Lee Kuan Yew once described the opportunity to remake Singapore as 'a chance of a lifetime'. This book explores Lee's pivotal role in Singapore's urban development during his years as prime minister from 1959 to 1990. A Chance of a Lifetime recognizes Lee's achievements from the standpoint of Singapore's 50th anniversary of independence and looks forward to challenges that the city-state might encounter over the next 50 years. The book is broken up into the four main components of Singapore's urban development: planning, housing, greening and water management. Each of these factors has been key in helping create modern Singapore. There is also a chapter that discusses the transformational challenges for Singapore, and the world, over the next 50 years. Singapore's small land size and lack of hinterland meant that it had to strategize to solve issues that other countries are only starting to face now, making Singapore a leader in areas such as vertical greenery and water reclamation. Featuring the Centre for Liveable Cities 2012 interview with Lee and rarely seen archival images of Singapore's transformation from mudflat to metropolis, A Chance of a Lifetime opens with an introduction by former president S R Nathan and closes with an epilogue by Ambassador Tommy Koh.

The theory of the unitary executive is one of the most controversial and significant constitutional doctrines of the past several decades. It holds that the U.S. president alone embodies all executive power and therefore has unlimited ability to direct the many people and institutions within the federal government's vast executive branch. It thus justifies the president's prerogative to organize the executive branch and to direct its activities, to tell executive personnel what to do and to fire them if desired, to control the flow of information, and to issue signing statements that make judgments about constitutionality and determine the extent to which laws will be implemented. In some versions, it also endorses implied or inherent powers and permits the president to completely control foreign policy and military action. Proponents say this conception of the presidential office is faithful to the Constitution, facilitates the sort of energetic executive that Alexander Hamilton argued for, and enhances administrative efficacy and political accountability for governance. Critics say this arrangement is constitutionally inaccurate, is belied by historical practice and legal precedents, and is dangerously close to the monarchical power that provoked the American Revolution - and can be especially threatening in the era of Donald Trump. This book examines how controversies about unitary executive power have played out from the founding era to the present day with a focus on recent presidents, it explores arguments both for and against the unitary executive theory, and it looks ahead to future implications for American politics.

This volume reflects on two decades of Welsh devolution, and a contributes to debate on its significance and future course. Drawing on previously unpublished interviews undertaken by the late Professor Michael Sullivan with key protagonists in Welsh devolution, and with expert analysis from leading researchers in different disciplines and fields of policy, the book examines what has been described as the emergence through devolution of a 'Welsh stripe' in social democracy. While the volume editors conclude this epithet, coined by Professor Sullivan, is apt, this collection of essays also presents a complex, multi-faceted picture of the drivers of policy, of continuity from the pre-devolution era, as well as change driven by factors within and without Wales. A mixed picture emerges, featuring variously (and in various combinations of) boldness of ambition, distinctive ideological positioning, homegrown priority-setting, the frustrations of the devolution settlement, and adverse (arguably unfair) international comparisons.

The theory of the unitary executive is one of the most controversial and significant constitutional doctrines of the past several decades. It holds that the U.S. president alone embodies all executive power and therefore has unlimited ability to direct the many people and institutions within the federal government's vast executive branch. It thus justifies the president's prerogative to organize the executive branch and to direct its activities, to tell executive personnel what to do and to fire them if desired, to control the flow of information, and to issue signing statements that make judgments about constitutionality and determine the extent to which laws will be implemented. In some versions, it also endorses implied or inherent powers and permits the president to completely control foreign policy and military action. Proponents say this conception of the presidential office is faithful to the Constitution, facilitates the sort of energetic executive that Alexander Hamilton argued for, and enhances administrative efficacy and political accountability for governance. Critics say this arrangement is constitutionally inaccurate, is belied by historical practice and legal precedents, and is dangerously close to the monarchical power that provoked the American Revolution - and can be especially threatening in the era of Donald Trump. This book examines how controversies about unitary executive power have played out from the founding era to the present day with a focus on recent presidents, it explores arguments both for and against the unitary executive theory, and it looks ahead to future implications for American politics.

'Kavanagh and Seldon's view of 20th-century British politics from behind the doors of Number10 should be compulsory reading. "The Powers Behind the Prime Minister" rattles along like some great pageant on the theme of "Yes, Minister."' Sue Cameron, Sunday Telegraph In this exclusive and important book, Dennis Kavanagh and Anthony Seldon reveal, for the first time, the truth about Number 10 Downing Street and how successive Prime Ministers have used the house to consolidate their power. Their book is to Number 10 what Peter Hennessy's study was to Whitehall - a close examination of a British Prime Minister's power centre - showing how successive PMs have wielded power within its walls. The authors had unprecedented access to contacts inside 10 Downing Street who agreed to speak to them exclusively and for the first time - civil servants, political advisors, secretaries and politicians. They have also talked to every Prime Minister still living. The book, as a result, contains controversial material never disclosed before. It also looks closely at the workings of power within Number 10 and the importance of geography inside the house for access to the Prime Minister, and to information and influence. 'The Powers Behind the Prime Minister' sheds sensational new light on many of our PMs. 'The best account of the Blair inner circle.' Peter Riddell, The Times Books of the Year

Jack Simons: Teacher, Scholar, Comrade is a pocket biography informed by personal knowledge of its subject, and firsthand experience of the ANC in exile in Zambia, as well as by research in the archives and interviews. Born in 1907, Jack Simons was one of the leading left-wing intellectuals – and one of the greatest teachers – in 20thcentury South Africa. As a lecturer in African Studies at the University of Cape Town from 1937 until he was prevented from teaching by the government in 1964, and thereafter through his lectures and writings in exile, he had a profound effect on the thinking of generations of white and black students and on the liberation movement as a whole. As Albie Sachs wrote in an obituary in The Guardian (1995), ‘It is not just the way he influenced so many individuals. It was the impact he had on the culture of a people. The new South African Constitution requires that the values of an open and democratic society should be nurtured. Simons fought all his life both for openness and democracy. His intellectual rigour, the honesty of his person, the sweep of his information, the humanity of his vision and interactiveness and the vitality of his ideas, imprinted themselves on the generation that fought hardest for liberty and made the most direct contribution to achieving the new constitutional order.’

President Obama's first term in office was subject to intense criticism; not only did many feel that he had failed to live up to his leadership potential, but that he had actually continued the foreign policy framework of the George W. Bush era he was supposed to have abandoned. This edited volume examines whether these issues of continuity have been equally as prevalent during the president's second term as his first. Is Obama still acting within the foreign policy shadow of Bush, or has he been able to establish his own approach towards international affairs, distinct from his predecessor? Within this context, the volume also addresses the idea of legacy and whether Obama has succeeded in establishing his own distinct foreign policy doctrine. In addressing these questions, the chapters explore continuity and change from a range of perspectives in International Relations and Foreign Policy Analysis, which are broadly representative of a spectrum of theoretical positions. With contributions from a range of US foreign policy experts, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of US foreign policy, Foreign Policy Analysis and American politics.

The 2018 Malaysian General Election will stand as a major defining event in Malaysian history, when the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition unexpectedly lost power in the country they had ruled for over half a century. This volume brings together scholars who assess one fundamental factor that brought about this game-changing event in Malaysian politics: intra-elite feuding in the leading Malay-based political parties. This study provides an analysis of individual state politics as well as national trends shaped by the actions of leaders in government and the opposition. An indispensable guide for scholars studying the politics of Malaysia and of Southeast Asia more broadly, it will be of great interest for all readers with an interest in Malaysian politics.

Inspirational leadership quotes from every President of the United States of America. The Little Book of United States Presidents is a fascinating collection of over 170 quotes from each person who has held the office, from George Washington to Donald Trump. Sometimes referred to as the Leader of the Free World, the President is elected to lead the United States in times of peace, struggle and in the face of war. The breadth and depth of the responsibility that comes with leading the executive branch offers each President the opportunity to let their thoughts be known and to influence the lives of the people. The Little Book of United States Presidents is a beautifully presented collection of inspirational and thought-provoking quotes from every US President, each of which offers the opportunity to learn from this remarkable collection of leaders. 'The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave.' Ronald Reagan (40th) Republican, January 20, 1981 - January 20, 1989, Address to the Nation on the Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, January 28, 1986. 'Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.' John F. Kennedy (35th) Democratic, January 20, 1961 - November 22, 1963, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961. 'Throughout our history the American people have always been the true source of American greatness.' Donald Trump (45th), Republican, January 20, 2017 - Incumbent, Security strategy speech, December 18, 2017.

This book traces the journey of Mahatma Gandhi, from being a simple and truth-seeking human being, a satyarthi, to a committed, conscious and social human being, a satyagrahi. It specifically looks at this critical transformation during the time Gandhi was in South Africa. The central argument of the book is that Gandhi evolved from being a satyarthi to a satyagrahi in South Africa. Subsequently in India, he consolidated his orientation with an emphasis on praxis, by developing his ideas as instruments for social and individual struggles. Marked by a series of events, this period was an intense quest of self-realization and understanding, and shows his journey from being Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to being Mahatma Gandhi. The book discusses various elements of Gandhian thought and praxis - morality, wisdom, non-violence, truth, social justice, dharma, trusteeship, education, sarvodaya, Hind Swaraj, swadeshi, and social service - and interprets the relevance of Gandhi's thought in the modern world by highlighting its unique significance for social transformation and change. Lucid and accessible, the book will be useful to scholars and researchers of Gandhi studies, Indian political thought, modern Indian history, and political studies.

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Landslide cuts deeper than any previous book about this president, indeed about any president' The Times 'First there was Fire and Fury, then there was Siege, now there is Landslide. The third is the best of the three . . . Required reading' Guardian 'Michael Wolff concludes his Trump trilogy - with the best book yet . . . Unforgettable' Telegraph 'Wolff is the shrewdest chronicler of Trump' Sunday Times __________________________________________ 'We won. Won in a landslide. This was a landslide.' President Donald J. Trump, 6 January 2021 Politics has given us some shocking and confounding moments but none have come close to the careening final days of Donald Trump's presidency: the surreal stage management of his re-election campaign, his audacious election challenge, the harrowing mayhem of the storming of the Capitol and the buffoonery of the second impeachment trial. But what was really going on in the inner sanctum of the White House during these calamitous events? What did the president and his dwindling cadre of loyalists actually believe? And what were they planning? Drawing on an exclusive and wide range of sources who took part in or witnessed Trump's closing moments, Michael Wolff finds the Oval Office more chaotic and bizarre than ever before, a kind of Star Wars bar scene. At all times of the day, Trump, hunched behind the Resolute desk, is surrounded by schemers and unqualified sycophants who spoon-feed him the 'alternative facts' he hungers to hear - about COVID-19, Black Lives Matter protests, and, most of all, his chance of winning re-election. In this extraordinary telling of a unique moment in history, Wolff gives us front row seats as Trump's circle of plotters whittles down to the most enabling and the least qualified - and the president overreaches the bounds of democracy, entertaining the idea of martial law and balking at calling off the insurrectionist mob that threatens the hallowed seat of democracy itself. Michael Wolff pulled back the curtain on the Trump presidency with his globally bestselling blockbuster Fire and Fury. Now, in Landslide, he closes the door on the presidency with a final, astonishingly candid tale.

Michael Gove is one of the most recognisable faces in British politics - and one of the most divisive. Whether it's taking on the education `blob', acting as a frontman for the Brexit campaign or orchestrating one of the bloodiest political assassinations in the history of British politics, Gove is a man who makes things happen. But it was almost so different, and his story, from being born into care to standing for the leadership of the Conservative Party, could have come straight from the pages of a Charles Dickens novel. A charming man to his friends, and a cold-blooded zealot to his enemies, Gove provokes a reaction from everyone, be it loyalty, anger, respect or fury. Love him or hate him, it's impossible to deny Gove's impact on the UK over the past ten years, and, with Brexit still up in the air, he will continue to play a key role in the future of the country. Political journalist Owen Bennett's groundbreaking biography takes in original research as well as interviews with current and former Cabinet ministers, ex-colleagues from the BBC and The Times, and numerous other key players in Gove's life story. Lively and insightful in equal measure, Michael Gove: A Man in a Hurry reveals what turned the adopted son of an Aberdeen fishing family into one of the key political figures of the decade.

In this book, originally published in English in 1953, the author, recognized as one of the best-informed experts on Eastern European politics, reconstructed during the course of a decade's work, the real history of Stalin, from his youth in Georgia to the last year of his life. Utilizing an enormous mass of largely unpublsihed documents he reconstructed a living Stalin with all his qualities and faults, crimes and achievements. He tells the secrets of Stalin's rise to power and of the extraordinary complexity and effectiveness of his tactics which can be seen in his attitude towards the problems of Marxist philosophy, in his attitude towards the German Question and his role as military commander.

This new two volume set of Dick Leonard's British Premiers trilogy, surveys the lives and careers of all the fifty-five Prime Ministers between Sir Robert Walpole (1721-42) and Boris Johnson (2019- ), bringing to life the political achievements and also the personal idiosyncrasies of Britain's rulers over nearly three centuries. Volume One surveys the lives and careers of all the 32 Prime Ministers from Sir Robert Walpole (1721-42) to Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery (1894-95) in 32 succinct, informative and entertaining chapters. Volume Two continues this survey on the remaining 23 Prime Ministers from Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (1902-05) to Boris Johnson (2019-). This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and readers of British political history, the Executive, Government, and British Politics.

This new two volume set of Dick Leonard's British Premiers trilogy, surveys the lives and careers of all the fifty-five Prime Ministers between Sir Robert Walpole (1721-42) and Boris Johnson (2019- ), bringing to life the political achievements and also the personal idiosyncrasies of Britain's rulers over nearly three centuries. Volume One surveys the lives and careers of all the 32 Prime Ministers from Sir Robert Walpole (1721-42) to Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery (1894-95) in 32 succinct, informative and entertaining chapters. Volume Two continues this survey on the remaining 23 Prime Ministers from Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (1902-05) to Boris Johnson (2019-). This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and readers of British political history, the Executive, Government, and British Politics.

Demagogues and authoritarians are flourishing in this modern age of political myth. They exploit our fears and fantasies. Exposing the fictions that these new rulers use to take and keep control has never been more urgent - and people risk their careers, liberty or even their lives to do so. In this revealing and richly reported book, international correspondent Michael Peel illuminates the surprising parallels between leaders, movements and their supporters who have thrived using potent but questionable stories. From Aung San Suu Kyi's Myanmar to Rodrigo Duterte's bloody drugs crackdown in the Philippines, and from Britain's struggle over Brexit to Syria's civil war, he probes the patterns in narratives that too often serve the interests of the chosen few. Above all, Peel shows the extraordinary and sometimes dangerous steps courageous people take to challenge these fabulists - and the treacherous paths they lead us down.

This book explores the role of religion in the transformation of Turkey under the reign of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, AKP). It attempts to come to terms with the current political crisis in Turkey and the government's move toward authoritarianism. The chapters included in this book examine various ideological, political and social factors that have driven the transformation of the AKP. The book seeks to answer questions about how and in what direction have the AKP's objectives and strategies changed in the last two decades the party has been in power, and the divergence between professed ideals and practices. The book also focuses on the major repercussions that the 15 July 2016 coup d'etat attempt has had on key Turkish state institutions and policies, and how it has also affected Turkish foreign policy toward regional and international powers. The book addresses the many gaps and omissions in earlier studies of the AKP, and posits that there have been a more complex set of circumstances impacting Turkish politics since 2002 and that it makes little sense to continue to view Turkish politics as just a clash between Islam and secularism. Erdogan's Turkey is a significant new contribution to the study of Turkish politics and politics in general, and will be a great resource for academics, researchers and advanced students of Political Science, International Relations, History, Geography and Sociology. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Middle East Critique.

Discussing what we may learn from thinking about the EU in federal terms represents a two-fold challenge. It is on the one hand a matter of establishing 'how federal' the EU is (the EU's federal challenge). On the other, the EU has federal features but is not a state, thus raising the question of whether federal theory and practice may have to be adapted to take proper account of the EU (the EU's challenge to federalism). The contributions to this collection supplement and extend existing scholarship through focusing on two important lines of inquiry. The first focuses on the relationship between federalism and democracy, with particular emphasis on how federal systems respond to and deal with citizens' interests and concerns, within and outside the political system. Representation is explored both in the process of federalization, and as a feature of established systems. The second line of inquiry places the emphasis on the relationship among the governments of federal systems. The focus is on intergovernmental relations, and the particular merits that emanate from studying these from a federal perspective. This book was originally published as a special issue of Journal of European Public Policy.

The Twitter Presidency explores the rhetorical style of President Donald J. Trump, attending to both his general manner of speaking as well as to his preferred modality. Trump's manner, the authors argue, reflects an aesthetics of white rage, and it is rooted in authoritarianism, narcissism, and demagoguery. His preferred modality of speaking, namely through Twitter, effectively channels and transmits the affective dimensions of white rage by taking advantage of the platform's defining characteristics, which include simplicity, impulsivity, and incivility. There is, then, a structural homology between Trump's general communication practices and the specific platform (Twitter) he uses to communicate with his base. This commonality between communication practices and communication platform (manner and modality) struck a powerful emotive chord with his followers, who feel aggrieved at the decentering of white masculinity. In addition to charting the defining characteristics of Trump's discourse, The Twitter Presidency exposes how Trump's rhetorical style threatens democratic norms, principles, and institutions.

Less than two years after winning the 2013 elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his intention to dissolve his government, paving the way for general elections. While the initial impression was that the upcoming elections were "pointless" and "unnecessary", the campaign gradually turned into a passionate and dramatic political competition, which reflected - and reenergized - the ideological, social, ethnic and cultural divides of Israeli society. This book describes and analyses a great variety of political, sociological and cultural dimensions of the 2015 elections for the 20th Knesset. Covering issues such as voters' behaviour, coalition formation, figures of leadership, political identities, political communication and persuasion, this rich collection of essays offers a unique and comprehensive perspective on Israeli political culture in general, and on the Israeli society in the midst of the 2015 elections in particular. It also offers theoretical insight to anyone interested in parliamentary politics and party systems in general. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal Israel Affairs.

The contention of Film and the American Presidency is that over the twentieth century the cinema has been a silent partner in setting the parameters of what we might call the presidential imaginary. This volume surveys the partnership in its longevity, placing stress on especially iconic presidents such as Lincoln and FDR. The contributions to this collection probe the rich interactions between these high institutions of culture and politics-Hollywood and the presidency-and argue that not only did Hollywood acting become an idiom for presidential style, but that Hollywood early on understood its own identity through the presidency's peculiar mix of national epic and unified protagonist. Additionally, they contend that studios often made their films to sway political outcomes; that the performance of presidential personae has been constrained by the kinds of bodies (for so long, white and male) that have occupied the office, such that presidential embodiment obscures the body politic; and that Hollywood and the presidency may finally be nothing more than two privileged figures of media-age power.

The leader's portrait, produced in a variety of media (statues, coins, billboards, posters, stamps), is a key instrument of propaganda in totalitarian regimes, but increasingly also dominates political communication in democratic countries as a result of the personalization and spectacularization of campaigning. Written by an international group of contributors, this volume focuses on the last one hundred years, covering a wide range of countries around the globe, and dealing with dictatorial regimes and democratic systems alike. As well as discussing the effigies that are produced by the powers that be for propaganda purposes, it looks at the uses of portraiture by antagonistic groups or movements as forms of resistance, derision, denunciation and demonization. This volume will be of interest to researchers in visual studies, art history, media studies, cultural studies, politics and contemporary history.

This comprehensive volume is a three-part study of whether the Chinese political system has maintained a significant degree of regime legitimacy in the context of rising domestic discontent, in particular the popular protests against socio-economic inequality and environment degradation. Part I presents the scholarly debate on the theoretical refinement and empirical measurement of regime legitimacy in contemporary China. Part II focuses on the challenges to regime legitimacy of the increasingly widespread popular protests and civil activism. Part III examines the regime's responses to these challenges, including coercive repression, adaptation, and economic performance. This book finds that, while repression can hardly stop popular protests - and often backfires - economic performance legitimacy is increasingly difficult to be maintained. The only way out is the adaptation to the changing domestic and international environment. The chapters in this collection were originally published in the Journal of Contemporary China.