Democratisation

Democratisation

Power-sharing and the implications for state restructuring in Kenya

March 2008
TNI
Antony Otieno Ong\'ayo
While the move brokered by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for a coalition government under which the contending parties will share power has brought peace to Kenya, and has been widely welcomed, the initiative is not without its problems, especially in terms of governance. Antony Otieno Ong'ayo examines some of these.

While the tensions and apprehension as a result of the post-election violence in Kenya subside, focus is now placed on the newfound relationship between the antagonists during the 2007 elections.

The Pakistan verdict: an Indian view

February 2008
Praful Bidwai

The voter has severely punished the PML-Q's stalwarts, including a galaxy of former Ministers and Pakistan's most venal and shrewd politicians. They belong to well-entrenched "political families" with strong clan and kinship connections. They know which side of the bread is buttered and typically win all elections -- no matter on whose ticket. Their ignominious defeat clarifies the central meaning of the results.

The message for Musharraf is simple. He asked the people to vote for his supporters. They resoundingly rejected his appeal.

Pakistan votes for democracy

February 2008
Praful Bidwai
The vote against the ruling coalition headed by the Pakistan Muslim League (Q), a puppet of Gen Pervez Musharraf, is a referendum against the establishment, including the army, and a vote for democracy.

The Pakistani people, long chided, cheated, and put down by military rulers, have emphatically affirmed their democratic sovereignty and delivered a stinging verdict against the ruling coalition headed by the Pakistan Muslim League (Q), a puppet of Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Cuba after Castro

February 2008
TNI
Pablo Navarrete
The debate on whether Fidel Castro's retirement will usher in a neoliberal economy in Cuba misses the point.

Fidel: father of modern Cuba

February 2008
Saul Landau
Cubans, even in Miami, will admit that Fidel Castro changed their lives. Their departure to the US is testimony to some of the failings of the Cuban revolution, but while Castro remains alive, he will use his agile mind to improve the Caribbean isle's experiment in socialism.

Fidel decided to retire from almost half a century of leadership this week. I saw him last in April 1961. “The worst is over,” he told the person next to me in the hallway.

A Primary Only the Kremlin Could Concoct

February 2008
Boris Kagarlitsky

Since the outcome of next month's presidential election is a foregone conclusion, we can move on and speculate instead about what will happen after the vote.

Rural Democratisation: (Re)Framing rural poor political action

February 2008
Jennifer Franco

With two-thirds of the world’s poor rural poor, rural democratisation is clearly relevant and urgent, but at the same time an especially difficult--and underestimated--challenge. If democracy is to be organically rooted in any society, the struggle to “get there” must systematically be opened up to integrate rural poor citizens system-wide, taking stock of their aspirations and, more importantly, their existing efforts to gain control of decision-making affecting their lives.

Barcelona Reader

January 2008
TNI
Networked Politics

Constituting change in a divided Bolivia

January 2008
Nick Buxton
Bolivia's proposed new constitution is an innovative and progressive document constructed out of the struggles by social movements in recent years, however securing national consensus will be an uphill struggle. An in-depth analysis of Bolivia's constitutional process.

What's on the agenda for 2008?

January 2008
Boris Kagarlitsky
The end of Putin's presidency has coincided with the slowing down of economic growth which could be damaging for the elites that consolidated riches during his reign, but might be an opportunity for the left.

Throughout the New Year holidays the mass media let the Russian public alone. Russia’s home newsmakers, apart from Moscow’s glamorous people, were dead silent.