Thomas Sinclair – författare

How do nations make successful transitions to democracies? Our understanding of how democracy functions—and under what circumstances it can be consolidated and strengthened—remains highly uneven. Recent events underscore the critical importance of expanding our understanding of democratic institutions and operations. Here McMahon and his distinguished contributors demonstrate how the dynamic process of democratization is shaped by the specific contexts in which it occurs; how the internal community plays a key role in the development of democracy; and how the ability to understand democratization requires both internal and external perspectives.The contributors seek to improve the definitions of what constitutes a democracy and to determine how the effectiveness of democratic institutions might best be judged in order to better serve the analysis of and policy approaches to building democratic institutions. With fewer overtly authoritarian states in the post-Cold War world, a wealth of raw information and experience has begun to accumulate. Our understanding of democratic institutional performance requires us to look closely at the performance of the institutions themselves. The book contains chapters on public opinion, civil society, domestic institutions of governance, elections, globalization, international standards of democratic development, international assistance and academic research. A concluding chapter summarizes what democratization processes can teach us about democracy in a broader context.

At the end of the High Middle Ages in Europe, with buying power and economic sophistication at a high, an itinerary detailing the toll stations along a commercial artery carrying eastern goods (from China, India and Iran) towards Europe was compiled, and later incorporated in the well-known trading manual of the Florentine bank official Pegolotti; Pegolotti was twice stationed in the city of Famagusta in Cyprus, which lay opposite the city of Ayas where the land route ended. The Il-Khanid capital, Tabriz in Iran, attracting expensive merchandise such as spices and silk from a variety of origins, was the road’s starting-point. To demonstrate the importance of the route in its own time, parallel and contemporary routes in the Black Sea and the Levant are traced and the effect of trade on their cities noted. To compare the Ayas itinerary (1250s to 1330s) with previous periods the networks of commercial avenues in the previous period (1100-1250) and the subsequent one (1340s to 1500) are reconstructed. In each period the connection of east-west trade with the main movements of the European economy are fully drawn out, and the effects on the building history of the three main Italian cities concerned (Venice, Genoa and Florence) are sketched. Attention then turns to the Pegolotti itinerary itself. The individual toll stations are identified employing a variety of means, such as names taken from the Roman itineraries (Peutinger Table and Antonine Itinerary) and archaeological data; this allows the course of the track to be followed through diverse topography to the city of Sivas, then across plains and through passes to Erzurum and finally to Tabriz. A picture is drawn of the urban history of each major city, including Sivas, Erzurum and Tabriz itself, and of the other towns along the route.

At the end of the High Middle Ages in Europe, with buying power and economic sophistication at a high, an itinerary detailing the toll stations along a commercial artery carrying eastern goods (from China, India and Iran) towards Europe was compiled, and later incorporated in the well-known trading manual of the Florentine bank official Pegolotti; Pegolotti was twice stationed in the city of Famagusta in Cyprus, which lay opposite the city of Ayas where the land route ended. The Il-Khanid capital, Tabriz in Iran, attracting expensive merchandise such as spices and silk from a variety of origins, was the road’s starting-point. To demonstrate the importance of the route in its own time, parallel and contemporary routes in the Black Sea and the Levant are traced and the effect of trade on their cities noted. To compare the Ayas itinerary (1250s to 1330s) with previous periods the networks of commercial avenues in the previous period (1100-1250) and the subsequent one (1340s to 1500) are reconstructed. In each period the connection of east-west trade with the main movements of the European economy are fully drawn out, and the effects on the building history of the three main Italian cities concerned (Venice, Genoa and Florence) are sketched. Attention then turns to the Pegolotti itinerary itself. The individual toll stations are identified employing a variety of means, such as names taken from the Roman itineraries (Peutinger Table and Antonine Itinerary) and archaeological data; this allows the course of the track to be followed through diverse topography to the city of Sivas, then across plains and through passes to Erzurum and finally to Tabriz. A picture is drawn of the urban history of each major city, including Sivas, Erzurum and Tabriz itself, and of the other towns along the route.

This edition comprises a transliteration, translation and commentary of a history of Athens written from the 1710s to the 1740s by Mahmut Efendi, a locally born Ottoman court official. The text describes the city’s early history, the reforms of Solon, the battles of Marathon and Salamis, Socrates’ teaching, Alexander the Great’s involvement with the city and exploits in Asia, and the city’s conversion to Christianity. It also outlines the involvement of Venice in the city’s fortunes starting in the 13th century and complains of the second Venetian occupation (1686–87) of the Peloponnese and Athens. Shining a light on the historical consciousness and geographical awareness of an Ottoman official in a provincial court, the text is a valuable source for a range of fields. The volume opens with an introduction, which considers Mahmut Efendi’s motives in writing the text, his selections from and distortions of episodes in Athenian history, his take on Athenian mythology, and his language and the issues arising in the translation of his text. The volume also offers a detailed commentary, a directory of geographical terms and a dictionary of personal names.