Which kind of decisions are passed by Cabinet in coalition governments? What motivates ministerial action? How much leeway do coalition parties give their governmental representatives? This book focuses on a comparative study of ministerial behaviour in Germany, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands. It discredits the assumption that ministers are 'policy dictators' in their spheres of competence, and demonstrates that ministers are consistently and extensively constrained when deciding on policies. The first book in a new series at the forefront of research on social and political elites, this is an invaluable insight into the capacity and power of coalition government across Europe. Looking at policy formation through coalition agreements and the effectiveness of such agreements, Coalition Government and Party Mandate will be of interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, governance and European politics.

This edited book introduces students and scholars to Comparative Political Thought. Featuring contributions from an excellent international line-up of esteemed scholars it examines some of the following issues: Is political theory 'Western-centric'? What can we learn from non-Western traditions of political thought? How do we compare different strands of national and regional political thought? Political thought in China, India, the Middle East and Latin America Islamic political thought Political thought in the wake of post-colonialism This is a much-needed overview of this key emerging area and will be of interest to all tsudents of political theory, thought and philosophy.

This edited book introduces students and scholars to Comparative Political Thought. Featuring contributions from an excellent international line-up of esteemed scholars it examines some of the following issues: Is political theory 'Western-centric'? What can we learn from non-Western traditions of political thought? How do we compare different strands of national and regional political thought? Political thought in China, India, the Middle East and Latin America Islamic political thought Political thought in the wake of post-colonialism This is a much-needed overview of this key emerging area and will be of interest to all tsudents of political theory, thought and philosophy.

Religion in War and Peace in Africa shows how "Religious extremism" transcends the realm of belief, analysing current armed conflicts in Africa with perpetrators claiming to act in accord with their religion and moral values. Many African countries today are beset by armed conflicts carried out by different radical groups. In most such cases, religion has been used to incite extremism and to justify violence and exclusion. Perpetrators who seek to violently impose their "order" believe, or claim, that they are acting in accord with their religious and values. Scholars, peacemakers, Religious leaders, and Military officers explore peace initiatives and security managements. These rich, informative and path-breaking contributions in this book span the spectrum from the prevention of violence through peace initiatives and the analyses of the many complex historical, political, economic, demographic and ideological causes of violence to the role of traditional religions, and military intervention. Showing how religious leaders, scholars, peacekeepers, policy-makers, and military officers and others need to join their efforts in better understanding the intersections between religion and conflict, and to engage in shared missions focused on preventive actions and peace initiatives, Religion in War and Peace in Africa will be of great interest to scholars of military studies, African studies, peacekeeping, religion and conflict. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of Peace Review.

The sociological concept of social capital has grown in popularity in recent years and research programs in North America, Europe, and East Asia have demonstrated how social capital has a significant impact on occupational mobility, community building, social movement, and economic development.

This book uses new empirical data to test how social capital works in different societies with diverse political-economic and cultural institutions. Taking a comparative approach, this study focuses on data from three different societies, China, Taiwan, and the United States, in order to reveal the international commonalities and disparities in access to, and activation of, social capital in labor markets. In particular, this book tests whether political economic and cultural differences between capitalist and socialist economic systems and between Western and Confucian cultures create different types of individual social networks and usages. This comparison leads to Joonmo Son s fundamental argument that the institutional constraints of a society s political economy on the one hand, and culture on the other, profoundly impact on both the composition and utilization of social capital.

Based on rigorous statistical analysis, this book will be essential reading for students and scholars of social capital, economic sociology, and comparative politics.

This book explores the interaction of the EU in Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, and Macedonia in three key policy sectors cohesion, border managements and the environment and assesses the degree to which the European Union s engagement with the democracies of South East Europe has promoted Europeanization and Multi-Level Governance.

Although there is a tendency to view the Balkans as peripheral, this book argues that South East European states are central to what the EU is and aspires to become, and goes to the heart of many of the key issues confronting the EU. It compares changing modes of governance in the three policy areas selected because they are contentious issues in domestic politics and have trans-boundary policy consequences, in which there is significant EU involvement. The book draws on over 100 interviews conducted to explore actor motivation, preferences and perceptions in the face of pressure to adapt from the EU and uses Social Network Analysis. Timely and informative, this book considers broader dilemmas of integration and enlargement at a time when the EU s effectiveness is under close scrutiny.

The European Union and South East Europe will be of interest to students and scholars of European politics, public policy, and European Union governance and integration.

Migrant organizations are of vital importance for countries of residence and countries of origin, but the empirical and theoretical knowledge of the cross-border character of migrant organizations remains incomplete. It is clear that migrant transnationalism challenges the governance of nation-states on the local and national levels. This book, the outcome of an ECPR joint session, systematically and empirically analyzes the differing roles that transnational migrant organizations play in their countries of residence and origin. Drawing on research conducted in Belgium, England, Germany, Holland, Poland and Portugal, it focuses on the relations between migrant organizations and the state. Offering an opportunity for comparative analysis, it also examines why migrants and their organizations engage in different forms of border crossing activities, and how various political systems influence, and are influenced by these forms of engagement. Migration and Organized Civil Society will be of strong interest to students and researchers of political science, political sociology, migration studies, transnationalism, and Diaspora studies.

This truly comparative volume examines the "life cycle" of party governments in Europe from 1990 onwards, and analyses its role and function in contemporary European parliamentary democracies.

The life and the performance of party governments in Europe became more and more volatile and publicly contested. In some cases, it has even challenge the democratic quality of the state. This book presents comparative analyses of party governments from formation and duration, to performance. It brings together some of the foremost scholars researching on party government to evaluate existing theories and compare both the developments in the Western and the new Eastern Europe in an empirically-grounded comparative analysis. The book discusses the interaction between various institutions, political parties and policies, and evaluates how institutional change and party behaviour can drive the "life cycle" of party government.

Party Government in the New Europe will be of interest to students and scholars of Comparative Politics, Democracy, Government and European Politics.

This book examines young people's political engagement in the Anglo-American democracies.

It is often alleged that young people are disengaged from politics on a number of levels. The commonly held view is that young people don't vote, they do not trust politicians and have low levels of political interest. But is this true, where is it true and to what extent? Examining voter turnout, political trust, political interest, electoral and non-electoral forms of participation and Internet use, this book provides a comprehensive account of young people's political engagement in the US, Britain, Canada and Australia. In doing so this book challenges the conventional wisdom on a number of fronts by showing young people's political engagement to be much more complicated than many of the stereotypes suggest (in both good and bad ways).In this way, this book provides a report card on young people's political engagement in the twenty-first century.

Young People and Politics will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, comparative politics, public policy and sociology, particularly those with a focus on young people and politics, political participation and public opinion.

With the rise of industrial capitalism in Europe and the related imposition of colonial rule in much of East Asia, both Europe and East Asia have intertwined histories that continue to shape their political thinking and political decision making. The contemporary interactions of the two regions - now once again major trading partners - will both depend upon and facilitate deeper understandings of their respective sets of national pasts. This book compares national pasts as well as the current processes of change taking place in Europe and East Asia, including the dynamics of the European Union in Europe and the re-emergence of the historical centre of China in East Asia. It argues that as the change unfolds in the economic, social and political fields, the various national pasts embedded with the polities of the two regions will also need to be revisited and reworked. This book makes an invaluable contribution to research on comparative politics, as well as studies on South East Asia and Europe.

Interest organizations have always assumed a prominent place in European politics because they link states with citizens, institutionalize the resolution of social conflicts, regulate important sectors of the economy and society, contribute to workable policy outcomes and socialize members into democratic politics. However, the plethora of interest group studies that exist have not consolidated our understanding of these actors. These analyses have been subject to the vagaries of different theoretical perspectives and vary greatly in their conceptual and methodological frameworks. Consequently, a not always complementary and fragmented series of findings has emerged. This book is a systematic and comprehensive effort at investigating and integrating the state of the art in European interest group research. Combining the analysis of interest group politics in the EU with the comparative study of interest organizations, the book seeks to identify the areas about which there is consolidated knowledge, that are marked by controversies, in which considerable uncertainty exists, that have been omitted from research programs and that ought to be part of future studies. Thereby, it provides a general reflection on how the study of interest group politics can be improved by linking it to the comparative study of governance. This book was published as a special issue of West European Politics.

A post-communist condition has arisen from the fall of the Berlin Wall and later the Soviet Empire: this book looks at how this condition has manifested itself globally in the production of post-communist film. It argues post-communism is a shared experience on a geopolitical level, unlimited by national state borders, and examines post-communist cross culturalism and global totalitarianism within film. The book examines different national cinemas and dissimilar cinematic modes - from Russian blockbuster cinema to Chinese independent cinema; from Serbian city films to revolutionary films of Mozambique - all formulated as within the postcommunist condition. It considers the postcommunist film in terms of transnational and World cinema. It covers a wide range of films from small and independent filmmaking to mainstream, popular cinema, and explains post-communist signifiers as manifested in visual culture both inside and outside former, and current, communist countries.

This ground-breaking and innovative book examines the influence of charisma on power, authority and nationalism. The authors both apply and challenge Max Weber's concept of 'charisma' and integrate it into a broader discussion of other theoretical models. Using an interdisciplinary approach, leading international scholars draw on a diverse range of cases to analyse charisma in benign and malignant leaderships, as well as the relationship between the cult of the leader, the adulation of the masses and the extension of individual authority beyond sheer power. They discuss idiosyncratic authority and oratory, and they address how political, social and regional variations help explain concepts and policies which helped forge and reformulate nations, national identities and movements. The chapters on particular charismatic leaders cover Abraham Lincoln, Kemal Ataturk, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Gamal Nasser, Joerg Haider and Nelson Mandela. Political Leadership, Nations and Charisma will appeal to readers who are interested in history, sociology, political communication and nationalism studies.

Bringing together a range of South Asian perspectives on rising China in a comparative framework, an attempt has been made, for the first time, to identify and examine the political, economic and socio-cultural stakeholders and constituencies that influence the respective policy of individual South Asian countries towards China. The essays also project how their mutual relations are likely to be shaped by these. The book is especially relevant today owing to China's growing weight in Asian and global affairs.

The 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington prompted a "global war on terror" that led to a significant shift in the balance of executive-legislative power in the United States towards the executive at the expense of the Congress. In this volume, seasoned scholars examine the extent to which terrorist threats and counter-terrorism policies led uniformly to the growth of executive or Government power at the expense of legislatures and parliaments in other political systems, including those of Australia, Britain, Canada, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, and Russia. The contributors question whether the "crises" created by 9/11 and subsequent attacks, led inexorably to executive strengthening at the expense of legislatures and parliaments. The research reported finds that democratic forces served to mitigate changes to the balance of legislative and executive power to varying degrees in different political systems. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of Comparative Government Politics and International Politics.

This book looks at the link between voters and political party systems in Asian democracies, focusing on India, Indonesia, Korea and the Philippines. It discusses this link in terms of three distinct elements: the formation of voters preferences, the translation of preferences into votes, and the translation of votes into seats. The book goes on to discuss how far the general rules of political party systems and their underlying causal mechanisms such as strategic voting are apparent in these Asian democracies. In particular, it explores the extent to which electoral rules and social structural variables affect the process of transforming preferences into a political party system within the context of Asian politics.The extensive areas covered by the book overcome the traditional sub-regional division of Asia, namely, East, Southeast and South Asia.

This volume explores a variety of forms of transnational private governance where non-state actors cooperate across borders to establish rules and standards accepted as legitimate by other agents.

Transnational private governance is a core feature of the devolution of power that we observe in the global realm and that is bringing about new forms of authority. Transnational Private Governance provides theoretically and empirically informed insights into the interactions between states and non-state actors including domains beyond intergovernmental organizations, conventional non-governmental organizations, and multinational enterprises, covering a wide range of arrangements, from highly formal devolutions of power to lax and informal platforms of interaction between private actors. Contributing to the latest generation of globalization studies, the authors consider the relationship between states and markets as closely integrated and seek to broaden the scope of enquiry by including new patterns and agents of change on a transnational basis.

This book will be of great interest to researchers and students of political science, international political economy, economics, business studies, globalisation and law.

Throughout human history, religion and politics have entertained the most intimate of connections as systems of authority regulating individuals and society. While the two have come apart through the process of secularization, secularism is challenged today by the return of public religion. This cogent analysis unravels the nature of the connection, disconnection, and attempted reconnection between religion and politics in the West. In a comparison of Western Europe and North America, Christianity and Islam, Joppke advances far-reaching theoretical, historical, and comparative-political arguments. With respect to theory, it is argued that only a substantive concept of religion, as pertaining to the existence of supra-human powers, opens up the possibility of a historical-comparative perspective on religion. At the level of history, secularization is shown to be the distinct outcome of Latin Christianity itself. And at the level of comparative politics, the Christian Right in America which has attacked the wall of separation between religion and state and Islam in Europe with the controversial insistence on sharia law and other illiberal claims from some quarters are taken to be counterpart incarnations of public religion and challenges to the secular state. This clearly argued, sweeping book will provide an invaluable framework for approaching an array of critical issues at the intersection of religion, law and politics for advanced students and researchers across the social sciences and legal studies, as well as for the interested public.

Political Reform in Japan argues that the quality of political leadership is the crucial determinant of whether parties in positions of dominance, like the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan, pass or reject policies such as electoral system and campaign finance reforms that could harm the party's future electoral chances.

By comparing successful reform drives led by Miki Takeo, Ozawa Ichiro and Koizumi Junichiro with unsuccessful reform efforts pursued by Kaifu Toshiki, Miyazawa Kiichi and Kono Yonhei, Alisia Gaunder forces a reconsideration of the structure versus agency debate in political science, and of the conventional wisdom on Japanese politics that consensus decision-making norms and factional power balancing produce little in the way of political leadership.

Ethiopia is the darling of development economists: since 2005, the country's economic growth rate has consistently been over the 10% mark. Ethiopia is also a regional superpower with political influence across East Africa and the Horn. Furthermore, the African Union has its headquarters in the capital Addis Ababa, which further underscores the country's growing international profile. On top of everything, since 1995 Ethiopia has a federal constitution explicitly committed to granting political autonomy to all ethnic groups within the country. Ethiopia's federalism has also direct relevance to the country's neighbours, Eritrea, Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Djibouti who have ethnic kin across the borders with Ethiopia. Yet, despite the generous promises to the country's ethnic groups stated in the constitution, not everything is well. As marked by the recent unrest throughout various regions of the country, the federal constitution's promises and the reality do not always perfectly align. But there is a shortage of even-handed scholarly analyses of this complex country, and in particular, its unique federal system. Based on chapters focusing on different parts of the federal system, the collection takes stock of the last 20 years and distils lessons and insights for a broader international/comparative readership. The chapters originally published in Ethnopolitics and Regional & Federal Studies.

China's labor landscape is changing, and it is transforming the global economy in ways that we cannot afford to ignore. Once-silent workers have found their voice, organizing momentous protests, such as the 2010 Honda strikes, and demanding a better deal. China's leaders have responded not only with repression but with reforms. Are China's workers on the verge of a breakthrough in industrial relations and labor law reminiscent of the American New Deal? In A New Deal for China's Workers? Cynthia Estlund views this changing landscape through the comparative lens of America's twentieth-century experience with industrial unrest. China's leaders hope to replicate the widely shared prosperity, political legitimacy, and stability that flowed from America's New Deal, but they are irrevocably opposed to the independent trade unions and mass mobilization that were central to bringing it about. Estlund argues that the specter of an independent labor movement, seen as an existential threat to China's one-party regime, is both driving and constraining every facet of its response to restless workers. China's leaders draw on an increasingly sophisticated toolkit in their effort to contain worker activism. The result is a surprising mix of repression and concession, confrontation and cooptation, flaws and functionality, rigidity and pragmatism. If China's laborers achieve a New Deal, it will be a New Deal with Chinese characteristics, very unlike what workers in the West achieved in the last century. Estlund's sharp observations and crisp comparative analysis make China's labor unrest and reform legible to Western readers.

This book examines the factors driving youth unemployment in South Africa, exploring potential future outcomes of its mass unemployment, and offering a variety of strategies to avoid an impending crisis in the country. Utilizing scenario analysis rooted in complex systems theory while building on statistical and fi eld research, the author illustrates four possible future states of youth employment in South Africa in the year 2040. This includes the South African version of the Arab Spring, where young people riot or agitate for extreme political and social change because of a belief that access to education and jobs is only possible through social status or corruption (Spring), fair access to a high number of jobs supported by Chinese interventions (Summer), a technology- driven decline in the number of jobs where merit- based access for youth is granted (Fall), and the collapse of the economy, with the economy collapsing and youth becoming increasingly desperate (Winter). The author then presents five strategies to fight youth unemployment, including training of youth to start businesses, stimulating small- and medium- sized enterprises, and sending unemployed youth abroad for skills development and to where their labour is needed. This book will be of interest to scholars of South African politics and economics, labour economics and youth studies, and readers with an interest in tackling youth unemployment independent of the country.

Revisiting C. Wright Mills' classic, an analysis of power structures in the neoliberal era and America's drift toward authoritarianism. In 1956, radical icon C. Wright Mills wrote The Power Elite, a scathing critique of elite power in the United States that has become a classic for generations of nonconformists and students of social and political inequality. With rising rates of inequality and social stratification, Mills' work is now more relevant than ever, revealing a need for a fresh examination of American elitism and the nature of centralized power. In The New Power Elite, Heather Gautney takes up the problem of concentrated political, economic, and military power in America that Mills addressed in his original text and echoes his outrage over the injustices and ruin brought by today's elites. Drawing from years of experience at the highest levels of government and in the entertainment industry, Gautney examines the dynamics of elite power from the postwar period to today and grounds her analysis in political economy, rather than in institutional authority, as Mills did. In doing so, she covers diverse, yet interconnected centers of elite power, from the US State and military apparatus, to Wall Street and billionaires, to celebrities and mass media. Gautney also accounts for changes in global capitalism over the last forty years, arguing that neoliberalism and the centering of the market in political and social life has ushered in ever more extreme forms of violence and exploitation, and a drift toward authoritarianism. A contemporary companion to Mills' work through a fresh critique of elites for the new millennium, The New Power Elite offers a comprehensive look at the structure of American power and its tethers around the world.

Outside the United States, Norway's 1814 constitution is the oldest still in force. Constitutional judicial review has been a part of Norwegian court decision-making for most of these 200 years. Since the 1990s, Norway has also exercised review under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). Judicial review of legislation can be controversial: having unelected judges overruling popularly elected majorities seems undemocratic. Yet Norway remains one of the most democratic countries in the world. How does Norway manage the balance between democracy and judicial oversight? Author Anine Kierulf tells the story of Norwegian constitutionalism from 1814 until today through the lens of judicial review debates and cases. This study adds important insights into the social and political justifications for an active judicial review component in a constitutional democracy. Anine Kierulf argues that the Norwegian model of judicial review provides a useful perspective on the dichotomy of American and European constitutionalism.

Consociational power sharing is increasingly gaining ground, right around the world, as a means for resolving political conflict in divided societies. In this volume, edited by Rupert Taylor, nineteen internationally-respected scholars engage in a lively debate about the merits of the theory underlying this approach.

The volume focuses specifically on one of the leading cases under the global spotlight, the Northern Ireland conflict, and brings together the most prominent proponents and opponents of consociationalism. Northern Ireland s transition from war to peace is seen by consociationalists as flowing from the historic Belfast Agreement of 1998, and specifically from the Agreement s consociational framework. The Northern Ireland case is marketed by consociationalists as representing best practice, and as providing a template for ending conflicts in other parts of the world. However, as this volume interrogates, on what grounds, and to what extent, can such a positive reading be upheld?

Taken as a whole, this volume, structured as a symposium around the highly-influential argument of John McGarry and Brendan O Leary, offers comparative, engaging, and critical insight into how political theory can contribute to the creation of a better world.

Consociational Theory is an important text for anyone with an interest in political theory, conflict resolution in divided societies, or Irish politics.