The downhill slide in the global price of crude oil in 2014 had major repercussions across the Middle East. Following the Arab uprisings of 2010 and 2011, the oil price decline represented a second major shock for the region in the early twenty-first century - one that provides constraints and opportunities. Offering the first comprehensive analysis of the Middle Eastern political economy in response to the 2014 oil price decline, this book connects oil market dynamics with an understanding of socio-political changes. Inspired by rentierism, the contributors present original studies that reveal a large diversity of country-specific policy adjustment strategies: from the migrant workers in the Arab Gulf, who lost out in the post-2014 period, to Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, who have never been able to benefit from the 2014 oil price decline. With timely contributions on the COVID-19-induced oil price crash in 2020, this collection shows that rentierism still prevails. -- .

"Legislative Politics and Economic Power in Russia "is a study of the legislative actors and institutions that have shaped economic law making in Russia since 1990. Assessing the influence of partisan, bureaucratic, regional and corporate interests in Russia's post-communist parliaments, the book addresses questions that are crucially important for Russia's political stability and economic development. Can Russian political institutions act decisively to solve problems when they arise? Does this system of governance deliver credible, coherent and consistent policies? And, is the Russian state ultimately able to enact policies that address public interests and concerns?

It is increasingly accepted that "institutions matter" for economic organization and outcomes. The last decade has seen significant expansion in research examining how institutional contexts affect the nature and behavior of firms, the operation of markets, and economic outcomes. Yet "institutions" conceal a multitude of issues and perspectives. Much of this research has been comparative, and followed different models such as "varieties of capitalism," "national business systems," and "social systems of production."
This Handbook explores these issues, perspectives, and models, with the leading scholars in the area contributing chapters to provide a central reference point for academics, scholars, and students.

The book analyzes different critical attitudes towards European integration from a multidisciplinary perspective. By applying both quantitative and normative-theoretical approaches, the contributors assess the causes and effects of the popularity of EU-critical positions and doctrines, such as souverainism, neo-nationalism and neo-populism. The book also presents country studies to compare populist movements and parties, such as the Five Stars Movement in Italy, Syriza in Greece and UKIP in the UK. It offers insights into the historical and normative roots of the diverse anti-European standpoints, and the various political demands and agendas connected with these views, ranging from rejections of EU institutions to demands for institutional reforms and propositions for alternative projects.

Why are some transnational public-private partnerships (PPPs) highly effective, while others are not? The contributors compare 21 transnational PPPs that seek to provide collective goods in the field of sustainable development.

The Asia Annual 2011 focuses on the various aspects of democracy in the Asian context. The chapters in this volume reflect diverse perceptions, adopting an interdisciplinary approach, which enhance the discussions and reveal a plethora of opinions and outlooks. The collection of essays has been arranged primarily in terms of 'regions' (in the geopolitical sense). The volume brings together contributions from leading experts and 'area specialists' who offer special insights and critiques on crucial issues and questions related to the central theme of democracy in their respective 'regions/areas' of specialisation. The intention is to submit an inclusive volume concerning the idea of democracy in Asia. It strives to offer an exhaustive analysis that could prove to be valuable for those who are absorbed in Asian studies. The essays contend with wide-ranging debates on varied aspects related to the processes of democracy and democratisation from the Asian geopolitical space and contemplate on problems arising from the pressures associated with movements for democracy. The authors in their accounts also raise crucial questions regarding the viability as well as the consequences of external efforts at stimulating democracy and the setting up of imported models of democracy. The inherent emphasis is on both the intrinsic distinctiveness of the regions as well as the considerable commonalities, which inspire comparative analyses in general and in the context of democracy/democratisation in particular.

This book explains why the level of party presidentialization varies from one country to another. It considers the effects of constitutional structures as well as the party's original features, and argues that the degree of party presidentialization varies as a function of the party's genetics.

The New Silk Roads takes a fresh look at the relationships being formed along the length and breadth of the ancient trade routes today. The world is changing dramatically and in an age of Brexit and Trump, the themes of isolation and fragmentation permeating the western world stand in sharp contrast to events along the Silk Roads, where ties are being strengthened and mutual cooperation established.

This prescient contemporary history provides a timely reminder that we live in a world that is profoundly interconnected. Following the Silk Roads eastwards from Europe through to China, by way of Russia and the Middle East, Peter Frankopan assesses the global reverberations of continual shifts in the centre of power – all too often absent from headlines in the west.

The New Silk Roads asks us to re-examine who we are and where we stand in the world, illuminating the themes on which all our lives and livelihoods depend.

The Silk Roads, a major reassessment of world history, has sold over 1 million copies worldwide.

This collection presents a varied picture of the state of democracy in Asia, revealing unique findings from a project entitled the 'Asia Democracy Initiative' which explored the role of ordinary people in democratization through the rise of expressive social values in Indonesia, South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand.

This book seeks to answer the question 'Which institutional architecture for which kind of democracy for the EU?' by bringing two important recent debates together- the institutional analysis of the Union and its democratic assessment. The book examines a series of institutional architectures in light of the democratic quality of the processes and decisions generated by them. The discussion of these various institutional architectures is preceded by an analysis of the democratic values and principles according to which institutional architectures and governance structures should be assessed. The first part of the volume starts from key democratic principles and indicates which institutional architectures are most likely to embody them. The second part is dedicated to those institutional architectures that best describe the current state of the European Union and its likely future development, particularly given the impact of the current economic crisis. The fundamental belief that animates this volume is that it is only by paying attention to the democratic legitimacy of the Union that the process of European integration may hope to be sustainable, particularly in the face of the difficult economic crisis that the members of the Euro-area and the Union in general are experiencing.

The 'European project' is in a state of perpetual crisis in which the root cause is a lack of identification by ordinary citizens with Europe and European institutions. The Evolution of European Identities employs state of the art analysis of in-depth interviews by renowned practitioners to give a unique 'bottoms up' perspective on the development (or its lack) of a sense of 'European mental space'. Linking conceptual findings with case studies, the book provides unique insights into groups that have been especially sensitized by their life experiences to question what it means to be European in the twenty-first century. The groups explored in this book include: adults who experienced European education exchanges when young; transnational workers; civil society organization activists; persons involved in cross-border intimate relationships; farmers who are subject to European markets, regulations and subsidies; and migrants into 'fortress Europe'.

Business Elites and Corporate Governance in France and the UK is a cross-national study of business elites and corporate governance in France and the UK. It examines corporate governance from a comparative standpoint and looks beneath the surface at the exercise of power and authority in two distinct national business systems. It explores key issues concerning business elites, their networks, recruitment and reproduction. It aims to shed light on the mechanisms that govern the stability and regeneration of business elites against the backdrop of an increasingly global economy.

Democracy promotion is an established principle in US and EU foreign policies today, but how did it become so? This comparative study explores the promotion of democracy, focusing on exponents from emerging democracies alongside more established Western models, and investigates the impact of democratic interests on foreign policy.

The usual phrase for the aims of foreign policy from the Peace of Westphalia to 1918 was 'interests and honor.' In the Age of the Dictators and the Cold War, 'honor' was derided or perverted but the underlying human concern persisted in the policies of the West, erupted in the revolt against the Empires, and healed every international dispute down to our day. This book offers a history and discussion of this, beginning with persons, social organizations, and business corporations, and then telling the story in international politics from the early modern period to the present.

Political legitimacy has become a scarce resource in Russia and other post-Soviet states. Their capacity to deliver prosperity has suffered from economic crisis, war in Ukraine and confrontation with the West. Will nationalism and repression enable political regimes to survive? This book studies the politics of legitimation in Post-Soviet Eurasia.

This book is a textbook designed for teaching a new subfield in political science: the emerging field of "comparative political theory." It is the first such textbook. As taught in American universities, political theory has been traditionally confined to the history of Western political thought from Plato and Aristotle to Hegel and Nietzsche. The editor believes strongly that this limitation is no longer tenable in our globalizing age when different cultures and civilizations are increasingly communicating and interacting with each other. The text focuses on three areas: Islamic civilization, Indian civilization, and Far Eastern civilizations. In each area the text offers an introduction followed by readings dealing with ancient or classical teachings as well as modern and contemporary theoretical developments. In making these selections, the editor has been ably assisted by experts in the respective fields (Roxanne Euben, Anthony Parel, and Theodore deBary). The text is meant mainly for undergraduate classes but can be consulted with benefit also by more advanced students as well as by the general reading public.

When the global financial system crashed, governments in America and Britain perfomed the greatest bailout in history. The legacy is record government debt, low growth and a new era of austerity. A stellar cast of contributors, including Tim Bale, Wyn Grant and Graham Wilson provide a sophisticated account of how the administrations are faring.

This book examines the antecedents and consequences of citizens' confidence in different political institutions and authorities. Its main argument states that a distinction between confidence in representative and regulative institutions and authorities is of crucial importance in order to gain novel insights into the relevance of political confidence for the viability of democratic systems. Relying on individual-level data from the European Social Survey (ESS), the author provides empirical evidence that citizens from a total of twenty-one European countries make a distinction between confidence in representative institutions and authorities and confidence in regulative institutions and authorities. Furthermore, the author shows that both types of political confidence emanate from different sources and are associated with varying consequences. Overall, these findings indicate that confidence in representative and confidence in regulative institutions and authorities establish two qualitatively different types of political confidence, each with distinct implications for the functioning and well-being of modern democracies.

Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine? Is it culture, the weather, or geography that determines prosperity or poverty? As Why Nations Fail shows, none of these factors is either definitive or destiny.

Drawing on fifteen years of original research, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is our man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or the lack of it). Korea, to take just one example, is a remarkably homogenous nation, yet the people of North Korea are among the poorest on earth while their brothers and sisters in South Korea are among the richest. The differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created those two different institutional trajectories.

Acemoglu and Robinson marshal extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, the Soviet Union, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today.

The EU is now a major player in globalization due to its economic power and position in trade relations. The enlargement has led to a higher IR profile for the EU and EU external diplomacy has been deeply affected by the events surrounding 9/11. At the same time economic development and transition politics have also transformed regional and international relations among the Asian states over the past two decades. Europe and Asia are therefore two major centres for the development of multi-polar and multi-lateral relations. This volume explores the substance and manner in which the member countries of the EU and their Asian counterparts interact at bilateral, multi-lateral and inter-regional levels.

Congressional debates are increasingly defined by gridlock and stalemate, with partisan showdowns that lead to government shutdowns. Compromise in Congress seems hard to reach, but do politicians deserve all the blame? Legislators who refuse to compromise might be doing just what their constituents want them to do. In Compromise in an Age of Party Polarization, Jennifer Wolak challenges this wisdom and demonstrates that Americans value compromise in politics. Citizens want more from elected officials than just ideological representation-they also care about the processes by which disagreements are settled. Using evidence from a variety of surveys and innovative experiments, she shows the persistence of people's support for compromise across a range of settings-even when it comes at the cost of partisan goals and policy objectives. While polarization levels are high in contemporary America, our partisan demands are checked by our principled views of how we believe politics should be practiced. By underscoring this basic yet mostly ignored fact, this book stands as an important first step toward trying to reduce the extreme polarization that plagues our politics.

The Frontiers of Democracy offers a comprehensive examination of restrictions on the vote in democracies today. For the first time, the reasons for excluding people (prisoners, children, intellectually disabled, non-citizens) from the suffrage in contemporary societies is critically examined from the point of view of democratic theory.