Democracy in the South: Participation, the State and the People

Edited by Brendan Howe, Vesselin Popovski and Mark Notaras

Democracy in the South: Participation, the State and the People
Edited by Brendan Howe, Vesselin Popovski and Mark Notaras

ISBN 978-92-808-1178-0
272 pages; paper; US$35.00
February 2010

Table of Contents

Sample chapter (659 KB PDF)

Traditionally, studies on democracy have focused on the orthodox so-called Northern models of democratic governance, and within this framework, the extent to which Southern models are considered democratic. Democracy in the South is the first truly international collaboration that draws attention to the complex problems of democratic consolidation across the majority world. Nine case studies, three each from Africa, Latin America and Asia, shed light on the contemporary challenges faced by democratizing countries, mostly from the perspective of emerging theorists working in their home countries.

Students of comparative politics will benefit from this book’s refreshing approach in broadening the level of analysis required for discussions on democracy. The book will enable an already growing literature on democratization to become more relevant to theorists, practitioners and policy makers in democratizing countries, where much of the world’s population lives.

“In this valuable new book, scholars from the regions concerned explain the theory and practice of democracy away from the familiar Western world. As such, the book will be useful to students and scholars of comparative as much as international politics for presenting voices from the South about the challenges of consolidating democracy in developing countries.”
—Ramesh Thakur, Director, Balsillie School of International Affairs

“Each society’s democratic journey takes a different course, depending on the opportunities for and obstacles to securing the rights of the people to representative, just, effective and accountable governance and, thus, the satisfaction of their human needs, rights and security. As we learn from the studies in this book, democracy is not an end in itself, but a means towards achieving those goals in highly unique local contexts.”
—Albrecht Schnabel, Senior Fellow, Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces

Brendan Howe is Associate Professor of International Relations at Ewha Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul. Vesselin Popovski is Senior Academic Officer and Head of Section for Peace and Security in the Institute for Sustainability and Peace at the United Nations University, Tokyo. Mark Notaras is a Researcher for the Peace and Security Programme in the Institute for Sustainability and Peace at the United Nations University, Tokyo.

Introduction: Participation, the state and the people, Brendan Howe and Vesselin Popovski
Venezuela: Democratic possibilities, Nicole Curato
Colombia: Not the oldest democracy in Latin America, but rather a fake one, Olga Lucía Castillo-Ospina
Consensus or conflict? The problem of an anti-political imagery of democracy in contemporary
Argentina, Mariana Garzón Rogé and Mariano Perelman
Democracy, pluralism and nation-building: The Nigerian Case, Moses Duruji
Ethnolinguistic vitality and democratic practice in Kenya, James Ogola Onyango
Democratization process in Ghana: Key issues and challenges, Gbenga Emmanuel Afolayan
Democratic bewilderments of the world’s largest democracy—India, K. Deepamala
The 2006 coup and the evolving democratic and political party system in Thailand, Narayanan Ganesan
Consolidating democracy in the Philippines: Breaking monopolies of local power, Gladstone A. Cuarteros
Conclusion, Vesselin Popovski and Brendan Howe