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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political structure & processes > General
This volume discusses the long term impacts of the Trump presidency on the federal bureaucracy. Drawing on the longstanding academic literature on neutral competence and interviews with the bureaucrats themselves, this book adds insight to the academic question of the role of bureaucrats in a democratic system after a four-year period in which their role has been questioned and threatened as never before. Focusing on the elite agencies of the Office of Management and Budget, the Congressional Budget Office, the Government Accountability Office, as well as the Economic Research Service at the Department of Agriculture, the chapters evaluate individual experiences of members of each agency during the Trump presidency through the lens of the growing tension between politics and administration. Enlightening the role that bureaucrats play in American democracy in an era when polarization is on the rise and disputes over the role of the civil service are growing, this volume will be of interest to scholars and students in public policy, political science, and public administration as well as policymakers and members of the US federal government workforce.
The local prisons of the latter half of the 19th century refined systems of punishment so harsh that one judge considered the maximum sentence of two years local imprisonment to be the most severe punishment known to English law: "next only to death". The punishment inflicted on prisoners was sometimes carried beyond the limits of health and sanity. Why was this policy adopted? Who conceived it? What was it like to endure?;This work examines how private perceptions and concerns became public policy. It also traces the move in English government from the rural and aristocratic to the urban and more democratic. It follows the rise of the powerful elite of the higher civil service, describes some of the forces that attempted to oppose it, and provides a window through which to view the process of state formation. Next only to the workhouse and the school, local prisons were probably the most widely experienced civil institution of the times, yet by a curious oversight this is one of the first scholarly studies of the subject. The book is based on archive research, and offers an original account of an important episode in English social, legal and administrative history.
Modern financial theories enable us to look at old problems in early American Republic historiography from new perspectives. Concepts such as information asymmetry, portfolio choice, and principal-agent dilemmas open up new scholarly vistas. Transcending the ongoing debates over the prevalence of either community or capitalism in early America, Wright offers fresh and compelling arguments that illuminate motivations for individual and collective actions, and brings agency back into the historical equation. Wright argues that the Colonial rebellion was in part sparked by destabilizing British monetary policy that threatened many with financial insolvency; that in areas without modern financial institutions and practices, dueling was a rational means of protecting one's creditworthiness; that the principle-agent problem led to the institutionalization of the U.S. Constitution's system of checks and balances; and that a lack of information and education induced women to shift from active business owners to passive investors. Economists, historians, and political scientists alike will be interested in this strikingly novel and compelling recasting of our nation's formative decades.
The opinion-editorial, or op-ed, is among the most powerful and persuasive types of writing in modern American journalism. In just 600-800 words, writers dig deep lines in the sand and give readers unfiltered and unashamed opinion. Now, in a collection of his most popular and sometimes most controversial op-eds, George Landrith takes his shots at junk science, high-profile liberals, big government hypocrites, media bias, and more. * Is global warming a reality that deserves serious attention or a myth perpetuated by leftist scientists and Hollywood liberals? * Does America's mainstream media bring you unbiased, unfiltered news, or is there a legitimate liberal media bias that paints their reporting? * Do liberals get a bad rap as being soft on defense or do they really operate under the John Kerry Global Test doctrine that requires international permission slips to defend America? All good questions you might ask your neighbor, your know-it-all brother-in-law, or Dan Rather from CBS. Or you could ask someone with more than 20 years' experience in politics and public policy. A good op-ed writer aims to change minds. In Mr. change yours.
After 1945, Britain maintained a great chain of overseas military outposts stretching from the Suez Canal to Singapore. Commonly termed the 'east of Suez' role, this chain had long been thought to be crucial for the country's security and its vitality. Nonetheless, British leaders eventually decided to abandon this network of bases. This study provides a comprehensive explanation of this pivotal decision, while also offering insight into the processes of foreign policy change and the decline of great powers.
What is meant by the concept of civil society? Why do some equate it with liberal democracy, while others think it simply a guise for a market economy? Who benefits from globalization and who loses out? Can civil society prosper in an era of globalization? Can global civil society restrain some of the negative consequences of economic globalization? Through a series of unique case studies and theoretical inquiries, this volume aims to provide a set of concrete answers to questions such as these.
Traditionally Belarus has always had a special status in Russia’s foreign policy. Russia’s approach towards a key political and military ally and a “Slavic brother” was always an indicator of how Russia would see the optimal relationships with other countries of the post-Soviet space. At this moment Belarus-Russia relations are evolving in unexpected ways. The two interconnected crises – the Belarusian mass protests of 2020 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – have had a profound impact on the Belarusian regime and society, the regional security and Russian policy towards Belarus. This book explores the ongoing development of Belarus-Russia relations and discusses the future of the relationship. This edited volume reviews the state of the relationship and underlines key emergent trends of Belarus’s and Russia’s policies towards each other to identify new mechanisms and practices as they shape into a new model. The book is comprised of in-depth empirical contributions in a range of interdisciplinary perspectives on cooperation in political, economic, security, media, and societal domains within a broader regional context.
This provocative new study explores the reasons for the dramatic decline in confidence which the political institutions of the U.S. have suffered since the 1960s. The author demonstrates the limitations of existing attempts to account for this heightened political alienation, particularly spirit of the times explanations which claim that events like the Vietnam War and Watergate affected the entire U.S. population in a similar fashion and political socialization and culture theories which, Herring argues, do not accurately gauge the amount of change that has occurred in the past 25 years. Instead, Herring proposes and tests a welfare split model which posits that conflicts over spending priorities of the state have led to spiraling alienation among different class fractions. Ideal as supplemental reading for advanced courses in political sociology, political economy, and political science, Splitting the Middle offers important new insights into the nature and causes of political alienation among America's middle layers. After pointing out the polarizing effects of the movements and events since the 1960s, Herring shows that the increasing lack of confidence in political institutions has a class basis. The War on Poverty and the progressive movements of the 1960s and 1970s, he demonstrates, forced irreconcilable demands on government and produced dual tendencies among different classes. On the one hand, levels of political alienation swelled among members of the capitalist, professional-managerial, and traditional working classes as a reaction to protest movement activities, growing deficits and the increasing burdens of the welfare state. At the same time, Herring asserts, political distrust among the new layer of public sector professionals and the poor grew because of cutbacks in government programs and worsening economic conditions. Using data from the "National Elections StudieS" and other sources, Herring shows how the government's oscillation between mutually contradictory sets of demands led to higher levels of political distrust. Finally, Herring analyzes what consequences these higher levels of alienation have had on political behaviors and the society.
The years 1978 and 1979 were dramatic throughout south and western Asia. In Iran, the Pahlavi dynasty was toppled by an Islamic revolution. In Pakistan, Zulfigar Ali Bhutto was hanged by the military regime that toppled him and which then proceeded to implement an Islamization programme. Between the two lay Afghanistan whose "Saur Revolution" of April 1978 soon developed into a full scale civil war and Soviet intervention. The military struggle that followed was largely influenced by Soviet-US rivalry but the ideological struggle followed a dynamic of its own.;Drawing on a wide range of sources, including such previously unused archival material as British Intelligence reports, this is a detailed study of the Afghan debate on the role of Islam in politics from the formation of the modern Afghan state around 1800 to the present day.
In Donald Trump’s Digital Diplomacy and Its Impact on US Foreign Policy Towards the Middle East, Ahmed Y. Zohny develops a well-blended mix of history and political science, supplemented by content analysis and critical discourse analysis of Trump’s statements and tweets. Americans are primarily interested in the domestic implications of Trump’s presidency, whereas people around the globe are more interested in his foreign policy’s implications. Both remain puzzled by Trump’s mixed messaging, his tendency to change his mind and make decisions on the impulse of the moment. The findings indicate that, by scuttling U.S. adherence to the Iran Accord, Trump has guaranteed its collapse, and contributed to an already volatile Middle East. Trump recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel brought an international crisis. Under international law and countless decisions by the UN, the final status of Jerusalem should be decided by negotiation, not unilateral action by the United States or Israel. The Abraham Peace Accord with the four normalizing relations agreements which were signed between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco mark a new and important shift in the Middle East geopolitics, it can be considered as a success for Trump’s foreign policy.
Latin America is an increasingly important geopolitical entity and its nations are emerging as some of the most influential and radical states in the modern world. The media conglomerates which control the television and radio platforms in these countries, such as the Globo organization in Brazil and the Mercurial S.P.A. media corporation in Chile, have great political influence across the region. Here, Carolina Matos contrasts public service broadcasting in Latin America to that in Europe and the UK, engaging with current debates on globalization and theories of cultural imperialism. She examines the role public media has played in the processes of national development, democratization, and international dialogue across South and Central America, arguing that it can be a powerful tool for political and social inclusion. This book will be essential reading for students and scholars of Media, Politics, and Cultural Studies, as well as those with an interest in Latin American culture. As key polities, such as Brazil and Mexico, begin to flex their economic and demographic muscle, Media and Politics in Latin America is a timely examination of society and politics in the region.
During the 1990s, Russia has been building a new political order. This collection of essays offers a progress report on this effort, recording the projects for institutional reform, their successes and their many failures. Institutions covered include the presidency, the State Duma, regional government, the judiciary, the power ministries, the foreign policy and economic policy making establishments. Other chapters examine popular attitudes towards institutions and the crises of state society relations in Russia.
In 1945, Japan surrendered unconditionally to the United States and its allies, thereby planting the seed from which would spring one of the world's most successful and stable democracies. In an age when democracy is often pursued, yet rarely accomplished, in which failed democracies are found throughout Africa, Latin America, and Asia, Japan's transformation from an utterly defeated military power into a thriving constitutional democracy commands attention. It has long been assumed that postwar Japan was largely the making of America, that democracy was simply imposed on a defeated land. Yet a political and legal system cannot long survive, much less thrive, if resisted by the very citizens it exists to serve. The external imposition of a constitution does not automatically translate into a constitutional democracy of the kind Japan has enjoyed for the past half-century. Apparently Japan, though under military occupation, was ready for what the West had to offer. Ray A. Moore and Donald L. Robinson convincingly show that the country's affirmation of democracy was neither cynical nor merely tactical. What made Japan different was that Japan and the United States-represented in Tokyo by the headstrong and deeply conservative General Douglas MacArthur-worked out a genuine partnership, navigating skillfully among die-hard defenders of the emperor, Japanese communists, and America's opinionated erstwhile allies. No dry recounting of policy decisions and diplomatic gestures, Partners for Democracy resounds with the strong personalities and dramatic clashes that paved the way to a hard-won success. Here is the story of how a devastated land came to construct--at times aggressively and rapidly, at times deliberately and only after much debate-a democracy that stands today as the envy of many other nations.
Global, national and subnational change (political, economic, social and demographic) are forcing local governments to search, reactively or proactively, for alternative organizational patterns and management styles. This book explores different approaches toward local government reorientation in selected Western countries as well as the 'reinvention' of local government in Eastern Europe. Eight national case-studies (U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, Norway, Israel, the Czech Republic and Russia) provide the empirical basis. From a theoretical point of view, the book exposes three main critical factors: the range of policy options facing local governments (strategic choice), their organizational capabilities to cope with major environmental shifts (strategic capabilities), and their capacity for organizational learning (including programmed experimentation, innovation and creativity).
This book focuses on critical approaches to the state and state theory in the Global South. In light of the reemergence of the post-colonial and peripheral state as a crucial institution and actor in the 21st century's capitalist world-system, the book examines the nature, functions and development dynamics of the state in the periphery, as well as its constituting interests and struggles. Drawing on the works of Poulantzas and Gramsci, dependency and world-systems theory, as well as the regulation school and the German Ableitungsdebatte, stategraphy and critical realism, it analyzes the development of different theoretical perspectives on the state, elaborates on their theoretical, ontological and epistemological presuppositions, and illustrates their methodological, practical and ethical implications. The book is divided into three parts, the first of which provides an overview of recent global capitalist developments and challenges for state theory and lays the theoretical, ontological and hermeneutic foundation for studies of the state and statehood in the Global South. In turn, the second part introduces readers to different schools of state theory, including critical theory and materialism, as well as approaches derived from postcolonial, anthropological, and feminist thought. Lastly, the third part presents various empirical studies, highlighting concrete methodological and practical experiences of conducting critical state theory.
This is the first scholarly study of the political role of the Order of the Garter during the late middle ages. It evaluates the relationship between the practical objectives served by the institution and its status as a chivalric elite. Focusing on the years between the Garter's inception in 1348 and the deposition of Henry VI in 1461, the study considers the Order's conception, companionship and collective activities, and places them against the political backdrop of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Hugh Collins highlights the potential of the fraternity as an instrument of political patronage, and attributes its success in this area to the important balance achieved in the Garter's constitution and fellowship between pragmatic considerations and knightly ideas. His examination of the interdependence of these two facets thus reveals the extent to which political society in the late middle ages founded its ambitions and aspirations on the cult of chivalry.
Collaboration is a ubiquitous yet contested feature of contemporary public policy. This book offers a new account of collaboration's appeal to human actors drawing on empirical examples across time and space. It provides a novel and comprehensive framework for analysing collaboration, that will be of use to those interested in understanding what happens when human actors collaborate for public purpose.
Focusing on the development of the Communist Party in Moscow between 1925 and 1932 and its ultimate assumption of absolute power. This volume examines in detail the political changes in Moscow, including the crisis over collectivization, and the organization strategy of the Party in Moscow.
This landmark study describes the momentous events from 1989 to 1991 that led up to German unification, explaining how and why they happened as they did, and analyzing them in relation to issues in comparative and international politics and to current theories in political science. Two specialists, one on Western Germany and the other on Eastern Germany, who were observers there during the period, provide the background for understanding trends in German and European politics in the early 1990s. This text is intended for students of European contemporary history, comparative politics, and international relations. This study links the current history of the peaceful revolution in Germany to an analysis of established theories in comparative politics. An introduction provides some historical background prior to 1989. The text goes on to define conditions in the two Germanies in 1989 and then launches into a discussion about the attitudes and expectations in the West as prospects for unity dawned. Careful attention is then given to the East German revolution and the March 1990 elections. Reasons are given for plans for the early unification of the two Germanies. Then the study focuses on the Federal Republic election of December 1990. The impact of these elections and the unification process on Germany and Europe and the world in the near future is discussed at some length. An appendix provides some basic information about Germany's system of government. A selected bibliography points to important primary and secondary sources.
American Political Rhetoric is the only reader for introductory classes in American politics, government, and political communication designed to explore fundamental political principles through examples of political rhetoric ranging from the founding to today. Now in its eighth edition, its selections include the entire political spectrum and contributors range from our nation's founders to contemporary elected public officials, Supreme Court opinions, and representatives of historic movements for social change. The eighth edition includes new selections of recent Supreme Court decisions, including the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, foreign policy, and expanded coverage of individual rights and privileges, including freedom of speech and voting rights. The book is now more useful than ever for students and teachers thanks to a supplementary website available at americanpoliticalrhetoric.com.
First published in 1992. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
First published in 1992. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Although the control or regulation of political conflict is a constant concern of governments and a source of substantial speculation, empirical investigation of systems of regulation is a relatively recent enterprise. How destabilizing events such as separatism, trans-national disputes and decolonization are translated into political conflict through economic, political, and social systems is explored in this in-depth study of eight nations in southern Europe for the period 1946 to 1986. This book is especially relevant in light of the recent conflicts that have exploded into civil war in Yugoslavia. It will be of great interest to political scientists, economists, social scientists, and others studying the conflicts within southern Europe.
First published in 1991. This is Volume 16 of 18 in a series of works on Civil Rights, the White House and the Justice Department from 1945 to 1968. This volume looks at Civil Rights policies prior to 1960 in the Justice Department. |
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