The face of international politics has changed significantly in the 21st century: it has become increasingly female. Whether that includes women in multilateral meetings, global conferences and embassies, or women at the UN and one of its many agencies in the field, it is apparent that women are accessing leadership positions in a variety of areas. This book investigates the development of gender equality at the United Nations by analyzing women in leadership roles. This introduction of empirical feminism to the study of international organizations applies what is known about women's participation and representation in comparative politics and gender studies to the United Nations System. It traces women's access to leadership roles, and explains where and why a range of hurdles prevent women from participating in the work of the UN. In doing so, it offers insights into recruitment and human resources practices and their politics, and into leadership by bureaucratic actors.

This book explores the involvement of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the issue area of environmental and disaster displacement. In considering both agencies' historical involvement, their response to Typhoon Haiyan, and first-hand accounts from both agency staff and other experts, this book outlines how inter-agency involvement in the issue area has been categorised by (real or imagined) divisions; of agency structures and mandates, activities, and even personalities. While historically inherited differences exist, environmental and disaster displacement has led to a converging of agency roles and amplified tensions, at a time when cooperation is most critical.

This book includes original and ground breaking research into parliamentary law making and legislative responses to counter-terrorism in Australia. This book introduces new, holistic and evidenced-based methods of evaluating how parliaments deliberate on complex policy issues, and how they weigh up competing rights and interests. Although this book is focused on the Australian experience, it has relevance across all parliamentary democracies grappling with the challenges posed by ensuring robust rights protection whilst responding to the threat of terrorism. This book will be of relevance and interest to law makers, government administrators and public servants, law enforcement and intelligence agencies, political and legal scholars, law students and members of the legal profession. This book is designed to provide a unique, evidence-based perspective on Australia's parliamentary model of rights protection and on the experience of counter-terrorism law making in Australia since 2011. By focusing on the role and impact of the federal parliamentary committee system, this book offers a fresh perspective on the contemporary legal and political debate on the best legal mechanism for rights protection in Australia. By using counter-terrorism laws as a detailed case study, this book also contributes in a timely, authoritative way to the debate on balancing individual liberties with national security. Using a contemporary case study of Australia's counter-terrorism, this book employs a unique, three tiered methodology to explore the impact of the system of parliamentary committees system on federal laws. The findings in this book give rise to practical recommendations for reform and provide a fresh new perspectives on Australia's parliamentary model of rights protection. This book has broad implications for rights scholars and rights advocates contemplating new models of rights protection in Australia. This book offers important practical insights to other jurisdictions grappling with the challenges posed by ensuring robust rights protection whilst responding to the threat of terrorism.

President Donald J. Trump's "America First" outlook has inspired both enthusiasm and condemnation among different segments of the American population. This book examines the meaning and implications of that perspective, and how the Trump Administration has implemented it-or failed to do so. Contributors, subject-matter experts with diverse points of view, place the Trump Doctrine within the succession of presidential foreign policy themes, and provide a case-by-case analysis of how it has been applied in specific regions and countries around the world. The book's aim is to provide a fair and balanced assessment, relatively rare in this period of intense partisanship and impending national election.

This book compares the constitutional politics in Canada and the United Kingdom - two complex, multilevel, plurinational states. While the former is federal and the latter a devolved state, the logic of both systems is similar: to combine unity with diversity. Both are facing similar challenges in a world marked by spatial rescaling, international interdependence and economic and social change. The contributors chart these challenges and the responses of the two countries, covering the meanings of federalism and devolution; the role of the courts; fiscal equalization; welfare; party politics; reform by popular referendum and citizen assemblies; and intergovernmental relations. The book will be of interest to students of federalism and multilevel government, state transformation territorial politics on both sides of the Atlantic.

This book examines four conspiracy narratives from Mexico that push the boundaries of conspiracy research in a new direction. They include narratives about Lee Harvey Oswald's visit to Mexico City, shortly before he apparently assassinated JFK, and street gangs across borders and how some of our worst fears are projected into them. Mexico is a fertile terrain for conspiracy theories due to its complex social environment and its proximity to the United States, which not only made it a strategic platform during the Cold War but also today's land of bad hombres that according to Donald Trump should be fended off with a wall. Conspiracy theories are always narrative in nature, telling us about the state of the world and the actors behind such states of affairs. This narrativity tends to be so enthralling that they have increasingly become the substance of entertainment and even politics. This volume analyses Mexican conspiracy narratives, explaining how they produce meaning in a variety of different social and political contexts. This book will be of interest to researchers of conspiracy theories, crime and its representations, Mexican politics and society, and US-Latin American relations.

This volume thoroughly examines the operations and politics of the U.S. Congress. It guides readers to their own assessment of congressional politics and provides them with the basis for future reading and study of the subject. The American Congress: A Reference Handbook covers Congress from its inception to the present day, discussing the constitutional functions of Congress and how they have evolved over time. It presents a detailed discussion of 15 problems with which Congress copes, some associated concerns with those problems, and how they might be resolved. The book opens with a brief history of Congress and how it has changed over time. It discusses a series of problems and concerns, and proposed solutions to those problems. It also comprises nine original essays by other scholars and persons involved in congressional politics as well as profiles of the major organizations and actors involved. Data and documents and a detailed chronology of Congress from 1789 to 2018 allow readers to situate significant legislation within the history of Congress, while an annotated list of sources-the major books and scholarly journals concerned with Congress in addition to a number of feature-length films and videos-provide readers with vetted resources for further study. Presents the major functions of Congress and how they have evolved Discusses proposed solutions to more than a dozen major problems facing Congress and enables readers to judge for themselves whether or not such solutions are likely to work or may have unforeseen consequences Synthesizes a comprehensive body of scholarly discussion on Congress, providing readers with a foundation for additional reading and research Explains why hyper-partisan politics, also known as "tribalism," has developed in Congress and why it leads to a stalemate in lawmaking Provides readers with an understanding of the checks and balances system, and why Congress often fails to exercise those powers

This book investigates the political conditions and policies most likely to bring about progress toward inclusive development, drawing on in-depth analyses of four cases studies with distinct development trajectories (Mexico, Indonesia, Chile and South Korea). While exclusion and differential inclusion have long been features of development in the Global South, economic globalization has introduced new forms with which Global South countries must grapple. The book highlights the main policy drawbacks of most official approaches: neglect of the need to enhance the role and capacity of states, the focus on certain types of poverty alleviation strategies, and the tendency to disregard the need for productive employment generating activities and rural development. Neglect of issues of power and politics, however, is the most glaring inadequacy. Teichman argues that making progress toward inclusive development is primarily a political struggle. It requires a committed leadership with broadly based societal support - an inclusive development coalition - which includes usually small but politically important middle classes.

This book examines how Russia, the world's most complicated country, is governed. As it resumes its place at the centre of global affairs, the book explores Russia's overarching strategies, and how it organizes itself (or not) in policy areas ranging from foreign policy and national security to health care, education, immigration, science, sport, agriculture, the environment and criminal justice. The book also discusses the structures and institutions on which Russia relies in order to deliver its goals in these areas of national life, as well as what's to be done, in policy terms, to improve the country's performance in its first post-Soviet century. Edited by Irvin Studin, the book includes contributions from a tremendous list of Russia's leading thinkers and specialists, including Alexei Kudrin, Vladimir Mau, Alexander Auzan, Simon Kordonsky, Fyodor Lukyanov, Natalia Zubarevich and Andrey Melville.

In 1990 approximately ten per cent of Indian babies died in their first year - but in Kerala state on the southwestern coast, infant mortality was less than three per cent. Kerala also boasted India's longest life expectancy and highest female literacy in India. Yet Kerala's per capita income was less than the lowly national average. The so-called Kerala Model has teased scholars and policy-makers since the 1970s. Is it possible to achieve a tolerable standard of living without the immense costs of industrial or political revolutions? This book argues that the disintegration of matrilineal social structure and a rigid system of caste generated widespread politicization. In this process, though women both lost and gained, they have retained a position of autonomy unique in India. This book explains how this combination of politics and women has produced the supposed "well-being" associated with the Kerala Model. For people interested in comparative politics, development policy and the position of women in society, this book examines key issues. Historians of South Asia will also find a social history that pushes beyond the conventional stopping date of 1947 - into the 1990s and the

From a tiny group of Germanic bands to the mightiest governmental system the world had ever known - what caused the momentous rise of the European states? Drawing on Toynbee's theory of civilizations, Victor Lee Burke develops an account of the origins and transformation of governments in Europe between the eighth and seventeenth centuries. Borrowing also from Charles Tilly's and Anthony Giddens's works, he shows the importance of wars in the rise of the European state system.

Burke provides a panoramic sociological history of the rise of European states. He relates the origins and development of European governments to the social conflict among the European, Viking, Islamic, Byzantine, Ottoman, and Mongol civilizations. He assesses the impact of the Crusades on the rise of the monarchy and the origins of democratic regimes. In contrast to European-centred interpretations of history, the author argues that the conflict among other civilizations forged the rise and growth of Western European governments.

The book will appeal to advanced undergraduate students and academics across all social sciences and particularly in political and economic sociology, social and political theory, European studies and Western civilization.

Journalism in the Civil War Era presents the historical context of Civil War journalism-placing the press of the era within the entire nineteenth century. It gives a broad account of journalism in the Civil War, reflecting on the political, military, legal, and journalistic issues involved in this era. It is written with chapters that examine these various facets of the journalism of the period, but they are connected by the theme of the development of the wartime press, with an emphasis on the professional, political, social, economic, legal, and military factors that affected it. It provides: An in-depth look at the political press in the 1850s and 1860s, and how it played a major role in the nation's understanding of the conflict; Technology's role in carrying information in a timely fashion; The development of journalism as a profession; The international context of Civil War journalism; The leadership journalists displayed, including Horace Greeley and his New York Tribune bully pulpit; The nature of journalism during the war; The way freedom of the press was advanced by polarizing political extremes. The work is historical, written in an engaging style, and meant to encourage readers to explore and analyze the value of freedom of the press during that very time when it most comes under fire-wartime. "Bulla and Borchard's analysis of newspapers during the Civil War era shows that this was a transformative time for the press and a perilous time for the relationship between government and the press. The authors argue effectively that 'the media that emerged [from the first Modern War] laid the foundation for modern news."-David B. Sachsman, West Chair of Excellence and Director of the Symposium on the Nineteenth Century Press, the Civil War, and Free Expression, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga "Bulla and Borchard have produced what has been long needed in the study of U.S. Civil War journalism: a social and cultural history of the American press that goes beyond anecdotal accounts of war news. They explore the nature of the Civil War-era press itself in all its strengths and weaknesses, ranging from political and economic grandstanding and over-the-top verbal grandiloquence to the sheer bravery and determination of a number of editors, publishers, and journalists who viewed their tasks as interpreters and informers of the day's news. Using a mix of carefully selected case studies as well as an extensive study of newspapers both large and small, this highly readable work places the Civil War press squarely where it belongs-as a part of the larger social and cultural experience of mid-nineteenth century America."-Mary M. Cronin, Department of Journalism, New Mexico State University "The study of Civil War journalism has traditionally been treated as a facet of the history of war correspondence, but war reporting does not exist in a vacuum, as David Bulla and Gregory Borchard skillfully show readers in their latest edition of Journalism in the Civil War Era. This new edition freshens the book's original version by expanding on their insightful examination of the way the American Civil War ushered in the greater reliance on the information model of journalism, which would exist side-by-side with the existing partisan model. Few scholars have attempted the sort of holistic study that examines not only the nature of Civil War journalism but, more significantly, the symbiotic relationship between the press and its culture. Bulla and Borchard have done the hard work of digging out the necessary evidence to paint a full-color portrait of journalism during America's bloodiest conflict."-Debbie van Tuyll, Professor Emerita, Department of Communications, Augusta University

Neoliberalism Reloaded: Authoritarian Governmentality and the Rise of the Radical Right analyzes the violent enforcement of neoliberal governmentality and its relationship to the emergence of a new political and cultural Right that combines political authoritarianism, ethnocentric nationalism, racism, misogyny, and antifeminism with neoliberal economic principles. Many critical thinkers have defined this post-2008 crisis phase as a fascist moment of neoliberalism since far-Right movements and parties are not only enhancing their political representation but also setting the agenda of today's politics. However, such a crucial political moment needs more precise analytical tools. In this framework, Neoliberalism Reloaded: Authoritarian Governmentality and the Rise of the Radical Right seeks to understand the emergence of the New Right and punitive neoliberalism not only as a reaction to a crisis of accumulation but also as an outcome of neoliberal reason and the historical neoliberal alliance with conservative and reactionary political forces. Therefore, far from thinking this moment as exceptional, this book seeks the roots of today's punitive neoliberalism in its theoretical framework and in the violence inherent to neoliberal capitalism towards those racialized, colonized, genderized and precarized populations that cannot adjust to the norm of competitiveness. Thus, Neoliberalism Reloaded seeks to contribute to understanding the challenges of our present as a necessary step to imagine alternative futures.

This book provides a comprehensive study of the notion of responsibility in environmental governance. It starts with the observation that, although the rhetoric of responsibility is indeed all-pervasive in environmental and sustainability-related fields, decisive political action is still lacking. Governance architectures increasingly strive to hold different stakeholders responsible by installing accountability and transparency mechanisms to manage environmental problems, yet the structural background conditions affecting these issues continue to generate unevenly distributed, socially unjust, and ecologically devastating consequences. Responsibility in Environmental Governance develops the concept of responsibility as an analytical approach to map and understand these dynamics and to situate diverse meanings of responsibility within larger socio-political contexts. It applies this approach to the study of food waste governance, uncovering a narrow governance focus on accountability, optimization, and consumer behavior change strategies, opening up spaces for organizing more democratic solutions to a truly global problem.

Building, or re-building, states after war or crisis is a contentious process. But why? Sabaratnam argues that to best answer the question, we need to engage with the people who are supposedly benefiting from international 'expertise'. This book challenges and enhances standard 'critical' narratives of statebuilding by exploring the historical experiences and interpretive frameworks of the people targeted by intervention. Drawing on face-to-face interviews, archival research, policy reviews and in-country participant-observations carried out over several years, the author challenges assumptions underpinning external interventions, such as the incapacity of 'local' agents to govern and the necessity of 'liberal' values in demanding better governance. The analysis focuses on Mozambique, long hailed as one of international donors' great success stories, but whose peaceful, prosperous, democratic future now hangs in the balance. The conclusions underscore the significance of thinking with rather than for the targets of state-building assistance, and appreciating the historical and material conditions which underpin these reform efforts.

A year after popular uprisings overthrew dictators in Egypt and Tunisia, a former diplomat and press officer travelled to Cairo and Tunis to interview local journalists and learn about both their experiences under the previous regimes and how they were navigating the political transitions. Based on these conversations, the resulting study explains the shifting red lines under the Mubarak and Ben Ali regimes, examining how these lines were enforced and how the regimes manipulated media to manufacture popular acquiescence or apathy.

The book evaluates the importance of constitutional rules and property rights for the German economy in 1990-2015. It is an economic historical study embedded in institutional economics with main references to positive constitutional economics and the property rights theory. This interdisciplinary work adopts a theoretical-empirical dimension and a qualitative-quantitative approach. Formal institutions played a fundamental role in Germany's post-reunification economic changes. They set the legal and institutional framework for the transition process of Eastern Germany and the unification, integration and convergence between the two parts of the country. Although the latter process was not completed, the effects of these formal rules were positive, especially for the former GDR.

The Routledge Handbook of Civil and Uncivil Society in Southeast Asia explores the nature and implications of civil society across the region, engaging systematically with both theoretical approaches and empirical nuance for a systematic, comparative and informative approach. The handbook actively analyses the varying definitions of civil society, critiquing the inconsistent scrutiny of this sphere over time. It brings forth the need to reconsider civil-society development in today's Southeast Asia, including activist organisations' and platforms' composition, claims, resources, and potential to effect sociopolitical change. Structured in five parts, the volume includes chapters written by an international set of experts analysing topics relating to society's: - Spaces and platforms - Place within politics - Resources and tactics - Identity formation and claims - Advocacy The handbook highlights the importance of civil society, as a domain for political engagement outside the state and parties, across Southeast Asia, as well as the prevalence and weight of 'uncivil' dimensions. It offers a well-informed and comprehensive analysis of the topic and is an indispensable reference work for students and researchers in the fields of Asian Studies, Asian Politics, Southeast Asian Politics and Comparative Politics.

This book brings together a diverse, international array of contributors to explore the topics of news "quality" in the online age and the relationships between news organizations and enormously influential digital platforms such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter. Covering topics ranging from internet incivility, crowdsourcing, and YouTube politics to regulations, algorithms, and AI, this book draws the key distinction between the news that facilitates democracy from news that undermines it. For students and scholars as well as journalists, policymakers, and media commentators, this important work engages a wide range of methodological and theoretical perspectives to define the key concept of "quality" in the news media.

This book brings together a diverse, international array of contributors to explore the topics of news "quality" in the online age and the relationships between news organizations and enormously influential digital platforms such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter. Covering topics ranging from internet incivility, crowdsourcing, and YouTube politics to regulations, algorithms, and AI, this book draws the key distinction between the news that facilitates democracy from news that undermines it. For students and scholars as well as journalists, policymakers, and media commentators, this important work engages a wide range of methodological and theoretical perspectives to define the key concept of "quality" in the news media.

This open access book is about the perception of the independence of the judiciary in Europe. Do citizens and judges see its independence in the same way? Do judges feel that their independence is respected by the users of the courts, by the leadership of the courts and by politicians? Does the population trust the judiciary more than other public institutions, or less? How does independence of the judiciary work at the national level and at the level of the European Union? These interrelated questions are particularly relevant in times when the independence of the judiciary is under political pressure in several countries in the European Union, giving way to illiberal democracy. Revealing surveys among judges, lay judges and lawyers - in addition to regular surveys of the European Commission - provide a wealth of information to answer these questions. While the answers will not please everyone, they are of interest to a wide audience, in particular court leaders, judges, lawyers, politicians and civil servants.

This book delves into the diffuse relationship between states, citizens, and non-citizens. It explores the theoretical heritage of human security and identifies practical responses to the (re)negotiated relationships between states and citizens, responsibility and accountability. It argues that the changes to global order since the 1990s have resulted in a divergence from the understanding of the State as the arbiter within its territory, and as the guarantor of (human) security within its borders. In addition, while interventionist actions of various non-state actors to implement material guarantees of (human) security reaching both citizens and non-citizens (including refugees) have solved some immediate problems, they have not answered the question of where accountability ultimately lies.

This book explores the continuity of oligarchic rule in the Americas of the modern period, with a focus on the variable compatibility of oligarchic rule and democratic government. This focus sets the terms for a comparative inquiry that creates a novel perspective on the politics of Latin America and the United States alike. The continuity depends on the formation of a patrimonial State and a porous division between oligarchic interests and the public sphere of democratic politics; but it also depends on a capacity to adapt and change, and these changes are marked by successive and distinctive modes of rule in both Latin America and the United States. The book concludes with a description and comparison of the sequences and political characteristics of these modes of rule and discovers a recent and remarkable convergence of oligarchic rule in the Americas.

This book explores the dynamics of health system decentralization and recentralization, investigating why and how the territorial organization of health systems changes or remains stable over time. Drawing from historical and discursive institutionalism, the explanatory framework revolves around the role of ideas, discourse and institutions. Through the analysis of the Italian and Danish health systems, the book corroborates the value of combining ideational and institutional accounts in explaining institutional continuity and change, offering new empirical and theoretical insights into the study of public policy making. The book will be of use to students and scholars interested in health politics and policy, federalism and decentralization, and theories of institutional change.