Digital Commons Network^™

Realising Peace Potential Of Constitution, Tatsushi Arai

Tatsushi Arai

The Subterranean Counterrevolution: The Supreme Court, The Media, And Litigation Retrenchment, Stephen B. Burbank, Sean Farhang

Sean Farhang

This article is part of a larger project to study the counterrevolution against private enforcement of federal law from an institutional perspective. In a series of articles emerging from the project, we show how the Executive, Congress and the Supreme Court (wielding both judicial power under Article III of the Constitution and delegated legislative power under the Rules Enabling Act) fared in efforts to reverse or dull the effects of statutory and other incentives for private enforcement. An institutional perspective helps to explain the outcome we document: the long-term erosion of the infrastructure of private enforcement as a result of …

A Quantum Congress, Jorge R. Roig

Jorge R Roig

Are Riots Good For Democracy? (Debate W/ Vijay Prashad), Stephen D'Arcy, Vijay Prashad

Stephen D'Arcy

Women's Leadership For Women's Rights And Democracy, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

No abstract provided.

Rhode Island Helps To Weaken Iranian Regime, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

No abstract provided.

From Undemocratic To Democratic Civil Society: Japan's Volunteer Fire Departments, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

How do undemocratic civic organizations become compatible with democratic civil society? How do local organizations merge older patriarchal, hierarchical values and practices with newer more egalitarian, democratic ones? This article tells the story of how volunteer fire departments have done this in Japan. Their transformation from centralized war instrument of an authoritarian regime to local community safety organization of a full-fledged democracy did not happen overnight. A slow process of demographic and value changes helped the organization adjust to more democratic social values and practices. The way in which this organization made the transition offers important lessons for emerging democracies …

Explaining Abu Ghraib: A Review Essay, Christopher J. Einolf

Christopher J Einolf

Four books written by social scientists and published in 2007 are reviewed: The Trials of Abu Ghraib: An Expert Witness Account of Shame and Honor, by Stjepan Mestrovic; The Lucifer Effect, by Philip Zimbardo; Torture and the Twilight of Empire : From Algiers to Baghdad, by Marnia Lazreg; and Torture and Democracy, by Darius Rejali. Prior research on torture has left unsettled the question of the importance of training and direct orders as causes of torture, and the role of liberal democratic institutions in preventing torture. The four books demonstrate that the Abu Ghraib torturers did not act on their …

The Corporate Assault On Democracy, Sharon Beder

Sharon Beder

The revolutionary shift that we are witnessing at the beginning of the 21st Century from democracy to corporate rule is as significant as the shift from monarchy to democracy, which ushered in the modern age of nation states. It represents a wholesale change in cultural values and aspirations.

Secrecy And Democratic Decisions, Mark A. Chinen

Mark A. Chinen

Secrecy to protect intelligence sources and methods appears often in the nation’s discourse about controversial national security matters. Often it is asked whether such secrecy is consistent with the nation’s democratic principles and processes. I argue such principles and processes provide a framework through which we try to answer questions about secrecy and indeed legitimate them, but are often too broad to provide definitive guidance in specific cases. At the same time, the sources and methods argument itself is overbroad because of the nature of the sources and methods themselves; the tentative nature of intelligence assessments derived from those sources …

Democracy And Constitutionalism In Nigeria Under The Fourth Republic, 1999-2007, Shola J. Omotola

Shola J. Omotola Mr

No abstract provided.

Feminist Organizing In Serbia, 1990-1994, Donna M. Hughes Dr., Lepa Mladjenovic

Donna M. Hughes

No abstract provided.