Search results for "Political Process"
showing 5 items of 25 documents
Interest Representation Preconditions in Illiberal Poland and Hungary
2022
Poland and Hungary have been widely recognised as countries affected by illiberalism. This has undoubtedly created a challenging environment for interest groups; groups which are a touchstone for the quality of democratic processes. In this article, we aim to understand how preconditions for interest representation have changed due to illiberal drift through the eyes of interest groups operating in these two selected post-communist countries. In order to examine their perception of opportunity structures, interaction infrastructure as well as the level of political coordination under the new circumstances, we rely on quantitative research in the form of a survey carried out among interest g…
La sociedad multicultural. Democracia y derechos
1997
En este artículo, el autor parte de un hecho sustancial: las sociedades multiculturales constituyen un fenómeno característico de nuestro tiempo. Es decir, en las sociedades actuales conviven códigos e identidades culturales diversos como consecuencia de diferencias étnicas, lingüísticas, religiosas o nacionales. En Europa, este fenómeno responde a la fragmentación de sociedades altamente homogéneas, a la crisis de consensos internos y del modelo del Estado social, a los flujos migratorios, etcétera. Ciertamente, la complejidad de las sociedades multiculturales plantea desafíos a la democracia: ¿cómo conciliar la unidad política con la diversidad social? El autor analiza el debate generado …
How representative are referendums? Evidence from 20 years of Swiss referendums
2017
Direct democracy allows citizens to reverse decisions made by legislatures and even initiate new laws which parliaments are unwilling to pass, thereby, as its proponents argue, leading to more representative policies than would have obtained under a purely representative democracy. Yet, turnout in referendums is usually lower than in parliamentary elections and tends to be skewed towards citizens of high socio-economic status. Consequently, critics of direct democracy argue that referendum outcomes may not be representative of the preferences of the population at large. We test this assertion using a compilation of post-referendum surveys encompassing 148 national referendums held in Switze…
The Institutions of Authoritarian Neoliberalism in Malaysia: A Critical Review of the Development Agendas Under the Regimes of Mahathir, Abdullah, an…
2018
After toppling the 61-year dominant Barisan Nasional through a historic election victory in May 2018, expectations are high for the new ruling government led by Mahathir Mohamad and the Pakatan Harapan to fulfil their promises for socio-economic reforms and regime change in Malaysia. But what have been the institutions of the prevailing regime that need to be reformed and changed? This article offers a critical review of the evolving development agendas since the 1990s of the successive governments of Mahathir Mohamad, Abdullah Badawi, and Najib Razak, each couched in different catchphrases: Wawasan 2020, Islam Hadhari, and 1Malaysia. A close reading of these programs suggests that their su…
Don't tell us: the demand for secretive bahaviour
2009
International audience