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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political structure & processes > Constitution, government & the state
The modern Chinese state has traditionally affected every major aspect of domestic society. With the growing liberalization of the economy, coupled with increasingly complex social issues, there is a belief that the state is retreating from an array of social problems from health to the environment. Yet, a survey of China's contemporary political landscape today reveals not only a central state which plays an active role in managing social problems, but also new state actors at the local level which are increasingly seeking to partner with various non-governmental organizations or social associations. This book looks at how NGOs, social organizations, business associations, trade unions, and religious associations interact with the state, and explores how social actors have negotiated the influence of the state at both national and local levels. It further examines how a corporatist understanding of state-society relations can be reformulated, as old and new social stakeholders play a greater role in managing contemporary social issues. The book goes on to chart the differences in how the state behaves locally and centrally, and finally discusses the future direction of the corporatist state. Drawing on a range of sources from recent fieldwork and the latest data, this timely collection will appeal to students and scholars working in the fields of Chinese politics, Chinese economics and Chinese society.
The Supreme Court is one of the most traditional institutions in America that has been an exclusively male domain for almost two hundred years. From 1981 to 2010, four women were appointed to the Supreme Court for the first time in U.S. history. The Rhetoric of Supreme Court Women: From Obstacles to Options, by Nichola D. Gutgold, analyzes the rhetoric of the first four women elected to the Supreme Court: Sandra Day O'Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. Gutgold's thorough exploration of these pioneering women's rhetorical strategies includes confirmation hearings, primary scripts of their written opinions, invited public lectures, speeches, and personal interviews with Justices O'Connor, Ginsburg, and Sotomayor. These illuminating documents and interviews form rhetorical biographies of the first four women of the Supreme Court, shedding new light on the rise of political women in the American judiciary and the efficacy of their rhetoric in a historically male-dominated political system. Gutgold's The Rhetoric of Supreme Court Women provides valuable insight into political communication and the changing gender zeitgeist in American politics.
Taking into account the political and intellectual forces that shape Supreme Court decisions, Constitutional Debate in Action examines how and why the U.S. Constitution continues to grow and adapt to human wants, passions, and values. Not your traditional constitutional-law textbook, this three-volume set views the Constitution as an institutionalized form of debate by which people press their political demands and arguments upon the Supreme Court. This process-oriented approach goes beyond a straightforward examination of how the decisions of Supreme Court justices have transformed constitutional doctrine through the ages; it explores the actual process of adjudication itself. Each case study covers the legal and political background; including relevant out-of-court discussions, to help students understand the political framework in which the Supreme Court operates. Actual legal briefs filed in landmark cases, and corresponding oral arguments before the Supreme Court, provide students with a front-row seat to the process of constitutional argumentation. As they evaluate the opposing viewpoints, students are better equipped to evaluate critically final Supreme Court decisions and opinions. In addition, students gain a valuable perspective on the role of the Supreme Court in our constitutional democracy. Each volume provides in-depth and updated examinations of key landmark decisions. Civil Rights & Liberties covers: Racial Discrimination: Brown v. Board of Education, Affirmative Action: Regents of University of Calif. v. Bakke, and Grutter v. Bollinger, Abortion: Roe v. Wade, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Hate Speech and Cross Burning: R. A. V. v. City of St. Paul, and Virginia v. Black, Peyote Use and Religious Freedom: Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith; and new to the second edition, Campaign Finance Regulation and Freedom of Speech: McConnell v. Federal Election Commission.
He who can change the Constitution controls the Constitution. So who does control the Constitution? The answer has always been: "the people." The people control the Constitution via the Article V amending process outlined in the Constitution itself. Changes can only be made through Article V and its formal procedures. Article V has always provided a means of perfecting the Constitution in an explicit, democratically authentic, prudent, and deliberative manner. In addition to changing the Constitution Article V also allowed the people to perfect and preserve their Constitution at the same time. In recent years Article V has come under attack by influential legal scholars who criticize it for being too difficult, undemocratic, and too formal. Such scholars advocate for ignoring Article V in favor of elite adaptation of the Constitution or popular amendment through national referendums. In making their case, critics also assume that Article V is an unimportant and expendable part of the Constitutional structure. One notable scholar called the Constitution "imbecilic" because of Article V. This book shows that, to the contrary, Article V is a unique and powerful extension of the American tradition of written constitutionalism. It was a logical extension of American constitutional development and it was a powerful tool used by the Federalists to argue for ratification of the new Constitution. Since then it has served as a means of "perfecting" the US Constitution for over 200 years via a wide range of amendments. Contrary to contemporary critics, the historical evidence shows Article V to be a vital element in the Constitutional architecture, not an expendable or ancillary piece. This book defends Article V against critics by showing that it is neither too difficult, undemocratic, nor too formal. Furthermore, a positive case is made that Article V remains the most clear and powerful way to register the sovereign desires of the American public with regard to alterations of their fundamental law. In the end, Article V is an essential bulwark to maintaining a written Constitution that secures the rights of the people against both elites and themselves.
First Amendment Freedoms: A Reference Handbook offers a comprehensive examination of the discourse on First Amendment freedom issues in an objective and unbiased manner and provides valuable data and documents to guide readers to further research on the subject. First Amendment Freedoms: A Reference Handbook provides a comprehensive, objective, and accessible source of critically important information on the First Amendment freedoms of religion, speech, and assembly, and the post-Civil War Fourteenth Amendment. Geared for high school and college readers, it covers relevant historical events from the adoption of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to the array of Supreme Court cases that further defined the scope and limits of First Amendment freedoms. Composed of seven chapters, plus a glossary and index, the volume will present the background and history of the First Amendment; problems, controversies, and solutions; a perspectives chapter with nine original essay contributions; profiles of the leading actors and organizations involved in First Amendment politics; governmental data and excerpts of primary documents on the topic; and a resources chapter comprising an annotated list of the key books, scholarly journals, and nonprint sources on the topic. It closes with a detailed chronology of major events concerning First Amendment freedoms. Provides readers with a better understanding of the complexity of First Amendment freedoms and how those freedoms have clashed over time Discusses attempts to "solve" problems concerning the fundamental freedoms defined by the First Amendment and how those attempts have changed and expanded over time Arms readers with a detailed list and analysis of all of the major or "landmark" Supreme Court cases pertaining to each of the fundamental First Amendment freedoms Makes a comprehensive but objective review of more than 50 scholarly books on the topic
This book studies the role of the EU in peace and security as a regional actor with global aspirations, in the context of challenged and changing multilateralism. Multilateralism, governance and security are three concepts that have attracted a great deal of attention in the past decade and attempts to redefine them have produced lively conceptual debates. More recently, different strands of the literature have found common ground in the investigation of the EU's role in what has been labelled 'multilateral security governance'. Despite being frequently used, the term is yet to be fully clarified, and empirically explored. To contribute further our understanding of it, this book presents a conceptual and empirical exploration of 'multilateral security governance' and the EU's role in it. Expert contributors in the field analyze both traditional and non-traditional security areas, to investigate if and how multilateral security governance functions, and how the EU contributes (or fails to contribute) to the functioning of multilateral governance. The EU and Multilateral Security Governance will be of interest to students, scholars and practitioners of EU politics, security studies and governance.
The transformations which are taking place in the Arab world are dynamic processes characterised by a number of variables that one can refer to as actors and factors. The implications of the Arab uprisings are important for the world at large; the Arab world's successes, and failures, at this crucial moment may well serve as a model for other nations. Political and Constitutional Transitions in North Africa focuses on five Northern African countries- Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Libya and Algeria- examining specific institutions and actors participating in the political upheavals in North Africa since 2011, and placing them in a comparative perspective in order to better understand the processes at work. This book addresses issues pertinent to North African and Middle Eastern Studies, comparative constitutional law, political science and transitional studies and it contains contributions by experts in all these fields. Providing a significant contribution to the understanding of events that followed the immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia, this book is a valuable contribution to North African Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Comparative Constitutional Law and Transitional Studies.
This book demonstrates the consequences of legislators' strategic communication for representation in American politics. Representational Style in Congress shows how legislators present their work to cultivate constituent support. Using a massive new data set of texts from legislators and new statistical techniques to analyze the texts, this book provides comprehensive measures of what legislators say to constituents and explains why legislators adopt these styles. Using the new measures, Justin Grimmer shows how legislators affect how constituents evaluate their representatives and the consequences of strategic statements for political discourse. The introduction of new statistical techniques for political texts allows a more comprehensive and systematic analysis of what legislators say and why it matters than was previously possible. Using these new techniques, the book makes the compelling case that to understand political representation, we must understand what legislators say to constituents.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has morphed in ways that would be unrecognizable to its founders. Its mission evolved from improving rail freight to building motor vehicle crossings, airports, office towers, and industrial parks and taking control of a failing commuter rail line. In its early years, the agency was often viewed with admiration; however as it drew up plans, negotiated to take control of airfields and marine terminals, and constructed large bridges and tunnels, the Port Authority became the object of less favorable attention. It was attacked as a “super-government” that must be reined in, while the mayors of New York and Newark argued that it should be broken up with its pieces given to local governments for their own use.Despite its criticisms and travails, for over half a century the Port Authority overcame hurdles that had frustrated other public and private efforts, built the world's longest suspension bridge, and took a leading role in creating an organization to reduce traffic delays in the New York-New Jersey region. How did the Port Authority achieve these successes? And what lessons does its history offer to other cities and regions in the United States and beyond? In a time when public agencies are often condemned as inefficient and corrupt, this history should provide some positive lessons for governmental officials and social reformers. In 2021, the Port Authority marked its 100th birthday. Its history reveals a struggle between the public and private sectors, the challenges of balancing democratic accountability and efficiency, and the tension between regional and local needs. From selected Port Authority successes and failures, Philip Mark Plotch and Jen Nelles produce a significant and engaging account of a powerful governmental entity that offers durable lessons on collaboration, leadership, and the challenge of overcoming complex political challenges in modern America.
Nature is no longer the leading cause of death; society is. This makes health care one of the most important political issues today. This book looks at the reasons behind the declining condition of our bodies, as governments across the world choose to neglect the health of the majority of their citizens. Using hard data taken from service users, Lee Humber constructs a sharp analysis that gets to the heart of inequality in health care today, showing that 'wealthy means healthy'. Life expectancy for many in the UK and US is worse than it was 100 years ago, and more and more communities across the world can expect shorter and less healthy lives than their parents. Humber also suggests radical strategies for tackling this degenerative situation, providing a compelling vision for how we can shape our health and that of future generations.
Israel is an incorrigible human rights offender because, by discriminating against Arabs, it is guilty of 'state-sponsored racism' argues Joel Kovel. Like apartheid South Africa, the best hope for peace in Israel is to return to the idea of a one-state solution, where Jews and Palestinians can co-exist in a secular democracy. Kovel is well-known writer on the Middle East conflict. This book draws on his detailed knowledge to show that Zionism and democracy are essentially incompatible. He offers a thoughtful account of the emotional and psychological aspects of Zionism that helps us understand the relationship between ideology, culture and political processes. Ultimately, Kovel argues, a two-state solution is essentially hopeless as it concedes too much to the regressive forces of nationalism, wherein lie the roots of continued conflict.
Revised and updated to include the latest Supreme Court decisions, this classic text, now in its tenth edition, provides a concise overview of the judiciary in general and the Supreme Court in particular. The only book available that combines theory and practice of the judicial process with civil rights and liberties, The Judiciary acquaints students with the intricacies of our courts, the people who compose them, and their relationship to other branches of government, as well as to individuals and groups.
Spring 2008 witnessed the first positive signs of a thaw in relations between the two sides of the divided island of Cyprus since the dramatic failure of the Annan Plan in 2004. The historic meeting of the two Presidents of Cyprus and the symbolic opening of the Ledra Street border crossing in the heart of Nicosia may herald a bright new future for this Mediterranean island. Yet Cyprus has been in this situation before. What makes this new initiative different and why should it succeed where so many others have failed? "Reunifying Cyprus" is the first book to analyze fully the reasons for the continuing failure to re-unite the two states of Cyprus after over forty years of division. It focuses especially on the Annan Plan--the popular name for the UN initiative to find a "Comprehensive Solution to the Cyprus Problem in anticipation of Cyprus" accession to the EU--and the reasons for its ultimate failure. How did Cypriots receive the Annan Plan? What were the real or imagined flaws? Was this a missed opportunity? And what place does the Annan Plan have in future blueprints to reunify the island? "Reunifying Cyprus" will be invaluable for anyone interested in conflict resolution and international politics as well as students of the Eastern Mediterranean.
Japan's Interventionist State gives a detailed examination of Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and its role in promoting, protecting and preserving the regime of agricultural support and protection. This account is integral to the author's extended and multidimensional explanation for why Japan continues to provide high levels of assistance to its farmers and why it continues to block market access concessions in the WTO and other agricultural trade talks.
Challenging much received wisdom about nation-states--how they
form, what sustains them, why they fail--this study of subaltern
social groups in the Chachapoyas region of Peru analyzes the
emergence of the modern nation-state "from below." By approaching
nation-state formation from the perspective of the subaltern, the
book offers a critique of scholarship that sees coercion and the
imposition of social and cultural forms as the core of nation-state
expansion. This "coercive" view bears virtually no relation to the
complex transformations in power, culture, and economy that
resulted in the consolidation of national control in the
Chachapoyas region.
In this stimulating volume, Stephen M. Krason considers whether the Founding Fathers' vision of the American democratic republic has been transformed and if so, in what ways. He looks to the basic principles of the Founding Fathers, then discusses the changes that resulted from evolving contemporary expectations about government. Referencing philosophical principles and the work of great Western thinkers, Krason then explores a variety of proposals that could forge a foundation for restoration. Acknowledging that any attempt to revive the Founders' views on a democratic republic must start in the public sphere, Krason focuses on concerned citizens who are aware of the extent to which our current political structures deviate from the Founders' vision and want to take action. Ultimately, a democratic republic can exist, be sustained, and flourish only when there is a deep commitment to it in the minds and norms of its people. Written by a foremost authority in the field of US Constitutional law, this book will appeal to those interested in American history, society, and politics.
The Supreme Court is one of the most traditional institutions in America that has been an exclusively male domain for almost two hundred years. From 1981 to 2010, four women were appointed to the Supreme Court for the first time in U.S. history. The Rhetoric of Supreme Court Women: From Obstacles to Options, by Nichola D. Gutgold, analyzes the rhetoric of the first four women elected to the Supreme Court: Sandra Day O, Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. Gutgold, s thorough exploration of these pioneering women, s rhetorical strategies includes confirmation hearings, primary scripts of their written opinions, invited public lectures, speeches, and personal interviews with Justices O, Connor, Ginsburg, and Sotomayor. These illuminating documents and interviews form rhetorical biographies of the first four women of the Supreme Court, shedding new light on the rise of political women in the American judiciary and the efficacy of their rhetoric in a historically male-dominated political system. Gutgold, s The Rhetoric of Supreme Court Women provides valuable insight into political communication and the changing gender zeitgeist in American poli
We are at a watershed of history. The human race is now so numerous and its technological power so great that we are having an unprecedented impact on the biosphere, the entire planet. The need to control this impact is giving rise to a new kind of politics - the politics of the planet. The most urgent problem we face is that of climate change. This book gives a vigorous and candid account of how governments tentatively felt their way to the first international agreements on climate change and the ozone layer, how these work, and the long-term implications for global governance. It points to the roles that businesses and ordinary citizens can play, and the changes we can expect in our daily lives. This is an area in which politics, technology and economics meet. In this sweeping and energetic book, the author goes on to look at the major planetary issues that confront us now or that are close over the horizon, and the ethical issues of our relationship to our environment that they raise. Amid the dangers, he finds ground for hope. Anyone with an interest in the human condition as we spin further into the new century will find this an enlightening and rewarding book. Originally published in 2000
For two centuries, American presidents have considered themselves to be representatives of the American people. In this detailed study of presidential representation, Gary Gregg explores the theory, history, and consequences of presidents acting as representatives in the American political system. Gregg explores questions such as what it means to be a representative, how the Founding Fathers understood the place of the presidency in the Republic established by the Constitution, and the effects a representational presidency has on deliberative democracy. This important examination of the presidency's place in our political system is essential reading for those interested in American political theory, constitutional studies, and American history.
The Constitution is the cornerstone of American government, hailed as one of the greatest contributions of the Western Enlightenment. While many seem content simply to celebrate it, those most familiar with the document invariably find it wanting in at least some aspects. This unique volume brings together many of the country's most esteemed constitutional commentators and invites them to answer two questions: First, what is the stupidest provision of the Constitution? "Stupid" need not mean evil. Thus, a second, related question is whether the scholar-interpreter would be forced to reach truly evil results even if applying his or her own favored theory of constitutional interpretation. The contributors include Lawrence Alexander, Akhil Reed Amar, Jack Balkin, Philip Bobbitt, Gerard Bradley, Rebecca Brown, Steven Calabresi, Lief Carter, Christopher Eisgruber, Lawrence Sager, Marie Failinger, Daniel Farber, James Fleming, Mark Graber, Stephen Griffin, Gary Jacobsohn, Randall Kennedy, Lewis LaRue, Theodore Lowi, Earl Maltz, Michael McConnell, Matthew Michael, Robert Nagel, Daniel Ortiz, Pamela Karlen, Michael Paulsen, Robert Post, Lucas Powe, Dorothy Roberts, Jeffrey Rosen, Frederick Schauer, Michael Seidman, Suzanna Sherry, David Strauss, Laurence Tribe, Mark Tushnet, and John Yoo.
"By the time of Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th president of the United States, he had already developed an ambitious foreign policy vision. By his own account, he sought to bend the arc of history toward greater justice, freedom, and peace; within a year he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, largely for that promise. In Bending History, Martin Indyk, Kenneth Lieberthal, and Michael O'Hanlon measure Obama not only against the record of his predecessors and the immediate challenges of the day, but also against his own soaring rhetoric and inspiring goals. Bending History assesses the considerable accomplishments as well as the failures and seeks to explain what has happened. Obama's best work has been on major and pressing foreign policy challenges-counterterrorism policy, including the daring raid that eliminated Osama bin Laden; the ""reset"" with Russia; managing the increasingly significant relationship with China; and handling the rogue states of Iran and North Korea. Policy on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, however, has reflected serious flaws in both strategy and execution. Afghanistan policy has been plagued by inconsistent messaging and teamwork. On important ""softer"" security issues-from energy and climate policy to problems in Africa and Mexico-the record is mixed. As for his early aspiration to reshape the international order, according greater roles and responsibilities to rising powers, Obama's efforts have been well-conceived but of limited effectiveness. On issues of secondary importance, Obama has been disciplined in avoiding fruitless disputes (as with Chavez in Venezuela and Castro in Cuba) and insisting that others take the lead (as with Qaddafi in Libya). Notwithstanding several missteps, he has generally managed well the complex challenges of the Arab awakenings, striving to strike the right balance between U.S. values and interests. The authors see Obama's foreign policy to date as a triumph of discipline and realism over ideology. He has been neither the transformative beacon his devotees have wanted, nor the weak apologist for America that his critics allege. They conclude that his grand strategy for promoting American interests in a tumultuous world may only now be emerging, and may yet be curtailed by conflict with Iran. Most of all, they argue that he or his successor will have to embrace U.S. economic renewal as the core foreign policy and national security challenge of the future. "
The presidency is hazardous to your helth. Fully two-thirds of our presidents have died before reaching their life-expectancy- despite being wealthier, better educated, and better cared for that most Americans. In Mortal Presidency, the first complete account of death and illness in the White House, Robert E. Gilbert looks at modern presidents including Coolidge, FDR, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Reagan. He shows- in some cases, for the first time- that all suffered from debilitating medical problems, physical and/or psychological, which they frequently managed to conceal from the public but which, in important ways, affected their political lives. This edition is updated to include a brief look at Presidents Clinton and Bush, both of whom suffered sudden and unpleasant indispositions while in office which to some degree affected their presidencies.
.,."Nolan argues that America's therapeutic culture has recently
moved from the cultural realm of "symbols and codes" to penetrate
the institutions of the modern American state. By delineating
sharply between the culture of the therapeutic and therapeutic
poicymaking, Nolan's probing work provides an important new
methodological frame with which to study the therapeutic" The United States has always been profoundly conflicted about the role and utility of its government. Simmering just beneath the surface of heated public discussions over the appropriate scope and size of government are foundational questions about the very purpose of the state, and the basis of its authority. America's changing and diversifying cultural climate makes common agreement about the government's raison d'Aatre all the more difficult. In The Therapeutic State, James Nolan shows us how these unresolved dilemmas have coalesced at century's end. Today the American state, faced with a steady decline in public confidence, has embraced a therapeutic code of moral understanding to legitimize its very existence. By ranging widely across education, criminal justice, welfare, political rhetoric, and civil law, Nolan convincingly illustrates how the state increasingly turns to the therapeutic ethos as a justification for its programs and policies, a development that will profoundly influence the relationship between government and citizenry. In a tone refreshingly free of polemic, Nolan charts the dialectic relationship between culture and politics and, against the backdrop of striking historical contrasts, gives example after example of the emergence of therapeuticsensibilities in the processes of the American state.
Many conservative extremists have argued that Obama was advancing a socialist agenda, immersing himself in African-American radicalism, and pushing big government liberal policies during his first term. The Republican Party, we once knew, has been pushed to the extreme right and has rendered itself unwilling to compromise with the first African American president in order to credit him with any degree of success. The Party's chief goal was to take back the White House in the 2012 presidential election by any means necessary to push their radical agenda, as some have boldly stated. With the help of Republican governors in certain swing states, the Republican Party knew it had a chance to win the White House by passing voter suppression ID laws. Consequently, from white church pulpits to the political arena, conservative radicals have divided the American electorate and have played on the irrational apocalyptic fears of many that Obama will destroy the exceptional nature of America. Conservative radicals have shaped our national debate and have driven our discourse with eliminationist and racialized rhetoric against the Obama presidency. Consequently, many anti-Obama narratives have hit the bookstores and have consumed the intellectual life of an overly suspicious, low information general public where many lack the critical and political thought about ways they need to know to emancipate themselves from destructive prevailing ideologies. Obama's Political Saga serves as a counter-narrative to the paranoid politics of anti-intellectual and anti-science radicals and hopefully provides a reasonable discussion about Obama's political saga in his first term. These anti-Obama narratives have resurrected themselves from the Jim Crow era, influencing a segment of the conservative base to believe that equal rights for African Americans, other Americans of color, and women would threaten the social order by diminishing white (male) privilege. Therefore, we need counter-narratives to help us engage in genuine political and intellectual debate about the first African American president and his legacy.
Vital perspectives for the divided Trump era on what the Constitution's framers intended when they defined the extent-and limits-of presidential power One of the most vexing questions for the framers of the Constitution was how to create a vigorous and independent executive without making him king. In today's divided public square, presidential power has never been more contested. The President Who Would Not Be King cuts through the partisan rancor to reveal what the Constitution really tells us about the powers of the president. Michael McConnell provides a comprehensive account of the drafting of presidential powers. Because the framers met behind closed doors and left no records of their deliberations, close attention must be given to their successive drafts. McConnell shows how the framers worked from a mental list of the powers of the British monarch, and consciously decided which powers to strip from the presidency to avoid tyranny. He examines each of these powers in turn, explaining how they were understood at the time of the founding, and goes on to provide a framework for evaluating separation of powers claims, distinguishing between powers that are subject to congressional control and those in which the president has full discretion. Based on the Tanner Lectures at Princeton University, The President Who Would Not Be King restores the original vision of the framers, showing how the Constitution restrains the excesses of an imperial presidency while empowering the executive to govern effectively. |
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