This book reflects on the questions raised by the European Election Study 2004 whose analytical focus was on the legitimacy of EU politics after Eastern enlargement. It also assesses the dynamics and the contents of the campaign, on the determinants of the extremely low turnout in the new countries, and on the reasons of voter choice in West and East. The book also examines the first European Parliament election after the post-communist countries of Eastern Europe joined the European Union. The central question is: what has changed? Are the voters in the new member countries different and if so, why? Did the Union suffer from a loss of democratic legitimacy after Eastern enlargement? Each chapter is empirical-analytical; most are based on the post-election surveys of the group that were conducted in all but one of the 25 member countries, others focus on the results of content analyses of news media and party manifestos. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration.

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.

Founded in 1900, the National Civic Federation (NCF), a broad-based, nongovernmental social and policy reform organization, emerged throughout the Progressive Era as one of the nation's most powerful policy research and lobbying groups. Amidst the strong demand by rank-and-file Americans for economic and social reform, the NCF proposed that the government begin to assume a more prominent role in managing the nation's economy and providing for the needs of the country's weakest and most vulnerable citizens. The organization constructed broad-based coalitions of business leaders, labor leaders, social scientists, and politicians with diverse backgrounds to fashion model legislation and promote public policy aimed at meeting the demands created by modern capitalism.

Cyphers' work challenges the longstanding assumption that organizations like the NCF existed simply to build a relationship between big business and the government for the sole benefit of big business. He argues that the NCF sought the preservation of the fundamental tenets of American liberalism and the redefinition of this liberalism for a modern polity whose life was shaped by industrial and commercial capitalism. It saw the individual states, rather than the federal government, as the ideal mechanism to promote uniform economic and social reform. Cyphers also charts the origins of civic cooperation and the creation of voluntary associations as alternatives to the statist remedies to modern economic and social problems that were championed by America's early 20th-century socialist movement.

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.

This book demands that we question what we are told about security, using tools we have had for thousands of years. The work considers the history of security rhetoric in a number of distinct but related contexts, including the United States' security strategy, the "war" on Big Tech, and current concerns such as cybersecurity. Focusing on the language of security discourse, it draws common threads from the ancient world to the present day and the near future. The book grounds recent comparisons of Donald Trump to the Emperor Nero in a linguistic evidence base. It examines the potential impact on society of policy-makers' emphasis on the novelty of cybercrime, their likening of the internet to the Wild West, and their claims that criminals have "gone dark". It questions governments' descriptions of technology companies in words normally reserved for terrorists, and asks who might benefit. Interdisciplinary in approach, the book builds on existing literature in the Humanities and Social Sciences, most notably studies on rhetoric in Greco-Roman texts, and on the articulation of security concerns in law, international relations, and public policy contexts. It adds value to this body of research by offering new points of comparison, and a fresh but tried and tested way of looking at problems that are often presented as unprecedented. It will be essential to legal and policy practitioners, students of Law, Politics, Media, and Classics, and all those interested in employing critical thinking.

Africa represents the next frontier of the transnational politics of democratization. Recent efforts to promote human rights and democracy have yielded a mixed record of success. A comparison of regime change in Kenya and Uganda reveals how principled interventions have unintentional adverse effects on the democratic reform process. Persistent external efforts compromise the independence of domestic allies and strengthen those resisting democratic reforms. Domestic activists must carefully weigh the short-term benefits of transnational support against the harm it may cause.

Amidst claims of threats to national identities in an era of increasing diversity, should we be worried about the upsurge in religious animosity in the United States, as well as Europe? This book explores how French society is divided along conflicts about religion, increasingly visible in public schools, and shows the effect that this has had.

Analyzing government as the product of exchange among individuals who differ in their bargaining power, this approach shows why individuals agree to political institutions that give their governments extensive power, and why even the most powerful government benefits from constitutional rules constraining the government's power. This foundation is used to examine a wide range of government activities, including its protection of rights, its military activities and democratic political institutions. Randall G. Holcombe is the author of Public Finance and the Political Process, An Economic Analysis of Democracy, Public Sector Economics and Economic Models and Methodology.

Book 1 of Plato's Republic is often treated as a merely negative prelude to the theory of justice presented in the main body of that book. This study argues that, though an introduction to later ideas, Book 1 has its own positive theme and function: to press for the acceptance of a certain perspective on justice that is opposed to conventional interpretations of it. This perspective requires that justice be seen as 'internal' to the power human beings have to render things (including themselves and their societies) good. The analysis of Plato's dramatic characterisation, as well as the discussion of Socrates' arguments, is guided by the thought that they form aspects of a complex overall strategy through which Plato hopes to overcome the resistance of his contemporaries to the 'Socratic' perspective on justice.

Which Asian presidents are 'stronger' in terms of their constitutional and partisan authorities? How do they use these authorities to advance their policy agendas vis-a-vis the assemblies? This book answers these questions and is one of the first and most comprehensive analyses of Asia's presidential and semi-presidential democracies. To develop a baseline, it measures the 'strength' of the Asian presidents with regards to their constitutional and partisan powers. Using this two-dimensional strength measure as a common framework, country study chapters on Afghanistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan analyze how their constitutional and partisan powers are used in actual policy-making processes. The book situates the Asian presidential/semi-presidential democracies in a comparative perspective, and at the same time offers in-depth analyses about how the executive and the legislature interact in practice in countries under study. The book should be of interest to scholars of Asian politics, as well as comparativists who study political institutions, presidentialism, party systems, and constitutions.

For over forty years the European Community has been taking shape and developing its foundations to become the European Union. This book is a collection of pragmatic ideas and experience about the Europe of the future as seen by a citizen who is heavily involved in its construction. In this book, Mr Baron raises critical questions about the future needs and challenges of the Union, including a single currency, common citizenship, a foreign and security policy, enlargement to the east and the great issue of employment and welfare.

The recent debate about biopolitics in International Relations (IR) theory may well prove to be one of the most provocative and rewarding engagements with the concept of power in the history of the discipline. Building on Foucault's arguments concerning the role played by the concept of security in 19th-century liberal government, numerous IR scholars are now arguing for the relevance of his theories of biopolitics and governmentality for understanding the Global War on Terror (GWOT) and broader issues of security and governance in the post 9/11 world.

Conversely, others have criticized this idea. Marxist and Communitarian scholars have challenged the notion that the category of biopolitics can be 'scaled' up to the level of international relations with any analytical precision. This edited volume covers these debates in IR with a series of critical engagements with Foucault's own thought and its increasing relevance for understanding international relations in the post 9/11 world.

This book was based on a special issue of Global Society.

The U.S. Attorney General is forever caught between competing demands: on one side, his political duties as cabinet appointee and adviser to the president; on the other, his quasi-judicial responsibilities as chief law officer of the nation. In theory the two sets of responsibilities coexist peacefully. In reality they often clash.

"In Conflicting Loyalties," political scientist Nancy Baker provides the first comprehensive analysis of the history and structure of the office of the U.S. Attorney General, an office that legal scholars have described as "schizophrenic." Her study documents how they have differed in their responses, seeing themselves either as advocates of the president or as neutral expounders of the law. Combining historical analysis with legal and political theory, Baker shows how this implicit conflict has evolved from the earliest days of the Republic, when the attorney general was primarily an adviser, to the present day, when he administers the huge bureaucracy of the Department of Justice.

Using both archival materials and personal interviews, Baker analyzes how the seventy-five men who have held the post of attorney general have managed the conflict of loyalties. In particular, she focuses on Robert Kennedy, Edwin Meese, Elliot Richardson, Griffin Bell, Robert Jackson, Edward Levi, A. Mitchell Palmer, and Roger Taney. She also examines how the office has been affected by scandals in various administrations, including the Red scare of 1919-20, Teapot Dome, Watergate, and Iran-Contra. The book concludes with an exploration of arguments for reforming the office.

The metaphor of a "wall of separation" between church and state obscures the substantial connection that exists between the Christian religion and American liberalism. The central thesis of this work challenges the legitimacy of this metaphor as it appears in Supreme Court decisions and in the thought of the philosopher John Rawls. The Religious Origins of American Freedom and Equality provides a provocative interpretation of the nature of Christian and liberal principles, suggesting that the principles of individual freedom and equality were forged even within the conservative elements of Calvinism and Puritanism. Recognition of this substantial intellectual connection has the potential to help reshape our conception of the separation of church and state by tempering the opposition between religious and political concepts and values. The purpose of The Religious Origins of American Freedom and Equality then, is to contribute to an understanding of public reason that is more open to the contributions of religious perspectives. The work attempts to show how religious doctrines, currently obscured by historical context and hermeneutical dogmatism, have nonetheless played a formative role in the evolution of the freedom and equality that is foundational to contemporary liberalism. Understanding the genesis of the concepts of freedom and equality tempers the conceptual opposition between church and state and allows a clearer more inclusive interpretation of the nature of their separation. The originality of the work is fourfold: (1) the challenge its central thesis poses to dominant constructions of public reason, freedom, and equality; (2) the interdisciplinary method through which it brings the findings of a variety of disciplines to bear on a central issues in political philosophy; (3) the challenge it brings to the analytic and pragmatic approach of contemporary liberalism through its assertion of the importance of historical context to contemporary ideas; and (4) the degree to which it engages theology in its relation to contemporary questions.

Reclaiming Constitutionalism articulates an argument for why the constitutional phenomenon remains attached to the state - despite the recent advent of theories of global constitutionalism. Drawing from the idea that constitutionalism historically sought to build social consensus, this book argues that the primary aim of constitutionalism is to create social peace and to shield, rather than to limit, the power of political elites in any given state. Implicit in the effort to preserve social peace is the fundamentally important acknowledgement of social conflict. Constitutionalism seeks to offer a balance between opposing social forces. However, this balancing process can sometimes ignite, rather than appease, social conflict. Constitutionalism may thus further a project of social struggles and emancipation, for it incorporates within its very nucleus the potential for an agonistic version of democracy. In light of the connection between social conflict and constitutionalism, this book explores the conditions for and locations of the former. From the state and the EU to the global level, it considers the role of citizenship, national identities, democracy, power, and ideology, in order to conclude that the state is the only site that satisfies the prerequisites for social conflict. Reclaiming constitutionalism means building a discourse that opens up an emancipatory potential; a potential that, under current conditions, cannot be fulfilled beyond the borders of the state.

This well-researched text was written specifically to address Unit AS1 of the revised CCEA Government and Politics specification. It covers the Government and Politics of Northern Ireland and has been through a meticulous quality assurance process. It considers the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, the amendments made in subsequent agreements (St Andrews, Hillsborough and Stormont House) and examines the functions and responsibilities of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the executive and various political parties. Included in the book are tasks, practice essay titles, key terms and concepts, as well as a detailed glossary, index and examination preparation guide. Areas explored include: * The principles, content and implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and the changes made to it by subsequent agreements. * An analysis of the Assembly, including its three main functions (representation, legislation and scrutiny), and its independence from the Executive. * A look at the Executive Office and the Executive as a whole - how it disappointed, how it can determine legislation and policy, the divisions within it, and its ability to function as a power-sharing government. * An evaluation of the Northern Ireland political parties, including their role in government, their respective backgrounds, strategies and policies, and how they have changed since 1998.

This reissued work, originally published in 1985, is a uniquely broad and original survey of theories and beliefs about the growth, behaviour, performance and reform of the governments of modern Western democracies. After analysing the external pressures which have shaped modern governments, the author examines four different schools of political thought which seek to explain the behaviour and performance of governments, and which offer different remedies for the pluralism, corporatism and bureaucracy.

To examine and test these general theories, the author looks closely at how governments actually work. The book is illustrated with examples drawn from various Western societies. The final chapters present the authora (TM)s own conclusion about the future role of government, the limits of market philosophy, the future of politics, and the principles and problems of institutional reform.

This book proposes to cast some theoretical and empirical light upon the external dimension of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) which has become a priority in the European Union (EU)'s external relations. Counter-terrorism, visa policy, drug trafficking, organized crime or border controls have indeed become daily business in EU's relations with the rest of the world.

The external dimension of JHA is a persistent policy objective of the EU and its member states, as the 1999 Tampere summit conclusions, the 2000 Coreper report, the 2005 Strategy for the External Dimension of JHA, and the integration of JHA chapters under the European Neighbourhood Policy testify.

With an interdisciplinary ambition in mind, this book reflects an attempt to draw together theoretical and empirical insights on the external dimension written by academic scholars that take an interest in questions of JHA and European Foreign Policy (EFP). It does so from an issue-oriented perspective (civilian crisis management, the European Neighbourhood Policy, counter-terrorism policy, visa policy, passenger name record) but also from a geographical perspective with in-depth analysis of the situation in the Western Balkans, Georgia, transatlantic relations and of the Mediterranean neighbourhood.

This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration.

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. American Kompromat unravels the Russian-influenced operations that amassed the dirty little secrets of the richest and most powerful men on earth. American Kompromat is based on extended and exclusive interviews with high-level sources in the KGB, CIA, and FBI, as well as lawyers at white-shoe Washington firms, associates of Jeffrey Epstein, and thousands of pages of FBI reports, police investigations, and news articles in English, Russian, and Ukrainian. A narrative offering jaw-dropping context, and set in Upper East Side mansions and private Caribbean islands, gigantic yachts, and private jets, American Kompromat shows that, from Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein, Russian operations transformed the darkest secrets of the most powerful people in the world into potent weapons that served its interests. Among its many revelations, American Kompromat addresses what may be the single most important unanswered question of the entire Trump era - and one that Unger argues is even more important now that Trump is out of office: Was Donald Trump a Russian asset? Just how compromised was he? And how could such an audacious feat have been accomplished? To answer these questions and more, Craig Unger reports, is to understand kompromat - operations that amassed compromising information on the richest and most powerful men on earth, and that leveraged power by appealing to what is, for some, the most prized possession of all: their vanity. This is a story that transcends the end of the Trump administration, illuminating a major underreported aspect of Trump's corruption that has profoundly damaged American democracy.