Social Democracy

Nel corso dell'esperienza repubblicana, i nove presidenti che si sono succeduti hanno interpretato, ciascuno a modo suo, una carica che studiosi autorevoli hanno giudicato la più ambigua fra quelle previste dalla Carta del 1948: un po' notaio, un po' arbitro, un po' capitano. Certo è che da quasi 25 anni il presidente ha acquistato una centralità alla quale i costituenti non avevano davvero pensato e che è figlia, prima di tutto, delle difficoltà e delle ripetute crisi del sistema politico - centralità che ha ormai inciso sulla stessa forma di governo.

Anche le forme di governo hanno una loro storia, un albero genealogico attraverso cui riconoscere le diverse famiglie e la loro discendenza. Tutto cominciò in Inghilterra, dove tra '600 e '700 prese forma il sistema parlamentare, il modello di tutti i successivi modelli. Poi gli "inglesi" d'America, volendo imitare la loro madrepatria, finirono per inventare un modello alternativo, la forma di governo presidenziale. Molti anni dopo, in Francia, nel corso di una difficile transizione, si affermò un terzo modello, quello semipresidenziale.

Ist unsere Demokratie noch zu retten? Das System steckt in der Krise. Liegt der Ausweg in mehr direkter Demokratie? Oder ist das Volk zu "dumm", um in wesentlichen Fragen selbst zu entscheiden? Lässt es sich zu leicht manipulieren und geht rechten Populisten auf den Leim? Wenn Außenseiter bei Wahlen erfolgreich sind, heißt es oft, die Bürger hätten "falsch" abgestimmt. Aber wer entscheidet, was "richtig" ist? In Deutschland gibt es freie Wahlen für alle erst seit gut hundert Jahren.

Miguel Ángel Revilla es uno de los políticos más admirados y escuchados por los españoles. Su cercanía y sensibilidad hacia las cuestiones que más afectan a los ciudadanos le convierten en un punto de referencia de opinión, casi siempre muy crítica, con los poderes que actúan impunemente. Desde la amplia vivencia que le aporta su experiencia y su independencia política, el principal objetivo que le ha llevado a escribir Ser feliz no es caro es ayudar a sus oyentes a entender lo que está sucediendo en nuestra sociedad y sacar el máximo partido a la vida.

For hundreds of years, Bulgarian Gypsies trained bears to dance, welcoming them into their families and taking them on the road to perform. In the early 2000s, with the fall of Communism, they were forced to release the bears into a wildlife refuge. But even today, whenever the bears see a human, they still get up on their hind legs to dance. In the tradition of Ryszard Kapuściński, award-winning Polish journalist, Witold Szabłowski uncovers remarkable stories of people throughout Eastern Europe and in Cuba who, like Bulgaria’s dancing bears, are now free but who seem nostalgic for the time when they were not.

Vicente Fox offers his unique viewpoint as a former head of state, avid historian, and true admirer of America’s constitutional ideals. He knows where a Trump presidency can lead—and it is nowhere good. Let’s Move On is a political manifesto written in Fox’s trademark, no-nonsense style where he both denounces Trump’s malignant anti-intellectualism and inspires people to rise up and resist.

This book, a manifesto for a movement to reunite America, will help us put a stop to the seemingly endless Left-Right fistfight while honoring the vital role of healthy political debate. Mark Gerzon describes how citizens all over the country - Republicans, Democrats, and independents - are finding common ground on some of the most divisive and difficult issues we face today.

Swim against the Current is one of those books that the power elites don't like seeing in stores, much less in your hands - not merely because it challenges their established order, but especially because our book reveals paths that folks like you can use to escape rigid, hierarchical structures and discover a bit more satisfaction in life.

"Man kann mehr erreichen, wenn man nicht in der Öffentlichkeit arbeitet." (Beate Lindemann, langjährige Geschäftsführerin der Atlantik-Brücke in Berliner Zeitung 16.1.2003). Laut Umfragen wünschen sich die meisten Deutschen eine sozial ausgewogene Politik und eine Außenpolitik unabhängig von den Großmächten in West und Ost. Trotzdem gerät unsere Sozialpolitik in immer bedenklichere Schieflage und wir werden in immer gefährlichere militärische Abenteuer der USA hineingezogen.

Congressional scholars Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein identify two overriding problems that have led Congress—and the United States—to the brink of institutional collapse. But they offer a panoply of useful ideas and reforms, endorsing some solutions, like greater public participation and institutional restructuring, while debunking others, like independent or third-party candidates. Above all, they call on the media as well as the public to focus on the true causes of dysfunction rather than just throwing the bums out every election cycle.

In The Spirit of Compromise, eminent political thinkers Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson connect the rejection of compromise to the domination of campaigning over governing - the permanent campaign - in American democracy today. They show that campaigning for political office calls for a mindset that blocks compromise - standing tenaciously on principle to mobilize voters and mistrusting opponents in order to defeat them. Good government calls for an opposite cluster of attitudes and arguments - the compromising mindset - that inclines politicians to adjust their principles and to respect their opponents.

Asser Amdisen er historiker og giver en opsang til alle tilhængere af demokrati. For vi er ved at sætte flere hundrede års udvikling over styr. Bogen vil forandre dit syn på det samfund, du er en del af, og gør dig klogere på, hvordan vi er havnet, hvor vi er. Asser Amdisen (f. 1972) er cand.mag. i historie med speciale i 1700-tallets idéhistorie. Han har arbejdet på en lang række museer, været i bestyrelsen for Organisationen af Danske Museer og sidder i bestyrelsen for Brandbjerg Højskole. Han har været højskoleforstander i Ryslinge og har holdt talrige foredrag om historiske emner ru

Demokratie gegen Demokratie - illiberale gegen liberale, direkte gegen repräsentative Demokratie, vielleicht sogar "the people vs. democracy"? Es scheint, die Demokratie war noch nie so unumstritten wie heute, während zugleich noch nie so umstritten war, was aus ihr folgt. Jeder tritt in ihrem Namen an und beschuldigt den Gegner, ein Gegner der Demokratie zu sein. Der Demokratie droht heute nur noch Gefahr von ihr selbst. Unsere Lage, so die These Philip Manows, ist von der gleichzeitigen Demokratisierung und Ent-Demokratisierung der Demokratie gekennzeichnet.

Listener beware: Kevin D. Williamson - the lively, literary firebrand from National Review who was too hot for The Atlantic to handle - comes to bury democracy, not to praise it. With electrifying honesty and spirit, Williamson takes a flamethrower to mob politics, the “beast with many heads” that haunts social media and what currently passes for real life. It’s destroying our capacity for individualism and dragging us down “the Road to Smurfdom, the place where the deracinated demos of the Twitter age finds itself feeling small and blue.”

Aminata Touré verbrachte die ersten Jahre ihres Lebens in einer Unterkunft für Geflüchtete, heute ist sie Vizepräsidentin eines Landtags. Dass sich dieser Satz wie eine Heldinnengeschichte liest, zeigt, dass wir noch nicht in einer offenen und gleichberechtigten Gesellschaft leben. Es ist höchste Zeit, das zu ändern. Aminata Touré wurde 1992 geboren, ihre Eltern waren kurz zuvor aus Mali geflohen. Im selben Jahr brannten in Deutschland Häuser, in denen "Menschen wie sie" lebten.

Like a lot of Americans, Steve Almond spent the weeks after the 2016 election lying awake, in a state of dread and bewilderment. The problem wasn’t just the election, but the fact that nobody could explain, in any sort of coherent way, why America had elected a cruel, corrupt, and incompetent man to the Presidency. Bad Stories: What the Hell Just Happened to Our Country is Almond’s effort to make sense of our historical moment, to connect certain dots that go unconnected amid the deluge of hot takes and think pieces.

Rassismus, Fanatismus, Demokratiefeindlichkeit - Carolin Emcke, eine der wichtigsten Intellektuellen der Gegenwart, äußert sich in ihrem engagierten Essay zu den großen Themen unserer Zeit: In der zunehmend polarisierten, fragmentierten Öffentlichkeit dominiert vor allem jenes Denken, das Zweifel nur an den Positionen der anderen, aber nicht an den eigenen zulässt. Allein mit dem Mut, dem Hass zu widersprechen, und der Lust, die Pluralität auszuhalten und zu verhandeln, lässt sich Demokratie verwirklichen.

This well-researched book, which is volume I of a multi-volume set, represents everything our current Trump administration does not. It focuses on the heroes of our past who labored for monumental reform and urged our nation to keep the American promise that "all men are created equal", thus creating a more just and egalitarian society than the one they were born into.

Public opinion polling is the ultimate democratic process; it gives every person an equal voice in letting elected leaders know what they need and want. But in the eyes of the public, polls today are tarnished. Recent election forecasts have routinely missed the mark and media coverage of polls has focused solely on predicting winners and losers. In Strength in Numbers, data journalist G. Elliott Morris argues that the larger purpose of political polls is to improve democracy, not just predict elections.

“A historical demonstration of the indispensability of the First Amendment [and] … an earnest and timely argument for [its] enduring value.” —Kirkus Reviews "Great storytelling about the history and importance of the First Amendment, from someone who has spent his life...