What is the contribution of religious discourse to a productive and reconciliatory response to mass atrocities? In this wide-ranging book, scholars address the philosophical, ethical, sociological, and religious approaches to post-violence politics and societies.
The principal and worthwhile contribution of this book is to resituate the debate about moral realism where it belongs, in terms of its pragmatic employment and its ability to accommodate ideals and values.
While the impact of norms on post-conflict statebuilding operations has been well-explored in the literature, the ways in which the same normative frameworks affect the exit practices of such operations has so far remained unaddressed. To fill this gap, this paper examines the impact of the liberal-democratic norms governing statebuilding operations on the timing and process of exit of post-conflict international transitional administrations. To that end, it first examines the concept of exit, arguing that exit is best considered as a process rather than an event. The second section outlines the normative framework that has shaped postconflict statebuilding activities since the end of the cold war, and proposes three ways in which norms can affect exit: first, that norms act as blueprints for statebuilding and can thereby shape benchmarks for exit; second, that norms create "zones of permissibility" that explicitly commit statebuilders to a transitional presence and make exit central to the legitimacy of statebuilding operations; and third, that local actors strategically use norms, in particular those of self-determination and the taboo of permanent control of a territory, to push for an early exit of statebuilding operations. The third section explores both the scope and limitations of the three functions of norms with regard to exit in the context of a brief case study of UNMIK's exit from Kosovo. The article concludes with some observations about the impact of the findings for exit strategies of international actors from statebuilding operations.
Kymlicka extends his well known and widely respected defense of a liberal conception of multiculturalism to all states of the world, and asks causal questions about why liberal multiculturalism is spreading internationally.
Jung offers a normatively informed and empirically grounded critique of approaches that justify minority rights on the basis of the need to protect culture.
Bohman notes the extensive interdependence that characterizes the new circumstances of global politics, and argues that states have reacted either by strengthening state boundaries and increasing centralized authority or by delegating political authority.
According to Grewal, we need to understand globalization as a process in which we participate by choice but not necessarily voluntarily—one in which common standards allow more effective coordination, yet also entrap us in their pull for convergence.
This edited collection takes stock of the state of the Western alliance, seeking both to improve our theoretical understanding of conflict and crisis and to examine the relevance of theories of politics and international relations.
Corporate lobbying and financing of political activities are carried out by most large corporations. Lobbying enables them to understand, track and shape the development of legislation and regulation. Financial and in-kind contributions to parties and campaigns can be used to support a country's political process and development. Both sets of activities, when undertaken with integrity and transparency by a company, can be a legitimate and positive force. Yet, the extensive funds at the disposal of businesses and the close relationship that exists between many companies and lawmakers can lead to undue, unfair influence in a country's policies and politics.
The present paper addresses several issues raised by the evolution of the electoral institutions and practices developed in nineteenth-century Argentina, and the role they played in the country's further political development. On the basis of the pioneering works of a new political history, two features of that historical process are considered in particular: first, an early consolidation of democratic principles born out of a widely shared perception of egalitarian social conditions prevalent in the River Plate provinces; second, the development of political and electoral practices that over time were to militate against the establishment of “classical” institutions of political representation. Many of the features of nineteenth-century Argentine electoral life, which would shape a particular democratic culture in the twentieth century, are thus seen as the result of a particular historical combination of early egalitarian politics with weak institutions rather than as a reflection of a strategy of exclusion and control by ruling elites or some vague “antidemocratic” cultural legacy.
Topic:
Democratization, Development, Politics, and Social Stratification