Can democracy be designed? : the politics of institutional choice in conflict-torn societies / edited by Sunil Bastian and Robin Luckham.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bastian, Sunil.

Luckham, Robin.

Series:

Democratic transition in conflict-torn societies ; v. 2.

Democratic transition in conflict-torn societies ; v. 2

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Democracy.

Democratization.

Ethnic conflict.

Political violence.

Physical Description:

xvi, 336 pages : illustrations, map ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Zed Books, 2003.

Summary:

'There are no single unequivocal answers to the question this book addresses. Yet these highly informed original contributions on the politics of institutional design offer a wealth of insights into the kind of processes that have led to recent successes and failures on the democratisation front.' Constitution-making for democracy has always been a highly political and contested process. It has never been more ambitious, or more difficult, than today as politicians and experts attempt to build democratic institutions that will foster peace and stability in countries torn by violent conflict. The extended investigation out of which this book has grown ranges across three continents. It examines such apparently intractable cases as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sri Lanka and Fiji, as well as apparent 'success stories' like South Africa, Ghana and Uganda. The authors, while regarding democracy as a general entitlement, refuse to subscribe to a triumphalist view which sees it as a universal panacea. Instead they seek to understand how democratic institutions actually facilitate (or sometimes fail to facilitate) improved governance and the management of conflict in a variety of national settings. This thoughtful and empirical set of explorations is highly relevant to other societies wrestling with similar problems of institutional design in situations of democratic transition and/or deep-seated social conflict.

Contents:

Introduction: Can Democracy Be Designed? / Sunil Bastian, Robin Luckham 1

1 Democratic Institutions and Democratic Politics / Robin Luckham, Anne Marie Goetz, Mary Kaldor 14

Meanings and models of democracy 15

Democratising democracy: the politics of inclusion 21

Democracy and entitlements: the politics of pro-poor policies 29

Democracy and identity-based conflicts: problem or solution? 37

2 The Politics of Institutional Design in the South African Transition / David Pottie, Shireen Hassim 60

Institutional design 61

Participation and negotiation, 1990-4 67

Making peace 72

Structuring inclusion: elections 74

Structuring inclusion: constitutional government since 1994 76

Structuring inclusion: alliance politics in power 79

Governance after 1994: provincial government 81

Governance after 1994: national machinery for women 84

3 The Reformulation of Ugandan Democracy / Aaron Griffiths, James Katalikawe 93

The historical context and the roots of conflict 94

From Army to Movement, 1985-9 99

The making of the new constitution, 1989-95 103

The Movement entrenched, 1995-2001 107

Discussion: democracy and the Movement 109

4 Ghana: The Political Economy of 'Successful' Ethno-regional Conflict Management / E. Gyimah-Boadi 120

Ethno-regional profile of Ghana 121

Problems in the transition from distribution to economic rationalisation 125

Neo-liberal economic reforms and political consequences 126

Transition to constitutional rule and conflicts 129

The NDC

Rawlings government and national unity 132

5 The Politics of Institutional Design: An Overview of the Case of Sri Lanka / Radhika Coomaraswamy 145

A tale of three constitutions 147

The question of legitimacy 152

Politics of exclusion and the use of force 155

Institutional design and the use of force 162

Proposals for the future 165

6 Proportional Representation, Political Violence and the Participation of Women in the Political Process in Sri Lanka / Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena 170

The failure of a potentially transformative force in Sri Lankan politics 170

PR and its impact on women's representation 172

Sri Lankan women legislators: numerical realities 176

The PR system and a negatively fragmented Parliament 181

Explaining the political subordination of women 183

The impact of violence 188

Strategies for change 190

7 The Political Economy of Electoral Reform: Proportional Representation in Sri Lanka / Sunil Bastian 196

Universal franchise and capitalism 197

The FPTP system of elections 199

Political economy of the FPTP system 201

Proportional representation in the 1978 constitution 208

Reforming the system 212

8 Electoral Engineering and the Politicisation of Ethnic Friction in Fiji / Jon Fraenkel 220

Ethnic conflict and electoral history 222

The mid-1990s constitutional review and the post-independence cross-voting system 227

The rationale for the introduction of the alternative vote (AV) system 232

Preference trading, coalition formation and coalition dissolution at the May 1999 polls 235

Multi-ethnic parties: electoral incentives and disincentives 245

9 Building Democracy from the Outside: The Dayton Agreement in Bosnia and Herzegovina / Marcus Cox 253

The origins of the Bosnian state 253

The Dayton Agreement: blueprint for a new democracy 258

Democratisation under international protection 267

10 Managing Ethnic Conflicts: Democratic Decentralisation in Bosnia-Herzegovina / Vesna Bojicic-Dzelilovic 277

The origins and political context of democratic decentralisation in Bosnia-Herzegovina 279

The structure of democratic decentralisation and the principle of power sharing 282

The new model and its impact on conflict management 286

Mostar 288

Tuzla 295

11 Conclusion: The Politics of Institutional Choice / Sunil Bastian, Robin Luckham 303.

Notes:

"Transitions to democracy"--Cover.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1842771507

1842771515

OCLC:

50670641

Online:

Publisher description