Social Ruling and Solidarity in Challenged Democratic Systems

1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-41154-3
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 190 Seiten, Format (B × H): 178 mm x 254 mm

This book examines how democracies worldwide are being challenged by populism, polarization, and the erosion of minority belonging. Democracies around the world are under strain. Elections are contested, courts politicized, minorities scapegoated, and the social bonds that hold diverse societies together are fraying. Why is this happening, and what can be done?

Bringing together scholars from five continents, this book examines how social solidarity—the often-invisible glue of democratic life—is being made, unmade, and remade in the twenty-first century. Drawing on case studies from India, Nigeria, Costa Rica, Kyrgyzstan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, and the United States, contributors trace two routes of democratic erosion: when institutions are designed in ways that concentrate power and exclude minorities, and when majority rule overrides the rights and belonging of those it should protect.

This is not a book of diagnoses alone. Each chapter pairs critical analysis with concrete remedies, ranging from electoral and constitutional reform to grassroots coalitions, interfaith alliances, and trauma-aware responses to political extremism. Together, the essays offer a toolkit for rebuilding democratic resilience in an age of polarization, populism, and contested belonging.

This book is essential reading for students, scholars, and practitioners in political science, sociology, comparative politics, democracy studies, and conflict resolution. It will also appeal to policymakers, civil society organizations, and anyone concerned with the future of democratic governance and social cohesion in diverse societies.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Peace Review.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate, Undergraduate Advanced, and Undergraduate Core

Autoren/Hrsg.

Fridberg, Daniel

Segal, Peretz

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Soziologie von Migranten und Minderheiten
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Minderheiten, Interkulturelle & Multikulturelle Fragen
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Friedens- und Konfliktforschung

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: Social Ruling and Solidarity in Challenged Democratic Systems 1. Solidarity in Democratic Systems Amid Political Conflict: Bibliometric Analysis 2014-2024 2. Navigating the Fault Lines: The Paradoxes of Majoritarian Democracy and Minority Rights in Nigeria’s Multi-Ethnic Polity 3. Major Structural Issues and Measures to Improve Political Participation of Minorities in India 4. Hybrid Majorette and Democratic Models in Central Asia: Navigating Political Instability and Fostering Solidarity in Kyrgyzstan 5. Agonistic Democracy at Work: Managing Minorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo 6. Endorsing and Revising Peace Accords: The Outlet for Ontological Tensions in Peace Endorsement 7. When activists and courts take on Goliath: LGBTQ+ rights and democracy in Costa Rica 8. Belongingness in Democracy: Muslims, Solidarities and Protests in India 9. Majoritarianism and the Differential Ownership of Democracy in India 10. (Mis)Trust in Representative Institutions and the Role and Limits of Protest Politics: Three Protest Movements in Contemporary India 11. Unmasking Cults: Examining the Parallels Between Trumpism and Chinmoyism to Understand Extremism and Offer Peacemakers’ Support 12. Electoral Democracy as a Path to Polarization or Solidarity? Afterword: Toward a Dialogical Democracy

Über Autor(innen)

Daniel Fridberg is the Head of Programme of the Graduate Diploma in Conflict Resolution at Otago Polytechnic and a research affiliate of the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Otago. Daniel is a scholar-practitioner in a wide range of conflict resolution and peacebuilding practices on local, regional and international levels.

Peretz Segal is the Former Head of the Legal Counsel & Legislation Department, The Ministry of Justice, Israel (1991-2015). Peretz initiated and led major legislative reforms, chaired numerous public law committees, and represented Israel in international organizations, especially at the Hague Private International Law Conference. He was the founding director of the Israeli National Center for Mediation and Dispute Resolution in Israel and worked with numerous state and international agencies in the field of mediation.