"The present volume explores the concept of utopia in Latin America from the earliest accounts of the New World to current cultural production. The carefully selected essays in this volume represent the latest research on the topic by some of the most important Latin Americanists working in North American academia today. With an interdisciplinary approach, the texts included discuss the notion of a utopian impulse in literature, music, performance, cinema, visual arts, critical theory, cultural studies, and political science. Among the many questions the book grapples with are how the utopian impulse is reconfigured over time, especially in new cultural fields and situations, and how Latin American utopias should be contextualized in the so-called global era"--

The division of Europe between East and West, born during World War II, not only denied independence to more than 100 million East Europeans, but upset the balance of global power, putting Stalin in a position to threaten Western Europe and planting the seeds of the Cold War and the arms race. This book probes the questions and facts surrounding the division of Europe and offers new insight into how it might have been prevented. Looking beyond the conventional assumption that Stalin simply took over Eastern Europe in the postwar years, Remi Nadeau demonstrates how the Soviet leader, having gained power in Eastern Europe through Red Army occupation, was unrestrained by any prior Allied agreements. The Sovietization of Eastern Europe, which is commonly believed to have occurred in the immediate postwar years, actually came about during the war as the Allies failed to limit Stalin. Nadeau shows how the British, who recognized the Soviet threat, repeatedly tried to block it and how Roosevelt, with a different foreign policy approach, did not support them. But, as the author states in his preface, this is not a story of American wrongdoing, but of American innocence.

Well researched and thorough in its arguments, this book demonstrates how Roosevelt's failure to throw U.S. strength into the political balance was not confined to the Yalta Conference in 1945, but was a consistent U.S. policy in East-West encounters throughout the war. Nadeau shows that Roosevelt did not understand Stalin's intentions and repeatedly failed to support Churchill's attempts to block Stalin with diplomatic bargaining and military preemption. Written in a highly readable style and full of little-known historical detail, this book will appeal to any student of World War II, Eastern Europe, or European history.

A timely contribution to the analysis of the American Constitution. . . . Edited by Stanley Friedelbaum, it consists of essays written predominantly by political scientists with expertise in constitutional law. The underlying theme is twofold: an exploration of the constitutional norm of federalism, and of the nature and meaning of the Bill of Rights. . . . Highly recommended for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Choice The editor introduces the volume with an overview of the historical relationship between federal and state courts and a discussion of the interplay of national and state legal standards. The contributing authors examine the ways in which various state courts have expanded their effective jurisdiction with regard to specific constitutional issues, including state counterpart First Amendment guarantees, women's rights, privacy, and economic due process. Other topics covered are the reactions of state courts to pro-prosecution Burger Court decisions, the efforts of state courts to shield their findings from federal review, and the limits of state authority over individuals. The final chapter assesses the possible long-term significance of state constitutional initiatives for human rights protection and the American judicial system as a whole. The first authoritative, full-length analysis of the subject, this study will be welcomed by legal scholars and students as well as human specialists.

Since the early 1980s, the World Bank, backed by aid donor countries, has been involved in a determined effort to stimulate capitalist growth in Africa by prescribing a set of orthodox, neoliberal economic policies. Even in the relative success stories, such as in Ghana, there has been a notable failure to achieve the East Asian-style economic takeoff that some World Bank officials still optimistically envisioned in the early 1990s. Using Ghana as a case study, this book considers why this is the case, and what the implications are for the adequacy of orthodox, neoliberal policies.

This book looks at the organization and strategy of state-wide parties from across some of the most important multi-layered countries in Western Europe. The volume provides the first systematic attempt to study the strategy of state-wide parties on the basis of the comparative literature on issue voting.

This volume of essays by scholars and activists focuses on the political and social relations between blacks, Latinos, and Asians in key urban centers. Collectively, the essays examine the particular status of relations between these groups, the reasons for conflict or consensus, and the prospects for future relations. While a number of cities are examined, the book focuses on Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Miami as particularly instructive case studies. Urban eruptions in these cities are examined in terms of the nature of political relations between blacks, Latinos, and Asians.

These essays provide analyses within a sociohistorical context and offer the kind of political activism that might ensure consensus, rather than conflict, between these groups in urban America. As Luis Fuentes observes, This book should be read by all activists and scholars interested in changing the face of urban and ultimately, national America; for if communities of color can come together for progressive political action, then it will only be a matter of time before America finally begins to look like, and act like, what it has been preaching for generations.

Unemployment is growing. Crime is on the increase. The currency has fallen. The initial euphoria following South Africa's transition to democracy is waning as people become disillusioned with the state of the economy and government's lack of delivery on polices and promises. Where does South Africa go from here? It is not all doom and gloom and there is hope for the future. Anthony Ginsberg offers solutions to the fundamental problem of rising unemployment, crime, homelessness and poverty, all excerbated by high taxes, draconian tariffs and stagnant foreign investment. He encourages us to become informed and aware before we criticise. This book is aimed at everyone interested in contributing to South Africa' s future as a prosperous nation in the benefit of all her citizens.

Political culture and institutions may cause the development of authoritarian party organizations. Yet, what constitutes their structure and what explains their changing patterns across time and space? Conducting a comparative case study among four parties in the Turkish political system and utilizing the principal-agent approach to party governance, this study shows how the variance in interest configurations and the power resources of local party activists constitute these changing patterns. Musil argues that exit from intra-party authoritarianism is always a possibility not only because the party leaders choose to do so, but because the local party activists can challenge the existing structures by cultivating their own power resources.

This study, sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation and the London School of Economics and Political Science, analyzes the ethnopolitical situation in Russia and the other republics of the former Soviet Union, particularly the southern tier states. Respected Russian scholar Georgiy Mirsky provides an insider's look at the historical nature of the Russian and Soviet empires, the development of ethnic and nationalistic identities within those empires, and the present-day situation with regard to hot and cold ethnic conflicts within and around Russia. This important work will be of interest to scholars and policymakers in comparative politics, international relations, and Russian and Slavic studies.

The debate on Italian regionalism has received renewed impetus from the disintegration of the First Republic and the emergence of the Northern League. In this important study, leading scholars of Italian history, politics, sociology and linguistics examine the nature of Italian regionalism since the formation of the modern Italian nation state. This is the first English-language book to explore the Italian concept of regionalism in all its ramifications.Topics include: the nature and problems of Italian regionalism in context; the historical background of the period up to 1945; critical overviews of regionalism since the establishment of the Republic; the relationship between dialect, language and Italian regionalism; and an examination of the origins of the Northern Leagues, their growing power, and their contribution to the crisis of the Republic. Contributors: Adrian Lyttelton, John Davis, Anna Laura Lepschy, Giulio Lepschy, Martin Clark, Percy Allum, Ilvo Diamanti, Joseph Farrell, David Hine, Anna Cento Bull, Miriam Voghera

In 1991 the politicians of Northern Ireland sat down at the formal negotiating table for the first time in seventeen years. This book tells the fascinating story of the Initiative's three years of painstaking political deals in an enlightening and entertaining narrative, using the words of many of the participants. It shows how the Initiative laid the necessary groundwork for the subsequent Irish peace process and how its failures also illuminate current events.

The democratic nation state of the post-war era has undergone major transformations since the 1970s, and political authority has been both internationalized and privatized. The thirteen chapters of this edited collection deal with major transformations of governance arrangements and state responsibilities in the countries of the OECD world. A unified conceptual and explanatory framework is used to describe trajectories of state change, to explain the internationalization or privatization of responsibilities in the resource, law, legitimacy and welfare dimensions of the democratic nation state, and to probe the state's role in the today's post-national constellation of political authority. As the contributions show, an unravelling of state authority has indeed occurred, but the state nevertheless continues to play a key role in emerging governance arrangements. Hence it is not merely a 'victim' of globalization and other driving forces of change.

Adams surveys the impact of transnational organizations and NGOs on Latin American politics since 1990. The transition from military to civilian rule in Latin American countries has benefited local progressive forces, but resilient remnants favoring the past's authoritarian politics have compelled organizations like the UN, IMF, OAS, and World Bank to engage in various campaigns to deepen democratic institutions and norms. Adams argues that to understand current political transformations in the region, one must consider the existing role of external organizations. Latin America is offered as a prime example of the increased influence transnational authorities have over political decisions that had long been the exclusive prerogative of national governments. Beginning with the Latin American experience, Adams reviews the contemporary character of power and politics in the area, outlining how democratic transitions have been limited. UN human rights and reform initiatives are considered. Adams scrutinizes the work of the World Bank, the IMF, and the Inter-American Development Bank to modernize public administration, strengthen political institutions, enhance transparency and accountability, and fortify civil society. He also examines the work and impact and the Organization of American States and various global citizens groups.

A collective effort by American and North African scholars, this volume provides a comprehensive analysis of recent economic, social, and political events in North Africa. It shows how the Maghrebi states and societies are currently at a very important junction as they try to adjust to different ways of doing things in new regional and international orders. Using a political economy approach, the book focuses on a series of issues raised by the interaction between economic crisis and reform on the one hand, and political change or stagnation on the other. The author and his contributors provide a comprehensive and up-to-date survey of particular value to scholars and researchers of the Arab world in general and North Africa in particular.

Does the Coalition government represent a new politics in Britain, or is the new government just the same old Tories hiding behind an opportunist pact with the Liberal Democrats? Does Cameron differ from past Conservatives like Margaret Thatcher, and if so, how? This book looks at the Coalition government in the context of conservative ideas and seeks to assess what, if anything, is new about it. The book is aimed at undergraduates and those interested in the future direction of politics in the UK.

Despite the brouhaha accorded presidential debates by the media, which regards these confrontations as events of significant magnitude, social scientists have been less convinced of their impact and importance. They tend to assert that such performances have had little effect on voting behavior, and tend to merely reinforce viewers' already held biases. In "The Joint Press Conference," David J. Lanoue and Peter R. Schrott focus on the impact of presidential debates on voters and attempt to reconcile the disparate views of media and social science. Confronting the positive conventional wisdom of the former and the largely negative, empirical data of the latter, they arrive at some surprising conclusions. Research that emerged after the 1980, 1984, and 1988 debates strongly suggested that debates do matter and that their impact may be substantial. In addition, not only have the direct effects of debates on voting behavior come under reconsideration, but also their importance in changing and reinforcing viewers' candidate images and issue positions. This five-chapter study ties together the research of social scientists arguing that many scholars have understated the ability of debates to influence voters and elections. Lanoue and Schrott base their assertion on evidence gleaned from re-assessment of the same studies used by others to support findings of limited effects, as well as their own more recent contributions.

Following the introduction, Chapter 2 presents an analytical and critical history of the presidential debates since 1960 and focuses on the conventional wisdom on these debates. An area largely ignored by students of debating, the content of presidential debates, is examined in Chapter 3 which also presents a brief history of the use and evolution of content analysis in the study of political communication. Chapter 4 organizes and integrates the post-1960 findings of social scientists emphasizing the importance of reinforcement as an electorally significant phenomenon. Chapter 5 presents a model of debate effects that takes into consideration the direct and indirect paths between debate watching and attitude change and indicates that early reports of the electoral triviality of debates were premature. The groundbreaking reinterpretations contained in this first comprehensive analysis of the issue of debate effects will be required reading for students and scholars of mass media and communications, public opinion, and journalism.

Exploring the visions of the end of the Cold War that have been put forth since its inception until its actual ending, this volume brings to the fore the reflections, programmes, and strategies that were intended to call into question the bipolar system and replace it with alternative approaches or concepts. These visions were associated not only with prominent individuals, organized groups and civil societies, but were also connected to specific historical processes or events. They ranged from actual, thoroughly conceived programmes, to more blurred, utopian aspirations - or simply the belief that the Cold War had already, in effect, come to an end. Such visions reveal much about the contexts in which they were developed and shed light on crucial moments and phases of the Cold War.

8 February 2015 marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Erskine May. May is the most famous of the fifty holders of the office of Clerk of the House of Commons. His continued renown arises from his Treatise upon the Law, Privileges, Proceedings and Usage of Parliament, first published in 1844 and with its 25th edition currently in preparation. It is known throughout those parts of the world that model their constitutional arrangements on Westminster as the 'Bible of Parliamentary Procedure'. This volume celebrates both the man and his book. Bringing together current and former Clerks in the House of Commons and outside experts, the contributors analyse May's profound contribution to the shaping of the modern House of Commons, as it made the transition from the pre-Reform Act House to the modern core of the UK's constitutional democracy in his lifetime. This is perhaps best symbolised by its enforced transition between 1834 and 1851 from a mediaeval slum to the World Heritage Palace of Westminster, which is the most iconic building in the UK. The book also considers the wider context of parliamentary law and procedure, both before and after May's time. It constitutes the first sustained analysis of the development of parliamentary procedure in over half a century, attempting to situate the reforms in the way the central institution of our democracy conducts itself in the political contexts which drove those changes.

A study of budgeting and financial administration in developing countries, which probes reasons for failure and solutions for improvement. The contributors are all involved in relating prescription to practice, and theory to reality in this area. Their essays all seek to provide practical advice to administrators caught up in the ever-changing, unpredictable contemporary environment.

This study offers the first detailed examination of the varied means by which parliament through its committees and the work of individual members has sought to scrutinise the British intelligence and security agencies and the government's use of intelligence.

Explores the paths of development unfolding from the inter-dependent histories of postwar Germany and the European integration process. The contributors explore these histories within the idea of 'semi-sovereignty': a set of constraints on the German state's power within the external constraints of Germany's multilateral commitments.

Will the British retain the monarchy and the English church establishment into the 21st century? The preservation of the monarchy and of the establishment of the church of England is a matter that cuts deep in fact and theory. The monarchy and the church are symbols of civil liberty, and as such they carry the freight of British national identity. Yet it is difficult to take those institutions seriously now because Britons give too little consideration to serious reforms of any kind for the monarchy or the church. This book suggests possible reforms.