In an election year in which everyone seems to be looking for change, Tom Cronin reminds us that it is important to look back at presidential precedents and pitfalls, carrying forward these lessons as we look ahead in the "search for the perfect president." America has never had a perfect president, nor are we likely to. We yearn for qualities of mind, character, and experience that are rarely found in one person. Candidates always have the flaws associated with being human. Noted presidential scholar Thomas E. Cronin helps us consider these realities with clarity and empathy, as one who has both written about presidents and run for office himself. Cronin unabashedly issues three cheers for those who run, and for all their helpers and advisers who provide us choices. In this election year, incredible diversity and therefore sharp disagreements of ideology and values prevail. Cronin puts all this in context with the history of the American presidency from George Washington to George W. Bush with a special focus on what he calls the "Act III" presidency of JFK. He takes us from the fiction of "searching for the perfect president" to the facts of the presidency in the post-9/11 world. Whether the next president is soldier, shaman, or somewhere in-between, Cronin gives us a glimpse of presidents future through the lens of presidents past.

In an election year in which everyone seems to be looking for change, Tom Cronin reminds us that it is important to look back at presidential precedents and pitfalls, carrying forward these lessons as we look ahead in the "search for the perfect president." America has never had a perfect president, nor are we likely to. We yearn for qualities of mind, character, and experience that are rarely found in one person. Candidates always have the flaws associated with being human. Noted presidential scholar Thomas E. Cronin helps us consider these realities with clarity and empathy, as one who has both written about presidents and run for office himself. Cronin unabashedly issues three cheers for those who run, and for all their helpers and advisers who provide us choices. In this election year, incredible diversity and therefore sharp disagreements of ideology and values prevail. Cronin puts all this in context with the history of the American presidency from George Washington to George W. Bush with a special focus on what he calls the "Act III" presidency of JFK. He takes us from the fiction of "searching for the perfect president" to the facts of the presidency in the post-9/11 world. Whether the next president is soldier, shaman, or somewhere in-between, Cronin gives us a glimpse of presidents future through the lens of presidents past.

Just in time for the coming election year, this book looks at the changing of the guard in 2006 and speculates on where the system may be heading in 2008. It provides an in-depth examination of the ways in which candidates, interest groups, and parties perceived their opportunities and allocated their campaign resources during the midterm elections. The role of money, which was influenced by campaign finance reform, is a special focus in this book. The theme of political scandal has frequently raised concerns that Republican leadership had become a "culture of corruption" that had flourished under their watch, which is also addressed in this book. The war in Iraq, however, may be the most important factor-not only in the 2006 battle for Congress, but for the 2008 battle for the White House as well.

Building beyond Lakoff's election-year best-seller, "Don't Think of an Elephant," this new book shows how the values of American voters are dramatically shifting. With the arrival of the 2008 election year, a rising feminized majority'-made up of both women and men-is emerging as the pivotal force in American politics. Emerging trends show these values are broadly progressive and address not just the needs of women but the general interests of society. They are held by women substantially more than by men but have become the values held by a majority of all voters, including millions of men. Like earlier eras in American history, such as the New Deal, the rise of the feminized majority today presents an opportunity for the Democrats to become the governing party for decades to come. Looking beyond the 2008 election, Adam and Derber describe a new political strategy that targets the feminized base and opens up a window for major social justice movements to make progressive change. Like Lakoff's, this striking new book-perfectly timed for election year 2008-offers a new vocabulary for every citizen who wants to understand (and reimagine) American politics. It will intrigue and provoke readers, stirring new conversation among progressives and new insights for every citizen interested in politics, morality, religion, values, and social justice.See the Youtube video featuring The New Feminized Majority at: http: //www.youtube.comRead the "American Chronicle" review by Jim Melvin at: 'http: //www.americanchronicle.com

Building beyond Lakoff's election-year best-seller, Don't Think of an Elephant, this new book shows how the values of American voters are dramatically shifting. With the arrival of the 2008 election year, a rising "feminized majority"-made up of both women and men-is emerging as the pivotal force in American politics. Emerging trends show these values are broadly progressive and address not just the needs of women but the general interests of society. They are held by women substantially more than by men but have become the values held by a majority of all voters, including millions of men. Like earlier eras in American history, such as the New Deal, the rise of the feminized majority today presents an opportunity for the Democrats to become the governing party for decades to come. Looking beyond the 2008 election, Adam and Derber describe a new political strategy that targets the feminized base and opens up a window for major social justice movements to make progressive change. Like Lakoff's, this striking new book-perfectly timed for election year 2008-offers a new vocabulary for every citizen who wants to understand (and reimagine) American politics. It will intrigue and provoke readers, stirring new conversation among progressives and new insights for every citizen interested in politics, morality, religion, values, and social justice.

While interest groups have long been at the center of the study of American politics, most explorations of their influence have tended to dwell on lobbying. When political scientists do look at groups' electoral activities, they tend to study contribution activity by political action committees. But a whole world of political activity has emerged that is not confined to PAC contributions. Activities such as issue advocacy, independent expenditures, and voter mobilization go well beyond the limits set by federal law. More Than Money is the first attempt to understand this world of interest group action in a theoretical fashion. It links data gathered through ten case studies to broader ideas about interest groups, political parties, and congressional elections. It examines what resources groups possess for political action, how they are linked to the incentives groups offer to members, and how groups can apply those resources effectively. It also looks at how groups adapt to changing political and legal contexts, and provides a better understanding of the relationship between interest groups and political parties. More Than Money does all this in a clear, accessible style and with numerous quotations from top players at interest groups such as NARAL and the NRA.

"The Elections in Israel--2006" brings together leading Israeli and North American social scientists and their state-of-the-art, in-depth analysis of the 2006 Israeli national elections. The 2006 elections occurred soon after the unilateral withdrawal of Israeli settlers and the army from the Gaza Strip and the departure of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from active politics due to a massive stroke. Sharon had engineered the withdrawal from Gaza. The policy brought about a split in his ruling Likud party, and Sharon led his group to coalesce with other groups (including Labor's Shimon Peres) to form a new party, Kadima. For the first time in Israeli political history, a party of the ideological center was poised to be the top vote getter. Kadima's victory ensured the accession of Ehud Olmert, who became Israel's new prime minister.

Labor, too, had fielded a new leader in the person of Amir Peretz, a former head of the country's Histadruth labor union; he attempted to focus the campaign on social and economic issues, but the campaign reverted back to security and foreign affairs. Ironically, in the post-election government, Peretz was given the post of defense minister. Likud was unable to recover from the departure of Sharon and other leaders. Its leader.

The 2006 elections also saw a precipitous drop in voter turnout compared to previous elections. Parties and politicians were plagued by low levels of trust on the part of the electorate and revelations of corruption were rife. The Arabs and the religious Jewish parties each faced challenges in retaining their strength in the electorate and in the governing coalition.

This volume also illuminates developments and changes in Israeli society and politics. Many of these developments--multiculturalism, changes in social stratification, sinking turnout, growing mistrust of political institutions, and political reforms--characterize other Western democracies as well, and these are discussed from a comparative global perspective. "The Elections in Israel--2006" will also be of particular interest to those concerned with comparative politics and elections in general.

Sarah Oates gives a detailed examination on a central theme in political science: the relationship between democracy and the mass media. This significant book contains a wealth of information and data, including: public opinion surveys, content analysis of television news, focus groups and in-depth interviews to examine why political parties and the mass media failed so spectacularly to aid in the construction of a democratic system in Russia. The analysis presents compelling evidence that television helped to tune out democracy as it served as a tool for leaders rather than a conduit of information in the service of the electorate or parties. In addition, focus groups and surveys show that the Russian audience are often more comfortable with authority rather than truth in television coverage. Within this framework, this fascinating work presents the colourful history of parties, elections and television during one of the most critical eras in Russian history and captures a particularly significant epoch in contemporary Russian politics.

Just in time for the coming election year, this book looks at the changing of the guard in 2006 and speculates on where the system may be heading in 2008. It provides an in-depth examination of the ways in which candidates, interest groups, and parties perceived their opportunities and allocated their campaign resources during the midterm elections. The role of money, which was influenced by campaign finance reform, is a special focus in this book. The theme of political scandal has frequently raised concerns that Republican leadership had become a "culture of corruption" that had flourished under their watch, which is also addressed in this book. The war in Iraq, however, may be the most important factor-not only in the 2006 battle for Congress, but for the 2008 battle for the White House as well.

The Latin-American population has become a major force in American politics in recent years, with expanding influences in local, state, and national elections. The candidates in the 2004 campaign wooed Latino voters by speaking Spanish to Latino audiences and courting Latino groups and PACs. Recognizing the rising influence of the Latino population in the United States, Federico Subervi-Velez has put together this edited volume, examining various aspects of the Latino and media landscape, including media coverage in English- and Spanish-language media, campaigns, and survey research.

The election of 2005 changed Germany's political 'landscape'. The combined share of the vote gained by the two major parties fell below 70 per cent, eliminating the option of a coalition between one of the two major parties (Christian Democrats and Social Democrats) with one of the smaller parties - the traditional pattern of government that had dominated German post-war politics since the late 1950s. The election resulted in the first national 'Grand Coalition' of the two major parties since 1969. While some have seen this government, elected in November 2005 and headed by the Christian Democrat Angela Merkel, as the symptom of a crisis of the traditional post-war German party system, others have highlighted the opportunities it opens up for constitutional and policy reform as Merkel's 'Grand Coalition' controls an overwhelming majority of the votes in both houses of the German legislature. The German Election of 2005 analyses the road to the 2005 election and provide in-depth studies of the campaign and candidates, of voting behaviour and immediate consequences of the election, with contributions from leading experts from Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. The findings are informed by theoretical and empirical work in the comparative study of parties and elections offering a nuanced, empirically rich picture of continuity and change in German electoral politics.

The Presidential Election Game may change the way you think about presidential elections and, for that matter, American politics in general. It is not filled with statistics about the voting behavior of citizens, nor does it give detailed histories of past campaigns. Rather, it is an analytic treatment of strategy in the race for the presidency, from the primaries to the general election. Using modern game theory and decision theory, Brams demonstrates why certain campaign strategies are more effective than others and supports his analysis with historical evidence.

Want to change the world? The first step is to exercise your right to vote! In this step by step guide, you can learn everything you need to know. In What You Need to Know About Voting--and Why, law professor and constitutional scholar Kimberly Wehle offers practical, useful advice on the mechanics of voting and an enlightening survey of its history and future. What is a primary? How does the electoral college work? Who gets to cast a ballot and why? How do mail-in ballots work? How do I register? For new voters, would-be voters, young people and all of us looking ahead to the next election, What You Need to Know About Voting--and Why is a timely and informative guide, providing the background you need in order to make informed choices that will shape our shared destiny for decades to come.

Recent elections in Japan have been dramatic, and the 2021 general election was no exception. Worldwide turmoil caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as well as domestic uncertainty following the resignation of long-serving Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, left many voters and political observers wondering whether his successors were up to the task of leading the country through the crisis. In the end, the LDP and coalition partner Komeito eked out an electoral victory-but one that masks important changes in the party system and nuanced changes in voter behavior and preferences. This fourth volume in the Japan Decides series features a comprehensive collection of analyses from leading experts, covering the legacy of Abe's tenure in office, the state of the LDP and other parties, the impact of COVID-19 and the postponed 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, and many other important topics in contemporary party politics and domestic and foreign policy.

The seventh edition of this unique and authoritative guide to more than 170 years of political history reflects the rapid and continuing change in the electoral landscape of the United Kingdom. Covering the period 1832-2006, it gives easy access to a myriad of facts and figures on all 44 General Elections, six European Parliament elections and more than 3,700 parliamentary by-elections that have taken place in the United Kingdom since the Great Reform Act. It also contains a considerable array of opinion poll data for both Great Britain and Scotland. Significant new information includes further rounds of devolution elections in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; referendums and elections relating to elected mayors in London and a number of English local authorities; and the impact of the relaxation of the regulations on the issuing and casting of postal votes. To aid readers in finding their way about this increasingly complex electoral maze, this edition also - and for the first time - contains a comprehensive index. The cornerstone of any psephologist's library, British Electoral Facts 1832-2006 will also prove an invaluable reference and source book for politicians, public servants, historians, journalists, teachers and all those fascinated by the ebb and flow of electoral fortunes.

The struggle between the defenders of America as an exceptional nation and the forces of anti-Americanism is reaching a fever pitch. These forces have grown so large, so well-financed, so entrenched and aggressive that they must be studied closely and understood completely if America is to survive this imminent civil war. In Beyond Biden, bestselling author Newt Gingrich brings together the various strands of the movement seeking to destroy true, historic American values and replace this country with one that's imposed on us by the combined power of government and social acceptance.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Electoral Shocks: The Volatile Voter in a Turbulent World offers a novel perspective on British elections, focusing on the role of electoral shocks in the context of increasing electoral volatility. It demonstrates and explains the long-term trend in volatility, how shocks have contributed to the level of electoral volatility, and also which parties have benefited from the ensuing volatility. It follows in the tradition of British Election Study books, providing a comprehensive account of specific election outcomes- the General Elections of 2015 and 2017-and a more general and novel approach to understanding electoral change. The authors examine five electoral shocks that affected the elections of 2015 and 2017: the rise in immigration after 2004, particularly from Eastern Europe; the Global Financial Crisis prior to 2010; the coalition government of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats between 2010 and 2015; the Scottish Independence Referendum in 2014; and the European Union Referendum in 2016. The focus on electoral shocks offers an overarching explanation for the volatility in British elections, alongside the long-term trends that have led to this point. It offers a way to understand the rise and fall of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), Labour's disappointing 2015 performance and its later unexpected gains, the collapse in support for the Liberal Democrats, the dramatic gains of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 2015, and the continuing period of tumultuous politics that has followed the EU referendum and the General Election of 2017. It provides a new way of understanding electoral choice in Britain, and also beyond, and a better understanding of the outcomes of recent elections.

Elections ought in theory to go a long way toward making democracy 'work', but in many contexts, they fail to embody democratic ideals because they are affected by electoral manipulation and misconduct. This book undertakes an analytic and explanatory investigation of electoral malpractice, which is understood as taking three principal forms: manipulation of the rules governing elections, manipulation of vote preference formation and expression, and manipulation of the voting process.
Electoral Malpractice--which is comparative in nature--starts out by providing a conceptual definition and typology of electoral malpractice, before considering evidence for the causes of this phenomenon. The principal argument of the book is that factors affecting the costs of electoral malpractice are crucial in determining whether leaders will, in any given context, seek to rig elections. Among the most important factors of this sort are the linkages between elites and citizens, and in particular the balance between relations of the civil-society and clientelist types. These linkages play an important role in determining how much legitimacy leaders will lose by engaging in electoral manipulation as well as the likely consequences of legitimacy loss.
The study also shows how electoral malpractice might be reduced by means of a variety of strategies designed to raise the cost of electoral manipulation by increasing the ability of civil society and international actors to monitor and denounce it.
Comparative Politics is a series for students, teachers, and researchers of political science that deals with contemporary government and politics. Global in scope, books in the series are characterised by a stress on comparative analysis and strong methodological rigour. The series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research. For more information visit: www.essex.ac.uk/ecpr. The Comparative Politics Series is edited by Professor David M. Farrell, School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin, Kenneth Carty, Professor of Political Science, University of British Columbia, and Professor Dirk Berg-Schlosser, Institute of Political Science, Philipps University, Marburg.

This book discusses the framing of referendum campaigns in the news media, focusing particularly on the case of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. Using a comprehensive content analysis of print and broadcast coverage as well as in-depth interviews with broadcast journalists and their sources during this campaign, it provides an account of how journalists construct the frames that define their coverage of contested political campaigns. It views the mediation process from the perspective of those who participate directly in it, namely journalists and political communicators. It puts forward an original theoretical model to account for frame building in the context of referendums in Western media systems, using insights from this and from other cases. The book makes an original contribution to the study of media frames during referendums and is key reading for scholars and students interested in journalism, the processes of political communication and the mediation of politics. -- .

As the plugged-in presidential campaign has arguably reached maturity, Presidential Campaigning in the Internet Age challenges popular claims about the democratizing effect of Digital Communication Technologies (DCTs). Analyzing campaign strategies, structures, and tactics from the past six presidential election cycles, Stromer-Galley reveals how, for all their vaunted inclusivity and tantalizing promise of increased two-way communication between candidates and the individuals who support them, DCTs have done little to change the fundamental dynamics of campaigns. The expansion of new technologies has presented candidates with greater opportunities to micro-target potential voters, cheaper and easier ways to raise money, and faster and more innovative ways to respond to opponents. The need for communication control and management, however, has made campaigns slow and loathe to experiment with truly interactive internet communication technologies. Citizen involvement in the campaign historically has been and, as this book shows, continues to be a means to an end: winning the election for the candidate. For all the proliferation of apps to download, polls to click, videos to watch, and messages to forward, the decidedly undemocratic view of controlled interactivity is how most campaigns continue to operate. In the fully revised second edition, Presidential Campaigning in the Internet Age examines election cycles from 1996, when the World Wide Web was first used for presidential campaigning, through 2016 when campaigns had the full power of advertising on social media sites. As the book charts changes in internet communication technologies, it shows how, even as campaigns have moved from a mass mediated to a networked paradigm, the possibilities these shifts in interactivity seem to promise for citizen input and empowerment remain farther than a click away.

There is currently widespread and growing interest in the Chinese economy, its huge and rapid growth, and the consequent impact on world business and economic affairs. At the same time, there are concerns about China's political system, the Chinese communist party, China's human rights record and the degree to which reform - the development of 'socialism with Chinese characteristics' - represents real liberalization. This book provides full details of economic and political developments in China, focusing in particular on events since 1978. It includes coverage of Hong Kong, Macao, Tibet and Taiwan, together with China's relations, including international trade, with its neighbors and with the international community. It considers the evolution of China's 'open-door' policy in economic affairs, the impact of entry into the WTO and effects of the Asian financial crisis. All the key topics - the growth of the market, the reform of state owned enterprises, foreign investment, human rights, SARS and bird 'flu - are comprehensively covered. Overall, this book provides a full account of economic and political developments in China, and will be of importance to all who are interested in this country's affairs, not only scholars but also those within the business and policy-making communities.

Election Day, as it was once known, is no more. In 2020, with COVID-19 raging, over 60% of American voters cast early ballots. Even before the pandemic, more than one-third of voters routinely did so. Early voting represents a radical change in American elections. It means new options for voters, a new set of procedures and responsibilities for election clerks, and new challenges for political candidates and operatives. In Tuesday's Gone, Elliott Fullmer explores the effects of this new reality. Applying new data and innovative methods, he reports that early voting is bringing new citizens to the polls and enhancing the quality of American democracy. Examining four recent elections, he finds that both early in-person and absentee options increase turnout by several points when aggressively implemented by state and local officials. Like any new public policy, however, early voting does come with some notable side effects. Fullmer cautions that early voting increases down-ballot roll-off, widens racial disparities in voting access, and alters the competitive environment in presidential nomination contests. He argues that these complications can (and should) be addressed so that early voting can fully deliver upon its promise.

What is 'the American Dream, ' and why is it ubiquitous in today's political rhetoric? In this thought-provoking book, Ghosh analyzes the integral role of the American Dream in contemporary American politics. He argues that the Dream's central political function is its ability to offer a politics of democratic inclusion that traces a middle ground between multiculturalism and state-neutrality. One compelling reason for the popularity of the concept is that its roots can be traced back to the primordial values of the nation: work, virtue, and happiness. Political elites across the ideological spectrum refer to the Dream in their appeals, but Ghosh concludes that in doing so they rely on very different interpretations of the Dream's basic tenets. Clear and evocative, The Politics of the American Dream is essential reading for both scholars and observers of contemporary American political culture.

In the first in-depth study of the relationship between the suffrage campaign in Britain and World War I, Angela K. Smith explores the links between these two defining moments of the early twentieth century. Did the opportunities afforded by the war enable women finally and irrefutably to demonstrate their right to full citizenship? Or did World War I actually postpone women's enfranchisement? Although the Suffrage Movement was divided by the outbreak of war, many women continued to campaign for the vote, producing a wide variety of fictional and nonfictional 'suffrage texts'. Whether the writing of these women demonstrated their patriotism, pacifism, or ambivalence, it formed an integral part of their political responses to the war. Through textual/literary analysis of Suffrage magazines, wartime diaries, and a range of topical novels, Smith explores these responses within historical, social, and cultural contexts to understand the impact of the war on the success of the campaign in 1918 and the consequences for the years that followed.