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Modern concept recognizes local government as an ancient institution and it is said to be good for national democracy, development and good governance. Local government has many roles including welfare of local people and development of rural areas and a general expectation is that it tends to provide the best services to the local people. The prime trend of emerging developing countries is to strengthen its local government and create economic impetus locally through effective local administrations. However, democratic decentralization helps to create social harmony, community spirit and political stability. Thus, many countries prefer to reform at the local level. The history of local government in Bangladesh shows that it has been established through reforms at different periods at different times. The study focuses on some objectives. How local government has developed through the forty years in Bangladesh; how governments have treated it in different periods; and whether the developments or reforms done were for the benefit of the mass people or political leaders? The paper also attempts to identify the problems to implement the reforms at local level. The current study seeks to provide basic information related to reforms in local government during the tenure of different governments at the rural level. Through an extensive review of literatures, this article attempts to shed light on the reforms of local government with a view to explore the linkages between all central government and their political attitudes. The paper would help to understand the transformation of local government in Bangladesh and take initiatives to strengthen it in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any explanation of democracy is based on a worldview. The premise of this paper is that any worldview can be associated with one of the four broad paradigms: functionalist, interpretive, radical humanist, and radical structuralist. This paper takes the case of democracy and discusses it from the four different viewpoints. It emphasizes that the four views expressed are equally scientific and informative; they look at the phenomenon from their certain paradigmatic viewpoint; and together they provide a more balanced understanding of the phenomenon under consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are these heady days for Nigerian political parties? This is the main question, which this paper addresses with emphasis on political ideology, being the first and most important vehicle of a political party. It is argued that despite all pretences to the contrary through their manifestoes, as much as the superficial classifications as the "left" and "right", "progressive" and "conservative", Nigerian parties seem to be bereft of clear ideological commitments. This conclusion is predicated upon the relegation of politics of issues to the background across the various republics, and in its place the ascendancy of identity and money politics. Other factors include the rising magnitude of political vagrancy on the basis of selfish and parochial interests, the high level of party indiscipline, absence/weakness of party cohesion and internal democracy, and the high mortality and turnover of party leadership. Finally, the paper discusses the implications of this for Nigeria's democratization and democratic consolidation, before concluding with some recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the protracted crisis in Côte d'Ivoire. It highlights the feasibility of democracy and reconciliation in the country. The article focuses on the spoilers that hinder the peaceful settlement of the conflict that divides the country into two zones controlled by the rebels and the government. Analytical, descriptive, and historical methods form the basis of the methodology. Additionally, content analysis will be used to explain the idiosyncrasies of the stakeholders in the Ivorian political scene. Some researchers and observers of the crisis have argued that the way forward is the organisation of credible elections. However, the main the principal thesis of the paper is that the burning issue is how to reconcile the fractionalised society in a divided country as a way to forge national unity and reconciliation among the various ethno-linguistic and religious groups that constitute Côte d'Ivoire. In the final analysis, the paper suggests a new constitutional arrangement that will be based on a legitimate Federal System for the political leaders to speak the language of peace. The present presidential and unitary system of government that favours a "winner takes all" will be extremely difficult to foster reconciliation and avoid the disintegration of Côte d'Ivoire as a political entity carved out by France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The foreign policy of Costa Rica has always been characterized by its emphasis on pacifism and human rights. As one of the few nation states lacking an army, it has carefully constructed an image of peace and democracy in a region historically plagued by political turmoil. This small Central American nation has taken advantage of the soft power created by taking a high moral ground on issues of international relations. The present paper undertakes a critical discursive analysis of the second Arias administration. By focusing on the presidency of the former Nobel Peace Prize winner, it is possible to analyze the press releases, speeches, and other government statements released during an exemplary period of Costa Rican diplomatic history. The transfer of recognition from Taipei to Beijing provides a brief glimpse at the neo-realist strategy being pursued by the Arias administration behind the veil of innocence provided by the co-optation of human rights, human security, pacifist, and cosmopolitan discourses. Moreover, the strategic importance of the government's human rights rhetoric is revealed through a detailed analysis of the process leading up to and directly following the recognition of Beijing through the application of a constructivist model of norm socialization, the Parallel Cycles Model of Norm Socialization. The paper concludes with a discussion of the possible application of the two-pronged method of critical discourse analysis combined with a constructivist interpretation of norm socialization to the foreign policy of other Latin American countries and its possible contribution to an improved understanding of the internal dynamics of this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What does democracy do or fail to do about the welfare of Nigerians? Does it matter for the performance of democracy? This paper seeks to determine the mutual impact of democracy and welfare of citizens in Nigeria. Given the state of democracy and available data, it seems that politicians at the state and local government levels are more concerned about their personal interests than those of citizens. We then problematise theoretical western democracy, sold to Nigeria, as with many other third world formerly colonized territories, after independence, but refused during colonialism, at the least for lacking in development and failing to take local conditions into consideration. Implied here are both the institutional and behavioural deficiencies that run democracy dry. The question is, is democracy affecting welfare of citizens positively? To respond in the negative as we do, means more than just a simple answer. Why is it so? With a focus on 1999 to date, a major assumption in this paper is that both the performance and stability of democracy consist in its responsiveness to the welfare citizens. Without any allusion or references to any saintly model of democracy somewhere to be copied, it is argued that the lack of involvement of citizens in election of leaders has created in political elites the loss of all sense of accountability to citizens. Besides, having found oil revenue as the sustaining power for the state, the individual tax paying citizen has been relegated, as against traditions of respect for the tax payer in more established democracies, where the running of the state is dependent on the tax payer's money. The gap between the volume of resource allocation and development projects at the state and local government levels, as well as the ostentatiousness of politicians seem to have led us to conclude that politicians are only feeding fat on citizens' welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early fifties, Indian national elites opted for a Liberal Democracy. The initiation of the experiment of Liberal Democracy was based upon the belief that this model, based upon a comprehensive system of liberal values like universal adult franchise, fundamental rights, parliament, independent judiciary, competitive party system, nationally recruited bureaucracy, etc. would usher in an era of open liberal and plural political system. Thus, the reason for following a pattern of liberal democracy was basically the faith of Indian national elites in the approach of modernization on the line of western democratic processes. In this context its important to mention that Liberal Democratic State was one pertinent institution which contributed towards the smooth functioning of the Liberal Democracy in the first two decades after independence. It is only in the recent decades that the dilemmas and contradictions associated with the "modern notion of the State" have unfolded themselves, what came to be known as "Crisis of Institutions". The paper therefore seeks to explore the working of Indian Liberal democracy since independence and the emerging debates and issues specifically providing a critique to the Liberal Democratic assumptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myanmar or 'Burma' is a country which has a long history of colonialism by foreign powers. Before Myanmar achieved its independence in 1948, it was ruled by two prominent foreign powers that are Britain and Japan. Both countries had created the political scene of Myanmar. After achieving independence from Britain in 1948, Myanmar became an independent country that practiced the democracy ideology under the ruled of General Aung Sann. However, its democracy system faced problems when a coup d'état happened in 1962. Since that year, the efforts to regain the democracy system in Myanmar faced a lot of obstacles. Thus, this paper will explain the process of democracy development since 1948 until the present days of Myanmar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]