Compatible Cultural Democracy

Introduction : variants of democratic practice -- The great transplantation -- The post-independence problem -- Typical African political systems -- Towards the modification of African political culture -- Ghana : tactical action, socialism and the military -- Nigeria : oil, coups, and ethnic war -- Kenya : settler ideology and the struggle for Majimbo -- Tanzania : Ujamaa, compulsion, and the freedom of association -- Somalia : experiments with democracy, military rule, and socialism -- Senegal : from French colonialism to the failure of partisan politics -- Rwanda : from success astroy to human disaster -- Congo (Kinshasa) : "a most lethal poison."

Following the work of a range of public intellectuals like Stanley Aronowitz, Henry Giroux, bell hooks, Chantal Mouffe, and Cornel West, Cultural Democracy argues for a "radical democracy" capable of subverting traditional divisions of "left" and "right". In so doing, Trend suggests that solutions to contemporary cultural and political problems are not so far away as one might think. Their roots lie in the very democratic principles upon which the U.S.was founded, although many such principles need to be brought up to date and radicalized.

The Democracy Sourcebook offers a collection of classic writings and contemporary scholarship on democracy, creating a book that can be used by undergraduate and graduate students in a wide variety of courses, including American politics, international relations, comparative politics, and political philosophy. The editors have chosen substantial excerpts from the essential theorists of the past, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, Alexis de Tocqueville, and the authors of The Federalist Papers; they place them side by side with the work of such influential modern scholars as Joseph Schumpeter, Adam Przeworski, Seymour Martin Lipset, Samuel P. Huntington, Ronald Dworkin, and Amartya Sen. The book is divided into nine self-contained chapters: "Defining Democracy," which discusses procedural, deliberative, and substantive democracy; "Sources of Democracy," on why democracy exists in some countries and not in others; "Democracy, Culture, and Society," about cultural and sociological preconditions for democracy; "Democracy and Constitutionalism," which focuses on the importance of independent courts and a bill of rights; "Presidentialism versus Parliamentarianism"; "Representation," discussing which is the fairest system of democratic accountability; "Interest Groups"; "Democracy's Effects," an examination of the effect of democracy on economic growth and social inequality; and finally, "Democracy and the Global Order" discusses the effects of democracy on international relations, including the propensity for war and the erosion of national sovereignty by transnational forces.

This is a recognized classic in the psychology of the American peoples. It brings together a series of reflections upon the nature of culture and of democracy, upon their bearing to one another in the United States, and upon their underlying dynamics in the social and spiritual endeavors of the many peoples striving toward life, liberty, and happiness amid the varied settings of the American scene. Kallen argues that various decisions made throughout the history of the United States have been determined by prejudice. In his new introduction, Stephen Whitfield delves deeply into Kallen's background, discussing the influences on his life and work. This volume will be a necessary addition to the personal libraries of sociologists, political theorists, philosophers, and ethnic studies scholars.

Analysing in detail the transformation of citizenship practices in European Union countries, Benhabib concludes that flexible citizenship, certain kinds of legal pluralism and models of institutional powersharing are quite compatible with deliberative democracy, as long as they are in accord with egalitarian reciprocity, voluntary self-ascription and freedom of exit and association.

Close attention to the writings of the founding fathers of the Republic of China on Taiwan shows that democracy is indeed compatible with Chinese culture. Conceptions of Chinese Democracy provides a coherent and critical introduction to the democratic thought of three fathers of modern Taiwan—Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek, and Chiang Ching-kuo—in a way that is accessible and grounded in broader traditions of political theory. David J. Lorenzo’s comparative study allows the reader to understand the leaders’ democratic conceptions and highlights important contradictions, strengths, and weaknesses that are central to any discussion of Chinese culture and democratic theory. Lorenzo further considers the influence of their writings on political theorists, democracy advocates, and activists on mainland China. Students of political science and theory, democratization, and Chinese culture and history will benefit from the book's substantive discussions of democracy, and scholars and specialists will appreciate the larger arguments about the influence of these ideas and their transmission through time.

For most of its history, the African continent has witnessed momentous political change, remarkable philosophical innovation, and the complex cross-fertilization of ideologies and belief systems. This definitive study surveys the concepts, values, and historical upheavals that have shaped African political systems from the ancient period to the postcolonial era and beyond. Beginning with the emergence of indigenous political institutions, it traces the most important developments in African history, including the Africanization of Islam, liberal democratic movements, socialism, Pan-Africanism, and Africanist-Populist resistance to the neoliberal world order. The result is an invaluable resource on a region too often ignored in the history of political thought.

The authors interviewed over 5,000 citizens in Germany, Italy, Mexico, Great Britain, and the U.S. to learn political attitudes in modem democratic states. Originally published in 1963. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.