The common assumption is that the path to democratisation is, once begun, near impossible to reverse. Particularly where democratic transition has been properly consolidated conventional wisdom and empirical evidence both suggest that no democracy should follow the example of Classical Athens or Germany's Weimar Republic and return to despotism. Starting from the premise that democracies are often deeply implicated in their own downfall, Theorising Democide challenges this conventional view by showing how democratic collapse is symptomatic of the inherent logic of democracy. Democide, in some cases, can thus be understood as a kind of ideological suicide with the tenets and devices of democracy being somehow intrinsic to its own collapse. In other words democide denotes the capacity that democracy has to come undone, to risk its own safety, to take its own life while doing what it was intended to do.

In the first ever book on the Agreements of the People, the essays explore the origins, impact and legacy of the attempt to settle the nation by a written constitution at the height of the English Revolution. The volume sheds new light on the Levellers, the army, the nature of civil war radicalism and the fragmentation of the Parliamentarian cause.

Translated by C.E.Detmold. With an Introduction by Lucille Margaret Kekewich. Written in 1513 for the Medici, following their return to power in Florence, The Prince is a handbook on ruling and the exercise of power. It remains as relevant today as it was in the sixteenth century. Widely quoted in the Press and in academic publications, The Prince has direct relevance to the issues of business and corporate governance confronting global corporations as they enter a new millennium. Much of what Machiavelli wrote has become the common currency of realpolitik, yet still his ideas retain the power to shock and annoy. In the words of Norman Stone, The Prince is 'a manual of man-management that would suit a great many parts of the modern world'.

The Russian State and Administration provides a rich and innovative assessment of Russian bureaucracy from 1881 to the present. From a variety of disciplinary perspectives, the work assesses the organization, personnel, and practices of officialdom across three different Russian regimes tsarist, Soviet and postcommunist.

It's time the citizens of the United States take back America, and we "all" need to do our part.

"Winning the White House in 2008" is your essential guide to grassroots democracy. Political activist Vernon Lucas Albright provides strategies to win the White House in 2008 by exploring different ways to generate committed public service. Albright discusses grassroots campaign approaches designed for twenty-two battleground states and includes the Ten Basic Tenants needed to win elections. He also examines voter behavior, the grassroots potential of bipartisanship, political interest groups, and historical political strategies.

With the wide availability of technology such as the Internet, cell phones, and personal computers, the average American citizen has the opportunity to be part of regional and nationwide movements. You can prevent the further decay of yeoman democracy; keep "town meeting America" from slipping further into history, and put America back in the hands of the people.

This book is the most comprehensive review of all the major proposals to rewrite, revise, or even replace the U.S. Constitution, covering more than 170 proposals from the nation's beginnings to the present day. The U.S. Constitution was carefully written by a remarkable group of men, but subsequent generations of Americans have devoted enormous time and energy to "improving" it. From colonial times to the present day, Americans of all political persuasions have campaigned to reform, remake, or replace this key document. The growth of the Internet and self-publishing has spawned a virtual explosion of such proposals. This book documents the numerous ideas for change-some practical, some idealistic, and some bordering on fanatical-that reflect America's Constitutional heritage and could shape the nation's future. Re-Framers: 170 Eccentric, Visionary, and Patriotic Proposals to Rewrite the U.S. Constitution sets the stage for this review by describing various prequels to the U.S. Constitution and explaining how the final document emerged at the Constitutional Convention. The subsequent chapters examine many proposed alternatives and revisions to the Constitution from its establishment until the present, illuminating perceived strengths and weaknesses of the current document as well as the pros and cons of possible amendments. Readers ranging from lay citizens who are interested in constitutional issues to historians, political scientists, law professors, and reference librarians will all benefit from this unparalleled examination of proposed constitutional amendment. Discusses more than 170 proposed major alterations in-or alternatives to-the U.S. Constitution, from the beginning of the republic to the present Includes proposals from nearly every political group imaginable, including advocates of parliamentary democracy, communists, Democrats, Libertarians, Progressives, Republicans, socialists, and Tea Party members Presents the major plans that preceded or were considered in the writing of the U.S. Constitution Provides biographical information of individuals who made proposals to alter or replace the Constitution Includes appendixes containing the full text of the U.S. Constitution and all 27 amendments to the Constitution

This is a search of a model for a humane law - where the cruelty ban is still in force. This book however is not intended as an utopian enterprise; the humane law which is looked for is not for the future, nor is it meant as a reform project, or as a programme for new institutions to come. Here the contention is that positive law is better understood, if it is not too easily equated with power, force, or command. Law - it is shown - is more a matter of discourse and deliberation, than of sheer decision or of power relations. Constitutionalism, legal argumentation, legal ethics - three fundamental moments of our daily experience with the law - are there to witness that this view may be right. Now a constitutional view of the law and its practice and the connected discoursive approach to legal reasoning can offer interesting solutions also to legal ethics.

This book investigates the manner in which Chilean media and public culture discuss human rights violations committed during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) as well as human rights problems which still exist. Through an intricate interplay of censorship, remembrance, and protest, the media and surrounding culture have played a key role in structuring how Chileans interpret their present and past. It is with the media's role in alternately silencing and re-presenting trauma during times of social upheaval and flux, as well as with how audiences respond to these re-presentations, that this book is concerned.

The decision of Maastricht to create a political union and in particular to move towards a single currency constitutes something of an intellectual puzzle. Why did political leaders agree to cede the most important economic function of the modern state to a supernational authority? And why was the decision taken in 1991 rather than 1981 or 1961? This book attempts to answer these questions by adapting William Rikers's federalism theory to the European case. Part I of the book makes the claim that by the late 1980s political elites in all the EU member states had become convinced that inflation must be controlled at all costs and that the only way of ensuring this was the adoption of a single currency policy policed by an independant European bank. Alternative policies based on economic nationalism were discredited and no major political party in any of the EU states dissented from the single currency solution. The commitment to the resulting federal bargain became evident during the currency crisis of 1992 and 1993 when governments of both left and right pursued deflationary policies in the midst of a recession in order to retain their credibility as potential candidates for monetary union. Part II considers the viability of union by examining the relationship between fiscal centralization and political centralization in Europe and in other federations. It is argued that given the variations among member states, European union can only work with a relatively strong federal government accountable via Europe-wide political parties operating in a powerful European Parliament. The book concludes that European political union is not tenable in the absence of these fundamental changes.

After the fall of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the newly democratized countries of this region joined two main pan-European political and legal structures: the Council of Europe and the European Union. This book shows how the Eastward enlargement of these two structures fostered the 'constitutionalization' both of the Council of Europe and of the EU. Prompted by the enlargement of the Council of Europe and the admission of a number of countries which brought unique and often more substantial problems onto the Court's agenda, the main judicial body of the Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights, became a quasi 'constitutional court' of Europe. This book demonstrates that this was primarily as a result of the widening of its agenda and the resulting need to make activist decisions about the compatibility of national laws with the European Convention. In terms of the EU, the book shows that the enlargement (first prospective, and then, actual) has been an important agenda-setter for the constitutionalization of the EU; in particular, for openly placing the issue of fundamental rights on the EU agenda as a legitimate and indispensable matter of concern for the EU. But the 'constitutional synergies' were a two-way street: the accession to both pan-European structures has also affected the development of democratic constitutionalism in CEE states. It has raised difficult issues regarding the relationships between national sovereignty, democracy, and human rights that CEE policy makers have grappled with; these issues and responses by CEE member states have had implications for the 'old' EU member states as well. These dynamics are explored through various case studies, providing a new perspective on the development of legal norms and institutions within European supranational bodies.

Understanding the impact of constitutional rights in the real world depends on understanding the law of constitutional remedies for their violation. Integrating the history, doctrine, and policy of constitutional remedy, Wells and Eaton explain how people go about trying to obtain redress for violations of their constitutional rights. Diverse issues arise when persons seek to bring a lawsuit against governments, officials, or private individuals for violation of their constitutional rights. Among them are whether the injury ought to be accorded constitutional status at all, or instead should be treated as a routine wrong, no different in principle from a traffic accident. If the case warrants constitutional status, the next issue is whether or not suit may be brought against the officer who committed the wrong or his government employer, and so on. On each of these and other issues the authors guide the reader through the complex body of doctrine, the lively case law debates, and the scholarly literature over the appropriate mix of policies and the means by which to achieve them.

This volume uses essential and illuminating primary documents as a portal for understanding the evolution and present parameters of presidential power, the relationship between America's three branches of government, and why wartime often leads presidents to claim expansive powers and authority. Presidential Power: Documents Decoded provides a thorough examination of the historical and political context of key, critical moments in constitutional history and presidential power that makes possible opportunities for students to explore American politics in an interesting, memorable, and dynamic way. Each of the case studies reveals important dimensions of the constitutional order in the United States—and enables readers to better grasp how executive power has shifted and expanded. The book takes specific events, people, institutions, or ideas and places them in a broader context so that readers can observe patterns and make connections among seemingly disparate happenings and concepts relating to executive power. Accompanied by explanatory sidebars, the included primary sources let students examine actual documentary evidence of key elements of executive power—for example, the presidential memorandum, the National Security cable, and the prisoner's petition—and reach their own judgment of the implications of that document for the American political system.

A thorough exploration of an individual's right to bodily autonomy versus the state's power to regulate and control the bodies of its citizens. The Human Body on Trial asks the basic question: Who's in charge of your body-you or the authorities? Four narrative chapters examine key constitutional questions addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court over the past century concerning the power of the state to regulate the human body, placing the issues in historical context and examining the contemporary legal and medical knowledge that informed each decision. The book focuses on individual cases, such as Jacobson v. Massachusetts (compulsory vaccination), Buck v. Bell (forced sterilization), and Roe v. Wade (abortion), and discusses such controversial issues as AIDS testing and physician-assisted suicide. A special reference section includes court decisions and other primary documents. Timeline of major events in the evolution of the legal right of individual autonomy from the ratification of the 14th Amendment in 1868 to the 2002 ruling in State of Oregon and Peter Rasmussen, et al. v. John Ashcroft regarding implementing Oregon's Death with Dignity Act Excerpts from key legal documents from the Roe v. Wade (1973) decision to the lesser known Skinner v. Oklahoma (1942) ruling by the Supreme Court overturning the mandated sterilization for three-time offenders convicted of certain felonies

"Should Obama Be Impeached?" The United States of America is currently in three wars. What the American people would like to know is why we engaged in any of them since the President of the United States doesn't make a commitment to winning them. The President has stated that we would start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan within a few months. If we are going to withdraw the troops in a few months without any hope of winning the war it makes more sense to withdraw them immediately. The Taliban is just waiting for the troops to withdraw. The Taliban already knows that they have won the war. The President needs to make the commitment to win the war or get out now. This is a huge waste of the resources of the United States with no hope for a positive outcome. If the President is going to have a plan to win the war then he needs to discuss it with the Generals in charge. The President does not know who we are fighting or why. When Obama was asked who the rebels are in Libya there was complete silence. Why are we there when no one knows who we are supporting? Then the President has made comments that Gadhafi must go. Then in the next sentence Obama states that we will not target Gadhafi with the air strikes. The President can not have it both ways. Either eliminate Gadhafi and his leaders or forget about winning this war. When you cut off the head of the dog, the rest of the dog is going to stop functioning. This does not seem like a very hard decision to make. Get serious about winning or get out of the game.

Inaugurating "Greenw4ood's Reference Guides to the United States Constitution" series, this superlative guide to the Sixth Amendment is the first to survey the legal guarantee of counsel's assistance since 1963's "Gideon" ruling. The vast majority of important, even landmark cases regarding the right to counsel were decided after that pivotal ruling, making this the definitive work on the topic. Tomkovicz offers a concise yet substantial account of the historical development of the right to counsel in England and America.

Included are:

A brief history of the topic

Lengthy and sophisticated analysis of the current state of the law

A bibliographical essay organizing and evaluating scholarly material for further research

A table of cases

Index

A thorough analysis of the relevant U.S. Supreme Court's doctrine gives concrete content to the right to assistance of defense counsel. Scholars and students of the U.S. Constitution, along with attorneys and lay readers, will gain a rich understanding of the meaning and importance of the Sixth Amendment, and a comprehensive overview of a cornerstone of America's constitutional and legal order.

An international collection of papers focused on media, culture and society in postcommunist Russia. Contributors deploy a wealth of primary data in examining the kinds of issues that are central to our understanding of the kind of system that has been established in the worlds largest country after a period of far-reaching change.

Noted experts examine America's power to go to war historically and recently, now that the Cold War has ended. They propose ways that the Congress and the president might develop a new working consensus for dealing with the use of military or paramilitary force in the future. This scholarly study of constitutional and statutory proscriptions, UN treaty and international obligations, and judicial restraints is essential reading for undergraduate and graduate students, law students, teachers, and professionals concerned with constitutional interpretation, the government's division of power, and war making.

There is little consensus about the nature of the political system that has emerged during the Putin presidency. This collection considers the issues arising in this connection, focusing more closely on institutions such as the presidency and the security police, and on the socioeconomic dimensions of political power.

The right to private property remains a compelling topic within American government, constitutional law, and both political and legal philosophy. Constitutional constraints and allowances regarding private property lead to the use - and sometimes abuse - of law in terms of ownership, individual liberty, and the needs of the state. With state and federal statutes allowing for vast oversight of private property, concerns over the proper use of authority abound on domestic and national levels. In Private Property and the Constitution, James L. Huffman outlines instances where police power, eminent domain law, and property rights have clashed in the courts. Addressing contemporary court cases, federal and state statutes, and the philosophical underpinnings of economic liberties, Huffman provides a careful analysis of private property rights within the framework of the Constitution - detailing how government interacts with public rights both successfully and unsuccessfully.

As part of a new series of Greenwood's comprehensive reference guides to the United States Constitution, Professor Durchslag's edition on the Eleventh Amendment's guarantee of state sovereign immunity is the most thorough and up-to-date treatment of that amendment. The Court's interpretation of the Eleventh Amendment over the past two centuries has been an attempt to balance the sovereign interests of the states against the primacy of federal law, and is currently its primary means of articulating its federalist doctrine. Beginning with an extensive history of the Eleventh Amendment and the ratification debates surrounding it, Durchslag proceeds to a chronological discussion of the development of the first generation of Eleventh Amendment jurisprudence from 1793 - 1890. The book then proceeds topically, tracing the developments of the various doctrinal components of the Amendment, and includes suggestions as to how they may evolve. The work concludes with an erudite bibliographic essay to guide the reader to relevant primary and secondary works, and is fully indexed. For constitutional students, scholars, and legal practitioners, as well as for political scientists and historians studying the constitution or federalism.

"The Radical Attitude and Modern Political Theory" focuses on the appearance of an attitude towards modernity that can be best described as radical. It emerges in discourses of politics and the state from the Sixteenth century onwards and can be discerned in many of the central texts of modern political theory, even those that are usually understood to be conservative in character. Accordingly, the attitude is best seen not as a coherent ideology or tradition but as a series of conceptual resources that continue to inform political discourse in the present.

Trace the roots of the concept of equal protection from the American Revolution and the formation of the Constitution through its application today using this collection of 177 primary documents from a variety of sources. Students can use this unique reference resource to examine the tension between the concept of equal protection and recognition of slavery in the constitutional order, to explore the devitalization and revitalization of the 14th and 15th Constitutional amendments from the era of Jim Crow through the Civil Rights movement, and to study current court rulings on equal protection of the law. Petitions, laws, court decisions, personal accounts, and a variety of other documents bring to life the experiences of African Americans in the American constitutional order. Five historical periods are explored with particular emphasis on the concept of equal protection of the law and its particular embodiment in the 14th Amendment. These include: the roots of the concept of equal protection in the Anglo-American experience, the lives of African Americans under a Constitution that incorporated equal protection yet recognized slavery, the 14th and 15th Amendments and the development of Jim Crow, 20th-century developments in the application of equal protection to race, and the accomplishments of the Civil Rights movement and developments since that time. The introductory and explanatory text helps readers understand the nature of the conflicts, the issues being litigated, and the social and cultural pressures that shaped each debate. This welcome resource will provide students with the opportunity to understand the various arguments put forth in different debates, encouraging readers to consider all sides when drawing their own conclusions.