Reviews for Democracy by force

The average rating for Democracy by force based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-12-04 00:00:00 Amanda Winborne Catharin Dalpino's "Deferring Democracy" has a telling subtitle: "Promoting Openness in Authoritarian Regimes." The Foreword (by Michael Armacost) notes that (page vii) "The democratic revolution that marked the end of the cold war was an incomplete one." Later, he claims that a number of formerly hard authoritarian regimes have softened somewhat and, he goes on to say, this creates space for Dalpino's contention that such countries provide (page vii) ". . .an eye to entry points for external actors to encourage greater political openness." However, this must be done with care, insight, and sensitivity. Elsewhere, a 2002 U.N. study reported that only 82 out of 140 countries that have had held "democratic" elections since 1980 could also claim a free press and an independent judiciary (United Nations Development Programme, 2002) (Indeed, Albert Somit and I, in our "Darwinism, Dominance, and Democracy," contend that too many analysts are way too willing to define countries as democratic when that may not actually be the case). Nor were "democratic" constitutions a reliable indicator. As the study director remarked, "We are seeing a rise of the situation where the constitution is barely respected, especially in Latin America." Further worsening the situation was the tendency for the military to intervene in civil affairs in the Far East and in sub-Sahara Africa. Endorsing the study's conclusions, Dalpino, a Brookings Institution fellow, in another publication criticized ". . .the international community [for:] forcing democracy in a hothouse atmosphere. . .[you:] can't manipulate a country into democracy. You can manipulate a country into an election." Chapter 5 is the culmination of the short work, with a set of "lessons." The title aptly illustrates the focus: "Supporting Liberalization without Sinking It." Among specific policy suggestions: Take a disciplined approach to rhetoric; Pay attention to country specialists' expertise in policy decisions regarding specific countries; Don't personalize the process; Work through regional networks and institutions, but let regional norms take the lead. Readers may disagree with these and the other suggestions. But her points need to be addressed seriously by those with other perspectives toward change. In this book, she provides suggestions as to how we might move formerly authoritarian countries toward greater openness and democracy. She cautions that we must be sensitive to such countries and cannot let ideological rigidity shape our policy toward them. She concludes by noting that (page 108): "The polarization of policy debate toward these countries--indeed the paralysis of policy in many cases--can be attributed to the search for automatic mechanisms, be they ideology or economics. This study argues that wishful thinking should be abandoned. . . ."

Review # 2 was written on 2013-06-08 00:00:00 William Harmon All I'm going to say is that Harvard and P.J.'s story made the top of my "this is how to lose your virginity" list! An excellent addition to the "Tall, Dark, and Dangerous" series. Enjoy!