This dissertation analyzes the concept of democracy as it was used in the official rhetoric of the Swedish SocialDemocratic Party (SAP ) between 1919 and 1939. Theoretically, the dissertation relies ...on German Begriffsgeschichte, as put forward by Reinhart Koselleck, and Michael Freeden’s theory of ideologies. Together, by supplementing each other, these theories offer a perspective in which concepts are thought of as structures that are under contestation and change due to socio-political circumstances. However, the formulation of this change takes place in relation to the linguistic praxis of each time-period, and renegotiates the relative constraints of established relations between concepts in language. The analysis shows that the profound changes in society provided impetus for a continuous renegotiation of meanings, allowing concepts to retain their explanatory power under changing circumstances, at the same time the SAP needed new ways to express what kind of society the party strived to realize. The SAP had been one of the leading forces in the struggle for universal suffrage, and when the bill, giving universal suffrage to men andwomen, was passed in the Parliament 1919 this meant a temporary cessation to a long and intensive political debate. However, the SAP did not consider the introduction of suffrage reform as the end of full societal democratization. Rather than seeing the reform as a terminal point, the SAP saw it as the starting point for the struggle for full democracy. The SAP did not limit itself to only one concept of democracy but instead used a number of composite concepts, such as political democracy and economic democracy. The use of composite concepts can be understood as a changing temporalization of democracy. Since parliamentarism and suffrage were seen as central components in democracy, the realization of these institutions meant that the concept of democracy lost its future dimension. Thus, the usage of composite concepts should be seen as a re-temporalization of democracy. The composite concepts pointed forward in time, toward political goals that the SAP envisaged realizing in the future. Concepts should not be thought of as having cores but rather, as suggested by Freeden, ineliminable features. An ineliminable feature is not of logical nature but has a strong cultural adjacency. By analyzing the ineliminable components of the concepts of democracy that the SAP used, it is possible to discuss whether the composite concepts should be understood as subsets of a whole or as separate concepts. The analysis shows that the composite concepts that the SAP used during the first half of the 1920s shared a number of ineliminable features, but that the commonality of these features started to disintegrate during the latter half of the decade, leading to a rather diversive concept of democracy. During the 1930s the disintegration ceased as the party was faced with new circumstances, for example the growing threat of international war and national clashes between different social groups. There has always been a close relation between language and society. However, the relationship does not follow a simple and clear-cut logic but a complex mixture of various factors at different levels, both within language itself and of society. When society develops, language also has to change if the ongoing process is to be understood. As this study shows, new circumstances require new argumentsand thus revised concepts.
Este trabajo se propone explicar la evolucion y las causas de la violenciaen Colombia, la cual tiene en el conflicto armado una forma de expresión.Sobre este se analizan los factores que han ...permitido la permanencia delmovimiento guerrillero en el país, a lo largo de cuatro décadas, antes ydespués de la guerra fría. Asimismo, se exploran los factores que incidieronen la ruptura del proceso de paz, entre el gobierno nacional del presidenteAndrés Pastrana y las Farc.Finalmente, se reflexiona sobre las posibilidades de una nueva negociacióncon las guerrillas bajo el mandato del presidente Uribe y sobre lasdificultades históricas comunes a los procesos de paz en el país, eventos enlos cuales ha prevalecido una falta de coordinación entre los funcionariosciviles y militares.This article aims to explain the evolution and causes of violence in Colombia, presenting armed conflict as a way of expression. In relation to this conflict, the factors allowing the permanence of guerrilla movement in the country are analyzed. The guerrilla has been present in Colombia for four decades, before and after Cold War. In the same way, the factors influencing the breaking of peace process between Andres Pastrana's national government and FARC are also analyzed. Then, the possibilities of a new negotiation in president Uribe's government are discussed. Besides, a reflection about the historical difficulties common to peace processes in this country is made. In these events, a lack ofcoordination between civil and military functionaries have been the prevalent act.
This paper analyzes the spatial distribution of corruption and its primary economic and political determinants. Economic freedom and development are found to lower incidences of corruption. Of ...notable significance, this study finds empirical evidence of a non-linear relationship between a country’s level of democracy and corruption. Extreme authoritarian regimes are found to have lower corruption levels than hybrid regimes, but past a certain threshold democracy inhibits corruption. More importantly the analysis in this paper finds that the economic and political actions of a country have a significant impact on corruption levels worldwide.
For Tocqueville, Protestantism was the historical and cultural source of modern political democracy, He believed that, in social terms, it contributed to the exercise of individual judgment that is ...political democracy's indispensable complement. Yet his recognition of Protestantism's due did not lead him to accept the sociological axioms or epistemology of such leading Protestant writers as Alexandre Vinet and Benjamin Constant. This chapter considers examples of texts from the two Swiss authors, who, despite being Swiss, influenced the way in which Democracy in America was read because all cultivated French readers were familiar with them. In 1828, Vinet received a French award for an essay on freedom of religion from the Société de la Morale Chrétienne. By contrast, Constant rattled his audience and seemed to confirm that “Coppet liberalism” was a foreign import.
This paper analyzes the spatial distribution of corruption and its primary economic and political determinants. Economic freedom and development are found to lower incidences of corruption. Of ...notable significance, this study finds empirical evidence of a non-linear relationship between a country’s level of democracy and corruption. Extreme authoritarian regimes are found to have lower corruption levels than hybrid regimes, but past a certain threshold democracy inhibits corruption. More importantly the analysis in this paper finds that the economic and political actions of a country have a significant impact on corruption levels worldwide.
Companies that embrace organizational democracy – operating a company on freedom, rather than fear and control – are building healthier and more innovative workplaces while boosting the bottom line. ...DaVita, a Denver-based Fortune 500 company, provides a case study of how democracy can work even in a large company. Democratically run companies are also becoming a force for social change, creating a ripple-effect that advances human development, peace, and economic prosperity worldwide, proving that how a company works is just as important as what it does.
This chapter would like to draw attention to two basic aspects addressed by the symposium in Hannover. As such it serves as an introduction to the remaining chapters in this book. First, the shift of ...concerns and concepts in the field of citizenship education towards active democratic citizenship and second, the new understanding of the underlying theory of democracy useful for democratic citizenship education.
