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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political structure & processes
Qualitative interviewing is among the most widely used methods in
the social sciences, but it is arguably the least understood. In
The Science and Art of Interviewing, Kathleen Gerson and Sarah
Damaske offer clear, theoretically informed and empirically rich
strategies for conducting interview studies. They present both a
rationale and guide to the science-and art-of in-depth interviewing
to take readers through all the steps in the research process, from
the initial stage of formulating a question to the final one of
presenting the results. Gerson and Damaske show readers how to
develop a research design for interviewing, decide on and find an
appropriate sample, construct a questionnaire, conduct probing
interviews, and analyze the data they collect. At each stage, they
also provide practical tips about how to address the ever-present,
but rarely discussed challenges that qualitative researchers
routinely encounter, particularly emphasizing the relationship
between conducting well-crafted research and building powerful
social theories. With an engaging, accessible style, The Science
and Art of Interviewing targets a wide range of audiences, from
upper-level undergraduates and graduate methods courses to students
embarking on their dissertations to seasoned researchers at all
stages of their careers.
It is the most famous speech Lincoln ever gave, and one of the most
important orations in the history of the nation. Delivered on
November 19, 1863, among the freshly dug graves of the Union dead,
the Gettysburg Address defined the central meaning of the Civil War
and gave cause for the nation's incredible suffering. The poetic
language and moral sentiment inspired listeners at the time, and
have continued to resonate powerfully with groups and individuals
up to the present day. What gives this speech its enduring
significance? This collection of essays, from some of the
best-known scholars in the field, answers that question. Placing
the Address in complete historical and cultural context and
approaching it from a number of fresh perspectives, the volume
first identifies how Lincoln was influenced by great thinkers on
his own path toward literary and oratory genius. Among others,
Nicholas P. Cole draws parallels between the Address and classical
texts of Antiquity and John Stauffer considers Lincoln's knowledge
of the King James Bible and Shakespeare. The second half of the
collection then examines the many ways in which the Gettysburg
Address has been interpreted, perceived, and utilized in the past
150 years. Since 1863, African Americans, immigrants, women, gay
rights activists, and international figures have invoked the
speech's language and righteous sentiments on their respective
paths toward freedom and equality. Essays include Louis P. Masur on
the role the Address played in eventual emancipation; Jean H. Baker
on the speech's importance to the women's rights movement; and Don
H. Doyle on the Address's international legacy. Lincoln spoke at
Gettysburg in a defining moment for America, but as the essays in
this collection attest, his message is universal and timeless. This
work brings together the foremost experts in the field to
illuminate the many ways in which that message continues to endure.
There have been remarkable developments in the field of human
rights in the past few decades. Still, millions of asylum-seekers,
refugees, and undocumented immigrants continue to find it
challenging to access human rights. In this book, Ayten Gundogdu
builds on Hannah Arendt's analysis of statelessness and argues that
these challenges reveal the perplexities of human rights. Human
rights promise equal personhood regardless of citizenship status,
yet their existing formulations are tied to the principle of
territorial sovereignty. This situation leaves various categories
of migrants in a condition of "rightlessness," with a very
precarious legal, political, and human standing. Gundogdu examines
this problem in the context of immigration detention, deportation,
and refugee camps. Critical of the existing system of human rights
without seeing it as a dead end, she argues for the need to pay
closer attention to the political practices of migrants who
challenge their condition of rightlessness and propose new
understandings of human rights. What arises from this critical
reflection on human rights is also a novel reading of Arendt, one
that offers refreshing insights into various dimensions of her
political thought, including her account of the human condition,
"the social question," and "the right to have rights."
Rightlessness in an Age of Rights is a valuable addition to the
literature on Hannah Arendt and a vital way of rethinking human
rights as they relate to contemporary issues of immigration.
What is Vladimir Putin up to? This book shows how the mentality of
Putin and his team - the code of Putinism - has shaped Russian
politics over the past two decades. It explains not only the
thoughts and ideas that motivate Putin's decisions, but also the
set of emotions and habits that influence how Putin and his close
allies view the world. The code of Putinism has powerfully shaped
the nature of Russia's political system, its economy, and its
foreign policy. Taylor draws on a large number of interviews, the
speeches of Putin and other top officials, and the Russian media to
analyze the mentality of Team Putin. Key features of Russian
politics today - such as authoritarianism, Putin's reliance on a
small group of loyal friends and associates, state domination of
the economy, and an assertive foreign policy - are traced to the
code of Putinism. Key ideas of the code include conservatism,
anti-Americanism, and the importance of a state that is powerful
both at home and abroad. Dominant habits of Putin and his
associates include control, order, and loyalty. Important feelings
driving Russia's rulers include the need for respect, resentment
about lost status and mistreatment by the West, and vulnerability.
While some observers portray Putin as either a cold-blooded
pragmatist or a strident Russian nationalist, Taylor provides a
more nuanced and compelling interpretation of Putin's motives and
actions. The Code of Putinism also shows how Putin's choices,
guided by this mentality, have led to a Russia that is misruled at
home and punching above its weight abroad.
Contemporary observers of politics in America often reduce
democracy to demography. Whatever portion of the vote not explained
by the class, gender, race, and religious differences of voters is
attributed to the candidates' positions on the issues of the day.
But are these the only--or even the main--factors that determine
the vote?
The Performance of Politics develops a new way of looking at
democratic struggles for power, explaining what happened, and why,
during the 2008 presidential campaign in the United States. Drawing
on vivid examples taken from a range of media coverage, participant
observation at a Camp Obama, and interviews with leading political
journalists, Jeffrey Alexander argues that images, emotion, and
performance are the central features of the battle for power. While
these features have been largely overlooked by pundits, they are,
in fact, the primary foci of politicians and their staff. Obama and
McCain painstakingly constructed heroic self-images for their
campaigns and the successful projections of those images suffused
not only each candidate's actual rallies, and not only their media
messages, but also the ground game. Money and organization
facilitate the ground game, but they do not determine it. Emotion,
images, and performance do. Though an untested senator and the
underdog in his own party, Obama succeeded in casting himself as
the hero--and McCain the anti-hero--and the only candidate fit to
lead in challenging times.
Illuminating the drama of Obama's celebrity, the effect of Sarah
Palin on the race, and the impact of the emerging financial crisis,
Alexander's engaging narrative marries the immediacy and excitement
of the final months of this historic presidential campaign with a
new understanding of how politics work.
Mini-set E: Sociology & Anthropology re-issues 10 volumes
originally published between 1931 and 1995 and covers topics such
as japanese whaling, marriage in japan, and the japanese health
care system. For institutional purchases for e-book sets please
contact [email protected] (customers in the UK, Europe and
Rest of World)
Placed within the context of the past decade's war on terror and
emergent and countervailing Latino rights movement, Reform without
Justice addresses the issue of state violence against migrants in
the United States. It questions why it is that, despite its success
in mobilizing millions, the Latino immigrant rights movement has
not been able to effectively secure sustainable social justice
victories for itself or more successfully defend the human rights
of migrants. Gonzales argues that the contemporary Latino rights
movement faces a dynamic form of political power that he terms
"anti-migrant hegemony". This anti-migrant hegemony, found in sites
of power from Congress, to think tanks, talk shows and the prison
system, is a force through which a rhetorically race neutral and
common sense public policy discourse, consistent with the rules of
post-civil rights racism, is deployed to criminalize migrants.
Critically, large sectors of "pro-immigrant" groups, including the
Hispanic Congressional Caucus and the National Council of La Raza,
have conceded to coercive immigration enforcement measures such as
a militarized border wall and the expansion of immigration policing
in local communities in exchange for so-called Comprehensive
Immigration Reform. Gonzales says that it is precisely when
immigration reformers actively adopt the discourse and policies of
the leading anti-immigrant forces that the power of anti-migrant
hegemony can best be observed.
Mini-set D: Politics re-issues works originally published between
1920 & 1987 and examines the government, political system and
foreign policy of Japan during the twentieth century.
While the 1960s marked a rights revolution in the United States,
the subsequent decades have witnessed a rights revolution around
the globe, a revolution that for many is a sign of the advancement
of democracy. But is the act of rights claiming a form of political
contestation that advances democracy? Rights language is ubiquitous
in national and international politics today, yet nagging
suspicions remain about the compatibility between the practice of
rights claiming and democratic politics. While critics argue that
rights reinforce ways of thinking and being that undermine
democratic values and participatory practices, even champions worry
that rights lack the legitimacy and universality necessary to bring
democratic aspirations to fruition.
Making Rights Claims provides a unique entree into these important
and timely debates. Rather than simply taking a side for or against
rights claiming, the book argues that understanding and assessing
the relationship between rights and democracy requires a new
approach to the study of rights. Zivi combines insights from speech
act theory with recent developments in democratic and feminist
thought to develop a theory of the performativity of rights
claiming. If we understand rights claims as performative utterances
and acts of persuasion, we come to see that by saying "I have a
right," we constitute and reconstitute ourselves as democratic
citizens, shape our communities, and transform constraining
categories of identity in ways that may simultaneously advance and
challenge aspects of democracy. Furthermore, we begin to understand
that rights claiming is not a wholly rule bound practice. To
illustrate her theory, Zivi discusses different sides of two recent
rights debates: mandatory HIV testing of pregnant women and the new
immigration laws."
What institutional arrangements should a well-functioning
constitutional democracy have?
Most of the relevant literatures in law, political science,
political theory, and economics address this question by discussing
institutional design writ large. In this book, Adrian Vermeule
moves beyond these debates, changing the focus to institutional
design writ small.
In established constitutional polities, Vermeule argues that law
can and should - and to some extent already does - provide
mechanisms of democracy: a repertoire of small-scale institutional
devices and innovations that can have surprisingly large effects,
promoting democratic values of impartial, accountable and
deliberative government. Examples include legal rules that promote
impartiality by depriving officials of the information they need to
act in self-interested ways; voting rules that create the right
kind and amount of accountability for political officials and
judges; and legislative rules that structure deliberation, in part
by adjusting the conditions under which deliberation occurs
transparently or instead secretly.
Drawing upon a range of social science tools from economics,
political science, and other disciplines, Vermeule carefully
describes the mechanisms of democracy and indicates the conditions
under which they can succeed.
In The God Strategy, David Domke and Kevin Coe offer a timely and
dynamic study of the rise of religion in American politics,
examining the public messages of political leaders over the past
seventy-five years--from the 1932 election of Franklin Roosevelt to
the early stages of the 2008 presidential race. They conclude that
U.S. politics today is defined by a calculated, deliberate, and
partisan use of faith that is unprecedented in modern politics.
Sectarian influences and expressions of faith have always been
part of American politics, the authors observe, but a profound
change occurred beginning with the election of Ronald Reagan in
1980. What has developed since is a no-holds-barred religious
politics that seeks to attract voters, identify and attack enemies,
and solidify power. Domke and Coe identify a set of religious
signals sent by both Republicans and Democrats in speeches, party
platforms, proclamations, visits to audiences of faith, and even
celebrations of Christmas. Sometimes these signals are intended for
the eyes and ears of all Americans, and other times they are
distinctly targeted to specific segments of the population. It's an
approach that has been remarkably successful, utilized first and
most extensively by the Republican Party to capture unprecedented
power and then adopted by the Democratic Party, most notably by
Bill Clinton in the 1990s and by a wide range of Democrats in the
2006 elections.
"For U.S. politicians today, having faith isn't enough; it must be
displayed, carefully and publicly. This is a stark transformation
in recent decades," write Domke and Coe. With innovative,
accessible research and analytical verve, they document how this
hasoccurred, who has done it and why, and what it means for the
American experiment in democracy.
Throughout the entire Cold War era, Vietnam served as a grim symbol
of the ideological polarity that permeated international politics.
But when the Cold War ended in 1989, Vietnam faced the difficult
task of adjusting to a new world without the benefactors it had
come to rely on. In Changing Worlds, David W. P. Elliott, who has
spent the past half century studying modern Vietnam, chronicles the
evolution of the Vietnamese state from the end of the Cold War to
the present. When the communist regimes of Eastern Europe
collapsed, so did Vietnam's model for analyzing and engaging with
the outside world. Fearing that committing fully to globalization
would lead to the collapse of its own system, the Vietnamese
political elite at first resisted extensive engagement with the
larger international community. Over the next decade, though,
China's rapid economic growth and the success of the Asian "tiger
economies," along with a complex realignment of regional and global
international relations reshaped Vietnamese leaders' views. In 1995
Vietnam joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),
its former adversary, and completed the normalization of relations
with the United States. By 2000, Vietnam had "taken the plunge" and
opted for greater participation in the global economic system.
Vietnam finally joined the World Trade Organization in 2006.
Elliott contends that Vietnam's political elite ultimately
concluded that if the conservatives who opposed opening up to the
outside world had triumphed, Vietnam would have been condemned to a
permanent state of underdevelopment. Partial reform starting in the
mid-1980s produced some success, but eventually the reformers'
argument that Vietnam's economic potential could not be fully
exploited in a highly competitive world unless it opted for deep
integration into the rapidly globalizing world economy prevailed.
Remarkably, deep integration occurred without Vietnam losing its
unique political identity. It remains an authoritarian state, but
offers far more breathing space to its citizens than in the
pre-reform era. Far from being absorbed into a Western-inspired
development model, globalization has reinforced Vietnam's
distinctive identity rather than eradicating it. The market economy
led to a revival of localism and familism which has challenged the
capacity of the state to impose its preferences and maintain the
wartime narrative of monolithic unity. Although it would be
premature to talk of a genuine civil society, today's Vietnam is an
increasingly pluralistic community. Drawing from a vast body of
Vietnamese language sources, Changing Worlds is the definitive
account of how this highly vulnerable Communist state remade itself
amidst the challenges of the post-Cold War era.
The end of the Cold War ushered in a moment of nearly pure American
dominance on the world stage, yet that era now seems ages ago.
Since 9/11 many informed commentators have focused on the relative
decline of American power in the global system. While some have
welcomed this as a salutary development, outspoken proponents of
American power-particularly neoconservatives-have lamented this
turn of events. As Jeanne Morefield argues in Empires Without
Imperialism, the defenders of a liberal international order steered
by the US have both invoked nostalgia for a golden liberal past and
succumbed to amnesia, forgetting the decidedly illiberal trajectory
of US continental and global expansion. Yet as she shows, the US is
not the first liberal hegemon to experience a wave of misguided
nostalgia for a bygone liberal order; England had a remarkably
similar experience in the early part of the twentieth century. The
empires of the US and the United Kingdom were different in
character-the UK's was territorially based while the US relied more
on pure economic power-yet both nations mouthed the rhetoric of
free markets and political liberty. And elites in both painted
pictures of the past in which first England and then the US
advanced the cause of economic and political liberty throughout the
world. Morefield contends that at the times of their decline,
elites in both nations utilized the attributes of an imagined past
to essentialize the nature of the liberal state. Working from that
framework, they bemoaned the possibility of liberalism's decline
and suggested a return to a true liberal order as a solution to
current woes. By treating liberalism as fixed through time,
however, they actively forgot their illiberal pasts as colonizers
and economic imperialists. According to Morefield, these nostalgic
narratives generate a cynical 'politics in the passive' where the
liberal state gets to have it both ways: it is both compelled to
act imperially to save the world from illiberalism and yet is never
responsible for the outcome of its own illiberal actions in the
world or at home. By comparing the practice and memory of
liberalism in early nineteenth century England and the contemporary
United States, Empires Without Imperialism addresses a major gap in
the literature. While there are many examinations of current
neoliberal imperialism by critical theorists as well as analyses of
liberal imperialism by scholars of the history of political
thought, no one has of yet combined the two approaches. It thus
provides a much fuller picture of the rhetorical strategies behind
liberal imperialist uses of history. At the same time, the book
challenges presentist assumptions about the novelty of our current
political moment.
Help teach students about the voting process with this nonfiction
book. Made for young readers, the book includes a fiction story
related to the topic, a bonus project, discussion questions, and
other helpful features. This 24-page full-color book explains how
the voting process works and encourages students to study
candidates. It also covers essential concepts such as democracy and
civic duty and includes an extension activity for Grade 1. Perfect
for the classroom, at-home learning, or homeschool to explore
elections, leadership, and being an informed voter.
Learn how to be informed voters with this nonfiction book. Ideal
for young readers, this book includes bright images, a fiction
piece related to the topic, a project, simple text with sight
words, and more helpful features. This 20-page full-color book
describes how people can make wise decisions about whom to vote
for. It also covers civics themes such as leadership and civic
duty, and includes an extension activity for kindergarten. Perfect
for the classroom, at-home learning, or homeschool to learn about
the voting process, democracy, and being informed.
Learn about elections and why voting is important with this
nonfiction book. Perfect for young readers, the book also includes
a related fiction story, project, glossary, useful text features,
and engaging sidebars. This 28-page full-color book examines a
variety of voting issues and how the election process works. It
also covers important topics like democracy and civic duty, and
includes an extension activity for grade 2. Perfect for the
classroom, at-home learning, or homeschool, to explore election
issues, candidates, and being an informed citizen.
Just as Latin American countries began to transition to democracy
in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the region also saw gains in
social, cultural and economic gender equality. In accordance with
modernization theories, women in the region have also made
significant inroads into elected office. However, these gains vary
a great deal between countries in Latin America. They also vary
significantly at different levels of government even within the
same country. Inside government arenas, representation is highly
gendered with rules and norms that advantage men and disadvantage
women, limiting women's access to full political power. While one
might expect these variations to map onto socioeconomic and
cultural conditions within each country, they don't correlate. This
book makes, for the first time, a comprehensive comparison of
gender and representation across the region - in seven countries -
and at five different levels: the presidency, cabinets, national
legislatures, political parties, and subnational governments.
Overall, it argues that gender inequality in political
representation in Latin America is rooted in democratic
institutions and the democratic challenges and political crises
facing the region. Institutions and political context not only
influence the number of women and men elected to office, but also
what they do once in office, the degree of power to which they gain
access, and how their presence and actions influence democracy and
society, more broadly. Drawing on the expertise of scholars of
women, gender, and political institutions, this book is the most
comprehensive analysis of women's representation in Latin America
to date, and an important resource for research on women's
representation worldwide. The causes, consequences, and challenges
to women's representation in Latin America are not unique to that
region, and the book uses Latin American patterns to draw broad
conclusions about gendered representation in other areas of the
world.
Ever since Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. used "imperial presidency" as
a book title, the term has become central to the debate about the
balance of power in the U.S. government. Since the presidency of
George W. Bush, when advocates of executive power such as Dick
Cheney gained ascendancy, the argument has blazed hotter than ever.
Many argue the Constitution itself is in grave danger. What is to
be done? The answer, according to legal scholars Eric Posner and
Adrian Vermeule, is nothing. In The Executive Unbound, they provide
a bracing challenge to conventional wisdom, arguing that a strong
presidency is inevitable in the modern world. Most scholars, they
note, object to today's level of executive power because it varies
so dramatically from the vision of the framers of the Constitution.
But Posner and Vermeule find fault with James Madison's premises.
Like an ideal market, they write, Madison's separation of powers
has no central director, but it lacks the price system which gives
an economy its structure; there is nothing in checks and balances
that intrinsically generates order or promotes positive
arrangements. In fact, the greater complexity of the modern world
produces a concentration of power, particularly in the White House.
The authors chart the rise of executive authority, noting that
among strong presidents only Nixon has come in for severe
criticism, leading to legislation which was designed to limit the
presidency, yet which failed to do so. Political, cultural and
social restraints, they argue, have been more effective in
preventing dictatorship than any law. The executive-centered state
tends to generate political checks that substitute for the legal
checks of the Madisonian constitution. Piety toward the founders
and a historic fear of tyranny have been powerful forces in
American political thinking. Posner and Vermeule confront them both
in this startlingly original contribution.
Paul Revere's midnight ride looms as an almost mythical event in American history--yet it has been largely ignored by scholars and left to patriotic writers and debunkers. Now one of the foremost American historians offers the first serious look at the events of the night of April 18, 1775--what led up to it, what really happened, and what followed--uncovering a truth far more remarkable than the myths of tradition. In Paul Revere's Ride, David Hackett Fischer fashions an exciting narrative that offers deep insight into the outbreak of revolution and the emergence of the American republic. Beginning in the years before the eruption of war, Fischer illuminates the figure of Paul Revere, a man far more complex than the simple artisan and messenger of tradition. Revere ranged widely through the complex world of Boston's revolutionary movement--from organizing local mechanics to mingling with the likes of John Hancock and Samuel Adams. When the fateful night arrived, more than sixty men and women joined him on his task of alarm--an operation Revere himself helped to organize and set in motion. Fischer recreates Revere's capture that night, showing how it had an important impact on the events that followed. He had an uncanny gift for being at the center of events, and the author follows him to Lexington Green--setting the stage for a fresh interpretation of the battle that began the war. Drawing on intensive new research, Fischer reveals a clash very different from both patriotic and iconoclastic myths. The local militia were elaborately organized and intelligently led, in a manner that had deep roots in New England. On the morning of April 19, they fought in fixed positions and close formation, twice breaking the British regulars. In the afternoon, the American officers switched tactics, forging a ring of fire around the retreating enemy which they maintained for several hours--an extraordinary feat of combat leadership. In the days that followed, Paul Revere led a new battle-- for public opinion--which proved even more decisive than the fighting itself. When the alarm-riders of April 18 took to the streets, they did not cry, "the British are coming," for most of them still believed they were British. Within a day, many began to think differently. For George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Thomas Paine, the news of Lexington was their revolutionary Rubicon. Paul Revere's Ride returns Paul Revere to center stage in these critical events, capturing both the drama and the underlying developments in a triumphant return to narrative history at its finest.
Although nearly every country in the world today holds multiparty
elections, these contests are often blatantly unfair. For
governments, electoral misconduct is a tempting but also a risky
practice, because it represents a violation of Although nearly
every country in the world today holds multiparty elections, these
contests are often blatantly unfair. For governments, electoral
misconduct is a tempting but also a risky practice, because it
represents a violation of international standards for free and fair
elections. In Defending Democratic Norms, Daniela Donno examines
how international actors respond to these norm violations. Which
governments are punished for manipulating elections? Does
international norm enforcement make a difference? Donno shows that
although enforcement is selective and relatively rare, when
international actors do employ tools of conditionality, diplomacy,
mediation and shaming in response to electoral misconduct, they can
have transformative effects on both the quality and outcome of
elections. Specifically, enforcement works by empowering the
domestic opposition and increasing the government's incentives to
reform institutions of electoral management and oversight. These
effects depend, however, on the presence of a viable opposition
movement, as well as on the strength and credibility of the
enforcement effort itself. The book shows that regional
international organizations possess unique sources of leverage and
legitimacy that make them the most consistently effective norm
defenders, even compared to more materially powerful actors like
the United States.
Drawing on an original dataset from almost 700 elections and
incorporating case studies from the Dominican Republic, Serbia,
Armenia, Kenya and Cambodia, Defending Democratic Norms is a bold
new theory of international norm enforcement that demonstrates the
importance of active international intervention in domestic
politics.
Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful
introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and
law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to
be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of
the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject
areas. Providing a comprehensive account of America's
constitutional framework, this Advanced Introduction examines how
U.S officials carry out America's foreign policy objectives through
diplomacy, trade agreements, secretive covert actions, and the use
of military force. Loch K. Johnson delivers an invigorating
examination of ethical and legal aspects of American foreign policy
as well as providing a new perspective on topics such as domestic
politics, diplomacy and policymaking. Key Features include:
Analysis of the international setting for U.S. foreign policy
activities Examination of foreign policy decision making from
domestic, individual and international settings. Discussion of the
relationship between the United States and other nations,
international organizations, and various global factions. Concise
and timely, this Advanced Introduction will be a beneficial read to
foreign policy, American studies and international relations
students and researchers. This will also be a key resource for
military academies and organizations seeking a better understanding
of the position of the United States in global affairs.
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