Browsing articles from "March, 2010"
Institutions
Mar 4, 2010
MErickson
No Comments

International Law and Sovereignty

It is well noted in the literature of international law that the primary challenge facing the discipline of international law is the problem of how order is created and observed among sovereign states. This necessarily leads to different paradigms in exploring contemporary explanations of sovereignty and the powers and limits of sovereignty. Most notably, sovereignty (whether embodied in governmental institutions, quasi-government institutions or non-governmental institutions) furthers itself through the expansion of power manifested through territorial gain, economic gain and advancement of its institutional imprint. Will international law in a now globalized economy of “sovereign equals” further a new order and narrative of sovereignty? Are we now in a post-modern narrative of sovereign equality between nation-states?

Africa
Mar 2, 2010
Barak
No Comments

I wish Tanzania had press freedom

Tanzania does not have extensive press freedom. Transparency in media ownership is a problem as well. This is making for a rather frustrating experience in attempting to map politics in Tanzania. While business people with close connections to the ruling party own lots of newspapers, self-censorship and opaque ownership structures make interpreting the news a bit of a challenge. Instead of naming people, articles use terms like “certain people.” Moreover, vague discussions of issues make it difficult to determine substantive differences on issues from personal vendettas. A free press and clear knowledge of who owns what would make my job a lot easier. Ugh!

Institutions
Mar 1, 2010
MErickson
No Comments

Norms and external sanctions

Elster posits that “norms do not need external sanctions to be effective,” because when “norms are internalized, they are followed even when violation would be unobserved and not exposed to sanctions.” Further, he cites that “shame” or “anticipation of it” are sufficient internal sanctions. The way in which social scientists understand norms has direct bearing on the functioning of institutions. The way in which societies utilize institutions and their “rules” either by law or custom, is largely dependent on the norms of the players who play or do not play by the “rules.”

Pages:«1234
Founded in 2004, Democracy and Society is a biannual print journal published by the Center for Democracy and Civil Society at Georgetown University. The D&S Blog provides web-only content, including special reports and investigative series, on issues relating to democracy and development.

Sign up for our mailing list

Posts by Region

Posts by Topic

Recent Comments

Archives

Who we like

Switch to our mobile site