Towards consolidating democracy: The paradoxical role of democracy groups in Thailand

Civil society is thought to contribute to consolidating democracy, but exactly how this happens is not especially well understood. This article examines the recent experiences of ‘democracy groups’ in Thailand. While acknowledging there are other factors that contribute to democratic consolidation, it finds the cumulative effect of Thailand's intermediating organizations, such as democracy groups, appears to be a redistribution of information and resources in ways that are causing changes in state‐society relations, making the country more pluralistic and contributing to consolidating democracy. Democracy groups and other civil society organizations are providing a widening circle of Thais with virtually unprecedented opportunities to participate in the policy‐making process. Yet despite their accomplishments, these groups might have greater consolidating effects if they themselves adhered more to democratic norms and procedures. Nevertheless, without democracy groups and other civil society organizations, Thailand would be less democratic than it is, although democracy is not fully consolidated yet.     

On the relationship between democracy and terrorism

This article raises some methodological issues concerning the Eubank and Weinberg analysis of democracy and terrorism. A case is made for the use of events data rather than the presence of terrorist groups. Eubank and Weinberg's classification of countries, as having or not having terrorist groups, is questioned. Further details of their criteria of classification are requested. Some alternative tests are indicated, which can be done when data become available.     

身份叙事与中国参与北极事务身份建构

国家身份可以划分为总体身份和具体身份,具体身份是总体身份在不同场域的具体投射。作为话语实践的一种形式,叙事则是身份建构的主要机制,它将一系列关于总体身份和具体身份的隐喻以特定逻辑联系在一起。当代中国所追求的总体身份是负责任大国,而这一身份的主要表现则是倡导构建人类命运共同体。这一身份通过领域或功能以及地域两个维度被投射到北极场域,形成了"北极事务的重要利益攸关方"这一具体身份。本文在论述叙事和国家身份形成关系的基础上,重点分析了"北极事务的重要利益攸关方"这一身份隐喻通过叙事被投射到具体场域中的过程。通过叙事,"北极事务的重要利益攸关方"同中国的国际责任、各国的共同利益等话语联系在一起,成为负责任大国身份在北极场域的延伸,成为构建人类命运共同体这一宏观目标的组成部分。     

The FARC and democracy in Colombia in the 1990s

Three issues dominate the debate about the leading guerrilla group in Colombia, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC). The issues are the survival and strengthening of the movement after the end of the cold war, its incapacity to defeat the state and the chronic nature of the conflict. The article addresses these issues through the concept of the partial breakdown of the state, first used in reference to the political violence of the 1950s. The account finds little room for hope about the success of the peace talks currently taking place between the government and the FARC. The outlook is for chronic conflict that will continue to sap Colombia's democracy.     

Constructing new environments versus attitude adjustment: contrasting the substance of democracy in UN and EU democracy promotion discourses

In contrasting UN with EU democracy promotion discourses, the article contributes to the debate on the substance of EU democracy promotion by approaching the question of ‘democratic substance’ from the vantage point of sovereignty. For its analytical framing, it draws on relevant aspects of Foucault's work on power. The article suggests that, due to their diverging obligations to sovereignty, the substance of democracy promotion in UN discourses revolves around an institutional-centric understanding, whereas in EU discourses we see a significant reconceptualization of democracy as a norms-based concept. The latter does not aim at the government of society but the ethical self-governance of socially embedded individuals. It is argued that, with the decreasing purchase of democracy as a universal political project and the growing concern with local contexts, the EU's norms-based conception emerges as better equipped to adapt to contemporary challenges of governing. The article concludes with raising some doubts about the democratic promise and potential of the democratic rationality underpinning EU discourses. Democracy, participation and political change are no longer conceived in terms of shaping and influencing public agenda but refer to socially shaping and influencing subjective perceptions and behaviours.     

Civil society,the market and democracy in Latin America

‘Civil society’ has been used in a confusing variety of ways in Latin America by academics, policy‐makers, non‐governmental organizations and activists. This article explores the ambiguities in the usages of the concept over the last decade in a bid to rescue it from the danger of abandonment for having become all things to all people. If used rigorously, the concept remains a useful analytical tool for exploring the process and progress of democratization and capitalist development in Latin America. It encourages us to ask what difference a vibrant associational life can make to building more inclusive and sustainable democracies in Latin America. The case of Chile is used as an example of how ‘civil society’ opens up new questions for research in a country which many hail as the most successful example of economic and political liberalization in Latin America.     

Populist polarization and the slow death of democracy in Ecuador

This article analyses how the interactions between a strong populist government in Ecuador and a weak, divided, and inefficient internal opposition in a context of weak liberal institutions could lead to what Guillermo O'Donnell termed “the slow death of democracy”. Rafael Correa was elected with a substantive project of democratization understood as economic redistribution and social justice. His administration got rid of neoliberal policies and decaying traditional political parties, while simultaneously co-opting social movements, regulating civil society, and colonizing the public sphere. Because the judiciary was subordinated to Correa, social movement activists, journalists, and media owners could not use the legal system to resist Correa's crack down of civil society and regulation of the privately owned media. They took their grievances to supranational organizations like the Organization of American States. When these organizations stepped in to challenge Correa, his government denounced imperialist intervention in his nation's internal affairs, and advocated for the creation of new supranational institutions without US presence.     

Competing perspectives on democracy and democratization: assessing alternative models of democracy promoted in Central Asian states

This study examines alternative understandings of democracy and democracy promotion advanced by the US, EU, Russia and China in Central Asia using frame analysis. In the context of this study, ‘frames’ refer to the relatively cohesive sets of beliefs, categories and value judgements as well as specific ways in which these ideas are packaged for the targets of international democratization. The study assesses the implications of alternative representations of democracy promotion and competing models of governance for the prospects of democratization in Central Asia. It concludes that the substance of US and EU democracy promotion in Central Asia has neglected the cultural and political contexts of these states, while the Russian and Chinese models of governance and development have provided a better match to the interests of the ruling elites.     

The public sphere and local democracy

After summarizing some of the main criticisms of liberal democracy, this article examines proposals to overcome the malaise through the development of a strong public sphere or public spheres and/or the re‐invigoration of democracy at the local or municipal level. In particular attention will focus on the democratic potential at the local level of ‘citizens’ juries’.     

Cosmopolitan democracy and the national identity question in Europe and East Asia

This paper seeks to apply the idea of cosmopolitan democracyto the question of national identity in a comparative contextin the European Union and East Asia. The application of theidea of cosmopolitan democracy to East Asia is constrained bya number of factors, and hence cannot be understood as a universalconcept, but rather as a contingent regional phenomenon thatis dependent on certain conditions. The paper concludes thatEast Asia will find its own approach to the question of nationalidentity and that this has been demonstrated to some extentby China's handling of Hong Kong.