Guillermo O'Donnell

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Guillermo O'Donnell (born February 24, 1936 in Buenos Aires ; † November 29, 2011 ibid) is an Argentine political scientist and Helen Kellogg Professor of Government and International Studies at the University of Notre Dame .

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His most important theoretical contributions to political science include his work on the "bureaucratic-authoritarian state" and on the transformation processes of authoritarian states towards democracies. With his works he coined terms such as the "horizontal responsibility", the "micro over the theories of democracy and the properties of the process of democratic transition, through the development of concepts such as" horizontal responsibility "," micro-democracy "and the" delegative democracy ".

O'Donnell divides democracies into representative democracies such as those in free-market countries in the western world and the newly installed democracies in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe . According to O'Donnell, the majority of the latter belong to the delegative democracies. This occurs when one of the three powers usurps another and thus the principle of the horizontal separation of powers is violated. The democratic institutions are largely concentrated here, primarily in a strong presidentialism , which is understood as the organic embodiment of the state. According to O'Donnell, however, the system could still be viewed as democratic, albeit less liberal than the representative democracies of the West. The delegative democracies are all in a transition process to representative democracies, with the degree of institutionalization deciding on progress.

According to O'Donnell, representative democracy does not necessarily have to be the goal, because z. For example, due to other socio-economic and historically traditional structures, the western model of democracy cannot always be imposed. O'Donnell is politically part of the Peronist movement . His brother Pacho O'Donnell is a well-known Argentine politician, psychoanalyst and writer.

In 1995 O'Donnell was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Guillermo O'Donnell died on November 29, 2011 at the age of 75.

Fonts

  • Transitions from authoritarian rule. Tentative conclusions about uncertain democracies , 4th improved edition. Baltimore 1993, ISBN 0-8018-2682-9 .
  • Bureaucratic authoritarianism. Argentina, 1966–1973, in comparative perspective. Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-04260-3 .
  • Delegative Democracy . In: Journal of Democracy. (7: 4) 1994, pp. 112-126.

literature

  • Hans-Joachim Lauth: The State in Latin America. The State Concept by Guillermo O'Donnell. Saarbrücken 1985, ISBN 3-88156-301-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tribute to Guillermo O'Donnell, by Scott Mainwaring, in Kellogg Institute for International Studies, November 30, 2011 ( Memento of the original from May 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / kellogg.nd.edu
personal data
SURNAME O'Donnell, Guillermo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Argentine political scientist
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Buenos Aires
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 2011
Place of death Buenos Aires