Ghana has always held a position of primacy in the African political and historical imagination, due in no small part to the indelible impression left president Kwame Nkrumah. This study examines the symbolic strategies he used to construct the Ghanaian state through currency, stamps, museums, flags, and other public icons.

This volume uses essential and illuminating primary documents as a portal for understanding the evolution and present parameters of presidential power, the relationship between America's three branches of government, and why wartime often leads presidents to claim expansive powers and authority. Presidential Power: Documents Decoded provides a thorough examination of the historical and political context of key, critical moments in constitutional history and presidential power that makes possible opportunities for students to explore American politics in an interesting, memorable, and dynamic way. Each of the case studies reveals important dimensions of the constitutional order in the United States—and enables readers to better grasp how executive power has shifted and expanded. The book takes specific events, people, institutions, or ideas and places them in a broader context so that readers can observe patterns and make connections among seemingly disparate happenings and concepts relating to executive power. Accompanied by explanatory sidebars, the included primary sources let students examine actual documentary evidence of key elements of executive power—for example, the presidential memorandum, the National Security cable, and the prisoner's petition—and reach their own judgment of the implications of that document for the American political system.

The presidency of George W. Bush has been a curious one: born in contention, challenged by the most dramatic foreign directed attack on American soil, and transformed by a combination of crisis and conflict that has generated considerable support domestically. And yet, while much attention has been focused on the Bush administration's extrernal policies, how it has pursued its goals and had its effects on the domestic scene has been as important. Examining the push and pull of the Bush presidency by looking especially at domestic dynamics, the authors look at the tendency towards centralizing power and its implications for American politics. From the midterm elections of 2002, where the Republicans scored historic victories, to relations with the press, and from executive branch relations with Congress to increased federal involvement in education, the authors examine and shed light on crucial issues. This book examines how words and deeds in a time of crisis will define the Bush presidency place in American politics and history.

A political, critical, and analytical biography of Yitzhak Rabin, this book makes use of recently-opened archival material and provides explanations for the important episodes in Rabin's life. Leslie Derfler examines Rabin's longtime leadership of the Israeli military and state and Rabin's efforts to secure a peace with Egypt and the Palestinians. He reveals that, while Rabin's opposition to a two-state solution remained firm, Rabin had a longstanding belief in Palestinians' right to shape their own destiny and an underlying awareness of the need for a political rather than military solution to the problem of Israeli security.

The women in the family which ruled 13th-century Castile used maternity, familial and political strategy, and religious and cultural patronage to secure their personal power as well as to promote their lineage. Leonor of England, and her daughters Blanche of Castile (Queen of France), Urraca (Queen of Portugal), Costanza (a Cistercian nun of Las Huelgas) and Leonor, (Queen of Aragon) provide the context for a study focusing on Berenguela of Castile, Queen of Leon through marriage and of Castile by right of inheritance, whose most significant accomplishment was to enable the successful rule of her son Fernando.

How can Americans develop a coherent overview of the presidency? The Preamble of the Constitution provides a historical foundation to assess the major patterns, events, and policies of seven important presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Harry S. Truman. From the 1790s to the 1950s, presidents have faced challenges to the meaning and existence of the Union, the definition and implementation of justice, the necessity of domestic tranquility, the formulation of defense policy to enhance national security, the advancement of general welfare, and the protection and promotion of liberty within the context of their times. This conceptual framework allows readers to study long-term continuity and change in the presidency and in America. In an age of specialization, when most historical studies of individual presidents are hundreds, even thousands of pages long, Saunders gives readers a brief, interpretive overview of select presidents. The elegant, flexible, and understandable framework of the Preamble provides the historical foundation for the assessment of the presidency and the individuals occupying this important office. Readers will be able to use this assessable framework to study other presidents, bringing the discussion of the presidency as an evolving institution up to the present day.

This new work of biographical reference presents succinct narrative biographies of every serving head of state and head of government.
Its content covers approximately 200 countries and territories and provides over 300 biographical profiles.
Each country section contains:
* A brief explanation of its type of government and the roles of the head of state, the head of government and the legislature
* Lists of the most recent heads of state and head of government, with dates of office
* Biographical profiles of current head of state and government, and other recent incumbents of these positions who remain significant and active political leaders
* A photographic section of a selection of the world's key political leaders
* A full index by name, date of taking office, and source of authority.

Since his election, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has reversed the more moderate and pluralistic policies of his predecessor and projected himself onto the public scene with headline-grabbing speeches regarding Jews and the state of Israel, open defiance of the UN Security Council on the nuclear issue, and an apparent vision of his country becoming the dominant power in the Middle East. Iran's nuclear ambitions are in direct conflict with the wishes of the United States, the European Union, and many of the governments of the Middle East, leading to consequences that remain uncertain. Iran is a focus of attention in the most recent war in Lebanon, expanding its influence as a (the?) major supporter and supplier of Hezbollah. And Iran is cited in the most recent annual U.S. State Department report on terrorism as the country that is the "most active sponsor of terrorism." This book documents Ahmadinejad's background and rise to power. It explains the current structure of the Iranian revolutionary government--the competing centers of power and the major players. In separate sections it details the terrorist groups funded and armed by Iran, primarily Hezbollah and Hamas. And it provides a comprehensive picture of Iran's apparent aspirations to acquire nuclear weapons, as well as the related implications for regional and global security concerns. There is little reason to believe that Ahmadinejad will leave the scene anytime soon, or that Iran's behavior will change in the near term.

Whom a prime minister or president will not shake hands with is still more noticed than with whom they will. Public identity can afford to be ambiguous about friends, but not about enemies. Rodney Barker examines the available accounts of how enmity functions in the cultivation of identity, how essential or avoidable it is, and what the consequences are for the contemporary world.

The towering figure who remade American politics--the champion of the ordinary citizen and the scourge of entrenched privilege
The Founding Fathers espoused a republican government, but they were distrustful of the common people, having designed a constitutional system that would temper popular passions. But as the revolutionary generation passed from the scene in the 1820s, a new movement, based on the principle of broader democracy, gathered force and united behind Andrew Jackson, the charismatic general who had defeated the British at New Orleans and who embodied the hopes of ordinary Americans. Raising his voice against the artificial inequalities fostered by birth, station, monied power, and political privilege, Jackson brought American politics into a new age.
Sean Wilentz, one of America's leading historians of the nineteenth century, recounts the fiery career of this larger-than-life figure, a man whose high ideals were matched in equal measure by his failures and moral blind spots, a man who is remembered for the accomplishments of his eight years in office and for the bitter enemies he made. It was in Jackson's time that the great conflicts of American politics--urban versus rural, federal versus state, free versus slave--crystallized, and Jackson was not shy about taking a vigorous stand. It was under Jackson that modern American politics began, and his legacy continues to inform our debates to the present day.

A Practical Guide to Government Management provides a comprehensive yet one-volume work on high-level government management and can be described as a management book, reference book, and textbook all in one. It is geared towards any upper level government manager, public administration student, or anyone interested in public sector management. Government managers receive limited or no management training, and at higher levels, focus more on policy than management, with negative consequences for the agencies they manage. This book seeks to address that dearth, written from the point of view of someone who successfully led government organizations, for an extended period, and faced a wide variety of managerial problems and issues. It covers a number of topics seldom discussed (and certainly not all in one volume), such as handling problem employees, cutback management, prioritization, making decisions, gaining control of an organization, and telling one's boss - the elected official-no. Leo Strine, Chief Justice of Delaware's Supreme Court and a former colleague, says that "In a time when many Americans are jaded about public service, it's refreshing to be reminded that there are talented people who devote their careers to making our government work for the governed. Vince Meconi always put the public first in his decades of service in all three branches of government, and anyone interested in making government more effective will benefit from his insights and experience." Former Delaware Medicaid Director Harry Hill says, "I have led government agencies, managed for multiple Fortune 500 Companies, and run my own business. Vince Meconi is the best manager I have ever encountered. As a student of management myself, I collected over 800 books on the subject. Most offered little new, just a new way of saying the same thing. This book has what the others lacked - written instructions, practical examples, and advice for public sector managers from someone who has actually faced all the challenges for a prolonged period. It is a management book, reference book, and textbook all in one."

The plainspoken man from Missouri who never expected to be president yet rose to become one of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century

In April 1945, after the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the presidency fell to a former haberdasher and clubhouse politician from Independence, Missouri. Many believed he would be overmatched by the job, but Harry S. Truman would surprise them all.

Few chief executives have had so lasting an impact. Truman ushered America into the nuclear age, established the alliances and principles that would define the cold war and the national security state, started the nation on the road to civil rights, and won the most dramatic election of the twentieth century--his 1948 "whistlestop campaign" against Thomas E. Dewey.

Robert Dallek, the bestselling biographer of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, shows how this unassuming yet supremely confident man rose to the occasion. Truman clashed with Southerners over civil rights, with organized labor over the right to strike, and with General Douglas MacArthur over the conduct of the Korean War. He personified Thomas Jefferson's observation that the presidency is a "splendid misery," but it was during his tenure that the United States truly came of age.

In leadership research there is a long tradition of focusing attention on the great and successful leaders and, more recently, on issues of good governance. This study breaks new ground by looking systematically into the manifestations and causes of poor leadership and bad governance in some of the world's most powerful democracies. Focusing on the presidents and prime ministers of the G8 - the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan - it explores the complex relationship between weak and ineffective leadership, undemocratic leadership techniques, and bad policies from a broad comparative perspective. What makes leaders weak or bad in different contexts? What are the consequences of their actions and behavior? And has there been any learning from negative experience? These questions are at the center of this fascinating joint inquiry that involves a team of truly distinguished leadership scholars. This book will prove invaluable for scholars and students of leadership, political science, contemporary history, and related academic disciplines. Readers with a general interest in public affairs and political history will also find plenty to interest them. Contributors: J. Gaffney, L. Helms, E.S. Krauss, J. Malloy, G. Pasquino, G. Peele, R. Pekkanen, B.A. Rockman, R. Sakwa

In one of the first attempts to link the expanding field of leadership studies with classic works in political theory, Kenneth Ruscio places the study of political leadership squarely within the field of democratic thought and argues that claims about the legitimate duties and responsibilities of leaders depend upon claims about principles of democracy.It is impossible to imagine effective democracies without effective leaders. Yet leaders are often seen as the problem democratic governance is designed to solve, not the solution. Through a careful but lively critique of some of the classic works in modern democratic thought - from Machiavelli to Locke and from The Federalist Papers to Rawls - The Leadership Dilemma in Modern Democracy explains what is meant by effective political leadership in a system and culture of government where the power and discretion of leaders are severely limited. A compelling and provocative study, this volume will be of interest to scholars of leadership studies, political scientists, democratic theorists, and all those interested in concepts of democracy and the challenges faced by leaders.

This thrilling biography of Stalin and his entourage during the terrifying decades of his supreme power transforms our understanding of Stalin as Soviet dictator, Marxist leader and Russian tsar.

Based on groundbreaking research, Simon Sebag Montefiore reveals in captivating detail the fear and betrayal, privilege and debauchery, family life and murderous cruelty of this secret world. Written with extraordinary narrative verve, this magnificent feat of scholarly research has become a classic of modern history writing.

Showing how Stalin’s triumphs and crimes were the product of his fanatical Marxism and his gifted but flawed character, this is an intimate portrait of a man as complicated and human as he was brutal and chilling.

In 2015, Matteo Renzi's government continued to elicit contrasting reactions while dealing with both internal and external constraints. Some say it passed crucial reforms for economic development in fields such as the labor market, the banking system, education, and public administration, in addition to passing a new electoral law. However, others criticize the substance and, even more, the way reforms were passed by constructing variable parliamentary majorities according to the vote at hand, thus avoiding the need to build consensual decision-making relationships with interest groups and further centralizing power in the office of the prime minister. Be that as it may, the government was able to impose its own agenda in domestic affairs. Although the success of the 2015 Universal Exposition in Milan helped to bolster the image of the country, Italy continued to play a marginal role in key international areas, such as migration, European austerity policies, and the fight against terrorism.

Late Roman Warlords reconstructs the lives of some of the men who shaped events in the final controversial years of the Western Roman Empire during the fifth century AD. Ranging from the Balkans and Italy to northern France, this study uses a wide range of historical evidence, folklore, letters, poems, sermons, archaeology, and coins. Recent historical theories are discussed and new interpretations offered, including how these warlords may throw light on post-Roman Britain.

The Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats each allow their members to participate in the selection of the party leader. It also examines the consequences of all-member ballots in leadership elections. It looks at how parties remove leaders, showing that each of the major British parties sought to make it harder to evict incumbents.

James Carville famously reminded Bill Clinton throughtout 1992 that "it's the economy, stupid". Yet, for the last forty years, historians of modern America have ignored the economy to focus on cultural, social, and political themes, from the birth of modern feminism to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Now a scholar has stepped forward to place the economy back in its rightful place, at the centre of his historical narrative. In More, Robert M. Collins reexamines the history of the United States from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Bill Clinton, focusing on the federal government's determined pursuit of economic growth. After tracing the emergence of growth as a priority during FDR's presidency, Collins explores the record of successive administrations, highlighting both their success in fostering growth, and its partisan uses. Collins reveals that the obsession with growth appears not only as a matter of policy, but as an expression of Cold War ideology--both a means to pay for the arms build-up and proof of the superiority of the United States' market economy. But under Johnson, this enthusiasm sparked a crisis: spending on Vietnam unleashed runaway inflation, while the nation struggled with the moral consequences of its prosperity, reflected in books such as John Kenneth Galbraith's The Affluent Society and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. More continues up to the end of the 1990s, as Collins explains the real impact of Reagan's policies and astutely assesses Clinton's "disciplined growthmanship," which combined deficit reduction and a relaxed but watchful monetary policy by the Federal Reserve. Writing with eloquence and analytical clarity, Robert M. Collins offers a startlingly new framework for understanding the history of postwar America.

Since 11 September 2001, the War on Terror has dominated global political life. The book takes a critical look at different ways in which the George W. Bush administration created and justified this far-reaching conflict through their use of language and other discursive practices.

A comparative survey which discusses how national leaders in six Western democracies, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States, are nominated for the highest office in their country. The combinations of methods each country utilizes to nominate their leaders are described. The text emphasizes that most national leaders have served a long apprenticeship in various public offices--sometimes having made several attempts--before actually being nominated to the nation's highest public office. Increasingly, the text shows that opinion polls, television, and professional campaign management are playing a greater role in the leadership selection process in all six countries. This book will be of interest to upper-level college and graduate students and faculty in comparative government, political parties, and public affairs and academic as well as public libraries.

Distinguishing itself from the mass of political biographies of Barack Obama, this first interdisciplinary study of Obama's Indonesian and Hawai'ian years examines their effect on his adult character, political identity, and global world-view. The first 18 years of President Obama's life, from his birth in 1961 to his departure for college in 1979, were spent in Hawai'i and Indonesia. These years fundamentally shaped the traits for which the adult Obama is noted-his protean identity, his nuanced appreciation of multiple views of the same object, his cosmopolitan breadth of view, and his self-rooted "outpost" patriotism. Barack Obama in Hawai'i and Indonesia: The Making of a Global President is the first study to examine, in fascinating detail, how his early years impacted this unique leader. Existing biographies of President Obama are primarily political treatments. Here, cross-cultural psychologist and marketing consultant Dinesh Sharma explores the connections between Obama's early upbringing and his adult views of civil society, secular Islam, and globalization. The book draws on the author's on-the-ground research and extensive first-hand interviews in Jakarta; Honolulu; New York; Washington, DC; and Chicago to evaluate the multicultural inputs to Obama's character and the ways in which they prepared him to meet the challenges of world leadership in the 21st century. Foreword Photographs Timelines Figures Appendices

On September 30, 1965, six of Indonesia's highest ranking generals were killed in an effort by President Sukarno to crush an alleged coup. The events of that were part of a rapidly growing power struggle pro and anti-Communist factions. The elimination of the generals, however, did little to increase and preserve Sukarno's power, though, and he was stripped of the presidency in 1967. Hunt's work is a unique and original examination of the events that culminated on that night in September, 1965. It is the first detailed account of the Indonesian Coup that reveals the previously unknown workings of the PKI's ultra-secret Special Bureau, a clandestine organization within the Communist Party that may be the prototype of other similar entities that flourished around the world in the mid-50's and 60s. No such expose of secret communist organizations committed to covert killings of the top military or political leaders of the country has ever been published. She establishes beyond any doubt that the PKI, under Chairman Aidit's direction, using the capabilities of a secret organization within the PKI that only Aidit and a handful of trusted high-level members of the Communist Party even knew about, and, most importantly, acting with President Sukarno's full knowledge and approval, planned and then-dramatically-failed to execute a bold plan to kill the top leadership of the Army and proclaim a new socialist state under President Sukarno's leadership with PKI Chairman Aidit as his proclaimed successor. At the time of the coup, government analysts as well as non-government scholars were of two minds. Some, like the group at Cornell University, were convinced that the PKI (Indonesian CommunistParty) had not been involved, that the coup was the action mid-level army officers against the top leadership. That was the official line at the time. Others were convinced that the PKI alone had planned and executed the coup in its long-held desire to remove the pro-U.S. army leadership. No one at the time saw the hand of Indonesia's world-famous President Sukarno in the affair.

This book is about a variety of national arrangements and practices, whose common characteristics are to constitute 'presidential republics' and which as such have become the main form of government in the contemporary world.