Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• O'Donnell, Guillermo

Titel

Democratic Theory and Comparative Politics

Ist Teil von

• Desarrollo económico (Buenos Aires), 2000-01, Vol.39 (156), p.519-570

Erscheinungsjahr

2000

Quelle

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Offers a revision of democratic theory from the perspective of its inadequacies for including into its scope many of the recently democratized countries, as well as some older democracies located outside of the northwestern quadrant of the world. Various definitions of democracy are critically examined, especially those that, claiming to follow Joseph Schumpeter (1975 [1942]), are deemed to be "minimalist," or "processualist." On this basis, a realistic & restricted, but not minimalist, definition of a democratic regime is proposed. The connections of this topic with several others are explored, including political, social, & welfare rights; the state, especially in its legal dimension; & some characteristics of the overall social context. The main grounding factor that results from these explorations is the conception of agency, especially as it is expressed in the legal system of existing democracies -- although the effectiveness of this system & of its underlying conceptions of agency vary quite widely across cases. The approach emphasizes legal & historical factors, while also tracing, in several comparative excursions, some important differences among various kinds of cases. The main conclusions are stated in several propositions, the major thrust of which entails an invitation toward a theoretically disciplined broadening of the analytical & comparative scope of contemporary democratic theory. 200 References. Adapted from the source document.