<p>This is a study of whether it is possible for the governmental form of democracy to be ap-plicable in states that have not had democracy as their governmental form earlier in their political history. In this thesis the concept of liberal democracy is the major theory used as well as the concepts of rule of law and civil society. After giving a description of the con-cepts the thesis continues with two chapters that respectively describe and explain the states of Belarus and Cuba. The two states are going to be used in the analysis at the end of this thesis.</p><p>The analysis includes several conditions to asses if democracy exists. These conditions are derived from the chapters on democracy and rule of law. In the analysis the states of Bela-rus and Cuba are analyzed based on the conditions derived from the chapters on democra-cy and rule of law. The results of the concluding discussion are that the probability for de-mocracy to survive in Cuba is higher than in Belarus because Cuba seems to be transition from an authoritarian form of regime to a form o f democracy. In contrast to Belarus, Cu-ba seems to be willing to open up from seclusion and isolation, as well as listen to its people than what the state of Belarus is willing to do.</p>

The transformation of the role of the judiciary in the 20th and 21st centuries Abstract This work is about the fundamental questions of law, judges, society, and liberal democracy from theoretical social perspective. This study is mainly from the fields of state science and political philosophy. Due to the complexity of the topic, I decided to devote the first chapter to the philosophical starting points. The second and third chapters deal with the role of the courts as political actors. To a large extent, I deal with the criticism of this phenomenon. Important sections are those on the essence of democracy, policies and the role of experts in the process of governance. Equally important is the critical view of human rights inflation in modern societies. In the last chapter, I focus on the various forms of doctrine of judicial restraint, which I see as a realistic solution to the outlined problems. Frequently, the argumentation for criticizing the Judicial Restraint is the creation of a cartoons and its subsequent majestic defeat. I think that this approach is not fair, because in my opinion the judicial restraint can be debated objectively without prejudices and without a priori rejection. Meaningful division of roles in the state is as important as the division of power. The division of power is...

Este estudo compara as situações políticas de Egito, Turquia e Argélia, três Estados de maioria muçulmana, onde existem movimentos políticos islâmicos influentes. Neste trabalho, é verificado se os movimentos e partidos islâmicos são compatíveis ou acomodáveis com os Estados egípcio, turco e argelino. Utilizando a comparação dos conceitos de soberania popular e democracia liberal com o Islã e o Islamismo (também conhecido como \"Islã político\"), são considerados todos os casos históricos de cada sociedade. / this study compares and contrasts political situations in Egypt, Turkey and Algeria, three muslim majority states, where there are political islam´s influent movements. In this work, it´s verified if the Islamic and islamist movements are compatible or accommodable to Egyptian, Turkish and Algerian secular states. Comparing and contrasting concepts of people´s sovereignty and liberal democracy to Islam and islamism (also known as \"political Islam\"), this study considers all the historical cases in each society.

This study deals with the issue of democratization in Latin America during the 20th century, and in particular the role of the left in this process. The purpose of this study is to empirically analyze the role of the left as a political actor in the process of democratization toward the deepening of the democratic rule in Latin America. The research questions are: what role did the left have in the transitions to electoral democracies during the 20th century in Latin America? Why did the left have the role it had in the transitions? How does the left’s view of democracy affect the transition to electoral democracy, and the further democratization to deepen democratic rule? What structural constraints affect the left’s ability to deepen democratic rule? A comparative qualitative method and different theoretical concepts of democracy, democratization, elite perspective, mobilization and organizations have been used, and examples from different Latin American cases are given. One empirical conclusion is that the role of the left in the transitions to electoral democracies varies from participation with active left leaders, collective left actions, to not have any significant role at all. A second empirical conclusion is that in cases where left wing governments have tried to enforce a model of participatory democracy, the result has been “ coup d’état” or rebellions conducted by military forces and supported by the economic elite and the United States of America. In other cases when left parties in government instead have remained within the framework of an elite democracy, the result has rather been stabilization of the liberal democratic rule. The main theoretical conclusions are as follows: the theoretical discussion about democratic consolidation and the deepening of democracy have to consider that different actors’ (in this study the left) preferences for various models of democracy differ; the actors’ view of democracy matter in the game of democratic development and democratic consolidation; and the relations between the elite actors’ preferences for different models of democracy determine the outcome of a specific form of democratic model (in this study electoral democracy, liberal democracy or participatory democracy).

In 2011, Levine &amp; Molina contributed to the research within the field of the quality of democracy by creating a framework focusing on the quality of the political process. The purpose of this study is to further contribute to the theoretical discussion of the quality of democracy by empirically applying Levine &amp; Molina’s model of quality of democracy on a case: Bogota, the capital of Colombia. The data was collected through a field study in Bogota through semi-structured interviews with elites. The first research question aims at deciding what quality the democracy in Bogota has, if analyzing it through Levine &amp; Molina’s five main dimensions. The second question asks if their model captures the central dimensions needed for concluding the quality of democracy if contrasting their dimensions to other societal factors lifted as important in Bogota by the informants.   The conclusions show that Bogota appears to have a rather low quality of democracy. Its strongest dimension is electoral decision, while the weakest one is participation. When comparing Levine &amp; Molina’s dimensions to the surrounding society in Bogota, their framework can mainly be concluded to be including the main aspects for being able to evaluate the quality of democracy in a given place. However, it appears obvious that a strong and active emphasis on surrounding circumstances is central for drawing any conclusions of the quality of the political process.

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine Richard Rorty’s arguments in favour of a limited role for religion in the public sphere, both with regard to their practical value and their consistency with Rorty’s other philosophical commitments. A brief description of Rorty’s various philosophical commitments is followed by a detailed analysis of the negative practical consequences that can be foreseen resulting from Rorty’s approach to the topic of religion and any attempt to enforce his proposed treatment of religion. After looking at the practical problems with Rorty’s position, a closer look was taken at Rorty’s consistency across his philosophical writings. With a particular focus on Rorty’s pragmatism and his epistemic relativism the author concludes that Rorty’s arguments for reducing the influence of religion in the public sphere remain of questionable practicality and, furthermore, are at odds with his epistemological commitments. Rorty’s commitment to liberal democracy entails a commitment to protecting citizens’ rights to voice their opinions in hopes of influencing public policy. Despite his controversial writings with regards to the role of religion in society, authors such as Jeffrey Stout and Nicholas Wolterstorff provide alternative approaches to the appropriate treatment of religion in society that remain consistent with an anti-foundational commitment to liberal democracy and can expect to produce more favourable practical outcomes. / Graduate

This thesis begins with an explanation of Israel’s foundational constitutional tension—namely, that its identity as a Jewish State often conflicts with liberal-democratic principles to which it is also committed. From here, I attempt to sketch the evolution of the state’s constitutional principles, pointing to Chief Justice Barak’s “constitutional revolution” as a critical juncture where the aforementioned theoretical tension manifested in practice, resulting in what I call illiberal or undemocratic “moments.” More profoundly, by introducing Israel’s constitutional tension into the public sphere, the Barak Court’s jurisprudence forced all of the Israeli polity to confront it. My next chapter utilizes the framework of a bill currently making its way through the Knesset—Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People—in order to draw out the past and future of Israeli civic identity. From a positivist perspective, much of my thesis points to why and how Israel often falls short of liberal-democratic principles. My final chapters demonstrate that neither the Supreme Court nor any other part of the Israeli polity appears particularly well-suited to stopping what I see as the beginning of a transformational shift in theory and in practice. In my view, this shift is making, and will continue to make, the state’s ethno-religious character the preeminent factor in Israeli Constitutionalism and civic identity.

Este estudo compara as situações políticas de Egito, Turquia e Argélia, três Estados de maioria muçulmana, onde existem movimentos políticos islâmicos influentes. Neste trabalho, é verificado se os movimentos e partidos islâmicos são compatíveis ou acomodáveis com os Estados egípcio, turco e argelino. Utilizando a comparação dos conceitos de soberania popular e democracia liberal com o Islã e o Islamismo (também conhecido como \"Islã político\"), são considerados todos os casos históricos de cada sociedade. / this study compares and contrasts political situations in Egypt, Turkey and Algeria, three muslim majority states, where there are political islam´s influent movements. In this work, it´s verified if the Islamic and islamist movements are compatible or accommodable to Egyptian, Turkish and Algerian secular states. Comparing and contrasting concepts of people´s sovereignty and liberal democracy to Islam and islamism (also known as \"political Islam\"), this study considers all the historical cases in each society.

This study delves into the post-Arab Spring period when political Islam was at the forefront of the drive for democratisation in the MENA region. The theories of political Islam and liberal democracy are used as the theoretical framework for the study. A qualitative approach was undertaken with a focused textual analysis of a variety of academic papers and opinion pieces on the theory of political Islam in order to discuss the compatibility of political Islam and democracy. The study makes use of Tunisia and the Ennahdha Movement as a case study to assess the practical application of political Islam. The research is limited to the 2011-2015 period in Tunisia in order to specifically make use of the electoral periods to determine the political Islam credentials of the Ennahdha Movement. What the study has determined is that there is sufficient evidence of the symbiotic relationship between political Islam and liberal democracy, making political Islam a viable approach for political movements in Muslim majority countries. This study contributes to the literature on political Islam as well as analysis of the post-Arab Spring developments in Tunisia. It provides a more in-depth focus on what makes Ennahdha a political Islam movement and uncovers its liberal democratic character. / Political Sciences / M.A. (International Politics)

After the Cold war, most African countries have strived to be democratic States by accommodating the idea of liberal democracy. Although these countries adopt this kind of system of governance, most of them do not adhere to the tenets which this type of democracy ascribes. The political systems in most African countries are organised and based on what is referred to as politics of identity. This is where the set up of political institutions is based on interest groups with an ethnic, religious or any peculiar identity configuration. The practice of identity politics based on ethnic, religious or merely any identity, leads to exclusion of some segmental groups from the governance system in most African countries. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2011. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / nf2012 / Centre for Human Rights / LLM