This book offers readers a comprehensive introduction to the functions of the government in contemporary China. Further, it creates a framework to describe urban governance in today's China, which consists of four basic modes: the omnipotent government mode, autonomous governance mode, integrated governance mode and cooperative governance mode. The book defines a "city" as a gathering place for high-quality public service resources, and the basic task of urban governance is to provide high-quality public services and maintain the sustainability of fiscal revenues. By focusing on current "hot topics" in urban governance in China, including the institutional development of urban governance, model interpretation, city/county relationship, cross-border governance, cross-sectoral coordination, street management, community service provision, and municipal performance evaluation, it clarifies a number of common misunderstandings in the field of urban management and practice. Lastly, the book analyses the current integrated governance model used in Chinese cities, which relies on the authority of the government and integrates the market and social subjects across borders by means of qualification identification, resource support, elite absorption, party-group embeddedness, and project cooperation. However, this model is currently facing several problems. In order to address the potential risks of integrated governance, the book argues that we need to develop new institutional arrangements based on collaborative governance.

This volume describes African cities in transition, and the economic, socio-political, and environmental challenges resulting from rapid post-colonial urbanization. As the African continent continues to transition from urban configurations inherited from colonial influences and history, it faces issues such as urban slum expansion, increased demands for energy and clean water, lack of adequate public transportation, high levels of inequality among different socio-economic population strata, and inadequate urban governance, planning, and policies. African cities in transition need to reconsider current policies and developmental trajectories to facilitate and sustain economic growth and Africa's strategic repositioning in the world. Written by an international team of scholars and practitioners, this volume uses case studies to focus on key issues and developmental challenges in selected African cities. Topics include but are not limited to, smart cities, changing notions of democracy, the city's role in attaining the SDGs, local governance, alternative models for governance and management, corruption, urbanisation and future cities.

While the American alliance system in Asia has been fundamental to the region's security and prosperity for seven decades, today it encounters challenges from the growth of China-based regional organizations. How was the American alliance system originally established in Asia, and is it currently under threat? How are competing security designs being influenced by the United States and China? In Powerplay, Victor Cha draws from theories about alliances, unipolarity, and regime complexity to examine the evolution of the U.S. alliance system and the reasons for its continued importance in Asia and the world. Cha delves into the fears, motivations, and aspirations of the Truman and Eisenhower presidencies as they contemplated alliances with the Republic of China, Republic of Korea, and Japan at the outset of the Cold War. Their choice of a bilateral "hub and spokes" security design for Asia was entirely different from the system created in Europe, but it was essential for its time. Cha argues that the alliance system's innovations in the twenty-first century contribute to its resiliency in the face of China's increasing prominence, and that the task for the world is not to choose between American and Chinese institutions, but to maximize stability and economic progress amid Asia's increasingly complex political landscape. Exploring U.S. bilateral relations in Asia after World War II, Powerplay takes an original look at how global alliances are achieved and maintained.

This book focuses on the practice and experience of urban delicacy governance in Xuhui District, Shanghai. As we know, urbanization is the inevitable course for agricultural civilization to move towards industrial civilization. Over the past forty years, the urbanization of China has developed rapidly and has become an important push for economic development and social progress. At the same time, the rapid expansion of city scale, the shortage of public services, environmental pollution, traffic congestion, housing tension, as well as other urban pain points have emerged, and these have brought about serious challenges to urban governance. Delicacy management is the concentrated expression of modern scientific management theory and the inherent requirement to realize the modernization of national governance systems and governance capability. From delicacy management to delicacy governance, urban governance needs the transformation of logic. Shanghai has been identified as the only super city in the Yangtze River Delta and East China. It is of great significance to understand the theory and practice of urban governance in Shanghai. Meanwhile, Xuhui District is one of the seven central urban areas in Shanghai with a profound historical background, important institutions, advanced science and education.

Der Verfasser hinterfragt die verbreitete Annahme, Handelsstreitigkeiten wurden in der Welthandelsorganisation (WTO) im gerichtlichen Verfahren beigelegt, und bietet eine Untersuchung aus Anwaltssicht. Am Beispiel des Handelsstreits Kodak-Fujifilm klart er Strukturelemente, Abschnitte und Funktionen der Verhandlung und ordnet Handlungs- und Ermessensspielraume der Parteien rechtlichen Verhaltens- und Bewertungsmassstaben der WTO zu. Hierbei verwirft er den Gegensatz von Macht und Rechtsnorm. Zudem gibt er Anregungen fur eine objektivierte Verhandlung und den Ausgleich von kooperativer und konfrontativer Streitbeilegung in der WTO. Das Modell bietet insbesondere Rechtsberatern wertvolle Einsichten in die streitbeilegende Verhandlung.

During the 1950s, amid increased attention to the problems facing cities-such as racial disparities in housing, education, and economic conditions; tense community-police relations; and underrepresentation of minority groups-local governments developed an interest in "human relations." In the wake of the shocking 1965 Watts uprising, a new authority was created: the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission. Today, such commissions exist all over the United States, charged with addressing such tasks as fighting racial discrimination and improving fair housing access. Brian Calfano and Valerie Martinez-Ebers examine the history and current efforts of human relations commissions in promoting positive intergroup outcomes and enforcing antidiscrimination laws. Drawing on a wide range of theories and methods from political science, social psychology, and public administration, they assess policy approaches, successes, and failures in four cities. The book sheds light on the advantages and disadvantages of different commission types and considers the stresses and expectations placed on commission staff in carrying out difficult agendas in highly charged political contexts. Calfano and Martinez-Ebers suggest that the path to full inclusion is fraught with complications but that human rights commissions provide guidance as to how disparate groups can be brought together to forge a common purpose. The first book to examine these widely occurring yet understudied political bodies, Human Relations Commissions is relevant to a range of urban policy issues of interest to both academics and practitioners.

This book examines the impacts of fiscal decentralization reforms on the efficiency of local governments in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. By offering a comparative perspective and by applying econometric methods and regression models, it analyses various reform trajectories and their effects on individual CEE countries. Furthermore, the book discusses input and output indicators for evaluating the efficiency of municipalities. Readers will learn about the common features of these countries, the impact of path dependence, and future prospects for decentralization reforms. In closing, the book discusses modern management and administration methods, opportunities for cooperation between municipalities, co-creative service delivery, and other measures that could improve the efficiency of public service provision.

This book explores new forms of popular organisation that emerged from strikes in India and Brazil between 2011 and 2014. Based on four case studies, the author traces the alliances and relations that strikers developed during their mobilisations with other popular actors such as students, indigenous peoples, and people displaced by dam projects. The study locates the mass strikes in Brazil's construction industry and India's automobile industry in a global conjuncture of protest movements, and develops a new theory of strikes that can take account of the manifold ways in which labour unrest is embedded in local communities and regional networks. "Joerg Nowak has written an ambitious, wide-ranging and very important book. Based on extensive empirical research in Brazil and India and a thorough analysis of the secondary literature, Nowak reveals that numerous labour conflicts develop in the absence of trade unions, but with the support of kinship networks, local communities, social movements and other types of associations. This impressive work may well become a major building block for a new interpretation of global workers' struggles." -Marcel van der Linden, International Institute of Social History, The Netherlands "Nowak's book meticulously details the trajectory of strikes and its resultant new forms of organisations in India and Brazil. The central focus of this analytically rich and thought provoking book is to search for a new political alternative model of organising workers. A very good deed indeed!" -Nandita Mondal, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India "Joerg Nowak analyses with critical sense forms of popular organization that often remain invisible. It is an indispensable book for all those who are looking for more effective analytical resources to better understand the present situation and the future promises of the workers' movements." -Roberto Veras de Oliveira, Federal University of Paraiba, Brazil "In this timely and important study, Nowak convincingly challenges the dominant Eurocentric approach to labour conflict and calls for a new theory of strikes. He stresses the need to engage in a wider perspective that includes social reproduction, neighbourhood mobilisations, and the specific traditions of struggles in the Global South." -Edward Webster, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa

This book discusses the fundamental issues regarding the effect of real estate regulation on housing, urban development, and considerations of justice and efficiency. Bringing together the contributions of prominent scholars representing diverse methodologies and academic disciplines, this book offers new perspectives on core topics such as the effectiveness of land use regulation in terms of housing availability, enhanced equality, and sustainable development; and different modes of regulation and their mutual influences. The book's eleven chapters are divided into five parts which address different aspects of real estate regulation, combining theoretical analysis with a close observation of diverse case studies, from North America and Europe to China, the Middle East, and developing economies. Part I offers cutting-edge analysis on how to measure, model, and understand the impact of zoning and other modes of real estate regulation, from economic and normative theoretical viewpoints. Part II complements Part I by providing historical observations and empirical knowledge on the actual contribution of zoning and historical conservation regulation to cities' shape. Part III considers the outcomes of business and industrial land development policies. Part IV studies urban land development regulation and allows to compare between two relevant case studies-one from Germany, and the other from Poland. Finally, Part V concerns standardization in the real estate market by analyzing the justification and outcomes of such attempts, particularly in the mortgages market. Providing an interface between theory and practice, the book will appeal to a broad audience, consisting of scholars, policy-makers, practitioners, and students, interested in an interdisciplinary overlook on real estate regulation.

Rural areas and rural people have been centrally implicated in Southeast Asia's modernisation. Through the three entry points of smallholder persistence, upland dispossession, and landlessness, this Element offers an insight into the ways in which the countryside has been transformed over the past half century. Drawing on primary fieldwork undertaken in Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, and secondary studies from across the region, Rigg shows how the experience of Southeast Asia offers a counterpoint and a challenge to standard, historicist understandings of agrarian change and, more broadly, development. Taking a rural view allows an alternative lens for theorising and judging Southeast Asia's modernisation experience and narrative. The Element argues that if we are to capture the nature - and not just the direction and amount - of agrarian change in Southeast Asia, then we need to view the countryside as more than rural and greater than farming.

On July 4, 1867, a group of men assembled in Houston to establish the Republican Party of Texas. Combatting entrenched statewide support for the Democratic Party and their own internal divisions, Republicans struggled to gain a foothold in the Lone Star State, which had sided with the Confederacy and aligned with the Democratic platform. In The Republican Party of Texas, Wayne Thorburn, former executive director of the Texas GOP, chronicles over one hundred and fifty years of the defeats and victories of the party that became the dominant political force in Texas in the modern era. Thorburn documents the organizational structure of the Texas GOP, drawing attention to prominent names, such as Harry Wurzbach and George W. Bush, alongside lesser-known community leaders who bolstered local support. The 1960s and 1970s proved a watershed era for Texas Republicans as they shored up ideological divides and elected the first Republican governor and more state senators and congressional representatives than ever before. From decisions about candidates and shifting allegiances and political stances, to race-based divisions and strategic cooperation with leaders in the Democratic Party, Thorburn unearths the development of the GOP in Texas to understand the unique Texan conservatism that prevails today.

As things stand, a commitment to weak democracy and strong constitutionalism ensures that a range of elite groups, actors, and institutions - political, economic, intellectual, and legal - hold considerable sway over constitutional matters, leaving less room for the participation of ordinary people. With the continued primacy of liberal constitutionalism, constitutional law has come to represent and facilitate the centrality of judicial power and authority. In Democracy and Constitutions, Allan C. Hutchinson warns against this deference to a legal elite on questions of constitutional meaning. For Hutchinson, an over-reliance on constitutional law, and a lack of attention to democratic politics, keeps people from influencing the moral and political character of society; it saps civic energies and relegates ordinary people to the sidelines. Engaging and provocative, Democracy and Constitutions charts a course away from the elitism of the present and toward a more democratic future, one that re-balances society's commitment to both democracy and constitutions. Advocating for a strong democracy and weak constitutionalism, this book places ordinary people at the institutional heart of government and politics, arguing that such a re-calibration is better for democracy and for society.

"This is a very rich monograph, based on impressive fieldwork in China, which demonstrates excellent qualitative and ethnographic research skills, research integrity, and cultural perceptiveness in the analysis. This book will make a great contribution to the literature on policy transfer and and policy mobilities, and on urban politics in contemporary China, as it offers a rich understanding of the nitty-gritty practices of transferring and learning 'from abroad'."Claire Colomb, Professor of Urban Studies and Planning at the University College London, UK. This book explores the concept of Careful Urban Renewal, a concept of urban renewal that originated in Berlin in the 1980s and that was proposed to Yangzhou, a Chinese city of the wealthy province of Jiangsu, in the early 2000s. It sets out to understand whether knowledge and ideas originating in a specific setting can be transferred to another locality thousands of miles away from the point of origin, and have the chance to change the policies and the practices of the destination city. The book shows that foreign ideas can inspire ambitious reforms of the policies of a single city, but that there also exist multiple challenges to policy learning and to the rooting of new ideas in local practices. To explore these challenges, this book develops an analysis of the micro-dynamics of policy transfer, showing that there exist multiple hierarchies to which a Chinese city can be subjected, intermittently opening or closing "windows for policy learning".

Why there should be a larger role for the judiciary in American foreign relations In the past several decades, there has been a growing chorus of voices contending that the Supreme Court and federal judiciary should stay out of foreign affairs and leave the field to Congress and the president. Challenging this idea, Restoring the Global Judiciary argues instead for a robust judicial role in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy. With an innovative combination of constitutional history, international relations theory, and legal doctrine, Martin Flaherty demonstrates that the Supreme Court and federal judiciary have the power and duty to apply the law without deference to the other branches. Turning first to the founding of the nation, Flaherty shows that the Constitution's original commitment to separation of powers was as strong in foreign as domestic matters, not least because the document shifted enormous authority to the new federal government. This initial conception eroded as the nation rose from fledgling state to superpower, fueling the growth of a dangerously formidable executive that today asserts near-plenary foreign affairs authority. Flaherty explores how modern international relations makes the commitment to balance among the branches of government all the more critical and he considers implications for modern controversies that the judiciary will continue to confront. At a time when executive and legislative actions in the name of U.S. foreign policy are only increasing, Restoring the Global Judiciary makes the case for a zealous judicial defense of fundamental rights involving global affairs.

What explains contemporary variations in African legislative institutions - including their strengths and weaknesses? Compared with the more powerful executive branches, legislatures throughout the continent have historically been classified as weak and largely inconsequential to policy-making processes. But, as Ken Ochieng' Opalo suggests here, African legislatures actually serve important roles, and under certain conditions, powerful and independent democratic legislatures can emerge from their autocratic foundations. In this book, Opalo examines the colonial origins of African legislatures, as well as how postcolonial intra-elite politics structured the processes of adapting inherited colonial legislatures to local political contexts and therefore continued legislative development. Through case studies of Kenya and Zambia, Opalo offers a comparative longitudinal study of the evolution of legislative strength and institutionalization as well as a regional survey of legislative development under colonial rule, postcolonial autocratic single-party rule, and multiparty politics throughout Africa.

Latin America is currently caught in a middle-quality institutional trap, combining flawed democracies and low-to-medium capacity States. Yet, contrary to conventional wisdom, the sequence of development - Latin America has democratized before building capable States - does not explain the region's quandary. States can make democracy, but so too can democracy make States. Thus, the starting point of political developments is less important than whether the State-democracy relationship is a virtuous cycle, triggering causal mechanisms that reinforce each other. However, the State-democracy interaction generates a virtuous cycle only under certain macroconditions. In Latin America, the State-democracy interaction has not generated a virtuous cycle: problems regarding the State prevent full democratization and problems of democracy prevent the development of state capacity. Moreover, multiple macroconditions provide a foundation for this distinctive pattern of State-democracy interaction. The suboptimal political equilibrium in contemporary Latin America is a robust one.

A History of Political Thought is an accessible introduction to the history of political and economic thought; its main focus is the rise, and eventual consolidation, of modern market society. It asks: What are the effects of private property and commerce on individual well-being and on the stability of the political community? A History of Political Thought answers this central question through the careful study of political philosophers and economists, from ancient Greece to the twenty-first century. The book does not have an ideological agenda and gives equal voice to thinkers on opposite sides of the political spectrum. This is one of its key merits and a mark of distinction: its willingness to treat stark opponents - Hobbes and Locke, Smith and Marx, Keynes and Hayek, among others - as equally worthy of serious study. In doing so, the book provides students with a very powerful arsenal of ideas about the evolution of the market and also provides a solid introduction to the history of political thought.

Filme sind auf staatliche Filmfoerderung angewiesen. Die Autorin stellt in einem Rechtsvergleich die Filmfoerdersysteme in Deutschland und England einschliesslich der Foerderung auf UK-Ebene mit ihren unterschiedlichen Foerderinstrumenten gegenuber. Erstmalig wird das englische Filmfoerdersystem in seiner Gesamtheit dargestellt. Die Foerderungen werden auf eine Vereinbarkeit mit dem europaischen Beihilfenrecht untersucht, insbesondere das Tatbestandsmerkmal der staatlichen Mittel und die Rechtfertigungsgrunde. Die Autorin gibt als Resultate wertvolle Hinweise zur Korrektur von Foerdergesetzen und -richtlinien. Hervorgehoben wird das Film Tax Regime der britischen Steuererleichterungen, das sowohl Vorbild als auch Warnfunktion fur eine Weiterentwicklung des deutschen Filmfoerdersystems sein kann.

"Grounded in the urban politics of the 21st Century world-wide, this thoughtful volume hooks urban food - and especially its production - to social justice in a realistic and manageable way." -Diana Lee-Smith, Mazingira Institute, Kenya "An excellent international overview of urban food democracy and governance, with impressive geographical reach." -Andre Viljoen, University of Brighton, UK This edited collection explores urban food democracy as part of a broader policy-based approach to sustainable urban development. Conceptually, governance and social justice provide the analytical framework for a varied array of contributions which critically address issues including urban agriculture, smart cities, human health and wellbeing and urban biodiversity. Some chapters take the form of thematic, issue-based discussions, where others are constituted by empirical case studies. Contributing authors include both academic experts and practitioners who hail from a wide range of disciplines, professions and nations. All offer original research and robust consideration of urban food democracy in cities from across the Global North and South. Taken as a whole, this book makes a significant contribution to understanding the potential enabling role of good urban governance in developing formal urban food policy that is economically and socially responsive and in tune with forms of community-driven adaptation of space for the local production, distribution and consumption of nutritious food.

This book examines urbanization and migration processes in South Asia. By analyzing the socio-economic impacts and infrastructural, environmental and institutional aspects of different conurbations, it highlights conflicts over agricultural land as well as the effects on health, education, poverty and the welfare of children, women and old people. The authors also explore issues of mobility; connectivity and accessibility of public services, and discuss the effective use of new urban-management tools, such as the concept of smart cities and urban spatial monitoring.

This book provides a comparative analysis of the regional development strategies of east, west, northeast and central China and the development of important economic regions including the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Chengdu-Chongqing and central-southern areas of Liaoning Province. The book reveals some key issues faced in China's regional development and analyzes their causes while delving into new trends of regional development since the 18th CPC National Congress. The book concludes by proposing new ideas for regional development under the new normal and analyzing experiences of other major powers in carrying out coordinated regional development. This book will be of interest to urbanists, journalists, and China scholars.

"Contesting Peace in the Postwar City is key reading for urban and peace and conflict scholars. In this impressive and meticulously researched book, Gusic reflects on the ways in which divisions are routinised in the everyday landscape of divided cities and skilfully investigates how change and continuity are governed in postwar urban spaces. The book provides rich empirical material from the cities of Mostar, Mitrovica and Belfast, drawing on nuanced fieldwork insights." -Stefanie Kappler, Durham University, UK "Ivan Gusic sets out a powerful, theoretically critical and empirically rich account of the trajectories of cities after war. The strength of the work is that it brings an understanding of the urban condition into relation with ethno-national conflict and the survival of violence. Gusic unsettles dominant narratives in peace studies by offering a grounded evaluation of three cities coming out of violence and points to the importance of place in peacebuilding processes." -Brendan Murtagh, Queen's University Belfast, UK "Detailed case studies of Belfast, Mitrovica and Mostar show how cities are often engines of what Ivan Gusic calls 'war in peace'. This on-trend study combines the latest research from critical urban studies with peace and conflict studies to produce a very accessible and internationally relevant book. It is highly recommended." -Roger Mac Ginty, Durham University, UK This book explores why the postwar city reinforces rather than transcends its continuities of war in peace. It theorises war-to-peace transitions as conflicts over how to socio-politically order society and then analyses different urban conflicts over peace(s) in postwar Belfast (Northern Ireland), Mitrovica (Kosovo) and Mostar (Bosnia-Herzegovina). Focusing on themes such as educational segregation, clientelism, fear, paramilitaries, and infrastructure, it shows how conflict lines from war are perpetuated in and by the postwar city. Yet it also discovers instances where antagonisms are bridged by utilising the postwar city's transcending potential. While written in the nexus between peace research and urban studies, this book also speaks to political geography, international relations, anthropology, and planning.

Holy Toledo is the first biography of one of the most remarkable social reformers of this century. It is the story of one man's attempts to remake himself, the workplace, and the city along Christian democratic lines. Jones was a deeply divided man: the successful businessman turned reformer who, after more than a decade of remarkable fidelity to the Golden Rule, still believed he had failed. Unlike most progressive reformers, Jones was in a position to initiate real change. His factory workers shared in the profits and took advantage of day-care facilities for their children. As mayor, he was a nationally revered public figure who supported municipal ownership of utilities, ended the practice of jailing the homeless, and made available free legal counsel to those who needed it. Marnie Jones relies upon a rich collection of unpublished documents to tell the compelling story of the only man in America to have run a city on the principles of the Sermon on the Mount.

Swiss Maid: Verborgene Krafte und Schatze in der Erfolgsgeschichte der Schweiz untersucht die Arbeit und Leistungen von einfachen Frauen und wie sie die Schweiz mitgestaltet haben. Frauen waren tatig in religioesen Institutionen, in der Hauswirtschaft, auf Bauernhoefen, im Handwerk und Gewerbe, in der Madchenbildung, im Pflegebereich, in der Fursorge, im Militar, in der Industrie und im Dienstleistungssektor. Obwohl judischchristliche Traditionen die Frauen in untergeordneten Rollen einschlossen, entwickelten die Frauen ihre eigenen Starken und trugen zur erfolgreichen Volkswirtschaft des Landes bei. Allerdings wurde die Arbeit dieser Frauen nicht in die Staatsbuchhaltung aufgenommen und in Produktivitatsmodellen bewertet und anerkannt. In diesem Buch werden qualitative und quantitative Daten vorgestellt, die zur Ermittlung von soziooekonomischen Aussagen erforderlich sind. Ausbildung, Arbeitsteilung und soziale Strukturen vergangener Jahrhunderte werden in Bezug auf die Produktivitat von Frauen ebenso diskutiert wie die sozialen Veranderungen in jungerer Zeit. Multifaktor- Produktivitatskonzepte und soziale Wohlstandsmessungen beleuchten den enormen Wert der Arbeit von Frauen. Portrats von wegweisenden und gewoehnlichen Frauen zeugen von ihrem unerschrockenen Mut und ihren aussergewoehnlichen Beitragen, ohne die die Marke "Swiss Made" und das Image der Schweiz nicht erfolgreich waren. Nur wenn wir die Frauen-einschliessende Geschichte kennen, verstehen wir die Gegenwart. Dieses Buch schliesst die Lucke im Schweizer Erfolgsmodell.