The aim of the present volume is to discuss the notion of constitution from the perspectives of history of political thought. Its scholarly intention is to go beyond the approach concentrating on the formal understanding of constitution and bring forward more complex historical and philosophic-political interpretations. Our point of departure was the need to revive the somehow neglected distinction between the idea of constitution as an act of conscious law-giving activity and the notion of constitution conceived as the set of fundamental political rules derived from the very nature of political regime and its historical development.

Democracy has long been fetishized. Consequently, how we speak about democracy and what we expect from democratic governance are at odds with practice. With unflinching resolve, this book probes the theory of democracy and how the left and right are fascinated by it. In this innovative multidisciplinary study, Ralph Cintron provides sustained analysis of our political discourse. He shows not only how the rhetoric of democracy produces strong desires for social order, global wealth, and justice but also how these desires cannot be satisfied. Throughout his discussion, Cintron includes ethnographic research from fieldwork conducted over the course of twenty years in the Latino neighborhoods of Chicago, where he observes both citizens and the undocumented looking to democracy to fulfill their highest aspirations. Politicians hand out favors to the elite, developers strong-arm aldermen, and the disenfranchised have little redress. The problem, Cintron argues, is that the conditions required to put democracy into practice-territory, a bordered nation-state, citizens, property-are constituted by inequality and violence, because there is no inclusivity that does not also exclude. Drawing on ethnography, economics, political theory, and rhetorical analysis, Cintron makes his case with tremendous analytic rigor. This challenge to reassess the discourses on democracy and to consider democratic politics as always compromised by oligarchy will be of particular interest to political and rhetorical theorists.

Politics of the Many draws inspiration from Percy Bysshe Shelley's celebrated call to arms: 'Ye are many - they are few!' This idea of the Many, as a general form of emancipatory subjectivity that cannot be erased for the sake of the One, is the philosophical and political assumption shared by contributors to this book. They raise questions of collective agency, and its crisis in contemporary capitalism, via new engagements with Marxist philosophy, psychoanalysis, theories of social reproduction and value-form, and post-colonial critiques, and drawing on activist thought and strategies. This book interrogates both established and emergent formations of the Many (the people, classes, publics, crowds, masses, multitudes), tracing their genealogies, their recent failures and victories, and their potentials to change the world. The book proposes and explores an intense and provoking series of new or reinvented concepts, figures, and theoretical constellations, including dividuality, the centaur, unintentional vanguard, insomnia at work, always-on capitalism, multitude (from its 'voiding' to a '(non)emergence'), crowds, necropolitics, and the link between political subjectivity and value-form. The contributors to Politics of the Many are both acclaimed and emergent thinkers including Carina Brand, Rebecca Carson, Luhuna Carvalho, Lorenzo Chiesa, Jodi Dean, Dario Gentili, Benjamin Halligan, Marc James Leger, Paul Mazzocchi, Alexei Penzin, Stefano Pippa, Gerald Raunig, and Stevphen Shukaitis.

In 2021, South Africa celebrated 27 years as a democratic state. The number 27 has a symbolic value in the liberation history of the Republic as it reflects the number of years spent in prison by former President Nelson Mandela prior to his release and South Africa’s transition. In 1994 Madiba magic was in full force and many observers reflected on the miraculous birth of the democratic state. In 2018, President Cyril Ramaphosa similarly spoke of a “New Dawn” in South Africa, and drawing on the moral authority and memory of Mandela, pledged to turn the tide in South African governance, in reference to the dark clouds of corruption hanging over the previous, Jacob Zuma, administration. The year 2021 also saw the 25th commemoration of South Africa’s much-celebrated Constitution, lauded for its progressive and transformative nature. However, despite varied attempts by the Ramaphosa administration to instil renewed confidence in the South African leadership, local government elections in 2021 revealed votership that was simply not interested, and diverse actors who were unwilling to support the proclaimed New Dawn, and the call for Thuma Mina! (send me).

This updated edition incorporates the Cyril Ramaphosa administration’s years in office so far. The chapters continue to reflect on the concepts, institutions, structures, policy and theories that characterise the South African governance, policy and political landscapes. They also consider, in part, the global COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on South Africa’s domestic and foreign contexts, and the South African government’s responses to this pandemic.

A distinguished group of scholars explore the moral values and political consequences of privatization The 21st century has seen a proliferation of privatization across industries in the United States, from security and the military to public transportation and infrastructure. In shifting control from the state to private actors, do we weaken or strengthen structures of governance? Do state-owned enterprises promise to be more equal and fair than their privately-owned rivals? What role can accountability measures play in mediating the effects of privatization; and what role does coercion play in the state governance and control? In this latest installment from the NOMOS series, an interdisciplinary group of distinguished scholars in political science, law, and philosophy examine the moral and political consequences of transferring state-provided or state-owned goods and services to the private sector. The essays consider how we should evaluate the decision to privatize, both with respect to the quality of outcomes that might be produced, and in terms of the effects of privatization on the core values underlying democratic decision-making. Privatization also affects the structure of governance in a variety of important ways, and these essays evaluate the consequences of privatization on the state. Privatization sheds new light on these highly salient questions of contemporary political life and institutional design.

Guiding students step-by-step through the research process while simultaneously introducing a range of debates, challenges and tools that feminist scholars use, the second edition of this popular textbook provides a vital resource to those students and researchers approaching their studies from a feminist perspective. Interdisciplinary in its approach, the book covers everything from research design, analysis and presentation, to formulating research questions, data collection and publishing research. Offering the most comprehensive and practical guide to the subject available, the text is now also fully updated to take account of recent developments in the field, including participatory action research, new technologies and methods for working with big data and social media. Doing Feminist Research is required reading for undergraduate and postgraduate courses taking a feminist approach to social science methodology, research design and methods. It is the ideal guide for all students and scholars carrying out feminist research, whether in the fields of international relations, political science, interdisciplinary international and global studies, development studies or gender and women's studies. New to this Edition: - New discussions of contemporary research methods, including participatory action research, survey research and technology, and methods for big data and social media. - Updated to reflect recent developments in feminist and gender theory, with references to the latest research examples and new boxes considering recent shifts in the social and political sciences. - Brand new boxed examples throughout covering topics including collaborations, femicide, negotiating changing research environments and the pros and cons of feminist participatory action research. - The text is now written in the first (authors) and second (readers) person making the text clearer, more consistent and inclusive from the reader point of view. Accompanying online resources for this title can be found at bloomsburyonlineresources.com/doing-feminist-research-in-political-and-social-science. These resources are designed to support teaching and learning when using this textbook and are available at no extra cost.

This book provides an overview of the inception, development and achievements of British socialist and workers theatre – a feat which has not been attempted before. It explores the connections between politics and culture (specifically theatre) and between political theory and cultural (theatrical) expression. The book is organized chronologically and uncovers much in labour and theatre history which is in danger of being lost. It can also be seen as a way into different moments in its subject’s story (e.g. post-Ibsen naturalism; agitprop theatre; ‘fringe’ theatre of the 1970s) and the relationship of such forms to specific political events and ideas at specific points in history.

This special issue is the second of a two-part edited collection on the privatisation of migration. The central thrust of the special issue is a critical analysis of modern day manifestations of private participation in immigration control such as through companies which run detention and deportation programmes and individual landlords, medical professionals and employers who become part of immigration enforcement. In the chapters the authors examine the role of private stakeholders and the political economy in migration control.

The emergence of cloud computing, internet of things, mobile technologies, and social networking have created better-connected members of the public who are digitally linked with each other in real time. Establishing this two-way interaction between citizens and governments has thus become attractive and an expected feature of governments worldwide. Previously, federal and local governments relied on first-generation technologies to provide basic levels of automation and digitization. Now, because of their desire to become more open, transparent, accountable, and connected, newer technologies including cloud computing, mobile networking, big data analytics, Web 2.0, and social media must be developed and utilized. Web 2.0 and Cloud Technologies for Implementing Connected Government is an essential reference source that presents various dimensions of connected government and connected e-governance visions as well as the latest emerging technologies. Offering development methodologies, practical examples, best practices, case studies, and the latest research, this book covers new strategies for implementing better-connected government models and the technologies that serve to establish these frameworks, including in-depth examinations of mobile technologies, automation, business intelligence, etc. as well as the various ethical and security issues surrounding the use and protection of data. This book is essential for federal, state, and local government officials; policymakers; civil servants; IT specialists; security analysts; academicians; researchers; and students.

Civics and citizenship focus on providing students with the disposition and tools to effectively engage with their government. Critical literacy is necessary for responsible citizenship in a world where the quantity of information overwhelms quality information and misinformation is prevalent. Critical Literacy Initiatives for Civic Engagement is an essential reference source that discusses the intersection of critical literacy and citizenship and provides practical ways for educators to encourage responsible citizenship in their classrooms. Featuring research on topics such as language learning, school governance, and digital platforms, this book is ideally designed for professionals, teachers, administrators, academicians, and researchers.