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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Disability Rights In Ireland: Chronicle Of A Missed Opportunity, Jurgen De Wispelaere, Judy Walsh Dec 2007

Disability Rights In Ireland: Chronicle Of A Missed Opportunity, Jurgen De Wispelaere, Judy Walsh

Jurgen De Wispelaere

This article critically examines the Disability Act 2005 which regulates access to public services for disabled people in Ireland. We examine the competing conceptions of disability rights advanced by the government and the disability sector during the debate on the legislation and offer an interpretation of disability rights as the justiciable right to challenge. The Disability Act 2005 is then evaluated in light of the proposed framework. We outline a number of ways in which the absence of a justiciable right to challenge fails to safeguard the dignity, empowerment and participation of disabled people. We contend that, despite protestations to …


Introduction: Theorising Politics, Cillian Mcbride, Jurgen De Wispelaere, Shane O'Neill Dec 2007

Introduction: Theorising Politics, Cillian Mcbride, Jurgen De Wispelaere, Shane O'Neill

Jurgen De Wispelaere

This is the introduction to a special issue of Irish Political Studies on "Recognition, Equality, Democracy", to appear in December 2007 as a journal and sometime in 2008 as an edited collection published by Taylor & Francis.


Political Obligation And Democratic Governance: A Case Of Nigeria, Ozy B. Orluwene Jp Sep 2007

Political Obligation And Democratic Governance: A Case Of Nigeria, Ozy B. Orluwene Jp

Dr Ozy B.Orluwene,JP

ABSTRACT This paper attempts to seek and examine a balance between the political obligation (rights of the governed and duties of government) in democratic governance. Political obligation is two sided, namely, obligation on the part of government and obligation on the part of governed. It has to do basically with such issues as necessity for law and government, organized society and obedience on the largest possible scale, as the utilitarian would say, “the purpose of government in organized society is to promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number”. The citizens’ willing cooperation and obedience are demanded by the state, …


Citizenship Deficits In Latin American Democracies, Maxwell A. Cameron Sep 2007

Citizenship Deficits In Latin American Democracies, Maxwell A. Cameron

Maxwell Cameron

There is little evidence of a crisis of electoral democracy in Latin America, yet many of the region’s democratic regimes are unstable. Recently, Latin American democracies have been threatened more by the unconstitutional and illegal actions of democratically elected leaders than by attempted military coups or systematic electoral fraud. The separation of powers is sometimes violated in subtle ways that do not necessarily interrupt electoral democracy. Such threats have been inadequately theorized in the literature. Theorizing the separation of powers could help the international community to monitor the progress or erosion of democracy in the Western Hemisphere. The proposed agenda …


Reason, Representation, And Participation, Cillian Mcbride Jun 2007

Reason, Representation, And Participation, Cillian Mcbride

Cillian McBride

No abstract provided.


Democracy On Stilts: Bolivia's Democracy From Stability To Crisis, Miguel Centellas Apr 2007

Democracy On Stilts: Bolivia's Democracy From Stability To Crisis, Miguel Centellas

Miguel Centellas

Bolivia’s recent political crisis starkly contrasts to the preceding two decades of relative democratic stability. Though a unique system of “parliamentarized” presidentialism together with lingering consensus on the national project inherited from the 1952 Revolution supported democratic stability, using qualitative and quantitative methods, this study shows that seemingly benign changes in institutional design made in the 1990s contributed to the acceleration of already existing tendencies towards divisive sectoral, regional, and ethnic politics. A key observation is that successful long-term democratization requires institutions for adequately channeling and representing social demands as well as a shared vision of a political “imagined community” …


Peru's Ollanta Humala: The Rise And Limits Of A Left-Wing Political Outsider, Maxwell A. Cameron Jan 2007

Peru's Ollanta Humala: The Rise And Limits Of A Left-Wing Political Outsider, Maxwell A. Cameron

Maxwell Cameron

The unexpected rise of radical nationalist candidate Ollanta Humala in the Peruvian general election of 2006 took many observers by surprise. Despite winning a 31 percent plurality of the vote in the first round, however, Humala lost in the runoff, by a margin of 47 to 53 percent, to Alan García Pérez of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA). Since the early 1990s, Peru has been governed by a succession of political “outsiders,” a trend that has taken a heavy toll on the nation’s party system and democracy. The irruption of Humala, especially in the context of economic growth, demonstrated …