Book Description
For generations, influential thinkers--often citing the tragic polarization that took place during Germany's Great Depression--have suspected that people's loyalty to democratic institutions erodes under pressure and that citizens gravitate toward antidemocratic extremes in times of political and economic crisis. But do people really defect from democracy when times get tough? Do ordinary people play a leading role in the collapse of popular government?
Based on extensive research, this book overturns the common wisdom. It shows that the German experience was exceptional, that people's affinity for particular political positions are surprisingly stable, and that what is often labeled polarization is the result not of vote switching but of such factors as expansion of the franchise, elite defections, and the mobilization of new voters. Democratic collapses are caused less by changes in popular preferences than by the actions of political elites who polarize themselves and mistake the actions of a few for the preferences of the many. These conclusions are drawn from the study of twenty cases, including every democracy that collapsed in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution in interwar Europe, every South American democracy that fell to the Right after the Cuban Revolution, and three democracies that avoided breakdown despite serious economic and political challenges.
Unique in its historical and regional scope, this book offers unsettling but important lessons about civil society and regime change--and about the paths to democratic consolidation today.
Book Description
Most citizens seem underinformed about politics. Many experts claim that only well-informed citizens can make good political decisions. Is this claim correct? In The Democratic Dilemma, Professors Lupia and McCubbins combine insights from political science, economics and the cognitive sciences to explain how citizens gather and use information. They show when citizens who lack information can (and cannot) make the same decisions they would have made if better informed. As a result, they clarify the debate about citizen competence.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting View of Voter "Ignorance".......2003-07-23
Arthur Lupia and Mathew McCubbins' The Democratic Dilemma: Can Citizens Learn What They Need to Know? offers an alternative view to the idea that voter ignorance hinders rational political decision making. Instead, Lupia and McCubbins argue that access to limited information by certain political players and under certain conditions allows voters the methods to make rational decisions.
First, a note about the researchers reference to Aristotelian ethos. In the theoretical foundation of the text, Lupia and McCubbins correctly interpret Aristotle's writings in On Rhetoric as asserting the power of ethos (perceived speaker credibility) on persuasive success. However, the researchers suggest:
"[I]t may be impossible for us to know much about another person's character. Aristotle concludes that persuasion requires such knowledge. We disagree...By contrast to Aristotle, we base our explanation of persuasion on the premise that people need not know one another well" (p. 42).
I believe that this assessment and interpretation of Aristotle's writings on persuasion is flawed. Aristotle was not arguing that we must know speakers well before we will listen to them; in contrast, Aristotle believed that a speaker also creates credibility during a speech, (e.g., derived credibility) and the perception of the speaker's credibility in progress affects our likelihood of being influenced in addition to the speaker's initial credibility.
I wouldn't argue that their interpretation negates their underlining theroetical foundation, but instead, that what Lupia and McCubbins argue in their theory is actually consistent with this classic view of credibility and influence. In my view, their take is not a "different" take, but instead, is a more nuanced take.
Nevertheless, this is a relatively minor point of contention. This text contains a very carefully laid out theory of voter knowledge and influence under very specific conditions, adding important nuance to our understanding of political influence and decision-making. The latter part of the book provides solid empirical research to support their theory.
A solid read for the political scholar. The researchers make a novel argument, one that raises immediate questioning by most readers, but then lays out their case in a refreshingly convincing manner.
Making the bad guys do the right thing.......2001-02-24
This book can be a useful introduction to a series of problems in modern democratic theory. It also intends to lie foundations of a new theorethical approach to institutional design. In a most persuasive fashion, McCubbins and Lupia erroneously acknowledge Aristotle's theory of persuasion of the Ars Rhetorica a polis-centered context of justification, therefore they fail to prove that for Aristotle "people know each other well to see lies coming in advance". Nevertheless, they present their own theory of persuasion in terms of game theory. Based in a series of explanational concepts, backed by all the experiment data of the second part, they conclude that personal character may no play any role in persuasion, as in Aristotle's supposed theory of persuasion, as long as external forces, such as verification, penalty for lying or observable speaker's costly effort, can make the speaker tell the truth about what he knows. In their subsequent theory of delegation, they erroneously acknowledge Weber an impossibility theorem in the realm of political expertise, while presenting their own theory of delegation, again, in a game theorethical fashion, and give examples of how external forces may play a role in electoral campaigns, burocracies and courtrooms.
Book Description
Geoff Hill takes the reader inside Robert Mugabe’s party, ZANU-PF, and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. The author has met with members of both parties who have been prepared to talk candidly with him, giving him behind-the-scenes information. The book considers the role of critics and observers - the role and treatment of the press within Zimbabwe, and the often contradictory responses to Mugabe from the international community. It also looks at the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans living in a collapsing economy. Finally, it considers Zimbabwe’s future - the challenge that lies ahead to rebuild the country.
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant book.......2007-06-25
I absolutely loved this book. I read it with amazement as I compared the events of my time in Zimbabwe to the behind the scenes information presented in the book. I was amazed at just how much was never put on air for the general public to be aware of and also to know the depth of the people's convictions (even when they are wrong) and their willingness to act it out was very intriguing to me. Well written book I even learnt some things about my history I was unaware of. I can't wait for the next book.
Excellent book for a select audience.......2007-02-03
The title says it, his book is excellent, written very well, blending the facts and interviews in a flow that makes it easy to read, but i would say it could prove very hard reading if you are not familiar with the area or African politics. I would not give this book to someone to read unless they were from Zimbabwe or studying the history of the country.
What i enjoyed most, having lived in Zimbabwe until 2004 is the book explains the reasons behind what happened, even living in Zimbabwe all my life i have learnt facts i never knew before, it does not change the way i feel but it does give me greater understanding.
As i said, unless you are Zimbabwean, have lived in Zimbabwe or studying the history of the area, this book may prove tough going.
Indeed worth reading!!!.......2006-09-28
I am originally from Zimbabwe, but left in 1981. I was looking for
a book on the history and current situation on Zimbabwe that would
be informative and not dry. I feel very much more educated about
the various issues that have led this beautiful country to the
very sad situation it now finds itself in. I definately would
suggest others read it.
A solid piece.......2006-04-09
With a deep understanding and love for this magnificent country, Hill lays out an excellent expos? over Zimbabwe's rise and unfortunate fall under the rule of President Mugabe. By elegantly blending historical events with a large number of interviews from both ZANU-PF officials and the MDC opposition to ordinary Zimbabweans, Hill has created a solid piece that is thorough and analytical but yet easy-to-read. Highly recommended for any reader in search of the root and underlying causes to Zimbabwe's worsening plight.
how Zimbabwe's struggle for freedom was betrayed.......2005-08-30
Africa correspondent for the Washington Times who grew up in different countries of southern Africa, including Zimbabwe, Hill gives a detailed account of the overthrow of the white-controlled government when the country was known as Rhodesia by indigenous black rebels and the subsequent cementing of the autocratic, often brutal rule of Robert Mugabe. Mugabe was one of the leaders of the insurrection and political leader of Zimbabwe (as the country was named after the end of white rule). To a large extent, this is the story of the murky circumstances whereby Mugabe became leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), including the assassination of its leader, and its role in helping to keep him in power. Instead of a bona fide political party in a democratic system, ZANU became the enforcement arm of Mugabe's one-man rule. Hill's chronicle of unfortunate Zimbabwe and biographical portrayal of its autocratic leader is a set piece in how things have gone wrong in many countries in Africa.
Book Description
Transitions to democracy from authoritarian political systems have often occurred at times of economic crisis. The reforms required to transform the economic systems often cause sever material hardships for vast sectors of the population. Hence, new democracies forming under such circumstances confront a formidable challenge: to consolidate the nascent political institutions under conditions of economic hardship.
Book Description
Latin America's Foremost Political Journalist Makes a Brilliant and Passionate Argument for Real Reform In the Economically Crippled Continent
In Liberty for Latin America, Alvaro Vargas Llosa offers an incisive diagnosis of Latin America's woes--and a prescription for finally getting the region on the road to both genuine prosperity and the protection of human rights.
When the economy in Argentina--at one time a model of free-market reform--collapsed in 2002, experts of all persuasions asked: What went wrong? Vargas Llosa shows that what went wrong in Argentina has in fact gone wrong all over the continent for over five hundred years. He explains how the republics of the nineteenth century and the revolutions of the twentieth-populist uprisings, Marxist coops, state takeovers, and First World-sponsored privatization-have all run up against the oligarchic legacy of statism. Illiberal elites backed by the United States and Europe have perpetuated what he calls the "five principles of oppression" in order to maintain their hold on power. The region has become "a laboratory for political and economic suicide," while comparable countries in Asia and Eastern Europe have prospered.
The only way to change things in Latin America, Vargas Llosa argues, is to remove the five principles of oppression, genuinely reforming institutions and the underlying culture for the benefit of the disempowered public. In Liberty for Latin America, he explains how, offering hope as well as insight for all those who care for the future of this troubled region.
Customer Reviews:
If only it were as simple as Alvaro Vargas Llosa states........2007-01-19
I live in South America, and, de facto, I am a student of Latin America. Thus, for me Liberty for Latin America was a `must read'. In the four parts, Alvaro Vargas Llosa has written two distinct books - Social/Historical & Economic.
The first part of the text deals with the oppressive history of Latin America. For hundreds of years, Latin America political and economic power, have benefitted only a small elite. This oppressive and privilege status has a history that dates to the Spanish and Portuguese conquest, virtual slavery and mass exploitations under the guise of Catholic paternalism. The concentration of power, status and wealth has not ceased. Today, the struggles in Bolivia, Equador, Venezuela and other countries continue to `luncha' against the systems of privilaged-power that was established more than 500 years ago. Vargas Llosa's explains how the concentrated economic, political and social power, which sustain these oppressive inequalities, continues today. Excellent. He maintains that the enduring legacy of Iberian colonialism continues to sustain and serve the next generation of privileged leadership and that these systems of privilege and power have retarded Latin America's social and economic progress.
The other part of the text deals with his zealous evangelical promotion of `free-market, capitalists'. It is clear that he sees capitalism as the savior of the world'. Everything, should be privatized: education, health, and services of the state. Minimize government, maximize privatization.
His statements can make even those who support a free-market economy cringe. Yet, often in radical expressions, there are seeds of truth. In the end, it is about redistributing wealth.
One wishes that it were as simple as Alvaro Vargas Llosa's solutions. It would be wonderful if those in privileged power would cleanup the corruption (however, this is corruption which supports them). It would be wonderful if the oligarches would affirm the rights of the people (but these are the very people who will rise up and replace them). Yes, also there is a great need to empower the justice system (but of course this will be the very justice system that will prosecute those in power for their crimes against the people). In the words of Louie Armstrong, "what a wonderful world it would be if only we'd give it a chance." I wish it were that simple.
Until a balance of power and wealth is found there will be more coups, state takeovers and capitalistic-sponsored privatization in Latin America. This book will engage you, and, in some degree may enrage you. If you are a student of Latin America history or economics this is a impressive book. Strongly recommended.
(((((((((( Propaganda from the RIGHT ))))))))).......2006-04-15
Mr. Vargas knows absolutely no Latin America History.
He should go back and read the chapter that talk about the invading Iraq and compare it to what we now know about this Right Wing Administration.
Read it for free at the Library. Or send the money to Latin American causes.
Didn't know liberty could be so boring!.......2005-11-26
I picked this book up at the library after seeing the author on C-Span Book TV. With the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas on the table for signing, this seemed like the right time to read a book like this. Since you can only have an item from the library for six weeks tops, I was hoping to read it in that time. I was expecting something engaging like Amy Chua's "World on Fire" or Fareed Zakaria's "Future of Freedom." Those are books that got me turning the pages because of their engaging commentaries on current political situations abroad. Vargas Llosa, however, looks at Latin America through a broad lens and his analysis is exclusively economical.
I think economists will like this book more than I did. It does address just about everything that has been debated over the Free Trade Agreement. It's just that it's boring for a person like me who didn't study econ and needs a little more explanation.
Fine analysis, uncertain resolution.......2005-05-17
As someone who lived and worked in Latin America during one of the region's recent attempts at major economic reform, I found myself frequently mumbling "right on" while marking up my copy of Alvaro Vargas Llosa's "Liberty for Latin America." One of the most refreshing elements of the book is that the Peruvian journalist does not blame European colonizers for Latin America's seemingly insurmountable struggle to pull its population from poverty. He takes the root of the problem back to the Maya, Aztecs, and Incas, when the sacred nature of authority was first instilled in the population. People existed not as individuals, but as members of social strata with specific functions, with the number one function of everything being to support the group on top. This fit in perfectly with the kind of top-down hierarchy practiced by Iberian colonizers. Independence and revolution put governments in charge, with peasants working land that now belonged to their government as opposed to a big landowner. In one way or another, the state kept its fingers in every possible pie while the majority of the population remained infantilized, expecting the government provide for them, to be the biggest patrón of all.
What a relief not to have all the region's woes blamed on Spanish or Portuguese colonizers, and to recognize that many of the practices that still hold Latin America back were institutionalized long before Cortez dropped anchor. But while Vargas Llosa's analysis is intelligent and thought-provoking, his recommendations for reform don't fit with what he's just said. We've read how the population has been conditioned to expect a higher authority-God or the government-to take care of everything. People who feel they have no power are not going to know what to do with school vouchers or how to apply for credit when their squatter communities are granted legal status-two of his recommendations. Have school vouchers actually worked anywhere? So much wealth is concentrated in so few hands in the region that it is hard to imagine that the oligarchs will voluntarily give any of it up, and we've seen that revolution doesn't work, and outside prodding backfires . . .Even after reading Vargas Llosa's intelligent work, liberty for Latin America still seems a long way off.
Average customer rating:
- An unusual structural approach to China studies
- Excellent beginner insight to Chinese politics and economy
- Well-written and balanced account
- Excellent Overall Picture of China Today
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Understanding China: A Guide to China's Culture, Economy, and Political Structure
John Bryan Starr
Manufacturer: Hill and Wang
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Wild Swans : Three Daughters of China
ASIN: 0809094886 |
Amazon.com
Without question, the 21st century will include an increase China's global importance--a situation that is sometimes ground for optimism, sometimes fear. Despite the recent growth of interest in the region, China's political and economic nuances remain widely misunderstood. Those seeking to grasp the complexities of modern-day China will find much to admire in Understanding China, a remarkably concise, fact-filled, and fair-minded survey by Yale professor John Bryan Starr. Written for a general audience, Understanding China fills in historical context while evaluating the major issues facing the People's Republic today, from environmental degradation to exploding population growth. Bryan's conclusion: China's problems are too intractable to support the current political system for much longer. And despite the free-market accommodations of the Deng era, it's not democracy he envisions as China's most likely fate, but rather a political future controlled largely by the People's Liberation Army. It's a grim forecast, but one ably supported by the book's data and statistics.
Book Description
In this succinct, modest, and refreshingly clearheaded book, John Bryan Starr introduces to the uninitiated reader the background, the basic data, and the issues at stake in China's present, crisis-ridden present situation.
Customer Reviews:
An unusual structural approach to China studies.......2000-07-24
This book is considered an introductory overview to China. Well, I have a master's degree in East Asian studies and I still found this book enlightening. The book does an excellent job at explaining China's societal and political structures and how those structures effect the state's decisions and policies. In doing so, the author does not get much into the culture and history of the nation. In this way the book is unusual and, dare I say, unique. To some, the book may seem rather mechanical, but its structural approach serves to reduce bias and prejudice. Too many books purport to explain the entire Chinese nation culturally, but the country is simply too heterogeneous for that approach to be very effective. Other books define China as a slave to its history, but history is just one of many variables. That is why I appreciate the rather mechanical approach this book takes to explaining China's politics and society. That said, however, it might serve the newcomer to Sinology well to read other texts on Chinese culture and history as a primer to this book.
Excellent beginner insight to Chinese politics and economy.......1999-07-22
Tht book examins all levels of China's society. From problems in the economy to how problems are dealt with by the government. The author also summarizes the basic structure of the Chinese government. The range of issues dealt with in this book are an excellent beginning to further investigate China's situation.
Well-written and balanced account.......1999-05-11
Mr. Starr does a good job of covering the economics, politics, and geography of China. It is a great introduction to this developing country. Having recently spent a year in China as a teacher, I agree with most of Starr's findings. Starr demonstrates how China's economy is rapidly growing, but perhaps not fast enough to head off future problems such as food production.
Excellent Overall Picture of China Today.......1998-02-20
"Understanding China" ties together China's geography, recent history, its relationship to Taiwan and Hong Kong, its diversified population, and more, in a way which is easily comprehensible to any reader. What's more, it is thoroughly enjoyable.
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Minangkabau Social Formations: Indonesian Peasants and the World-Economy (Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology)
Joel S. Kahn
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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ASIN: 0521229936 |
Book Description
In this anthropological investigation of the nature of an underdeveloped peasant economy, Joel S. Kahn attempts to develop the insights generated by Marxist theorists, by means of a concrete case study of a peasant village in the Indonesian province of West Sumatra. He accounts for the specific features of this regional economy, and, at the same time, examines the implications for it of the centuries-old European domination of Indonesia. The most striking feature of the Minangkabau economy is the predominance of petty commodity relations in agriculture, handicrafts and the local network of distribution. Dr Kahn illustrates this with material on local economic organization, which he collected in the field in the highland village of Sungai Puar, the site of a blacksmithing industry, and with published and unpublished data from other parts of Indonesia. Dr Kahn's book is unusual for its combination of a theoretical analysis of underdevelopment with a detailed regional study. It will appeal to those interested in South-east Asian studies, in development, and in neo-Marxist approaches in anthropology.
Book Description
Much orthodox economic theory is based on assumptions which are treated as self-evident: supply and demand are regarded as independent entities, the individual is assumed to be a rational agent who knows his interests and how to make decisions corresponding to them, and so on. But one has only to examine an economic transaction closely, as Pierre Bourdieu does here for the buying and selling of houses, to see that these abstract assumptions cannot explain what happens in reality.As Bourdieu shows, the market is constructed by the state, which can decide, for example, whether to promote private housing or collective provision. And the individuals involved in the transaction are immersed in symbolic constructions which constitute, in a strong sense, the value of houses, neighbourhoods and towns.The abstract and illusory nature of the assumptions of orthodox economic theory has been criticised by some economists, but Bourdieu argues that we must go further. Supply, demand, the market and even the buyer and seller are products of a process of social construction, and so-called 'economic' processes can be adequately described only by calling on sociological methods. Instead of seeing the two disciplines in antagonistic terms, it is time to recognize that sociology and economics are in fact part of a single discipline, the object of which is the analysis of social facts, of which economic transactions are in the end merely one aspect.This brilliant study by the most original sociologist of post-war France will be essential reading for students and scholars of sociology, economics, anthropology and related disciplines.
Customer Reviews:
Very interesting.......2006-03-22
Very interesting study of the construction of the housing market in France. If state, social construction of demand and supply, cultural forms of dominance and related concepts are within your sphere of interest, you must read this book. Tedious empirical work married to a very elaborate theory, Bourdieu's language is very affecting too. I truly enjoyed it.
Book Description
Quantifying the American mood through opinion polls appears to be an unbiased means for finding out what people want. But in Numbered Voices, Susan Herbst demonstrates that the way public opinion is measured affects the use that voters, legislators, and journalists make of it.
Exploring the history of public opinion in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, Herbst shows how numbers served both instrumental and symbolic functions, not only conveying neutral information but creating a basis authority. Addressing how the quantification of public opinion has affected contemporary politics and the democratic process, Herbst asks difficult but fundamental questions about the workings of American politics.
"An original and thought-provoking analysis of why we have polls, what they accomplish, and how they affect the current political scene. Herbst's scholarship is impeccable, her writing is clear and crisp, and her findings are original. . . . Every reader will benefit by carefully weighing the issues she raises and the conclusions she draws."—Doris A. Graber, Political Science Quarterly
"An intelligent, theoretically rich, and historically broad account of public opinion over several millennia. . . . The historical accounts are interesting and her interpretations are thought-provoking."—Paul Brace, Journal of American History
Book Description
Leading scholars in the field examine the highly topical issue of the future the welfare state in Europe. They argue that welfare states need to adjust and examine which kind of welfare architecture will further Europe's stated goal of maximum social inclusion and justice. This volume
concentrates on four principle social domains; the aged and transition to retirement; the welfare issues related to profound changes in working life; the risks and needs that arise in households and, especially, in child families; and the challenges of creating gender equality.
Books:
- Organizations: Behavior, Structure, Processes
- Organizing Plain and Simple: A Ready Reference Guide with Hundreds of Solutions to Your Everyday Clutter Challenges
- Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine
- Principles of Corporate Finance + Student CD + Ethics in Finance PowerWeb + Standard and Poor's (McGraw-Hill/Irwin Series in Finance, Insurance, and Real Est)
- Principles of Marketing (Principles of Marketing)
- Quantitative Methods for Business (with Crystal Ball Pro 2000 v7.1, CD-ROM, and InfoTrac )
- Real Estate Development: Principles and Process 3rd Edition
- Recursive Macroeconomic Theory, 2nd Edition
- Regional Landscapes of the United States and Canada
- Restaurant Franchising
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