Articles
October 1998, Volume 9, Issue 4
Promoting Democracy, Peace, and Solidarity
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October 1998, Volume 9, Issue 4
Liberalism of Sorts
A review of After 1989: Morals, Revolution, and Civil Society, by Ralf Dahrendorf.
July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
India Defies the Odds: Enduring Another Election
Indians appear to love the practice of democracy so much that they are in danger of overdoing it. In February and March of 1998, the world's largest democracy held its twelfth general election since gaining its independence a half-century ago. The voting was largely fair and peaceful. New, right-of-center rulers led by the Bharatiya Janata…
July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
India Defies the Odds: Making Federalism Work
To understand how India’s democracy works, and how it manages demands from social groups for greater power, resources, autonomy, and respect, it is essential to understand Indian federalism. That, in turn, requires us to address two questions. First, why have relations between New Delhi and the various state governments (there are at present 25) usually…
July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
India Defies the Odds: Why Democracy Survives
India has long baffled theorists of democracy. Democratic theory holds that poverty, widespread illiteracy, and a deeply hierarchical social structure are inhospitable conditions for the functioning of democracy. Yet except for 18 months in 1975-77, India has maintained its democratic institutions ever since it became independent of Britain in 1947. Over those five decades, there…
July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
Second Elections in Africa
The early 1990s saw a wave of competitive multiparty elections in Africa. These contests can be described as "founding" elections in the sense that they marked for various countries a transition from an extended period of authoritarian rule to fledgling democratic government. By the middle of the 1990s, this wave had crested. Although founding elections…
July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
Orphans of Transition: Gypsies in Eastern Europe
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July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
Teaching Democracy in Postcommunist Countries
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July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
India’s Cold-Eyed Introspection
A review of Fifty Years of Indian Parliamentary Democracy, 1947-1997, by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
Chinese Culture and Democracy
A review of China’s Transition, by Andrew Nathan.
July 1998, Volume 9, Issue 3
Octavio Paz (1914-1998)
The death of Mexican poet and essayist Octavio Paz on April 20 was (in the words of Mexico’s president Ernesto Zedillo) “an irreplaceable loss for contemporary thought and culture—not just for Latin America but for the entire world.” Born in Mexico City on 31 March 1914, Paz published his first book of poetry while still…
April 1998, Volume 9, Issue 2
African Ambiguities: Africa, 1990–1997—From Abertura to Closure
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April 1998, Volume 9, Issue 2
African Ambiguities: The Rebirth of African Liberalism
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