Overview
- Studies the causes and effects of declining legitimacy in countries worldwide
- Provides a longitudinal analysis of five younger democracies and two well-established democracies
- Addresses relevant and topical concerns relating to crisis of democracy
Part of the book series: Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century (CDC)
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About this book
This book addresses some of the most pressing questions of our time: Is democracy threatened by globalisation? Is there a legitimacy crisis in contemporary democracies? Is the welfare state in individual countries under pressure from global trends? What are the implications of high-level migration and rising populism for democracy? Does authoritarianism pose a challenge?
The volume builds on a cross-cultural study of democracy conducted by the Transformation Research Unit (TRU) at Stellenbosch University in South Africa for nearly twenty years. Three of the countries studied – South Africa, Turkey and Poland – receive individual attention as their respective democracies appear to be the most vulnerable at present. Germany, Sweden, Chile, South Korea and Taiwan are assessed in their regional contexts. Further insights are gained by examining the impact on democracy of the global screen culture of Television and the Internet, and by pointing out the lessons democracy should learn from diplomacy to fare better in the future. The book will appeal to both students and practitioners of democracy as well as the general reader.Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
- democracy under threat
- crisis of democracy
- democratic legitimacy
- globalisation impact on democracy
- contemporary democracies
- migration and democracy
- populism and democracy
- authoritarianism and democracy
- democracy in South Africa
- democracy in Turkey
- democracy in Poland
- democracy in Germany
- democracy in Chile
- democracy in Sweden
- democracy in South Korea
- democracy in Taiwan
- democracy and diplomacy
- liberalism and democracy
- development and democracy
- impacts on democratization
Table of contents (13 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Conclusions
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Reviews
“Democracy Under Threat: A Crisis of Legitimacy … is an informative and significant contribution to the current debate on the state of democracy … . This volume brings a great deal of comparative expert and survey data to bear, but also wisely mixes chapters examining cross-national patterns with valuable case studies focusing on within-country trends.” (Robert Mattes, South African Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 26 (3), July 08, 2019)
“‘Is Democracy Dying?’ is arguably the most crucial question facing political scientists today, and Democracy under Threat does an impressive job of clarifying what is going on. … Democracy under Threat draws on a wealth of empirical evidence and the insights of a talented team of researchers to demonstrate that the thesis of a global democratic recession is over-simplified.” (Ronald Inglehart, European Political Science, Vol. 18 (1), March, 2019)
Editors and Affiliations
About the editor
Ursula van Beek is the founder Director of the Transformation Research Unit (TRU) at the Department of Political Science at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. She has published books and articles on topics such as historical memory and identity, comparative historical analyses, and cultural values and democracy.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Democracy under Threat
Book Subtitle: A Crisis of Legitimacy?
Editors: Ursula van Beek
Series Title: Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89453-9
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-89452-2Published: 06 June 2018
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-07773-0Published: 19 January 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-89453-9Published: 19 May 2018
Series ISSN: 2946-3416
Series E-ISSN: 2946-3424
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXX, 344
Number of Illustrations: 26 b/w illustrations, 22 illustrations in colour
Topics: Democracy, Comparative Politics, Globalization