Communication for Social Change Anthology


Book Description

Contains nearly 200 readings published between 1927 and 2005, in English or translated from other languages, on the historical roots and pioneering thinking regarding communication for social change. Covers a variety of topics, including the radio, tv and other mass communication, information and communication technology, the digital gap, the formation of an information society, national information policies, participatory decision making, communication of development, pedagogy and entertainment education, HIV/AIDS communication for prevention, etc.








Book Description




A Political Philosophy in Public Life


Book Description

The story of a Princeton professor's role as the unofficial philosophical adviser to the Spanish government This book examines an unlikely development in modern political philosophy: the adoption by a major national government of the ideas of a living political theorist. When José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero became Spain's opposition leader in 2000, he pledged that if his socialist party won power he would govern Spain in accordance with the principles laid out in Philip Pettit's 1997 book Republicanism, which presented, as an alternative to liberalism and communitarianism, a theory of freedom and government based on the idea of nondomination. When Zapatero was elected President in 2004, he invited Pettit to Spain to give a major speech about his ideas. Zapatero also invited Pettit to monitor Spanish politics and deliver a kind of report card before the next election. Pettit did so, returning to Spain in 2007 to make a presentation in which he gave Zapatero's government a qualified thumbs-up for promoting republican ideals. In this book, Pettit and José Luis Martí provide the historical background to these unusual events, explain the principles of civic republicanism in accessible terms, present Pettit's report and his response to some of its critics, and include an extensive interview with Zapatero himself. In addition, the authors discuss what is required of a political philosophy if it is to play the sort of public role that civic republicanism has been playing in Spain. An important account of a rare and remarkable encounter between contemporary political philosophy and real-world politics, this is also a significant work of political philosophy in its own right.




Popular Sovereignty and Constituent Power in Latin America


Book Description

This book combines a bottom-up and top-down approach to the study of social movements in relationship to the development of constituent and constituted power in Latin America. The contributors to this volume argue that the radical transformation of liberal representative democracy into participative democracy is what colours these processes as revolutionary. The core themes include popular sovereignty, constituted power, constituent power, participatory democracy, free trade agreements, social citizenship, as well as redistribution and recognition issues. Unlike other collections, which provide broad coverage of social movements at the expense of depth, this book is of thematic focus and illuminates the relationships between rulers and ruled as they transform liberal democracy.




Towards Democratic Viability


Book Description

The book traces the twin processes of economic liberalization and political democratization in Bolivia since the 1980s, placing both in their historical context. By focusing on the issue of democratic 'viability', it seeks to raise the broader question of the relationship between democratization and the socio-economic context in which it takes place. In particular, it examines the institutional reforms of the early 1990s - praised by the World Bank and others - and considers their achievements and limitations.




Construyendo la democracia en sociedades posconflicto


Book Description

En los aos 90, Guatemala y El Salvador firmaron acuerdos de paz integrales que pusieron fin a d(r)cadas de un sangriento conflicto interno. Ambos acuerdos de paz OCoas como el proceso de construccin de paz que le siguiOCo han tenido un impacto en el concepto tradicional de paz, ya que fueron pioneros en lo que son consideradas operaciones de paz de segunda generacin, multidisciplinarias (que van mis alli del cese al fuego). Uno de los objetivos principales de los acuerdos de paz y el proceso de construccin de paz, era fortalecer los incipientes procesos democriticos en el per odo del posconflicto. Mis de una d(r)cada ha transcurrido desde que los acuerdos fueron suscritos. En ambos casos la democracia electoral o pol tica ha logrado mantenerse vigente y el sistema pol tico ha tenido una apertura. Los combatientes armados en ambos pa ses han ahora formado sus propios partidos pol ticos, han participado en elecciones y han obtenido puestos en el Congreso. Sin embargo, muchos problemas persisten y la democracia dista de estar consolidada. La democratizacin en ambas sociedades, se ve confrontada con muchos problemas antiguos y por nuevos desaf os. Sin duda alguna la paz ha tenido un impacto en la democratizacin, pero algunas ireas han avanzado mis que otras y algunas pueden haberse incluso estancado. Existen diversos estudios individuales acerca de los procesos de negociacin e implementacin de la paz en Guatemala y El Salvador. Sin embargo, se ha escrito muy poco desde una perspectiva comparada. Ademis, se han llevado a cabo pocos anilisis integrales acerca del desarrollo democritico reciente en esos pa ses. En este libro, dos equipos de investigacin utilizan nueva informacin y t(r)cnicas mltiples de investigacin comparada para presentar un perfil actualizado del proceso de democratizacin en ambos pa ses y una evaluacin de la interaccin existente entre la paz y la democratizacin."




Deepening Local Democracy in Latin America


Book Description

The resurgence of the Left in Latin America over the past decade has been so notable that it has been called “the Pink Tide.” In recent years, regimes with leftist leaders have risen to power in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and Venezuela. What does this trend portend for the deepening of democracy in the region? Benjamin Goldfrank has been studying the development of participatory democracy in Latin America for many years, and this book represents the culmination of his empirical investigations in Brazil, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In order to understand why participatory democracy has succeeded better in some countries than in others, he examines the efforts in urban areas that have been undertaken in the cities of Porto Alegre, Montevideo, and Caracas. His findings suggest that success is related, most crucially, to how nationally centralized political authority is and how strongly institutionalized the opposition parties are in the local arenas.




Clientelism, Social Policy, and the Quality of Democracy


Book Description

Abente Brun and Diamond invited some of the best social scientists in the field to systematically explore how political clientelism works and evolves in the context of modern developing democracies, with particular reference to social policies aimed at reducing poverty. Clientelism, Social Policy, and the Quality of Democracy is balanced between a section devoted to understanding clientelism's infamous effects and history in Latin America and a section that draws out implications for other regions, specifically Africa, Southeast Asia, and Eastern and Central Europe.