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Democratic Countries (democratic + country)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences71%

Selected Abstracts

What Determines Cross-Country Access to Antiretroviral Treatment?

DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 3 2006
Nicoli Nattrass
Despite the recent international effort to expand access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in developing countries, its coverage still varies significantly from country to country and is strongly correlated with per capita income. However, regional and political variables are also important. Cross-country regressions indicate that, controlling for political and economic characteristics and the scale of the HIV epidemic, Latin American and African countries have better coverage than predicted. Whereas the level of HIV prevalence was a significantly (negative) factor when accounting for HAART coverage in June 2004, this effect had disappeared by December 2004. The improvement appears to have benefited democratic countries in particular. [source]

THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD AND THE NEED FOR ITS INCORPORATION INTO A BILL OF RIGHTS

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 1 2006
Hon. Alastair Nicholson
In this article I discuss the failure of most democratic countries to accept or properly implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, despite, except in the case of the United States, having ratified it. I consider the domestic implementation of treaties. I discuss, from an Australian perspective, that country's failure to enact a Bill of Rights and argue that children in Australia have suffered as a result. I also discuss judicial approaches to international law and compare the situation in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand and suggest that even in those countries that do have a Bill of Rights, it is not oriented toward children and therefore does not properly recognize their rights. [source]

Convergence in Foreigners' Rights and Citizenship Policies?

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW, Issue 3 2008
A Look at Japan
Citizenship laws and immigrant rights in rich, democratic countries are widely understood to be converging. Since most accounts of convergence are based on Western examples, Japan is an important test case. I distinguish three theoretical accounts of convergence: global-institutionalist, liberal-democratic, and problem-solving perspectives. I then examine trends in foreigners' rights in Japan since World War II in three domains: entrance, rights of residents, and citizenship. I find that convergence is occurring in the expansion of rights, partially in access to the territory, but not in formal citizenship. While the liberal-democratic perspective fails to account for trends, a combination of global-institutionalist and problem-solving accounts provides the most powerful analytic insight into convergence processes. [source]

Deliberative Democracy and "Human Nature": An Empirical Approach

POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2006
Janusz Reykowski
The idea of deliberative democracy is based upon an implicit and questionable assumption that the ability for a meaningful participation in deliberation is a common characteristic of citizens of democratic countries. This paper discusses that assumption and describes the results of empirical research aimed at finding out (1) whether ordinary people are able to solve important ideological and moral controversies by means of deliberation, (2) what factors may facilitate this process, and (3) what are the effects of the deliberation. The research consisted in studying 20 small groups of parents of school-aged children who were asked to participate in a debate about sex education in Polish schools (N = 195). The debates were conducted by a facilitator. Before and after the debate participants filled out questionnaires testing their attitudes and some psychological variables. The debates were recorded on videotapes. We found that it is possible to conduct a debate on ideologically contentious issues that meets some criteria of the deliberative functioning and such a debate may have some of the effects postulated by deliberative theorists. [source]

Keeping them Honest: Public and Elite Perceptions of Ethical Conduct among Australian Legislators

POLITICAL STUDIES, Issue 1 2000
Ian McAllister
Public confidence in politicians across all democratic countries has fallen to historic lows in recent years. In Australia, around one in three voters believe that legislators use their public office for financial gain, and only one in four believe that legislators have a high moral code. Governments in many countries have attempted to deal with this problem by establishing codes of ethical conduct for legislators. This paper examines what standards citizens expect from their politicians and, in turn, what standards politicians themselves regard as important. The data come from the 1996 Australian Election Study survey which asked voters and elected representatives what importance they attributed to the eight principles laid out in the federal parliament's own ethical guide. The results show that voters expect higher standards from legislators than do legislators themselves, particularly with regard to the proper use of public resources and rejecting favouritism. A range of hypotheses are tested to account for citizen and elite beliefs about legislators' ethical conduct. The results show that stronger democratic culture and political skills are important for the public, and lengthy exposure to political parties and democratic institutions for the elite. [source]

Democracy, Diversification and Growth Reversals,

THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 540 2009
David Cuberes
There is much evidence that less democratic countries experience more high-frequency growth volatility. In this article we report a similar finding about volatility in the medium term: we find evidence that reversals of trend-growth are sharper and more frequent in non-democracies. Motivated by this evidence, we construct a model in which non-democracies have high barriers to entry for new firms. This leads to less sectoral diversification and so, in an uncertain environment, to larger growth swings in less democratic countries. We present empirical evidence that confirms the positive relation between democracy and industrial diversification. [source]

Exploring the Sources of Institutional Trust in China: Culture, Mobilization, or Performance?

ASIAN POLITICS AND POLICY, Issue 3 2010
Qing Yang
While democratic countries have been concerned about a "trust crisis" since the 1960s, China surprisingly displays a very high level of public trust in institutions. Why do people trust institutions and to what extent does institutional trust in China differ from that in democracies? Using the 2004 China Values and Ethics Survey, this article explores three different dimensions of institutional trust in China: trust in administrative institutions, trust in legal institutions, and trust in societal institutions. The analysis shows that institutional trust is more than a product of traditional values in China. Rather, it is more of an individual rational choice based heavily on the evaluations of the institutional performance, and it is also a result of government-controlled politicization. Trust in administrative institutions, in particular, mainly comes from satisfactory institutional performance. Institutional trust has a great impact on the development of democracy and legal participation in China. [source]