Building Global Democracy

Although there have been many studies that address the representation of women in parliament, there are few analyses that compare the current state of gender representation between democracies and non-democracies. Focusing on Africa, Central and South Ame

Political instability has been an enduring feature of the post-colonial landscape in Africa. The scholarly literature has offered various reasons for this phenomenon - the Cold War, ethnic antagonisms and rent-seeking behaviour, among others. However, thi

Chile is a classic example of the concentration of media ownership in too few hands, says Chilean journalist María Olivia Mönckeberg in her latest book "Los magnates de la prensa" (The Press Magnates). If the state does not exercise stricter regulation, d

This article shows that the idea of global democracy has been a driving force in UN discourse and policies for the past two decades. In the first part, we use official rhetoric to explain that the promotion of global democracy by the UN rests on a particu

This country's government is now behaving with all the sophistication of a chimpanzee's tea party. So amazingly destructive has Canada become, and so insistent have my Canadian friends been that I weigh into this fight, that I've broken my self-imposed ba

In recent years the United Nations Environment Program, UN Conference on Environment and Development, and other international organizations have acknowledged the importance of civil society for engaging stakeholders in environmental change-especially at t

Foucault's concepts and ideas (surveillance, discipline, governmentality, bio-power and discourse) have gained renewed interest in the post-9/11 environment. Yet this renewed interest has emphasised the role of the state and state apparatuses in politics

Through the Orange Revolution in 2004 Ukraine turned its back on authoritarian politics and started on the bumpy road towards democracy, says Andreas Umland, reviewing the cream of recent scholarship in this second article marking the fifth anniversary of

But recently released documents suggest one of the more detailed promises, worth $20 million, has fallen between the cracks. On his maiden voyage as prime minister to the Caribbean and South America in July 2007, Harper announced with much fanfare in Brid

For a leader like Rudd, a constructive multilateralist with an accommodating professional style, the Commonwealth way of diplomacy should be productive and the issues relevant to Australia's immediate foreign policy interests include the need to build a c

After its first democratic elections in 1994, South Africa was often seen as an example of a peaceful democratic transition on the African continent, in which democratic institutions like the media were firmly established and safeguarded by a new constitu

On 19 December 2007, President Lee was elected the seventeenth president of the Republic of Korea with the widest margin in Korea's presidential election history. Despite this enormous victory, it took little more than 100 days for Lee's early record-high

Recursos públicos de Brasil, de la mano de un banco de fomento, financian proyectos de deforestación y otros que también violan derechos, concentran la riqueza y hasta sirven a la expansión "imperialista" de grandes empresas nacionales, según activistas r

While the administration rolled out the red carpet to welcome Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Washington this week, the real action wasn't around the elegantly set tables at the Obama's first state dinner. It was across the street at the U.S. Cham

The papers included in this volume were originally presented at an international conference on the theme 'Democracy, Development and Civil Society in India' hosted by the University of Melbourne in September 2007. The conference brought together scholars

President Hamid Karzai's re-election on 2 November 2009, following widespread fraud in the 20 August presidential and provincial polls, has delivered a critical blow to his government's legitimacy. The deeply flawed polls have eroded public confidence in

The urgent challenge of climate change poses a critical test for modern democracy and rules-based international politics. Democracies need to shift from loose policy commitments to real and binding action. Yet, there are enormous collective action problem

International migrants are agents of democratic diffusion. They spread attitudes and behaviors absorbed in democratic host countries to their less democratic home countries by way of three processes: (a) migrant returns, (b) cross-border communication bet

Scholars of support for democracy traditionally have been concerned with its causes, with the assumption that higher citizen support for democratic values will enhance democracy's chances of survival in a country. Beyond this fundamental proposition, howe

Una discusión efectiva y directa entre gobernantes y representantes del movimiento social de América Latina y África buscará promover el Foro Social Mundial Temático (FSMT), que se realizará del 29 al 31 de enero en la capital del nororiental estado brasi