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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Central government > General
Ceremony and Ritual in Parliament breaks new ground in the study of legislatures. It combines mainstream historical and social science approaches with cultural theory to consider how parliamentary ritual is constructed through ceremony, space and socialisation. The focus is on the marginalised groups especially women and members of ethnic minorities who seek inclusion as representatives in democratic legislatures. This book assesses aspects of the role that ceremony and ritual in legislatures play, especially but not exclusively, in their gendered and racialised dimensions. Within this broad frame, it considers the impact of space, identity, ritual and/or ceremony on the institutional form of parliament, how power is shaped within it, how the behaviour of members is facilitated, constrained and shaped, how power and rituals interact to and how they impinge upon the relationships between representative institutions and citizens. Contributions are theoretical and empirical, comparative or single-country studies of national or sub-national legislatures. They have interdisciplinary, historical, or postcolonial perspectives that contribute to this emerging field in the study of parliaments. This book was previously published as a special issue of the Journal of Legislative Studies.
The advent of globalisation and the continued development of new
information technology has created an environment in which the one
certainty for organisations is that they cannot cling to archaic,
centralised and hierarchical models. The increased fluidity and
speed of the global environment call for horizontal networked
structures, where decisions are achieved through collaborative
mechanisms, rather than pyramidal models. New processes have been
emerging, in particular the practices of deliberative and
participatory governance, with increased stakeholder and citizen
inclusion and participation, greater use and reliance on networks
of organisations, and efforts to resolve conflict through dialogue.
New forms of organizations, networks, coalitions and partnerships,
as well as the promises of open sourcing and the collaborative
horizontal model point towards a new governance apparatus in which
relationship-based patterns can project and protect a human
dimension in this digital world. This book will prove invaluable to
all those who are interested in participatory governance and
organisational change.
This volume on the Reagan and Bush years provides a collection of National Security Council records from the two most recent administrations. It includes 250 previously classified directives gathered through Freedom of Information Act requests, archival research, and the study of court records.
Women in Executive Power studies the participation of women in the political executive around the world-notably in cabinet positions as ministers and sub-ministers and as heads of government and state. Providing multiple case studies in each chapter, the book provides regional overviews of nine different world regions covering those with the fewest to the most women in executive power. Evaluating the role of socio-cultural, economic and political variables of women's access to cabinet positions and positions of head of state and government, the book shows that women are increasingly moving into positions previously considered 'male'. Tracing the historical trends of women's participation in governments that has markedly increased in the last two decades, the book assesses the factors that have contributed to women's increasing presence in executives and the extent to which women executives, once in office, represent women's interests. With case studies from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, the Arab world and Oceania, Women in Executive Power will be of interest to scholars of comparative politics, gender and women's studies.
This book provides an in-depth and timely analysis of the member states' compliance patterns with the key European Union Anti-Discrimination Directives. It examines the various structural, administrative, and individual aspects which significantly affect the degree and the nature of compliance patterns in select European Union member states.
The complete riveting transcript of the historic case against the president for igniting the January 6 siege of the Capitol Prosecution of an Insurrection is the complete, riveting transcript of the historic case against President Donald J. Trump for igniting the January 6 siege of the Capitol. Following the norm-shattering attempt by his followers to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, the second impeachment trial of the president seared a new lexicon into our collective consciousness and marked a watershed moment in American history. The case, presented to the Senate by impeachment managers from the House, marked a bravura performance by members of Congress who were themselves the targets of the rioters incited by the president only days earlier. Citizens disturbed by the events of January 2021 and Republican attempts to rewrite history will find in these pages the most authoritative record of one of our democracy's darkest hours, including: * The official articles of impeachment against the president for incitement of an insurrection * The response of President Trump to the articles of impeachment, on behalf of the House defense lawyers * The complete trial transcript, including the full text of the arguments made by the House representatives and the full text of the president's defense * Headshots from the trial of all nine House impeachment managers in action, including lead manager Representative Jamie Raskin, as well as all three House defense lawyers * Photographs, timelines, and screenshots of tweets entered as evidence, as well as stills from the videos presented Prosecution of an Insurrection preserves for posterity an episode that ranks with the McCarthy hearings, Watergate, and the Iran-Contra investigation for its importance in American political history.
Setting the agenda for parliament is the most significant institutional weapon for governments to shape policy outcomes, because governments with significant agenda setting powers, like France or the UK, are able to produce the outcomes they prefer, while governments that lack agenda setting powers, such as the Netherlands and Italy in the beginning of the period examined, see their projects significantly altered by their Parliaments. With a strong comparative framework, this coherent volume examines fourteen countries and provides a detailed investigation into the mechanisms by which governments in different countries determine the agendas of their corresponding parliaments. It explores the three different ways that governments can shape legislative outcomes: institutional, partisan and positional, to make an important contribution to legislative politics. It will be of interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, legislative studies/parliamentary research, governments/coalition politics, political economy, and policy studies.
Legislative drafting is an extremely onerous, exacting and highly-skilled task. What is clearly conceived in the mind may not be easily expressed with clarity and precision in words. It is a highly technical discipline, and one of the most vigorous forms of writing. Few lawyers have the special combination of skills, aptitudes and temperament necessary for a competent draftsperson. This book provides, for the first time, detailed commentary on legislative drafting with a specific focus on the Commonwealth, covering: the ethics of legislative drafting, teaching, training and retention of drafters, the role of legislative drafting in good governance, keeping the statute book up-to-date, drafting by more than words: the use of graphics, labels and formulae in legislation; and the particular challenges of drafting for small states. It constitutes a key reference for legislative drafters, parliamentary counsel and professionals involved in this field in the Commonwealth and beyond. This book was based on a special issue of Commonwealth Law Bulletin.
The Chinese Communist Party and China's Capitalist Revolution examines issues of political change and development in China. In the last 30 years China has experienced a profound political transformation and a degree of political progress but these are largely mired in the assumption that the free market is inherently incompatible with communism, and the perceived lack of political reforms in China. Indeed, there has not been much in the sense of democratization, multi-party competition, freedom of speech and association, but as this book demonstrates, political development is not limited to these factors. Based on extensive empirical investigations of the impact of the market on the communist party, with a particular focus on its grassroots organisations, this book finds that the Chinese communist party is undergoing profound changes in a host of important areas. By analyzing the impact of China's socioeconomic transformation on the CCP and the adaptations of the Party to the new environment the book takes stock of the nature and dynamics of political change underway in China. The author concludes that the Chinese communist party we knew no longer exists-it is evolving into something quite different, which must have political implications for both China and the rest of the world. Professor Lance L. P. Gore is a political scientist specializing in contemporary Chinese politics at The East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore.
In a sweeping review of forty truth commissions, Priscilla Hayner delivers a definitive exploration of the global experience in official truth-seeking after widespread atrocities. When Unspeakable Truths was first published in 2001, it quickly became a classic, helping to define the field of truth commissions and the broader arena of transitional justice. This second edition is fully updated and expanded, covering twenty new commissions formed in the last ten years, analyzing new trends, and offering detailed charts that assess the impact of truth commissions and provide comparative information not previously available. Placing the increasing number of truth commissions within the broader expansion in transitional justice, Unspeakable Truths surveys key developments and new thinking in reparations, international justice, healing from trauma, and other areas. The book challenges many widely-held assumptions, based on hundreds of interviews and a sweeping review of the literature. This book will help to define how these issues are addressed in the future.
In 1829 Andrew Jackson arrived in Washington in a carriage. Eight years and two turbulent presidential terms later, he left on a train. Those years, among the most prosperous in American history, saw America transformed not only by growth in transportation but by the expansion of the market economy and the formation of the mass political party. Jackson's ambivalence--and that of his followers--toward the new politics and the new economy is the story of this book. Historians have often depicted the Old Hero (or Old Hickory) as bigger than life--so prominent that his name was wed to an era. Donald Cole presents a different Jackson, one not always sure of himself and more controlled by than in control of the political and economic forces of his age. He portrays Jackson as a leader who yearned for the agrarian past but was also entranced by the future of a growing market economy. The dominant theme of Jackson's presidency, Cole argues, was his inconsistent and unsuccessful battle to resist market revolution. Elected by a broad coalition of interest groups, Jackson battled constantly not only his opponents but also his supporters. He spent most of his first term rearranging his administration and contending with Congress. His accomplishments were mostly negative--relocating Indians, vetoing road bills and the Bank bill, and opposing nullification. The greatest achievement of his administration, the rise of the mass political party, was more the work of advisers than of Jackson himself. He did, however, make a lasting imprint, Cole contends. Through his strength, passions, and especially his anxiety, Jackson symbolized the ambivalence of his fellow Americans at a decisive moment--a time when the country was struggling with the conflict between the ideals of the Revolution and the realities of nineteenth-century capitalism.
Political theory consists in clarification of language and concepts, in description and analysis of institutions and behavior, and in appraisal and evaluation of political events. Hyneman's theory is not one of the behavioral or functional varieties that rely on special language and concepts drawn from other disciplines than political science. It emphasizes a central concern of both conventional and behavioral theory: the distribution of "power," or what proportion of people have influence over what aspects of government. He is also interested in how power is shared, divided, checked, and balanced. The main task of political theory, Hyneman thinks, is clarification of the values served by and sustaining American democracy. This task gives meaning and direction to analysis of the elements of democracy and to empirical research on the processes of democracy. In this sense political science is not "value-free"; it is most useful in pursuit of the implications of basic beliefs and ideals. These beliefs and ideals can be found in historical statements as well as inferred from institutions and behavior. Hyneman's emphasis on popular control, electoral politics, and equality of influence tends to challenge both of the "pluralist" and "ruling elite" schools-though it should be clear that he is not engaged in a scholastic debate. The freedom of his analysis, ranging from specific reference to the professional controversies of his day is one of its strengths and a probable source of originality. He connects it explicitly to the literature of political science at critical points, as it existed when originally published in 1968.
This volume critically explores the contentions in the emerging debate surrounding new media technologies and the extent to which they are challenging traditional political and government models. Examining a range of citizen/government interactions which together form e-government in different contexts, this book assesses the potential of new media technologies to facilitate new institutional patterns for governance and participation, as experienced primarily, but not only, across Europe. Analysing a range of challenges spanning from those of a technological and conceptual nature to those of a more political and legal nature, the authors scrutinise the central policies at governmental and organisational levels and consider the following questions:
This comprehensive text will be of interest to students and scholars of public policy, politics, media and communication studies, sociology, law and European studies. It will also offer insights of relevance to practitioners and policy-makers in regional, national, and transnational governance, reform and innovation.
What is behind the success of America? Does America manifest its destiny by other means? Author Patrick Mendis explores unseen forces that have guided America to global dominance. He details how the creation of Madison's "Universal Empire" through Hamilton's "Federalism" realizes Jefferson's "Empire of Liberty." The author then unveils America's Masonic endgame of universal brotherhood: E Pluribus Unum.
This volume critically explores the contentions in the emerging debate surrounding new media technologies and the extent to which they are challenging traditional political and government models. Examining a range of citizen/government interactions which together form e-government in different contexts, this book assesses the potential of new media technologies to facilitate new institutional patterns for governance and participation, as experienced primarily, but not only, across Europe. Analysing a range of challenges spanning from those of a technological and conceptual nature to those of a more political and legal nature, the authors scrutinise the central policies at governmental and organisational levels and consider the following questions:
This comprehensive text will be of interest to students and scholars of public policy, politics, media and communication studies, sociology, law and European studies. It will also offer insights of relevance to practitioners and policy-makers in regional, national, and transnational governance, reform and innovation.
The U.S. House of Representatives has been frozen at 435 members for almost a century, and in that time the nationa (TM)s population has grown by more than 200 percent. With the number of citizens represented by each House member now dramatically larger, is a major consequence of this historical disparity a diminished quality of representation? Brian Frederick uses empirical data to scrutinize whether representation has been undermined by keeping a ceiling on the number of seats available in the House. He examines the influence of constituency size on several metrics of representationa "including estimating the effects on electoral competition, policy responsiveness, and citizen contact with and approval of their representativesa "and argues that now is the time for the House to be increased in order to better represent a rapidly growing country.
The U.S. House of Representatives has been frozen at 435 members for almost a century, and in that time the nation 's population has grown by more than 200 percent. With the number of citizens represented by each House member now dramatically larger, is a major consequence of this historical disparity a diminished quality of representation? Brian Frederick uses empirical data to scrutinize whether representation has been undermined by keeping a ceiling on the number of seats available in the House. He examines the influence of constituency size on several metrics of representation including estimating the effects on electoral competition, policy responsiveness, and citizen contact with and approval of their representatives and argues that now is the time for the House to be increased in order to better represent a rapidly growing country.
This is part of a series of three volumes which provides a critical assessment of the actual achievement of this university professor, who became the first President of Czechoslovakia. They assess Masaryk's value as a national and international politician as well as a scholar and publicist. Individual chapters consider such topics as his parliamentary activities, his contribution to the feminist movement, his involvement in the Austrian equivalent to the Dreyfus trial, his theories of Czech and particularly Russian cultural history and his sociological studies of literature.;The chapters in this book provide a critical survey of some of the major issues of Masaryk's life, concentrating in particular on the years after 1914.
With the very real possibility of atomic war looming on the horizon from 1945 to the early 1960s, both federal and local governments took on the responsibility of educating Americans on how to survive the expected nuclear blasts, residual fallouts, and radiation poisonings. During these early years of the Atomic Age, duck and cover drills, bomb shelters, and evacuation plans became an integral part of every citizen's daily life. This book provides a sampling of civil defense publications issued by government agencies and organizations during this era. Arranged thematically, the book includes sections covering the impact and power of the atomic bomb, radioactive fallout, women and the home, the importance of being prepared, civil defense in schools, fallout shelters, evacuation plans, and, finally, the call for 'peace or...else'.
Since their inception, the presidential debates Americans have watched on television were carefully negotiated. This book closely examines a previously unexamined type of political communication, presidential debate negotiation. While it has been widely known that all general election presidential debates since 1960 have been negotiated by the participating candidates, no one has ever completed a systematic study of them. In particular, the 1960, 1976, 1980, 1984, and 1988 negotiations were examined in detail. For each of these election cycles, a comprehensive narrative of what occurred during the pre-debate negotiations was constructed based on primary source materials, media accounts, and other secondary sources. Comparisons across election cycles were made in order to draw some conclusions about presidential debate negotiation. Presidential debate negotiations are not just negotiations, but rather also a form of political rhetoric for several different players. The research concluded that that there are five contexts in which presidential debate rhetoric occurs and the rhetoric is aimed at two audiences. Within each context, the functions and strategies of the rhetoric were discussed and explained from the perspective of the sponsor of the debate(s), the candidates and their representatives, as well as the media.
This is a newly revised and updated paperback edition of the former Conservative Party Treasurer's personal account of his battle over unsubstantiated claims concerning his business affairs which culminated in a libel action against "The Times" newspaper. The book reveals the dirty tricks that were used to destabilise the Conservative Party, including the newspaper's alleged bribery of US government officials, and the abuse of parliamentary privileges by New Labour MPs. This is Lord Ashcroft's compelling account of the attacks on his reputation by New Labour spin-doctors out to slander the Conservative Party and journalists seeking to create a story. This new edition also sheds new light on Michael Ashcroft's private life; his childhood and love of Belize, his business career and his many and varied interests.
In this fresh and provocative critique of judicial power, Matthew Franck argues for a Supreme Court that is newly mindful of constitutionalism's basis in the sovereign will of the people and of the distinctly limited scope of judicial authority that is permitted by that constitutional sovereignty. Neither activism nor restraint, but a lively sense of the fundamental constraints that deprive the Court of any legitimate choice between those two options, is at the heart of Franck's model of appropriate judicial modesty. Franck challenges three propositions central to current debates over the Supreme Court's role in American life: that the Court has the final word in interpreting the Constitution above competing views from other government branches; that it may legitimately initiate actions to correct political or social dysfunctions left uncorrected by those branches; and that constitutional decisions may be grounded in natural law or a "higher law" located beyond the text of the Constitution. Franck claims that these erroneous propositions have allowed the Court's power to grow well beyond its constitutional mandate. He persuasively argues that a more accurate and responsible view of judicial power can be revived by reexamining the Framers' thought, the writings of liberal philosophers (especially Hobbes, Locke, and Blackstone), and the early opinions of the Supreme Court. His reasoned critique provides illuminating new perspectives on
the jurisprudence of John Marshall; on the origins and practices of
"judicial statesmanship" (presumed to have begun with Marshall); on
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)-which was not, Franck argues, a ruling
in pursuit of a nationalist political agenda but conformed to a
modest vision of the judicial power; and on the mangled roots of
substantive due process. In addition, he reviews recent Supreme
Court confirmation hearings to demonstrate the large influence of
historical misconceptions on our understanding of the proper scope
of judicial power in a constitutional democracy.
An evaluation of presidential efforts to achieve greater control over policy implementation by intransigent federal bureaucracies. Benze [asserts] that Ronald Reagan's use of budget cuts and appointment of conservative ideologues tended to enhance presidential power more readily than attempts at bureaucratic reorganization. Based on mail surveys of more than 350 domestic administrators, the author concludes that bureaucratic acceptance of management techniques requires the kind of persuasive political skills Reagan displayed in his first term, but were lacking in the Carter Administration. He cautions that Reagan's managerial initiatives engendered morale problems, and may lack institutional permanency in the absence of constitutional and statutory changes. . . . A useful addition to upper-division and graduate collections. Choice Professor Benze's new study looks at the historical trend toward centralization of policy implementation in the president's office and shows how--and with what degree of success--the Reagan and Carter administrations have met this problem. Among the important features of the book are the wealth of empirical data provided on the presidency and the analysis of both change and continuity between administrations in the handling of specific management areas.
He who can change the Constitution controls the Constitution. So who does control the Constitution? The answer has always been: "the people." The people control the Constitution via the Article V amending process outlined in the Constitution itself. Changes can only be made through Article V and its formal procedures. Article V has always provided a means of perfecting the Constitution in an explicit, democratically authentic, prudent, and deliberative manner. In addition to changing the Constitution Article V also allowed the people to perfect and preserve their Constitution at the same time. In recent years Article V has come under attack by influential legal scholars who criticize it for being too difficult, undemocratic, and too formal. Such scholars advocate for ignoring Article V in favor of elite adaptation of the Constitution or popular amendment through national referendums. In making their case, critics also assume that Article V is an unimportant and expendable part of the Constitutional structure. One notable scholar called the Constitution "imbecilic" because of Article V. This book shows that, to the contrary, Article V is a unique and powerful extension of the American tradition of written constitutionalism. It was a logical extension of American constitutional development and it was a powerful tool used by the Federalists to argue for ratification of the new Constitution. Since then it has served as a means of "perfecting" the US Constitution for over 200 years via a wide range of amendments. Contrary to contemporary critics, the historical evidence shows Article V to be a vital element in the Constitutional architecture, not an expendable or ancillary piece. This book defends Article V against critics by showing that it is neither too difficult, undemocratic, nor too formal. Furthermore, a positive case is made that Article V remains the most clear and powerful way to register the sovereign desires of the American public with regard to alterations of their fundamental law. In the end, Article V is an essential bulwark to maintaining a written Constitution that secures the rights of the people against both elites and themselves.
With a close eye on a rising star in the Democratic party, Congressman Chris Van Hollen, this book examines the movement toward a Democratic majority in American politics. Van Hollen, a state senator from suburban Maryland, was one of only two Democrats to defeat an incumbent Republican House member in the Republican sweep of 2002, the first congressional election after 9/11. He did it with the assistance of a grassroots army attracted by his outstanding leadership on progressive issues in the Maryland legislature and determined to "take back the House" from an increasingly right-wing Republican Party. The author had an inside view of Van Hollen's 2002 victory as campaign coordinator of his precinct. Gottlieb provides a detailed account of the nuts and bolts and spirit of the Van Hollen campaign and extends his analysis into 2008, the election year for which Nancy Pelosi appointed Van Hollen chief of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, responsible for recruiting, assisting, and mentoring candidates in an effort to expand the Democratic majority in the House. Grassroots politics is a key to the Democrats' progress, whether at the congressional or presidential level. Chris Van Hollen points the way to achieving new alignments that could help move the country from red to blue. Including hundreds of interviews with voters, activists, candidates, campaign staffers, members of Congress, pollsters, journalists, and scholars, Red to Blue provides a nuanced understanding of America's shifting politics. |
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