Why does the American political system work the way it does? This major revision brings a renewed focus to the institutions, processes and data that illuminate big questions about governance and representation in the United States. With a new adaptive learning tool, this edition does more than ever to help students understand how American government developed over time and how it works today.

This is the go-to guide for confused South Africans and all those seeking an informed, balanced and up-to-date analysis of South African politics and society in the Ramaphosa era.

When Nelson Mandela emerged from decades in jail to preach reconciliation, South Africans appeared to many as a people reborn as the Rainbow Nation. Yet, a quarter of a century later, the country sank into bitter recriminations and rampant corruption under Jacob Zuma. Why did this happen, and how was hope betrayed? President Cyril Ramaphosa, hoping to heal these wounds, was re-elected in May 2019 with the ANC hoping to claw back support lost to the opposition in the Zuma era. This book analyses this election, shedding light on voters’ choices.

With chapters on all the major issues at stake – from education to land redistribution – Understanding South Africa offers insights into Africa’s largest and most diversified economy, closely tied to its neighbours’ fortunes.

p>For over thirty years, World War II veteran and author Burt Hall assessed accountability in government and national security. Now, this seasoned, professional analyst delivers a tough account of what went wrong in our politics and system of government over the past two decades and what we can do about it.

The right wing (not to be confused with Conservatism) has hijacked the Republican Party and wrecked havoc on our nation. It exploited basic flaws in our system to gain power and a series of major setbacks and a weakened democracy have followed.

The Right-Wing Threat to Democracy lays out clearly what the basic flaws in our system are and how they can be fixed. The danger is that an ongoing shift of political power to the very wealthy and suppression of voting rights is silencing the voice of the average citizen.

If elected officials do not fix the basic flaws, the American people have alternatives in our democracy and must take matters into their own hands.

The Iraq War of March 19, 2003 was an implausible war at the outset. We now understand that it could have been averted and never should have been waged. How and why did it begin? Who was responsible? This book offers a new perspective on the Iraq War and explains the dynamic relationships between the George W. Bush administration, the United States Congress, and the national news media. It is based on the "multiple streams model of political change" by John Kingdon, which says that if a unique combination of political, policy, and problem streams collide, under the right circumstances, they can create a window of opportunity for a shift in policy. It was the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which set the stage for the emergence of three dynamic streams in the country. Fear, power, and a contentious political climate converged to produce not only a dramatic new foreign policy, but also a war with Iraq, a country which had not provoked or threatened the United States. Fear, power, and a tense political climate also influenced institutional behavior and exposed the failures of 1) The executive branch in the administration of George W. Bush, 2) The United States Congress and, 3) the national news media. All are designed and are differently responsible to protect the interests of the American people. Errors in judgment have happened throughout history with other administrations, with other Congresses, and with the news media. However, with regard to the Iraq War, it was a matter of degree and extent, especially for the President of the United States. Both the Congress and the news media were also experiencing colossal institutional changes, which influenced and hindered their performances. However, all were culpable in helping to create the Iraq war, which today stands as one of the longest military conflicts in United States history.

Constitutional amendments, like all laws, may lead to unanticipated and even undesired outcomes. In this collection of original essays, a team of distinguished historians, political scientists, and legal scholars led by award-winning constitutional historian David E. Kyvig examines significant instances in which reform produced something other than the foreseen result. An opening essay examines the intentions of the Constitution's framers in creating an amending mechanism and then explores unexpected uses of that instrument. Thereafter, authors focus on the Bill of Rights and subsequent amendments, addressing such subjects as criminal justice procedures, the presidential election system, the Civil War's impact on race and gender relations, the experiment in national prohibition, women's suffrage, and, finally, limits on the presidency. Together these contributions illuminate aspects of constitutional stability and evolution, challenging current thinking about reform within the formal system of change provided by Article V of the Constitution. Forcefully demonstrating that constitutional law is not immune to unanticipated consequences, the eight scholars underscore the need for care, responsibility, and historical awareness in altering the nation's fundamental law.

El presente trabajo es una obra que pretende incursionar en la sociedad y sus organizaciones p blicas; obra moderada, que sin embargo podr a parecer radical para algunos lectores. No obstante, es la firme voluntad de contribuir con ideas al desarrollo de nuestro pa s, mismo que presenta los problemas de toda sociedad org nica. Puedo asegurar que en M xico erigir un gobierno hacia el futuro, no es una utop a, si bien es un proyecto dif cil de organizar, tampoco es imposible. Debemos consagrar todo esfuerzo en donde se pueda disfrutar de instituciones s lidas en la cosa p blica, las cuales respondan a las necesidades de una poblaci n vida de disfrutar buenos servicios, tanto p blicos como privados. Lo anterior solamente se puede lograr con un nuevo modelo de gobierno generador de riqueza y una administraci n con una visi n del futuro.

In this book, Justin DePlato examines and analyzes the reasons and justifications for, as well as instances of, executive emergency power in political thought and action. The book begins by analyzing the theory of executive emergency power across a wide breadth of philosophical history, from Ancient Greek, Renaissance, through modern American political thought. This analysis indicates that in political philosophy two models exist for determining and using executive emergency power: an unfettered executive prerogative or a constitutional dictatorship. The modern American approach to executive emergency power is an unfettered executive prerogative, whereby the executive determines what emergency power is and how to use it. The book addresses the fundamental question of whether executive power in times of crisis may be unfettered and discretionary or rather does the law define and restrain executive emergency power. The author reviews and analyzes seven U.S. presidencies that handled a domestic crisis-Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Jackson, Lincoln, G. W. Bush, and Obama-to show that presidents become extraordinarily powerful during crises and act unilaterally without oversight. The use of executive emergency power undermines the normal processes of democratic republicanism and harms the rule of law. The author analyzes the U.S. Constitution, formerly classified Department of Justice Memos, primary sourced letters, signing statements, executive orders, presidential decrees, and original founding documents to comprehensively conclude that presidential prerogative determines what emergency powers are and how they are to be executed. This book challenges the claim that presidents determine their emergency power with appropriate congressional oversight or consultation. The analysis of the empirical data indicates that presidents do not consult with Congress prior to determining what their emergency powers are and how the president wants to use them. Justin DePlato joins the highly contentious debate over the use of executive power during crisis and offers a sharp argument against an ever-growing centralized and unchecked federal power. He argues that presidents are becoming increasingly reckless when determining and using power during crisis, often times acting unconstitutional.

In The Dynamics of Policy Implementation in Nigeria, author Mohammad Ahmad Wali examines the implementation of public policy in Nigeria with an emphasis on Sokoto State from 1976 to 1991, from the perspective of an insider.

Thoroughly documented and researched, The Dynamics of Policy Implementation in Nigeria first dissects the explanations provided for both the success and failure of the government's efforts at moving policy forward. Wali specifically investigates the "Operation Move Ahead" education policy that has failed to achieve its objectives. A comprehensive presentation of the region's history, religion, politics, and socioeconomic structure provides the background from which to analyze the issues.

With charts and diagrams, Wali discusses the four main obstacles to implementation in the Sokoto State bureaucracy: governmental instability, governmental overload, socioeconomic problems, and the infrastructural inadequacies confronting policy implementers. The crucial role of implementation analysis is to identify the factors which affect the achievement of policy objectives.

." . . the real source of his Cooley's] fame. This book originated from the need of introducing a course on Constitutional Law in the school. . . . The text was developed as a basis for lectures. . . . His discussion attained immediate fame and his views and suggestions practically dominated American Constitutional Law. . . . Like Blackstone, Pomeroy and many other legal works, the influence of Constitutional Limitations rests partly upon literary qualities, upon clarity and grace of unaffected statement." --James G. Rogers, American Bar Leaders 70."The most influential work ever published on American Constitutional law." --Edward S. Corwin, Constitutional Revolution 87.Thomas McIntyre Cooley 1824-1898] was a justice of the Michigan Supreme Court and was appointed by President Grover Cleveland to serve on the Interstate Commerce Commission. He was a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University and dean of the University of Michigan Law School. First issued in 1870, his edition of Blackstone, popularly known as "Cooley's Blackstone," was the standard American edition of the late nineteenth century. Some of his other influential publications are A Treatise on the Law of Taxation (1876) and A Treatise on the Law of Torts or the Wrongs Which Arise Independently of Contract (1878). Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan, founded in 1972, was named in his honor.

The relationship between the presidency and the press has transformed-seemingly overnight-from one where reports and columns were filed, edited, and deliberated for hours before publication into a brave new world where texts, tweets, and sound bites race from composition to release within a matter of seconds. This change, which has ultimately made political journalism both more open and more difficult, brings about many questions, but perhaps the two most important are these: Are the hard questions still being asked? Are they still being answered? In Columns to Characters, Stephanie A. Martin and top scholars and journalists offer a fresh perspective on how the evolution of technology affects the way presidents interact with the public. From Bill Clinton's saxophone playing on the Arsenio Hall Show to Barack Obama's skillful use of YouTube, Twitter, and Reddit as the first "social media president," political communication appears to reflect the increasing fragmentation of the American public. The accessible essays here explore these implications in a variety of real-world circumstances: the "narcotizing" numbness of information overload and voter apathy; the concerns over privacy, security, and civil liberties; new methods of running political campaigns and mobilizing support for programs; and a future "post-rhetorical presidency" in which the press is all but irrelevant. Each section of the book concludes with a "reality check," a short reflection by a working journalist (or, in one case, a former White House insider) on the presidential beat.