Post-conflict elections and the process of demilitarizing politics: the role of electoral administration

Post-conflict elections are called upon to advance the distinct processes of both war termination and democratization. This article examines the patterns in seven cases where elections served as the final step to implement a peace agreement following a period of civil war. Such elections are shaped in part by the legacy of fear and insecurity that persists in the immediate aftermath of a protracted internal conflict. Comparative analysis suggests that interim regimes in general, and electoral administration in particular, based on joint problem solving and consultation may ‘demilitarize politics’ and help transform the institutions of war into institutions capable of sustaining peace and democratization. In Mozambique, El Salvador and, to an extent, Cambodia, processes to demilitarize politics prior to elections created a context that allowed the elections to advance both peace and democratization. In the other cases, politics remained highly militarized at the time of the vote, leading either to renewed conflict (Angola) or the electoral ratification of the militarized institutions of the civil war (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Liberia, Tajikistan). Interim electoral commissions provide an important opportunity to demilitarize politics by building consultative mechanisms and norms that increase confidence in the peace process and the legitimacy of the post-conflict elections.     

Microstate Democracy: Majority or Consensus; Diffusion or Problem-Solving?

While several studies suggest that small country size is conducive to democracy, the understanding of this link between smallness and democracy is still less than complete. By examining the nature and profile of microstate democracy in the year 2005, this article aims at promoting a better understanding. Two research tasks are pursued. First, the article investigates if microstate democracy is predominantly about majority democracy, or alternatively consensus democracy, or a blend of majority and consensus. Second, while testing the validity of diffusion and rationality assumptions for explaining country choices of democratic form, the article aims at drawing forth a better appreciation of the foundations of microstate democracy. The findings indicate that smallness is particularly conducive to majority democracy, and that diffusion goes a long way to explain this small state preference for majority rule. However, the microstates within the majoritarian framework are often inclined to resort to non-majoritarian choices, and elements of rationality are therefore in the picture as well. Small size does not appear to associate systematically with culture to the exclusion of rationality or with rationality to the exclusion of culture.     

Assessing the shifting qualities of democratic citizenship: The case of South Korea

The consolidation of nascent democratic rule requires ordinary citizens to have certain basic qualities of democratic citizenship. To understand these qualities, this study proposes and explicates the notion of citizen sophistication with regard to democratic politics in South Korea, a country widely regarded as one of the most successful new democracies. Analysis of the Korea Democracy Barometer surveys, 1996–2001, reveals that the proposed notion of sophistication about democratic politics can serve as a useful new tool for evaluating and monitoring the shifting qualities of democratic citizenship in newly democratizing countries. The same analysis also shows that Korea faces a gross deficiency and notable decline in the cognitive, affective and behavioural qualities of democratic citizenship. These findings seem to indicate that the challenge of promoting mass sophistication about democratic politics may constitute the most intractable task of democratization.     

The role of nonformal education in promoting democratic attitudes: Findings from Senegal

Civic education has been considered a way in which the behaviours and attitudes associated with democratic citizenship can be fostered among the members of a society. Since the emerging democracies are hard-pressed to develop a political culture supportive of democratic rule, civic education has been identified as one way such a political culture can be constructed. Recent studies, however, point to the limited reach of such programmes in sub-Saharan Africa. Based on survey data, others have failed to find even a relationship between formal education and democratic attitudes in parts of Africa. On the other hand, despite the prominence nonformal education has gained in many developing countries, such as those in Africa, the effect of nonformal education on political attitudes has not been subject to empirical testing. Using data from a survey involving a probability sample of 1,484 Senegalese citizens, this article examines the effects of education, both formal and nonformal, on political attitudes among rural Senegalese. Both nonformal and formal education are found to increase the likelihood that people will embrace democratic, tolerant attitudes in Senegal.     

Trade Liberalisation,the Peso,and Mexico's Commodity Trade Flows with the United States

We assess the effects of real peso devaluations, as well as the effects of GATT and NAFTA, on Mexico's in-payments and out-payments with the United States for 102 industries. We find that relatively few trade flows are sensitive to changes in the real exchange rate, probably due to production-sharing and intra-industry trade, but devaluations affect Mexican imports more than exports. Trade liberalisation has had a larger impact, particularly on imports of intermediate goods and exports of certain manufactures. Many affected export industries are ones that have previously been shown to have economies of scale.     

Discerning Interrelationships among the Knowledge,Competencies, and Roles of Project Managers in the Planning and Implementation of Public Sector Projects

This study uses information gleaned from a sample of 102 public sector project managers to assess the interrelationships among project manager roles, responsibilities, and competencies in the planning and implementation stages of the project life cycle. The results of confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling revealed that project managers use different subsets of their skills to influence outcomes at these two stages of the project. For example, while the project manager's organizational and technical skills tend to have some influence during the project planning stage, managerial, leadership and people skills appear to have more influence during the project implementation stage. Implications of these and our other findings for the practice of project management in public sector organizations are discussed.     

Party penetration of society in Hong Kong: The role of mutual aid committees and political parties

Party penetration of society can be illuminated by the study of how political parties in Hong Kong have been infiltrating Mutual Aid Committees (MACs), which are housing organisations in private and public buildings. While “administrative absorption of politics” was viewed as a hallmark of Hong Kong under British rule during the 1970s, political penetration of local administration has emerged as the feature of the body politic since the 1990s. The colonial government's neglect of the MACs in the 1990s has been inherited by the post‐colonial administration since the transfer of Hong Kong's sovereignty in 1997. On the other hand, some MACs have penetrated political parties because they find that the government has swept them under the carpet and that parties can deliver various constituent services. This interpenetration of parties and MACs is an enduring feature of grassroots politics in Hong Kong today.     

The highway of Europe and Asia

The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient. By Henri Frankfort. The Pelican History of Art. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Essex. 1954. Pp. xxvi + 270; 192 plates and 117 figures in the text. Price 42s.

The History and Culture of the Indian People. The Classical Age. By Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Bombay: Arthur Probsthain. 1554. Pp. lx + 745, with four maps and 43 plates (two, of Ajanta paintings, in colour).

Malaya, Indonesia, Borneo and the Philippines. By Charles Robequain. Translated by E. D. Laborde. Longmans. 1954. Pp. 456; 15 photographs, 36 maps, bibliography and index. 30s.

Iran. By Professor R. Ghirshman. Translated from the French for the Pelican Series. 1951 (1954, translation). 5s.

A Bibliography of Painting in Islam. By K. A. C. Creswell. (Publications de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale du Caire : Art Islamique, tome I.) Cairo, 1953.

The Arabian Peninsula. By Richard Sangar. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York. 1954. Pp. 296. Ill. $5.

Qataban and Sheba. Exploring Ancient Kingdoms on the Biblical Spice‐routes of Arabia. By Wendell Phillips. Gollancz. 1955. Pp. 335. Ill. Price 21s.

The Old Turkey and the New. From Byzantium to Ankara. By Sir Harry Luke, K.C.M.G., D.Litt. London : Geoffrey Bles. 1955. Pp. 233. 16s.

The Sūfi Path of Love. An Anthology of Sūfism. Compiled by Margaret Smith, D.Lit. Luzac and Co. 1954. Pp. 154. 21s.

The Road to Mecca. By Muhammad Asad. London: Max Reinhardt. 1954. Pp. xiii + 381. Illustrated. 21s.

Danger in Kashmir. By Josef Korbel. With a Foreword by C. W. Nimitz, Fleet Admiral, U.S.N. Princeton (New Jersey) University Press. 1954. Pp. xvi + 351. Two maps drawn by Waldo R. Barton. Oxford University Press, London. $5.

The Life of Lord Roberts. By David James. (Foreword by L. S. Amery, C.H.) London : Hollis and Carter. 1954. 5¾” × 8¾”. Pp. xxiii + 503; Index, 18 maps, 16 illustrations. 30s. net.

Jinnah. By Hector Bolitho. John Murray. London. 1954. Pp. 244. Ill. 18s.

Tibetan Marches. By André Migot. London : Rupert Hart‐Davis. Pp. 288; 40 illustrations; 2 maps. 18s.

South Col. By Wilfrid Noyce. Heinemann. London. 1954. Pp. 303; 40 plates with line drawings and maps. 21s.

Journey by Junk. By Willard Price. Wm. Heinemann Ltd. 1954. Pp. 219 and Index. Illustrated. 18s.

The Indus Civilization. By Sir Mortimer Wheeler. A supplementary volume to the Cambridge History of India. Cambridge University Press. Pp. 95 and xxiv plates of illustrations. 18s.

Iran. By Richard N. Frye. George Allen and Unwin. London. 1954. Pp. 120; 2 sketch‐maps. 7¼” × 4¼”. 8s. 6d.

Al Yemen. A General Social, Political and Economic Survey. By Dr. Gamal‐Eddine Heyworth‐Dunne. Cairo: Renaissance Bookshop. 1952. Pp. X + 118; sketch‐map. 50 piastres.

Report from Malaya. By Vernon Bartlett. Published by Derek Verschoyle. 1954. Pp. 128. Ill. 10s. 6d.

Babylonian and Assyrian Religion. By S. H. Hooke. London: Hutchinson's University Library. 1953. Pp. 128. 8s. 6d.     

Some recent additions to the library

Richard Calland &; Paul Graham (Eds), IDASA's Democracy Index — Democracy in the Time of Mbeki, Cape Town: Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA), Cape Town, 2005, R150, 252 pages.

Pieter Wolvaardt, A Diplomat's Story: Apartheid and Beyond, 1969–1998, South Africa: Galago Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1–919854–15–0, R225, 336 pages.

Greg Mills, The Security Intersection: The Paradox of Power in an Age of Terror, Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2005, 321 pages.

Hugh Pope, Sons of the Conquerors. The Rise of the Turkic World, New York: Overlook Duckworth, 2005. ISBN 1–58567–641–1. 413 pages.     

El régimen jurídico de la mediación civil y mercantil en conflictos transfronterizos en españa tras la ley 5/2012, de 6 de julio

This article analyzes in depth the regulation set forth by the Act 5/2012, of 6-7 as regards cross-border mediation. The article addresses some essential issues of this institution. Thus, the regulation of the agreement to mediate; the role played by mediators, their training and the recognition of their status; the law applicable to the merits of the dispute or the foreign recognition of any agreement reached between the parties after a mediation procedure are some of the issues studied in this article. The analysis highlights the relevance of the Act 5/2012 in Spain for promoting the use of mediation in Spain. But at the same time it shows the need for the Act to be fully implemented in order to solve some of the questions and problems that it still raises.