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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political structure & processes > General
From July 3-6, 1986, Americans hailed the 4th of July and the centennial of the Statue of Liberty in a celebration that became officially known as Liberty Weekend. In this study, David Procter analyzes the process of enacting political culture by examining how various political, religious, and ethnic groups transformed the experience of Liberty Weekend into a validation of their own individual social and political agendas. Broader in scope than any previous published work on political culture and the political ideal of liberty, Procter's work vividly demonstrates the rhetorical process by which American politicians, pundits, and community spokespersons convert political celebration into motivation for sociopolitical goals. Following an introductory chapter on the relationship between symbols and culture, Procter provides an overview of the analysis of political culture as well as general comments on Liberty Weekend itself. Subsequent chapters analyze how specific groups used the weekend to further their own sociopolitical goals. Procter explains how blacks transformed the celebration into competing statements of community identity, explores how Ronald Reagan converted the event into a celebration of his Revolution, and examines how a nationalist group cast the event into a motive for an involved or confrontational American foreign policy. He then synthesizes the significant themes and symbolic clusters from these three chapters to determine what these webs of discourse can tell us about American political culture. Procter concludes that each group called on the ideograph Liberty to justify their specific, yet diverse, political agendas and that these disparate groups were able to use this common symbol because fundamentally Liberty represents America's cultural persona of pursuing a dream of success and achievement. Ideal as supplemental reading for courses in political communication and rhetorical criticism, this book represents a major contribution to our understanding of the complex nature of American political culture.
An examination of the skillful political maneuvering of William Borah and Hiram Johnson, two of the post-war leaders of Republican progressivism, this study analyzes efforts to prevent U.S. entry into the League of Nations despite overwhelming support for the organization among both Democrats and Republicans. Following the debacle of the 1912 election, the leadership of the Republican Party embarked on a strategy of reconciliation designed to end the acrimony between progressive and conservative factions so that it could unite against the Democratic Party. A small group of progressive Republicans quickly realized that they could threaten to resume infighting and could, thus, influence policy making on important foreign policy issues. This political environment enabled William Borah and Hiram Johnson to have an extraordinary influence over the Republican Party's position concerning the League of Nations, an organization which they regarded as an agency for the perpetuation of European empires and, therefore, a threat to American democracy. Borah and Johnson effectively intimidated their party leadership and blocked the American participation in the League. Once this pattern was established, it would continue to influence Republican Party actions, in particular the construction of the Republican Party platform in 1920, the U.S. position regarding the Washington Conference on Naval Disarmament, and the issue of U.S. membership in the World Court.
Jon Lendon offers a bold new analysis of how Roman government worked in the first four centuries AD. A despotism rooted in force and fear enjoyed widespread support among the ruling classes of the provinces on the basis of an aristocratic culture of honour shared by rulers and ruled.
The end of the Cold War, the cessation of superpower rivalry, and the demise of apartheid in South Africa have offered Africans another opportunity to engage in effective institutional reform and state reconstruction. This book emphasizes the importance of institutions to economic growth and development and, using public choice theory, provides guidelines that can be used to initiate and implement an effective people-driven institutional reform program on the continent.
As a legacy of the socialist state with central planning, Five-Year Planning (FYP) is very important in regulating socio-economic and spatial development even in post-reform China. This book tries to fill the research gap between examining the role of FYP and how spatial elements in the FYP mechanism have operated and transformed in spatial regulatory practices in transitional China. By building a conceptual framework and studying two empirical cases at different spatial scales, with the help of both qualitative and quantitative methods, it helps to understand various stakeholders, institutions and planning administrations, mechanisms of articulating spatial planning into the FYP system and the effectiveness of spatial planning in solving place-specific governance issues in urban and regional China.
This annotated document collection surveys the history and evolution of laws and attitudes regarding free speech and censorship in the United States, with a special emphasis on contemporary events and controversies related to the First Amendment. The United States' collective understanding of First Amendment freedoms was formed by more than 200 years of tensions between the power of word and the power of the government. During that time, major laws and legal decisions defined the circumstances and degree to which personal expression could be rightfully expressed-and rightfully limited. This struggle to define the parameters of free speech continues today. Vibrant and passionate debates about First Amendment limitations once inspired by the dissemination of birth control information now address such issues as kneeling during the national anthem, removing controversial books from public libraries, attempts by the Trump administration to discredit the press, and disseminating false or hateful information through social media platforms. By exploring diverse examples of censorship victories and triumphs of free expression, readers will better understand the enormous impact of First Amendment freedoms on American society. Chronological history of important milestones, documents, and events that have shaped the nation's understanding of freedom of speech/press and censorship, as well as the limitations of each Primary source selection that illuminates the importance of First Amendment freedoms as critical elements of democracy in the United States Informative, authoritative, and balanced introductory headnotes for each primary source to help readers understand the context in which they were created Readers Guide to Related Documents and sidebars
An innovative approach to legislative study, this volume views the Kansas legislature from the perspective of organization theory. Authors Marvin A. Harder and Raymond G. Davis examine the technical and procedural aspects of the legislature that most scholars have overlooked. They provide a careful, precise, theoretical study of the organization and structure, administrative and staff relationships, and formal processes of the legislature. Applying the concepts of organization theory, Harder and Davis describe and analyze how the Kansas legislature works. They cover the legislative staff, the networks of communication and socialization, the role of leadership, the committees, and the legislative functions of lawmaking and of overseeing. They also discuss recent changes in the legislature and give a profile of the legislators. This book breaks new ground by focusing on organization theory, rather than political analysis, to explain the dynamics of legislative operations. Of particular value to Kansas legislators and students of Kansas legislative process, it will also contribute to the general literature about American legislative institutions.
This book provides a paradigm of the coup and provides a historical basis for that paradigm that is unsurpassed in its objectivity and research. The author of this book has spent over a decade living and working with military and political figures throughout Latin America. His book is both an educational and an exciting peek into the dark world of military subversion by an observer who has seen it first hand. The coup d'etat has defied all attempts at rational analysis. This is hardly surprising, in that it is born in darkness and very frequently dies there, only coming to light in the last moments before either a bloody defeat or a stunning success. The participants on the military side are frequently reluctant to discuss their activities, even long after the fact, and their civilian victims can usually only guess at what happened to them. Previous studies have often been heavily tainted by the politics of the writer, categorizing the coup as a product of class struggle, the cold war, or outright foreign intervention by the superpowers. The author of this book has spent over a decade living and working closely with military and political figures throughout Latin America and has used the fruits of literally hundreds of encounters (ranging from simple interviews to longtime friendships) to piece together an insightful picture of this nebulous but very real phenomenon. He has identified the motives of coup plotters and the means by which they go about building the coalition necessary to overthrow a government. Rather than use hypothetical cases to illustrate his points, he has drawn on history to demonstrate how coups succeed and why they fail. This book is both an educational and an exciting peek into the dark world of military subversion by an observer who has seen it first hand.
The development of social democratic politics in the dominant states of Western Europe has been influenced by both domestic and international forces. A succinct history of the expanding popularity of social democracy in these countries, this work explains why political parties, whose electoral following was rooted in the growth of the industrial working class, failed to become dominant parliamentary forces in their respective political systems. The book concludes by discussing the implications of the social democratic past in Europe for the future of socialist politics in a post-Cold War context.
Written by some of the foremost commentators on modern Europe who address a diverse range of problems: the continued blockage in historical and intellectual understanding between the two cultures; the conservative retrenchment in Western European politics; and the travail of perestroika in the former East Germany.
The collapse of Soviet power in Eastern Europe was relatively quick, peaceful, and unforeseen. In this important new study of Soviet policy in the region, Chafetz provides a fresh analysis of why Moscow redefined Soviet interests in Eastern Europe and an explanation of the decision not to use military force to shore up the disintegrating bloc. Particular attention is devoted to the interaction of domestic and international factors in the policy process; the causes and impact of ideological revision within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and the role of GorbacheV's perceptions in his decisions. Most people will admit that in 1985 they could not imagine that during their lifetime the Soviet Union would permit the Berlin Wall to fall, would allow democratic elections in Eastern Europe, and would withdraw its troops from the region, ending the Cold War. Yet, between 1985 and 1990, the Soviet Union reoriented its foreign policy rapidly, decisively, and peacefully. This book explains why the Soviet Union abandoned its long-term policy toward Eastern Europe: specifically, why the Gorbachev regime abandoned the Brezhnev Doctrine. This study of the decisions that resulted in the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe helps us understand the factors and forces behind not only GorbacheV's Eastern European policy but also MoscoW's foreign policy in general, Soviet internal democratization, and the large-scale historical change in the 20th century. This book is important reading for those concerned with contemporary international and military relations and Eastern European studies.
The proverbial Soviet enigma has never seemed more elusive to Western analysts than now. General Secretary GorbacheV's demonstrated willingness to reallocate resources, the upheavals in the internal Soviet system wrought by perestroika and glasnost, and a new strategic reliance on defensive sufficiency may all have profound implications for U.S.-Soviet relations in the future. In this volume, distinguished academics, researchers, and government and military strategists look ahead to the 1990s and examine probable trends in the superpower relationship over the course of the next decade. An excellent source of readings for courses in international relations, national security, and foreign policy, the book focuses particularly on the strategic and military aspects of the relationship. The book is divided into four parts and begins by addressing concepts of strategy. The contributors outline U.S. strategic practice and Soviet global objectives in the context of nuclear deterrence and major conventional wars. In Part II, three chapters discuss the U.S. response to the Soviet threat in terms of U.S. strategy for war in Europe, strategic defense policies, and technology and policy choices. Low intensity conflicts, both unconventional conflicts and Third World involvements, are the subject of Part III. Finally, the contributors assess Soviet military power and U.S. defense resources, examining the question of which nation is currently better prepared to outlast the other in a protracted conflict. A concluding chapter ties the readings together by examining whether the Soviet challenge of the 1990s can best be characterized as peacefully offensive or as operational entrapment.
This volume discusses the various interrelations that exist within and between social and political phenomena. This includes exploring the underlying social roots or origins of politics and power; the organisation, management, and process of political power structure; and the effects of political decision-making and power structures on the surrounding society and culture.
Drawing on research from the administrative sciences and using organizational, institutional and decision-making theories, this volume examines the emerging bureaucratic framework of the EU and highlights that analyzing the patterns and dynamics of the EU's administrative capacities is essential to understand how it shapes European public policy.
Several of the world's leading scholars present critical analyses (both conceptual and empirical) of important substantive themes on political parties in contemporary democracies. They critically re-examine the classic concepts and typologies that have guided research in this field over the past decades, and explore new challenges faced by parties today.
In this study of the British labor movement, Joel Wolfe asks whether participatory democracy is possible in modern large-scale union and party organizations and how rank and file members can exercise control of delegates in the face of constraints imposed by formal bureaucratic structures at all levels. In addressing these questions he formulates a theory of participatory democracy that has broad practical application to contemporary democratic practice in industiral and political organizations. He tests his model through an analysis of the policy-making process in the British labor movement during World War I, examining thoroughly and critically direct democracy in wartime work groups, the impact of these groups on policy-making in critical areas, and their influence on decision-makers in the Trades Union Congress and the British Labor Party.
Citizens, journalists, and watchdog organizations claim that U.S. Congress members serve special interest groups in return for lucrative jobs in industry once they leave office-and that these legislators become lax in their final term of office as they are no longer compelled by elections to provide quality representation to citizens. This book investigates the veracity of these claims. The established consensus among scholars and citizens groups is that democracy suffers when U.S. Congress members prepare to leave office-that legislators are quick to satisfy pressure groups' requests in part because they anticipate being rewarded with financially compelling positions in those organizations once they leave office. But is this actually true? Focusing on 346 of the senators and representatives who left office during the 107th through 111th Congresses (January 2001 to January 2011), this book makes a counterintuitive argument: that job-seeking legislators provide stalwart service to citizens during their final term of office for fear of damaging their reputations and imperiling their post-Congressional career prospects. After an introductory chapter, author Matthew S. Dabros summarizes past research on political opportunism before discussing how nonelectoral constraints imposed by special interests (namely, diminished post-Congressional employment opportunities) actually encourage job-seeking legislators to provide quality representation to citizens even in their final term in office. The book also describes the nature and identifies the determinants of post-Congressional careers. The chapters use numerous contemporary examples and draw parallels to topics familiar to general readers to ensure that the book is highly accessible and interesting to nonspecialists. Offers a timely and fact-based perspective on the relationship between legislators and special interest organizations, one in which special interests constrain-not exploit-lawmakers' opportunistic proclivities Documents how the fear of diminished post-office employment opportunities compels legislators to supply quality representation rather than succumb to opportunism in the final term of officeholding and in the absence of electoral constraints Reveals that post-Congressional careers entail more than just lobbying through an up-to-date accounting of the career decisions of almost every senator and representative who left office between 2001 and 2011 Investigates and identifies the major factors that prompt legislators to remain in public service, take up a career in lobbying or elsewhere in the private sector, or retire from work altogether
The French Fifth Republic Presidency has emerged as one of the most powerful executives in western society. This is a study of how that was possible and of the way in which the power of the Presidency was created and maintained. It investigates the political skills of the office holders and the way in which the coalition supporting the Presidency has been brought together and sustained (and how it has been, on occasion, lost). The book's analysis of leadership in the Fifth Republic draws out the skills and manipulation of the successive presidents as well as the resources of the cultural and political contexts. Among the topics considered as part of the presidential system are the Constitutions, the referendum, foreign policy, Europe, May 1968, Giscard d'Estaing's centrist septennate, cohabitation and neogaullism. These issues are treated as crucial elements in presidential power and help to illustrate the foundations of presidential authority. The main contention is that the presidency has been created and sustained by political arts of a high order which have involved the mobilization of certain symbols, culture, and political forces.
This work rejects the view that the growth of Irish nationalism, Afrikaner nationalism and Zionism was due primarily to issues of race, religion or language. Instead, drawing on an analytical framework and close historical analysis, it shows how their ultimate success was the result of political, economic and organizational factors conditioned by sustained conflict with the existing state and other ethnic groups.
Political Tactics, composed for the Estates General just before the French Revolution, is one of Bentham's most original works. It contains the earliest and perhaps most important theoretical analysis of parliamentary procedure ever written. It was subsequently translated into many languages and has had a far-reaching influence -- as recently as the early 1990s it was reprinted by the Spanish Cortes.
The culmination of work begun in 1985 by the authors under the joint sponsorship of the Ekonomski Institut Zagreb and Florida State University, this book posits the most comprehensive and relevant model yet developed to explain the workings of Yugoslavia's economy. The authors have developed a model that is both theoretically oriented and empirically relevant--ensuring its appropriateness for recommending and evaluating alternative policy remedies for the acute problems of inflation, unemployment, and foreign trade now facing Yugoslavia, a country until recently noted for its economic successes. Already chosen to represent Yugoslavia in the ongoing international Project LINK, a global system for tracking and forecasting the economic conditions of some eighty countries and regions, the model is distinguished by its policy emphasis and by its ability to capture the fundamental divisions of the Yugoslav economy. Students and scholars of socialism, Marxism, and comparative economics will find this a major contribution to the literature of economic modeling. The book begins by providing essential background information about Yugoslavia including highlights of the country's economic experience, special features of its economic structure, the composition of its political system, the operation of its financial system, and the behavior of firms. Part two includes four chapters which examine the different components of the Yugoslav economy and review the theoretical basis and empirical performance of the equations which describe those components. A separate chapter presents the complete model, called the EIZFSU Mark 1.0 in recognition of its major sponsoring institutions. In the final part, the model is used to study policies for improving the performance of the economy and obstacles to their implementation. An appendix describes and quantifies the variables used in the model while a list of references provides additional information for the researcher who wishes to pursue further study in this area.
The republics of Greece and Rome proved incapable of waging war effectively and remaining free at the same time. The record of modern republics is not much more encouraging. How, then, did the United States manage to emerge victorious from the world wars of this century, including the Cold War, and still retain its fundamental liberties? For Karl-Friedrich Walling, this unprecedented accomplishment was the work of many hands and many generations, but of Alexander Hamilton especially. No Founder thought more about the theory and practice of modern war and free government. None supplied advice of more enduring relevance to statesmen faced with the responsibility of providing for the common defense while securing the blessings of liberty to their posterity. Hamilton's strategic sobriety led many of his contemporaries to view him as an American Caesar, but this revisionist account calls the conventional "militarist" interpretation of Hamilton into question. Hamilton sought to unite the strength necessary for war with the restraint required by the rule of law, popular consent, and individual rights. In the process, he helped found something new, the world's most durable republican empire. Walling constructs a conversation about war and freedom between Hamilton and the Loyalists, the Anti-Federalists, the Jeffersonians, and other Federalists. Instead of pitting Hamilton's virtues against his opponents' vices (or vice versa), Walling pits Hamilton's virtue of responsibility against the revolutionary virtue of vigilance, a quarrel he believes is inherent to American party government. By reexamining that quarrel in light of the necessities of war and the requirements of liberty, Walling has written the most balanced and moving account of Hamilton so far.
"The Little Platoons" examines sub-local government--the small-scale structures of civil society that lie between the individual and large governmental actors--in England, France, Germany, the United States, Russia, China, and Japan. The work examines community councils, educational districts, neighborhood organizations, and the like, as seen in various societies in the modern age. And, in identifying common attributes of these civil and societal organizations, the work has particular relevance--and indeed makes ameliorative recommendations--for the problems of our modern cities. In a period of dissatisfaction with a self-regarding and centralized political class and with both market and bureaucratic institutions, Liebmann's thoughtful analysis of community and civil organization in a variety of societies and traditions broadens our understanding of comparative politics and sociology, urban planning, and state and local government. |
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