Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Slovak Nationalism: Model Or Mirage?, Caroline Barker

New England Journal of Public Policy

In the face of an increasing number of bloody dissolutions of states around the world, the "velvet divorce" between Czechs and Slovaks has often been cited as evidence that such excesses can be avoided. This article, written before the October 1998 elections that saw the end of the government of Vladimir Meciar, seeks to explain that the peaceful split of these two nations is not an instance that can be replicated elsewhere but grows from the unique nature of Slovak nationalism. The article traces the historical evolution of Slovak nationalism and challenges the view that it has ever been a …

Monitoring Elections In El Salvador And Nicaragua, Jack Spence

New England Journal of Public Policy

I observed the February 1990 elections in Nicaragua as a member of both the Latin American Studies Association observation team and that of Hemisphere Initiatives, a group with which I have worked. In El Salvador I headed the Hemisphere Initiatives team. I visited Nicaragua five times during the electoral period, and for El Salvador, for once my academic calendar coincided with Salvadoran history. A sabbatical in the last academic year allowed me to be there during the electoral period.

I should say by way of comparison with Fred Gamst's presentation about Ethiopia that Nicaragua and El Salvador are ethnically and …

Kenya's 1997 Elections: Making Sense Of The Transition Process, Rok Ajulu

New England Journal of Public Policy

The transition process in Kenya appears to be getting nowhere. Six years after the opening of democratic space, politics, political institutions, and governance remain predominantly stuck in the authoritarian quagmire of the past. Lack of broader participation in decision-making processes and absence of consensus around important issues of governance appear to be the norm rather than the exception. Indeed, Kenya's democracy experiment appears to defy conventional democratization models and discourse. It refuses to comply with prescriptive models developed by various Western scholars as the so-called liberal democratic values stubbornly refuse to take root in the country. This article attempts to …

Citizen Views Of Peace Building And Political Transition In Angola, 1997, Carrie Manning

New England Journal of Public Policy

In November 1994, Angola began what became an often circular struggle to implement the Lusaka Protocol, the second of two peace agreements meant to put an end to more than thirty years of civil strife. Four years later, the Lusaka peace process appears to have come unraveled. Just past midway between these two points, the National Democratic Institute carried out a series offocus groups in Angola that sought to gauge citizens' attitudes toward and understanding of key aspects of the war-to-peace transition and the new political system. This article discusses the results of the survey. Initially intended to provide the …

What Have We Learned About Postconflict Elections?, Larry Garber, Krishna Kumar

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article suggests that postconflict elections are a unique subset of transition elections which deserve special attention. The authors describe the evolution of postconflict elections, identify some of their more salient characteristics, and offer preliminary lessons drawn from the recent experiences.

Election Monitoring In Oromia: What Are The Conditions For Democracy?, Frederick C. Gamst

New England Journal of Public Policy

Professor Gamst, a member of the Joint International Observer group (JIOG), reports the problems he monitored during the 1992 electoral campaign and voting activities in the strife-ridden region of Oromia in Ethiopia. His analyses illuminate the background institutional barriers and the politically competitive reasons for the failure of the elections. Gamst discusses the nature of the multitudinous Oromo people and the consequences of any election victory by them for the destiny of Ethiopia. He also describes the sometimes violent aftermaths of the failed election of 1992 and its follow-up election of 1994, in which the Oromo were again denied reasonable …

Monitoring Elections: Philippines, South Africa, And Mozambique, Padraig O'Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

Padraig O'Malley was a member of international delegations monitoring elections in the Philippines, South Africa, and Mozambique. These delegations were organized by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), Washington, D.C. O'Malley's opinions, observations, and reflections on these elections are entirely his own and in no way reflect the opinions of NDI.

Democratic Change And Transition In Africa And The Dilemma Of Nigeria, Leonard Robinson Jr.

New England Journal of Public Policy

The 1990s witnessed profound political change throughout the continent of Africa. Tired and frustrated with one-party, autocratic, and often military rule, ordinary African citizens in country after country began to voice and demonstrate their discontent in 1990. As the former Soviet bloc countries in Eastern Europe broke ranks with the Soviet Union to claim their independence, these extraordinary events served as an added catalyst to African civil servants, market women, taxi drivers and peri-urban inhabitants to rise up against what they increasingly viewed as repressive governments and regimes, which had done little or nothing to improve their living standards and …

Cambodia's 1998 Elections: The Failure Of Democratic Consolidation, Peter M. Manikas, Eric Bjornlund

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article examines why Cambodia 's transition to democracy faltered in the years that followed the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia period despite the international community's assistance to two "democratic" elections.

Cambodian Political Succession In Lowell, Massachusetts, Jeffrey Gerson

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article asks, What factors have in the past affected and will continue to affect the degree of Cambodians' participation and representation in Lowell politics? Gerson argues that five key factors, three internal — coming to terms with the legacy of mistrust resulting from the holocaust wrought by Pol Pot's murderous regime; lacking a tradition of democratic participation in their home country; and generational differences between those who regard themselves as Cambodian and the American-born — and two external — Lowell's two-tiered political system and the response of the city's elected officials to the influx of Southeast Asians that began …