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The article delves into the concept of oligarchy in modern political theory, examining the relationship between wealth, power, and democracy. It compares authoritarian Singapore and liberal-democratic United States as examples of civil oligarchies. "The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution" by Fishkin and Forbath analyzes how constitutional and party-political structures shape democratization and de-democratization in the US. Levitsky and Ziblatt highlight the risks of authoritarianism in the US due to flaws in the political system, advocating for comprehensive reforms to safeguard democracy. The document includes academic sources discussing oligarchy, democracy, and political theory, offering diverse perspectives and historical insights for those interested in political science and social theory. [Extracted from the article]

The article "Our reply to critics" by Andrew Arato and Jean L. Cohen addresses criticisms raised by scholars regarding their work on populism and civil society. The authors discuss methodological issues, definitions, and the stages and causality of populism. They defend their method, which combines immanent criticism of populist ideology with ideal type analysis, and argue against subtracting or adding certain components to their definition of populism. The authors propose a three-level hypothesis to explain the sources of populism, emphasizing the tension between popular sovereignty and constitutionalism as the ultimate source. They also acknowledge the role of political actors and leaders in driving populist movements and highlight the importance of understanding long-term ideological tensions, middle-term crisis tendencies, and short-term interactions in studying populism. The article concludes by advocating for democratic alternatives to populism. [Extracted from the article]

The discourse of civil society has gone global. Once again theorists of democracy are placing their bets on civil society to generate solidarity, publicity, civicness, awareness of new forms of injustice, and democracy vis-à-vis the new world order. Yet too many analysts are naïvely optimistic or ideological about global civil society's democratizing role. In order to visualize the proper role of civil society in the global context, careful systematic analysis is needed concerning the ways in which globalization has transformed the key parameters of civil society and how such changes recursively affect how civil society impacts national, regional, transnational, and supranational bodies. There can be no vital democracy without civil society, but civil society cannot replace constitutional democracy or the rule of law at any level of government.