Democratic Cooperation Research Articles

Mapping Out Democracy Promotion in the EU’s External Relations

As a non-traditional actor on the international stage, the European Union (EU) presents itself as a successful example of peaceful, democratic cooperation between its Member States. Its foreign policy, existing alongside rather than replacing that of the Member States, is not driven by military strength but backed-up with formidable economic clout. The EU’s own treaty arrangements state that EU action on the international scene shall be guided by a set of principles which are central to its own existence – and the first of these is ‘democracy’ (Article 21(1) TEU). How, then, is the promotion of democracy carried out in the EU’s relations with the wider world? Defining ‘democracy promotion’ is as complex a task as identifying the myriad of policy areas in which elements of exporting the EU’s system of governance can be perceived. The purpose of this article to identify and explore the instances in which a wide conception of democracy promotion can be expressly or impliedly perceived within the EU’s external relations. The article widens the scope of analysis to map out aspects of EU external policies which do not expressly have democracy promotion as their aim, but nevertheless seek to export elements of a certain model of democracy. Instances of democracy promotion are categorized as express or implied and positive or negative. By casting a wide net, the extent of democracy promotion can be seen to be wider than previously thought which helps to broaden the debate about how the EU puts in place its Treaty obligations to promote democracy.

Dostoevsky's Unfinished Journey by Robin Feuer Miller (review)

536 SEER, 88, 3, JULY 20I0 of the text isnot the real message. That Leskov used his fiction as well as his publicistic works to convey a point of view is not in doubt; this is especially true of his view of religion. What has been described as Leskov's most Orthodox story,The Sealed Angel, is ? one might even say ? subversive of Orthodoxy. CathedralFolk raises similar questions. The ostensible author of non-fiction works such as Schism inHigh Societyand The Jews inRussia (not discussed by Grimstad in thisbook) is a committed Orthodox; the real author flatters conservative readers by appearing to share their prejudices and then skilfullyattempts tomanipulate them away from anti-Protestantism and antisemitism. It is Russian Orthodoxy which is the dominant subject of Grimstad's analysis. As crucial for the religious as well as the national theme he sees the multicultural aspect of these works. They abound in Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, British and others who illuminate Russianness and Orthodoxy through contrast, and the significance of theRussian characters' relationship with these people is shown to be vital.What emerges is a dual impression: Russia as she is and Russia as Leskov would like her to be. This, I take it, is what the author means by the slightlyodd tide 'Styling'Russia: representing her, recreating her inhis own image,making her appear subt?ydifferentfrom what she really is,and presenting a utopia which she could perhaps some day become. In the closing lines of this book, Grimstad refers to contemporary Russia, and writes of Leskov's 'projected Christian theology of religious pluralism [which] might be construed as a catalyst for democratic cooperation in theRussian Federation' (p. 243). I fear thatRussian uneasiness at otherness, whether religious or cultural, runs too deep at present for this to be a realizable objective. In his own age Leskov was known forwriting 'against the current'. Will Russians today be any more willing to respond to his pluralism? School of Education Universityof Nottingham J. Y. M?ckle Miller, Robin Feuer. Dostoevski's Urifinished Journey.Yale University Press, New Haven, CT and London, 2007. xvii + 242 pp. Illustrations.Notes. Index. ?25.00. Robin Feuer Miller's new study ofDostoevskii represents a fascinating and useful addition to a crowded field inwhich it is difficult to stand out. An unusual breadth of reference, compelling analysis supported by penetrating close reading and a strong engagement with the critical tradition combine to create a forceful interpretationwhich, while itmay not always prove the connection between spiritual and literary transformation it sets out to explore, at least demonstrates that this is a highly effective prism through which to view the complexities of Dostoevskii's novelistic world, and one which can consistently provide new and valuable insights. REVIEWS 537 As conversion is the central trope of Miller's interpretation, it isappropriate that she begins her journey through Dostoevskii's works with a persuasive account of his own conversion experience. She contends, using evidence from lettersof 1849,mat Dostoevskii's conversion was the result not of a spiritual awakening that occurred in Siberia following his encounter with the narod,but rather of a conscious decision taken before he leftfor Siberia to turn towards thepeasantry as thefirststep to embracing Orthodoxy. Such an interpretation goes a long way to explaining the frequently contradictory attitudes to the narod thatwe encounter inDostoevskii's works. The Russian peasant, capable of turning to both good and evil, is then shown to be a central figure in the conversion narratives ofDostoevskii's mature oeuvre, alongside the recurring features of the maternal smile and the precious memory resurfacing at a moment of need. This results in a telescoping of time as moments of past, present and future are brought together,with a trance-like state prefiguring transformation. In a thread that runs throughout the study,Miller demon strates that the same structure informsnot only the conversions of the narra tors ofThe PeasantMarei and Dream ofa Ridiculous Man, Stepan Trofimovich in Demons and Alesha Karamazov, but also the opposite movement, which leads to the spiritual destruction of Stavrogin and crisis of Ivan Karamazov, thus reinforcing themiraculous nature of conversion forDostoevskii. A similar sense of the intertwining of good and evil, and the potential...

E Pluribus Unum: fostering a new era of citizenship by teaching civic engagement and healthy civic discourse

Abstract In a time of profound national challenge and change, it is important to promote a new definition of active citizenship locally, nationally and globally. As the effects of economic, political and social globalization continue to underscore interdependence, the imperative of fostering democratic minds among a citizenry is evermore important. It is essential to conceive a common future that encourages the participation of all American citizens; inviting diversity as an asset and broadly reawakening the call to leverage the rich potentials of pluralism in search of common solutions. However, many schools are retreating from basic civics lessons and are not teaching students how to become active citizens. More importantly, public institutions overall do not appear to be advancing the fundamental awareness and skills required for sifting through political hucksterism, opinion masquerading as news and political spin. It is essential for our schools and public institutions to teach the responsibilities and joy of active citizenship. To meet the challenges of democratic cooperation and social cohesion, leaders and citizens alike should be taught and encouraged to openly question, to critique and even to criticize the status quo. The means for cultivating and institutionalizing such habits on a broad scale involves educational reformation and initiatives in civics and citizenship education to increase opportunities for meaningful public engagement. These are by no means the only answer, but they are a critical component for meeting the challenges of truly inclusive and active representative democracy where out of many, we are one. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The politics of high‐level nuclear waste management in Sweden: confined research versus research in the wild

AbstractIn 2010, the Swedish nuclear energy industry is expected to announce a proposal for the final storage of high‐level nuclear waste in bedrock. The underground storage concept is attracting increasing interest from other countries in Europe. Because of the nature of Swedish political culture, the development of the actual method for final disposal is commonly perceived as resting on consensus and democratic cooperation. However, this paper argues that the aforementioned disposal method instead represents the outcome of intense conflict between the nuclear energy industry and the anti‐nuclear movement. Accordingly, any investigation of the technical and political solutions to controversial environmental problems should involve the study of lay people and social movements. The present study does so, employing theoretical notions from science and technology studies that allow the analysis to conceptualize actions and strategies (enactments) of the nuclear energy industry (confined research) and the anti‐nuclear movement (research in the wild). Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Satchmo Blows up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War. By Penny M. Von Eschen. pp. x + 329. (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 2004, £19.95. ISBN 0-674-01501-0.)

Although jazz had been celebrated, enjoyed, and appreciated across the globe for decades as one of the most important and influential cultural exports to have emerged from the United States, it was as late as 1987 that the US Congress openly declared the music to be a national treasure. The formal Resolution on that occasion stated in flamboyant terms that jazz had brought ‘to this country and the world a uniquely American musical synthesis and culture through the African-American experience’, that it is ‘an outstanding artistic model of individual expression and democratic cooperation within the creative process’, a ‘unifying force’ bridging numerous social gaps, ‘a true music of the people’ with ‘a historic, pervasive, and continuing influence on other genres of music’, and ‘a true international language adopted by musicians around the world as a music best able to express contemporary realities from a personal perspective’. The point of this public encomium was the singular fact that, even in the late 1980s, its country of origin lamented that a ‘great American musical art form has not yet been properly recognized nor accorded the institutional status commensurate with its value and importance’. (The full text of House Congressional Resolution 57 is reproduced in Paul F. Berliner, Thinking in Jazz (Chicago and London, 1994), App. A, p. 759, and Robert Walser (ed.), Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History (New York and Oxford, 1999), 332–3.) Incredible as it may seem, the debate in the House of Representatives had been tarnished by the negative views of certain members opposed to the motion.

The Hidden Diplomatic History of Argentine-Brazilian Integration: Implications for Historiography and Theory

Most sources have given the credit for the Argentine-Brazilian bilateral integration either to the military administrations on the grounds of the diplomatic rapprochement of 1979–1982, or to the newly democratic administrations by virtue of the announcement and formalization of integration in 1985 and 1986 respectively. Fresh primary material, both archival sources and interviews with key players in those events, reveals that the idea of integration was born and discussed between 1983 and 1984, in a situation of regime asymmetry, Argentina having returned to democracy in 1983 and Brazil in 1985. However, democracy proved to be fundamental in the development of negotiations and their finalization. Implications for historians may be quite straightforward. Theorists of democratic peace and cooperation may have to temper certain results emerging from essentially statistical exercises with the qualitative analysis the historicist method provides for a correct assessment of the significance of regularities and exceptions.

Coping with conflict at constitutional moments

The theme of this paper is the dynamics through which political order and organized government is constituted and reconstituted in democratic contexts. Key questions are how basic political rules evolve and change and the possible significance of reflection, deliberate design and explicit constitutional policy. In democracies a focus on reflection and choice requires an understanding of how political support is mobilized and acquiescence, agreement and allegiance are achieved. It is important to analyze how constitution making may turn a political system with enduring tensions and conflicts into an organized system of democratic governance, cooperation and problem solving. Copyright 2003, Oxford University Press.

The Power of Democratic Cooperation

In examining ave causal mechanisms offered by triumphalists to the military effectiveness of democracy, Desch argues that none of them is logically compelling or has much empirical support (p. 25). In this ar- ticle I do not attempt to respond to all the points Desch raises. Instead I focus on one of his critiques—namely, whether democratic allies can be more effec- tive than nondemocratic allies in wartime and whether they are more likely to achieve victory. My goal is twofold: arst, to offer an alternative theoretical ex- planation for the relationship between alliance behavior, the role of domestic political institutions, and their effect on war performance to explanations that Desch attributes to democratic triumphalists; and second, to provide quantita-

Is Democracy Promotion Effective? Comparing Conditionality and Incentives

Many studies suggest that conditionality is a more effective democracy promotion strategy (DPS) than incentives. This paper confirms the validity of this hypothesis by demonstrating that conditional pre-accession political reforms, required from the eastern and central European applicants by the European Union, have substantially progressed from 1998, while the impact of incentives democratic aid programmes carried out by donors since l994 has proved to be either very modest or non-existent. Then it explains these unequal performances by synthesizing insights provided by the analysis of both DPS processes of implementation, interviews conducted with the European Union Eastern Enlargement negotiators and literature devoted to democratic aid programmes, international co-operation and compliance of states with international institutions norms and rules. On the whole, the study challenges the endogeneous theory of comparative politics according to which 'democracy is a domestic affair par excellence'.

An Economic Limitation to the Zone of Democratic Peace and Cooperation

The zone of democratic peace and cooperation is the premier nontrivial fact of international relations. Recent research, however, has shown that the democratic peace is substantially limited to the economically developed democracies (Mousseau, 2000). Is the zone of democratic cooperation also limited to the economically developed democracies? With the observation of most nations from 1919 to 1992, robust support is found for this hypothesis. It appears that economically developed democracies are more than eight times more likely than other states to engage each other in an intense form of interstate cooperation: collaboration in militarized conflict. Democracies with per capita incomes of less than $8,050, in contrast-77 percent of all joint democratic dyads-appear less likely than other types of states to collaborate with each other in militarized conflict. This result is consistent with the view that liberal political culture arises from economic development, and it is liberal political culture that explains the global zone of democracy, peace, prosperity, and interstate cooperation.

Modeling the Democratic Peace as a Kantian Selection Process

Computational modeling is used to improve our understanding of how the democratic peace unfolds as a historical process in time and space. Whereas most of the conventional literature interprets the phenomenon as a constant and universal law operating at the state level, the author follows Immanuel Kant and treats democratic cooperation as an emergent macroprocess. The current study explores three causal mechanisms. First, strategic tagging introduces a way for democracies to select out like-minded cooperators. Second, regime-sensitive alliances enable democratic states to defend the gains of cooperation. Third, liberal collective security complements the liberal alignments. Based on these processes, it is possible to “grow” cooperative outcomes in an inhospitable geopolitical environment. Because tagging alone is insufficient, alliances, and sometimes even collective security, are necessary to produce perpetual peace. Such outcomes are characterized by high levels of spatial clustering.

Care as a Goal of Democratic Education

In this article I present behavioural analyses of particular constructions of democracy and the ethic of care, in order to determine whether care is a democratic virtue. I analyse Carol Gilligan's concept of care as a complex of six virtues or behavioural dispositions: acquaintance, mindfulness, moral imagining, solidarity, tolerance and self-care. I then describe democracy in terms of two divergent but compatible sets of practices: social non-interference and social co-operation. These behavioural analyses lead me to conclude that certain behavioural habits that partially constitute a person's or a community's caring also partially constitute that person's or community's democracy. Specifically, the caring virtues of acquaintance, mindfulness, moral imagining and self-care also belong to the virtue of democratic co-operation, and the caring virtue of tolerance constitutes the democratic ideal of non-interference. However, solidarity of conscience and private purposes is not itself a democratic ideal, and to try to make it so would violate the democratic ideal of non-interference. Since most of the virtues of care I identified are also virtues of democracy, they are appropriate aims of public education. The enculturation of caring and democratic virtues requires that children practise the kind of inquiry in which these ideals are constructed.

Making a Spectacle of Suffrage: The National Woman Suffrage Pageant, 1913

On March 3, 1913, day before Woodrow Wilson's inauguration, National American Woman Suffrage Association sponsored first national woman's suffrage pageant. Although public demonstrations for woman's suffrage had been part of American suffragists agenda since 1910' (Bland, Techniques 26-30), 1913 pageant was unprecedented in its scale-thousands of women from across United States and of ages and social classes marched through capitol city demanding vote-while pageant itself was characterized by an elaborate combination of theatricality, allegory, decorative pictorial effect, and radical politics. Daring to make a spectacle of themselves, organizers of and participants in National Woman Suffrage Pageant stood completely outside of conventional standards of feminine behavior and propriety while negotiating new definitions and boundaries of women's roles in society. At same time, pageant betrayed conflict within suffrage movement itself between conciliatory and militant voices. Self-consciously positioned at intersection of and production of meaning and construction of femininity, National Woman Suffrage Pageant of 1913 galvanized highly charged current debates on role of women and underscored woman question, in capital letters, as a topical political issue. The decision to stage a suffrage pageant was not without precedent with respect both to suffrage movement, which was enjoying a renewed vigor and militancy, and to pageant craze which swept United States during first two decades of twentieth century. In fact, pageantry's mandate for social reform and optimistic belief in change through democratic cooperation reflected confidence, positivism, and soaring rhetoric of civic idealism that characterized Progressive Era. Between roughly 1905 and 1920, literally hundreds of pageants were staged in United States-as one observer noted, ...the country's gone pageant mad (Beard 239)with overarching orientation toward social reform as their common denominator. Resonating with rhetoric of civic idealism that characterized much of Progressive Era, one contemporary observer declared pageantry the greatest, most characteristic form of democratic art (Rainwater 267, 281). In 1912, Percy MacKaye, one of most active and outspoken proponents of civic ideal in pageantry argued for pagentry as an of civilization in contemporary society in his 1912 book, The Civic Theatre in Relation to Redemption of Leisure: A Book of Suggestions. Pageantry is poetry for masses...[and due to its dedication] to civic education, [does] more than any other agency to provide popular symbolic form and tradition for stuff of a noble national drama (176-77). Moreover, MacKaye argued that pageants not be restricted solely to historic themes of past but rather that all vital modern forces and institutions of our nation...might appropriately find symbolic expression in majestic masques, educative and entertaining to people (176). In 1913, leading reformers and professional artists organized American Pageant Association (APA) which attempted to promulgate standards for new pageantry movement and sought to guide its development through publications, training programs, conferences, and even certification of pageant masters.2 The American Pageant Association Bulletin, published monthly between 1913 and 1916, included technical information and featured chronological lists of pageants sanctioned by Association. A heady mix of idealism, patriotism, and belief in power of pageantry to counteract centrifugal forces of diverse and heterogeneous communities guided American Pageant Association which flourished in teens. Seeking to diminish impact of dislocations and transformations brought about by industrialization, shifting roles of women, vigorous immigration, urbanization, among others, APA sponsored pageants that gave tangible form to such intangible concepts as social cohesion, civic idealism, citizenship, and nationalism through organized and aestheticized rituals. …

The Institutional Foundations of Democratic Cooperation in Costa Rica

AbstractCosta Rica's long-term standing as one of the few countries in Latin America with a stable democracy has prompted many to view its polity as an inevitable outcome of a racially homogeneous and relatively egalitarian society. Without ignoring the importance of sociological factors, this article contends that institutional arrangements played an equally important – if not more central – role in the development of a stable democratic regime in this country. The structure of Costa Rican presidentialism encouraged incumbents to maintain control of the state while it, as a consequence, incited the opposition to rebel against central state authorities. Political competition became more peaceful as parties that failed to hold or to capture the presidency were nevertheless compensated by being allowed to occupy legislative seats.

Beyond left versus right: Evolution of political economy in an information age

Current trends indicate the onset of a new era driven by the imperatives of information technology. Technology seems likely to unify left and right wing positions at all economic levels. At the corporate level, progressive firms are evolving into decentralized networks of self-managed ventures that resemble free markets, while being governed as coalitions of stakeholders that integrate profit and social goals into a broader, democratic form of business. At the national level, the USA, Europe and Japan are forming business-government-labour partnerships to create a more sophisticated economic system that fosters both democratic cooperation and free enterprise competition. Socialist states are also beginning to adopt similar principles. These trends suggest the Information Age may produce a new standard of political economy—‘Democratic Free Enterprise’—that represents a synthesis of liberal and conservative ideals.

Divisions and Dissent: Democrats and Foreign Policy, 1952-1956

Despite growing attention to the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, a number of common assumptions about politics in the 1950s remain unexamined. One such assumption is that bipartisanship in foreign policy, though badly shaken at the end of the Truman administration, was restored under Eisenhower and prevailed throughout most of his two terms. Democrats, it has often been argued, supported Eisenhower more strongly in foreign policy than did his own party-at least until Sputnik and Democratic jockeying for the 1960 nomination caused the working relationship to come unglued. In part, this contention has resulted from greater scholarly attention to the division between nationalist and internationalist Republicans during the period, which perhaps made the Democrats seem united and relatively cooperative. The theme of Democratic cooperation is generally only implicit in studies of the 1950s, however. Political studies of the period customarily focus on the harmonious relationship between Eisenhower and the Democratic leadership in the Congress-notably Lyndon Johnson and Sam Rayburn.1 Similarly, works on the partisan aspects of foreign policy in the 1950s usually center on the president's conversion of Republicans to internationalism, and on the continuation of

Construcción de los espacios decisorios en México

En México, las organizaciones sociales y civiles han incentivado y provisto alentadoras formas de coparticipación democrática en políticas públicas para el desarrollo social, económico, político, cultural y ambiental del país. Así pues, el caso del Diagnóstico y Programa de Derechos Humanos del Distrito Federal es un ejemplo, sin precedente en México, de cooperación democrática para la toma de decisiones consensuadas entre los gobiernos y la sociedad civil organizada. El proceso coparticipativo para la realización del Diagnóstico y Programa en materia de Derecho al Agua en la ciudad de México permite proponer a la democracia participativa de tipo consensual como una forma de gobierno más adecuado en la que la sociedad civil incida en políticas públicas a partir de nuevos espacios decisorios para el desarrollo democrático del país y de la región.

The Argentine Paradox

The Frondizi government in Argentina is com mitted to democratic principles and international co-operation, but the Argentine people are committed to rabid nationalism and political fragmentation. A permanent crisis in Argentina since 1930 has produced extreme fragmentation, as distin guished from pluralism, and has made it necessary for the military actively to protect the stability and integrity of what ever government holds office. Although the behavior of the Argentines is generally typical of the behavior of peoples in underdeveloped countries, Argentina has long enjoyed national independence and has been well developed. The middle class is large, and literacy is high. Argentine nationalism cannot be explained as a simple function of the struggle for political in dependence and economic development. Following the Perón debacle, however, Frondizi was compelled by economic neces sity to adopt unpopular policies of economic stability and austerity. The resistance of the people to these has increased the dependence of Frondizi upon the military. Unless great successes are obtained before the Frondizi term expires, the policies which have come to be identified with him will almost certainly be reversed, and a situation similar to that in Cuba may result. In the immediate future, the United States, with out being charged with interventionism, can only offer the help Argentina solicits. In the long run, the United States can advise and assist the Argentines, as Americans, in finding a solution for themselves.—Ed.