This text brings together scholars from economic and political sciences to study the interactions within the European Union from a strategic or rational choice perspective. The contributors seek to understand the relationship between member states and competing European institutions, focusing on the horizontal, countervailing forces of legislative, regulatory, bureaucratic and constitutional decision making. Other examinations analyze the vertical structures, in particular the impact of the federal distribution of power on policy choices and on their implementation.

This book is an effort by two naval experts, one a retired Russian Naval officer, the other an American naval arms control analyst, to look at the future relationship of the world's two greatest navies following the end of the Cold War and the demise of the Soviet Union. For the first time in English, readers are provided with a detailed examination of the sweeping changes in the strategy, doctrine, operations and size of both the U.S. and Russian navies in the last few years. The often frightening naval confrontations of the Cold War era have declined dramatically (but not entirely). The first tentative steps are outlined. The book offers a series of specific proposals to expand the current level of cooperation between the U.S. and Russian navies and even envisions a "strategic partnership" in the long term.

Clearly, the structure of authority in this country rests on how Americans understand the nature and relationship of law and politics. Law consists of pronouncements from the courts, but also of what we think of these pronouncements: should abortion be a choice or is it murder? Law is formed as much through the dynamic tensions that govern how these laws are received as through their official decree. Legal forms - contracts, property, rights - similarly do not reflect pre-existing or natural categories but themselves constitute social and political life because they dictate how we conceptualize our world. Even activists who seek reform inadvertently reinforce the traditional legal remedies against which they rally, oftentimes relying on legal institutions while claiming to be free of them. John Brigham's book focuses on four particular ideological movements and their strategies, including the emphasis placed by gay men on their rights during the legal struggle over the closing of gay bathhouses in the early years of the AIDS crisis and the radical feminist use of rage and radical consciousness in anti-pornography campaigns. The effect of law in politics, Brigham convincingly reveals, is constitutive precisely when political life finds its meaning in various legal forms.

This is the first original book-length study of corruption in the People's Republic of China. The work relates the corruption issue to ongoing political processes and policies of the Chinese Communist Party by examining the broader context of social transformation, consolidation, and modernization in post-1949 China. The study has a twofold goal: (1) to present fresh source material on corruption in China, much of it previously unavailable in the West; and (2) to provide an analysis of China's corruption using a novel approach--the policy outcomes perspective. More specifically, it examines three levels of policies adopted by the Chinese Communist Party (general policies, organizational policies, and anti-corruption policies) to see how certain policy patterns have affected the identification of corruption, corruption forms, and anti-corruption measures.

This book shows that without the cooperation of the"mixed-bloods," or part-Indians, dispossession of Indian lands by the U.S. government in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries would have been much more difficult to accomplish. The relationship between the Metis and the loss of Indian lands, never before fully explored, is revealed in Unrau's study of Charles Curtis, a mixed-blood member of the Kansa-Kaws.

Curtis is best remembered as Herbert Hoover's vice-president, but he also served in Congress for more than 30 years.

A successful lawyer and Republican politician, Curtis had spent his early years on a reservation but grew up comfortably and fully integrated into the white world. By virtue of his celebrated status, he became the most important figure in the debate over federal Indian policy during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

As the Indian expert in Congress, Curtis had significant power in formulating and carrying out the assimilationist program that had been instituted, particularly by the Dawes Act, in the 1880s. The strategy was to encourage reservation Indians to reject communal life and reap the rewards of individual enterprise. Central to these developments were questions of ownership, land claims, allotments, tribal inheritance laws, and what constituted the public domain. The underlying issues, however, were Indian identification and assimilation. The government's actions--affecting schools, the federal courts, Indian Office personnel, allotment and inheritance laws, mineral leases, and the absorption of the Indian Territory into the state of Oklahoma--all bore the mark of Curtis's hand."

Taking the reader through a long view of American history, What Happened to the Vital Center? offers a novel and important contribution to the ongoing scholarly and popular discussion of how America fell apart and what might be done to end the Cold Civil War that fractures the country and weakens the national resolve. In What Happened to the Vital Center?, Nicholas Jacobs and Sidney Milkis tackle a foundational question within American political history: Is current partisan polarization, aggravated by populist disdain for constitutional principles and institutions, a novel development in American politics? Populism is not a new threat to the country's democratic experiment, but now insurgents intrude directly on elections and government. During previous periods of populist unrest, the US was governed by resilient parties that moderated extremist currents within the political system. This began to crumble during the 1960s, as anti-institutionalist incursions into the Democratic and Republican organizations gave rise to reforms that empowered activists at the expense of the median voter and shifted the controlling power over parties to the executive branch. Gradually, the moderating influence that parties played in structuring campaigns and the policy process eroded to the point where extreme polarization dominated and decision-making power migrated to the presidency. Weakened parties were increasingly dominated by presidents and their partnerships with social activists, leading to a gridlocked system characterized by the politics of demonization and demagoguery. Executive-centered parties more easily ignore the sorts of moderating voices that had prevailed in an earlier era. While the Republican Party is more susceptible to the dangers of populism than the Democrats, both parties are animated by a presidency-led, movement-centered vision of democracy. After tracing this history, the authors dismiss calls to return to some bygone era. Rather, the final section highlights the ways in which the two parties can be revitalized as institutions of collective responsibility that can transform personal ambition and rancorous partisanship into principled conflict over the profound issues that now divide the country. The book will transform our understanding of how we ended up in our current state of extreme polarization and what we can do to fix it.

The unrepresentativeness of the U.S. House of Representatives-in terms of ethnicity, gender, race, and socio-economic status-and its nearly closed system for election have generated questions about the legitimacy and authority of the House as an institution which represents citizens and whether House membership should mirror directly the diverse population of the nation. This essay collection examines the causes of the unrepresentative character of the House and offers recommendations to make it a more representative deliberative body. The single-member district system is the major causal factor of the unrepresentativeness, and alternative electoral systems-single-transferable vote types of proportional representation, cumulative voting, and limited voting-are examined. The alternative electoral systems are multi-member district ones and can be employed only if Congress repeals its requirement that members of the House be elected by single-member districts. Other possible reforms include enlargement of the size of the House, term limits, a new system of election campaign finance, and more effective regulation of campaign contributions and expenditures. The essays provide balanced views on the effects of various reform proposals by including chapters by experts who warn of the possible unintended effects of reforms or argue that the proposed reforms are not needed and stress the need for actions to strengthen deliberations, promote civility, adjust the committee system, reduce the workload of members, and promote better public understanding of the House. An important collection for students, scholars, and researchers interested in the workings of Congress and American politics.

Making Aristocracy Work explores the political role of the British peerage in the thirty years before the First World War. It charts its transition from ruling class to embattled faction, analysing the response of the peers to the challenge of democracy and their impact on the constitutional order which emerged from the turbulent politics of the late Victorian and Edwardian era. The book opens with a study of the House of Lords, assessing its strengths and weaknesses as a political institution and offering new interpretations of the constitutional crises of 1884-5 and 1909-11. It proceeds to assess the wider activity of the peerage in national, local, and imperial government, and the changing nature of its mentalite as a political elite. The evolution of the peerage is no simplistic story of descent from power to impotence, argues Dr Adonis. Under Lord Salisbury, the peers met challenges to their political standing with a determination to refashion their authority and safeguard their influence. They partially succeeded in so doing, and their efforts - successful or not - left a heavy imprint on Britain's fledgling democracy. A readable book thoroughly grounded in the aristocracy's rich archives, Making Aristocracy Work is an important contribution to our understanding of the development of Britain's modern political system.

As climate change makes the Arctic a region of key political interest, so questions of sovereignty are once more drawing international attention. The promise of new sources of mineral wealth and energy, and of new transportation routes, has seen countries expand their sovereignty claims. Increasingly, interested parties from both within and beyond the region, including states, indigenous groups, corporate organizations, and NGOs and are pursuing their visions for the Arctic. What form of political organization should prevail? Contesting the Arctic provides a map of potential governance options for the Arctic and addresses and evaluates the ways in which Arctic stakeholders throughout the region are seeking to pursue them.

Advertising overwhelms news coverage. That is the essence of the point Montague Kern drives home repeatedly throughout her insightful examination of political advertising in the eighties. . . . Any professional interested in political advertising would profit from reading this book. It also would be useful to an undergraduate class on political communication or advertising. Journal of Communication Kern's work joins a spate of books published in the 1980s on the nature, production, effect, and importance of televised political advertising in US elections. Not, however, old wine in a new bottle, it makes a distinct contribution in three respects. First, other works typically focus on spot advertising in only one type of electoral contest, primarily presidential, senatorial, or gubernatorial; Kern examines political ads at all electoral levels, in representative regions, and in a variety of mass media markets. Second, Kern employs multiple data gathering techniques beyond conventional content analysis of ads or surveys of voters' responses--interviews, a Delphic panel, and selected semiotic approaches. Finally, the book addresses changes in the character and impact of televised political spots since the 1970s, arguing that documentary news styles in ads have been replaced by those of commercial strategy of `touching someone.' Choice In this age of the media campaign where television is Americans' preferred source of candidate information, Montague Kern offers insightful scrutiny of political advertisements from 1972 to the present. This book closely examines a sample of ads and news coverage in the last stage of the 1984 presidential election, and in senatorial, gubernatorial, and house elections in four geographically diverse markets. Kern interviews campaign consultants as well as campaign managers and outlines the significant changes in political advertising over the past two decades. She finds, on the basis of an ad sample, that most competitive senatorial and gubernatorial races in 1986 used negative advertising. The book goes on to explain the rise of negative advertising in the presidential race of 1988. In an era in which media consultants are increasingly assuming primary responsibility for press relations, the study demonstrates that ads can overwhelm news coverage and serve many purposes in addition to providing voters with campaign information. The informed general reader seeking a better understanding of the political advertisement phenomenon, journalists who cover political campaigns, as well as scholars in communications and political science, will find 30-Second Politics invaluable reading.

There are more than 600 Federal district judges serving today, and they decide some 230,000 civil cases each year. About 90% of the decisions they reach are final. Lyles argues that these lower court judges not only influence the flow of information to the judicial hierarchy, but they formulate questions that influence how higher courts, including the Supreme Court, respond. As such they are key elements in the formulation and implementation of public policy. To cite a few examples, they desegregate school districts, run mental institutions and prisons, break up monopolies, and reapportion legislatures. Lyles begins by examining the structure and function of federal courts and detailing the history, operation, and purpose of the district courts. He then turns to the selection, nomination, and appointment of district judges. Lyles then analyzes the extent to which presidents might advance policy objectives through their judicial appointments to the district courts. After examining how African-American, Latino, and white judges, male and female, view their roles as policy actors, Lyles concludes with a discussion of the implications of the study. Important for students and scholars of contemporary public policy and the court system.

Following the format of the first volume "South Africa: In Transition to What?" (1988), each of the chapters in this new volume focuses on a segment of the jigsaw puzzle from which South Africa's future will be assembled and is datelined to emphasize how the situation, event, or issue being addressed appeared through a particular set of lenses at a particular time. This collection seeks to impress upon readers (especially Americans) that the shape of the post-apartheid South Africa now emerging is being determined primarily by internal factors. Eminent Persons interlocutors, distinguished advisory committees, economic and diplomatic sanctions, and other externally devised initiatives affected, but could not mandate how South Africa's long-fractured society would find its way. The contributors to this volume come from a range of geographical and professional bases, but share one important qualification: residence or repeated physical presence in South Africa.

Morgan provides a comprehensive, consistent, and unified analysis of Madison's political philosophy using Madison's views on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as the focus. Morgan looks at all that Madison wrote on these topics before, during, and after the adoption of the Constitution. He argues that Madison's constitutional philosophy was shaped by his view that there was an inherent conflict between limited government and accountability on the one hand, and the tendency of all to exercise autonomous, unrestricted power. . . . His second thesis is that Madison was propelled to become a constitutional reformer not by any desire to curb democracy but by the need to preserve both the union and republican government. Morgan emphasizes the impact of the American experience in shaping Madison's thought as well as its eclectic character. Choice James Madison stands out among the founding fathers of the U.S. government because of his analytical and creative political insight into the framing and explaining of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Madison became a constitutional reformer in order to preserve a republican government strong enough to fulfill what he felt was the destiny of the United States. This volume casts further light on Madison's beliefs through a comprehensive examination of his writing. This is not a simple task: there are substantial difficulties involved in developing a comprehensive consistent, and unified analysis of Madison's political thought. Madison's writings were extensive, and must be carefully perused in order to separate the rhetoric of his public exposition from the essence of his private thought. Furthermore, Madison never denied his aim of justifying and explaining the Constitution by sacrificing pure theory to the requirements of the prevailing political situation. Nonetheless, author Morgan has used the simplest possible interpretations of Madison's writings to reveal a clear and overriding thesis that gives unity and focus to his thought. This focus relates to the continuing tensions between the democratic idea of accountability and the tendency of all governments to seek autonomy, especially in the conduct of foreign relations.

The Conservative Party is one of the most successful political parties in the western world. Its success has been built on its large grass roots membership. And yet that memberhip appears to be increasingly disaffected and in decline.;This book is the first in depth study of this crucial section of the Conservative Party. Drawing on new and revealing survey data, it paints a fascinating picture of the social make-up and political views of a grass roots membership who dislike Jacques Delors more than the European Community, and The Sun newspaper most of all. The book challenges the stereotypical view of the Conservative activist as an eccentric and politically irrelevant Thatcher-loving extremist. Instead, the authors argue that the grass roots membership are the unsung heroes of political life; helping to keep the party system working and democracy intact at a time when it is under considerable strain.;The authors claim that to some extent the party is the author of its own problems, and point out the likely dire consequences for its future success if the current decline continues. They conclude by outlining the ways in which the leadership might revitalize its most important polit

This is the first in-depth analysis of the impact of Italian unification on the hitherto isolated communities of rural Sicily. Traditional explanations of Sicily's instability depict a society trapped by a feudal past. Lucy Riall finds instead that many areas of the island were experiencing a period of rapid modernization, as local government increased their organizational efforts. Beginning with the period prior to the revolution of 1860, Dr Riall shows why successive attempts at political reform failed, and analyses the effects of this failure. She describes the bitter and violent conflict between rival elites and the mounting tide of peasant unrest which together threatened the status quo within the isolated communities of the Sicilian interior. Through an examination of the problems of local government - tax collection, conscription, the organization of policing - and of attempts to suppress peasant disturbances and control crime, she shows that the modernization of the Sicilian countryside both undermined the control of the central government and made the countryside itself more unstable.

This first comprehensive appraisal of interest groups in Western democracies in thirty years a systematic comparison of interest group activities and their impact on public policymaking in twelve post-industrial First World nations. Using a conceptual framework, well-known experts provide an assessment of these interest group systems, identify similarities and differences, and point to current trends and future directions. This up-to-date overview and analysis is intended for students and specialists dealing with interest group behavior, comparative government and political institutions, and also with each country that is surveyed. This landmark comparative study of interest groups balances pluralist, corporatist, and to a lesser extent neo-Marxist approaches, synthesizing current know-how about interest groups in Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. Each country chapter describes the factors that affect interest group make-up, their operating techniques, and their influence, and chapter demonstrates how the interest group system impacts on the public policymaking process and how well the system is explained by the conceptual framework it is studies. This study is viewed in terms of an American model, a British model with its derivations, models in continental European democracies, and in newer democracies. A concluding chapter offers further insights, and a selected bibliography is helpful in pointing as it does to important sources for further study.

Bukowski, Rajagopalan and their contributors seek to cross both analytical and geographic boundaries in the study of why and how authority shifts both within and beyond the modern nation-state. They develop a conceptualization of the re-distribution of authority, that is, when the capacity of governmental and societal units involved in carrying out the tasks and responsibilities of governance change over time, relative to each other. They argue that this is a more comprehensive alternative to extant conceptualizations used to study the shifting of authority, such as decentralization, regionalism, or federalism. Nine diverse cases are then presented: Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, the United States, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Senegal, and South Africa. Each case addresses the questions: Which are the factors that explain the re-distribution of authority? Under what conditions are some of these factors more important than others?

Despite the diversity of the cases in both geographic location and levels of economic and political development, four major explanatory factors emerge as common across all nine cases: identity-related claims, economic imperatives, considerations of administrative efficiency, and political agency. Moreover, discerning the complex interaction of these factors is necessary in understanding the re-distribution of authority in both its centralizing and decentralizing forms, across all levels of governance. Of particular interest to scholars, students, and policy researchers involved with international relations, comparative politics, public administration, political development, and state formation, and ethnonational politics.

This edited volume examines key questions about evidence-informed policymaking in Indonesia. It draws on insights and evidence acquired through the implementation of the Knowledge Sector Initiative, a donor-funded programme that aims to increase the demand for and use of evidence in policymaking in Indonesia. Featuring contributions from academics, policy researchers, policymakers and development practitioners, the volume will deepen readers' understanding of how knowledge and politics shape the policymaking process in Indonesia. As such, it will be of interest to Indonesian and international researchers, academics, students, practitioners and policymakers concerned with various aspects of evidence-informed policymaking research and processes. In particular, regional and international development practitioners and development partners interested in learning from Indonesia's efforts to improve how evidence is used to address key development challenges will find this volume valuable.

The Conquest of Bread is Peter Kropotkin's famous critique of capitalism, wherein he excoriates that system in favor of anarcho-communism; a form of government he believed could ensure fairness for all. Kropotkin had an alternate vision of the way society, work, and population should be organized - in The Conquest of Bread, he interweaves his plans for a social revolution with critiques of the prevailing orthodoxy. We receive outlines of how his propositions will eliminate poverty and scarcity - conditions Kropotkin believed were artificially enforced in order to maintain control upon the working populace. As a philosopher and scientist, Peter Kropotkin abhorred the manner in which abject poverty characterized industrialized society. He also held a great resentment for centralized authority of government and the owners of capital, which he felt acted in concert to undermine the majority of humanity.

Challenging the widely held notion that there is a clear boundary separating the public and private sector, "The Emergence of the Business State" argues that the public sector contains a group of federally established corporations that mirror the structures and processes of the private sector. Calling this group the Business State, the book offers the first comprehensive analysis of the various types of federal corporations involved and assesses the degree to which their structure promotes responsiveness to executive direction, congressional concerns, and the public.

In Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, central governments historically pursued mono-nationalist ideologies and repressed Kurdish identity. As evidenced by much unrest and a great many Kurdish revolts in all these states since the 1920s, however, the Kurds manifested strong resistance towards ethnic chauvinism. What sorts of authoritarian state policies have Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria relied on to contain the Kurds over the years? Can meaningful democratization and liberalization in any of these states occur without a fundamental change vis-a-vis their Kurdish minorities? To what extent does the Kurdish issue function as both a barrier and key to democratization in four of the most important states of the Middle East? While many commentators on the Middle East stress the importance of resolving the Arab-Israeli dispute for achieving 'peace in the Middle East,' this book asks whether or not the often overlooked Kurdish issue may constitute a more important fulcrum for change in the region, especially in light of the 'Arab Spring' and recent changes in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria.

Providing a compelling look at veterans' policy, this book describes why the Republican party is considered the party for veterans despite the fact that Congressional Democrats are responsible for a greater number of policy initiatives. The United States is home to 21 million veterans, and Veterans' Affairs is the second-largest federal department, with a budget exceeding $119 billion. Many veterans, however, remain under-served. Republicans are seen as veterans' champions, and they send the majority of Congressional constituent communications on veterans' issues, yet they are lead sponsors on only 37 percent of bills considered by the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. What accounts for this discrepancy? Drawing on thousands of e-newsletters sent from Congress to constituents, Congress and U.S. Veterans: From the GI Bill to the VA Crisis argues that the distribution of veterans across districts and the Republican Party is based on government spending, which pulls Republican legislators in opposite directions. This eye-opening book offers a history of veterans' programs, highlights legislative leaders and the most pressing policy areas for reform, identifies the issues most often discussed by members of Congress from each party, points out which Congresspeople have acted on veterans' issues and which have not, and offers an analysis of veteran population distribution and legislative policy preferences. Includes content from nearly 20,000 e-newsletters sent from Congress members to constituents to demonstrate the differences in how Congress discusses and legislates veterans' issues Provides a detailed description of the key legislative players, proposals, and communication strategies surrounding veterans' policies Offers advice on providing for the future of veterans' policies and describes the risks and benefits associated with moving veterans' care into private industry Offers the first in-depth case study on the implementation of the post-9/11 GI bill Suggests the scandal surrounding the 2010 Phoenix VA hospital is an example of partisan differences in communication tactics