Jack Hayward (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198280354
- eISBN:
- 9780191599422
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198280351.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Are European elites losing touch with their peoples? The populist challenge to representative democracy is as old as democracy itself but its impact has differed between European countries. Should ...
More
Are European elites losing touch with their peoples? The populist challenge to representative democracy is as old as democracy itself but its impact has differed between European countries. Should elected representatives respond to people's demands or to their needs? Is the press a reliable source of public information and a critical check on governments and powerful interests? Are political parties effectively mediating between leaders and mass publics or do they face a legitimacy crisis? Are parliaments able to enforce government accountability? Can the European Union and national governments persuade their peoples to accept the necessity of economic constraints upon their demands? The challenge to political leaders in liberal democracies is to deal realistically with problems without provoking public alienation from the political process, a challenge that they are finding increasingly difficult to face successfully.Less
Are European elites losing touch with their peoples? The populist challenge to representative democracy is as old as democracy itself but its impact has differed between European countries. Should elected representatives respond to people's demands or to their needs? Is the press a reliable source of public information and a critical check on governments and powerful interests? Are political parties effectively mediating between leaders and mass publics or do they face a legitimacy crisis? Are parliaments able to enforce government accountability? Can the European Union and national governments persuade their peoples to accept the necessity of economic constraints upon their demands? The challenge to political leaders in liberal democracies is to deal realistically with problems without provoking public alienation from the political process, a challenge that they are finding increasingly difficult to face successfully.
Edward C. Page and Vincent Wright (eds)
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198294467
- eISBN:
- 9780191600067
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198294468.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Presents a comparative study of the senior civil service in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Greece, Denmark, and Sweden, which provides information about ...
More
Presents a comparative study of the senior civil service in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Greece, Denmark, and Sweden, which provides information about the structures and the composition of the higher civil service, and its position in the political structure. Explores how the higher civil service has developed in the light of the massive changes in European societies over the past thirty years. These changes include the size of the top level of the civil service, the growing social diversity of its ranks, and the tendency to recruit from outside the civil service. Also examines whether wider social changes, such as the democratization of education, the growth of interest groups, and the increasing importance of the European Union have an impact on the higher levels of bureaucracy and produce similar patterns of change throughout Europe.Less
Presents a comparative study of the senior civil service in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Greece, Denmark, and Sweden, which provides information about the structures and the composition of the higher civil service, and its position in the political structure. Explores how the higher civil service has developed in the light of the massive changes in European societies over the past thirty years. These changes include the size of the top level of the civil service, the growing social diversity of its ranks, and the tendency to recruit from outside the civil service. Also examines whether wider social changes, such as the democratization of education, the growth of interest groups, and the increasing importance of the European Union have an impact on the higher levels of bureaucracy and produce similar patterns of change throughout Europe.
Asifa Hussain and William Miller
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199280711
- eISBN:
- 9780191604102
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199280711.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
Since 9/11, multiculturalism has been under attack and Islamophobia has increased. Questions were placed in the 2003 British Social Attitudes Survey and its Scottish counterpart to compare the level ...
More
Since 9/11, multiculturalism has been under attack and Islamophobia has increased. Questions were placed in the 2003 British Social Attitudes Survey and its Scottish counterpart to compare the level of Islamophobia in Scotland and England. Islamophobia was significantly higher in England. Analysis showed that the majority population in Scotland differed significantly from the majority in England. In particular, English nationalism encouraged Islamophobia while Scottish nationalism did not. Unlike elite-level nationalists, street-level nationalists in Scotland were not particularly inclusive or multiculturalist compared to the majority of Scots. Street-level Scottish nationalists were less Islamophobic than the majority of English, and far less Islamophobic than street-level nationalists in England.Less
Since 9/11, multiculturalism has been under attack and Islamophobia has increased. Questions were placed in the 2003 British Social Attitudes Survey and its Scottish counterpart to compare the level of Islamophobia in Scotland and England. Islamophobia was significantly higher in England. Analysis showed that the majority population in Scotland differed significantly from the majority in England. In particular, English nationalism encouraged Islamophobia while Scottish nationalism did not. Unlike elite-level nationalists, street-level nationalists in Scotland were not particularly inclusive or multiculturalist compared to the majority of Scots. Street-level Scottish nationalists were less Islamophobic than the majority of English, and far less Islamophobic than street-level nationalists in England.
Paul Windolf
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199256976
- eISBN:
- 9780191719639
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199256976.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies
Corporate networks form part of the institutional structure of markets and the business environment, enabling firms to coordinate their behaviour and regulate competition. Networks perform a number ...
More
Corporate networks form part of the institutional structure of markets and the business environment, enabling firms to coordinate their behaviour and regulate competition. Networks perform a number of economic functions: they reduce information asymmetries and uncertainty, and facilitate the redistribution of risk between banks, firms, and investors. Within these networks, firms collectively monitor one another and owners supervise their managers. This book analyses comparative data on interlocking directorates and capital networks between large corporations in the United States and five countries in Europe: Germany, Great Britain, France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. The structure of corporate networks is shaped by the traditions, culture, and institutions of a country. Corporate networks may be considered as a configuration of firms that are connected to one another by managers (interlocks), or as a configuration of managers who meet each other on the board of directors (network of the economic elite). The resources on which the dominance of the economic elite is based are bureaucratic power, property rights, and social capital. Bureaucratic control over a company is linked with property rights in the context of specific network configurations that vary between countries and lead to differing forms of managerial control. In the transitional economies, the type of capitalism that is evolving somewhat resembles Western managerial capitalism, but with certain significant differences. Privatization created a relatively high concentration of ownership. There is no clear-cut separation of ownership and control, but rather a balance of power between managers and owners.Less
Corporate networks form part of the institutional structure of markets and the business environment, enabling firms to coordinate their behaviour and regulate competition. Networks perform a number of economic functions: they reduce information asymmetries and uncertainty, and facilitate the redistribution of risk between banks, firms, and investors. Within these networks, firms collectively monitor one another and owners supervise their managers. This book analyses comparative data on interlocking directorates and capital networks between large corporations in the United States and five countries in Europe: Germany, Great Britain, France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. The structure of corporate networks is shaped by the traditions, culture, and institutions of a country. Corporate networks may be considered as a configuration of firms that are connected to one another by managers (interlocks), or as a configuration of managers who meet each other on the board of directors (network of the economic elite). The resources on which the dominance of the economic elite is based are bureaucratic power, property rights, and social capital. Bureaucratic control over a company is linked with property rights in the context of specific network configurations that vary between countries and lead to differing forms of managerial control. In the transitional economies, the type of capitalism that is evolving somewhat resembles Western managerial capitalism, but with certain significant differences. Privatization created a relatively high concentration of ownership. There is no clear-cut separation of ownership and control, but rather a balance of power between managers and owners.
Elaine Chalus
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199280100
- eISBN:
- 9780191707087
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199280100.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
The conclusion makes a case for women's involvement in political life, arguing that it needs to be understood in context. By no means all women, even at the level of the political elite, were ...
More
The conclusion makes a case for women's involvement in political life, arguing that it needs to be understood in context. By no means all women, even at the level of the political elite, were politically active, yet women were an integral part of the political world of the 18th century. For many, involvement in political life was motivated by familial considerations, but the effectiveness of such involvement should not be underestimated. Furthermore, while questions about whether women made a difference might be hard to evaluate in national terms, in local or personal politics — in terms of places gained, preferments and promotions secured, votes won, and supporters wooed — there can be little doubt that they did.Less
The conclusion makes a case for women's involvement in political life, arguing that it needs to be understood in context. By no means all women, even at the level of the political elite, were politically active, yet women were an integral part of the political world of the 18th century. For many, involvement in political life was motivated by familial considerations, but the effectiveness of such involvement should not be underestimated. Furthermore, while questions about whether women made a difference might be hard to evaluate in national terms, in local or personal politics — in terms of places gained, preferments and promotions secured, votes won, and supporters wooed — there can be little doubt that they did.
G. E. R. Lloyd
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199567874
- eISBN:
- 9780191721649
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199567874.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
This introductory chapter outlines the strategy of the book as a whole. This book is an investigation of the different conceptions that have been entertained in eight major areas of human experience: ...
More
This introductory chapter outlines the strategy of the book as a whole. This book is an investigation of the different conceptions that have been entertained in eight major areas of human experience: philosophy, mathematics, history, medicine, art, law, religion, and science. One recurrent theme is the different ways in which those intellectual disciplines have developed in different ancient and modern societies and the roles of elites in such processes, both positive ones, in encouraging the professionalization of the investigation, and negative, when elites lay down restrictive definitions of the subject-matter concerned. A second is the need to challenge modern Western assumptions on the nature of each discipline. A third is the struggle between different disciplines for hegemonic status.Less
This introductory chapter outlines the strategy of the book as a whole. This book is an investigation of the different conceptions that have been entertained in eight major areas of human experience: philosophy, mathematics, history, medicine, art, law, religion, and science. One recurrent theme is the different ways in which those intellectual disciplines have developed in different ancient and modern societies and the roles of elites in such processes, both positive ones, in encouraging the professionalization of the investigation, and negative, when elites lay down restrictive definitions of the subject-matter concerned. A second is the need to challenge modern Western assumptions on the nature of each discipline. A third is the struggle between different disciplines for hegemonic status.
Paula C. Clarke
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198229926
- eISBN:
- 9780191678943
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198229926.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This account of the careers of two brothers, Tommaso and Niccolò Soderini, and their relationship with the Medici family opens up a new perspective on the political world of Renaissance Florence. The ...
More
This account of the careers of two brothers, Tommaso and Niccolò Soderini, and their relationship with the Medici family opens up a new perspective on the political world of Renaissance Florence. The Soderini were at different times supporters and adversaries of the Medici, whose rise to power remains the subject of historical debate. Based on hitherto unpublished sources, particularly from the archives of Florence and Milan, this book examines the nature of the ascendancy of the Medici and of the opposition to them, the sources of their power, the operation of their system of patronage, the bonds connecting one of the most successful political elites in Renaissance Italy, and the development of the political institutions of the Florentine state. It contributes to our understanding of the political and constitutional history of Florence.Less
This account of the careers of two brothers, Tommaso and Niccolò Soderini, and their relationship with the Medici family opens up a new perspective on the political world of Renaissance Florence. The Soderini were at different times supporters and adversaries of the Medici, whose rise to power remains the subject of historical debate. Based on hitherto unpublished sources, particularly from the archives of Florence and Milan, this book examines the nature of the ascendancy of the Medici and of the opposition to them, the sources of their power, the operation of their system of patronage, the bonds connecting one of the most successful political elites in Renaissance Italy, and the development of the political institutions of the Florentine state. It contributes to our understanding of the political and constitutional history of Florence.
Edward C. Page and Vincent Wright
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198294467
- eISBN:
- 9780191600067
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198294468.003.0013
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
The conclusion starts by noting that there are clearly highly diverse trends in the development of bureaucracy in Western Europe, and that, although in some countries patterns of change are quite ...
More
The conclusion starts by noting that there are clearly highly diverse trends in the development of bureaucracy in Western Europe, and that, although in some countries patterns of change are quite distinct, change does not appear to have followed any one expected pattern or scale. It then looks at two central questions for the role of bureaucracy: its political controllability and efficiency. These enable us to point to differences in broad underlying principles that reflect how different countries have traditionally understood and dealt with these two central problems, allow us to make important distinctions between different forms of bureaucracies, and explore the causes and character of changes in the senior ranks of post‐war bureaucracies. The two central questions are then examined in sections on political control, performance, managerial changes, and changes in political control. The concluding section finds that there is a common theme underlying the development of relationships between bureaucratic and political elites that applies to most of the country studies: a deinstitutionalization or personalization of political trust. Understood as a question of trust, change in bureaucracy is linked to much wider political changes that have been identified outside the literature on bureaucracy.Less
The conclusion starts by noting that there are clearly highly diverse trends in the development of bureaucracy in Western Europe, and that, although in some countries patterns of change are quite distinct, change does not appear to have followed any one expected pattern or scale. It then looks at two central questions for the role of bureaucracy: its political controllability and efficiency. These enable us to point to differences in broad underlying principles that reflect how different countries have traditionally understood and dealt with these two central problems, allow us to make important distinctions between different forms of bureaucracies, and explore the causes and character of changes in the senior ranks of post‐war bureaucracies. The two central questions are then examined in sections on political control, performance, managerial changes, and changes in political control. The concluding section finds that there is a common theme underlying the development of relationships between bureaucratic and political elites that applies to most of the country studies: a deinstitutionalization or personalization of political trust. Understood as a question of trust, change in bureaucracy is linked to much wider political changes that have been identified outside the literature on bureaucracy.
Mark Mazower
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198202059
- eISBN:
- 9780191675126
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198202059.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, Economic History
The great depression of the inter-war years was the most profound shock ever to strike the world economy, and is widely held to have led directly to the collapse of parliamentary democracy in many ...
More
The great depression of the inter-war years was the most profound shock ever to strike the world economy, and is widely held to have led directly to the collapse of parliamentary democracy in many countries. This study of Greece in the period between the two world wars, however, demonstrates that there was no simple correlation between economic and political crisis. How was an underdeveloped country such as Greece able to recover so fast from this unprecedented economic crisis? This book examines the complex processes involved, basing analysis on detailed statistical research. Recovery, like crisis, threatened prevailing notions of the relationship between state and society, and undermined traditional ruling elites.Less
The great depression of the inter-war years was the most profound shock ever to strike the world economy, and is widely held to have led directly to the collapse of parliamentary democracy in many countries. This study of Greece in the period between the two world wars, however, demonstrates that there was no simple correlation between economic and political crisis. How was an underdeveloped country such as Greece able to recover so fast from this unprecedented economic crisis? This book examines the complex processes involved, basing analysis on detailed statistical research. Recovery, like crisis, threatened prevailing notions of the relationship between state and society, and undermined traditional ruling elites.
Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- November 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199261185
- eISBN:
- 9780191601507
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199261180.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
Two related historical facts welcomed liberal democracy or the liberal-democratic state. On one hand, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, social contract theory imposed a major setback to ...
More
Two related historical facts welcomed liberal democracy or the liberal-democratic state. On one hand, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, social contract theory imposed a major setback to the divine legitimacy of political rulers. On the other hand, the capitalist revolution–embracing the mercantile, the industrial, and the liberal revolutions–changed the basic way of appropriating the economic surplus. This no longer depended on the state’s control but increasingly depended on the realization of profits in the market. For the first time in history, authoritarian regimes ceased to be a necessary condition for the ruling classes’ survival. Democracy turned gradually into synonym of the good state. Eventually, with the acknowledgement of political rights–specifically of universal suffrage––liberal democracy emerged. This process took one century–the time for the bourgeois ruling class to stop fearing expropriation by the poor who democracy entitled to vote.Less
Two related historical facts welcomed liberal democracy or the liberal-democratic state. On one hand, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, social contract theory imposed a major setback to the divine legitimacy of political rulers. On the other hand, the capitalist revolution–embracing the mercantile, the industrial, and the liberal revolutions–changed the basic way of appropriating the economic surplus. This no longer depended on the state’s control but increasingly depended on the realization of profits in the market. For the first time in history, authoritarian regimes ceased to be a necessary condition for the ruling classes’ survival. Democracy turned gradually into synonym of the good state. Eventually, with the acknowledgement of political rights–specifically of universal suffrage––liberal democracy emerged. This process took one century–the time for the bourgeois ruling class to stop fearing expropriation by the poor who democracy entitled to vote.
Richard J. Goodrich
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199213139
- eISBN:
- 9780191695841
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199213139.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This book examines the attempt by the 5th-century ascetic writer John Cassian to influence and shape the development of Western monasticism. The book's close analysis of Cassian's earliest work (The ...
More
This book examines the attempt by the 5th-century ascetic writer John Cassian to influence and shape the development of Western monasticism. The book's close analysis of Cassian's earliest work (The Institutes) focuses on his interaction with the values and preconceptions of a traditional Roman elite, as well as his engagement with contemporary writers. By placing The Institutes in context, the book demonstrates just how revolutionary this foundational work was for its time and milieu.Less
This book examines the attempt by the 5th-century ascetic writer John Cassian to influence and shape the development of Western monasticism. The book's close analysis of Cassian's earliest work (The Institutes) focuses on his interaction with the values and preconceptions of a traditional Roman elite, as well as his engagement with contemporary writers. By placing The Institutes in context, the book demonstrates just how revolutionary this foundational work was for its time and milieu.
John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- August 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199266579
- eISBN:
- 9780191601446
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199266573.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
This chapter criticizes five popular arguments central to the thinking of liberal integrationists: (i) extremist political and religious elites are responsible for conflicts; (ii) conflicts have ...
More
This chapter criticizes five popular arguments central to the thinking of liberal integrationists: (i) extremist political and religious elites are responsible for conflicts; (ii) conflicts have fundamental economic and material foundations; (iii) conflicts flow from archaic religious and non-religious political cultures; (iv) segregation is the key social and structural cause of conflict; and (v) individual discrimination is the primary motor of conflict. The authors insist instead on the ethno-national nature of the conflict and the need for appropriate political means to address this.Less
This chapter criticizes five popular arguments central to the thinking of liberal integrationists: (i) extremist political and religious elites are responsible for conflicts; (ii) conflicts have fundamental economic and material foundations; (iii) conflicts flow from archaic religious and non-religious political cultures; (iv) segregation is the key social and structural cause of conflict; and (v) individual discrimination is the primary motor of conflict. The authors insist instead on the ethno-national nature of the conflict and the need for appropriate political means to address this.
Evan Mawdsley and Stephen White
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198297383
- eISBN:
- 9780191599842
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198297386.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Russian Politics
The USSR was dominated by its ruling Communist Party, and the party was in turn dominated by a political elite that was represented in its Central Committee. Nearly two thousand individuals were ...
More
The USSR was dominated by its ruling Communist Party, and the party was in turn dominated by a political elite that was represented in its Central Committee. Nearly two thousand individuals were members of the Central Committee between 1917 and 1991, who may be divided into four distinct political generations from the professional revolutionaries born in the late nineteenth century to the post‐war generation that was beginning to enter the political elite in the Gorbachev years. There were considerable variations over time in the characteristics of the Central Committee, including the extent to which its membership was replaced at successive party congresses. But a close relationship developed between particular occupational positions and Central Committee membership, a ‘job‐slot’ system that lasted until the final years of communist rule. The Central Committee as an institution was generally marginal to the political process. But it met more frequently and took more decisions in the 1920s and late 1980s, and on several occasions, its meetings were decisive in resolving leadership conflicts; they also ventilated policy alternatives, and sometimes disagreements. In the last years of communist rule, the elite sought increasingly to transform their positions of political power into the more enduring advantage of property, and this allowed many of them to maintain their elite status into the post‐communist period. As well as printed sources, the study draws on recently opened party archives and about a hundred interviews with members of the Brezhnev‐era Central Committee.Less
The USSR was dominated by its ruling Communist Party, and the party was in turn dominated by a political elite that was represented in its Central Committee. Nearly two thousand individuals were members of the Central Committee between 1917 and 1991, who may be divided into four distinct political generations from the professional revolutionaries born in the late nineteenth century to the post‐war generation that was beginning to enter the political elite in the Gorbachev years. There were considerable variations over time in the characteristics of the Central Committee, including the extent to which its membership was replaced at successive party congresses. But a close relationship developed between particular occupational positions and Central Committee membership, a ‘job‐slot’ system that lasted until the final years of communist rule. The Central Committee as an institution was generally marginal to the political process. But it met more frequently and took more decisions in the 1920s and late 1980s, and on several occasions, its meetings were decisive in resolving leadership conflicts; they also ventilated policy alternatives, and sometimes disagreements. In the last years of communist rule, the elite sought increasingly to transform their positions of political power into the more enduring advantage of property, and this allowed many of them to maintain their elite status into the post‐communist period. As well as printed sources, the study draws on recently opened party archives and about a hundred interviews with members of the Brezhnev‐era Central Committee.
Futoshi Yamauchi
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780198292746
- eISBN:
- 9780191603891
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198292740.003.0011
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, South and East Asia
This chapter examines the ‘industrial policy’ executed in the industrial district, Kawamata. The local government and associations made various attempts to support the development of silk weaving ...
More
This chapter examines the ‘industrial policy’ executed in the industrial district, Kawamata. The local government and associations made various attempts to support the development of silk weaving industry. An investigation into these practices and actions, as well as the conflicts within the regions, shows that both the silk traders and the rural elites played key roles in the process. Their activities were motivated by the widespread understanding within the region that the rural elites had to take responsibility for the development of the regional economy.Less
This chapter examines the ‘industrial policy’ executed in the industrial district, Kawamata. The local government and associations made various attempts to support the development of silk weaving industry. An investigation into these practices and actions, as well as the conflicts within the regions, shows that both the silk traders and the rural elites played key roles in the process. Their activities were motivated by the widespread understanding within the region that the rural elites had to take responsibility for the development of the regional economy.
Jan Zielonka (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199244089
- eISBN:
- 9780191600364
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199244081.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
This is the first volume in a two‐volume series focusing on two major influences on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe—institutional engineering and transnational pressures. Volume 1 analyses ...
More
This is the first volume in a two‐volume series focusing on two major influences on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe—institutional engineering and transnational pressures. Volume 1 analyses constraints on and opportunities for institutional engineering in Eastern Europe: to what extent elites in Eastern Europe have been able to shape, if not manipulate, the politics of democratic consolidation through institutional means and how. The aim is to juxtapose a set of democracy theories with empirical evidence accumulated in Eastern Europe over the course of the last 10 years. The volume tries to avoid complex debates about definitions, methods, and the uses and misuses of comparative research. Instead, it tries to establish what has really happened in the region and which theories have proved helpful in explaining those developments. The volume begins with a presentation of conceptual and comparative frameworks, followed by in‐depth empirical analyses of the 13 individual countries undergoing democratic consolidation. The empirical case studies deal with the following countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, and Poland. The conclusions evaluate the enormous impact of institutions on development of democracy in Eastern Europe and show that constitutional design is central to the process of democratic consolidation.Less
This is the first volume in a two‐volume series focusing on two major influences on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe—institutional engineering and transnational pressures. Volume 1 analyses constraints on and opportunities for institutional engineering in Eastern Europe: to what extent elites in Eastern Europe have been able to shape, if not manipulate, the politics of democratic consolidation through institutional means and how. The aim is to juxtapose a set of democracy theories with empirical evidence accumulated in Eastern Europe over the course of the last 10 years. The volume tries to avoid complex debates about definitions, methods, and the uses and misuses of comparative research. Instead, it tries to establish what has really happened in the region and which theories have proved helpful in explaining those developments. The volume begins with a presentation of conceptual and comparative frameworks, followed by in‐depth empirical analyses of the 13 individual countries undergoing democratic consolidation. The empirical case studies deal with the following countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, and Poland. The conclusions evaluate the enormous impact of institutions on development of democracy in Eastern Europe and show that constitutional design is central to the process of democratic consolidation.
Matthew Flinders
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199271603
- eISBN:
- 9780191709241
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199271603.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics, Political Economy
Delegation is not a new phenomenon. This chapter illustrates the persistence, growth, and evolution of delegated governance from the earliest stages of state development in Britain through to the ...
More
Delegation is not a new phenomenon. This chapter illustrates the persistence, growth, and evolution of delegated governance from the earliest stages of state development in Britain through to the first decade of the 21st century. It reveals the long-term bureaucratic layering which has occurred, and considers why political elites failed to take advantage of specific windows of opportunity when broad reform initiative could have been introduced.Less
Delegation is not a new phenomenon. This chapter illustrates the persistence, growth, and evolution of delegated governance from the earliest stages of state development in Britain through to the first decade of the 21st century. It reveals the long-term bureaucratic layering which has occurred, and considers why political elites failed to take advantage of specific windows of opportunity when broad reform initiative could have been introduced.
Evan Mawdsley and Stephen White
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198297383
- eISBN:
- 9780191599842
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198297386.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Russian Politics
The Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party, which constituted the political elite of Soviet Russia, was in Lenin's time, relatively homogeneous and was entirely composed of people who had ...
More
The Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party, which constituted the political elite of Soviet Russia, was in Lenin's time, relatively homogeneous and was entirely composed of people who had been members of the underground Bolshevik party. It is, however, possible to make some differentiation between members of this Central Committee elite, and two examples of ‘types’, one from the intelligentsia and one from the working class, are N. N. Krestinskii and A. A. Andreev. Even in this period, the Central Committee was not a policy‐making body, but all its members were important policymakers in other party and state organs.Less
The Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party, which constituted the political elite of Soviet Russia, was in Lenin's time, relatively homogeneous and was entirely composed of people who had been members of the underground Bolshevik party. It is, however, possible to make some differentiation between members of this Central Committee elite, and two examples of ‘types’, one from the intelligentsia and one from the working class, are N. N. Krestinskii and A. A. Andreev. Even in this period, the Central Committee was not a policy‐making body, but all its members were important policymakers in other party and state organs.
Evan Mawdsley and Stephen White
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198297383
- eISBN:
- 9780191599842
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198297386.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Russian Politics
After 1923 the size of the Central Committee increased, but membership was still overwhelmingly made up of pre‐1917 party members or Old Bolsheviks. The system of ‘job‐slot representation’ quickly ...
More
After 1923 the size of the Central Committee increased, but membership was still overwhelmingly made up of pre‐1917 party members or Old Bolsheviks. The system of ‘job‐slot representation’ quickly took shape and approached maturity in 1934. Ironically, this apparent stability coincided with the destruction of much of the ‘first generation’ leadership in Stalin's purges of 1937‐38. Two examples of new leaders who added to the CC in the 1920s and early 1930s, who had much in common with the makers of the 1917 revolution and who fell victim to the purges, were I. M. Vareikis and P. O. Liubchenko. The involvement of the Central Committee in the purges was complex, and its great extent was partly explained by the integrated nature of the elite.Less
After 1923 the size of the Central Committee increased, but membership was still overwhelmingly made up of pre‐1917 party members or Old Bolsheviks. The system of ‘job‐slot representation’ quickly took shape and approached maturity in 1934. Ironically, this apparent stability coincided with the destruction of much of the ‘first generation’ leadership in Stalin's purges of 1937‐38. Two examples of new leaders who added to the CC in the 1920s and early 1930s, who had much in common with the makers of the 1917 revolution and who fell victim to the purges, were I. M. Vareikis and P. O. Liubchenko. The involvement of the Central Committee in the purges was complex, and its great extent was partly explained by the integrated nature of the elite.
Evan Mawdsley and Stephen White
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198297383
- eISBN:
- 9780191599842
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198297386.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Russian Politics
The purges were followed by a very high turnover of members of the Central Committee and in effect a new generation of leaders appeared, younger and more from the mass of workers and peasants than ...
More
The purges were followed by a very high turnover of members of the Central Committee and in effect a new generation of leaders appeared, younger and more from the mass of workers and peasants than their predecessors. Members of this ‘second generation’ would dominate Soviet politics until the 1980s. The job‐slot system continued in the form it had reached in 1934, although there was now more stability and personal security. Examples of a new Stalinist generation were N. S. Baibakov and N. K. Patolichev, one a technocrat, the other a party generalist. The Central Committee was also much larger now, but had less real influence in politics, compared to the supreme leader and the Politburo/Presidium.Less
The purges were followed by a very high turnover of members of the Central Committee and in effect a new generation of leaders appeared, younger and more from the mass of workers and peasants than their predecessors. Members of this ‘second generation’ would dominate Soviet politics until the 1980s. The job‐slot system continued in the form it had reached in 1934, although there was now more stability and personal security. Examples of a new Stalinist generation were N. S. Baibakov and N. K. Patolichev, one a technocrat, the other a party generalist. The Central Committee was also much larger now, but had less real influence in politics, compared to the supreme leader and the Politburo/Presidium.
Evan Mawdsley and Stephen White
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198297383
- eISBN:
- 9780191599842
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198297386.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Russian Politics
Although there was turmoil in this period with the rise and fall of N. S. Khrushchev, there was stability in the role and make up of the Central Committee elite. The events of 1957 and the ...
More
Although there was turmoil in this period with the rise and fall of N. S. Khrushchev, there was stability in the role and make up of the Central Committee elite. The events of 1957 and the ‘anti‐party group’ strengthened the power of the CC elite as a collective. That the membership was similar to that of the late Stalin years is shown by the careers of N. I. Zhurin, V. N. Novikov, and N. G. Egorychev, representative of regional agricultural leaders, technocrats, and the party bureaucracy, respectively. The CC elite saw itself as more of a coherent and privileged group during this periodLess
Although there was turmoil in this period with the rise and fall of N. S. Khrushchev, there was stability in the role and make up of the Central Committee elite. The events of 1957 and the ‘anti‐party group’ strengthened the power of the CC elite as a collective. That the membership was similar to that of the late Stalin years is shown by the careers of N. I. Zhurin, V. N. Novikov, and N. G. Egorychev, representative of regional agricultural leaders, technocrats, and the party bureaucracy, respectively. The CC elite saw itself as more of a coherent and privileged group during this period
