![]() |
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
|
Your cart is empty |
||
|
Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Central government > General
The political impulse to secede -- to attempt to separate from central government control -- is a conspicuous feature of the post-cold war world. It is alive and growing in Canada, Russia, China, Italy, Belgium, Britain, and even the United States Yet secession remains one of the least studied and least understood of all historical and political phenomena. The contributors to this volume have filled this gap with wide-ranging investigations -- rooted in history, political philosophy, ethics, and economic theory -- of secessionist movements in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Is secessionism extremist, a dangerous rebellion that threatens the democratic process? Gordon and his contributors think otherwise. They believe that the secessionist impulse is a vital part of the classical liberal tradition, one that emerges when national governments become too big and too ambitious. Unlike revolution, secession seeks only separation from rule, preferably through non-violent means. It is based on the moral idea, articulated by Ludwig von Mises in 1919, that "no people and no part of a people shall be held against its will in a political association that it does not want. The authors cite the famed 1861 attempt to create a confederacy of Southern states as legal, right, and a justifiable response to Northern political imperialism. They note that this was not the first American secession attempt -- the New England states tried to form their own confederacy during the War of 1812. This evidence, they argue, begs a reinterpretation of the U.S. Constitution along secessionist lines. Further they believe that the threat of secession should be revived as a bulwark against government encroachmenton individual liberty and private property rights, a guarantor of international free trade, and a protection against attempts to curb the freedom of association. These straightforward, pellucid arguments include essays by Donald Livingston, Murray N. Rothbard, Clyde Wilson, Thomas DiLorenzo, and Bruce Benson, among others. If overgrown nations continue to decompose, as they have for the last decade, these authors believe it is essential that secession be taken seriously, and fully understood. Secession, State, and Liberty makes a vital contribution toward that end. This stimulating, thought-provoking collection is necessary reading for intellectual historians and political scientists.
Many books and articles have been written about the importance of the 1992 initiative of the European Community for the international economy. However, the 320 million consumers who are also citizens and voters in the twelve member states of the EC must be convinced they will benefit from a more powerful EC. Many are employees who will find their work situation vastly altered by the creation of a single internal market. Until now the European Community has had little impact on the daily lives of ordinary Europeans, as national governments provide social assistance and protection. Now, that role of national governments is threatened, and Europeans will increasingly look to the EC for social policies. The EC will become a reality in their daily lives. This book discusses the social dimension of the 1992 initiative. It deals with both the substance and politics of the social policy, explaining both the relevance and controversial aspects of the proposed social policies for the future of European integration. Based on extensive use of primary sources and interviews, the book begins with a quick review of the history and organization of the EC, discusses major developments in employment policies, and examines current developments in social policy. The work will be of interest to those interested in international management and international human resource management as well as to political scientists.
One of the genuine classics of American political science literature, "Constitutional Government in the United States" is also a subtle and influential criticism of the American founding fathers produced during the Progressive Era. Wilson's interpretation of the Constitution shaped the thought of scholars and students of American politics. His definition of constitutional government and the place of the United States in the development of constitutional theory continues to shape discourse today. Wilson discusses the three branches of government in the United States, the relation between the states and the federal government and party government in a manner quite distinct from the founding fathers. "Constitutional Government" has its origins in a series of lectures Wilson delivered at Columbia University in 1907. It is carefully organized around three separate but mutually supporting arguments. First, is the idea that constitutional government evolves historically from primitive beginnings of the state toward a universal and ideal form. Second, this idea of historical evolution contains within it an analysis of how and where the Constitution fits into the evolutionary process as a whole. Third, the historical thesis itself provides a prescription for bringing American government, and with it the Constitution, into accord with his first principle of the ideal form of modern government. In his new introduction, Sidney A. Pearson explores how, with "Constitutional Government in the United States," Wilson helped create a new genre of political writing using the point of view of a "literary politician." He discusses Wilson's intention to replace the constitutional argument of the founders with one of his own based on the application of Darwinian metaphor in a political science framework. And he examines the differences between the views launched by Wilson and those set forth by James Madison in "The Federalist." This is an essential work for all interested in the evolution of American political thought.
The March 2000 presidential election was an important milestone in the democratic development of Taiwan, with the Kuomintang turned out of power after five decades of control and replaced by the Democratic Progressive Party. This book address the variety of effects that Taiwan's democratic development and the election will have on domestic policy in the region. Part one looks at trends and changes in Taiwan's politics and analyzes the outcome of the March 2000 election. The chapters in part two discuss the international implications of Taiwan's democratic evolution for a variety of issues, including political, economic and security relations on both sides of the Taiwan strait; Japan's foreign policy in the region; U.S. foreign policy in the region; and peace and security in Southeast Asia. The challenges and prospects for continued democratic consolidation and the implications and lessons for the PRC and Southeast Asia are also explored.
Public management involves leading, coordinating, and stimulating public agencies and programs to deliver excellent performance. Research and practice of public management have developed rapidly in recent years, drawing on the fields of public policy, public administration, and business management. In carrying out their crucial roles in shaping what government delivers, public managers today must confront daunting challenges imposed by shifting policy agendas, constrained financial resources combined with constant public demands for a rich array of public services, and increasing interdependence among public, private, and third-sector institutions and actors. At the same time, these challenges and other developments offer exciting opportunities for improving knowledge and practice in public management, for the benefit of everyone. In this volume, leading scholars contribute advances in the theory, methods, and practice in this burgeoning field. The selections address four key topics: the nature and impact of public management; creative new methods for public management research; reform, reinvention, innovation, and change; and, new models and frameworks for understanding and improving public management.
Tavistock Press was established as a co-operative venture between the Tavistock Institute and Routledge & Kegan Paul (RKP) in the 1950s to produce a series of major contributions across the social sciences. This volume is part of a 2001 reissue of a selection of those important works which have since gone out of print, or are difficult to locate. Published by Routledge, 112 volumes in total are being brought together under the name The International Behavioural and Social Sciences Library: Classics from the Tavistock Press. Reproduced here in facsimile, this volume was originally published in 1972 and is available individually. The collection is also available in a number of themed mini-sets of between 5 and 13 volumes, or as a complete collection.
Notwithstanding the fact that among the parliaments of the world, 38 per cent have Second Chambers (67 out of 179), Second Chambers themselves have only rarely been the focus of attention from politicians and have almost totally been ignored by academics. This work sets about examining them.
This book is a comprehensive and accessible survey of the emergence and development of parliaments in Europe between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries. The author illuminates the whole business of government - the nature of executive power, the relations of ruler and ruled, the restraints of consent, and the realities of the tension between central authority and local custom. Includes surveys of the parliaments of Scandinavian, Polish, Hungarian and other peripheral States, as well as those of France, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands and examines the Scottish, Irish and English assemblies as well.
Despite a half-century of literature documenting the experience and
meanings of countertransference in analytic practice, the concept
remains a source of controversy. For Peter Carnochan, this can be
addressed only by revisiting historical, epistemological, and moral
issues intrinsic to the analytic enterprise. Looking for Ground is
the first attempt to provide a comprehensive understanding of
countertransference on the basis of a contemporary reappraisal of
just such foundational assumptions.
Policymakers and public managers around the world have become preoccupied with the question of how their goals can be achieved in a way that rebuilds public confidence in government. Yet because public policies and programs increasingly are being administered through a complicated web of jurisdictions, agencies, and public-private partnerships, evaluating their effectiveness is more difficult than in the past. Though social scientists possess insightful theories and powerful methods for conducting empirical research on governance and public management, their work is too often fragmented and irrelevant to the specific tasks faced by legislators, administrators, and managers. Proposing a framework for research based on the premise that any particular governance arrangement is embedded in a wider social, fiscal, and political context, Laurence E. Lynn Jr., Carolyn J. Heinrich, and Carolyn J. Hill argue that theory-based empirical research, when well conceived and executed, can be a primary source of fundamental, durable knowledge about governance and policy management. Focusing on complex human services such as public assistance, child protection, and public education, they construct an integrative, multilevel "logic of governance," that can help researchers increase the sophistication, power, and relevance of their work.
This title was first published in 2003. How was public policy and economic development in Nigeria affected under the period of military control between 1966 and 1999? What is the nature and scale of change that Nigeria will have to undergo in order to achieve its current development goals? Initially providing a history of Nigeria along with a framework for understanding the nature, scope and magnitude of the military and public management problems within the country, this timely and rewarding book addresses both of these questions. It analyzes the institutions that make and implement public policy in the Nigerian political arena, and examines the route that Nigeria could take in order to enhance its public management capacities. Although the specific focus is on Nigeria, the mode of analysis used is transferable to a wide variety of developing nations. The book will foster an understanding among scholars, development planners, military officers and policy makers of the tasks and challenges facing Nigeria and many sub-Saharan African nations in the twenty-first century.
States are the key to contemporary government reform efforts in the United States, but we know very little about their relative effectiveness at resource allocation and their actual capacity to absorb additional fiscal and managerial responsibilities. This path-breaking study examines state budget offices as institutional actors, with special attentio to the role of budget examiners. Drawing on empirical findings from field studies of eleven states in the American heartland, the authors demonstrate how budgeting at the state level has become more policy-oriented, requiring complex decision making by budget analysts. The incrementalist model of budgetary decision-making thus gives way to a multiple rationalities model. The authors illustrate the decision-making model with the story of two office examiners who have distinctly different orientations as they begin their work, and contrast the different decision nationalities that come into play for them at different points in a typical budget cycle. The book includes a comprehensive bibliography of historical and modern writings on state budgeting operations, activities, and decision-making; state budgeting cycles; and the state-level policy development process.
The last quarter of the twentieth century was a very important period in history of education. Beginning with the so-called 'Great Debate', the period witnessed intense public and political interest in educational issues, culminating in an almost unprecedented amount of education-related legislation, the most symbolic of which was the Education Reform Act of 1988. Some scholars have rightly claimed that the education system was 'transformed' during this period, pointing to major changes in the ways in which schools, further education colleges and universities were organised, managed and controlled. Others have claimed that these changes altered the power relationships which had underpinned the education system since 1944. Given the sheer scale and pace of the education-policy related reforms of this period, this edited collection brings together some of the leading scholars in education to reflect on the major legislative and structural changes in education over the past few decades. Published in the year of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Callaghan's Ruskin College speech in 1976, it provides a definitive contemporary history of education policy in the late twentieth century. The editors bring together some of the leading educationalists to reflect on the major legislative and structural changes in the field over the last twenty five years. The book will be of use to education students on undergraduate and postgraduate courses, as well as students and academics working in social policy.
You could be claiming the life of your dreams and having the fulfilling relationships you desire while others are worrying. Unlocking success, prosperity and freedom is vastly different now than it ever has been before and that is why we wrote this book. We all sense it. Something big is happening. Things are changing faster than we can keep up with it. Every day it seems as if we are bombarded with more technological disruption. Most people aren't sure what to do, how to grow that small business, or plan and protect their future. This is the reason this book is so important, because instead of trying to show you how to do only one thing, this book will give you all the tools you will require to build the life of your dreams, which is a much better solution. In this groundbreaking work, Vickie Helm and Mia Bolte mine their more than 30 years of consulting experience to share with you the tools and secrets to unlocking a life of passion, purpose and prosperity. You will discover the tools you need now, to move you through your future with more certainty and personal ability. The authors show you how to protect yourself and thrive during these uncertain times. Within its pages are, the six most important freedoms you must protect or they will be seized out from under you without your knowing it, but with your permission. Vickie and Mia also share the potency of knowing when and how to slow down, reflect, and evaluate in order to discern and grow the life of your dreams. Unlock your inner genius and discover how to rethink, reimagine, and rediscover a life of passion, purpose, and prosperity.
Issues in E.U. and U.S. Foreign Policy, edited by Munevver Cebeci, aims at analyzing the perceptions, interests, and policies of the EU and the US on various international issues. It portrays their convergences and divergences, and reflects on their interplay. The book has a geographical focus rather than a thematic one; however, some themes such as weapons of mass destruction, dual use technology transfer, energy security, and democratization, are unavoidable within their respective geographical contexts. For example, the authors inquire into the case of Iran with a special focus on nuclear proliferation; they investigate Russia with a significant emphasis on energy security; Iraq is examined with a discussion on the withdrawal of occupation troops; and, finally, the authors address the case of China with a debate on dual use technology transfer. Issues in European Union and U.S. Foreign Policy is composed of two parts: The first involves an inventive theoretical framework for understanding EU and US foreign policy. The analysis extends beyond traditional approaches that seek to explain US and EU foreign policy through various dichotomies such as soft power versus hard power without overlooking the significance of such dichotomies. This section further discusses how European and American scholars approach transatlantic relations in different ways. The second section covers an intensive comparative analysis of EU and US foreign policy on specific issue areas. Some chapters also deal with the impact of their policy divergences and convergences on transatlantic relations and NATO. Nevertheless, the book aims to go beyond the parochial debates of burden-sharing or division of labor in transatlantic relations. It focuses on and actually proposes a broader framework of cooperation and coordination for the EU and the US.
How do Australian governments budget? How well do they spend and manage our money? Governments seem to be locked in a constant struggle with the problems of budgeting. Cabinet never has enough resources to go around, and while some agencies 'guard' public expenditure, others find endless ways to make new claims on budgets.Managing Public Expenditure in Australia provides the first systematic analysis of government budgeting and the politics of the budgetary process. Drawing on extensive original sources, the authors examine debates and reforms in public finance from Whitlam and Fraser to Hawke, Keating and Howard, and assess their impacts on policy development. In tracking the way governments actually spend money, Managing Public Expenditure in Australia provides an alternate and complementary political history of federal government over the past forty years.This book also includes accessible discussions on topics such as budget theory, financial management in government, and debt and deficit reduction. An explanation of new resource management techniques and initiatives help to illuminate the ongoing changes to budget and expenditure management practices. This is an essential purchase for students, teachers and practitioners of public finance, and for anyone involved in the continuing debate over the nature and role of the public sector.
Over the last four decades, members of Congress have increasingly embraced media relations as a way to influence national policymaking and politics. In 1977, nearly half of congressional members had no press secretary. Today, media relations is a central component of most congressional offices, and more of that communications effort is directed toward national media, not just the local press. Arguing that members of Congress turn to the media to enhance their formal powers or to compensate for their lack of power, Congress and the Media explains why congressional members go public and when they are likely to succeed in getting coverage. Vinson uses content analysis of national newspaper and television coverage of congressional members over time and members' messages on social media as well as case studies to examine how members in different political circumstances use the media to try to influence policymaking and how this has changed over time. She finds that members' institutional position, the political context, increasing partisan polarization, and journalists' evolving notions of what is newsworthy all affect which congressional members are interested in and successful in gaining media coverage of their messages and what they hope to accomplish by going public. Ultimately, Congress and the Media suggests that going public can be a way for members of Congress to move beyond their institutional powers, but the strategy is not equally available to all members nor effective for all goals.
This study of the Meiji Governemnt's controversial Education Minister and thinker, Mori Arinori, seeks to complement Ivan P. Hall's earlier biography by providing an alternative interpretation to the man and his mission. It argues that Mori is overwhelmingly closer to the social evolutionist's view of social change with a considerable debt to the writings of Spencer rather than the Utilitarian philosophy of J.S. Mill.
This book reveals how an empire that stretched from Glasgow to
Aswan in Egypt could be ruled from a single city and still survive
more than a thousand years. The Government of the Roman Empire is
the only sourcebook to concentrate on the administration of the
empire, using the evidence of contemporary writers and
historians. |
You may like...
The Oxford Handbook of Material Culture…
Dan Hicks, Mary C. Beaudry
Hardcover
R4,547
Discovery Miles 45 470
Aggregation-Induced Emission: Materials…
Michiya Fujiki, bin Liu, …
Hardcover
R4,839
Discovery Miles 48 390
|