The Spirit of Democracy

January 7, 2008
Political scientist Diamond (Squandered Victory), a leader in the field of democracy studies, provides a broad, authoritative survey of international trends and evolving academic thinking concerning the development and maintenance of democracies worldwide. Looking broadly at internal and external factors driving democratic movements, as well as the forces that sustain them once in place, Diamond argues democracy is not a Western anomaly, but a universal value. Diamond, who served as senior advisor to the Iraqi Coalition Provisional Authority, has witnessed democracy-building efforts at close range. The promotion of democracy in authoritarian regimes through either peaceful pressure or international interventions, Diamond believes, is rarely effective unless supported by outside assistance designed to strengthen internal civil societies. Democracy by force, he intones, has the poorest track record of all, and urges the U.S. and other established democracies to clean up their own houses, reasoning that "It does little good to promote freedom abroad while it gradually slips away at home." Being generally sanguine about the nature and influence of democracies, however, Diamond tends to downplay how they might also serve to maintain exploitative social and economic relations, amongst other political complications, but there's much to glean in this optimistic and carefully supported account.

December 15, 2007
When Diamond graduated from college in 1974, he traveled to nations struggling with democracy, including Nigeria, Portugal, and Thailand. Some20 years later, three-fifths of the nations of the worldmany poor and non-Westernhad developed democracies. What will it take for the remaining nations to develop democratic governments? Diamond examines the historical and structural obstacles in the way, finding considerable underlying momentum and potential for democratic progress in the world. Diamond identifies the cultural, economic, and political factors that cause democracy to blossom and grow in some nations but not others. He begins by documenting democratic movements in Portugal, Greece, and Spain and moves on to explore the challenges for democratic development in Latin America, Africa, post-Communist Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Diamond explores the factors that have led to democracy becoming the zeitgeist of the twentieth century andends with a look at the need for democratic renewal even in those nations that have long been democracies.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)

December 17, 2007
Political scientist Diamond (Squandered Victory), a leader in the field of democracy studies, provides a broad, authoritative survey of international trends and evolving academic thinking concerning the development and maintenance of democracies worldwide. Looking broadly at internal and external factors driving democratic movements, as well as the forces that sustain them once in place, Diamond argues democracy is not a Western anomaly, but a universal value. Diamond, who served as senior advisor to the Iraqi Coalition Provisional Authority, has witnessed democracy-building efforts at close range. The promotion of democracy in authoritarian regimes through either peaceful pressure or international interventions, Diamond believes, is rarely effective unless supported by outside assistance designed to strengthen internal civil societies. Democracy by force, he intones, has the poorest track record of all, and urges the U.S. and other established democracies to clean up their own houses, reasoning that "It does little good to promote freedom abroad while it gradually slips away at home." Being generally sanguine about the nature and influence of democracies, however, Diamond tends to downplay how they might also serve to maintain exploitative social and economic relations, amongst other political complications, but there's much to glean in this optimistic and carefully supported account.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.