Including contributors with diverse backgrounds and outlooks, this volume provides an unconventional and provocative look at how Japan is situated in a globally unfolding transition from representative democracy to monitoring democracy. In Japan's case, the transition is unfolding from karaoke democracy to kabuki democracy. Karaoke democracy focuses on collectively redistributing benefits with many intervening institutions whereas kabuki democracy focuses on striking an emotional chord with direct conversations between leaders and citizens. A must read for those interested in knowing where Japan is heading.

Among the men who rose to power in France in 1789, lawyers were heavily represented. To a large extent, they also shaped the evolution of French political culture of the ancien regime. Lawyers and Citizens traces the development of the French legal profession between the reign of Louis XIV and the French Revolution, showing how lawyers influenced, and were influenced by, the period's passionate political and religious conflicts. David Bell analyzes how these key "middling" figures in French society were transformed from the institutional technicians of absolute monarchy into the self-appointed "voices of public opinion", and leaders of opposition political phamphleteering. He describes the birth of an independent legal profession in the late seventeenth century, its alienation from the monarchy under the pressure of religious disputes in the early eighteenth century, and its transformation into a standard-bearer of "enlightened" opinion in the decades before the Revolution. Lawyers and Citizens also illuminates the workings of politics under a theoretically absolute monarchy, and the importance of long-standing constitutional debates for the ideological origins of the Revolution. It also sheds new light on the development of the modern professions, and of the French legal system. Based on extensive primary research, this study will be of interest to historians and legal scholars alike.

In this thought-provoking collection, leading scholars explore democracy in the United States from a sweeping variety of perspectives. A dozen contributors consider the nature and prospects of democracy as it relates to the American experience--free markets, religion, family life, the Cold War, higher education, and more. These probing essays bring American democracy into fresh focus, complete with its idealism, its moral greatness, its disappointments, and its contradictions. Based on DeVane lectures delivered at Yale University, these writings examine large themes and ask important questions: Why do democratic societies, and the United States in particular, tolerate profound economic inequality? Has the United States ever been truly democratic? How has democratic aspiration influenced the development of practices as diverse as education, religious worship, and family life? With deep insights and lively discussion, the authors expand our understanding of what democracy has meant in the past, how it functions now, and what its course may be in the future.

For the first two thirds of the twentieth century, British government was among the most stable in the world. In the last three decades it has been a leader in innovation and its governing system has been in constant turmoil. This book, by one of Britain's leading political scientists, explains this transformation and traces its consequences. It will be essential reading for all those interested in British political development and, in particular, the central role of regulation in the modern state.

Across the globe, more powers are being devolved to local and regional levels of government. This book provides an innovative analysis of such decentralisation in transition states in the Balkans. Using new and rich data, it shows how political elites use decentralisation strategically to ensure their access to state resources.

This in-depth analysis of the American imperialism debate after the Spanish-American War of 1898 elucidates how Americans understood their international role and national identity during a crucial period of their foreign relations. Transcending the immediate historical context, this book also explores why such debates remain similar and why they end up affirming a belief in American exceptionalism. Obituaries for the idea have frequently been written in response to controversial foreign policies, but exceptionalism remains vibrant and at the heart of the arguments of those who support and those who oppose these policies - whether in the Philippines, Vietnam, or Iraq.

America's historic greatness is in decline, subverted by moneyed special interests and their lobbyists who game our political system to thwart the people's majority will to end military adventures undertaken as corporate boondoggles, curb global warming, make equitable minimum wage adjustments, foster stem cell research, and establish universal health care. Based on extensive and deep interviews, Moss portrays the motivations and modus operandi of each of the types of players in the corruption of the American political system to betray the legitimate interests of the American people. He quantifies the gains reaped by the system manipulators and by indirect beneficiaries, and measures the historic deterioration in the quality of our political candidates and elected officials as a function of campaign finance distortions. Selling Out America's Democracy focuses on composite types of the political players who are the tools of connivance and objects of control by the special interests: * Democratic congressional staff * Republican congressional staff * Washington lobbyists * media representatives * diplomats * non-profit citizen advocacy group staff Moss concludes by advancing a program of policy changes calculated to revive our democracy.

How has Barack Obama done in his first term as a "progressive president," especially in relation to his campaign assertions? This book analyzes the performance of Obama and his administration in promoting progressive causes in a wide range of policy areas, including the economy, education, immigration, healthcare reform, criminal justice, and foreign affairs. Grading the 44th President: A Report Card on Barack Obama's First Term as a Progressive Leader is written in clear language that is free of jargon and from a leftist perspective, offering a comprehensive analysis and critique of Obama's performance as a progressive president during his first term. The authors provide in-depth analyses with respect to Obama's handling of specific issues, including the economy, education, healthcare, criminal justice policy, the environment, immigration, Iraq and Afghanistan, race relations, gender issues, and gay/lesbian issues, covering topics in detail that general biographies of Obama and examinations of his political career miss. This book presents clear, accessible information for general readers, and contains in-depth discussion of topics useful to high school, college, and university students of sociology, government, political science, philosophy, and history.

The principles and practices of democracy in the twenty-first century have changed drastically from how they were understood hundreds and even thousands of years ago. In the world today, we not only think about democracy differently and practice it differently, we are also predicting new and distinct futures for it. On top of this, the origins of democracy have been brought into question while democratic theory has been picked apart and the practice of democracy has been presented with new challenges. This book argues that the result of these changes is a new understanding of democracy termed 'new democratic theory'. Through interviews with renowned democratic theorists working today, Ulrich Beck, Noam Chomsky, John Dryzek, John Dunn, Francis Fukuyama, David Held, Ramin Jahanbegloo, John Keane, Pierre Rosanvallon, Thomas Seeley, and Albert Weale, this book provides an in-depth exploration of new democratic theory. The result is striking with each interview highlighting new dimensions and changes to our understanding of democracy.

"This book explores the effect of semi-presidentialism on newly-democratising countries. In recent years semi-presidentialism -- the situation where a constitution makes provision for both a directly elected president and a prime minister who is responsible to the legislature -- has become the regime type of choice for many countries"--

Every four years, the world watches as the United States passes the title and power of the presidency from one person to another in a peaceful and orderly manner. With a formal ceremony, a large parade, and gala inaugural balls, it's a big, colorful show-one rich with history, tradition, and ritual.

Through a compilation of vignettes, author Jim Bendat chronicles all of Inauguration Day's historic events. Democracy's Big Day tells stories about the outgoing and incoming presidents who did not get along, the chief justices who improperly administered the presidential oath, the vice president who showed up to the ceremony drunk, and the nine occasions in which the United States had an unplanned and unanticipated inauguration-often for a nation in mourning.

"Democracy's Big Day" presents a comprehensive history of presidential inaugurations-from George Washington through Barack Obama. From the morning White House coffee gathering to the evening's parties, the author provides a captivating look at what is truly democracy's biggest day.

Having risen to national attention with his first book, For Common Things," " Jedediah Purdy now cements his claim to being one of the most arresting public intellectuals of his generation. In Being America, Purdy turns his erudition and unique perspective to America's relationship with a world that both admires and hates it.
Purdy has absorbed insights from people around the world: Westernized Egyptians who consider Osama bin Laden a hero, an urbane Indian who espouses gay rights and the most thuggish kind of Hindu nationalism, Cambodian sweat-shop workers, and others. Out of these conversations--and his inspired readings of political thinkers from Edmund Burke to James Madison--Purdy breathes new meaning into the American values of democracy, liberty, and free trade. Clear-thinking and far-sighted, Being America encourages America to strive to realize the potential it doesn't always know it has.

Baker and his colleagues provide a blend of the theoretical and the empirical evidence in an examination of the nature of bureaucracy under non-democratic, authoritarian forms of government, whether on the right, as in Portugal, or the left, as in Bulgaria. In all these instances, the bureaucracy was constructed to serve the distorted interests of centralized, unaccountable power. Following the remarkable spread of democracy in the seventies in Iberia, the eighties in much of Latin America, parts of Asia and Africa, and the nineties in the former USSR and the Warsaw Pact countries, the main focus was on reforming the economy and the political institutions.

Distinguished scholars concentrate on the inherited bureaucracy--the arm of government with which the people most often have to deal. They highlight the undemocratic, and sometimes antidemocratic, nature of the civil service that is supposed to serve democracy. Others consider the nature of reform as experienced, and as needed, why there is no major policy for real reform of the bureaucracy in many countries, and the similar experience of reforming from the left and the right. Contributors discuss specific experiences as case studies and examine the more general question of what lessons can be learned from this unique perspective into comparative public administration reform. Essential reading for scholars, students, policy makers, and others involved with comparative government and public administration.

Inder Singh examines why international organizations including the UN, OSCE, and Council of Europe advocated democratic governance, based on the rule of law and respect for human and minority rights, as the method by which states should try to accommodate their ethnically mixed populations. She discusses how realistic this advice has been, given the tension between the principle of the sovereignty of states and their international obligations, and the extent to which democratization had made for ethnic and political stability in post-communist Europe.

Inder Singh demonstrates that this advocacy of democracy to handle ethnic diversity questions the perception of nationalism as a cause of war and disorder. This pathbreaking study will be of appeal to academics and policy makers interested in how the management of ethnic diversity through democracy can enhance domestic and international security.

Do party systems help or hinder democracy in Africa? Drawing lessons from different types of party systems in six African countries, this volume shows that party systems affect democracy in Africa in ways that are unexpectedly different from the relation between party systems and democracy observed elsewhere.

The free exchange of ideas is central to any democracy, and libraries are central to the free exchange of ideas. Hafner examines many of the issues at the heart of the library's role in a democratic society and demonstrates the practical importance of the library's democratic mission. In order to make informed decisions about acquisitions, librarians must be familiar with the legal and intellectual debates surrounding controversial material. The opening chapters of the volume provide an historical and theoretical context for the democratic role of the library by discussing issues related to canonicity. Later chapters discuss legal issues related to the library as a forum for free expression, the Richard R. Kreimer case, and the confidentiality of library records. Chapter authors thoroughly discuss issues that impact the daily functioning of the library. Their backgrounds in library and political science, law, management, sociology, and literary studies bring a fresh perspective to these controversial and hotly debated issues. The book will be of special interest to all practicing librarians, library trustees and administators, and to library science students.

After a landslide electoral victory in 2006, Evo Morales became the first indigenous President of Bolivia. Morales's stunning ascent was mirrored by the rising fortunes of his political party, the leftist Movimiento al Socialismo, which today continues to challenge the status quo in Bolivian politics and implement ambitious social reforms. This study examines how the state and social movements have impacted democratization in Bolivia, along with other sectors such as NGOs and the media. Soledad Valdivia Rivera's analysis helps us to understand how the movement's relationships have come to transform the Bolivian political process as we know it.

What makes people lose faith in democratic statecraft? The question seems an urgent one. In the first decades of the twenty-first century, citizens across the world have grown increasingly disillusioned with what was once a cherished ideal. Setting out an original theoretical model that explores the relations between democracy, subjectivity and sociality, and exploring its relevance to countries ranging from Kenya to Peru, The State We're In is a must-read for all political theorists, scholars of democracy, and readers concerned for the future of the democratic ideal.

Rendezvous with America The Unexpected Story.... In the political battlefield of 2008 where politicians were hiding under their desks and making sorry excuses for their overspending and irresponsible leadership, Sarah Palin took America by storm. Chronicling Governor Palin's life, Mark Nusbaum reveals the "real" Sarah Palin amidst the political turmoil unfolding around her. He describes in detail why her passion for individual liberty, limited government, and fiscal prudence is capturing American hearts and minds. To Democrats, "She is an existential threat" - Dick Morris To "business as usual" Republicans, she is their biggest nightmare. "Political figures like this don't come along very often. Republicans haven't seen anyone like Palin emerge from their ranks since Ronald Reagan...They've been starved for a leader with charisma and a knack for leadership. Now they have one." - Fred Barnes Weekly Standard It's a mistake to underestimate her... - Former President Bill Clinton Does She Have a Rendezvous with America? With masterful precision Mark Nusbaum weaves the ebb and flow of Governor Palin's 2008 campaign message into a platform of ideas that are destined to shape America's future. As she has spent her career fighting for and delivering transparency, accountability, limited government, and pro-growth economic policies for the citizens of Alaska, Sarah Palin is now on the edge of leading a movement to take America back from big government liberals. I watched the way she connected with people..., and she's powerful. Her politics aren't my politics. But you can see that she's a very powerful, very disciplined, incredibly gracious woman... People connect to her." - Lorne Michaels, Executive Producer, Saturday Night Live "Now democrats have something to worry about " - Howard Wolfson, Clinton Campaign Manager This book explains the impact Governor Palin's message and the choice Americans have in the days ahead.

Democracy is on the run, and elected governments are suffering from a legitimacy crisis. Legislatures are increasingly seen as unrepresentative. To give legitimacy to democratic government, experts argue that we need more democracy and more opportunities for direct citizen participation. Representative democracy needs to be complemented by forms of direct engagement, such as referendums, popular votes, the recall, citizens' juries, eDemocracy, etc. This is what we term Complementary Democracy. In this book experts from the worlds of practice and theory come together to explain - and occasionally critique - these complements to representative democracy. The volume provides an invaluable starting point for anyone who wants to know more about the new directions of democratic governance, and hopes to inspire those who seek to build stronger democracies.

Celebrating the original publication of Richard Joseph's seminal book "Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria," this state-of-the-field collection brings together leading scholars of Nigeria for a creative and robust engagement with the nation's experiments and experiences with liberal democracy. They explore a range of issues central to Nigerian politics today, including major developments since the 1980s, the role of petroleum, factors related to religion and class, and the question of whether prebendal clientelism is even a useful model for understanding the current state of Nigerian democracy. Across varied methodologies and disciplinary backgrounds, these and other pertinent questions receive a penetrating and comprehensive analysis.

Does populism indicate a radical crisis in Western democratic political systems? Is it a revolt by those who feel they have too little voice in the affairs of state or are otherwise marginalized or oppressed? Or are populist movements part of the democratic process? Bringing together different anthropological experiences of current populist movements, this volume makes a timely contribution to these questions. Contrary to more conventional interpretations of populism as crisis, the authors instead recognize populism as integral to Western democratic systems. In doing so, the volume provides an important critique that exposes the exclusionary essentialisms spread by populist rhetoric while also directing attention to local views of political accountability and historical consciousness that are key to understanding this paradox of democracy.

Choice Outstanding Academic Title of 2016 From the presidential race to the battle for the office of New York City mayor, American political candidates' approach to new media strategy is increasingly what makes or breaks their campaign. Targeted outreach on Facebook and Twitter, placement of a well-timed viral ad, and the ability to roll with the memes, flame wars, and downvotes that might spring from ordinary citizens' engagement with the issues-these skills are heralded as crucial for anyone hoping to get their views heard in a chaotic election cycle. But just how effective are the kinds of media strategies that American politicians employ? And what effect, if any, do citizen-created political media have on the tide of public opinion? In Controlling the Message, Farrar-Myers and Vaughn curate a series of case studies that use real-time original research from the 2012 election season to explore how politicians and ordinary citizens use and consume new media during political campaigns. Broken down into sections that examine new media strategy from the highest echelons of campaign management all the way down to passive citizen engagement with campaign issues in places like online comment forums, the book ultimately reveals that political messaging in today's diverse new media landscape is a fragile, unpredictable, and sometimes futile process. The result is a collection that both interprets important historical data from a watershed campaign season and also explains myriad approaches to political campaign media scholarship-an ideal volume for students, scholars, and political analysts alike.

In this text, "Research in Political Sociology", the imperative and current issues of democratic trends are presented by scholars from Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. The volume addresses worldwide changes and developments of democratization from historical and contemporary perspectives. It presents discourses on the diffusion of democracy, paths of democratic transitions, worldwide trends towards democratization, as well as discussion about democracy in retreat. Cross-cultural, comparative studies sit alongside case studies of individual countries including democratic development in the United States, post-colonial and post-Soviet democratization trends, and most recent experiences of countries that have undergone democratization growth or democracy in retreat in the first decade of this century. This volume can be used by political sociologists to strengthen and develop the unique skills and interests they bring to sociology. It is pertinent to researchers from political science, sociology, anthropology, economics, and to policy makers from across the globe working on democratic transition and democratization/re-democratization issues.

This comparative study of terrorism and counter-measures and their effect upon democratic practices and traditions is published under the auspices of the University of New Brunswick Centre for Conflict Studies in Canada. David A. Charters, Editor, has brought together a team of well-known experts to assess the nature of international terrorism in recent years and the possible effect of anti-terrorist policies and counter-measures upon democratic processes and civil liberties in Britain, Germany, Israel, Italy, France, and the United States. Their findings challenge current notions about terrorism and its consequences. A selected bibliography points to some of the most important sources of information on terrorism today.