Beyond contestation: conceptualizing negotiation in democracy promotion

Rethinking democracy promotion

Despite the fact that democracy promotion is a major part of liberal foreign policies, the discipline of International Relations has not paid much systematic attention to it. Conversely, the study of democracy promotion is dominated by comparative politics and pays hardly any attention to the international system. This mutual neglect signifies a core weakness in the theory and practice of democ...

Democracy promotion and “ new ” democracies

Since the early decades of the 20 th century, an element of international relations has been the notion that democratic ideals are universal and that their spread across the globe can be encouraged by governments. One of the more recent expressions of the idea has been the “democracy promotion” programs funded by official aid agencies of developed democracies, but the idea has changed and evolv...

Conceptualizing Sensory Relativism in Light of Emotioncy: A Movement beyond Linguistic Relativism

Given the significance of relativism in molding our worldview and uncovering the nature of truth, this study using the newly-developed concept of emotioncy, attempted to introduce sensory relativism as a new perspective based on which senses can relativize our understanding of the world. To espouse the theory, 24 individuals were interviewed on their experiences...

The American Experience with Democracy Promotion

The Catholic Church and reproductive health and rights in Timor-Leste: contestation, negotiation and cooperation.

In Timor-Leste, high fertility, high maternal mortality and low levels of contraceptive prevalence demonstrate the importance of exploring perceptions, policies and practices around reproductive health and rights. This paper explores the influence of the Catholic Church on reproductive decision-making at different levels of policy and practice. Utilising a feminist qualitative research methodol...