Domestic elites and external actors in post-conflict democratisation: mapping interactions and their impact

Following the end of the Cold War, post-conflict democratisation has rarely occurred without a significant international involvement. This contribution argues that an explanation of the outcomes of post-conflict democratisation requires more than an examination of external actors, their mission mandates or their capabilities and deficiencies. In addition, there is a need to study domestic elites, their preferences and motivations, as well as their perceptions of and their reactions to external interference. Moreover, the patterns of external–internal interactions may explain the trajectory of state-building and democracy promotion efforts. These issues deserve more attention from both scholars and practitioners in the fields of peace- and state-building, democracy promotion, regime transition and elite research. Analyses of external actors and domestic elites in post-conflict democratisation should therefore address three principal issues: (1) the identification of relevant domestic elites in externally induced or monitored state-building and democratisation processes, (2) the dynamics of external–domestic interactions and (3) the impact of these interactions on the outcomes of post-conflict democratisation

The Place of Sociographical Studies in Sociology

Sociography is a term which has partly fallen into oblivion. At the same time sociography is a less and less frequently used method of study. Despite many different and detailed interpretations of the assumptions of sociography, one may generally say that it is a comprehensive analysis of a chosen phenemenon of social reality. It is based mostly on qualitative techniques of collecting data. In the past, many valuable sociological works were based on sociography. It seems that it would be worthwhile to return to the good tradition of comprehensive field studies founded on qualitative techniques of collecting data. It is my opinion that the sociographical studies are of constant importance for science.Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszytów RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/201

Democracy in retreat? Decline in political party membership: the case of The Netherlands

Membership in political parties is declining in The Netherlands, as it is in the rest of Europe. Between 1978 and 2010 membership dropped by a third, from about 450,000 to about 300,000, or 2.5% of the electorate; in 2007 alone, 29,000 people left their party, whereas only 21,000 joined. This is having the effect of weakening civil society, as is manifest in declining turnouts in elections, a growing distrust of government and political leaders, and a general sense among citizens of alienation from the political process. To understand the phenomenon of declining party membership, we fielded a web survey among ex-members, members, potential members, and non-members/voters of eight Dutch political parties. This allows us to compare the motives for joining or leaving various parties among people with different distances to these parties. The presentation of our findings are primarily organized around a set of recommendations by the Dutch Council for Public Policy for how to revive political parties, but in the discussion we draw as well on two more comprehensive models that also give rise to recommendations: the general incentives model for political participation (Seyd & Whiteley, 2002) and the civic voluntarism model (Verba, Schlozman, & Brady, 1995)