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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Central government > General
The unrepresentativeness of the U.S. House of Representatives-in terms of ethnicity, gender, race, and socio-economic status-and its nearly closed system for election have generated questions about the legitimacy and authority of the House as an institution which represents citizens and whether House membership should mirror directly the diverse population of the nation. This essay collection examines the causes of the unrepresentative character of the House and offers recommendations to make it a more representative deliberative body. The single-member district system is the major causal factor of the unrepresentativeness, and alternative electoral systems-single-transferable vote types of proportional representation, cumulative voting, and limited voting-are examined. The alternative electoral systems are multi-member district ones and can be employed only if Congress repeals its requirement that members of the House be elected by single-member districts. Other possible reforms include enlargement of the size of the House, term limits, a new system of election campaign finance, and more effective regulation of campaign contributions and expenditures. The essays provide balanced views on the effects of various reform proposals by including chapters by experts who warn of the possible unintended effects of reforms or argue that the proposed reforms are not needed and stress the need for actions to strengthen deliberations, promote civility, adjust the committee system, reduce the workload of members, and promote better public understanding of the House. An important collection for students, scholars, and researchers interested in the workings of Congress and American politics.
Making Aristocracy Work explores the political role of the British peerage in the thirty years before the First World War. It charts its transition from ruling class to embattled faction, analysing the response of the peers to the challenge of democracy and their impact on the constitutional order which emerged from the turbulent politics of the late Victorian and Edwardian era. The book opens with a study of the House of Lords, assessing its strengths and weaknesses as a political institution and offering new interpretations of the constitutional crises of 1884-5 and 1909-11. It proceeds to assess the wider activity of the peerage in national, local, and imperial government, and the changing nature of its mentalite as a political elite. The evolution of the peerage is no simplistic story of descent from power to impotence, argues Dr Adonis. Under Lord Salisbury, the peers met challenges to their political standing with a determination to refashion their authority and safeguard their influence. They partially succeeded in so doing, and their efforts - successful or not - left a heavy imprint on Britain's fledgling democracy. A readable book thoroughly grounded in the aristocracy's rich archives, Making Aristocracy Work is an important contribution to our understanding of the development of Britain's modern political system.
The traditional understandings that structure the relationships between public servants and the wider political system are said to have undergone considerable change. But what are these formalized and implicit understandings? What are the key dimensions of such bargains? In what conditions do bargains rise and fall? And has there been a universal and uniform change in these bargains? The Politics of Public Service Bargains develops a distinct perspective to answer these questions. It develops a unique analytical perspective to account for diverse bargains within systems of executive government. Drawing on comparative experiences from different state traditions, this study examines ideas and contemporary developments along three key dimensions of any Public Service Bargain - reward, competency and loyalty and responsibility. The Politics of Public Service Bargains points to diverse and differentiated developments across national systems of executive government and suggests how different 'bargains' are prone to cheating by their constituent parties. This study explores the context in which managerial bargains - widely seen to be at the heart of contemporary administrative reform movements - are likely to catch on and considers how cheating is likely to destabilize such bargains.
The Asian continent is composed of multiple political systems, huge populations, and different religions and histories. Yet, the undercurrents of politics and political affairs and how societies function in this vast region are not well known, and in fact often misunderstood. The role of music and its impact on political affairs is just one of these unknown or misunderstood factors about this region. Unlike initial political communication studies, the present book is not about examining established political structures such as parliament or congress and the presidency; political processes such as elections, campaign advertising and voter education; or even political behavior and participation such as voting and the performance of other civic duties. Rather, it recognizes and explores the impact and intersection of music and politics in society, in this case, various societies in the Asian continent. The book is projected to be an invaluable research tool specifically in the hands of researchers and students of Asian politics in the aforementioned fields, and people who are interested in understanding and investigating the intersection of music and politics globally. Therefore, suggested potential targets for the envisaged edited book include such researchers and students across multiple disciplines in the arts and humanities, as well as libraries and research institutes across the globe.
The chapters in this anthology combine discussion of two currently hot' topics in public administration--privatization and entrepreneurship. . . . Perhaps the most attractive aspect of this book is that it is not merely an unbridled emotional paean to privatization and entrepreneurship but an objective introduction to these issues. The editor selects an array of essays that address not only theory and practice but also the pragmatic issues and problems associated with implementing these new policy initiatives. This book would be a welcome addition to libraries wishing to remain current with the expanding literature on privatization and entrepreneurship. "Choice" Privatization encompasses the many ways in which the private sector assumes functions that were previously the province of government. These may range from the sale of state enterprises to contracts with private firms to provide governmental services. In each case, services which were once subsidized to some extent by the government are instead offered by the private sector at prices reflecting their actual cost. This collection of original essays by internationally recognized scholars in economics, government, and management, provides a readable, state of the art discussion of the promises and problems of privatization. In addition to synthesizing current data and experiences in the field of private entrepreneurship, this collection of articles breaks new ground by suggesting innovative areas for private activity in the public sector.
This is the first in-depth analysis of the impact of Italian unification on the hitherto isolated communities of rural Sicily. Traditional explanations of Sicily's instability depict a society trapped by a feudal past. Lucy Riall finds instead that many areas of the island were experiencing a period of rapid modernization, as local government increased their organizational efforts. Beginning with the period prior to the revolution of 1860, Dr Riall shows why successive attempts at political reform failed, and analyses the effects of this failure. She describes the bitter and violent conflict between rival elites and the mounting tide of peasant unrest which together threatened the status quo within the isolated communities of the Sicilian interior. Through an examination of the problems of local government - tax collection, conscription, the organization of policing - and of attempts to suppress peasant disturbances and control crime, she shows that the modernization of the Sicilian countryside both undermined the control of the central government and made the countryside itself more unstable.
The conventional wisdom has it that a balanced budget is the height of economic rationality, that social security should be privatized, and that most adult welfare recipients could and should get jobs. All our social and economic problems, we are told, are due to too much government; if we only left the American free enterprise system alone, the free market would heal all that ails our society and lead to lasting prosperity. Challenging these widespread stereotypes and myths, this book starts with the fundamental theory underlying capitalist ideology, showing that even in theory an unfettered free market cannot deal effectively with the many needs of a modern economy. Our society has many social goals to which the great majority subscribe-goals such as sustained full employment, universal health care, and quality education for all. The free market will not, the author argues, bring us quality education for every American child, affordable universal health care, Social Security for the elderly, assistance for the poor, or protection of the environment. Only an active, participant government can affect positive change in such areas of social concern.
Considered an irredeemably flawed and catastrophic president during the Depression era, Herbert Hoover has been studied more objectively by postwar historians, with revisionist scholarship culminating in his rehabilitation as a practitioner of one variety of progressivism. Even Hoover's sharpest critics recognize many of his once unheeded accomplishments. This extensive bibliography, including more than 2600 entries, provides access to an astronomical amount of Hoover-related materials attesting to extraordinary public service and longevity. Selective in approach, the volume cites sources depicting the continuum of contemporary and historical viewpoints and includes all key writings in Hoover historiography. Following a brief introduction and chronology of Hoover's life, the work begins with chapters covering manuscript and archival sources, writings of Herbert Hoover, and biographical publications. Chapters 4 and 5 are devoted to his early years and to his mature years prior to his election. The Presidential election of 1928 is covered in chapter 6; chapter 7 cites sources on the Hoover Administration; and chapter 8 covers the election of 1932. Hoover's administration associates are covered in chapter 9, and his post-presidential years covered in chapter 10. Concluding chapters are devoted to Hoover's philosophy, the personal lives of the Hoovers, historiographical materials, and iconography of the Hoovers. The work also includes a section on periodicals and author and subject indexes.
Sims and the contributors to this challenging new volume maintain that public sector organizations must radically reinvent themselves, if they are to survive and succeed in their missions: to provide quality service to their clients at a cost taxpayers can afford (or are willing to pay). They offer a firsthand look at how change occurs at all levels of government, and from this and other experiences they lay out strategies and tools that others in government can use quickly and with good results in their own public organizations. However, Sims and his panel of experts also note that not everything in organizational change will produce positive benefits; some results will be negative, and these too must be understood and dealt with. By compiling the viewpoints, advice, experiences, recommendations of public managers themselves, plus consultants, academics, and citizens who benefit from government (and are often its harshest critics), Sims gives readers a solid, realistic insight into the problems of today's public agencies, and workable advice on how to solve them. "Accountability and Radical Change in Public Organizations" examines the current government and reinvention initiative occurring in public organizations at the local, county, state, federal and international levels. The book highlights the importance of understanding that change in government will continue to be a way of life for public managers, thus requiring an ongoing analysis of those forces driving change and the need to increase our understanding of why certain change efforts work and others fail miserably in government. The contributors to this volume emphasize that while reinvention, accountability, and change are serious initiatives that public managers must confront they must take caution and learn from each others' experiences.
The only apparent consensus about the Nixon Presidency is that his accomplishments in the foreign policy area far outshadowed those in the domestic arena. The advances for which he was responsible--in particular, the opening to China--brought the most significant improvement in foreign relations among the great powers in decades. The Nixon diplomacy worked, while many of his domestic programs failed. This was true, the editors of this Hofstra-sponsored volume maintain, because there was more of a sense of realism and caution in his dealings with foreign governments and a willingness to compromise and accommodate their interests--a tolerance he often lacked in the domestic area. This volume outlines the main components of the Nixon foreign policy, beginning with the significant effort to bring China into the world community. The manner in which the Vietnam war was ended is examined, as are the evolution of American policy in the Middle East and the efforts at detente. With essays and observations from scholars and participants in the making of that policy, this volume is significant reading for all students of American foreign policy and the presidency.
A critical appraisal of the right-wing Likud government's rule in Israel from 1977-1992. The different ideological origins of both Begin and Shamir are examined, as well as how far they were influenced by pre-war nationalist models in Pilsudski's Poland and Mussolini's Italy. Exploring Begin's involvement with revisionist Zionism since 1931 and his lifelong struggle to extend Israel's sovereignty, the book focuses on such key issues as Begin's election victory, his rationale for invading Lebanon in 1982 and his invocation of the Holocaust in political debate. Looking at Shamir's political background from his days in the Stern Group through to his sudden return to party politics, Shindler explains why he was able to hold on to power for so long, and looks at his confrontation with the Bush Administration.
Five presidents (Eisenhower, Reagan, Clinton, Bush, and Obama) have been elected to and served a second term. Seemingly free from electoral pressure, each president has taken a unique approach to their second term, and the book seeks to unpack the rationale behind their decisions and actions in their final years of power.
This work is a detailed description of the use of Box Jenkins time-series analysis techniques--including autoregressive-integrated moving average (ARIMA) modeling--to test two hypotheses relating economic conditions to presidential popularity. . . . Lanoue's model shows the two hypotheses to be interrelated. Rising inflation rates have a negative effect on presidential popularity; falling inflation rates have no impact. These negative impacts are present only for Democratic administrations. Recession--as measured by declining real disposable income--leads to a decline in presidential popularity. Recovery from recession leads to a return in popularity. . . . Despite the clarity of the writing and the separation of the methodological details from most of the substantive discussions, this work is most appropriate for advanced undergraduates, graduate, and research collections. Annals of the American Academy Presidential popularity has been much discussed in recent years. This analysis deals with questions raised by the differing patterns of public approval experienced by the last six U.S. presidents, starting with John Kennedy's administration (Camelot) and concluding with a look at Ronald Reagan, who has often been termed the Teflon President. Lanoue begins with an overview of economics and politics as they relate to presidential popularity. He presents the research design and discusses the methodology involved, expecially the use of the Box-Jenkins approach. The results of his analysis are presented in two sections. The first, Inflation and Popularity, presents a model of presidential popularity as it relates to inflation. Specifically, it argues that voters evaluate the economic performances of different parties' presidents in different ways. The second section, Income and Popularity, takes an initial look at symmetry and income, and then presents two approaches to the analysis of asymmetry. This Asymmetric Hypothesis states that the electorate punishes the president and his party for hard times, but fails to reward them when economic conditions improve. The concluding chapter analyzes whether asymmetry is psychological or situational, and considers partisan effects in a chapter subtitled Bad News for Democrats. A final section on macroeconomic policy deals with maximizing popularity through changes in economic priorities.
Deeply influenced by Enlightenment writers from Naples and France, Vincenzo Cuoco (1770-1823) was forced into exile for his involvement in the failed Neapolitan revolution of 1799. Living in Milan, he wrote what became one of the nineteenth century's most important treatises on political revolution. In his Historical Essay on the Neapolitan Revolution of 1799, Cuoco synthesized the work of Machiavelli, Vico, and Enlightenment philosophers to offer an explanation for why and how revolutions succeed or fail. A major influence on political thought during the unification of Italy, the Historical Essay was also an inspiration to twentieth-century thinkers such as Benedetto Croce and Antonio Gramsci. This critical edition, featuring an authoritative translation, introduction, and annotations, finally makes Cuoco's work fully accessible to an English-speaking audience.
This continuation of a classic serves as a valuable research and reference tool for those seeking basic biographical information about American governors, and students wishing to do statistical analysis of voting trends in gubernatorial elections. Arranged alphabetically by name of state, the book contains brief biographical data on governors, including date of birth, birth place, residence, occupation, party affiliation, date and age at death, and date and age on assuming office. A second set of tables for each state includes election statistics by party for all gubernatorial elections.
The concept, practice, institution and appearance of 'the state' have been hotly debated ever since the emergence of history as a discipline within modern scholarship. The field of medieval Islamic history, however, has remained aloof from most of these debates. Rather it tends to take for granted the particularity of dynastic trajectories within slow-changing bureaucratic contexts. Trajectories of State Formation promotes a more critical and connected understanding of state formation in the late medieval Sultanates of Cairo and of the Timurid, Turkmen and Ottoman dynasties. Projecting seven case studies onto a broad canvas of European and West-Asian research, this volume presents a trans-dynastic reconstruction, interpretation and illustration of statist trajectories across fifteenth-century Islamic West-Asia. The contributors are: Georg Christ, Kristof D'hulster, Jan Dumolyn, Albrecht Fuess, Dimitri J. Kastritsis, Beatrice Forbes Manz, John L. Meloy, Jo Van Steenbergen, and Patrick Wing.
Public opinion polls consistently reveal the lack of confidence, disillusionment, and mistrust that citizens feel toward government. Daniels and his contributors believe that the relationship between citizens and their governments can be changed by facilitating greater citizen collaboration with government, particularly through local sustainable programs. As the case studies show, often sustainable community programs are created through grassroots movements that are initiated and managed by citizens themselves, bringing them in contact with their local elected and appointed officials. Unlike traditional programs that are administered by local officials on behalf of their citizens, once sustainable community programs are created, citizens administer their own programs in collaboration with local officials. The case studies look at a variety of sustainable programs, primarily in the United States, that help to deal with issues such as recycling, transportation, microcredit, site redevelopment, pollution, health care, and hunger. "Creating Sustainable Community Programs" is the first book on sustainable programs that is intended for an audience of public administration scholars, researchers, and students as well as practitioners who are searching for ways to change the relationship between citizens and their governments.
Millard Fillmore began his presidency on July 10, 1850, immediately passing the Fugitive Slave Act, and forever damaging his political career. Abolitionists and antislavery politicians were appalled and in 1852 Fillmore was denied nomination for a second term. Four years later he campaigned again for the presidency to no avail. As the decade came to an end, Millard Fillmore was no more than an obscure name in history. Today, historians are finding new interest in Fillmore and his politics on slavery. Many believed he tolerated injustice for what he perceived was the greater good. In this comprehensive bibliography, students will find citations and sources for information on Millard Fillmore's childhood and personal life, presidency and post-presidential career. Students can easily access specific information through the table of contents and author and subject indexes.
This series of documents, covering the first hundred years after
the Provisions of Oxford in 1258, is given in translation so that
all who are interested in the history of parliament but have little
Latin and less Old French may consult them.
Relying on extensive candid interviews from members of Congress and staff on defense authorization committees and senior Army general officers, Scroggs provides a strong insider analysis with recommendations. He examines the impact of culture on the varying abilities of public agencies, specifically the Army, to pursue its organizational interests through lobbying or liaising Congress. Scroggs argues that despite structural similarities in how the four military services approach Congress, differences in service culture affect their relative success in achieving their goals on the Hill. Scroggs draws four major conclusions. First, despite a law prohibiting lobbying of Congress by public agencies, Congress views lobbying or liaising by public entities, especially the military services, not only as a legitimate activity, but essential to Members carrying out their constitutional responsibilities. Second, relative to the other services, the Army is viewed by Congress as the least effective in its lobbying. Third, the Army's patterned approach with Congress is largely a function of its unrecognized and uncompensated culture in the unique terrain of the nation's capital. Fourth, because of the need for balanced service representation to Congress, relatively less effective Army efforts have troubling implications for national security and Army self-interest.
Sir Henry Taylor's classic treatise The Statesman, originally published in 1836, is the first modern book to be devoted to the subject of public administration. It has been read and studied by generations for its keen insights into the relationship between public administrators and elected officials in a democracy. It has also been appreciated for its wit. The present volume is the first twentieth-century edition to be based on the revised and expanded text that Taylor published in 1878 as part of his Collected Works. It is also the first edition to be fully annotated. The lengthy editors' introduction to this volume emphasizes the relevance of Taylor's thought to the fundamental issues of public administration in the contemporary United States. The editors demonstrate the superiority of Taylor's understanding of the relationship between politics and administration to the widely accepted model of that relation that derives from the thought of Woodrow Wilson. Above all, they argue, Taylor's insights merit our attention because they indicate how a properly organized civil service can be a locus of statesmanship in a democracy, fulfilling the intentions of the authors of the American Constitution in a contemporary context that differs significantly from what the Founders themselves anticipated.
Examines the complicated political legacy of our first black president Written during the presidency of Donald Trump, After Obama examines the impact President Barack Obama and his administration have continued to have upon African American politics. In this comprehensive volume, Todd C. Shaw, Robert A. Brown, and Joseph P. McCormick II bring together more than a dozen scholars to explore his complex legacy, including his successes, failures, and contradictions. Contributors focus on a wide range of topics, including how President Obama affected aspects of African American politics, how his public policies influenced the quality of Black citizenship and life, and what future administrations can learn from his experiences. They also examine the present-day significance of Donald Trump in relation to African American politics. A timely and thorough work, After Obama provides the first examination of the Obama administration in its entirety, and the lasting impact it has had on African American politics.
A world-renowned British stateman, Arthur James Balfour is best known as Prime Minister and signer of the Balfour Declaration, calling for a national home for Jews in Palestine. Less well known are his initiatives in creating a structure for strategic planning, preparation for, and fighting a war, the Committee of Imperial Defence, and chairing the committee which articulated the basis for the constitution of the British Commonwealth of Nations. This book provides the most extensive survey of the literature by and about Balfour. The first section of the book, a historiographical narrative, surveys the important literature, integrating historical and biographical events, criticisms, evaluations, and observations of reviewers along with those of the writer. It surveys books, monographs, official histories, government publications, memoirs, diaries, dissertations, bibliographies, pertinent articles from journals, collections of unpublished papers, manuscript collections, and archival and research holdings. The second section provides an annotated bibliography of the 500 items discussed in the historiographical narrative.
Designed as a text for upper-level undergraduate-and graduate-level courses in public administration, public management, public policy, organizational behavior, this book looks at how people work effectively in public organizations. Written entirely by experienced practitioners, the text is unique in that it addresses throughout both the practical concerns of the working administrator and those of the theorist. By using their own on-the-job experiences as illustrative samples, the contributors clearly demonstrate how theory can improve practice and how practice can be used to generate theories. Following an introductory chapter by the editor on the role of practitioners in the intellectual development of public administration, the text is divided into four sections. Part One, on the individual in public organizations, covers the ways in which managers learn and teach, presents an alternative contemplative paradigm of organizational behavior, and explores the role of the heroic individual in public administration. Part Two focuses on other people and public organizations, examining such issues as organizational learning, internal evaluation in organizations, organizational pathologies, and controlling conflict. Turning to the question of structure and public organizations, the contributors address ways in which organizational structure can be influenced, describe a learning model of organization, identify archetypes in organizations, and analyze the structure of power in public organizations. The final section looks at the management and leadership skills necessary to be successful in public administration. |
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