This book makes a timely contribution to the analysis of nationalism and terrorism, and also the absence of terrorism. It proposes to analyse why Scottish, Welsh and English nationalism has never had as significant a turn to political violence as the case of Irish nationalism has. This will answer a question which is too rarely asked 'why do certain groups not turn to terrorism?' Nick Brooke makes an important contribution to debates on nationalism in the United Kingdom, as well as to debates on the relationship between nationalism and terrorism. Furthermore, the text provides complete narrative accounts of nationalist terrorism in Scotland, Wales and England, and considers how recent political developments impact the likelihood of further nationalist terrorism.

Various e-strategies have been developed since the late '90s in an attempt to describe the governmental vision for administrative and for societal change, the objectives and priorities with regard to the development of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) at national and at supranational levels. Terms such as the European "Information Society", the U.S. "Information Highways" and the Korean and Chinese "Informatization" try to describe social transformation that occurs due to the ICT, and to determine means with which governments will capitalize the ICT to improve social life and to support economic growth. This book focuses on the e-strategic management approaches that are followed worldwide, addresses the gaps that appear between e-strategic updates, and presents alternative strategic management methods adopted or to use strategic management methods as a means to describe the e-strategic evolution in their geographic areas. Each chapter evaluates e-strategic management approaches, to define multi-criteria decision-making systems for e-strategic transformation and Indicative methods for e-strategic analysis. This book also illustrates experiences from national and supranational cases, which come from different geographic areas regarding e-strategic planning and management, and demonstrates e-strategic initiation and development across different countries and continents, and the association between policies and ICT. It also seeks to perform a systematic analysis of various representative cases, in order to capture the realized e-Strategic transformation. It will be of interest to scholars and policy-makers in public administration, management, and information technology.

This book examines the increasing territorialisation of party competition and the relaxation of unitarian rule through devolution, presenting a long-term analysis of electoral developments in the United Kingdom since the end of the Second World War. Subsequently, the book looks into the undermining of the traditional majoritarian mode of British government as a result. It analyzes the significant role of these long-term developments and their detrimental effect on the parliament's ability to resolve issues like the Scottish Independence Referendum or the UK's vote to leave the European Union, and it addresses their underlying causes. The author additionally reconnects these electoral developments to the changing nature of devolution and shows how the deepening of devolution accelerates the negative electoral consequences for the British system of government. Finally, the book shows why the British Labour Party is turning more and more into a long-term minority party as a result of these developments. The book is a must-read for scholars, students and policy-makers, interested in a better understanding of comparative politics and devolution in general, as well as in the more specific case of the United Kingdom's electoral system.

Every political system, either developed or adopted, has an impact on the structure of society and the level of development. This book analyzes the evolution and nature of political institutions and their effect on Africa's development. The challenges Africa face in developing viable institutions are not limited to the adoption of foreign institutions, but are also rooted in domestic norms that define society itself. Sometimes, these challenges have to do with the incompatibility between foreign and domestic institutions. The fundamental issue then is to understand the African societies, cultures, and other dynamics that have ensured stability in the past and that need to be recognized when adopting contemporary foreign institutions. This comprehensive text examines three key issue areas in Africa: politics, society, and economy. It demonstrates how the lack of consideration for domestic norms and societal realities explain the weaker institutions and lack of development on the African continent. The chapters examine critical issues such as gender, ethnicity and constitution development, legitimacy and the state, the correlation between abundant resources and instability, the dilemmas of political dynasties, international economic regimes and Africa's economy, and more. Featuring many case studies, including Kenya, South Africa, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Morocco, Togo, DRC, Ethiopia, Rwanda, the book provides some explanation of underdevelopment in Africa, linking the historical and colonial realities that hinder democratic consolidation to contemporary African politics, society and economy.

Over the past thirty years the comparative study of policy agendas under the aegis of the Comparative Agendas Project (CAP) has become one of the fastest growing sub-field in policy research. Yet, similarly to policy studies in general, most of the agenda-setting literature focuses on well-established democracies. This edited volume offers a ground-breaking analysis of a hitherto less examined topic in comparative politics: the dynamics of policy agendas in Socialist autocracy and in hybrid regimes. We propose that policymaking in authoritarian and illiberal regimes is different from the practices of democracies which we analyse based on a unique historical policy agendas database built by the Hungarian CAP team at the Centre for Social Sciences in Budapest. We find that punctuated equilibrium theory offers a good description of policy dynamics regardless of policy regimes, yet punctuations are more pronounced in autocratic and illiberal settings. These regime types also share a tendency towards centralization, a less efficient use of public information and a suppression of democratic participation in the policy process. This book may be of interest to scholars and students of policy studies, agenda-setting and the politics of authoritarianism.

This book investigates the theme of global transitions with a cross-regional comparative study of two areas experiencing change over the past three decades: Southeast Asia and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Political transitions in Asia have been the subject of interest in academic and policy-making communities recently as there are encouraging signs of democratization in countries that exhibit elements of authoritarianism. In those countries with relatively open political systems, transitions to democracy have been complete - albeit messy, flawed, and highly contested. In contrast, countries of the MENA region that have been gripped by revolts in recent years find themselves in the midst of chaotic and uncontrollable transitions. Why are there such differences between these regions? What, if anything, can be learned and applied from the transitions in Southeast Asia? These questions are answered here as Asia's experience is contrasted with the Arab revolts and the struggle of the different countries in the MENA region to fashion a new social contract between states and citizens.

"Regional cooperation has become a distinctive feature of the Balkans, an area known for its turbulent politics. Exploring the origins and dynamics of this change, this book highlights the transformative power of the EU and other international actors"--Provided by publisher.

In 2000, the European Union set out to shape itself into the world's most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy within a decade. But how great is the capacity of the EU to orchestrate 'competitiveness'? Can common policy instruments produce consistent effects across diverse varieties of capitalism? Has substantial policy learning taken place in response to the successes and failures of the Lisbon agenda? Europe and National Economic Transformation identifies the nature and limits of the transformative capacities of the EU's push for economic gains. The book does so by examining the consequences of the decade-long Lisbon process and its successor, Europe 2020. It explores a broad range of economic outcomes and consequences for an array of policy areas, including innovation financing, employment services, labor migration policy and pension reform.

Direct democracy is popular. Referenda are an increasingly important means of enacting or preventing legislation in countries around the world. This book focuses on the key actors in a referendum (the political elites/ parties, the media and citizens) and is centered around themes such as campaign style, campaign effects, electoral mobilization and turnout, as well as vote choice. The contributors specifically address the role of referendum campaigns and their impact and show why referendum campaigns may matter more than any other political election campaigns.

The book analyses the changing roles of international agencies, governmental bodies, non-governmental organisations, and local communities around major road-building environmental impact assessment processes in order to examine whether the influence of the European Union has transformed environmental governance in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in Serbia.

This book compares the immigration policies of EU states and Asian countries-Germany, Poland, Estonia, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam,- and Thailand-analyses the policy strengths and weaknesses of various political actors in the regions and explores what can be learned from the experiences of different states. In the recent decades, immigration policy has become a hot topic due to globalization. EU has faced challenges in immigration since the refugee crisis in 2015 when over a million migrants and refugees crossed into Europe. In Asia, immigration issue has become more complicated as the economic ties among Asian countries have grown significantly in recent years. With contributions by professors, experts and scholars from various countries across Europe and Asia, the book provides both in-depth analyses and broad perspectives on the topic, making it a valuable read for academics and policymakers alike.

Recipient of Silver Medal from the Slovak Foreign Ministry After the collapse of communism, the quest for independence and challenges of democratization created a contest between two powerful forces: Nationalists and Europeanists. Recipient of the Silver Medal (Strieborna Plaketa) from the Slovak Foreign Ministry, this book examines the battles between those rivals by tracking the rise, maintenance, and decline of national movements in two post-communist countries. It provides new insights into nationalism and post-communist transitions and contributes to the debate about whether international actors can influence the course of political change in democratizing states, helping to bring societies "back to Europe."

This book is a comparative study of imperial organization and longevity that assesses Ottoman successes as well as failures against those of other empires with similar characteristics. Barkey examines the Ottoman Empire's social organization and mechanisms of rule at key moments of its history, emergence, imperial institutionalization, remodeling, and transition to nation-state, revealing how the empire managed these moments, adapted, and averted crises and what changes made it transform dramatically. The flexible techniques by which the Ottomans maintained their legitimacy, the cooperation of their diverse elites both at the center and in the provinces, as well as their control over economic and human resources were responsible for the longevity of this particular "negotiated empire." Her analysis illuminates topics that include imperial governance, imperial institutions, imperial diversity and multiculturalism, the manner in which dissent is handled and/or internalized, and the nature of state society negotiations.

From an institutional perspective, the book carries out comparative analysis of 'the power of the purse.' It explores cross-national differences, their determinants and their impact on fiscal policy. The empirical analysis is based on a dataset of legislative budgeting in all 30 OECD countries, a broader 80-country dataset, and case study evidence.

How do collective actors move from moderate politics to (violent) extremism? Faced with high risks of repression and implosion, they need to legitimate such radical change to keep members and followers committed to collective action. Drawing on the texts, audios, and videos of five Islamist organisations in the UK and Germany in the 2000s and 2010s, the book develops a transdisciplinary theoretical framework and innovative methodological approach to explore how radical changes in activism are mediated. Clément argues that political violence has to feel right, as a collective, for an organisation and its followers to move from moderate activism to (violent) extremism. She shows that organisations mediate this change by performing collective emotions in and through narrative. The book offers a provocative and nuanced account which departs from conventional interpretations of radicalisation and reminds us of the power of emotions. -- .

This volume is a very interesting research project that includes the most careful work on constitutional power and limits to authority of which I am aware. In general, the contributors find that constitutional negotiations normally took place in settings where uncertainty was considerable. They also find that the more detailed the characterization of power relationships, the more liberal and durable the democracy tends to be. Roger D. Congleton This book addresses the issue of the impact of uncertainty in constitutional design. To what extent do constitution drafters and adopters make their decisions behind a veil of ignorance? More fundamentally, can we infer from constitutional texts the degree of uncertainty faced by constitution drafters and adopters? After an introduction (chapter 1), the book proceeds in two parts. The first part (chapters 2 to 4) introduces to the intellectual filiation of the project and to its theoretical and methodological foundations. The second part (chapters 5 to 13) presents nine case studies built on the same structure: historical account of the making of the Constitution, results of the content analysis of the constitutional text, and discussion of specific issues raised in the analysis. Chapter 14 concludes.

Yakinthou throws light on the challenges of adopting political settlements in frozen conflicts and divided societies by focusing on the conflict in Cyprus, the resolution of which has for years been held up, in large part by elite intransigence. The book offers answers for why elites in Cyprus are so unwilling to adopt a power-sharing solution.

This highly original book suggests that the practices of Taliban and the American far right, two very significant and poorly understood groups, share common features. This commonality can be found in the philosophical basis of their ideological beliefs, in their comparative worldviews, and in their political practices. As Raja argues, the Taliban are much less the product of an irrational fundamentalism, and the radical right in America is much more the result of such a mindset, than Americans recognize. After providing a detailed explanation of his theoretical concepts and specialized vocabulary, the author develops a discussion of the subject in this brief but penetrating book. This is a book that should attract a wide readership among both academics and the general public.

An outstanding cast of contributors led by Charlie Jeffery, Ailsa Henderson and Daniel Wincott, confront the idea of 'methodological nationalism', that is the uncritical choice of the 'nation-state' as a unit of analysis that dominates postwar social science. It looks within the state to a regional-scale unit of analysis. Using specially collected data from 14 regions across five European states Citizenship After the Nation State explores how citizens define and pursue collective goals at regional scale as well as at the scale of the 'nation-state'. It shows that regional institutions, actors and processes have transformed the state, in many ways 'de-nationalizing' it, and recasting it as a more complex form of political organisation, one that needs to respond to the demands of distinctive regional political communities as well as the political community as organized at the state-level. What comes 'after the nation-state' is, in other words, not the regional disintegration of the state or the emergence of a 'Europe of the Regions', but rather the consolidation of multi-levelled statehood.

Understanding the governance of nations is a key challenge in contemporaneous political economy. This book provides new advances and the latest research in the field of political economy, dealing with the study of institutions, governance, democracy and elections. The volume focuses on issues such as the role of institutions and political governance in society, the working of democracy and the electoral performance in several case studies. The chapters involve cutting edge research on many different countries, including the USA, Great Britain, Germany, Spain and the Third World. The authors of the chapters are leading scholars in political economy from America, Europe and Asia.

Belonging, Solidarity and Expansion in Social Policy examines processes of social policy formation and shifting solidarities from the perspective of the actors most affected. Using the examples of nineteenth century mutual benefit societies in the UK and Germany, and EU level social policy, it shows empirically how actors are able to shift their solidarities towards strangers and reveals the argumentative patters concerning such a transformation. The book's innovative research programme provides theoretical and empirical insights on the question regarding the relationship of belonging and social policy. It offers a new theory on the formation of redistributive preferences based on an approach combining theories of solidarity and structural incentives. The analysis shows how these preferences are shaped by available institutional alternatives, cost-benefit-calculations and identity-oriented interests, and thus offers new empirical evidence on how individuals are able to reintegrate wider identities and align their solidarities also at the European level.

This book uses various concepts of 'age' to examine young people's voting behaviour in six European countries between 1981 and 2000. It addresses questions such as: what are the determinants of voting choices among young people, and to what extent are these factors different from those of adults? Through an innovative approach aimed at studying party choice with a strong empirical orientation, the author argues that age is less important in influencing voting choices than having been young and socialized to politics in a given historical period. Ultimately, values and political factors explain young people's voting choices more than social identities, which marks a change from previous generations. This book will appeal to students and scholars in comparative politics, electoral behaviour, party politics, and political sociology.