Political Dynamics of the Post-Communist Transition: A Comparative Perspective

1991 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell Bova
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Southern Europe ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Reform Program ◽  
The World ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Gorbachev Era

This article makes a case for viewing the politics of regime transition in communist states as a subcategory of the more generic phenomenon of transition from authoritarian rule. Drawing on case studies from Latin America and Southern Europe and from the more theoretical literature on postauthoritarian transitions that those cases have generated, the article reexamines the politics of reform in the Gorbachev-era USSR. This comparative approach shows that the dynamics of the liberalization process in the USSR adhere to a model of political change previously manifested in other parts of the world. Specifically, it provides a clearer understanding of the initial vitality and subsequent disintegration of Gorbachev's centrist reform program, as well as a new perspective from which to reevaluate Gorbachev's often-criticized program of regime democratization.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina K. Ramnarine
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Social Agency ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Global Perspectives ◽  
Collective Creativity ◽  
Ensemble Performance ◽  
The World

This Introduction outlines various examples of ensemble performance to highlight diverse practices in the world of orchestras. It poses a fundamental question: What is an orchestra? It raises issues around collective creativity and social agency, which provide thematic foci in relation to a diversity of orchestral practices. Discussion on the conceptual aspects of adopting global perspectives on orchestras highlights comparison as a mode of theorization. The relevance of a comparative approach lies in its capacity to draw together diverse ethnographic case-studies. The Introduction thus provides a framework for reading this volume and it points out some of the conceptual connections between its chapters.

scholarly journals A call for comparative thinking: Crime, citizenship and security in the global South

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Barolsky ◽  
Suren Pillay
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Violent Crime ◽  
Crime Rates ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Democratic Transitions ◽  
The World ◽  
Resource Poor ◽  
International Comparative ◽  
The Impact

This article argues for the importance of an international comparative perspective in terms of our analysis and response to violent crime. This is particularly important in the light of the fact that while an increasing number of countries in the global Southhave achieved formal democracy, they continue to be plagued by high levels of violent crime. In fact, transitions from authoritarian to democratic governance around the world, from Eastern Europe to Latin America and Africa, have been accompanied by escalating violent crime rates. In this context, we have much to learn from an international comparative approach in terms of understanding why democratic transitions are so often accompanied by increases in violence, what the impact of this violence is on the ability of these societies to deepen democracy, and what the most appropriate interventions are in relatively new and often resource poor democracies.

Pathways to Authoritarian Rule

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Haggard ◽  
Robert R. Kaufman
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Weak Institutions ◽  
South And Southeast Asia ◽  
Show Evidence

This chapter examines institutional weaknesses explaining reversion to autocracy, asking in particular whether the specific causal mechanisms that have been identified with the weak democracy syndrome can also be used to explain elite-reaction reversions or populist reversions. It also asks whether praetorianism, weak institutions, and economic crisis in these cases generate opportunities and incentives for military coups or incumbent backsliding. The chapter first considers a cluster of civil war African cases and compares them with Niger. It then turns to cases in South and Southeast Asia (Pakistan) and Latin America (Peru), along with European examples, and proceeds with an analysis of the cases of Burundi and Thailand, both of which show evidence of the weak democracy syndrome. It concludes with a discussion of case studies of the seizures of power in Ghana and Haiti, both of which also show strong evidence of the weak democracy syndrome.

6. The Global Wave of Democratization

2018 ◽  
pp. 82-100
Author(s):  
John Markoff ◽  
Daniel Burridge
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
First Century ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
The World ◽  
Mediterranean Europe ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Eastern Half

This chapter focuses on the great wave of democracy that had touched every continent. In the early 1970s, Western Europe was home to several non-democratic countries, most of Latin America was under military or other forms of authoritarian rule, the eastern half of Europe was ruled by communist parties, much of Asia was undemocratic, and in Africa colonial rule was largely being succeeded by authoritarian regimes. By the early twenty-first century, things had changed considerably, albeit to different degrees in different places. The chapter looks at regions of the world that underwent significant change in democracy between 1972 and 2004, including Mediterranean Europe, Latin America, Soviet/Communist Bloc, Asia, and Africa. It considers what was distinctive about each region’s democratization and what they had in common. It concludes with an overview of challenges faced by democracy in the early twenty-first century.

Tourism Cities and Locales

2019 ◽  
pp. 242-275
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Security Services ◽  
The World ◽  
The Caribbean

In other chapters, we have examined some of the academic and political issues that impact American tourism policing and professional security agents. This chapter is a bit different. Instead, it examines several tourist cities in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Europe. The locations studied are not always the largest tourism centers, but they represent a variety of tourism locales and as such serve as case studies for similar locations in other parts of the world. Another goal of this chapter is to learn not only how tourism security and tourism policing have impacted these non-American communities, but also some of the problems experienced by their security services.

5. The Global Wave of Democratization

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Markoff
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
First Century ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
The World ◽  
Mediterranean Europe ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Eastern Half

This chapter focuses on the great wave of democracy that had touched every continent. In the early 1970s, Western Europe was home to several non-democratic countries, most of Latin America was under military or other forms of authoritarian rule, the eastern half of Europe was ruled by communist parties, much of Asia was undemocratic, and in Africa colonial rule was largely being succeeded by authoritarian regimes. By the early twenty-first century, things had changed considerably, albeit to different degrees in different places. The chapter looks at regions of the world that underwent significant change in democracy between 1972 and 2004, including Mediterranean Europe, Latin America, Soviet/Communist Bloc, Asia, and Africa. It considers what was distinctive about each region’s democratization and what they had in common. It concludes with an overview of challenges faced by democracy in the early twenty-first century.

The Political Economy of Postsocialism

Slavic Review ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 756-793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Bunce
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
The Political ◽  
Southern Europe ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The World

There were two good reasons to expect that developments after socialism, whether in the former Soviet Union or in east central Europe, would follow a roughly similar course. The first was the homogenizing effects of the socialist experience. In contrast to other regions of the world, such as Latin America and southern Europe, where dictatorships had also given way to more liberalized orders, the socialist regimes of eastern Europe and the Soviet Union were remarkably alike in their form and functioning.

Decolonizing Childhoods

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manfred Liebel
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Social Inequality ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Global South ◽  
The World ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Dignified Life ◽  
The Way

This book addresses key aspects of the post- and decolonial analysis of childhood, such as the scope and limitations of Eurocentric concepts of childhood and the impact of social inequality aggravated by capitalist globalization on children's life prospects. In this context, it discusses the specific modes of agency emerging in children of the Global South. It reconstructs the way in which the colonialization process and the ideologies that supported it have used the metaphor of childhood, and investigates the extent to which they are reproduced in processes of colonizing childhoods. The book presents some colonial and postcolonial policy approaches to modelling childhood in different regions of the world, and asks how, within the postcolonial constellation, children's rights are to be understood and how to deal with them to overcome postcolonial paternalism. Particularly, it discusses various forms of paternalism and asks how they can be overcome in the field of rights-based children’s protection and participation and how child-led movements in the Global South can be understood as a form of citizenship from below. The book explains theoretical and conceptional reflections by case studies from Africa, Latin America and Asia. Finally, the book portrays efforts directed against the invisibilization, marginalization and social exclusion of childhoods and the recuperation of a dignified life of children.

scholarly journals Synthesis: Conception, Approaches and Strategies for Transformative Change

2021 ◽  
pp. 229-249
Author(s):  
Maiko Nishi ◽  
Suneetha M. Subramanian ◽  
Himangana Gupta ◽  
Madoka Yoshino ◽  
Yasuo Takahashi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Science Policy ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The World ◽  
Local Initiatives ◽  
Eleven Case

AbstractThis chapter synthesises major findings from the eleven case studies from different countries across the world (i.e. Kenya and Madagascar from Africa; Chinese Taipei, India, Nepal and the Philippines from Asia; Italy, Spain and UK from Europe; Antigua and Barbuda and Colombia from Latin America) concerning SEPLS management in relation to transformative change. It distils key messages in regard to how to understand, assess and take action on transformative change. Implications for science, policy and practice, as well as interfaces between them, are drawn out to address the following questions: (1) what is transformative change? (2) how do we know if we are moving towards a sustainable society? and (3) what are challenges, opportunities and “seeds of change” in the SEPLS context to bring about transformative change? The chapter concludes with five common principles identified across the case studies, while revising the notion of transformative change to reconceptualise it as a radical change that is built on niche innovations of local initiatives and can be fostered through adaptive co-management in the SEPLS context.

The Anthropology of Literature in France

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-95
Author(s):  
Laurent Sebastian Fournier ◽  
Jean-Marie Privat
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Symbolic Meanings ◽  
Historical Relationship ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Relationship Of

In this article we present the ongoing theoretical discussions concerning the relations between anthropology and literature in France. We recall the historical relationship of a part of French anthropology and the world of literature. We then try to show how the anthropology of literature began by using the model of the anthropology of art, mainly concentrating on literary works as individual creations specific to the style or the cosmology of a given writer. We explore a new perspective on the analysis of the social and symbolic meanings of literary worlds, putting the emphasis on what is called ‘ethnocriticism’ in France. In order to understand better the influence of literature and literary motives on contemporary cultural practices, and to grasp the relation of literary works with the outside world and with everyday life, we propose to build up a comparative approach of literary works and rituals. Through different novels or other literary works, we address possible developments of contemporary anthropologies of literature in France.

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