Ready for a dose of hard-hitting, no-holds-barred, honest narrative on the issues of the day without the spin? Then Anthony Livingston Hall is your man.

In this fourth volume of commentaries from The iPINIONS Journal weblog, Hall offers a bold, comprehensive anthology on the most significant and popular developments of our time. An unsparing, equal-opportunity critic, Hall's sting is made both edifying and entertaining by his cogent writing and inimitable wit.

Hall's refreshing worldview stems from the unique fusion of his Caribbean heritage and American education. He writes as persuasively about the pivotal 2008 U.S presidential election as he does about the Olympic Games, or the genocide raging in Darfur. Other timely targets include the pipe dream of peace in the Middle East, the global financial crisis, and the developments in Europe during 2008.

Intelligent and insightful, The iPINIONS Journal injects a powerful voice into the national dialogue, one not to be missed.

In settler societies, some conflicts have roots that are both ethnic and colonial in nature. These are conflicts between an indigenous ethnic group and groups and between an ethnic group and groups of settlers who have been transplanted to a territory by a colonial power as part of a colonizing effort. This study examines the role that liberal parties have played and can play in recent conflicts in Israel/Palestine, Northern Ireland, and South Africa. Typically, such parties reject the conventional wisdom of the settler population regarding the nature of the conflict. They also reject the radical thinking of the liberation movements and offer, instead, a third alternative. Mitchell hopes that this study will provide useful information for current liberal parties in Central and Eastern Europe and Israel.

Ultimately, many of the liberal party's ideas are adopted by the main settler parties, allowing for a resolution of the conflict, generally through a compromise between the liberal and indigenous positions. However, before such resolution can occur, the liberals must achieve an electoral breakthrough that gives them a minimum of between five and ten percent of votes; they must also obtain significant stable representation in parliament. Liberal leadership must be innovative, offering new solutions that depart from the conventional wisdom of both sides. Mitchell provides the most detailed account yet published on the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. He also includes extensive information on the KwaZulu/Natal Indaba of 1986 and analysis of the electoral fortunes of the Progressive Federal Party in South Africa.

Featuring a foreword by Congressman Glen Browder, Politics on a Human Scale examines political decentralization in the United States, from the founding of the republic to the present. Part of the desirable equilibrium is a sense of proportionality. Some sizes, some amounts, some levels are more appropriate than others. Decentralism is the best political tool to ensure equilibrium, to promote proportionality, and to obtain appropriate scale. Power distribution should be as wide as possible. Government functions should be as close to the people as practicable. In this way, individual human beings are not swallowed by a monstrous Leviathan. Persons are not at the mercy of an impersonal bureaucracy led by the far-away few. Decentralism gives us politics on a human scale. It gives us more democracy within the framework of a republic. The longest chapters in the book deal with crucial turning points in U.S. history-specifically, when decentralists lost the upper-hand in the two major political parties. Decentralism in our nation runs deep, both intellectually and historically. It also has considerable popular support. Yet today it is a virtual political orphan. In Washington, neither major political party is serious about dispersing power to lower levels of government or to the people themselves. Still, there are dissident politicians and political movements that remain committed to the decentralist principle. Power needs to be held in check, partly through decentralization, because power holds a great and dangerous attraction for humans. Recognition of this human tendency is the first step in guarding against it and getting back on a better path.

In this rich and broad-ranging volume, Giovanni Sartori outlines what is now recognised to be the most comprehensive and authoritative approach to the classification of party systems. He also offers an extensive review of the concept and rationale of the political party, and develops a sharp critique of various spatial models of party competition. This is political science at its best - combining the intelligent use of theory with sophisticated analytic arguments, and grounding all of this on a substantial cross-national empirical base. Parties and Party Systems is one of the classics of postwar political science, and is now established as the foremost work in its field.

The development of social democratic politics in the dominant states of Western Europe has been influenced by both domestic and international forces. A succinct history of the expanding popularity of social democracy in these countries, this work explains why political parties, whose electoral following was rooted in the growth of the industrial working class, failed to become dominant parliamentary forces in their respective political systems. The book concludes by discussing the implications of the social democratic past in Europe for the future of socialist politics in a post-Cold War context.

Since 1983, when the West German public elected several of their party members to representative seats in the Bundestag, the Greens (Die Grunen) have been a political force. "A Rhetoric of the People" studies how the German Greens have evolved a rhetorical style that is characteristic of a social movement, voicing citizen dissatisfaction with representative democracy and the insensitive decision making of traditional political and economic structures. Authors Coleman and Coleman discuss the Greens as part of a significant global environmental movement, and as a voice that advocates a new politics based on the key notions of ecology, equal rights, grassroots democracy, self-determination, Third World concerns, and peace.

"A Rhetoric of the People" concentrates on the Greens' rhetorical vision as presented in their public utterances and political platforms. To furnish a context for appreciating the Greens' persuasive efforts, the authors examine green argumentative stances in general, then present a brief review of the global environmental movement and a discussion of the evolution of the German Green Party. What follows is essentially a descriptive study that highlights the verbal discourse of the Greens as revealed in their official party statements. The authors conclude by exploring some of the issues and problems presently facing the Greens, and contemplating the future of the party. Recommended for sociologists, political scientists, environmentalists, and communications scholars.

A dedicated politician who has served as a congressman and state legislator defines the formidable challenge for progressives after the November 2016 election—and explains how to bring back leaders focused on working in the broad center of politics in order to get things done for the people. How did Donald Trump become president? According to author Joseph M. Hoeffel, a former congressman, state legislator, and county commissioner, Trump's unprecedented ascension to the highest seat in the country happened because of the American people's frustration with the endless fighting within our dysfunctional government, and because Trump promised change. Now what? What is next for progressives? Fighting for the Progressive Center in the Age of Trump offers a manifesto specifically for opposing the Trump agenda and presents a viable game plan for advocating progressive ideas while also demanding fiscal responsibility and clearly rejecting political extremes. Readers will understand how regaining ground for liberal and progressive thinkers will require winning public support, which will depend on fighting to reestablish the political center with policies that are socially liberal and fiscally responsible. The culmination of decades of political experience, this book offers progressive proposals for championing government reform, balancing the budget, investing in people, maintaining international alliances, standing up for progressive convictions, and promoting sweeping plans to benefit every American, including establishing Medicare for all. This is a rousing call to arms for progressives to fight for the progressive center as the best way to overcome the policies of Donald Trump.

Waiting for the workers is based on the extensive research and interviews conducted by Peter Thwaites over 40 years ago when he was writing his thesis. He was given special access to the Party's papers and introduced to former Party members. Dr Thwaites' book describes in detail how World War II affected the Party's activities and the subsequent impact of the war on the Party itself. In 1932 the Independent Labour Party split from the Labour Party but was badly damaged as a result and by 1938 it was considering rejoining. But the outbreak of the Second World War, which the ILP believed was solely a struggle between rival capitalist powers, made that impossible. As a result the ILP became the only political party with parliamentary representation that consistently opposed Great Britain's participation in the war; and it fought by-election and propaganda campaigns putting forward its revolutionary socialist proposals for ending the war and winning the peace. Post-war defections to the Labour Party, however, removed its parliamentary and local government representation and decimated its membership so that by 1950 it had become a spent force. This book examines this largely forgotten aspect of the history of the war years and details the ILP's political beliefs and policies, and describes both its opposition to the war and the internal disagreements over its relationship to the Labour Party which eventually tore it apart.

Events in the post Cold War era have challenged the notions of realism and realpolitik, with an upsurge in intrastate conflicts involving other actors than just the state. During this period, the international community has witnessed the limitations of the tenets of realism for addressing disastrous civil wars or ethno-political conflicts internal to the states. Largely because of this, and alongside the emerging field of conflict resolution in western countries, transitional conflict resolution mechanisms emerged with characteristic multi-track diplomacy orientations for solving national problems within African countries. By the end of the 1980s and early 1990s, several African countries, including South Africa, Burundi and Sierra Leone resorted to either a Truth and Reconciliation Commission or an international tribunal to handle violence and restore peace and justice. In the same period, other African countries opted for what was called 'national conference' to solve their national problems and transform conflict into an opportunity for structural change. In February 1990, the Republic of Benin, a small nation-state in West Africa, achieved peace through a national conference. The national conference in Benin was a national gathering for crisis resolution through social debates on critical issues facing the nation, and political decision making for constructive changes. As a pioneer, Benin led the political change movement of the national conference and was later followed by eight other African countries namely, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon, Mali, Niger, Togo, the Central African Republic, and the former Zaire, now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo. To date, most of the existing literature on the subject explores the phenomenon of national conference as something of a prelude to political transition to multipartyism and democracy. Part of the literature depicts the national conference as a civil coup d'etat, and recommends its institutionalization as a system for democratic transitions. This book takes a different approach by conceptualizing the national conference phenomenon as a multi-track diplomacy tool or as a process for conflict transformation and peacemaking. Building upon theories of conflict and conflict resolution, the author analyzes the national conference as a unique diplomatic approach to transforming national crisis, which expands the scope of strategies for peacemaking. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacques KOKO is an Adjunct Professor in the Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University, New Jersey, USA, where he teaches "Peacemaking and peacekeeping," "Conflict and Displacement in Africa," and "Ethnopolitical conflict." A Beninois, Professor Koko has worked as a Senior Social Analyst with the Institut Africain pour le Developpement Economique et Social (INADES) in Abidjan (Ivory Coast) and as an Associate Researcher with the Universite Nationale d'Abomey Calavi in Cotonou (Benin). Correlatively with his teaching position at Seton Hall University, he currently serves as a Senior Political Analyst for Americans for Informed Democracy. He publishes in both English and French.

One of the most eventful and turbulent periods in American history, Richardson's latest volume in this series covers the period from the height of the Progressive Era, when Theodore Roosevelt, the wildly popular, bigger-than-life former President snorted and thundered against the country's two major parties while trying to reclaim the White House on his newly-formed Bull Moose Party. The years immediately prior to World War I also witnessed a broad movement for socialism in the United States, a period when the Socialist Party, boasting more than 119,000 dues-paying members and a vibrant press consisting of 323 publications, claimed nearly 1,200 elected officeholders, including at least seventy-four mayors, during the party's high-water mark of 1911-12. In addition to the extraordinary presidential campaign of 1912, in which which Roosevelt and Socialist Eugene V. Debs combined for nearly five million votes - or a third of the national total-"OTHERS III" also includes a fascinating account of Florida's Sidney J. Catts, the only man in American history ever elected governor on the Prohibition ticket, and tells the largely-neglected story of how former Indiana Governor J. Frank Hanly and the Prohibition Party cost Charles Evans Hughes and the GOP the presidency in 1916.

This lively and lucidly written history examines the crucial role third parties have played in shaping our nation's destiny, beginning with the Anti-Masonic Party in the 1820s and concluding with the spectacular rise and disappointing collapse of the Greenback-Labor movement in the mid-1880s--a short-lived entity that gave birth to the dramatic Populist movement of the following decade.

In this sweeping historical chronicle, a marvelous mix of history and biography, the author explains in vivid detail how two antebellum third-party movements--the Free Soil and Know-Nothing parties--provided the spark for the phoenix-like ascendancy of the antislavery Republican Party in the 1850s, culminating in Abraham Lincoln's election to the presidency in 1860.

This copiously rich and brisk narrative also describes how the Know-Nothing Party--the most powerful third-party movement in American history--was ultimately ripped asunder over the issue of slavery.

In the first of a riveting and powerful four-volume series on independent and third-party politics in U.S. history, Darcy Richardson also examines the remarkable and fascinating men and women who took part in those political movements outside the traditional "two-party system" and the extraordinary contributions they made in shaping the course of America's destiny.

This book examines the geography of partisan polarization, or the Reds and Blues, of the political landscape in the United States. It places the current schism between Democrats and Republicans within a historical context and presents a theoretical framework that offers unique insights into the American electorate. The authors focus on the demographic and political causes of polarization at the local level across space and time. This is accomplished with the aid of a comprehensive dataset that includes the presidential election results for every county in the continental United States, from the advent of Jacksonian democracy in 1828 to the 2016 election. In addition, coverage applies spatial diagnostics, spatial lag models and spatial error models to determine why contemporary and historical elections in the United States have exhibited their familiar, but heretofore unexplained, political geography. Both popular observers and scholars alike have expressed concern that citizens are becoming increasingly polarized and, as a consequence, that democratic governance is beginning to break down. This book argues that once current levels of polarization are placed within a historical context, the future does not look quite so bleak. Overall, readers will discover that partisan division is a dynamic process in large part due to the complex interplay between changing demographics and changing politics.

This volume presents a broad survey of the Republikaner Party, its program and ideology, its organization, and the composition of its voters and sympathizers. The authors maintain that any analysis of the Republikaners must distinguish between the party as represented by its platform and party officials, and the party as seen by its voters. Republikaners draw potential voters from two very differently motivated groups: (1) a small, ideologically oriented segment dominated by right-wing conservative and right-fringe extremist attitudes, and (2) a larger, flucating pool of sympathizers less committed to the REP and primarily concerned with economic and social issues. Until recently, the Republikaners were mainly able to exploit narrowly focused, pent-up resentments. The "foreigner problem" is at the center of Republikaners' propaganda and serves as a catalyst that adroitly combines numerous related social problems such as housing shortage, unemployment, and the widespread fear of being shunted aside by "interlopers." Although the Republikaners still lack the social foundation and ideological consensus necessary to build a stable core constituency, the organization serves as a vehicle for diverse protest. The authors warn that the Republikaners potentially comprise a base for organizing a party on the far right of the German political spectrum.

What is presidential leadership and why have some presidents been considered "great" - or rather "transformational" - while others are not? What are the drivers which distinguish these presidents from the rest? Presidential Leadership in the Americas since Independence answers these questions through a systematic study of leadership across the Americas over 200 years, from independence to the present day. Having surveyed who the most cited presidents are in the Americas, Guy Burton and Ted Goertzel examine the experience of presidents from across the western hemisphere: the US, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. They study the relationship between these men and women's actions within the constraints they faced during four political periods: independence, national consolidation during the nineteenth century, state-building from the late nineteenth to mid twentieth centuries and neoliberalism since the 1970s-80s. The most "transformational" presidents are found to be those who are not only able to innovate and build new political consensuses at a time of crisis, but also consolidate them so that the reforms becoming lasting - and extending beyond an individual president's own political (even biological) lifetime.

The National Bolshevik Party, founded in the mid-1990s by Eduard Limonov and Aleksandr Dugin, began as an attempt to combine radically different ideologies. In the years that followed, Limonov, Dugin, and the movements they led underwent dramatic shifts. The two leaders eventually became political adversaries, with Dugin and his organizations strongly supporting Putin's regime while Limonov and his groups became part of the liberal opposition. To illuminate the role of these right-wing ideas in contemporary Russian society, Fabrizio Fenghi examines the public pronouncements and aesthetics of this influential movement. He analyzes a diverse range of media, including novels, art exhibitions, performances, seminars, punk rock concerts, and even protest actions. His interviews with key figures reveal an attempt to create an alternative intellectual class, or a 'counter-intelligensia.' This volume shows how certain forms of art can transform into political action through the creation of new languages, institutions, and modes of collective participation.

The iPINIONS Journal Commentaries Vol. II

In this volume of political and social commentaries, Anthony Livingston Hall synthesizes the most critical developments of 2006 with remarkable clarity and inimitable wit. But, unlike more celebrated columnists who trade in partisan political talking points, Hall seems beholden to no ideology and is definitely an equal-opportunity critic. Moreover, you would be hard-pressed to find another columnist anywhere who writes as persuasively about the international menace of Iran's nuclear program as he does about the interpersonal dynamics of an NBA Championship series or what the latest ooops from Britney Spears portends for western civilization.

Hall's refreshing worldview may stem from the unique fusion of his Caribbean heritage and American education. But it is clearly the informed passion that permeates all of his commentaries that makes this book so riveting

Julius Malema, South Africa’s eminent new socialist, was sworn in as a member of parliament on 21 May 2014, days after his political party – the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) – won more than one million votes in its first elections and secured twenty-five seats in the national assembly. It marked a new chapter in Malema’s political career but it was also a crude awakening for the Cape Town parliament: the portly rebel and his EFF colleagues marched into the chamber wearing bright red workers’ overalls and their signature red berets as they promised to take the interests of the poor to the floor of parliament. Populism in drag or simply Malema at his best? It is still too early to say.

Love him or loathe him, Malema is undeniably one of the most controversial politicians of modern-day South Africa, if not a radical product of more than one hundred years of struggle politics.

Following on from the success of the bestselling An Inconvenient Youth, which traced Malema’s early, poverty-stricken years in Limpopo to his political awakenings in the ANC, the party he called home until he was ousted in 2012, this revised edition charts the early days of the EFF and looks at how the party secured its first votes in 2014.

This unique book examines election upsets in American presidential campaigns, offers in-depth analysis of several surprising election results, and explains why the front-running candidate lost. Controversial and unexpected presidential election results have occurred throughout American history. Presidential Upsets: Dark Horses, Underdogs, and Corrupt Bargains carefully examines eleven presidential upsets spread across two centuries of American history, ranking these election upsets by order of magnitude and allowing readers to compare the issues and processes of American elections. After an introductory chapter that establishes the factors that contribute to a presidential upset, such as the comparative advantages of candidates, the issues facing the candidates and electorate, and the political environment during the election, the book offers in-depth analysis of notable surprise election results and explains why the front-running candidate lost. Each major period of American history-such as the Jacksonian period, the Antebellum era, Reconstruction, World War I, the Cold War era, and the post-Cold War era-is covered. The author utilizes primary and secondary sources of material to provide contemporary and historical analysis of these elections, and bases his analysis upon criteria used by political scientists to predict presidential election results.

As the French Presidential elections clearly demonstrated in the Spring of 2002, the popularity of far right parties is gaining ever more strength. From the National Front in France to the British National Party, anti-immigration, anti-European Union platforms are winning more voters. The numbers alone are striking: the National Front in France received nearly eighteen percent of the nationwide vote in 2002 Presidential run-off between Chirac and Le Pen; the Swiss People's Party received 23 percent of the popular vote in a 1999 election; and Jorg Haider's Austrian Freedom Party moved from near collapse to second place in the 1999 election. The essays in Shadows Over Europe explore this growing presence of extreme right political parties in governments throughout Europe. These parties can no longer be dismissed as anomalous or temporary. It is clear that they have established an enduring presence in European politics. The contributors to this volume explore the origins of this trend, why they have gained such support, and where these parties might be headed. They explore the policy orientations of these parties and their role in electoral politics across the continent. Together, these essays provide a significant contribution toward understanding the rise and impact of the far right in Europe.

This is the first book that explains the Tea Party's successful "primary" campaign against Republicans in Name Only (RINOs). Grassroots Tea Party activists adopted this strategy in 2009 shortly after the movement emerged. The first successful campaign occurred in upstate New York where the Tea Party defeated Dede Scozzafava, a RINO running for congress in a Republican primary that only elected Republicans to office during the previous 100 years. Armed with success, they defeated "conservative" Utah Senator Bob Bennett an eighteen-year veteran and then proceeded to defeat the popular Republican (RINO) governor of Florida Charlie Crist and elected the virtually unknown Tea Party candidate, Marco Rubio. This placed all Republicans on notice that if they do not follow conservative fiscal policies, they could be "primaried." The Tea Party's goal is to take control of the Republican Party and return it to its original, fiscal conservatism.