This thoroughly researched study provides an invaluable account of Hong Kong's political evolution from its founding as a British colony to the present. Exploring the interplay between colonial, capitalist, communist, and democratic forces in shaping Hong Kong's political institutions and culture, Suzanne Pepper offers a fresh perspective on the territory's development and a gripping account of the transition from British to Chinese rule. The author carries her narrative forward through the lives of significant figures, capturing the personalities and issues central to understanding Hong Kong's political history. Bringing a balanced view to her often contentious subject, she places Hong Kong's current partisan debates between democrats and their opponents within the context of China's ongoing search for a viable political form. The book considers Beijing's increasing intervention in local affairs and focuses on the challenge for Hong Kong's democratic reformers in an environment where ultimate political power resides with the communist-led mainland government and its appointees.

Why did the Constituent Assembly of India discard Mahatma Gandhi's concept of constitutional structure that gave prominence to villages, and prefer parliamentary democracy instead? Why did the self-sufficient and self-governing village of his dream not find a place in India's political edifice? This book explores these and other important questions that are intrinsically linked to the making of modern India. It traces the events leading up to Independence, the freedom struggle and the forming of the Constituent Assembly. The volume looks at the underlying foundations of the Indian nation state and the role of leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and B. R. Ambedkar. It further explores the linkages and the dissonances between Gandhi's ideas and principles and the Indian Constitution. Engaging and accessible, this book will be an interesting read for researchers and scholars of modern India, South Asian politics and history.

At the pivotal moment in the history of the United States of America, ratification of the Constitution was championed by James Madison, John Jay and Alexander Hamilton in a series of newspaper articles known as the Federalist Papers. In answer to these arguments and as a way of pointing up flaws and weaknesses in the Constitution itself, a number of political thinkers (who mostly used pseudonyms) argued against ratification through articles and speeches which have collectively come to be known as the 'Antifederalist Papers.' This edited collection of readings from Antifederalist thought was first published in 1985. Here presented with a completely revised and updated interpretive essay from the editors and expanded to cover the period of the founding from 1776-91, this book is the most complete one-volume collection of its kind.

Radio talking head Ziegler has been fired numerous times in his career for using language or terms deemed inappropriate. He talks about how this works in a free speech"" society.""

Modern constitutionalism as an idea and practice is facing great uncertainty in current times. Scholarly debates focus predominantly on constitutions beyond the state, while the predicament of domestic constitutionalism is much less considered. This volume contributes to a theoretically informed analysis of the key challenges and changes affecting domestic constitutionalism in Europe and beyond, departing from the idea of 'constitutional acceleration' or the increased propensity of different actors to engage in (formal) reform of the constitutional order. The volume points to a fundamental change in the function of constitutions in that constitutions themselves are increasingly subjects of political contestation rather than framing political debates. The collection of essays addresses a range of critical challenges - including societal acceleration, depoliticization, civic engagement, multi-faceted constituent power, modernization, populism and nationalism, and transnationalization. The volume includes a variety of disciplinary, and in some cases interdisciplinary, approaches, including (political) sociology, political science, constitutional law, and constitutional and legal theory, and will be of interest to researchers and students in any of these areas. Case studies focus on the EU and the wider European context, and include highly relevant but little known or ill-understood cases, such as the recent constitutional events in Iceland, Italy, or Romania, and cases of democratic reversal, such as Hungary, while also engaging with traditional but rapidly changing cases of constitutional interest, such as the UK.

This collection of documents (primarily statutes and presidential proclamations), provide an important research tool that gives a unique sense of the reconstruction process. Included are 37 acts of congress, 44 presidential proclamations, eight congressional resolutions, one inaugural speech, one military field order, one presidential order, and two war department circulars, all reproduced in their entirety and arranged chronologically.

Set within the context of growing political pluralism and the increasing use of new communication technologies for social mobilisation, the Institute of Policy Studies organised a national conference on civil society in November 2013. This collection of the essays that were presented at or inspired by the conference provides nuanced analyses of the development of the sector in Singapore since the Institute's first such conference held in 1998. The first section of the book discusses the different philosophies and approaches that underpin how civic activists engage with the State; the second section examines some key forces of change that are re-shaping the sector; and, the third section sets out some emerging issues facing it. Combining insights from experts and civic activists themselves, this book proposes an agenda for the future development of the civil society in Singapore.

Radio talking head Ziegler has been fired numerous times in his career for using language or terms deemed inappropriate. He talks about how this works in a free speech"" society.""

'A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed'. For the past half century, legal historians, analysts, judges and commentators have disagreed as to the original scope and intent of these words, making up the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Individual right theorists interpret it as protecting the personal privilege to own and carry firearms, while collective right theorists interpret it as only protecting the privilege of a collective society to bear arms in relation to militia service. This book examines the contentions of both groups and concludes that the amendment is meant only to protect the right of an individual to 'keep and bear arms' for the purpose of defending the country in a militia force against standing foreign or domestic armies. To interpret the amendment in any other way, the author argues, is to take its wording out of context and overextend a limited right that predated the Constitution and was essential to the founding of the nation. In crafting his argument, the author examines the Second Amendment in exacting detail, looking at its earliest drafts and its placement within the Bill of Rights, the state constitutional ratifying conventions, and judicial interpretations of the amendment through the landmark decision in 2008's District of Columbia v. Heller. The two final chapters examine the relationship between the Second Amendment and individual states, focusing specifically on the state of Ohio's 'right to bear arms' provisions provided in its 1802 constitution.

Abraham Lincoln worried that the "walls" of the constitution would ultimately be leveled by the "silent artillery of time." His fears materialized with the 1913 ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment, which, by eliminating federalism's structural protection, altered the very nature and meaning of federalism. Ralph A. Rossum's provocative new book considers the forces unleashed by an amendment to install the direct election of U.S. Senators. Far from expecting federalism to be protected by an activist court, the Framers, Rossum argues, expected the constitutional structure, particularly the election of the Senate by state legislatures, to sustain it. In Federalism, the Supreme Court, and the Seventeenth Amendment Rossum challenges the fundamental jurisprudential assumptions about federalism. He also provides a powerful indictment of the controversial federalist decisions recently handed down by an activist U.S. Supreme Court seeking to fill the gap created by the Seventeenth Amendment's ratification and protect the original federal design. Rossum's masterful handling of the development of federalism restores the true significance to an amendment previously consigned to the footnotes of history. It demonstrates how the original federal design has been amended out of existence; the interests of states as states abandoned and federalism left unprotected, both structurally and democratically. It highlights the ultimate irony of constitutional democracy: that an amendment intended to promote democracy, even at the expense of federalism, has been undermined by an activist court intent on protecting federalism, at the expense of democracy.

The state, which since the middle of the seventeenth century has been the most important of all modern institutions, is in decline. From Western Europe to Africa, many existing states are either combining into larger communities or falling apart. Many of their functions are likely to be taken over by a variety of organizations that, whatever their precise nature, are not states. In this unique volume Martin van Creveld traces the story of the state from its beginnings to its end. Starting with the simplest political organizations that ever existed, he guides the reader through the origins of the state, its development, its apotheosis during the two World Wars, and its spread from its original home in Western Europe to cover the globe. In doing so, he provides a fascinating history of government from its origins to the present day. This original book will of interest to historians, political scientists and sociologists.

This book shows the rise and morphology of a self-identified `illiberal democracy', the first 21st century illiberal political regime arising in the European Union. Since 2010, Viktor Orban's governments in Hungary have convincingly offered an anti-modernist and anti-cosmopolitan/anti-European Unionist rhetoric, discourse and constitutional identity to challenge neo-liberal democracy. The Hungarian case provides unique observation points for students of transitology, especially those who are interested in states which are to abandon pathways of liberal democracy. The author demonstrates how illiberalism is present both in `how' and `what' is being done: the style, format and procedure of legislation; as well as the substance: the dismantling of institutional rule of law guarantees and the weakening of checks and balances. The book also discusses the ideological commitments and constitutionally framed and cemented value preferences, and a reconstituted and re-conceptualized relationship between the state and its citizens, which is not evidently supported by Hungarians' value system and life-style choices.

Both Russia and Turkey were pioneering examples of feminism in the early 20th Century, when the Bolshevik and Republican states embraced an ideology of women's equality. Yet now these countries have drifted towards authoritarianism and the concept of gender is being invoked to reinforce tradition, nationalism and to oppose Western culture. Goekten Dogangun's book explores the relationship between the state and gender equality in Russia and Turkey, covering the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the Republican Revolution of 1923 and highlighting the very different gender climates that have emerged under the leaderships of Putin and Erdogan. The research is based on analysis of legal documents, statistical data and reports, as well as in-depth interviews with experts, activists and public officials. Dogangun identifies a climate of 'neo-traditionalism' in contemporary Russia and 'neo-conservatism' in contemporary Turkey and examines how Putin and Erdogan's ambitions to ensure political stability, security and legitimacy are achieved by promoting commonly held 'family values', grounded in religion and tradition. The book reveals what it means to be a woman in Turkey and Russia today and covers key topics such as hostility towards feminism, women's employment, domestic violence, motherhood and abortion. Dogangun provides the first comparative study that seeks to understand the escalation of patriarchy and the decline of democracy which is being witnessed across the world.

The Indian Constituent Assembly laid the foundations of the largest democracy in the world. The debates between the members of the Assembly form the bedrock of the Indian Constitution. The chapters in this volume propose a range of methodological perspectives from which these critical debates might be read. Adopting a multidisciplinary approach, they explore themes such as party politics, ideas of rights, including caste and minority rights, social justice and the philosophy of free speech. A major contribution to the study of Indian politics, this book will be indispensable to political scientists, political theorists, legal scholars, historians, lawyers and general readers interested in the history of the Indian Constitution.

The structures of the world's national and international, political and economic institutions have largely resulted from intuitive and ad hoc organization with reforms taking place on a costly trial-and-error basis. This book offers a comprehensive evaluation of the tools which can be used for a more rational and formal approach to institutional design. As new institutions and, indeed, new national governments are being formed and developed all the time, there is a considerable need for formal models that can facilitate their design. This book offers conceptual approaches and theories that shed new light on how various social and political institutions can emerge as the outcome of goal-directed rational behaviour. The author provides tools for evaluating existing institutions and for setting up new ones, demonstrating the applicability of decision and game theoretic tools, social choice theory and mechanism design to the construction of political and economic institutions. Using these approaches he particularly discusses the practical implications for the design of institutions in the European Union. This important book will be welcomed by students and scholars interested in government and political science, rational choice theory, methodology in the social sciences, and the microeconomics of rational behaviour.

Tolerance, while proving necessary in today's varied world, can be grudgingly given and resentfully received. Toleration may be necessary, but it has little appeal, and certainly cannot serve as either a central or unifying doctrine in a thriving moral or political philosophy. A deeper understanding of what tolerance requires leads us to see that it demands more. Once we inculcate the attitude of tolerance in ourselves and our politics, tolerance can occupy the difficult and contested. It does not make sense, for instance, if we already fully accept a practice; nor does it make sense if what we are asked to tolerate is 'intolerable: ' we appeal to those inclined to be intolerant to soften their judgement, to grant that what they disapprove can, and should be, permitted. What needs to be done is to show how tolerance is rooted in an appealing moral and political theory. Only then will toleration move beyond either simple expediency or grudging forbearance

In 1787, a great debate raged in America over whether or not to ratify the newly-proposed Constitution. Arguing against ratification were such patriotic luminaries as Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and George Clinton. Known as Anti-Federalists, they opposed the Constitution on the grounds that it consolidated too much power in the hands of a central governing -body-something the nation had just fought a war to escape. The Antifederalists: Men of Great Faith and Forbearance couples a wide variety of Antifederalist documents with insightful commentary to provide the first truly representative and up-to-date work on this important political group. David J. Siemers's carefully selected works and clear explanations bring out the variety among Antifederalists and the chronological development of the ratification fight. The result is a fuller portrait of the Antifederalists, ideal for students, historians, and everyone interested in America's founding period.

Countries at the Crossroads: An Analysis of Democratic Governance evaluates government performance in seventy strategically important countries from across the globe, including emerging market countries and at-risk states. The in-depth comparative analyses and quantitative ratings--examining Accountability and Public Voice, Civil Liberties, Rule of Law, and Anticorruption and Transparency--serve as a valuable tool for public analysts, educators and students, government officials, and the business community.

Since her appointment as the first woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has had a major, but largely unrecognized, influence on the collective jurisprudence of the Burger and Rehnquist Courts. In this comprehensive and systematic analysis of O'Connor's judicial contributions, Nancy Maveety describes how O'Connor has used accommodationist decision-making strategies to make substantive contributions to the development of both constitutional law and the Court's norms of collegiality. Skeptical of interpretations that seek to impose feminist conventions on O'Connor's judicial behavior, this account combines biographical data with an analytical discussion of O'Connor's crucial decisions. This is important reading for anyone interested in the Supreme Court and contemporary jurisprudence.

This Companion provides the essential background to the defining fate of the African diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean from the 15th to the 20th centuries. Central to the book are detailed chronologies on the development and decline of the slave trade, slavery in colonial North and South America, the Caribbean and the United States, movements for emancipation, and the progress of black civil rights. Separate sections look at the long-running resistance against slavery and the black civil rights movements in the Americas and the Caribbean, with a comparative chronology of apartheid in South Africa. Supported by biographies of over 100 key individuals and a full glossary providing definitions of crucial terms, expressions, ideas and events, this is required reading for anyone interested in the historical experience of slavery.

Eminent Victorians on American Democracy surveys a wide range of British opinion on the United States in the nineteenth century and highlights the views of John Stuart Mill, Walter Bagehot, Sir Henry Maine, and James Bryce, who wrote extensively on American government and society. America was significant to them not only because it was the world's most advanced democracy, but also because it was a political experiment that was seen to anticipate the future of Britain. The Victorians made a memorable contribution to the continuing debate over the character and origins of democracy through their perceptive examination of issues ranging from the US Constitution to its practical application, from the Supreme Court to the party system. Their trenchant commentary punctures several popular American assumptions, not least the idea of 'exceptionalism'. To Victorian commentators, the bonds of kinship, law, and language were of great significance; and while they did not see the United States as having a unique destiny, they rallied to an 'Anglo-American exceptionalism', which reflected their sense of a shared transatlantic history. What distinguishes the Victorian writers was their willingness to examine the US Constitution dispassionately at a time when Americans treated it as a sacred document. Although the United States has changed dramatically since they wrote, much of their commentary remains remarkably prescient, if only because the American government retains so much of its eighteenth-century character. Today, when rival American priesthoods see the Constitution in the light of their particular altars, it is worth revisiting what leading Victorians had to say about it. It may come as a shock to American readers.

Today, Bernie Sanders is a household name, a wildly popular presidential candidate and an icon for progressive Democrats in the United States. But back in the 1980s, this "democratic socialist"-though some folks would prefer the term "social democrat"-was mayor of Burlington, Vermont, where his administration attempted radical reforms. Some efforts were successful, but when a waterfront deal failed, it was not due to Sanders' efforts; he would rather compromise and have a net gain than be an ideological purist. In his preface to this reissue of the 1990 book, Challenging the Boundaries of Reform, W. J. Conroy reflects on the recent legacy of Sanders, his Agenda for America, and his appeal to young voters. His book then looks back to identify Sanders' experience in Burlington by examining several case studies that unfolded amidst a conservative trend nationally, an unsympathetic state government, and a hostile city council. Ultimately, Conroy asks what lessons can be drawn from the case of Burlington that would aid the American left in its struggle to capture both government and civil society?

The essays in this book reflect on the paradoxical relationship of liberal education and liberal democracy. Liberal education emphasizes knowledge for its own sake, detached from all instrumental purposes. It also aims at liberation from the manifold sources of unfreedom, including political sources. In this sense, liberal education is negative, questioning any and all constraints on the activity of mind. Liberal democracy, devoted to securing individual natural rights, purports to be the regime of liberty par excellence. Since both liberal education and liberal democracy aim to set individuals free, they would seem to be harmonious and mutually reinforcing. But there are reasons to doubt that liberal education can be the civic education liberal democracy needs. If liberal education is in tension with all instrumental purposes, how does it stand toward the goal of preparing the kind of citizens liberal democracy needs? The book's contributors are critical of the way higher education typically interprets its responsibility for educating citizens, and they link those failures to academia's neglect of certain founding principles of the American political tradition and of the traditional liberal arts ideal.

"Private Property, Government Requisition and the Constitution, 1914-1927" ranges widely over different types of property, including aerodromes, ships, hotels, pubs, alcoholic drinks and foodstuffs, the history of whose requisition by the wartime state is carefully documented. It shows how the state, in this as in many areas, was forced to act by immediate pressures, often improvising rights over areas of life previously outside the power of government; by doing so it documents a key stage in the growth of centralised power in modern Britain.

Since her appointment as the first woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has had a major, but largely unrecognized, influence on the collective jurisprudence of the Burger and Rehnquist Courts. In this comprehensive and systematic analysis of O'Connor's judicial contributions, Nancy Maveety describes how O'Connor has used accommodationist decision-making strategies to make substantive contributions to the development of both constitutional law and the Court's norms of collegiality. Skeptical of interpretations that seek to impose feminist conventions on O'Connor's judicial behavior, this account combines biographical data with an analytical discussion of O'Connor's crucial decisions. This is important reading for anyone interested in the Supreme Court and contemporary jurisprudence.