Democracies in crisis

The main contribution of this study is to identify democracies in the world that are at risk of becoming non-democracies. It is hypothesized that if democracies have a low level of legitimacy and have low effectiveness, they are at risk of becoming non-democratic regimes. These types of democracies are called weak democracies. Of the seven democracies that are identified as weak democracies between 2000 and 2010, the weakest of them, Mali, has already fallen. However, looking at the results of this study, it is not surprising that the democratic regime in Mali fell. The other six countries that are identified as weak democracies are Benin, Mongolia, Lesotho, El Salvador, Belize, and Mexico. The democratic regimes in these six weak democracies should be observed in more detail in the future to predict whether they are close to falling and losing their democratic institutions, or whether they will recover and no longer be weak democracies.     

Going South: capitalist crisis,systemic crisis,civilisational crisis

This article argues that the current protracted and severe financial and economic crisis is only one aspect of a larger multidimensional set of simultaneous and interacting crises on a global scale. The article constructs an overarching framework of analysis of this unique conjecture of global crises. The three principal crisis aspects are: an economic crisis of (over) accumulation of capital; a world systemic crisis (which includes a global centre-shift in the locus of production, growth and capital accumulation), and a hegemonic transition (which implies long term changes in global governance structures and institutions); and a worldwide civilisational crisis, situated in the sociohistorical structure itself, encompassing a comprehensive environmental crisis and the consequences of a lack of correspondence and coherence in the material and ideational structures of world order. In these ways, the global system is now `going south'. All three main aspects of the global crisis provoke and require commensurate radical social and political responses and self-protective measures, not only to restore systemic stability but to transform the world system.     

Africa's crisis

Africa in Economic Crisis. Edited by John Ravenhill. London: Macmillan, 1986. Pp.359. £35 and £14.95. ISBN 0 333 37173 9 and 37174 7.

Africa and the International Monetary Fund. Edited by Gerald K. Helleiner. Washington: International Monetary Fund, 1986. Pp.277. $10. ISBN 0 939934 61 2.

Strategies for African Development. Edited by Robert J. Berg and Jennifer Seymour Whitaker. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1986. Pp.603. £33.50 and £13.50. ISBN 0 520 05784 8 and 05782 1.

World Recession and the Food Crisis in Africa. Edited by Peter Lawrence. London: James Currey, 1986. Pp.314. £25 and £9.95. ISBN 0 85255 309 0 and 304 8.

Food in Sub‐Saharan Africa. Edited by Art Hansen and Della E. McMillan. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner; London: Frances Pinter, 1986. £28.50. Pp.410. ISBN 0 931477 59 X and 58 1 (Rienner)/0 86187 598 2 (Pinter).

Structural Distortions and Adjustment Programmes in the Poor Countries of Africa. By Hartmut Brandt, Ansgar Eussner, Hans Gsanger, Gudrun Lachenmann, Wolfgang Schneider‐Barthold and Wolfgang Zehender. Berlin: German Development Institute, 1985. Pp.377. DM20. ISBN 3 88985 042 1.     

The agricultural crisis in Egypt

The paper probes the historical origins of and current responses to the agricultural problems of Egypt. Much of the difficulty stems from the fact that the class structure, the distribution of resources, and the social bases of both Nasser's and Sadat's regime have blocked either the mobilization of the peasantry on the one hand or the provision of decentralized incentives on the other. After a brief assessment of Nasser's land reforms, price policies, and investment strategy, the current responses of changing crop patterns and mechanization are assessed. Such a strategy seems unlikely to succeed, but no other obvious alternative strategy is at hand.     

The impending crisis in development administration

Two questions are posed about development administration theory and practice. Does it offer apparent, plausible solutions to the recent and current crises of developing countries? Is it based upon a knowledge of the organizational terms and conditions which are necessary to advance human welfare? Current theory and practice are found to be wanting in both respects. An emphasis on comparative institutional analysis is suggested as one potential remedy for these weaknesses.