Bøger udgivet af University of Notre Dame Press

For a human being to exist, does it require an immaterial mind, a physical body, a functioning brain, a soul?Is there a shared nature common to all human beings? What essential qualities might define this nature? These questions are among the most widely discussed topics in the history of philosophy and remain subjects of perennial interest and controversy. The Nature of Human Persons offers a metaphysical investigation of the composition of the human essence.Jason Eberl also considers the criterion of identity for a developing human being--that is, what is required for a human being to continue existing as a person despite undergoing physical and psychological changes over time? Eberl places Thomas Aquinas's account of human nature into direct comparison with several prominent contemporary theories: substance dualism, emergentism, animalism, constitutionalism, four-dimensionalism, and embodied mind theory. These theories inform conclusions regarding when human beings first come into existence (at conception, during gestation, or after birth), how we ought to define death for human beings, and whether (and if so how) human beings may survive death. Ultimately, The Nature of Human Persons argues that the Thomistic account of human nature addresses the matters of human nature and survival more holistically than other theories and offers a cohesive portrait of one's continued existence from conception through life to death and beyond.

Theology of Horror explores the dark reaches of popular horror films, bringing to light their implicit theological and philosophical themes.Horror films scare and entertain us, but there's more to be found in their narratives than simple thrills. Within their shadows, an attentive viewer can glimpse unexpected flashes of orthodox Christian belief. In Theology of Horror, Ryan G. Duns, SJ, invites readers to undertake an unconventional pilgrimage in search of these buried theological insights.Duns uses fifteen contemporary horror films--including The Blair Witch Project, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Candyman, and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre--as doorways to deeper reflection. Each chapter focuses on a single film, teasing out its implicit philosophical and theological themes. As the reader journeys through the text, a surprisingly robust theological worldview begins to take shape as glimmers of divine light emerge from the darkness. Engaging and accessible, Theology of Horror proves that rather than being the domain of nihilists or atheists, the horror film genre can be an opportunity for reflecting on "things visible and invisible," as Christians profess in the Nicene Creed.

While the health of the body can be defined by its functioning parts and systems, the health of the person is more complex. To flourish, we need to understand health in the context of God's intent.A Theology of Health presents a Christian understanding of the very concept of health, both the health of the body and the health of the person. Preeminent scholar Tyler J. VanderWeele argues that health can be understood as wholeness as intended by God and that sin--whether individual wrongdoing, societal injustice, or the fallenness of creation--causes ill health. VanderWeele explains that restoration and fulfillment of health is salvation, pointed toward in the life of Jesus Christ, to be lived out through the work of the Church, and for which we await final completion. VanderWeele also demonstrates the broader relevance and implications of his insights to all who seek to understand health, well-being, and the ultimate ends of human life.A Theology of Health is an essential theological exploration that seeks to promote health, healing, and flourishing of the whole person.

Through close examination of ancient, medieval, and modern Lives of the saints, Ann W. Astell demonstrates how the historical transformation of hagiography as a genre correlates with similar changes in biblical studies.Christian hagiography flourished from the fourth to the fifteenth centuries, illuminating the gospel through the overlapping forms of exempla and vita. Originally, the Lives of the saints were understood as hermeneutical extensions of the Bible--God authors the saint, just as God authors the divinely inspired scriptures. During the medieval period, a sense of dual authorship between God and the cooperating saint developed, paralleling the Scholastic impulse to assign greater agency to the human writers of scripture. Then, in the sixteenth century, powerful new anxieties about historical truth pushed hagiography aside for biography, its successor.Drawing on her expertise in the history of Christianity and biblical exegesis, Astell convincingly shows how this radical shift in hagiography's status--the loss of the literal, allegorical, tropological, and anagogical senses of the Lives--serves as a bellwether for modern biblical reception.

The Philosophy of Drama provides an in-depth and erudite exploration of human existence as a dramatic existence, interpreted in terms of encounter, dialogue, reciprocity, erring, temptation, condemnation, and justification.In this magnum opus, Catholic philosopher Józef Tischner offers a philosophical interpretation of the human experience and articulates a metaphysics of good and evil, arguing that the drama of existence is revealed most clearly through the painful encounter with evil. Long overdue for translation into English, The Philosophy of Drama is one of the most important works of Polish philosophy to date and a major contribution to phenomenology and the philosophy of dialogue.Tischner writes of a drama that is at once personal and social, that is bound both by the stage of the present world and by the flow of time. It supposes human freedom while also recognizing the way in which human beings refuse to take responsibility for their freedom. It is a drama between divine and human freedom, on the one hand, and between the choice for good and evil, between humans as cursed or blessed, on the other. The Philosophy of Drama addresses the profound question of why we should be responsible for one another and for the world in which we live and is essential reading for anyone trying to understand what it is to be human.

Building on his extensive experience in the U.S. government and as an international human rights lawyer, H. Knox Thames provides fresh, decisive strategies to advance religious freedom for all.Today, a scourge of religious persecution is impacting every faith community around the globe. In Ending Persecution: Charting the Path to Global Religious Freedom, author H. Knox Thames takes readers to some of the world's most repressive countries in the Middle East and Asia, exposing the harsh reality of religious repression. Thames breaks down the devastating litany of human rights abuses faced by religious groups in these countries into four major types of persecution: terrorism in the Middle East, government-sponsored genocides in China and Burma, cultural changes due to extremism in Pakistan, and tyrannical democracy in Nepal and India.Ending Persecution recounts the range of tools and policies that the U.S. government has used to encourage reform in repressive governments, leverage U.S. influence for the oppressed, and to reflect the best of American values of diversity, minority rights, and religious freedom. To help the persecuted in the twenty-first century, Thames argues, the United States must revitalize its approach and recommit to ending oppression by supporting coalition building and interfaith tolerance.

Ara: The Life and Legacy of a Notre Dame Legend captures the personality, courage, and character of a great man who faced adversity on and off the field.Through his unprecedented access to Ara Parseghian's personal files, author Mark O. Hubbard explores the coach's innovative philosophy, organization, strategy, tactics, and motivational techniques with details to satisfy even the most knowledgeable football aficionado.Hubbard chronicles Ara's childhood and Catholic upbringing, his success as a football player, and the development of his coaching credentials at Miami of Ohio and Northwestern before delving into his sensational career at the University of Notre Dame.From the moment Ara arrived on campus, the student body and the players were electrified, and Ara's first season concluded with a dramatic reversal of the Fighting Irish's fortunes as they competed for the national title. The Hall of Famer remains one of the most successful football coaches in Notre Dame history, amassing a career record of 95-17-4 and leading the Fighting Irish to undisputed national championships in 1966 and 1973.After retiring from coaching, Ara became a successful businessman and television commentator, but his finest hours were spent in humanitarian causes, raising millions of dollars for medical research after members of his family were stricken with multiple sclerosis and Niemann-Pick Type C.Peppered with historical context and humor, this lively biography of a Notre Dame legend will delight all sports fans, providing a chance to revisit college football's golden age.

Religion, Modernity, and the Global Afterlives of Colonialism examines the tenacious, lingering impact of European colonial ideology on religion and politics around the world.Even though the formal structures of colonialism have crumbled, with a few notable exceptions, European colonial ideology continues to operate across the globe, resulting in limited, nationalistic conceptualizations of religion and politics. Religion, Modernity, and the Global Afterlives of Colonialism shows convincingly that not only has colonialism had a devastating impact on the colonized, but its reach has turned inward to erode the colonizer's own social and political systems.By examining the colonial violence constitutive of liberal political ideology, the continued oppression of Muslims in Europe in the name of security, and the way neoliberal economics bends religious hermeneutics to its will, the authors of Religion, Modernity, and the Global Afterlives of Colonialism call attention to the threats that face our world today. They also point to potential sites of hope--for example, the work of a priest in the Balkans who seeks to build solidarity across religious differences; groups in Africa who are constructing decolonial religious imaginaries; and the Islamo-futurism of Dune, which haltingly imagines a form of modernity beyond the West.Contributors: Atalia Omer, Joshua Lupo, Santiago Slabodsky, Nadia Fadil, S. Sayyid, Luca Mavelli, Edmund Frettingham, Cecelia Lynch, Slavica Jakelic, and Gil Anidjar

Fighting Irish Football spans the history of college football's most storied program, featuring never-before-seen photos from the vaults of the University of Notre Dame Archives.Expertly selected by Charles Lamb and Elizabeth Hogan, these breathtaking images capture the history of Notre Dame football--and of sports photography--from its beginnings in the late nineteenth century through today, with sections devoted to the coaches, players, fans, games, and venues. The photos are remarkable not only as historic artifacts, but as art, chosen for their striking composition, creative use of light, and unique photographic techniques. From the sport's humble origins on campus to legendary Fighting Irish victories, Lamb and Hogan reveal the stories behind the game through these rare images and engaging, informative commentary.Compelling and unforgettable, Fighting Irish Football builds a special connection between today's fans and the generations of fans who came before, united by their love of Notre Dame.

Retrieving Freedom is a provocative, big-picture book, taking a long view of the "rise and fall" of the classical understanding of freedom.In response to the evident shortcomings of the notion of freedom that dominates contemporary discourse, Retrieving Freedom seeks to return to the sources of the Western tradition to recover a more adequate understanding. This book begins by setting forth the ancient Greek conception--summarized from the conclusion of D. C. Schindler's previous tour de force of political and moral reasoning, Freedom from Reality--and the ancient Hebrew conception, arguing that at the heart of the Christian vision of humanity is a novel synthesis of the apparently opposed views of the Greeks and Jews. This synthesis is then taken as a measure that guides an in-depth exploration of landmark figures framing the history of the Christian appropriation of the classical tradition. Schindler conducts his investigation through five different historical periods, focusing in each case on a polarity, a pair of figures who represent the spectrum of views from that time: Plotinus and Augustine from late antiquity, Dionysius the Areopagite and Maximus the Confessor from the patristic period, Anselm and Bernard from the early middle ages, Bonaventure and Aquinas from the high middle ages, and, finally, Godfrey of Fontaines and John Duns Scotus from the late middle ages. In the end, we rediscover dimensions of freedom that have gone missing in contemporary discourse, and thereby identify tasks that remain to be accomplished. Schindler's masterful study will interest philosophers, political theorists, and students and scholars of intellectual history, especially those who seek an alternative to contemporary philosophical understandings of freedom.

An introduction to ethical theory from a Christian perspective, The Shape of the Good examines the connection between moral theory, theology, metaphysics and approaches standard ethical theories from the standpoint of Christian theology.

Travis Pickell explores the paradoxes of choice in modern dying and the ways Christian theology can aid in navigating the relationship between moral agency and dignity at the end of life.Burdened Agency addresses the problem of death and dying through Christian theology and ethics. In previous centuries, death was something that simply "happened" to us. To choose how or when one died was the exception, not the rule. However, due to advances in modern medicine, individuals are increasingly required to make concrete choices about the nature and timing of death. Modernity, with its emphasis on individualism, complicates this further because we are increasingly bereft of cultural and religious guidance regarding death. This gives rise to the phenomenon of "burdened agency" the predicament of having to make such difficult choices with so little to help us.This engaging book offers a historical and philosophical account of the origins of our situation of burdened agency, as well as a Christian solution to the problems that it raises. Looking to theologians such as Karl Rahner, Karl Barth, and Stanley Hauerwas, Pickell devises a radically countercultural approach to death and dying rooted in Christian theological commitments and enacted in the practices of baptism, Eucharist, and prayer.

In the context of the global decline of democracy, The Authoritarian Divide analyzes the tactics that populist leaders in Turkey, Venezuela, and Ecuador have used to polarize their countries.Political polarization is traditionally viewed as the result of competing left/right ideologies. In The Authoritarian Divide, Orçun Selçuk argues that, regardless of ideology, polarization is driven by dominant populist leaders who deliberately divide constituents by cultivating a dichotomy of inclusion and exclusion. This practice, known as affective leader polarization, stymies compromise and undermines the democratic process.Drawing on multiple qualitative and quantitative methodologies for support, as well as content from propaganda media such as public speeches, Muhtar Meetings, Aló Presidente, and Enlace Ciudadano, Selçuk details and analyzes the tactics used by three well-known populist leaders to fuel affective leader polarization: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, and Rafael Correa in Ecuador. Selçuk's work provides a rubric for a better understanding of--and potential defense against--the rise in polarizing populism across the globe.

Bioethics after God explores the relationship between morality and medicine in a society that has denied the existence of God.Medicine and bioethics are going through profound changes in the Western world. Practices that prior generations would have recognized as morally impermissible, such as abortion, eugenics, and euthanasia, are becoming central components of modern health care. Bioethics after God argues that in the process of rejecting its Christian roots, the Western world has upended traditional understandings of truth that are central to both scientific and moral judgment. The effect is being felt throughout medicine as healthcare professionals increasingly work without the context and guidance provided by traditional Christian ethics.Cherry uses the conceptual framework of "weak bioethics"--bioethics solely informed by secular knowledge--to delve into shifting concepts of health and disease, the active embrace of ethically fraught practices, and technological developments such as brain transplantation and humanoid robots designed for sexual activity. The implications of a bioethics after God are wide-ranging and profound, and Cherry challenges us to consider the repercussions of pushing forward in medicine without the support of a solid ethical foundation.

Challenging the prevailing understanding of the authority of law, Daniel Mark offers a theory of moral obligation that is rooted both in command and in the law's orientation to the common good.When and why do we have an obligation to obey the law? Prevailing theories in the philosophy of law, starting with the work of H. L. A. Hart and Joseph Raz, fail to provide definitive answers regarding the nature of legal obligation. In this highly original and effective new work, Daniel Mark argues that there is a prima facie moral obligation to obey the law simply because it is the law. In Mark's view, the best concept of law--one that allows for the possibility of justified authority and obligation--defines law as a set of commands oriented to the common good. Legal obligation, he proposes, shares defining features with moral obligation and with religious obligation while aligning wholly with neither.This philosophically coherent view of legal obligation offers a viable framework for analyzing important and seemingly paradoxical puzzles about the law, such as why civil disobedience is punished as lawbreaking or why war-crimes trials for legal but immoral acts present a moral quandary.By reconciling the concept of law as command with the role of law in promoting the common good, The Nature of Law provides an original and important scholarly contribution to the fields of legal philosophy and political thought.

This work covers a study of young adult Catholics aged 20 to 39. It compares Latino and non-Latino Catholics on a wide array of beliefs, attitudes, and practices.

The central theme in any history of texts and books must be that of change and renewal: Parchment that is written on, in one set of circumstances in late antiquity, may in the Early Middle Ages be scraped clean and written on again, leaving evidence of a civilization in which blank parchment is more valuable than ancient literature. A manuscript can be regarded as an archeological artifact, but unlike pieces of pottery or chips of flint, a manuscript has a voice.The 12 essays gathered here vary in subject from the transmission of ancient authors to the invention of the subject index and range in time from the Gregorian reform of the eleventh century to the Protestant reformation of the early sixteenth century. Diverse in subject and period, these essays are unified by the questions they pose and the methodology they employ in seeking answers. A common thread is the desire to discover what information the manuscripts can yield about the society that created them: how the great concordance to the Bible was compiled, how book production at the medieval university was organized, how a vernacular poet carried his songs.Each surviving manuscript exists not only by the decision of the original maker but as a result of subsequent owners, who made notes, entered corrections, added an index composed a continuation. Changing times brought new uses for old texts changes that are reflected, like personal and cultural fingerprints, in glosses, marginalia, even the chain marks showing how the book was kept in the medieval library.

With a focus on Robert Morrison, Protestant Missionaries in China evaluates the role of nineteenth-century British missionaries in the early development of the cross-cultural relationship between China and the English-speaking world.As one of the first generation of British Protestant missionaries, Robert Morrison went to China in 1807 with the goal of evangelizing the country. His mission pushed him into deeper engagement with Chinese language and culture, and the exchange flowed both ways as Morrison--a working-class man whose firsthand experiences made him an "accidental expert"--brought depictions of China back to eager British audiences. Author Jonathan A. Seitz proposes that, despite the limitations imposed by the orientalism impulse of the era, Morrison and his fellow missionaries were instrumental in creating a new map of cross-cultural engagement that would evolve, ultimately, into modern sinology.Engaging and well researched, Protestant Missionaries in China explores the impact of Morrison and his contemporaries on early sinology, mission work, and Chinese Christianity during the three decades before the start of the Opium Wars.

The first full-length critical biography and theological analysis of Wang Mingdao, the spiritual father of China's House Church Movement.One of the most influential figures in Chinese Christianity, church leader and evangelist Wang Mingdao rejected state control of religion in favor of the religious freedom of the unregistered House Churches--a choice that made him a frequent target of government persecution.In this thorough new biography, scholar Christopher Payk traces Wang's life and Christian development through the sociopolitical tumult of twentieth-century China. Drawing on unpublished sermons, journals, and additional sources in English and Chinese, Payk argues persuasively that Wang's theology--while largely based on Christian scripture--was shaped by Confucian tradition, reason, and personal experience. Following Christ and Confucius brings new clarity to Wang's uncompromising faith and lasting impact.

The Catholic Case against War demonstrates how the Catholic mantra "Never again war!" reflects a set of powerfully realistic teachings on war and peace.Over the last five decades, the Catholic Church has emerged as a powerful critic of war and as an advocate for its alternatives. At the same time, researchers of armed conflict have produced a considerable body of scholarship on war and its prevention. The Catholic Case against War compares these seemingly disparate lines of thought and finds a remarkable harmony between the two.Drawing on years of Vatican documents and papal statements, political scientist David Carroll Cochran clearly presents the key elements of the Church's case against war. Far from a naïve, optimistic call for peace, these teachings are consistent with the empirical research on the realities of contemporary warfare. The result is a look not only at the explicit moral case against war developed by the Vatican but also at its remarkable realism and relevance to world conflict today.

Politics and the Pink Tide investigates the ways in which protest varied across five Latin American countries that elected leftist presidents during the Pink Tide.Kathleen Bruhn compares the differences in protest that occurred under the new leftist governments to their conservative, neoliberal predecessors, offering a wide-angle view into the complex relationships between neoliberalism, political party structures, and protest.Using individual and event-level data from Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, and Ecuador, Politics and the Pink Tide shows how economic policy choices and the links between leftist parties and social movements affect patterns of protest. For example, although more orthodox neoliberal approaches did motivate more economic protest, the book demonstrates that neither more radical nor more socially linked leftist governments were better able to contain protest--or to do so without resorting to police violence. Politics and the Pink Tide proposes a sweeping exploration of protest, one that is controlled by economic policy and grievances, the social embeddedness of political parties, and the norms surrounding protest tactics within public life.

Youth, Education, and Islamic Radicalism offers groundbreaking analysis of religious intolerance and radicalization among high school and university students in modern-day Indonesia.Indonesia is one of the most diverse countries in the world in terms of religion, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, but also in the complexity of its education system. Youth, Education, and Islamic Radicalism examines the roots of religious intolerance among young Indonesians and explores the various ways in which educated youth navigate radical ideologies amid growing religious conservatism.The book presents nuanced explanations as to why one person becomes radicalized while another does not, calling into question the common assumption that religious radicalism is directly connected to terrorism. It problematizes the notion that the university is a significant hub, trigger, or birthplace of radicalization by asking: What makes education attractive for extremist recruitment? What shapes students' views? Under what circumstances do radicalization and deradicalization processes of educated youth take place? Youth, Education, and Islamic Radicalism identifies a constellation of factors that shape young people's views of religious diversity in Indonesia, demonstrating the ways in which they become radicalized in the first place, and how, in some cases, they deradicalize themselves.

From one of the most-read religious and philosophical scholars in the United States comes a collection of creative, thought-provoking fables.Alongside David Bentley Hart's widely read work in philosophy, theology, and religious studies there has always been the other side of his writing--the fiction, poetry, and literary essays--which has often enjoyed a separate, if equally appreciative, readership. In this his most recent book, these two worlds draw near to one another in a new way.In Prisms, Veils: A Book of Fables, Hart explores the elusive nature of dreams and the enduring power of mythologies. Moving over themes ranging from the beauty of the natural world to the very nature of consciousness itself, each narrative is threaded through with Hart's deep religious, cultural, and historical knowledge, drawing readers into an expertly woven tapestry of diverse allusions and deep meaning.Prisms, Veils will appeal to fans of Hart's work, philosophers, theologians, and general readers of fiction. The collection affords a unique opportunity to engage with the creative side of Hart, its pages sparkling with bright gems of short fiction that are enchanting, thought-provoking, and imbued with spiritual truth.

This classic of Christian apologetics seeks to persuade the skeptic that there are good reasons to believe in God even though it is impossible to understand the deity fully. First written over a century ago, the Grammar of Assent speaks as powerfully to us today as it did to its first readers. Because of the informal, non-technical character of Newman's work, it still retains its immediacy as an invaluable guide to the nature of religious belief. A new introduction by Nicholas Lash reviews the background of the Grammar, highlights its principal themes, and evaluates its philosophical originality.

The civic religious drama of late medieval England--financed, produced, and performed by craftspeople--offers one of the earliest forms of written literature by a non-elite group in Europe. In this innovative study, Nicole R. Rice and Margaret Aziza Pappano trace an artisanal perspective on medieval and early modern civic relations, analyzing selected plays from the cities of York and Chester individually and from a comparative perspective, in dialogue with civic records. Positing a complex view of relations among merchants, established artisans, wage laborers, and women, the two authors show how artisans used the cycle plays to not only represent but also perform their interests, suggesting that the plays were the major means by which the artisans participated in civic polity. In addition to examining selected plays in the context of artisanal social and economic practices, Rice and Pappano also address relations between performance and historical transformation, considering how these plays, staged for nearly two centuries, responded to changes in historical conditions. In particular, they pay attention to how the pressures of Reformist governments influenced the meaning and performance of the civic religious drama in both towns. Ultimately, the authors provide a new perspective on how artisans can be viewed as social actors and agents in England in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

This latest book from veteran O'Neillian Edward L. Shaughnessy examines the influence of the Irish playwright's Catholic heritage on his moral imagination. Critics, due to O'Neill's early renunciation of faith at age 15, have mostly overlooked this presence in his work. While Shaughnessy makes no attempt to reclaim him for Catholicism, he uncovers evidence that O'Neill retained the imprint of his Irish Catholic upbringing and acculturation in his work.Shaughnessy discusses several key plays from the O'Neill cannon, such as Long Day's Journey into Night, The Iceman Cometh, and Mourning Becomes Electra, as well as the lesser-known Ile and Days Without End.Winner of the Irish in America Manuscript competition, Down the Days and Down the Nights: Eugene O'Neill's Catholic Sensibility is a compelling investigation into the psyche of one of the most brilliant, internationally honored playwrights of our time.

The ninety-three images in Fritz Kaeser: A Life in Photography illustrate the notable fifty-year career of photographer Fritz Kaeser. After World War II, Kaeser studied briefly with Ansel Adams, whose influence is notably evident in Kaeser's remarkable photographs of the American Southwest and the Rocky Mountains.Kaeser's photographs of the 1940s through the 1960s are wonderfully diverse, ranging from clear, brilliant landscape views of the mountains and high deserts to close-up studies of rocks and plant forms. The volume includes a series of portraits of Georgia O'Keeffe, several of which are published here for the first time.Late in his career, Kaeser produced totally abstract images and studio shots of bones and skulls, inspired by his readings in religion that included the poems of the Catholic monk, Thomas Merton. Kaeser used photography as a way of searching for the elusive patterns that underlie reality, what Merton called, "a hidden wholeness."Fritz Kaeser: A Life in Photography is published in conjunction with the Snite Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame. The volume includes an essay written by Stephen Roger Moriarty, curator of photography, and an introduction by Dean Porter, museum director. The photographs were part of an exhibition at the Snite in January 1999.

The issue of public morality, so often at the center of heated debates about pornography, narcotics, public indecency, violent entertainment, "family values," et cetera, is at once a continuing reality and a persistent dilemma in our liberal society. With Public Morality and Liberal Society, Harry M. Clor makes an important contribution to this perennial and intensely debated theme by considering how public morality can be justified in theory and accommodated in practice within a liberal society. Clor develops his argument in five parts. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the various controversies and ambiguities about public morality in American life and public opinion. In Chapter 2 Clor presents the case for a public standard of morality and defends it against the most persistent objections. Chapter 3 covers some of the themes prominent in recent treatments of the subject of public morality, and Chapter 4 critically analyzes the two theoretically dominant liberal orientations of recent decades, the libertarian and egalitarian views. In Chapter 5 Clor compares the traditional ethical indictment of pornography with the current feminist indictment.

Fueled by new data from the Varieties of Democracy project, Democratic Quality in Southern Europe takes a close look at the democratic trajectories of France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain over the past fifty years.