...partly successful attempts to destroy and exterminate whole populations. Hundreds of millions of Europeans were killed, imprisoned, tortured, uprooted and expelled in the name of racial, political and national ideological goals. The thirty years of war was followed an unprecedented 45-year period of peace, even if it was a peace imposed by the Cold War. How should one tell the story of twentieth century European history? Was it the process of capitalism and liberal democracy, referring the world wars as aberrations of “true” European history? In Dark Continent, Mark Mazower highlights the historical contingency of this European era. “Though we may like to think democracy’s victory in the Cold War proves its deep roots in Europe’s soil, history tells us otherwise” (Mazower, 5) He ties his interpretation into his themes of decline, fall, and social struggles in Europe to his thesis that communism, Nazism, and democracy are more related than they might seem. Through these views of the forms of governments and the main social struggle of the era, Mazower helps the reader gain a greater understanding of interwar Europe. In this essay I will present how fascisms and communism were just as European as liberal democracy, as it is easy to retrospectively consider them anomalies of European history. Additionally I will focus on Mazower’s view on Nazism and how Nazism stood out from the other European visions and gained its power throughout Europe. The...
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...American Political Science Review Vol. 106, No. 2 May 2012 doi:10.1017/S0003055412000093 The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy ROBERT D. WOODBERRY National University of Singapore T his article demonstrates historically and statistically that conversionary Protestants (CPs) heavily influenced the rise and spread of stable democracy around the world. It argues that CPs were a crucial catalyst initiating the development and spread of religious liberty, mass education, mass printing, newspapers, voluntary organizations, and colonial reforms, thereby creating the conditions that made stable democracy more likely. Statistically, the historic prevalence of Protestant missionaries explains about half the variation in democracy in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania and removes the impact of most variables that dominate current statistical research about democracy. The association between Protestant missions and democracy is consistent in different continents and subsamples, and it is robust to more than 50 controls and to instrumental variable analyses. ocial scientists tend to ignore religion in the processes of post-Enlightenment modernization. In individual cases and events, the role of religious actors is clear—especially in the primary documents. Yet in broad histories and comparative analyses, religious groups are pushed to the periphery, only to pop out like a jack-in-the-box from time to time to surprise and scare people and then shrink...
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...Britain is broadly described as a democracy. A nation where the people choose their leaders and hold them accountable for their policies and their conduct in office. The people decide who will represent them in parliament, and who will head the government at the national and local levels. They do so by choosing between competing parties in regular, free and fair elections. Some people say that participation is the key to democracy. If a certain group of society do not vote, or there is apathy in voting turnouts, then there isn’t a fair outcome. For example, 2003 saw Labour leader Tony Blair declare war in Iraq. Despite the media’s portrayal and lack of support for Blair on his decision, he was re-elected as priminister in the 2005 UK general elections. This made a lot of people upset and angry. However, the turnout for that election was low (61.4%) so it could be argued that because Britain is a democracy, the general public are the soul blame for the outcome of the election. On the other hand, people believe that Britain cannot be a democracy if public participation is so low. They believe that to be a real democracy, the whole population must get involved and have a say. So when only over half of those eligible to vote do, there are questions to be asked as to whether the UK could be defined as such. There has been an increase in pressure groups. They can use a variety of different methods to influence law. These groups most often seem more important than political parties...
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...Imperial America EDGE Fall Quarter 2003 Tim Chueh Ambert Ho 12/5/03 What Is Imperialism? “Imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism…characterized by monopoly corporations and the compulsion to export capital abroad for higher profits. Unlike capitalism in the earlier stages, in the imperialist stage, capitalism has no more progress to bring the world…the cause of contemporary militarism” – Lenin “The policy, practice, or advocacy of seeking, or acquiescing in, the extension of the control, dominion, or empire of a nation, as by the acquirement of new, esp. distant, territory or dependencies, or by the closer union of parts more or less independent of each other for operations of war, copyright, internal commerce, etc.” – Oxford dictionary The word imperialism derives from “empire.” As such, it is useful to spend a bit of time to define the word. In working towards a minimal definition, Stanford Professor of Archaeology J. Manning in his first lecture on Ancient Empires starts with: “An empire is a territorially extensive hierarchically political organization.” Unfortunately this definition is too vague. All states encountered in human history are by definition hierarchical, and many nations today are vast compared to the...
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...Введение в Политологию Программа учебного курса Российская экономическая школа, совместный бакалавриат РЭШ-ВШЭ, весенний семестр 2014 года (64 часа в аудитории) Преподаватель – Балалаева Дина Яновна, Ph.D. Занятия: лекция - среда, 15:10-16:30, семинар- 13:40-15:00 Консультации – TBA Компетенции, формируемые в результате освоения дисциплины: В результате освоения дисциплины студент должен обладать следующими общекультурными (ОК) и профессиональными компетенциями (ПК): ОК-4, ПК-8, ПК-9 Общий объем аудиторных часов – 64 в том числе: лекции – 32 часа. практические занятия - 32 часа. Промежуточный контроль – статья. Краткая аннотация Данный курс по «Сравнительной политологии» охватывает наиболее важные темы дисциплины и прослеживает развитие методологии от сравнительных кейс-стади до крупномасштабных межвременных исследований и экспериментов на местах. Почему, в среднем, самые богатые страны – демократии? Или, заимствуя вопрос Л. Даймонда (2010), почему мир не знает ни одной арабской демократии? Почему авторитаризм не помешал (помог?) «азиатским тиграм»? Насколько устойчивы гибриды? В чем «секрет эффективности» парламентской формы правления? Почему страны с пропорциональной системой выборов больше тратят на социальные расходы, чем страны с мажоритарной формулой? Производят ли федерации больше технологических инноваций, чем унитарные государства? Каково оптимальное...
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...Political And Economical Developments Asia Europe [Writer Name] [Institute Name] [Date] international managment In this paper, provide a descriptive title or heading for your paper by focusing on topics or countries that interest you (such as “Political and Economical Developments in the Asian or European Systems”), and then discuss the following concepts: 1) Explain in detail why and how the political systems of countries differ; 2) discuss how the legal systems of countries differ; 3) explain what determines the level of economic development of a nation; 4) discuss with examples the macro-political and economic changes taking place worldwide; and 5) analyze how transition economies are moving towards market based systems. You can use specific continents, countries, or country as your focus. Political And Economical Developments Asia Europe There has been of course many changes since 1989. To understand this we should analyze how the situation before the revolution. Before 1989 there was no political freedom. There were elections, but there was only one candidate, down from the city councils up to the MPs, all of them were nominated by an almighty party. The most powerful man was not president, neither Prime minister, but the leader of the party. He was also responsible to the leader of the party in USSR. There was no freedom of religion; every priest had to be issued a special admission to work as one. The Bishops were nominated, the orders were denied. People were not allowed...
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...Michael Novak’s view on the History of Corporations This section of the paper discusses the history of the corporation, its origins and development as well as the various and definitions of the term stakeholder. This section also discusses the differences between various management philosophies and how each philosophy views the term stakeholders; a) the traditional American view of stakeholders as owners, b) the social democratic view where stakeholders have claim or stake in the firm. The American view is the foundation of freedom and liberty while the socialist view refers to the slavery and despotism. The Existence of Corporations The answer to the existence of corporations doesn’t refer to certain date or time. The actual existence of corporations refers to what one means by the term as the corporations have existed for several centuries. Surviving in the corporate world generated from the founding generations of farmers and fishermen, owners of land, churchman, etc (Jennings, 2012, p.105). Michael Novak viewed the corporation as a calling (Murphy, 2008) that generated from the business men who have ethical standards on what they were introducing to society. These ethical standards can be of good or evil. The society has great impact over big corporations. Society can make or break a business depending on the products introduced and how successful it can climb in the market (Jennings, 2012, p. 106). Many businesses grow based on their ethical views and how the market will...
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...of referendumss? Discuss. A referendum is a form of direct democracy that involves a public vote on a single issue of public policy. It is a way of presenting a debated issue to public decision. The most recent referendum was in the UK; the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum which asked the question whether Scotland should break away from the UK or not. There are a variety of arguments both for and against the wider use of referendum in the UK. The use was greatly favoured by Tony Blair and his new Labour government in 1997 because they took the view that referendum was a democratic device that allows people the opportunity to give a direct voice in decision making. Therefore, any decision made via referendum acquires legitimacy because it has popular approval. Moreover, referendums can encourage political participation which will help the declining participation of the UK in the way that as referendums are where people can get directly involve in the decision making, they will see this as opportuniy to contribute to the political world as themselves, thereby encouraging them to turn out in election to vote and increase participation like in the 2014 Scottish referendum where the participation brough about a turnout of 84.59% compared to the 2010 general election turnout of 65.1%. Shown clearly in the example is the clear difference between participation of direct democracy and representative democracy which would greatly benefit the UK's declining political participation...
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...9/10/2010 | Democracy in the United States of America In the beginning when the new world was not even a thought the European people grew more and more dissatisfied with their monarchy type of government. People yearned for the freedom to do as they wished, worship who they wanted, and work on what skill they felt was their calling. Thanks to Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus discovering a new land “a new world” to the west, slowly but surely these wants by the people became a reality. In this essay I will open your eyes to both the positive and the negative aspects of what type of government the United States of America uses as well as the ever growing issue of the Mosque being built in Manhattan and how the Muslim community is using our laws to their advantage. “Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal in the world.-Abraham Lincoln the sixteenth president of the United States. So what exactly do these words mean? The basic meaning is that justice and equality go hand in hand in our government, which is democracy. Democracy originated from the ancient Greeks, it is said by many scholars that Athens of the fifth-century BCE held the purist for of democracy that there ever was. From the beginning at the birth of this nation there was a democratic style of government in place. This was driven by the need of the people to have a voice, have freedom, and to get away from the European style type of government...
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...instead act as a bridge between the people and government. The are many different types of pressure groups ranging from wealthy insider groups like the B.M.A. to less wealthy outsider groups like Amnesty International. The wealthier and closer the pressure group is to the government the more successful they are. The success of the British Medical Association (B.M.A.) suggests that the wealthier and closer the pressure group is to the government the more successful they are. The B.M.A. is a voluntary association that speaks up for the interests of doctors at home and abroad, provides a range of services for its members and engages in scientific research. These activities involve lobbying not only the British government but also the European Union as well. The B.M.A. is undoubtedly one of the most influential and effective pressure groups as they have great influence over the policies of the British government regarding the health care system in matters such as the pay and training of doctors, the work of GP’s and hospitals, and the quality and quantity of medical facilities. This supports the view that the wealthier and closer the pressure group is to the government the more successful they are. Due to the wealth of its members the B.M.A. can contribute large amounts of money to influence policy-makers directly or to finance public information campaigns. However there are other factors that decide the success of the B.M.A. and other similar groups, this does not support...
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...Annotated Bibliography: The Link between Religion and Democracy The topic of religion and democracy is an especially complex one. Current literature expresses different opinions regarding religion and democratic values. There are contradictory findings on if religion should have a place in political affairs or should be strictly kept separately that shows up in the current literature as well. The sources used for this annotated bibliography all came from the Ryerson University Library and Archives that was searched online. All four of the sources are peer-reviewed and scholarly journal articles. The question of if religion and democracy are somehow intertwined and compatible will be answered in this paper. The relationship between traditional cultural values and democracy will be examined as well. This paper will also contain an overview of the link between...
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...have made the UK more democratic, this easy will be going through a few of these reforms and explain how they have effected the UK. The word democracy means a system of government in which all the people are involved in making decisions that effect the country/state, it can further be defined as a government for the people, by the people, of the people, the people of the state can have their say through electoral votes, referendums lobbying or protests. Democracy has many aspects such as decentralisation, accountability, participation, open government and rights protection; decentralisation means the process of distributing or dispersing power away from the central government, an example of this can be seen in the Devolution Act of 1997. Accountability is the act of the government being liable for everything they do; this relates back to the rule of law which states that anybody can be taken to court if they have broken the law including the law makers themselves. Holding the government accountable means that anybody of the public can take the government to court if they have broken the law or if someone feels like an Act has been broken. Open government definitely helps democracy as it means that citizens have the right to access documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public oversight. This helps democracy as it allows the public to have access to important information which would help in their understanding of house their country/state is run. ...
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...Absurd to vote as a 16 years old teenager, or is it? ”It’s a bizarre way to reinvigorate democracy” It’s under consideration in Scotland to lower the voting age to 16 years. But I wonder if it's too early? It can be discussed to a great extent, whether it would be positive or negative - but it's definitely a move in the right direction, at least to the youngsters. That’s what Philip Cowley, University of Nottingham, says about the thoughts of lowering the voting age. I simply believe that lowering the voting-age would gain more political insight and thoughts – but what for? Is it perhaps a bit too early? Has a 16-17 year old gained enough political experience and insight? That’s hard to say in general terms, but I definitely think it would be an interesting point of view lowering the voting-age. 16-17 year-old are in the democratic sense, just as mature as a 90-year-old, and maturity has never been a criterion for granting the right to vote. When young people are 16-17 years old, they have, usually, completed the compulsory education that society offers them. They have been taught history, social studies, English and other subjects, which enables them to act as responsible citizens. The 16-17 year olds constitutes only a small percentage of the population, which would mean that their votes won’t have the biggest impact on the election results. In contrast, the youngsters would maybe feel more valued by the state - influence creates credibility and appreciation -...
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...To what extent do referendums strengthen democracy in the UK? Democracy is defined in Greek as government by the people. Referendums are undermining of the authority given to the people through a representative. The use of referendums in the UK allows for an increased participation from the electorate. This encourages direct democracy and therefore strengthens the basic principle of a democratic governing body. However, participation is a key part of the strengthening of democracy. In recent years we have seen a growth in the number of referendums held in the UK. Referendums are usually held to conclude on an important issue, such as devolution and issues regarding the changing of a constitutional law. It has become increasingly problematic that there has been a decline in the turn-out for referendums, a clear example of this is the Welsh national; assembly referendum held in 2011. The turnout for the Welsh national assembly referendum was 33%, with a 65% voting in favour of further devolved powers for the assembly. Although the vote was a majority decision 67% of the electorate did not vote, which undermines the result and therefore democracy is weakened without active participation by the electorate. As mentioned, the Welsh assembly referendum resulted in 67% of the electorate not voting, which means that these individuals will still get a devolved set of powers. Therefore unless you have a 100% turnout a referendum will forever be undemocratic. This can be described...
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...2014 Defining Democracy Democracy began in ancient Mesopotamia and continued on through classical Greece and Rome then towards the rise of Islamic civilization to the modern day in the United States. It has gone through its trials and tribulations to become what it is today and continues to change and grow. Democracy is defined in the Merriam Webster dictionary as "a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections " Also has been defined as a government "Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth." by our 16th president Abraham Lincoln. Elements that a government must have to be considered a democracy are that it must have a political system for electing and re-electing new officials for the government through free and fair elections. Furthermore, it needs an active participation of the citizens in politics and everyday life, all citizens must have protection of their human rights, and there has to be a rule of law, which is when the laws apply equally to all citizens. A government must comprise of all these elements in order to be called a legitimate democracy. Elections are key for a democracy. Elections provide the citizens of that country an opportunity to choose someone they accept in the given office and it also gives them a right to freedom of choice. Democracy is the freedom of...
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