The study of the European Union has historically been a theoretical battleground. Since the 1990s, new theoretical directions such as neo-institutionalism, multi-level governance and constructivism have provided a new impetus. However, despite these new inroads, empirical work has often remained sociologically and empirically underspecified. This volume seeks to bridge the gap between theory and fieldwork by developing an actor-centred political sociology. In doing so, the volume engages in a critical dialogue with the constructivist framework and proposes to build on its insights through a sociological hardening centred on European actors. The renewal of European studies through political sociology is only useful if it generates new understandings through empirical observation. This volume seeks to take a new tack on constructivism by asking what it is that Europe constructs by looking at three areas- social spaces and professions, policy 'problems' and policies and policy instruments such as the Eurobarometer. -- .

Rogue State chronicles how West Virginia entered-and remains-in the Union under unconstitutional circumstances. Its severance from Virginia and reincorporation as a new state in 1863 occurred outside the bounds of constitutional legality. The United States government, while pledged to prevent the secession of eleven states from the Union, nevertheless condoned, abetted, supported, and ultimately affirmed secession of fifty counties without permission from Virginia. This unprecedented and unconstitutional process marks the only time in American history that a state was created and admitted to the Union outside the boundaries of the prescribed constitutional process. Lincoln's attorney general even declared the process unconstitutional. Though secession was not permitted for states or parts of states by the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. government produced a facade of legality and constitutionality in 1863 to justify the secession of a part of one state to form another.

Arguments over constitutional interpretation increasingly highlight the full range of political, moral, and cultural fault lines in American society. Yet all the contending parties claim fealty to the Constitution. This volume brings together some of America's leading scholars of constitutional originalism to reflect on the nature and significance of various approaches to constitutional interpretation and controversies. Throughout the book, the contributors highlight the moral and political dimensions of constitutional interpretation. In doing so, they bring constitutional interpretation and its attendant disputes down from the clouds, showing their relationship to the concerns of the citizen. In addition to matters of interpretation, the book deals with the proper role of the judiciary in a free society, the relationship of law to politics, and the relationship of constitutional originalism to the deepest concerns of political thought and philosophy.

Foundations of Public Law offers an account of the formation of the discipline of public law with a view to identifying its essential character, explaining its particular modes of operation, and specifying its unique task. Building on the framework first outlined in The Idea of Public Law (OUP, 2003), the book conceives public law broadly as a type of law that comes into existence as a consequence of the secularization, rationalization, and positivization of the medieval idea of fundamental law. Formed as a result of the changes that give birth to the modern state, public law establishes the authority and legitimacy of modern governmental ordering.
Public law today is a universal phenomenon, but its origins are European. Part I of the book examines the conditions of its formation, showing how much the concept borrowed from the refined debates of medieval jurists. Part II then examines the nature of public law. Drawing on a line of juristic inquiry that developed from the late sixteenth to the early nineteenth centuries - extending from Bodin, Althusius, Lipsius, Grotius, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, and Pufendorf to the later works of Montesquieu, Rousseau, Kant, Fichte, Smith, and Hegel - it presents an account of public law as a special type of political reason.
The remaining three Parts unpack the core elements of this concept: state, constitution, and government. By taking this broad approach to the subject, Loughlin shows how, rather than being viewed as a limitation on power, law is better conceived as a means by which public power is generated. And by explaining the way that these core elements of state, constitution, and government were shaped respectively by the technological, bourgeois, and disciplinary revolutions of the sixteenth century through to the nineteenth century, he reveals a concept of public law of considerable ambiguity, complexity, and resilience.

Comparative constitutional change has recently emerged as a distinct field in the study of constitutional law. It is the study of the way constitutions change through formal and informal mechanisms, including amendment, replacement, total and partial revision, adaptation, interpretation, disuse and revolution. The shift of focus from constitution-making to constitutional change makes sense, since amendment power is the means used to refurbish constitutions in established democracies, enhance their adaptation capacity and boost their efficacy. Adversely, constitutional change is also the basic apparatus used to orchestrate constitutional backslide as the erosion of liberal democracies and democratic regression is increasingly affected through legal channels of constitutional change. Routledge Handbook of Comparative Constitutional Change provides a comprehensive reference tool for all those working in the field and a thorough landscape of all theoretical and practical aspects of the topic. Coherence from this aspect does not suggest a common view, as the chapters address different topics, but reinforces the establishment of comparative constitutional change as a distinct field. The book brings together the most respected scholars working in the field, and presents a genuine contribution to comparative constitutional studies, comparative public law, political science and constitutional history.

This timely and important new work takes a critical look at government in the American states and illustrates the disconnect between state government institutions and their constituents. The text illuminates three basic political problems of state governments: weak constitutional and institutional foundations; a lack of civic engagement; and long histories of unchecked public corruption. In addition, the book explains why some states did and others did not respond promptly to the COVID-19 pandemic and examines America's long-standing problem of police and prosecutorial misconduct-providing a context for understanding the demonstrations and protests that rocked American cities in the summer of 2020. For students and citizens of state politics, the book concludes with a proposal aimed at civic literacy and action

Sovereignty is among the most important phenomena for making sense of political life. But there are many mistaken assumptions associated with the concept. This book provides a new and somewhat unorthodox interpretation of it from the standpoint of a theory of practice. The Sovereign responds to pressing political issues of our time, like immigration and refugees, transnationalism and populism, the prospects for democracy, and the relationship between civil society and the state. The chapters trace the concept of sovereignty from its origins in political theory, providing perspective and insights that leave the reader with a phenomenological sketch of the sovereign. Bronner transforms our ideas about political power, what it is, how it has been used, and how it can be used. His new theory of sovereignty concludes with twenty-five provocative theses on the sovereign's role in modern capitalist society. The Sovereign is a novel and unparalleled overview of a crucial concept by an influential thinker. It is especially and particularly recommended to scholars and student of comparative politics, international relations, contemporary political theory, and the wider general public.

More than thirty years after the collapse of the USSR, the critique of state socialism is still used to deny alternatives to capitalism, irrespective of global capitalist ecological and social devastation. There is seemingly nothing worthwhile salvaging from decades of state socialist experiences. As the climate crisis deepens, Engel-Di Mauro argues that we need to re-evaluate the environmental practices and policies of state socialism, especially as they had more environmentally beneficial than destructive effects. Rather than dismissing state socialism's heritage out of hand, we should reclaim it for contemporary eco-socialist ends. By means of a comparative and multiple-scaled approach, Engel-Di Mauro points to highly diverse and environmentally constructive state socialist experiences. Taking the reader from the USSR to China and Cuba, this is a fiery and contentious look at what worked, what didn't, and how we can move towards an eco-socialist future.

The Crown and Constitutional Reform is an innovative, interdisciplinary exchange between experts in law, anthropology and politics about the Crown, constitutional monarchy and the potential for constitutional reform in Commonwealth common law countries. The constitutional foundation of many Commonwealth countries is the Crown, an icon of ultimate authority, at once familiar yet curiously enigmatic. Is it a conceptual placeholder for the state, a symbol of sovereignty or does its ambiguity make it a shapeshifter, a legal fiction that can be deployed as an expedient mask for executive power and convenient instrument for undermining democratic accountability? This volume offers a novel, interdisciplinary exchange: the contributors analyse how the Crown operates in the United Kingdom and the postcolonial settler societies of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. In doing so, they examine fundamental theoretical questions about statehood, sovereignty, constitutionalism and postcolonial reconciliation. As Queen Elizabeth II's long reign approaches its end, questions about the Crown's future, its changing forms and meanings, the continuing value of constitutional monarchy and its potential for reform, gain fresh urgency. The chapters in this book were originally published in a special issue of The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs.

Despite the importance of second chambers to the success of constitutional democracies around the world, today many fundamental questions about bicameralism remain understudied and undertheorized. What makes bicameral reform so difficult? Why choose bicameralism over unicameralism? What are the constitutional values of bicameralism? This innovative book addresses these questions and many more from comparative, doctrinal, empirical, historical and theoretical perspectives. Featuring contributions from leading and emerging scholars in the field, this book provides a timely account of the tensions between bicameralism and its reform, demonstrating for the first time how this relates to the protection of liberal democracy and the rule of law. Contributors analyse the pressures that contemporary constitutional politics exert on bicameralism in an array of countries and legal systems, including the complex relationships between the EU and national second chambers. Scholars and students of comparative and constitutional law, legislative studies and political science will find this book an invaluable resource. Policymakers at national and EU levels, parliamentarians and others working closely with parliamentary institutions will also find it insightful.

The developments of early 2011 changes the political landscape of the Middle East. But even as urgent struggles continue, it remains clear that authoritarianism will survive this transformational moment. The study of authoritarian governance, therefore, remains essential for our understanding of the political dynamics and inner workings of regimes across the region.
This volume considers the Syrian and Iranian regimes--what they share in common and what distinguishes them. Too frequently, authoritarianism has been assumed to be a generic descriptor of the region and differences among regimes have been overlooked. But as the political trajectories of Middle Eastern states diverge in years ahead, with some perhaps consolidating democratic gains while others remaining under distinct and resilient forms of authoritarian rule, understanding variations in modes of authoritarian governance and the attributes that promote regime resilience becomes an increasingly urgent priority.

The Southern ratification debate on the 14th Amendment was a part of the bitter, decade-long struggle to reconstruct and later redeem the South. This book makes clear that amidst all the conflict and cacophony of the period, the commands of the 14th Amendment were widely and uniformly understood. The three great clauses of Section 1 of the 14th Amendment were intended both to guarantee everyone the fundamental rights of citizenship and personhood and to nationalize the protection of those rights within the federal structure ordained by the Constitution. That means that the states were to retain primary responsibility for defining and protecting those rights, subject only to the requirement that they treat all fairly and equally. Rooted in the natural rights philosophy of the Declaration of Independence rather than in the text of the Bill of Rights, the commands of the 14th Amendment were intended to protect liberty in an inseparable union of states. This study lets the participants in these events speak for themselves: in official reports; in party platforms and campaign speeches; in resolutions from meetings, rallies, and conventions; in editorials and letters to the editor; and in private diaries and personal correspondence. Much of the documentary evidence in this book is being published for the first time.

This timely and important new work takes a critical look at government in the American states and illustrates the disconnect between state government institutions and their constituents. The text illuminates three basic political problems of state governments: weak constitutional and institutional foundations; a lack of civic engagement; and long histories of unchecked public corruption. In addition, the book explains why some states did and others did not respond promptly to the COVID-19 pandemic and examines America's long-standing problem of police and prosecutorial misconduct-providing a context for understanding the demonstrations and protests that rocked American cities in the summer of 2020. For students and citizens of state politics, the book concludes with a proposal aimed at civic literacy and action

Sovereignty is among the most important phenomena for making sense of political life. But there are many mistaken assumptions associated with the concept. This book provides a new and somewhat unorthodox interpretation of it from the standpoint of a theory of practice. The Sovereign responds to pressing political issues of our time, like immigration and refugees, transnationalism and populism, the prospects for democracy, and the relationship between civil society and the state. The chapters trace the concept of sovereignty from its origins in political theory, providing perspective and insights that leave the reader with a phenomenological sketch of the sovereign. Bronner transforms our ideas about political power, what it is, how it has been used, and how it can be used. His new theory of sovereignty concludes with twenty-five provocative theses on the sovereign's role in modern capitalist society. The Sovereign is a novel and unparalleled overview of a crucial concept by an influential thinker. It is especially and particularly recommended to scholars and student of comparative politics, international relations, contemporary political theory, and the wider general public.

Paul Wetherly provides a restatement and defence of the classical Marxist theory of the state, developing an analytical approach that draws on G.A. Cohen's functional interpretation of Marx's theory of history. Instrumentalist and structuralist arguments are conceived as related causal mechanisms within the functional approach, and the principle of economic determination is shown to be consistent with the relative autonomy of the state as an institution with its own interests and capacities. This old-fashioned interpretation is defended against rival approaches within contemporary Marxism, notably Jessop's strategic relational approach.

The parliamentary style of politics has been formed over centuries; nobody theorised it in advance. This book presents a thought experiment to spell out key principles of the parliamentary ideal type of politics. Max Weber offers the main intellectual inspiration, Westminster parliament provides the main historical reference and the author's studies on parliamentary procedure and rhetoric provide the background for the book. Parliamentary acting and thinking offer us the best example of politics as a contingent and controversial activity. Using a parliamentary imagination, the author constructs the ideal type in five main chapters: dissensual modes of proceeding; rhetoric of parliamentary debate; parliamentary formation and control of government; parliamentarians as politicians; and parliamentary time as their common subtext. In the last two chapters, the book outlines the possibilities of extending parliamentary judgment to politics beyond parliaments proper and the chances for parliamentary politics succeeding today.

The use of regulation to control behavior is a defining feature of modern government, penetrating a wide range of social and economic life, from health and social care to transport and environmental protection. This book offers a detailed study of how regulation works in practice, its legal framework, and the arguments surrounding its economic and social impact.
The book focuses on a range of British regulatory bodies, including the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, the Food Standards Agency, the Environment Agency, the Health and Safety Executive, the regulators for health and social care, and the utility regulators covering communications, energy, rail, and water. It uncovers the complex network of different institutions that constitute the regulatory enterprise, including central government departments and European institutions. It argues that effective regulatory accountability requires that the relations between the different bodies are clear and transparent, and assesses the extent to which this is achieved in practice.
The book highlights the range of tasks which regulators perform. Many regulators are responsible for economic regulation aimed at increasing efficiency and promoting consumer choice, but they also have other roles, notably protecting human rights, promoting social solidarity and social inclusion, and providing a forum for deliberation and learning through listening to different interests. The different legal duties of regulators, and their operation in practice, are examined in relation to these different roles, with an emphasis on how regulators ought to decide and how they can be held accountable for their decisions.
Finally the book looks at how regulators themselves are regulated as part of the 'better regulation' initiative, examining attempts to reduce regulatory burdens and to improve regulatory procedures, for example through the use of regulatory impact analysis. It also features comparative analysis of experience from France and the USA.

This book covers the development of the presidential office within the context of constitutional interpretations of presidential power and socio-political and economic developments, as well as foreign affairs events, from 1789-2015. It provides details on the men who have held the office, and biographies of vice presidents, unsuccessful candidates for the office, and noteworthy Supreme Court and other appointees. The Historical Dictionary of the U.S. Presidency contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on the development of the institution of the presidency, and details the personalities, domestic and foreign policy governing contexts, elections, party dynamics and significant events that have shaped the office from the Founding to the present day. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the U.S. Presidency.

The best of Chomsky's recent talks on the past, present, and future of the politics of power. In a series of enlightening and wide-ranging discussions, all published here for the first time, Chomsky radically reinterprets the events of the past three decades, covering topics from foreign policy during Vietnam to the decline of welfare under the Clinton administration.

There is a general consensus in the scholarly literature that the post-colonial state in Africa has failed. Some states (Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia) have collapsed. Various arguments have been proffered to explain this dynamics of African state failure and collapse. However, the literature on state reconstitution is inchoate and minimal. This edited volume focuses on prescriptions for reconstituting the post-colonial state in Africa. Essays on nine African states (Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, and Uganda) are preceded by an introduction to the political economy of the African state.

In January of 1999, the arrest of Wen Ho Lee, the Los Alamos scientist who was falsely accused under a cloud of suspicion of espionage by the U.S. government and imprisoned without trial, sparked controversy throughout the country. It triggered concern for national security, debate about racial profiling and media distortion, and outrage over a return to McCarthy-era paranoia. Throughout the ordeal, Wen Ho Lee quietly and steadfastly maintained his innocence. Now he tells his story.

This compelling narrative takes readers inside Los Alamos, revealing how violations of national security were ubiquitous throughout the weapons lab. Dr. Lee describes how the FBI infiltrated his private life -- spying on him for nearly two decades. He relates his own anti-Communist stance, the results of tragic events from his past, and explains how he even assisted the FBI, protecting nuclear secrets. He details his brutal treatment in jail, and how such treatment, without factual justification, is protected under U.S. law. Finally Dr. Lee explains why he downloaded codes, demonstrating once and for all that he was innocent of every charge leveled against him except for one simple procedure common throughout the lab. A riveting story about prejudice, fear, suspicion -- and courage -- My Country Versus Me offers at last a clear and truthful account of one of the great miscarriages of justice of our time.

An up-to-date, all-encompassing, and nonpartisan presentation of questions and answers about the U.S. Constitution and its amendments-an invaluable tool for readers regardless of their political orientation. Readers will easily grasp the foundations and purposes of the U.S. Constitution-and the critical importance and implications of its amendments-through a series of questions and answers about constitutional topics. The work proceeds logically, covering each article, section, and amendment, explaining how each constitutional change over history affects earlier parts of the document. Created as an approachable, introductory book for high school and college students as well as general readers, The United States Constitution: Questions and Answers, Second Edition is an effective learning tool when read from start to finish, or when used to focus on and research specific constitutional provisions of interest. Its extensively updated and revised coverage since the first edition includes many key cases and serves to direct paramount attention to the constitutional document itself. Provides thoroughly revised information through the latest term of the U.S. Supreme Court Presents unique insights and perspective from the author's wide-ranging research and previous publications on the subject Ideal for students researching specific constitutional topics or engaged in academic competitions regarding the Constitution as well as general readers interested in following and better understanding contemporary political issues

Liberal democracies are predicated on popular sovereignty - the ideal of government for and by the People. Throughout the developed world indigenous peoples continue to deny legitimacy to otherwise popular governments because their consent has never been sought. Using examples from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA, this book tackles the problem of democratic legitimation from the perspective of indigenous peoples, arguing that having suffered conquest, these people cannot be said to consent until conditions for their consent have been realised. These conditions include constitutional change that recognizes indigenous law as the 'law of the land' - a radical proposal going far beyond the current limits of self-determination.

The Constitution of Independence is a contribution to the newly rejuvenated subject of comparative Commonwealth constitutional law, politics, and history. In Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, a series of fascinating developments have been under way for more than a decade, characterized by independent thinking, experimentation, and cross-Commonwealth borrowing of constitutional ideas. These include the final termination of constitutional ties with the United Kingdom Parliament (completed in each country's case in the 1980s) and the emergence of controversial issues including variably entrenched or implied rights and freedoms; wide-ranging claims by indigenous peoples; republicanism; and assertions of national, popular, and sectional sovereignty. This book explores the development of constitutional thinking in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand from early domination by Imperial ideas, through the adoption of the Statute of Westminster and the contemplation of severing Imperial connections, to irreversible acquisition of constitutional independence in the 1980s. This book focusses primarily on sovereignty and the legal system, concepts which are also central to contemporary constitutional theory in Europe and the United States. The book closes with an evaluation of recent varied and often contradictory accounts of the constitutional foundations of Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, which depict a wide range of scenarios: from constitutional continuity and respect for the rule of law, to popular sovereignty and disguised revolution. Oliver argues that explanations of constitutional independence are characterized by their reliance on independent, country-specific constitutional thinking that evolved over the last century. on