Democratic Tradition Research Articles

Challenges and pitfalls for workplace unionism in a restructured public service

In the context of restructuring that has swept across Europe in recent years, this article discusses the conditions of workplace unionism resilience in a small, predominantly female UK public service occupation – probation. Using both quantitative and qualitative data, the article offers comprehensive insights into members’ expectations towards their union branches and provides evidence of even more accountable and responsive relationships between local reps and their members following restructuring. Factors that contributed to the resilience of the union included the influence of a shared occupational identity, the legacy of large and confident branches and the (gender) democratic tradition of the union. However, the research also highlights some limitations for the permanence of effective workplace unionism in a context of socio-demographic changes as well as organizational difficulties linked to the restructuring and outsourcing process.

Populism's Power: Radical Grassroots Democracy in America

Historians may be put off initially by an analysis of populism that leaps, breathlessly and without a great deal of connective history, from the People's party and the 1890s to the civil rights movement and the 1950s and then onward to the twenty-first century. Laura Grattan is a political scientist, and she introduces herself as the daughter of “parents whose families worked on the railroads and in the auto factories in Detroit” (p. v). She is an empathetic observer of American democracy's steep decline, struggling to give us a fresh angle of vision. Populism's Power is burdened by too much jargon. But here and there she succeeds admirably and deserves our gratitude for the effort. Unfortunately, this is a book so much about ideas and the author's restatement of her strategies for pursing them that a close view of history's details often seems elusive. The abundance of theoretical phrases does not help. Grattan gives us “aspirational” democratic traditions, “horizontal” mobilization, “coalitional institutions,” and “translocal organizing” on the same page (p. 87)! Persist, dear readers. An interpretation of populism's internal contradictions brings her points forward, even if it does not move us to a new conceptual space sufficiently beyond Richard Hofstadter's familiar negatives and Lawrence Goodwyn's closely documented rejoinders.

In Media We Trust

Trust is a societal value that is difficult to gain and easy to lose. This article deals with the levels of trust that journalists working in eight post-authoritarian and post-totalitarian countries (Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Latvia, South Africa and Tanzania) have in various social institutions using data from the present Worlds of Journalism Study. In each country, results showed the level of trust in journalists’ own institution—the media—is higher than the level of trust in both political and regulative institutions. The expression of low trust, particularly in regulative institutions, in the sampled countries represents significantly different results from previous studies about journalists’ trust in countries with longer democratic traditions.

Populisms and liberal democracy – business as usual?

Populism is often thought to mark a sharp break with liberal democracy. But to what extent is this the case? In this contribution the connections between populism and liberal democracy are sketched in the context of several areas where discussions about populisms have stressed their discontinuity with the liberal democratic tradition and its practices. The discussion concentrates upon the notions of the people, their representation, elites, constitutional issues and economic policies. In each case it is suggested that continuities are as strong, and sometimes stronger, than discontinuities in these relationships. The contribution ends with a discussion of how it might be possible to defend liberal democracy from a non-liberal position in the face of the critique from populisms.

Human Rights and How they are Applied in Post-Soviet Societies

The paper describes importance and necessity of human rights institutions for any democratic society, particularly for countries with young democratic traditions like Post-Soviet states. After collapse of USSR leaders focused efforts on development of liberal values in former Soviet Republics but unfortunately even today sixteen years later the result is still far away from desirable. In Post-Soviet states Human Rights are applied in a very weak manner and this fact pushes the states back and calls existence of democracy there into doubt. What kind of violations happen and how they are connected with Soviet Propaganda and regime that existed from 1922 to 1991?

Progress or Prevarication?: The Move Toward the Establishment of a Human Rights Commission in Japan

Since the United Nations adoption in 1993 of the so-called "Paris Principles" as a framework of rules for the establishment of national human rights institutions, the world has seen a dramatic proliferation of such bodies. As of September 2014, the number of countries that have taken the initiative to set up a national human rights institution—either a human rights commission or an ombudsman—has climbed to over 110. At the same time, however, many states have remained passive towards this new trend, resisting both global and domestic pressures. Amongst these, the case of Japan is particularly puzzling, given its strong democratic tradition, vibrant civil society, and long-standing human rights treaty commitments. The present article seeks to explain why Japan lacks a national human rights institution by focusing on the legislative attempts to establish such an organization there.

Lessons from the Legends: America’s Expanding Liberal Democratic Tradition

“Lessons from the Legends” is a series of 10 inspirational videos created for park and recreation classroom and staff training purposes. Each video depicts an important theme uncovered in a larger content analysis of a cross section of in depth interviews with park and recreation practitioners and educators selected as “Legends in Parks and Recreation” by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration. We present each video’s script as an article with a link to its accompanying video that brings the story to life. Readers are invited to access the link and download the video for educational purposes as each article appears in “Legends and Legacies.” Subscribe to JPRA

THE HISTORY OF THE EMERGENCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT IN KAZAKHSTAN IN THE LATE XIX - EARLY XX CENTURY

Ponte Academic JournalAug 2017, Volume 73, Issue 8 THE HISTORY OF THE EMERGENCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT IN KAZAKHSTAN IN THE LATE XIX - EARLY XX CENTURYAuthor(s): Badanova Marzhan ,Kozhakhmetov GalymJ. Ponte - Aug 2017 - Volume 73 - Issue 8 doi: 10.21506/j.ponte.2017.8.14 Abstract:Local self-government as an institution contributing to the strengthening of civil society and the rule of law is an integral and essential condition for the functioning of democracy and people power. In fact, local self-government is the right of the people, on their own initiative, to solve everyday problems of the community's vital activity, this is an effective barrier to the spread of corruption, abuse of power, embezzlement and other types of offenses. It has a great potential, which must be supported by the state, since local self-government is an indicator of the country's progressive dynamic development. In the countries of traditional democracy, self-government, both in historical retrospect and at the present stage, acts as one of the most effective regulators of society's life. Download full text:Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution Username Password

Two Democratic Traditions In The Election Of Head Of Village In Neglasari, Tasikmalaya

This study aims to analyze the working of two democratic traditions in the election of head of Neglasari Village in 2015. This aim based on the condition of Neglasari as a unity of law society that has its own tradition in implementing democracy. However, the state determines that liberal democratic tradition is the main traditions that applied in head of village election. The research uses qualitative research and case study as its research strategy. Data collecting is done by interview, observation and documentation. The working of both democratic traditions turns out to provide a positive contribution, to the village democracy to be more qualified because both traditions are supporting each other.

Global Evolution of Performance Auditing with Special Reference to Pakistan

Methodology, concept and practice of performance auditing evolved during the last four decades or so in response to developments in capitalist system, democratic traditions, public administration, financial auditing, performance evaluation, computer technology, and internet. In Pakistan it evolved around audit of public enterprises and development projects by using methodology developed by expatriate consultants. Main achievements of SAI of Pakistan are in training of auditors and development of indigenous methodology. Despite thirty years of practice, there are challenges ahead.

The Right to Petition in the Republic of Poland – New Challenges and new Solutions

Petitioning is one of the most fundamental rights. The right to petition is recognized not only by the constitutions of countries with rich democratic traditions, but also by those which, after many years of totalitarianism, undertook the building of new political systems after the year 1989. Poland belongs to this second group of countries, although the institution of petitioning has a long tradition and was known at the beginning of the 20th century. Real socialism and the dictate of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics questioned the sense and need of the existence of this law. The communist authorities eliminated the notion of “petition” from legal regulations not only in Poland, but also in other satellite countries. The term “petition” was regarded as “bourgeois” and incitement to collective rebellion. After many years of discontinued existence of the institution of petition in the Polish legal system, the Constitution of the Republic of Poland restored it in 1997. The aim of this article is an attempt to analyse the right to petition specified expressly in Article 63 of the Basic Law. I am going to discuss the process of the restoration of the institution of petition into the Polish legal system as well as the changes which occurred in the works of the Constitutional Committee of the National Assembly in the years 1993-1997. I am going to present the prevailing conceptions of the right to petition, the functions of this right, the subjective and objective scope of the right to petition. In the end, I will try to answer the question of whether the present normative shape of the right to petition is understood correctly, and if not, which reforms should be introduced to adjust it to the standards and requirements of the democratic state. Keywords : right to petition, political rights, the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, petition, proposal, complaint

The dissociative university: Pragmatist reconstructions in democratic pedagogy

The American university is in transition, witnessing major changes to its institutional structures and processes. While the 1960s and 1970s were decades of progressive democratization in American higher education, today’s university is more aligned with the economic theory of neoliberalism. Existing at the intersection of two dominant but contradictory cultural discourses, each with its distinct version of public pedagogy, education, and identity, today’s American university can no longer clearly articulate its ethical, political, ontological, epistemological, and aesthetic essence, vision, and mission. Its identity is dissociative, inhospitable to delineation and prescription, and it as such suffers a Dissociative Identity Disorder. This article starts by articulating the two constructs of Public Pedagogy and Dissociative Identity Disorder. It then moves to an exposition in higher education of the ethical, political, ontological, epistemological, and aesthetic contradictions between the progressive liberal democratic tradition and the economic theory of neoliberalism. The article concludes by stressing that a democratic public pedagogy in higher education should take seriously the causes and underlying symptoms of cultural dissociation, one of which is a cultural quest for foundational certainty.

Family Business in the Czech Republic

The modern history of private entrepreneurship as well as family businesses in the Czech Republic began a quarter of a century ago, which, compared to traditional democracies, is a relatively short period of time. During this period, companies underwent turbulent changes, and although the perception of entrepreneurship has not changed much since the 1990s, and entrepreneurship is still not held in much esteem by society, the image of family firms and their actual sophistication is much more positive. The purpose of the research was to map out the current situation of small and medium-sized family businesses in the Czech Republic, the perception of barriers for the business and the perception of positives associated with the typical features of a family business. This paper also offers a structured basic identification of the pros and cons of family business in the environment of young democracy perceived especially by the family businesses themselves. It is based on the quantitative survey conducted among 505 respondents – family businesses in the segment of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This research has filled the gap in knowledge about the topical priorities of SME family business; it is these top priorities which provide the most valid signals about the current condition of this part of the national economy.

A Study of Political Interest and Democratic Attitude of Prospective Teachers of Chhattisgarh

Democracy is based on the faith in dignity and worth of every single individual as a human being….. The object of a democratic education is, therefore, the full, all-around development of every individual’s personality…. i.e. education to innate the student into the many- sided art of living in a community. It is obvious, however that an individual can’t live and develop alone. ….. No education is worth the name which does not inculcate the Qualities, necessary for living graciously, harmoniously and efficiently with one’s fellow men….. (Secondary Education Commission 1952-53). Belief in democracy and democratic attitude is an essential aspect of modern society and developing these attitudes among the future citizens rest on the teachers. So, it is the great responsibility of schools and moreover the teachers and prospective teachers to educate students about political process, political responsibilities and democratic traditions for giving them fully comprehended training about citizenship. In this paper the researchers made an attempt to know that what the prospective teachers themselves think about politics and democracy, and do they follow the democratic principles in their classroom and teaching learning process.

Bosnia and Herzegovina as the Stage of Three Parallel and Conflicted Historical Memories

Among Bosnian and Herzegovinian ethno-confessional nations there exist three parallel and conflicted historical memories. The dominance of patriarchal social forms without democratic tradition is the most profoundly rooted cause of this condition of mutual alienation and forms a major obstacle on the path towards the creation of a democratic political culture. The Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina (henceforth BiH) in 1995, also contributes to this situation by cementing the status of ethnic divisions in the country, thus leading to its disintegration.

The mobilising of the German 1848 protest song tradition in the context of international twentieth-century folk revivals

AbstractThe rediscovery of democratic traditions of folk song in Germany after the Second World War was not just the counter-reaction of singers and academics to the misuse of German folk song by the Nazis. Such a shift to a more ‘progressive’ interpretation and promotion of folk tradition at that time was not distinct to Germany and had already taken place in other parts of the Western world. After firstly examining the relationship between folk song and national ideologies in the nineteenth century, this article will focus on the democratic ideological basis on which the 1848 revolutionary song tradition was reconstructed after the Third Reich. It will look at how the New Social Movements of West Germany and the folk scene of the GDR functioned in providing channels of transmission for this, and how in this process a collective cultural memory was created whereby lost songs – such as those of the 1848 Revolution – could be awakened from extinction. These processes will be illustrated by textual and musical adaptations of key 1848 songs such as ‘Badisches Wiegenlied’ (Baden Lullaby), ‘Das Blutgericht’ (The Blood Court) and ‘Trotz alledem’ (For all that) within the context of the West German folk movement and its counterpart in the GDR.

After the Critique of Rights: For a Radical Democratic Theory and Practice of Human Rights

The critique of human rights has proliferated in critical legal thinking over recent years, making it clear that we can no longer uncritically approach human rights in their liberal form. In this article I assert that after the critique of rights one way human rights may be productively re-engaged in radical politics is by drawing from the radical democratic tradition. Radical democratic thought provides plausible resources to rework the shortcomings of liberal human rights, and allows human rights to be brought within the purview of a wider political project adopting a critical approach to current relations of power. Building upon previous re-engagements with rights using radical democratic thought, I return to the work of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe to explore how human rights may be thought as an antagonistic hegemonic activity within a critical relation to power, a concept which is fundamentally futural, and may emerge as one site for work towards radical and plural democracy. I also assert, via Judith Butler’s model of cultural translation, that a radical democratic practice of human rights may be advanced which resonates with and builds upon already existing activism, thereby holding possibilities to persuade those who remain sceptical as to radical re-engagements with rights.

Democrazia popolare e democrazia autoritaria. Dal cartismo (1836-1848) all'Italicum (2015)

In the first half of the nineteenth century - in the UK - the Chartist movement linked the labor and class’ unrest to the achievement of universal suffrage and political democracy. By contrast, in Italy, the electoral laws engineered by the government of the center-left (2015) through the legislatve measure called Italicum distorts the purpose of the democratic tradition of the left and tends to replace the national political structure with an autocratic, authoritarian and caesaristic system.

Oman-the Islamic democratic tradition

Oman-the Islamic democratic tradition

Normative media theories: the media in the new democracies

The political changes which occurred in Central and Eastern Europe in the last decade of the 20th century resulted in introducing democratic systems to replace authoritarian regimes. The political transformation in the region affected also freedom of speech and leeway for the media. The transformation was of an evolutionary nature, preceded by discussions and disputes over the future form of the media. At the initial stage of the changes, strict state control was required, as the government was responsible for the success of the democratic changes. Following the overthrow of the authoritarian regimes, a need emerged for sorting out the legal and institutional basis of a free media intended to be established on the basis of state-owned media, fully controlled by the political authorities and in fact assuming a single role, namely that of a propaganda machine. Normative theories of the media have become the starting point, as a collection of ideas and postulates stating that the media’s mode of operation should facilitate socially desirable values. Discussions of the legal, institutional, functional as well as personal solutions related to the mass media in the new democracies referred to observations and agreements among researchers who came from systems with long democratic traditions. This paper revolves around the relation between the media and democracy, and argues that the theory of the media’s social responsibility and the democratic-participant theory were the major source of inspiration for the participants of the debates about the future form of the mass media in the emerging democracies. It is worth noticing that these theories represent not only slightly different opinions on the role of the media in a democracy but they also reflect the differences in understanding the essence of democracy.