"He who introduces into public office the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world."
--Ronald Reagan, 1967, quoting Benjamin Franklin
Long before George W. Bush's efforts to bring faith-based initiatives--and the identification of evil in the world--to the modern presidency, Ronald Reagan was using his own brand of Christianity to influence the course of world events in a conscious and consistent manner. In this bestselling, definitive spiritual biography of our fortieth president, God and Ronald Reagan, politician historian Paul Kengor presents a meticulously researched, fascinating account of Reagan's life as seen through the lens of his relationship to God, and traces this relationship to its culmination: America's battle against the atheistic Soviet Union.
An intensely private man, Reagan kept his personal religious beliefs relatively quiet over the years. But as Kengor shows, Reagan's own words demonstrate that his religious orientation was shaped in his childhood--and was retained with extraordinary consistency throughout his life. Schooled as a young man in the simple religious ideas of his Protestant mother, Reagan embraced Christianity with the fervor of a lonely boy who had found his first friend. Reagan's earthly father was a distant man who drank heavily and offered little in the way of comfort, so Reagan turned toward a heavenly father, a dependent and accessible God. Eventually, Kengor argues, Reagan's religious framework became a presidential one--and one that ran head-on into an anti-religious war in Moscow. Nothing more strongly clashed with Reagan's belief system than Soviet communism; he saw the victims of Soviet oppressionas weary soldiers in the great struggle for faith in the 20th century. To Reagan, the United States was a divinely ordained beacon of freedom--a Shining City on a Hill--and as Kengor conclusively demonstrates, it was this conviction that compelled him to a series of challenges that would eventually bring down Communism once and for all.
Blending groundbreaking research and fascinating storytelling, God and Ronald Reagan, has forever changed our understanding of one of our most influential presidents.

The book describes the impact of cultural perceptions on rulers' behaviors in the United Arab Emirates, once the Trucial States. Despite differences in size, economic resources, and external political pressures, the seven emirates' rulers utilized very similar cultural expectations to gain the support of others. The author describes what has generally been only touched upon before--the significant but largely "invisible" roles women and marriage play in the political process of tribal societies.

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.

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.

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.

A reexamination of Neville Chamberlain's appeasement policy, this study challenges prevailing images of Chamberlain as a tragic hero--a man of peace, naively impressed by the dictators, who did his best under difficult circumstances to prepare his country for war. Instead, the author suggests that Chamberlain dominated his government and demonstrated an uncanny ability to manipulate those around him in support of his own personal vision of Britain's national interest. The failure to rearm to a level consistent with imperial obligations presented a formidable problem. The British Government admittedly had no good option available to it; however, Chamberlain was prepared to endure the humiliating consequences of appeasement, even if it meant peace at any price. He did so for personal, political, and prejudicial reasons. Ruggiero argues that, without Chamberlain, British rearmament would have taken a new direction, and such action might have prevented World War II. Relying primarily upon the Chamberlain Papers and Cabinet Records, this account details how and why Chamberlain adopted his chosen course of action, even after all support for his policies fell away as a result of the Munich Crisis. Most studies have concentrated directly on Chamberlain's appeasement policy, and this is the only one that analyzes his role in the rearmament program at length. It also sheds new light on appeasement by illustrating the connection between the policy and Britain's attempts to rearm.

The book examines the problems that Nixon faced during his presidential term, focusing on economics but the role of politics is also highlighted. The convergence of the gold-dollar crises, oil crises and Watergate imbroglio posed a unique political and economic threat to global stability.

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.

In October 1971 Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, held a celebration to commemorate the 2500th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great. Dozens of heads of state descended on Persepolis for these Celebrations, where they were regaled to sumptuous banquets and entertainment. Critical journalists in Western Europe and North America lambasted the Shah for holding such a decadent event while many of his people lived in poverty. Due to the overwhelmingly negative press at the time, the event is still today widely remembered as a catastrophic failure.It is even said by many to have sparked the unrest that eventually led to the revolution and the Shah's downfall in 1979. In this first comprehensive academic study of the 2500th Anniversary Celebrations, Robert Steele looks beyond the pomp and splendour to examine the events' origins, the goals the organisers set out to achieve with them and the extent to which these goals were accomplished. The book seeks to place the Celebrations in the context of the Shah's rise, rather than his fall, uncovering the unparalleled international cultural and scholarly operation that was spurred by the Iranian regime for the occasion, exploring the effects the event had on Iran's tourism industry and questioning narratives of the event's cost.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Fall of Boris Johnson is the explosive inside account of how a prime minister lost his hold on power. From Sebastian Payne, Director of Onward and former Whitehall Editor for the Financial Times. Winner at the 2022 Parlimentary Book Awards A New Statesman, The Times, Daily Mail and FT Book of the Year 'Revelatory' - The Daily Telegraph 'Delicious detail' - The Times Boris Johnson was touted as the saviour of the country and the Conservative Party, obtaining a huge commons majority and finally "getting Brexit done". But within three short years, he was deposed in disgrace, leaving the country in crisis. Sebastian Payne tells the essential behind-the-scenes story, charting the series of scandals that felled Johnson: from the blocked suspension of Owen Paterson, through partygate and the final death blow: the Chris Pincher allegations. This is the full narrative of the betrayals, rivalries and resignations that resulted in the dramatic Conservative coup – and set in motion those events that saw the party sink to catastrophic new lows. With unparalleled access to those who were in the room when key decisions were made, Payne tells of the miscalculations and mistakes that led to Boris Johnson’s downfall. This is a gripping and timely look at how power is gained, wielded and lost in Britain today. 'Genuinely page-turning' - Andrew Marr 'Entertaining and illuminating' - Tim Shipman

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

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.

Challenging the standard views that individual leaders either have all the power or little room to move in the making of foreign policy, this book demonstrates generalizable ways that leaders succeed by manipulating elements of their domestic and international environments. Exploring leaders' strategic moves in comparative case studies of Pakistan and the "war on terror," the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the Northern Ireland conflict, the transition from apartheid in South Africa, and Zimbabwe's current crisis demonstrates similar dynamics of the policy process. As these cases reveal, leaders not only interpret the situation in which they find themselves but often manipulate it, framing elements of their domestic and international environments to their audiences, drawing attention, involving new actors, instigating issue linkage. With this intriguing array of contemporary cases of leadership in international relations, the author shows that a grasp of the "intermestic" policy process is essential to any understanding of policymaking in a globalized world.

This book explains why the level of party presidentialization varies from one country to another. It considers the effects of constitutional structures as well as the party's original features, and argues that the degree of party presidentialization varies as a function of the party's genetics.

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.

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.

By any measure, the 2008 presidential race has been historic. The race has created an enthusiasm and a high degree of interest in politics few have ever seen before. At the center of the race is Barack Obama, the first African American to become the presumptive Democratic nominee. Many Americans agree with his politics, and many don't, but most agree he is an incredible force in today's highly-charged political world, and has come along at one of the most crucial, difficult times in our nation's history. For a sense of what has transpired in this campaign and how it is different from others in America's history, this book looks at one candidate from the perspective of quotations, made by and about Barack Obama.

Thematically arranged chapter highlight topics including Obama's heritage, his family, state and national politics, his run for the presidency, the issues of the day, community activism and service, and thoughts on race and faith. Each chapter contains an introduction and many of the quotations are supported with background information to give students and general readers a better understanding of the current events and political issues at play. Ideal for student assignments as well as for reading cover to cover, this volume offers the most representative, revealing, and often controversial quotes by and about a man who has created a movement in American politics.