If free and fair elections are the heart of our prized democratic system of government, the integrity of our electoral system must be beyond question. Yet all too often, flaws in the administration of our elections have undermined public confidence in the results. This volume is virtually unique in focusing closely on the procedural problems of our electoral system, including those posed by the computerization of voting systems. The author analyzes events in the electoral history of the United States (and, tangentially, of certain other nations) to reveal the particular dynamics of democratic electoral systems that permit purportedly free and fair elections to subvert rather than express the public will. Past electoral crises shedding light on our electoral deficiencies are chronicled in detail, allowing the author to diagnose systemic failures that can, he contends, be remedied in order to strengthen our democratic system. Chapters focus on current laws and procedures regarding voter registration, provisional ballots, absentee ballots, computerized voting systems, and the Electoral College. The author recommends specific reforms in all these areas that will safeguard our democratic heritage and ensure that the voice of the people is heard. The book presents often-complex material in lucid prose, illuminating issues vital to democracy. BLSystematic exploration of election administration BLHistorical and comparative perspective BLChronology BLGlossary BLAnnotated bibliography of print and electronic materials for further study

The reversion of Hong Kong to China on 1 July 1997 is an event of major historical significance. This volume examines this dramatic event from a long-term perspective against the background of earlier turning points in Hong Kong's political, economic and social history. It also explores Hong Kong's links with China and Britain in this troubled last decade of colonial rule, and offers a basis for assessing the territory's possible future as a part of the Chinese state.

In this illuminating examination of the Obama presidency, the contributors describe the policy directions followed, and the administration s level of success in achieving its objectives. Throughout the Obama administration, efforts were intended to alleviate the worst of the economic stress facing the nation, move the president closer to the center of the American political spectrum, and prepare for the upcoming reelection campaign, to be fought primarily on the same issues as the earlier one. The contributors present an analysis of the motivations and political thinking underlying the administration s action along with assessments of the policy consequences of the issue agenda favored and the public s reaction. The Obama Presidency is an in-depth account of one of the most intriguing and important presidencies at a time of economic crisis that goes a long way in explaining the policy decisions made and their political consequences, as well as the choices facing a nation in transition.

Beneficial social and economic exchange relies on a certain level of trust. But trust is a delicate matter, not least in the former socialist countries where illegitimate behaviour by governments made distrust a habit. The chapters in this volume analyze the causes and the effects of the lack of social trust in post socialist countries. The contributions originated in the Collegium Budapest project on Honesty and Trust: Theory and Experience in the Light of the Post Socialist Transition. A second volume entitled, Building a Trustworthy State in Post Socialist Transition, is being published simultaneously. GABRIEL BADESCU Associate Professor of Political Science at the Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania ILDIK BARNA Research Assistant at E/tv/s Lorand University, Hungary KAREN S. COOK Ray Lyman Wilbur Professor of Sociology and the Cognizant Dean of the Social Sciences at Stanford University, California,

Building a Trustworthy State in Post Socialist Transition considers the problems and prospects for creating trustworthy and reliable public institutions in the aftermath of the transition from socialism in Central and Eastern Europe. The volume draws on the experience of those who have lived through and studied the transition and contrasts their insights with those of generalist scholars who study government accountability and democracy. The contributions originated in the Collegium Budapest project on Honesty and Trust: Theory and Experience in the Light of the Post Socialist Transition, organized by Janos Kornai and Susan Rose Ackerman. A second volume entitled, Creating Social Trust in Post Socialist Transition, is being published simultaneously. BRUCE ACKERMAN Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science atYale University, USA GEORGY GANEV Program Director for Economic Research at the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, Bulgaria RUSSELL HARDIN Professor of Politics at New York University, USA JOEL HELLMAN Senior Adviser on Governance in the East Asia and Pacific Region at the World Bank based in Jakarta, Indonesia CYNTHIA M. HORNE Assistant Professor at the John C. White

Barely a week goes by without another government U-turn and with the cost of living crisis and rising mortgage rates we really need those in charge to get it right. In this timely book Cambridge Professor Dennis C. Grube explores the pitfalls, failures and successes of those in power around the world. 'A must-read' - Sebastian Payne 'Convincing' - David Lammy MP We live in an era when we really need governments to be effective - the economy, our health and the future of the planet are at stake - but so often they can seem clueless, and their decisions leave us confused. With insight and wit, Grube explains how governments can improve their decision-making and by examining fascinating case studies he highlights the key factors that make for effective government. With the stakes higher than ever before, this original and important book is an essential read for any concerned citizen who wants to understand why governments make the wrong decisions and, crucially, what can be done about it. 'Highly original and very entertaining' - Gavin Esler 'There is a real gap for this book' - Isabel Hardman

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.

Whether newly-freed slaves could be trusted to own firearms was in great dispute in 1866, and the ramifications of this issue reverberate in today's "gun-control" debate. This is the only comprehensive study ever published on the intent of the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment and of Reconstruction-era civil rights legislation to protect the right to keep and bear arms. Indeed, this is the most detailed study ever published about the intent of the Fourteenth Amendment to incorporate and to protect from state violation any of the rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, even including free speech. Paradoxically, the Second Amendment is virtually the only Bill of Rights guarantee not recognized by the federal courts as protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. Through legislative and historical records generated during the Reconstruction epoch (1866-1876), Halbrook shows the intent of the Fourteenth Amendment and of civil rights legislation to guarantee full and equal rights to blacks, including the right to keep and bear arms.

The French Constitutional Council, a quasi-judicial body created at the dawn of the Fifth Republic, functioned in relative obscurity for almost two decades until its emergence in the 1980s as a pivotal actor in the French policymaking process. Alec Stone focuses on how this once docile institution, through its practice of constitutional review, has become a meaningfully autonomous actor in the French political system. After examining the formal prohibition against judicial review in France, Stone illustrates how politicians and the Council have collaborated over the course of the last decade, often unintentionally and in the service of contradictory agendas, to significantly enhance Council's power. While the Council came to function as a third house of Parliament, the legislative work of the government and Parliament was meaningfully "juridicized." Through a discussion of broad theoretical issues, Stone then expands the scope of his analysis to the politics of constitutional review in Germany, Spain, and Austria.

In this lively, authoritative collection, Thomas J. McInerney presents famous and lesser-known speeches, letters, and other important documents from every U.S. president from George Washington to Barack Obama.

Whether printed in full or excerpted, these history-making documents are an invaluable resource as well as a fascinating browse. Including familiar documents such as the Emancipation Proclamation, to personal correspondence such as a letter from George H.W. Bush to his children, this collection brings together the famous statements that came to represent each administration with intimate glimpses into the thought processes of various presidential leaders.

Now in its second edition, "Presidential Documents "has been re-designed to increase its usefulness in the classroom. Part openers introduce each era of the American presidency with a concise political and historical overview, highlighting the challenges each leader faced, and placing the documents in context. Whether used as a complement to an American history survey text or as a collection of primary documents for courses on the American Presidency, "Presidential Documents" provides an engrossing look at the work of the leaders of the United States, in all their complexity.

Since the early 1900s, the manager form of municipal government has had enthusiastic support. Today, it is one of the most popular forms of municipal government and brought greater efficiency and accountability to municipal operations. However, as Coppa makes clear, this wave of reform has not fully impacted the counties. The commission form, widely criticized for its lack of accountability, remains the most popular form of county government. Coppa suggests greater accountability and efficiency can be achieved if the commission form is replaced with the Union plan and existing county administrators are given greater executive power. The manager plan in Union County can serve as a model for counties without an elected executive, much the same way the Lakewood plan in California symbolizes county and municipal cooperation.

Although Coppa provides a guide to efficient and accountable county government, the book goes beyond its subtitle. It treats neglected topics, such as the legal status of counties, forms of county government, row officers, autonomous bodies, and the central role played by counties in reapportionment litigation. Supreme Court cases involving counties and critical issues such as free speech, elections, tax immunity, and the commerce clause are analyzed. Major issues such as the battle over ratables, revenue limits, and declining population are explored as well. Coppa examines the most critical issues faced by counties today--such as mandated expenditures--and raises the possibility of a constitutional amendment to treat unfunded federal mandates. Coppa recommends creative programs as well as an agenda for achieving efficient and accountable county government. To this end, he examines charter revision and the noncharter route as approaches to achieving economical and responsible county government. This work is an important analysis for students, scholars, researchers, and policy makers involved with local and state government issues.

John Howard, author of Road Warriors, asks: WHY? Why can't we display the Ten Commandments in public places? Why can't we say Merry Christmas, even though that's the holiday we are celebrating? Why do we all have to kowtow to the liberal Church of the Enlightened's dictates and lack of morals? Why can't children pray in school, if that is their choice? Why does the Church of the Enlightened hate core American values? Why does the feminist's agenda ruin the workplace and weaken the United States from within? Why does Affirmative Action hurt the people it's supposed to help? Why can't we find out the truth about our elected leaders who pay attorneys to cover up their past? And WHAT can the right-thinking Christian majority do about changing the messages that are sent out each day, seeking to dismiss them as crazy people that seek to destroy this great nation? The United States of America is the greatest country in the world and only when right-thinking foundational principles are brought to surface, can we truly have a nation of which to be proud.

The United States Constitution provides in Article II, Section 4 that the President and other civil officers of the federal government are subject to removal from office upon impeachment by the House of Representatives and conviction by the Senate of treason, bribery and "other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." However, no authoritative definition of "high crimes and misdemeanors" was provided by the Framers either in the Constitution itself or in the debates at the constitutional convention. As a consequence, the meaning of "high crimes and misdemeanors" has been a subject of controversy beginning with the first impeachment and trial of Judge John Pickering in 1804 and continuing through the impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton. The study seeks to discern the meaning of "high crimes and misdemeanors" not only from the record of the constitutional convention and the state ratifying conventions, together with history of British parliamentary impeachments and the experience of the American colonies and states which informed the Framers' adoption of "high crimes and misdemeanors" as grounds for removal of the President, but also from the circumstances that resulted in the impeachments of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard M. Nixon and Clinton, as Congress labored to give substance to the "high crimes and misdemeanors" standard.

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'.

This study discovers how contemporary writers have imagined possible relationships between African American and white women that overcome the stereotypical patterns of racism, using novels and autobiographies and focusing on works by William Faulkner, Lillian Hellman, Audre Lorde, Kaye Gibbons, Elizabeth Cox, Sherley Anne Wiliams, and Toni Morrison

First published in 1989, Michael's Foley's book deals with the 'abeyances' present in both written and unwritten constitutions, arguing that these gaps in the explicitness of a constitution, and the various ways they are preserved, provide the means by which constitutional conflict is continually postponed. Abeyances are valuable, therefore, not in spite of their obscurity, but because of it. The author illustrates his point with analyses of constitutional crises from both sides of the Atlantic. He examines the period leading up to the English civil war in the seventeenth century, and the 'imperial presidency' episode under Richard Nixon in the late 1960s and 1970s in the USA. In both cases there was no constitutionally correct solution available but, as the author demonstrates, the political skill of the participants in their use of constitutional devices allowed the anomalies of the American system to survive in a way that contrasted markedly with the plight of Charles I and the Stuart constitution. This reissue of a landmark study will be welcomed by all those interested in the interpretation and construction of constitutional law.

Exploring five distinct models of federal arrangement, this book evaluates the relative merits of each model as a mechanism for managing relations in ethnically divided societies. Two broad approaches to this issue, accommodation and denial, are identified and, from this, five distinct models of federal arrangement are derived. The models; ethnic, anti-ethnic, territorial, ethno-territorial, and federacy, are defined and then located within their broader theoretical tradition. Detailed case studies are used to evaluate the strengths and weakness of each model and highlight patterns in the success and failure rates of the universe of post-1945 federal arrangements. From this it is clear that two forms of ethnically defined federal arrangement - federacy and ethno-territorial federalism, are associated with low failure rates, while ethnic federalism has enjoyed a far higher rate of failure. The reasons for this are examined and the implications of this for the design of federal systems in ethnically divided societies are assessed. Federal Solutions to Ethnic Problems: Accommodating Diversity advances a new argument within the field of comparative politics, that certain forms of federal arrangement are systematically more successful than others in ameliorating ethnically conflicted societies and is essential reading for students and scholars with an interest in politics and the Middle East.

The process of European integration is at a crossroads. As the Union becomes larger in terms of members, the institutional structures and decision making procedures will have to change in order for it to make policy initiatives. To meet these challenges, the Union will need an effective institutional and constitutional structure which must be both democratic and acceptable to its citizens. This major book evaluates recent developments, considers the present situation and assesses the prospects for the future of the European Union. A wide variety of institutional and constitutional issues are addressed, with special attention being paid to three main topics; decision making and including a critique of attempts to analyse European decision making using traditional power indices and a discussion of the different procedures laid down in the comitology decision; federal structures, with an analysis of the politics of European federalism among other issues; institutional change which compares the relative merits of enlarging or deepening the Union, suggesting a fifth freedom by a single European market for governments and discussing non-technical aspects of legislation in the European Union. Constitutional Law and Economics of the European Union will of interest to policymakers, academics and students of European economic and political affairs and institutional and constitutional structures.

This text examines evolving trends in democracy at EU and UK levels, pointing out the primary shortcomings of both. It examines the relationship between the democratic practices of the EU and the UK, explaining the paradox of the way in which the EU, despite the poor quality of its own democracy, has enabled devolved decision-making in a novel multilayer polity. The book also considers future prospects for converged Western European democracy in the light of the Labour government's popularizing agenda.

This is the first detailed study of Estonian politics during the 1930s. It examines the Estonian Veteran's League, which won a majority in a referendum for its constitutional amendment, creating a strong presidency. The Veterans appeared set to triumph in the 1934 elections, but were thwarted by the establishment of an authoritarian regime. By using formerly unobtainable archival records, this study fills a considerable gap in the literature on the Baltic states and should be of interest to students of fascism.

This is the first large-scale aggregate data study of career-noncareer relations in U.S. administrations. This research is put into the perspective of a succinct history of relations between careerists and political appointees. Interviews and comments from more than 50 surveys add further color and provide interesting impressions about relations during the Reagan administration. Findings lead to new, important conclusions and suggestions for reform. Political scientists, policymakers, public administrators, and historians will find this work valuable considering bureaucratic and political problems. Using a data base including 118 political appointees and 513 high-level career bureaucrats from 15 federal organizations in the Reagan administration, Maranto tests numerous propositions from political science and public administration concerning career-noncareer relations in the U.S. executive branch of government. The study starts with a history of the civil service, describes career-noncareer relations in the modern presidency, and then examines the Reagan administration. Maranto's findings indicate that the Reagan administration used ideological criteria in personnel policy but on a more modest scale than many have believed. A number of reforms are proposed for improving executive relationships.

Richly informed and written in an engaging style, Against Empire exposes the ruthless agenda and hidden costs of the U.S. empire today. Documenting the pretexts and lies used to justify violent intervention and maldevelopment abroad, Parenti shows how the conversion to a global economy is a victory of finance capital over democracy.

As much of the world suffers unspeakable misery and the Third-Worldization of the United States accelerates, civil society is impoverished by policies that benefit rich and powerful transnational corporations and the national security state. Hard-won gains made by ordinary people are swept away.

First published in 1989, Michael's Foley's book deals with the 'abeyances' present in both written and unwritten constitutions, arguing that these gaps in the explicitness of a constitution, and the various ways they are preserved, provide the means by which constitutional conflict is continually postponed. Abeyances are valuable, therefore, not in spite of their obscurity, but because of it. The author illustrates his point with analyses of constitutional crises from both sides of the Atlantic. He examines the period leading up to the English civil war in the seventeenth century, and the 'imperial presidency' episode under Richard Nixon in the late 1960s and 1970s in the USA. In both cases there was no constitutionally correct solution available but, as the author demonstrates, the political skill of the participants in their use of constitutional devices allowed the anomalies of the American system to survive in a way that contrasted markedly with the plight of Charles I and the Stuart constitution. This reissue of a landmark study will be welcomed by all those interested in the interpretation and construction of constitutional law.