Democracy and power-sharing in stormy weather : the case of Lebanon
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Democracy and power-sharing in stormy weather : the case of Lebanon
（VS research）
VS, Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2009
Available at / 1 libraries
-
Library, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization図
MELE||32||D118009720
-
No Libraries matched.
- Remove all filters.
Note
Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--Universität Freiburg im Breisgau, 2007
Includes bibliographical references (p. [455]-477)
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Is democracy possible only in homogeneous societies? Does heterogeneity - clude a stable democracy? Throughout history, ethnic, linguistic, or religious homogeneity whether by circumstance, coercion, or choice, has seemingly been conducive to democracy. In France, democracy was established after the impo- tion of religious uniformity and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The United States pulled in immigrants who renounced their original affiliations to forge a new identity in a newly born state. Still, defying assumptions, democracies have emerged in heterogeneous states such as the Swiss Confederation, the Successor States of the Holy Roman Empire and, later, those carved out of the previous colonial empires. One common feature is the failure of - often violent - attempts to enforce homogeneity, or the lack of any such attempt in the first place. In the course of time, these divided societies have learned to live in diversity, to pacify their differences, and to find a path - wards peace or at least accommodation. In sum, they went beyond forms of se- rating powers to sharing power. Whether defined by ethnicity, language, religion, or even ideology, communities agreed to a pact on participating in a joint gove- ment based on proportional or even equal representation. It is noteworthy that political systems based on power-sharing were long marg- al in mainstream political science which laid an emphasis on democratic tran- tions in homogeneous societies and on socio-economic or cultural prerequisites that facilitate the rise of democracy.
Table of Contents
Review and critique of the literature on consociational democracy - pre-war Lebanon: a dance into the abyss of consociationalism - post-war Lebanon: the lost republic's peregrinations - post-war Lebanon's long and perilous road - what about post-war consociationalism - crafting a consociationalism democracy: the limits of the self-negating prophecy
by "Nielsen BookData"
