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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political structure & processes > Constitution, government & the state
First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Pennsylvania Constitutional Development has proven to be the definitive study of the history of Pennsylvania's constitution in its first four incarnations. Rosalind Branning's critique, first published in 1960, reflects the movement that led to the constitution of 1968. After tracing the history of the 1776 constitution and its earliest revisions--in 1790 and 1838--Branning primarily focuses on the constitutional convention of 1872-73 and the resulting document of 1874, which endured for almost a century. She uses the published Debates, newspaper files, and the observations of contemporary writers and statesmen to provide a detailed and engaging study of the politics and leadership of the time. Her analysis demonstrates that this constitutional convention produced an instrument that was designed to meet nineteenth-century needs but would need significant revisions by future generations. Foreseeing the very issues that would be addressed in the 1967-68 constitutional convention, Branning identifies the elements that are necessary for successful constitutional lawmaking. The evolution of Pennsylvania's body of laws serves as a cogent example of the opportunities and foibles intrinsic to the process of defining effective governance of a state. Pennsylvania Constitutional Development remains an essential resource for students and historians, and should be read by anyone interested in the government of the Keystone State.
Widely regarded as the most important legal theorist of the twentieth century, Hans Kelsen is best known for his formulation of the "pure theory of law"--within which the study of international law was his special field of work. The present volume, General Theory of Law and State, first published in 1945, allowed Kelsen to adjust his pure theory of law to American circumstances after World War II. It also afforded him the opportunity to present to English-speaking readers his latest ideas on the supremacy of international law. The volume is divided into two parts: the first devoted to law, the second to the state. Together these topics constitute the most systematic and comprehensive exposition of Kelsen's jurisprudence. The volume is not only a compendium of Kelsen's lifework up to that time; it is also an extension of his theories "to embrace the problems and institutions of English and American law as well as those of the Civil Law countries." Indeed, references to Continental European law are minimal compared with examples, scattered throughout the text, taken from the U.S. Constitution and several American court cases. This is more than a concession to American readers; it signifies that Kelsen's legal theory is truly general in that it accounts for the Common Law as well as the Civil Law. A systematic treatise on jurisprudence, General Theory of Law and State is a substantial reformulation of Kelsen's ideas articulated in several of his previous books, written in German. The juridical principles put forth by the most important legal theorist of the twentieth century remain of great value. This volume will be read by legal scholars, political scientists, and intellectual historians.
Black people and people with disabilities in the United States are distinctively disadvantaged in their encounters with the health care system. These groups also share harsh histories of medical experimentation, eugenic sterilizations, and health care discrimination. Yet the similarities in inequities experienced by Black people and disabled people and the harms endured by people who are both Black and disabled have been largely unexplored. To fill this gap, Embodied Injustice uses an interdisciplinary approach, weaving health research with social science, critical approaches, and personal stories to portray the devastating effects of health injustice in America. Author Mary Crossley takes stock of the sometimes-vexed relationship between racial justice and disability rights advocates and interrogates how higher disability prevalence among Black Americans reflects unjust social structures. By suggesting reforms to advance health equity for disabled people, Black people, and disabled Black people, this book lays a crucial foundation for intersectional, cross-movement advocacy to advance health justice in America.
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.
Integrating the study of individual European nation-states within the framework of the European Union, this unique new text is essentially two books in one: a book on the EU and a comparative introduction to European politics. This text provides more value to students by combining two texts in one, but engages student interest and facilitates learning through a variety of useful features. Role-playing exercises encourage participation and test students' critical thinking skills, while an emphasis on the people behind the politics "humanizes" material and provides lively insights into contemporary European politics and society. To ensure student understanding, there is extensive material comparing and contrasting EU states to one another and to the United States, a thorough glossary at the end of the book, and an abundance of examples, tables, charts, and graphs to illustrate and extend the discussions.
Providing a detailed analysis of Thailand's political development since 1932, when Thailand became a constitutional monarchy, until the present, this book examines the large number of different versions of the constitution which Thailand has had since 1932, and explains why the constitution has been subject to such frequent change, and why there have been so many outbursts of violent, political unrest. It explores the role of the military, and, most importantly, discusses the role of the monarchy, which, as the author shows, has been crucial in holding Thailand together through the various changes of regime. The author brings to light original and largely unseen documents from the Public Records Office and US National Archives, as well as drawing upon her extensive knowledge of politics in Thailand.
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.
Based on unprecedented access to the UK Parliament, this book challenges how we understand and think about accountability between government and Parliament. Drawing on three months of research in Westminster, and over forty-five interviews, this book focuses on the everyday practices of Members of Parliament and officials to reveal how parliamentarians perform their scrutiny roles. Some MPs become specialists while others act as lone wolves; some are there to try to defend their party while others want to learn about policy. Amongst these different styles, chairs of committees have to try to reconcile these interpretations and either act as committee-orientated catalysts or attempt to impose order as leadership-orientated chieftains. All of this pushes and pulls scrutiny in competing directions, and tells us that accountability depends on individual beliefs, everyday practices and the negotiation of dilemmas. In this way, MPs and officials create a drama or spectacle of accountability and use their performance on the parliamentary stage to hold government to account. Dramas at Westminster: Select committees and the quest for accountability offers the most up-to-date and detailed research on committee practices in the House of Commons, following a range of reforms since 2010. -- .
This collection studies the rise of neutral bodies as a challenge to the constitutional paradigm of the nation state. Administrative entities such as commissions, agencies, councils, authorities or 'independent agencies' as they are sometimes known, are relatively autonomous from majoritarian democratic control and by their institutional design fall outside the classical triad of powers or branches of government. They may even fall outside the confines of the nation state itself as with the EU Commission. The book is divided into theoretical-historical and empirical parts. Part I approaches the phenomenon through the rigorous normative conceptual lens of constitutionalism and constitutional law, questioning the implications of political neutrality on inherited normative categories, both at national and supranational level. Part II comprises case-studies reflecting the full spectrum of theoretical frameworks and concerns developed and explored by the theory-oriented chapters in the first part. The work explores a wide range of issues including the balance between autonomy, legitimacy and accountability, the taxonomy of agencies, the role and limits of expertise as a paramount justification for independence, 'agentification' as a result of internationalisation, and 'agentification' as a reflex and consequence of transnational polity-building within the EU.
The War on Terror has been going on for over a decade and it shows no signs of winding down in near future, a war which has directly contributed to growing security regimes in frontline states. This book focuses on the legal dimensions of the War on Terror and security in Pakistan. It highlights the growth of the security state in Pakistan, and questions the growing and by-now entrenched legal security regime in the country. The book traces the roots of the present security laws in colonial and post-colonial times. One broader dimension from which the legal security regime of Pakistan is approached in this book is through highlighting specific issues concerning the legal identity of the subject such as the rights of aliens in the background of state power versus liberal constitutionalism, and the rights of terrorism suspects in the background of deploying death sentence as a tactical, psychological tool versus the absolute right to life (of every individual). By critically reflecting on the increasingly institutionalized form of the security apparatus in Pakistan, the book (indirectly) suggests the legal ways to resist the growing legal security regime and derogation from human rights. Offering a theoretically engaged and critically reflective overview of the current state of individual identity, rights and freedoms in face of a burgeoning legal regime of security in Pakistan, this study makes advances in critical legal studies and critical IR. It will be of interest to academics working in the field of security studies, South Asian Studies, particularly Pakistan, and the War on Terror.
Using the way of storytelling, this book examines the petitions of the migrants of a dam in China. With the intensive and thorough analysis of the unique logic behind the petitions, it explores the complex relationship between Chinese peasants and governments, where people may find the key to the mysteries of Chinese society. As the first academic monograph which systematically studies petition, the peculiar Chinese social phenomenon, this book describes the collective action of the rural migrants who had fallen into poverty due to the construction of a dam in China's Three Gorges area. By investigating the ups and downs of the petitions, it reveals the operating mechanism of Chinese counties, the conflicts between the officials and the masses, as well as Chinese political culture, especially the subtle process of the contest of powers. It observes that the peasants' pursuit of justice not only temporarily maintains the balance of interests, but also makes the legitimacy of the party-state been reproduced. With substantial first-hand materials and empirical analyses, this book will be a valuable reference for scholars and students to study Chinese politics and society.
This book is a unique contribution to the study of democratization in Hong Kong, with chapters including the legal tradition in Hong Kong, the features of Hong Kong's indigenous democracy, the 2014 Umbrella Movement, and the evolution of the Chief Executive election.
In 1917, barely into his second term as governor of Texas, James E. Ferguson was impeached, convicted, and removed from office. Impeached provides a new examination of the rise and fall of Ferguson's political fortunes, offering a focused look at how battles over economic class, academic freedom, women's enfranchisement, and concentrated political power came to be directed toward one politician. Jessica Brannon-Wranosky and Bruce A. Glasrud have brought together top scholars to shine a light on this unique chapter in Texas history. An overview by John R. Lundberg offers a comprehensive survey of the impeachment process. Kay Reed Arnold then follows the Ferguson story into the halls of academia at the University of Texas-which Ferguson threatened to close-sparking a fierce response by faculty, alumni, students, and, especially, the Women's Committee for Good Government. Rachel M. Gunter further places the Ferguson impeachment in the context of the suffrage movement. Leah LaGrone Ochoa then explores Ferguson's hot-and-cold relationship with the Texas press, and Mark Stanley examines the impact of the impeachment on Texas politics in the decades that followed. Jessica Brannon-Wranosky concludes with an assessment of the historical memory of Ferguson's impeachment throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Impeached: The Removal of Texas Governor James E. Ferguson, reveals how power ebbed and flowed in twentieth-century Texas and includes several annotated primary documents critical to understanding the Ferguson impeachment.
This study examines the role of privacy in American political thought, specifically, the rise, implementation, and consequences of the conservative social policies of the Reagan-Bush era as they relate to the question of privacy. In particular, the work focuses on some of the high-profile social issues of that period: the War on Drugs, so-called family values, abortion, sexuality, and discrimination. Sadofsky concludes that privacy-invasive public policies such as were initiated in the Reagan-Bush years are expensive, defy the Constitution, and actually cause dysfunctional social behavior. He also suggests that social behavior in the 1960s did much to create a wave of intolerance in the 1980s, and that progressivism requires a return to the morality of tolerance.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER The FBI's former head of counterintelligence reveals the seven secrets of building and maintaining organizational excellence "A must read for serious leaders at every level." -General Barry R. McCaffrey (Ret.) Frank Figliuzzi was the "Keeper of the Code," appointed the FBI's Chief Inspector by then-Director Robert Mueller. Charged with overseeing sensitive internal inquiries and performance audits, he ensured each employee met the Bureau's exacting standards. Now, drawing on his distinguished career, Figliuzzi reveals how the Bureau achieves its extraordinary track record of excellence-from the training of new recruits in "The FBI Way" to the Bureau's rigorous maintenance of its standards up and down the organization. All good codes of conduct have one common trait: they reflect the core values of an organization. Individuals, companies, schools, teams, or any group seeking to codify their rules to live by must first establish core values. Figliuzzi has condensed the Bureau's process of preserving and protecting its values into what he calls "The Seven C's". If you can adapt the concepts of Code, Conservancy, Clarity, Consequences, Compassion, Credibility, and Consistency, you can instill and preserve your values against all threats, internal and external. This is how the FBI does it. Figliuzzi's role in the FBI gave him a unique opportunity to study patterns of conduct among high-achieving, ethical individuals and draw conclusions about why, when and how good people sometimes do bad things. Unafraid to identify FBI execs who erred, he cites them as the exceptions that prove the rule. Part pulse-pounding memoir, part practical playbook for excellence, The FBI Way shows readers how to apply the lessons he's learned to their own lives: in business, management, and personal development.
This volume probes the intersections between the fields of social movements and nonviolent resistance. Bringing together a range of studies focusing on protest movements around the world, it explores the overlaps and divergences between the two research concentrations, considering the dimensions of nonviolent strategies in repressive states, the means of studying them, and conditions of success of nonviolent resistance in differing state systems. In setting a new research agenda, it will appeal to scholars in sociology and political science who study social movements and nonviolent protest.
The State You See uncovers a racial gap in the way the American government appears in people's lives. It makes it clear that public policy changes over the last fifty years have driven all Americans to distrust the government that they see in their lives, even though Americans of different races are not seeing the same kind of government.For white people, these policy changes have involved a rising number of generous benefits submerged within America's tax code, which taken together cost the government more than Social Security and Medicare combined. Political attention focused on this has helped make welfare and taxes more visible representations of government for white Americans. As a result, white people are left with the misperception that government does nothing for them, apart from take their tax money to spend on welfare. Distrust of government is the result. For people of color, distrust is also rampant but for different reasons. Over the last fifty years, America has witnessed increasingly overbearing policing and swelling incarceration numbers. These changes have disproportionately impacted communities of color, helping to make the criminal legal system a unique visible manifestation of government in these communities. While distrust of government emerges in both cases, these different roots lead to different consequences. White people are mobilized into politics by their distrust, feeling that they must speak up in order to reclaim their misspent tax dollars. In contrast, people of color are pushed away from government due to a belief that engaging in American elections will yield the same kind of unresponsiveness and violence that comes from interactions with the police. The result is a perpetuation of the same kind of racial inequality that has always been present in American democracy. The State You See is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding how the American government engages in subtle forms of discrimination and how it continues to uphold racial inequality in the present day.
No sitting federal judge has ever written so trenchant a critique of the federal judiciary as Richard A. Posner does in this, his most confrontational book. Skewering the politicization of the Supreme Court, the mismanagement of judicial staff, the overly complex system of appeals, the threat of originalism, outdated procedures, and the backward-looking traditions of law schools and the American judicial system, Posner has written a cri de coeur and a battle cry. With the prospect that the Supreme Court will soon be remade in substantial, potentially revanchist, ways, The Federal Judiciary exposes the American legal system's most troubling failures in order to instigate much-needed reforms. Posner presents excerpts from legal texts and arguments to expose their flaws, incorporating his own explanation and judgment to educate readers in the mechanics of judicial thinking. This rigorous intellectual work separates sound logic from artful rhetoric designed to subvert precedent and open the door to oblique interpretations of American constitutional law. In a rebuke of Justice Antonin Scalia's legacy, Posner shows how originalists have used these rhetorical strategies to advance a self-serving political agenda. Judicial culture adheres to an antiquated traditionalism, Posner argues, that inhibits progressive responses to threats from new technologies and other unforeseen challenges to society. With practical prescriptions for overhauling judicial practices and precedents, The Federal Judiciary offers an unequaled resource for understanding the institution designed by the founders to check congressional and presidential power and resist its abuse.
Most Americans would probably be surprised to hear that, in 1959,
James Burnham, a leading political thinker questioned whether
Congress would survive, and whether the Executive Branch of the
American government would become a dictatorship. In the last
decade, members of Congress have impeached a president, rejected or
refused to consider presidential nominees, and appear in the media
criticizing the chief executive. Congress does not exactly appear
to be at risk of expiring. Regardless of how we perceive Congress
today, more than forty years after "Congress and the American
Tradition" was written, Burnham's questions, arguments, and
political analysis still have much to tell us about freedom and
political order.
In the 1950s, public relations practitioners tried to garner respectability for their fledgling profession, and one international figure helped in that endeavor. President Dwight D. Eisenhower embraced public relations as a necessary component of American democracy, advancing the profession at a key moment in its history. But he did more than believe in public relations-he practiced it. Eisenhower changed how America campaigns by leveraging television and Madison Avenue advertising. Once in the Oval Office, he maximized the potential of a new medium as the first U.S. president to seek training for television and to broadcast news conferences on television. Additionally, Eisenhower managed the news through his press office, molding the role of the modern presidential press secretary. The first president to adopt a policy of full disclosure on health issues, Eisenhower survived (politically as well as medically) three serious illnesses while in office. The Eisenhower Administration was the most forthcoming on the president's health at the time, even though it did not always live up to its own policy. In short, Eisenhower deserves credit as this nation's most innovative public relations president, because he revolutionized America's political communication process, forever changing the president's relationship with the Fourth Estate, Madison Avenue, public relations, and ultimately, the American people.
Utopias -- whether philosophical, literary, or actual experiments -- are attempts to solve all social problems. In the wake of the attack on the World Trade Center, unfolding corporate scandals, and other devastating shocks, it is natural to search for practical lessons in utopian literature. In this collection noted sociologists renew the call to develop an altruistic social order. They address a wide variety of topics as they look for viable utopian ideas that can be applied to today's society. Written in an engaging, jargon-free style, and directed to introductory sociology students as well as anyone concerned with social problems, the book provides both visionary ideals and insights for pragmatic decision-making as we venture into an uncertain future. |
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