Synopses & Reviews
Assembling articles by one of the foremost scholars in comparative politics, this volume covers the important works and ideas in the field from the last thirty years, most notably the nature of contemporary democracy and its prospects. It begins with a personal analysis of the intellectual, and often political, reasons why and how Stepan chose to engage in certain critical arguments over the last thirty years. Dividing into three sections, the volume then explores state and society, constructing polities, and varieties of democracies. It contains articles on civil society, political society, economic society, and a usable state and compares and contrasts the incentive systems and political practices of parliamentarianism, presidentialism, and semi-presidentialism.
Review
"At his best, Stepan widens our horizon of possibilities and challenges conventional wisdom. Stepan's boldness in tackling core assumptions and in assembling historical evidence from around the world serves to simulate a more thoughtful and informed debate. The most successful chapters are those in which the introduction of a range of historical examples generates a convincing and well-structured series of subtypes or pathways." -- Journal of Democracy
Synopsis
Assembling articles by one of the foremost scholars in comparative politics, this volume covers the important works and ideas in the field from the last thirty years, most notably the nature of contemporary democracy and its prospects. It explores state and society, constructing polities, and varieties of democracies; contains articles on civil society, political society, economic society, and a usable state; and compares and contrasts the incentive systems and political practices of parliamentarianism, presidentialism, and semi-presidentialism.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Reflections on 'Problem Selection' in Comparative Politics
I. The State and Society
1. The New Professionalism of Internal Warfare and Military Role Expansion
2. Liberal-Pluralist, Classic Marxist, and 'Organic Statist' Approaches to the State
3. State Power and the Strength of Civil Society in the Southern Cone of Latin America
4. Military Politics in Three Polity Arenas: Civil Society, Political Society, and the State
II. Constructing and Deconstructing Polities: Contexts, Capacities and Identities
5. Paths Toward Redemocratization: Theoretical and Comparative Considerations
6. Political Crafting of Democratic Consolidation or Destruction: European and South American Comparisons (with Juan J. Linz)
7. On the Tasks of a Democratic Opposition
8. Democratic Opposition and Democratization Theory
9. Modern Multi-National Democracies: Transcending a Gellnerian Oxymoron
10. Political Identities and Electoral Sequences: Spain, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia (with Juan J. Linz)
11. The World s Religious Systems and Democracy: Crafting the Twin Tolerations
III. The Meta-frameworks of Democratic Governance and Democratic States
12. Constitutional Frameworks and Democratic Consolidation: Parliamentarianism versus Presidentialism (with Cindy Skach)
13. The French Fifth Republic: A Model for Import? Reflections on Poland and Brazil (with Ezra N. Suleiman)
14. Toward Consolidated Democracies (with Juan J. Linz)
15. Toward a New Comparative Analysis of Democracy and Federalism: 'Demos Constraining' and 'Demos Enabling' Federations