Developing Democracy: Comparative Research in Honour of J F P Blondel

This comprehensive book examines comparatively the major political development of our time: the explosion of democracy in Europe and the Third World, and its deepening in the West. The book analyzes how the new democracies are experimenting with Western models while also highlighting how these models are themselves seriously problematic. Topics include: the relationship of democracy in the nation-state to trans-national and international institutions such as the EC; problems of democracy in Post-Soviet Russia and Latin America; the continuing threat to civil liberties; and the political manipulation of the economy.

Table of Contents:
PART ONE: RESEARCH PROGRAMMES FOR DEMOCRACY Comparative Politics and Reflexive Democracy - Ian Budge Blondel and the Development of European Political Science - Ian Budge Democracy, Citizenship and the Study of Political Socialization - Pamela Johnston Conover and Donald D Searing Voters, Parties and Leaders Thirty Years On - Ivor Crewe Western Electoral Studies and the New Democracies of Eastern Europe PART TWO: DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS AND CAPITALIST ECONOMICS Economic Influences on the Vote - David Sanders Modelling Electoral Decisions Employment versus Inflation - James E Alt Party Ideology, Information and International Trade Budgets and Democracy - Gøsta Esping-Andersen Towards a Welfare State in Spain and Portugal,1960-1986 PART THREE: GOVERNMENTS AND PARTIES Cabinet Ministers and Parliamentary Government - Michael Laver and Kenneth A Shepsle A Research Agenda `Chief Executives′ in Western Europe - Anthony King PART FOUR: BUILDING DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS State-Building Without a Bureaucracy - R A W Rhodes The Case of the United Kingdom The Westminster Model in Comparative Perspective - Graham Wilson Democratization and Constitutional Choices in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland 1989-1991 - Arend Lijphart Popular Political Organizations and Democratic Development - Joe Foweraker A Comparison of Spain and Mexico PART FIVE: NEW DEMOCRACIES: ASSESSMENTS AND PROGNOSES Democracy and the Rule of Law in Latin America - Christian Anglade The European Community - Emil J Kirchner A Transnational Democracy? Democracy of Eastern Europe - Ronald J Hill Problems of Democracy in Post-Soviet Russia - Peter Frank PART SIX: DIAGNOSING AND IMPROVING DEMOCRATIC PERFORMANCE Government and Private Censorship in Nine Western Democracies in the 1970s and 1980s - Kenneth Newton and Nigel Artingstall Enriching Democracy - Anthony Barker Public Inquiry and the Policy Process

Review :
`The two editors are to be commended for their fine editorial work. The chapters have been grouped and linked together nicely, and this makes it definitely easier to read on, when you have started. Budge and McKay have put together a volume which is not only a decent tribute to the man [Jean Blondel], but which can also stand on its own as am expos[ac]e and discussion of central parts of comparative politics in the post-1989 era.... This is a very good collection of articles, useful for classroom - as well as for research purposes. It is first and foremost an appropriate tribute to a fine scholar and a great entrepreneur′ - West European Politics `A carefully constructed whole, deserving of the reader′s respect.... The book is worth buying′ - Political Studies `Contains many examples of the kind of political science with which Blondel was associated... Most of the chapters in the book fit within the methodological assumptions of Blondel′s conception of political science.... Blondel founded an important school of political science, which has been a powerful agent of change and new thinking in the discipline.... This book reminds us both of the strengths of the paradigm with which Blondel is associated′ - Government and Opposition `The volume is dedicated to the British political scientist, Jean Blondel... Blondel is one of the founders of comparative politics whose aim has been to understand and reflect positive as well as negative aspects of different democratic regimes drawing on examples of all nation states in the world.... the volume expands the knowledge of how democracy works, and in this sense it is a contribution to what `developing democracy′ could mean in practice. It is written in a classic scientific manner, and it primarily addresses students and academics with an interest in comparative politics and democratic theory′ - Futuresco