This is a very simple essay, arguing that Dewey's emphasis on democracy as a social rather than a political system that aims to create a 'great community' or 'community of communities' must be supplemented by more 'realism' about the basis of democratic politics in practice, and less...

In this study on the relationship between the quality of government institutions and civil war we examine the effect of bureaucracy quality on the risk of civil war in different institutional settings. In autocratic regimes governments cannot rely on mass media, opinion polls, public expressions...

The paper presents a critical assessment of the conception of democracy in regimes that have formerly passed through democratization process and the new role played by military and police.The literature on Democracy assert that must regimes in Latin America have returned or built a new...

Much of the scholarship on democratization has a myopic focus on economic conditions. Using Afrobarometer, Asianbarometer and the Latinobarometer survey data, the authors examine how crime victimization and perceptions of crime influence citizens' trust in political institutions and attitudes...

The paper argues that democratic institutions become more effective as conflict reducing mechanisms in the presence of elements of socio-economic development. An empirical analysis confirms that there is a strong interactive effect between development and democracy. Low-income democracies are at...

This paper develops a model of electoral targeting in multi-party systems. Seat-share maximizing parties can use policy transfers to win votes by 1) converting undecided voters, 2) mobilizing loyal supporters, or 3) lowering the turn-out of voters loyal to other parties. The model allows for the...

The Bundestag elections of 2009 meant a crushing defeat for the German social democrats. Never before had a party faced losses at such a high percentage in post-war Germany. The paper argues that these losses were not incurred at the margin but at the core of the social democrats' traditional...