China is not an easy country to rule: it is experiencing rapid growth and with it rapid social change. Resources and religion are two of the most difficult of its challenges, and their combination with ethnicity is not unique to China. It may well be one of the major underlying currents of the 21st century and is present throughout Asia-with the Baloch of Pakistan, the Kurds of Iraq and Turkey, and the Timorese of the former island of East Timor in Indonesia, now Timor-Lest. In all these nations, as in China, ethnic identity, often united with religious differences, is driven by the presence of valuable resources to create a nationalism with economic underpinnings. However, as Van Wie Davis shows, with China the outcome is vital, as how it copes with the pressures for good governance with the Asian economic model, treats its ethnic minorities under scrutiny, and gathers resources to fuel its dynamic economy impacts us all.

Why do policy actors create branded policy ideas like the big society and does launching them on Twitter extend or curtail their life? This book reveals how policy analysis can adapt in an increasingly mediatised world, offering interpretive insights into the life and death of policy ideas in an era of hashtag politics.

This theoretically rooted and research-based book provides insights on the JESSICA funding model which - unlike the traditional non-repayable aid - focuses on supporting sustainable urban development projects in a repayable and recyclable way. Looking through the lens of the JESSICA financial engineering mechanism used in urban transformation, it examines the functioning and performance thereof and formulates policy recommendations for the future. The aim of this volume is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the JESSICA sustainable funding model by exploring its repayable assistance mechanism to support sustainable urban development projects. The authors make several noteworthy contributions to the literature on EU cohesion policy and shed light on the use of the repayable instruments within public interventions, while providing, for the first time, a critical analysis of the JESSICA sustainable funding model from the holistic perspective which is especially relevant for supporting sustainable urban development. Financial Engineering in Sustainable Funding of Urban Development in the EU provides policy-significant findings that are important for EU cohesion policy in the field of repayable assistance to be reinvested in the long term in urban and regional transformation.

This is a valuable, well-written book on the development and current state of intercity passenger and freight transportation in 12 countries (Brazil, China, East Germany, France, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the USSR, the UK, the US, West Germany, and Zaire). Locations studied represent a good mix of advanced and developing countries with market and centrally planned economies. "Choice"

This volume surveys the public transportation systems and policies of twelve countries. It is concerned with the selected countries' experiences with the development, maintenance, and use of publicly provided transportation infrastructure for both public (commercial) and private (individual) purposes. The diversity of the countries surveyed, both in terms of the type of economic system and the level of economic development, provides rich and varied national experiences from which lessons can be learned. The volume allows the reader to compare and contrast different needs and policy responses in the public transportation sector of the countries selected.

All modes of transportation are covered and both passenger and freight/cargo transportation are included. Narrative descriptions of transportation modes are accompanied by quantitative indicators of the volume of transportation and other related data. Each country chapter provides the following information: historical and geographical factors influencing the development and maintenance of the country's public transportation system and policy; the impact of socioeconomic changes and political and ideological factors on a country's public transportation system and policies; recent trends and future prospects in public transportation; and transportation policy organization and process. The survey covers the post-World War II period through 1987-88. The country chapters are followed by a bibliographical essay that introduces a selective collection of English-language materials on public transportation systems and policies in the twelve countries surveyed, as well as additional, general works on public transportation. This unique work will be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in a cross-cultural perspective on transportation policy.

This book offers insight into the motives behind Moscow's behaviour in the Persian Gulf (with a specific focus on the GCC member states and Iran), considering Russia's growing role in the Middle East and its desire to protect national interests using a wide range of means. The book explores the drivers and motivations of the Russian foreign policy in the Gulf region, thus, helping the audience to generate informed prognosis about Moscow's moves in this area over the next years. In contrast to most studies of Russia's presence in the region, this book considers the Russian involvement in the Gulf from two standpoints - the Russian and foreign. The idea of the book is to take several key problems of Moscow's presence in the Gulf, each of these to be covered by two authors-Russian and non-Russian scholars, in order to offer the readers alternative visions of Moscow's policies towards Iran and the GCC countries

This book analyzes the rhetorical strategies employed by the four Democratic presidents, Truman, Johnson, Clinton and Obama, who tried to expand access to and affordability of healthcare in the United States. It considers how they made such arguments, the ethics they advanced, and the vision of America they espoused. The author combines rhetoric analysis, policy analysis, and policy history to illuminate the dynamic nature of the way American presidents have imagined the moral and social bonds of the American people and their exhortations for governance and policy to reflect and honor these bonds and obligations. Schimmel illustrates how Democratic presidents invoke positive liberty and communitarian values in direct challenge to opposing conservative ideologies of limited government and prioritization of negative liberty and their increasing prominence in the post-Reagan era. He also draws attention to the ethical and policy compromises entailed by the usage of specific rhetorical strategies and their resulting discursive effects.

For a variety of reasons market-oriented improvement efforts are becoming increasingly visible on the educational reform landscape. In particular, privatization strategies, such as vouchers and contracting out, are receiving considerable attention at all levels of educational governance and administration. Our objective in this volume is to help the educational community develop a deeper understanding of the privatization movement in general and the major pathways to privatization in particular.

This much revised and expanded edition guides researchers to sources that provide information about the general and specific subjects which form the jurisdiction of the U.S. Government. A tool that correlates legal authorities, principal offices, and financial resources and clarifies their patterns of interaction, the book points out the most appropriate methods and authors for accessing all fields of federal data. Students, teachers, public administrators, policy analysts and citizen activists will find that this easy-to-use guide reliably maps out the jurisdictions of government business and policymaking. This much revised and expanded edition guides researchers to sources that provide information about the general and specific subjects which form the jurisdiction of the U.S. Government. A tool that correlates legal authorities, principal offices, and financial resources and clarifies their patterns of interaction, the book points out the most appropriate methods and authors for accessing all fields of federal data. This research aid translates the universe of public responsibilities into topical categories that chart the structure and functions of the policymaking branches and their various subunits. By helping students, teachers, public administrators, policy analysts, and citizen activists to understand the role of jurisdiction in the business of government, it enables them to develop their own best research strategies.

This first book-length study of the socialisation of MPs uses questionnaire data gathered over two Parliaments (1992-97 and 1997-2001) to find out how MPs learn about, and what their attitudes are towards, their role as a Member of Parliament. It analyzes their participation in debates, the use of Parliamentary Questions and committee work.

Water managers tend to have narrow views on what they consider to be the value of water. However, not all water use is market driven; therefore, a comprehensive understanding of local community values associated with water can inform decision making by water managers. We use the term 'water manager' to encompass not only the singular person assigned this community duty but also the many councils and institutions who make decisions regarding local water resources. Regarding conventional values of water, an abundance of research exists; yet, for intangible aspects such as conservation for its own sake and spiritual connections, research involving value is limited. There are volumes of works that estimate the monetary values of water; however, intangible values are often overlooked. In general, few studies endeavor to estimate worth for water that encompasses more than a monetary value. We argue that it is the inclusion of both monetary and non-monetary values that justifies trust in the position of water manager.

Across the EU, populations are shrinking and ageing. An increasing burden is being placed on a smaller working population to generate the taxes required for pensions and care costs. Welfare states are weakening in many countries and across Europe, households are being increasingly expected to plan for their retirement and future care needs within this risky environment. At the same time, the proportion of people buying their own home in most countries has risen, so that some two-thirds of European households now own their homes. Housing equity now considerably exceeds total European GDP.

This book discusses questions like: to what extent might home ownership provide a potential cure for some of the consequences of ageing populations by realizing housing equity in order to meet the consumption needs of older people? What does this mean for patterns of inheritance and longer-term inequalities across Europe? And to what extent are governments banking on their citizens utilising their housing wealth now and in the future? "

This book traces the events and developments that quickly discredited the Global War on Terror (GWOT), especially its failure to deal with the threat of global terrorism after the events of 11 September 2001. It examines the various strategies, including Global Counterinsurgency (GCOIN), which have been put forward as alternatives to the GWOT. While a consensus can be found on the key elements of a grand strategy, based on the mistakes and failures in the GWOT, it is far from clear if any GCOIN strategy could work. In fact, the US pursuit of a grand strategy is probably a chimera.

According to accepted wisdom, rational practices and ritual action are opposed. Rituals drain wealth from capital investment and draw on a mode of thought different from practical ideas. The studies in this volume contest this view. Comparative, historical, and contemporary, the six ethnographies extend from Macedonia to Kyrgyzstan. Each one illuminates the economic and ritual changes in an area as it emerged from socialism and (re-)entered market society. Cutting against the idea that economy only means markets and that market action exhausts the meaning of economy, the studies show that much of what is critical for a people's economic life takes place outside markets and hinges on ritual, understood as the negation of the everyday world of economising.

In 2008, the presidential election became blockbuster entertainment. Everyone was watching as the race for the White House unfolded like something from the realm of fiction. The meteoric rise and historic triumph of Barack Obama. The shocking fall of the House of Clinton--and the improbable resurrection of Hillary as Obama's partner and America's face to the world. The mercurial performance of John McCain and the mesmerizing emergence of Sarah Palin. But despite the wall-to-wall media coverage of this spellbinding drama, remarkably little of the real story behind the headlines had been told--until now.

In Game Change, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin pull back the curtain on the Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Palin campaigns. Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story, Game Change is a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel.

U.S. and German export control policies are compared, showing how these policies have responded to the changes in the international environment, including the end of the Cold War. The policy differences are explained through an analysis of differences in state interests and external constraints, state strategies, domestic support for export controls, and institutional constraints on policy change. The conclusion put forward is that despite a partial convergence of U.S. and German export control policies in the 1990s, diplomatic conflicts between the U.S. and European governments over export control issues will continue to erupt.

An analysis of Russia's response to globalization. This book explores how Russian domestic politics shape this international engagement. Thematically, the focus is on Russia's external engagement with areas of policy relating to globalization, namely energy, climate, health, direct foreign investment, finance, and international terrorism.

Studying the political economy of welfare state reform, this edited collection focuses on the role of public opinion and organized interests in respect to policy change. It highlights that welfare states are hard pressed to reform in order to cope with ongoing socio-economic and demographic challenges. While public opinion is commonly seen to oppose welfare cuts and organized interests such as trade unions have tended to defend acquired social rights, this book shows that there have been emergent tendencies in favour of reform. Welfare State Reforms Seen from Below analyses a wide range of social policies affecting healthcare, pensions and the labour market to demonstrate how social groups and interest organizations differ and interact in their approaches to reform. Comparing Britain and Germany, with its two very different welfare states, it provides a European perspective on the changing approaches to welfare. This book will be of interest to those wanting to learn more about the politics of the welfare state and of relevance to students and academics in the fields of political economy and comparative social policy.

1 Physische und kulturelle Mobilitat-Die Fuhrungskraft als Europaer.- 2 Freizeitmobilitat im Erlebniszeitalter.- 3 Internationaler Tourismus als Wirtschaftsfaktor.- 4 Ich fahr' mal schnell zum Joggen Freizeitverkehr und Lokale Agenda 21.- 5 Freizeitverkehr - Ein Widerspruch in sich?.- 6 Handlungsbedarf im Freizeitverkehr aus der Sicht.- Freizeitmobilitat im Alltag.- Die Wiederentdeckung der Nahe im Stadt-Land-Verbund.- Ironbridge-Auf dem Weg zum sozial akzeptierten Freizeitverkehr*.- Ferntourismus-Risiko oder Chance fur eine nachhaltige Entwicklung?.- Virtuelles Reisen als kulturelle Erfahrung.- Virtuell um die Welt* Neue Formen der Vergnugungsreise im Cyberspace.- Wie nah, wie fern, wie virtuell? Neue Herausforderungen im Freizeitverkehr.- Die weite Ferne nebenan? Freizeitmobilitat und Tourismus im Spannungsfeld zwischen globalem Wachstum und Nachhaltigkeit. UEberlegungen fur ein neues Forschungs- und Politikfeld.- Physical and Cultural Mobility-The Executive as a European.- Leisure Time Travel-A Contradiction in Terms?.- Ironbridge-Towards Socially Acceptable Leisure Transport.- World Voyaging The New Modalities of Leisure Travel.- Die Autoren.- Die Experten.

This work follows upon the author's previous volume, The Political Economy of Venezuelan Oil, and investigates the general workings of the Mexican oil industry in relationship to the economics and politics of Mexico. Specifically the author examines Mexico's state-run oil concern, PEMEX, and the costs and benefits of Mexican oil policy--for the nation as a whole and for special groups. Using in-depth interviews and extensive data from PEMEX and other sources, Randall explores issues such as PEMEX's relationships with workers and the oil union, with suppliers of capital goods and services, with the regions in which oil is produced, and with specific groups of oil consumers. Given the critical and negative publicity PEMEX has received over its lifetime, Randall also seeks to answer questions regarding the extent of corruption, overstaffing, and lax management within PEMEX, which she finds to be less than is often alleged. Students of energy and development economics will find Randall's study an important contribution to the literature of Latin American economic policy. In addition to examining the internal workings of PEMEX, Randall describes and analyzes measures taken to correct earlier abuses and to increase efficiency. She reveals the intricate relationships among Mexican oil production, OPEC, the United States, and other nations, and explores the contradictory aspects of Mexican economic and oil policies that inhibit the ability of the oil industry to reach official goals. Throughout, Randall traces the transformation of PEMEX from a nationalized industry that mainly produced crude oil for export to one that has expanded to include refined products and petrochemicals. As a result of this expansion, Randall demonstrates, PEMEX has had a major impact both on the market for labor and capital goods and on the regions in which it operates. Her conclusions regarding the current and future prospects for PEMEX have important implications for the study of economic and energy development throughout the Third World.

Startling changes are taking place in Western Europe; this study argues that the U.S. strategic response should be no less dramatic. Michael J. Collins describes a creation of a new type of political organization--a new way for nations to integrate themselves politically in Western Europe--and contends that this new model is dynamic enough to rival older historical paradigms. Western Europeans are making massive changes in their international arrangements, with each other and the outside world, to permit a natural evolution of national cultures along with the development of an intra-European culture. This changing political and economic situation in Europe has already affected the way the United States looks at the world diplomatically, and it may soon alter the general thrust of U.S. military strategy with regard to NATO. Europeans and Americans alike are questioning how much longer a united Europe can expect American troops to defend them against the Soviet Union, now that the Cold War era has ended. U.S. military strategy must change because the world is changing, and the increasing power of Western Europe is a major factor in the equation.

Collins concludes that the Common Market Countries can no longer be understood as a simple collection of nation-states joined in a cartel or economic alliance, calling for a change in U.S. foreign policy and strategy. Chapter 1 describes the developments in Western Europe since World War II. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss how the new Western European alliance interacts along both military and political lines. Chapter Four describes the character of Western Europe and the replacement of the nation-state concept with a new flexibility in dealing with each other and the surrender of sovereignty by the constituent states in limited but decisive areas. The final two chapters suggest possible policy and strategic responses by the United States. A chapter on strategic implications is bound to be controversial, particularly to traditional military strategists. These thought-provoking analyses and policy implementations will interest scholars and students of European History and Politics, Comparative Politics, United States Foreign Policy and Defense, as well as government policy makers and decision makers in international business.

This book investigates the educational equity in China from multiple perspectives, including rural and urban educational equity, interschool educational equity, Eastern and Western educational equity and administrative policies related to the educational equity. All those perspectives concentrate on examining the comprehensive development of the educational equity in contemporary China. In addition, this book also presents specific historical and cultural shifts for policymakers and stakeholders to offer an in-depth understanding of the educational equity strategy in a long term.