This book seeks to inject fresh thinking into the debate on democratic deterioration in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), viewing 'democratic backsliding' through the prism of a range of cases beyond Hungary and Poland, to redress the imbalance in current scholarship. Over the past decade a consensus has emerged that democracy in CEE is sharply deteriorating, perhaps even 'backsliding' into new forms of authoritarianism. Debate has, however, so far focused disproportionately on the two most dramatic and surprising cases: Hungary and Poland. This book reflects on the 'backsliding' debate through the experience of CEE countries such as the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Latvia, and Estonia; as well as neighbouring post-communist regions such as the Western Balkans and former Soviet Union (cases such as Moldova and Ukraine), whose patterns of failing or partial democratisation may be newly instructive for analysing the development of CEE. Contributors present less frequently considered perspectives on 'democratic backsliding' in the CEE region, such as the role of oligarchisation and wealth concentration; the potential of ethnographical approaches to democracy evaluation; the trade-offs between democratic quality and democratic stability; and the long-term interplay between social movements, state-building, and democratisation. This book was originally published as a special issue of East European Politics.

The Partition of British India in 1947 set in motion events that have had far-reaching consequences in South Asia - wars, military tensions, secessionist movements and militancy/terrorism. This book looks at key events in 1947 and explores the aftermath of the Partition and its continued impact in the present-day understanding of nationhood and identity. It also examines the diverse and fractured narratives that framed popular memory and understanding of history in the region. The volume includes discussions on the manner in which regions such as the Punjab, Sindh, Kashmir, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow) and North-East India were influenced. It deals with issues such as communal politics, class conflict, religion, peasant nationalism, decolonization, migration, displacement, riots, the state of refugees, women and minorities, as well as the political relationship between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Drawing on major flashpoints in contemporary South Asian history along with representations from literature, art and popular culture, this book will interest scholars of modern Indian history, Partition studies, colonial history, postcolonial studies, international relations, politics, sociology, literature and South Asian studies.

The main theme of this book is the relationship between capital and government in Britain, particularly the practice and organisation of capital in both national and local political processes. The chapters are primarily empirical in focus and deal with such topics as power, policy and the City of London and the role of the CBI in representing capital. Major theoretical themes are also discussed and these include de-industrialisation, corporatism, and the role of government in the development of pressure group habit.

The Council of Ministers is one of the most powerful institutions of the European Union (EU) and plays a major role in the European policy-making process. Drawing on formal theory and combining quantitative and qualitative methods in an innovative fashion, this book provides novel insights into the role of national bureaucrats in legislative decision-making of the Council of the EU. The book examines and describes the Council of Ministers' committee system and its internal decision-making process. Relying on a wide quantitative dataset as well as six detailed case studies in the policy areas of Agriculture, Environment, and Taxation, it provides a comprehensive and systematic assessment of the extent to which national bureaucrats act as law-makers in the Council. It also examines the degree to which theories on collective decision-making, delegation, and international socialization can account for variation in the involvement of bureaucrats. Investigating how often and why national officials in working parties and committees, rather than ministers, make legislative decisions in the EU, this book addresses the implications of bureaucratic influence for the democratic legitimacy of Council decision-making. The author finds that ministers play a generally more important role in legislative decision-making than often assumed, alleviating, to some extent, concerns about the democratic legitimacy of Council decisions. Bureaucrats as Law-Makers will be of interest to students, scholars and practitioners in the field of European Union politics and policy-making, legislative decision-making, intergovernmental negotiations and international socialization.

Political parties are an essential ingredient in a modern democracy. They are also seen as the least trusted and most problematic institution in most democratic systems. While there have been attempts to strengthen parties through institutional design and capacity building, a new strategy has been to quarantine them from parts of parliament. Within the space of a few years the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia implemented designs for parliamentary representation that proscribed the established political parties from a parliamentary chamber or part thereof. Using these three countries as case studies, this book traces the historical context for institutional designs, the intentions behind them and their implementation through at least one full parliamentary term. It investigates the conceptual architecture of the non-partisan designs, identifying corporatism as one (discredited) alternative and "championship" as another. While there is a yearning for exemplary people as representatives, the designers have struggled to find a successful means of having these champions elected to office. The book concludes that non-partisan chambers, based on the evidence to date, are not viable. This book is of interest to scholars of Southeast Asian Politics, Party Politics, Governance Institutions and Democracy.

In recent years, the Russian Orthodox Church has become a more prominent part of post-Soviet Russia. A number of assumptions exist regarding the Church s relationship with the Russian state: that the Church has always been dominated by Russia s secular elites; that the clerics have not sufficiently fought this domination and occasionally failed to act in the Church s best interest; and that the Church was turned into a Soviet institution during the twentieth century. This book challenges these assumptions. It demonstrates that church-state relations in post-communist Russia can be seen in a much more differentiated way, and that the church is not subservient, very much having its own agenda. Yet at the same time it is sharing the state s, and Russian society s nationalist vision.

The book analyses the Russian Orthodox Church s political culture, focusing on the Putin and Medvedev eras from 2000. It examines the upper echelons of the Moscow Patriarchate in relation to the governing elite and to Russian public opinion, explores the role of the church in the formation of state religious policy, and the church s role within the Russian military. It discusses how the Moscow Patriarchate is asserting itself in former Soviet republics outside Russia, especially in Estonia, Ukraine and Belarus. It concludes by re-emphasising that, although the church often mirrors the Kremlin s political preferences, it most definitely acts independently.

Promises, Promises examines from a libertarian perspective, the differing methods and levels of success of adapting contract law in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and especially Russia in the wake of political change. The author analyses the roles of government power and policy, opportunism and private regulatory mechanisms within the pattern of change.

Communism in Eastern Europe is in crisis. Its dimensions are social and economic; its manifestation is political. This volume, a collection of essays by leading authorities, describes the symptoms of the crisis, diagnoses the causes of the malady, and offers alternative scenarios for therapy. A unique dimension of this collection is its avoidance of one-dimensional explanations. The contributors approach the subject from very different angles, and start from very distinct sociopolitical premises. The volume includes original accounts of unexplored aspects of East European communism as well as classic interpretations of the economic crisis and social stagnation that characterize the area. Contributions not only examine the sociopolitical behavior of the ruling apparatus, but also analyze its strategies, political culture, and the opposition. Both the professional and the general reader seeking more information about Eastern Europe will find this volume an extensive, in-depth portrait of the current situation in what many observers predict may develop into the major area of tension in post-World War II Europe.

This book examines the evolution towards increased supranational governance in the EU's Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ). At the end of 2009, a successor programme to the Tampere and Hague Programmes was developed under the Swedish Presidency. Called the 'Stockholm Programme', it was adopted at a special EU Council Summit on 10-11 December 2009. The new agenda covers the period 2010-2014 and emphasises six areas of priority. In the context of these priorities, as well as the innovations introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, this edited book analyses policy change in the AFSJ, especially as it has been affected by the rise of supranational governance in this domain. From police cooperation and crime fighting to border management and counter-terrorism, much has changed, and the EU has taken yet another step forward in the direction of supranational governance. However, the various contributions also highlight that there are still problems and challenges remaining for the AFSJ. Collectively, this book considers how consequential the Lisbon Treaty has been for the AFSJ, as well as how successful the EU has been in achieving its stated goals as expressed in the Stockholm Programme. Thus, this book makes a significant contribution to the scholarly investigation of the AFSJ, but also to the study of European integration in general. This book was published as a special issue of the Cambridge Review of International Affairs.

Over the last twenty years, the role of national parliaments in EU affairs has gained considerable academic attention. Much of the literature, however, has focused on parliamentary scrutiny and control in EU affairs. What tends to be generally overlooked is that the parliamentary communication function is at least as important in EU politics as the control function. Democratic legitimacy depends on a vibrant public debate on political solutions and alternatives to allow citizens to make informed political (electoral) choices and to exercise democratic control. Within the EU, it is precisely the opacity of policy-making processes and the lack of public discourse that have been defined as core problems of democratic legitimacy. Here, parliaments have the potential to provide an ideal arena for the deliberation of important European issues and thus to help overcome the much-lamented distance between European policy processes and the citizens. Yet, despite parliaments' central relevance for the legitimacy of European politics, the parliamentary communication function remains so far under researched. The volume aims at filling this gap by providing both qualitative and quantitative comparative data on various communication efforts by national parliaments. This book was originally published as a special issue in the Journal of Legislative Studies.

This book explores the dynamics of the recent 'progressive cycle' in Latin American politics, associated with a red and pink tide of regime change. With this cycle of centre-left regimes oriented towards an alternative post-neoliberal form of development now coming to an end, coinciding with the end of a 'primary commodities boom' (the demand for natural resources exported in primary form on the world market), the authors seek to explore the dynamics of the transition from a progressive cycle of regimes oriented towards the search for a more inclusive form of development towards what appears to be another swing in the pendulum of electoral politics towards the far right and a return to neoliberal orthodoxy. Within the vortex of forces of change pushing towards both the Left and the Right, Latin America lies at the centre of ongoing heated theoretical and political debates as to how to bring about a more inclusive and sustainable form of post-neoliberal and post-capitalist development. Latin America in the Vortex of Social Change crucially aims to cut through these debates and explore the dynamics of the forces of change at work in the current conjuncture of capitalist development. With reference to a theoretical framework based on the interaction of three different forms of capitalism (capitalism as usual, extractive capitalism, narco-capitalism), the authors proceed to an analysis of the development and resistance dynamics of the development process that is unfolding on the Latin American political landscape. The book will appeal to scholars of political sociology and political theory with an interest in the political economy of development and Latin American affairs.

Examining the genral character and key issues of local politics, People, Power and Place discusses the effect of local government policieson the general population and identifies those who gain or lose under them. Based on a comparitive investigation of Britain and the United States, the book explores the changing influences of institutions and individuals in local political systems and activity. This perspective, first published in 1991, illustrates the role of national, international and historical factors in the evolution of local government as well as outlining the practice of local politics in both countries.

Presidential transitions offer the chance for new ideas, policies, and people to inhabit the White House. Transitions have triggered policy change for decades and eager interest groups have sought ways to capitalize on this often chaotic phase of US politics. President-Elect Barack Obama declared that lobbyists would be forbidden from serving his transition and issued stiff regulations and rules to limit their access to the planning for his White House. Yet even though Obama's efforts mirror previous Presidents anti-lobbyist efforts, all Presidential transitions provide certain channels of influence, and Obama himself chose the head of a powerful and politically oriented think tank, the Center for American Progress, to run his transition. New Presidents need the information, ideas, and political capital that groups possess. Thus a curious paradox. Using an innovative mixed methodology integrating a historical analysis of original documents, original interviews with over 40 interest group leaders and transition leaders, a survey of 300 interest groups and content analysis of 300 interest group letters, Lobbying the New President uncovers the politics of interest group influence during Presidential transitions. In doing so, Heath Brown asks: Was the role played by Heritage in 1980 and CAP in 2008 indicative of a pattern of influence during the transition phase? Or have Presidents effectively shielded themselves from outside influence at the earliest point of their time in office? What can we learn about the larger study of interest groups and the Presidency from a focus on the transition phase? This book is a valuable resource that goes beyond the field of presidency studies which American politics scholars as well as public policy specialists should not go without.

This book presents an innovative investigation of the policies of the Indian National Congress during the late colonial period. Departing from the hitherto existing historiography of Indian nationalism, it analyses the extent to which Congress elites engaged in processes intended to foster nation-building in India.

No one in Latin American historiography has paid more attention to questions related to the emergence of nations than Jose Carlos Chiaramonte. Reflecting on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century uses of the concept of nation in Europe and the Americas, Chiaramonte argues that historical questions related to the term "nation" derive from its changing meaning in different contexts. The historian would be better advised to focus on the development of forms of state organization, and the emergence of national states, rather than the "nation" as a cultural community prior to independence. "Nation and State in Latin America "begins by examining the effects on historians of the ideological and methodological prejudice spread by contemporary nationalism on the historical studies of Latin America. Chiaramonte analyzes uses of concepts such as "nation" and "state" in both Europe and the Americas. Chiaramonte considers the prominence of sovereign "pueblos" (cities and townships) and their role during independence. He argues the non-existence of nationalities in the period and proves that feelings of collective identity at that time amounted mainly to local affections. He concludes with an analysis of major trends in federalism and the law of nature and nations, crucial to understanding the political concepts of the age of birth of modern Latin American nations. This book covers the whole of Latin America, making use of comparative viewpoints. The different national intonations of the concept of sovereignty and the nuances of the federal and confederate forms of the state are examined in detail.

Yavor Tarinski examines the fundamental conflict between democratic aspirations and the imposed norms of capitalism, the potential for directly democratic and ecologically designed cities, the imperative to renew the commons, and the prospects for a genuine solidarity economy to overturn the ravages of capitalist economic growth. It critiques bureaucratic, technocratic and conspiracist tendencies both in mainstream discourse and on the Left, and offers a compelling and uplifting vision of a thoroughly transformed social order.

The military played a pivotal role in the political development, state functions, foreign policy and the daily lives of the people in the Central Asian states from the early twentieth century until the present. This book is the first major, in-depth study of the military institutions in Central Asian states. It examines their hidden story, the different stages of their development from the early twentieth century until the present, and the influence they had on the state and society. It effectively combines history, sociology of the military and political science and provides deeper insights into how recently formed states function. By concentrating extensively on the military, this book is an important and a timely contribution to a wide range of disciplines including Central Asian studies, and post-colonial state and nation-building studies.

This book looks at the link between voters and political party systems in Asian democracies, focusing on India, Indonesia, Korea and the Philippines. It discusses this link in terms of three distinct elements: the formation of voters preferences, the translation of preferences into votes, and the translation of votes into seats. The book goes on to discuss how far the general rules of political party systems and their underlying causal mechanisms such as strategic voting are apparent in these Asian democracies. In particular, it explores the extent to which electoral rules and social structural variables affect the process of transforming preferences into a political party system within the context of Asian politics.The extensive areas covered by the book overcome the traditional sub-regional division of Asia, namely, East, Southeast and South Asia.

A post-communist condition has arisen from the fall of the Berlin Wall and later the Soviet Empire: this book looks at how this condition has manifested itself globally in the production of post-communist film. It argues post-communism is a shared experience on a geopolitical level, unlimited by national state borders, and examines post-communist cross culturalism and global totalitarianism within film. The book examines different national cinemas and dissimilar cinematic modes - from Russian blockbuster cinema to Chinese independent cinema; from Serbian city films to revolutionary films of Mozambique - all formulated as within the postcommunist condition. It considers the postcommunist film in terms of transnational and World cinema. It covers a wide range of films from small and independent filmmaking to mainstream, popular cinema, and explains post-communist signifiers as manifested in visual culture both inside and outside former, and current, communist countries.

Originally published in 1988, this is the first systematic account of the writings of Hungarian dissidents and former students of George Lukacs, collectively known as the 'Budapest School'. Dr. Brown demonstrates the importance of their work in contributing to a logically consistent yet realistic theory of socialist mixed economies, and genuine radical democracies. The Budapest Schoool's model of radical democracy represents a critique of both industrial capitalism and existing socialist systems, with immediate political as well as philosophical importance. Dr. Brown is particularly concerned to draw out its significance for the practical realities of political economy, and the logical implications for desirable reform of Western mixed economies.

"Political Worlds of Women" provides a comprehensive overview of women's political activism, comparing formal and informal channels of power from official institutions of state to grassroots mobilizations and Internet campaigns. Illuminating the politics of identity enmeshed in local, national, and global gender orders, this book explores women's creation of new political spaces and innovative political strategies to secure full citizenship and equal access to political power. Incorporating case studies from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, Mary Hawkesworth analyzes critical issues such as immigration and citizenship, the politics of representation, sexual regulation, and gender mainstreaming in order to examine how women mobilize in this era of globalization. "Political Worlds of Women" deepens understandings of national and global citizenship and presents the formidable challenges facing racial and gender justice in the contemporary world. It is an essential resource for students and scholars of women's studies and gender politics.

During the past ten years the terms public sociology, civil society, and governance have been used with increasing frequency to describe a wide array of practices, from public intellectuality and political action to governing and public service. These concepts are often used interchangeably and with different meanings across varying disciplines. The capacity for these concepts to convey critical ideas is an important foundation for debating what it means to practice knowledge publically and to govern democratically. In "Public Sociology and Civil Society: Governance, Politics, and Power" Patricia Nickel weaves together various disciplinary understandings of the practice of knowledge and governance through the lens of recent debates over the ideal of public sociology and its emphasis on civil society. Nickel explains the concepts underlying these debates and provides a critical clarification of the concepts of civil society and governance as they have been used over the past ten years, drawing attention to the need to reframe public intellectuality and public service outside of traditional disciplinary boundaries. With her unique international background in the practice of public service and social policy, as well as critical theory and political sociology, Nickel is able to provide a nuanced explanation of how the two areas are interrelated and the implications for the organization of knowledge and public life.The book is framed in three parts addressing how sociological knowledge governs and the potential implications of governing in what were previously understood to be nongovernment spaces. Part one explores the emergence of public sociology as an ideal, as well as the broader public turn in the social sciences. Part two explores the changing relationship between government and civil society, including nonprofit organizations. Part three draws these two themes together in an exploration of the politics of practice and relations of power.

In the mid-1970s, just when Congress seemed static and incapable of rejuvenation, the institution experienced an unexpected and transformative change. What accounted for this dynamic process and continues to explain other more recent upheavals and waves of reform? This volume charts the thinking of scholar Lawrence Dodd in his development of theoretical explanations for congressional change over time -- explained by members' pursuit of power, institutional and electoral contexts, cyclical rhythms, social learning, and polarization within society. Dodd's power cycle theory, modeled here as a dynamic act of theory development itself, takes shape to define an organizational cycle, an electoral cycle, and a learning cycle in Congress. Dodd also begins to explore here for the first time a fourth dimension of change, highlighting the possibility that the very act of Congress's transformative change and issue responsiveness may bring with it unseen and yet deep structured dangers that threaten the cyclical resilience of Congress. By showing an evolving multi-dimensional theory of congressional change in process from essay to essay, this book demonstrates the act of theory building, legitimizing this sustained form of empirical political inquiry in its own right. A new foreword from political scientist Eric Schickler sets the stage for the ways tin which Dodd's work has been innovative in the field of legislative studies.

In the mid-1970s, just when Congress seemed static and incapable of rejuvenation, the institution experienced an unexpected and transformative change. What accounted for this dynamic process and continues to explain other more recent upheavals and waves of reform? This volume charts the thinking of scholar Lawrence Dodd in his development of theoretical explanations for congressional change over time -- explained by members' pursuit of power, institutional and electoral contexts, cyclical rhythms, social learning, and polarization within society. Dodd's power cycle theory, modeled here as a dynamic act of theory development itself, takes shape to define an organizational cycle, an electoral cycle, and a learning cycle in Congress. Dodd also begins to explore here for the first time a fourth dimension of change, highlighting the possibility that the very act of Congress's transformative change and issue responsiveness may bring with it unseen and yet deep structured dangers that threaten the cyclical resilience of Congress. By showing an evolving multi-dimensional theory of congressional change in process from essay to essay, this book demonstrates the act of theory building, legitimizing this sustained form of empirical political inquiry in its own right. A new foreword from political scientist Eric Schickler sets the stage for the ways tin which Dodd's work has been innovative in the field of legislative studies.

For thirty years in India at the cusp of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Henry Thomas Colebrooke was an administrator and scholar with the East India Company. The Making of Western Indology explains and evaluates Colebrooke's role as the founder of modern Indology. The book discusses how Colebrooke embodies the significant passage from the speculative yearnings attendant on eighteenth-century colonial expansion, to the professional, transnational ethos of nineteenth-century intellectual life and scholarly enquiry. It covers his career with the East India Company, from a young writer to member of the supreme council and theorist of the Bengal government. Highlighting how his unprecedented familiarity with a broad range of literature established him as the leading scholar of Sanskrit and president of the Asiatic Society in Calcutta, it shows how Colebrooke went on to found the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and set standards for western Indology. Written by renowned academics in the field of Indology, and drawing on new sources, this biography is a useful contribution to the reassessment of Oriental studies that is currently taking place.