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PROMOTING POLYARCHY: GLOBALIZATION, U.S. INTERVENTION, AND HEGEMONY |
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Promoting polyarchy examines
the apparent change in US foreign CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: 48 Promoting polyarchy Editorial Board Steve Smith (Managing editor) International Political Economy Roger Tooze Craig N. Murphy Cambridge Studies in International Relations is a joint initiative of
Cambridge CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 48 William I. Robinson 47 Roger Spegele 46 Thomas f. Biersteker and Cynthia Weber (eds.) 45 Mervyn Frost 44 Mark W. Zacher with Brent A. Sutton 43 Mark Neufeld 42 Thomas Risse-Kappen (ed.) 41 Hayward R. Alker 40 Robert W. Cox with Timothy J. Sinclair 39 fens Bartelson 38 Mark Rupert 37 Cynthia Weber 36 Gary Goertz 35 James L. Richardson 34 Bradley S. Klein 33 T. V. Paul 32 Christine Sylvester 31 Peter J. Schraeder 30 Graham Spinardi 29 David A. Welch 28 Russell J. Leng 27 John A. Vasquez 26 Stephen Gill (ed.) 25 Mike Bowker and Robin Brown (eds.) 24 R. B. J. Walker 23 Edward Reiss 22 Keith Krause 21 Roger Buckley 20 James N. Rosenau and Ernst-Otto Czempiel (eds) 19 Michael Nicholson 18 John Stopford and Susan Strange 17 Terry Nardin and David R. Mapel (edsJ 16 Charles F. Doran 15 Deon Geldenhuys 14 Kalevi J. Holsti 13 Saki Dockrill 12 Robert H. Jackson 11 James Barber and John Barratt 10 James Mayall 9 William Bloom 8 ZeevMaoz 7 Ian Clark 6 Hidemi Suganami 5 Stephen Gill 4 Michael C. Pugh 3 Michael Nicholson 2 Friedrich V. Kratochwil 1 Myles L. C. Robertson Back Cover Promoting Polyarchy examines the apparent change in U.S. foreign policy from supporting dictatorships to an "open" promotion of "democratic" regimes. William I. Robinson argues that the policy has been designed more to retain the elite-based and undemocratic status quo of Third World countries than to encourage mass aspirations for democratization. While U.S. policy is more ideologically appealing under the title of "democracy promotion," it does nothing to reverse the growth of inequality and the undemocratic nature of global decision-making. This challenging argument is supported by a wealth of information garnered from field-work and hitherto unpublished government documents, and assembled in case studies of the Philippines, Chile, Nicaragua, Haiti, South Africa, and the former Soviet bloc. "This book represents an original, compelling and critical rethinking of the nature and form of United States foreign policy in the Third World in the 1980s and 1990s. I recommend this book to any serious scholar of contemporary international relations and to all those interested in the possible future for our civilizations in an era of globalization. Robinson has developed his own theoretical framework and synthesis drawn from comparative political sociology, political economy and political theory, one that takes its global inspiration from both world-systems and neo-Gramscian approaches to international relations. Robinson's theoretical strengths are combined with excellent, empirical research ... In his meticulous and detailed exposition of the nature, limits and contradictions of these cases, Robinson makes a fundamental contribution to our possibilities of understanding the contours of crucial aspects of North-South relations in this and the next century." -- Stephen Gill, York University, Toronto "This book provides a sobering look at what it means to say the U.S. is promoting democracy throughout the world. It is a good antidote to much academic pap." -- Immanuel Wallerstein, State University of New York, Binghamton "While economic and cultural globalization have attracted a good deal of popular and scholarly attention, globalization in the political sphere is a relatively under-researched area. In Promoting Polyarchy William Robinson, building on a formidable array of local knowledge and theoretical reflection, makes the bold argument that democracy promotion in U.S. foreign policy is best explained in terms of the pluralist idea of polyarchy and that this restricted conception of democracy serves the interests of an increasingly transnational elite. Polyarchy, thus, 'is a structural feature of the emergent global society.' The logic of the analysis and the power of his case studies represent a challenge that complacent pluralists and those sceptical of globalization should not ignore." -- Leslie Sklair, London School of Economics WILLIAM I. ROBINSON is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Tennessee, and Research Associate at the Center for International Studies, Central American University, Managua. He has published many articles in scholarly journals, newspapers, and magazines, and his previous books are David and Goliath: The U.S. War Against Nicaragua (1987) and A Faustian Bargain: The U.S. Intervention in the Nicaraguan Elections and American Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Era (1992). |