If we're interested in why society changes and develops, and if we want to identify the forces that influence our personal beliefs and choices, then we must have an understanding of the nature and scope of human power.
This distinctively clear text critically evaluates how power is defined, conceptualized and theorized. Spanning 500 years of thinking in the field, the book examines ideas from classical and contemporary thinkers, from Machiavelli to Michael Mann. Theories are firmly rooted in their historical context alongside real-life examples to explain their relevance to our lives today.
Theorizing Power highlights the significance of power across all areas of social life, including gender, religion, morality and identity. It is the ideal text to stimulate thinking and debate on the subject of power for all students of sociology and politics.

Growing interest in the ideas of the German legal and political theorist Carl Schmitt have sparked an interest in the thinkers and ideas that influenced him. Chief among those influences stands the 19th-century Spanish and conservative thinker Juan Donoso Cortes (1809-1853). Donoso stands in a unique place in the ideological trajectory of conservative, counter-revolutionary thought that started with the reaction of Joseph de Maistre and Louis de Bonald against the French Revolution and culminated in the rise of fascism in the early twentieth century. As the philosophical successor of de Maistre, Donoso kept de Maistre's ideas on authority and infallibility alive in the midst of the ideological and political controversies and the revolutionary tumult of Europe in the mid-19th century. Donoso's theories on infallibility played a crucial role in the definition of papal infallibility during the First Vatican Council in 1870. His theory on dictatorship changed the focus of continental conservative thought away from emphasizing the restoration of a hierarchically ordered civilization through the restoration of the monarchical ancient regime to the establishment of order and hierarchy by any necessary and effective means. This theory and his critique of parliamentarianism were especially reflected in the Franco regime in Spain and in the political and legal theories of Carl Schmitt.

All the speeches and writings of Cortes that influenced Schmitt are contained in this volume. These major theoretical works appear in English for the first time. Only the Speech on Dictatorship has appeared in English to date. Johnson's Introduction provides extensive commentary on the works and theories developed in them by showing the historical and philosophical context from which they emerged and by pointing out their significance in the development of the counter-revolutionary ideological trajectory leading from de Maistre to fascism. Until now, Donoso has been studied by a small group of mostly conservative and Catholic scholars. This translation makes his ideas more readily available for study by students and scholars of political theory.

Teaching Federalism presents innovative ideas for teaching a wide variety of key concepts of federalism and federal-country cases. Each chapter introduces a topic, explains its place in federalism research, and provides learning objectives, pedagogical tools, and questions for class discussions, student essays, and examinations. Evaluation and reading suggestions are included as well. The book covers twenty substantive facets of federalism important for understanding contemporary issues of federalism and federation, such as power distribution, second chambers, high courts, intergovernmental relations, fiscal federalism, multinational federalism, conflict resolution, indigenous peoples, gendered federalism, and secession. Also included are case-study examples for teaching about federalism in Germany, India, Nigeria, Switzerland, and the United States. Educators around the world who teach federalism or wish to do so will find this a wonderful resource for lesson plans on a wide variety of issues related to federalism. Students studying federalism will also find it invaluable as an introductory resource for important topics and readings on the subject.