of democracy through public opinion and behavior research. The article starts with a brief sketch of developments in Western democracies after World War II. With a general emphasis on comparative micro-survey research, it then traces major trends in the empirical study of political participation, with a particular emphasis on the Political Action Study (Barnes et al., 1979; Jennings et al., 1990). The significance of this study resides in its opening the way for political science to consider non-institutionalized acts of political participation not as a threat to pluralist democracies, but rather as an extension of the political repertory of democratic citizens. The article then discusses potential reasons for the observed unexpected decline of political support in Western democracies after the demise of totalitarian communism through the 'velvet revolution' in Central and Eastern Europe. In the conclusion, the article speculates about future developments in democratic governance in the light of encompassing social, economic and technological developments such as globalization and the Internet revolution.

In this article we contrast the theoretical tradition of radical democracy developed by Chantal Mouffe with an alternative tradition of radical democracy rooted in the practices of subaltern social movements. While the former is wedded to the context and aspirations of Western modernity, the latter consists of place-based forms of 'colonial difference' within the Third and Fourth Worlds that are subalternised by the (aggressively globalising) modern tradition of democracy. Working within a 'modernity/coloniality' framework, we contrast these traditions of radical democracy along three main axes: 1) the logic of articulation among diverse struggles and movements; 2) the orientation towards, and aspirations with respect to, the state; and 3) the relation to the global scale and vision of the 'pluriverse'.

In this article we contrast the theoretical tradition of radical democracy developed by Chantal Mouffe with an alternative tradition of radical democracy rooted in the practices of subaltern social movements. While the former is wedded to the context and aspirations of Western modernity, the latter consists of place-based forms of 'colonial difference' within the Third and Fourth Worlds that are subalternised by the (aggressively globalising) modern tradition of democracy. Working within a 'modernity/coloniality' framework, we contrast these traditions of radical democracy along three main axes: 1) the logic of articulation among diverse struggles and movements; 2) the orientation towards, and aspirations with respect to, the state; and 3) the relation to the global scale and vision of the 'pluriverse'.

"Does democratization increase commitment to multilateral security? In this article, the author argues that democratic transitions increase the incentives of states to cooperate in multilateral security and that this is observable in the rate at which new democracies ratify international treaties of arms control, nuclear nonproliferation, and disarmament. New democrats, she asserts, seek a positive international reputation as an insurance mechanism against future regime reversals. By becoming "good citizens" of the global system, newly elected democratic leaders seek to expose potential conspirators to the possibility of diplomatic and economic sanctions if they were to attempt to reverse the transition. First, using original data on the ratification rates of 201 states for twenty major arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament treaties, the present study shows conclusively that new democracies outpace older democracies and all autocracies in committing to multilateral security. Second, the study empirically tests whether the swift ratification of security treaties works as a consolidation strategy and finds that, indeed, it does. That is, new democracies that commit to nonproliferation and arms control treaties are less likely to experience a regime reversal."

Democracy promotion in the Middle East has been a foreign policy imperative for every U.S. President for the past three decades. Geoffrey Swenson details the aspirations, projects and outcomes of U.S. - funded democracy building efforts in the Palestinian

Is there a speed limit for democracy? Do the system imperatives of late-modern economic polities necessitate a shrinking of democratic oversight and control? Are the accelerated life-experiences of citizens in late modernity fundamentally hostile to the formation of civic identities, deliberative skills, and democratic habits? In this paper I examine recent work in democratic theory on social acceleration in order to address these questions. I argue that liberal theorists such as William Scheuerman focus excessively on institutional adjustments to the democratic polity rather than on ways in which democratic participation can be nurtured in an attempt to surmount the challenges of social acceleration. At the same time, radical pluralists such as William Connolly come close to romanticizing the effects of speed while ignoring its ill consequences for democracy (and for pluralism). I end the paper with an examination of the work of Sheldon Wolin, whose understanding of democracy has led him to formulate the idea of a "multiple civic self" that is nurtured through slow-time political practices. Wolin's theory of the multiple civic self, I argue, offers us the best way to think about the challenges for democracy represented by social acceleration, especially in conversation with Connolly's emphasis on "bicameral" citizenship and Bonnie Honig's treatment of the "Slow Food" movement.

This paper analyzes the connection between democracy and human development. In so doing, it examines two main questions: Are democracies better than non-democracies in achieving human development? Among democracies, is there a direct relationship between

While we're still arguing about whether there's life after death, can we add another question to the cart? Is there life after democracy? What sort of life will it be? By democracy I don't mean democracy as an ideal or an aspiration. I mean the working mo

The National Endowment for Democracy "must continue to serve as a focal point for U.S. democracy assistance to non-state actors," according to a new report. Democracy promotion should remain a priority on the foreign policy agenda but reforms are required

It critically assesses the European Union's (EU's) almost messianic mission to promote its successful project of liberal democracy, and the ways in which the EU seeks to teach others about its meaning while refusing to aspect learn about alternative forms of political organisation in different contexts. It discusses the implications of such a narrow framing of EU conceptions of liberal democracy, drawing on extensive fieldwork carried out in Palestine and Egypt in September 2007 and March 2008, respectively. The article argues for a new framing of political transformation in the Middle East. It concludes by employing Aletta Norval's notion of aversive democracy to highlight the need for recognition of crucial aspects of political change that stem from what is emerging in the Middle East.

"The eleven countries of Southeast Asia vary widely by type of regime and quality of governance. Those that are the most democratic are not always the best governed, and the reverse is also true. Based on evidence from these countries, this essay explores two propositions-one normative, the other empirical. The normative argument is this: Good things ought to go together. Because democracy is more humane than dictatorship, democracy in Southeast Asia should also do a better job delivering security, welfare, and other public goods. The empirical argument, whose validity would bolster the normative one, is this: Good things do go together. Democracy and governance, however, do not co-vary in Southeast Asia. These two good things do not go together. Gaps exist, and they are worth minding, in theory and in practice."

In recent years radical democracy has become a prominent perspective in contemporary political theory. However, radical democracy involves numerous theoretical arguments and interpretations of democracy as can be witnessed in the work of some theorists wh

In this paper, which forms Paper Two in FDSD's project on The Future of Democracy in the Face of Climate Change, the authors review a range of definitional approaches to democracy. They discuss the relevance of existing approaches in the light of climate

The topic selected for the conference was "Literature and Democracy," and a citation from Derrida's "Passions: An Oblique Offering" served as point of departure: "No democracy without literature; no literature without democracy" [28]. This issue is a logi

This article focuses on democracy promotion as an instrument of foreign policy. It identifies conditions that conduce to the viability of democracy and offers suggestions about advocating for states that have few prospects of becoming democracies as well

Grassroots women's leadership is important if democracy is to be 'deepened' - that is, if representative democracies are to formally include citizen participation in more ways than simply voting in elections. One approach to deepening democracy is to enco

Is the Obama administration putting democracy promotion on the back-burner or simply toning down the previous administration's Freedom Agenda oratory? Is promoting democracy falling victim to calculating realpolitik or simply being "pursued with more mode

Alain Badiou is a fierce critic of State-based parliamentary democracy and the supposedly radical democracy that fails to disentangle itself from the Statist logic of representation. This article traces Badiou's alternative proposal of a generic democracy