Democracy, Agency, and the State aims to contribute to a comparatively informed theory of democracy. Professor O'Donnell begins by arguing that conceptions of 'the state' and 'democracy', and their respective defining features, significantly influence each other. Using an approach that is both historical and analytical, he traces this relationship through the idea of legally sanctioned and backed agency which grounds democratic citizenship. From this standpoint he explores several aspects of the democratic regime and of the state, distinguishing four constitutive dimensions (bureaucracy, legality, focus of collective identity, and filter). He goes on to examine the role played by the idea of 'the nation' or 'the people', and the ways in which the state represents itself to different sections of society, especially in countries marred by deep inequality and pervasive poverty. Drawing on the examples of democratic and non-democratic regime, he discusses the dialogical spaces congenial to democracy, as well as examining the options that may or may not enable agency, and the complex comparative and ethical issues raised by the intersection of agency with globalization and legal pluralism.Throughout these discussions several comparative vistas are opened, especially but not exclusively toward Latin America. The book concludes by offering a justification of democracy, even of the flawed democracies that nowadays abound. Oxford Studies in Democratization is a series for scholars and students of comparative politics and related disciplines. Volumes concentrate on the comparative study of the democratization process that accompanied the decline and termination of the cold war. The geographical focus of the series is primarily Latin America, the Caribbean, Southern and Eastern Europe, and relevant experiences in Africa and Asia. The series editor is Laurence Whitehead, Official Fellow, Nuffield College, Oxford University.

Democracy, Agency, and the State: Theory with Comparative Intent (Oxford Studies in Democratization)

History

O’Donnell, Guillermo

Americas

Oxford University Press

The central, driving theme of this volume is democracy, its vicissitudes and its possibilities in Latin America. Guillermo O’Donnell considers the pattern of political and social alliances that have shaped Argentina’s agitated history, and focuses on the tensions and intrinsic weaknesses of bureaucratic-authoritarianism, especially in its most repressive guises, at a time when it projected itself as an enduring, efficient, and potentially legitimate form of political authority. He includes detailed empirical analysis of daily life under extremely repressive regimes and argues throughout that the struggle for democracy is the most appropriate way, both morally and strategically, to take advantage of the fissures and tensions that close examination discovers behind the bureaucratic-authoritarianism facade. Counterpoints is a successful mix of personal experience and meticulous scholarship―a trajectory of O’Donnell’s work that starts with the critique of authoritarianism and ends with a close examination of presently existing democracies in Latin America. His discussion of the flaws of the new democracies originating from defective institutionalism and extreme social inequalities is especially valuable for scholars of democracy and democratization, comparative politics, and Latin American politics.

Counterpoints: Selected Essays on Authoritarianism and Democratization (Kellogg Institute Series on Democracy and Development)

University of Notre Dame Press

Guillermo O'Donnell here brings together a collection of significant recent essays in which he considers both the method for and substance of critiques of democracies. While progress has been made in democratization, the authoritarian legacy hangs as a shadow over that advancement. O'Donnell engages in his analysis while keeping a firm gaze on that dangerous past. O'Donnell's work has influenced a generation of political scientists. The essays in this volume bring forward and develop many of the ideas presented in his earlier collection, Counterpoints: Selected Essays on Authoritarianism and Democracy

Dissonances: Democratic Critiques of Democracy (Kellogg Institute Series on Democracy and Development)

Reference

Writing, Research & Publishing Guides

Bureaucratic Authoritarianism: Argentina 1966-1973 in Comparative Perspective

McGuire, James

University of California Press

Flory, Rae

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1988.

An array of internationally noted scholars examines the process of democratization in southern Europe and Latin America. They provide new interpretations of both current and historical efforts of nations to end periods of authoritarian rule and to initiate transition to democracy, efforts that have met with widely varying degrees of success and failure. Extensive case studies of individual countries, a comparative overview, and a synthesis conclusions offer important insights for political scientists, students, and all concerned with the prospects for democracy. Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies: Political Democracy is not the only possible outcome of transitions from authoritarianism. Guillermo O'Donnell and Philippe C. Schmitter draw out the implications of democracy as a goal and of the uncertainty inherent in transitional situations.

Transitions from Authoritarian Rule, Vol. 4: Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies

Schmitter, Philippe C.

Whitehead, Laurence

Legal Theory & Systems

Johns Hopkins University Press

An array of internationally noted scholars examines the process of democratization in southern Europe and Latin America. They provide new interpretations of both current and historical efforts of nations to end periods of authoritarian rule and to initiate transition to democracy, efforts that have met with widely varying degrees of success and failure. Extensive case studies of individual countries, a comparative overview, and a synthesis conclusions offer important insights for political scientists, students, and all concerned with the prospects for democracy. Political democracy is not the only possible outcome of transitions from authoritarianism. The authors draw out the implications of democracy as a goal and of the uncertainty inherent in transitional situations. Democratization is perhaps the central issue in Latin American politics today. Case studies focus on Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Transitions from Authoritarian Rule, Vol. 2: Latin America

An array of internationally noted scholars examines the process of democratization in southern Europe and Latin America. They provide new interpretations of both current and historical efforts of nations to end periods of authoritarian rule and to initiate transition to democracy, efforts that have met with widely varying degrees of success and failure. Extensive case studies of individual countries, a comparative overview, and a synthesis conclusions offer important insights for political scientists, students, and all concerned with the prospects for democracy. The historical example of Italy after Mussolini as well as the more recent cases of Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey suggest factors that may make a transition relatively secure.

Transitions from Authoritarian Rule, Vol. 1: Southern Europe

Literature & Fiction

British & Irish

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by O’Donnell, Guillermo. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by O’Donnell, Guillermo

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by O’Donnell, Guillermo. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Democracy, Agency, and the State: Theory with Comparative Intent (Oxford Studies in Democratization)

Counterpoints: Selected Essays on Authoritarianism and Democratization (Kellogg Institute Series on Democracy and Development)

Counterpoints: Selected Essays on Authoritarianism and Democratization (Kellogg Institute Series on Democracy and Development)

Dissonances: Democratic Critiques of Democracy (Kellogg Institute Series on Democracy and Development)

Bureaucratic Authoritarianism: Argentina 1966-1973 in Comparative Perspective

Bureaucratic Authoritarianism: Argentina 1966-1973 in Comparative Perspective

Bureaucratic Authoritarianism: Argentina 1966-1973 in Comparative Perspective

Transitions from Authoritarian Rule, Vol. 4: Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies

Transitions from Authoritarian Rule, Vol. 2: Latin America

Transitions from Authoritarian Rule, Vol. 1: Southern Europe