Recent decades have seen growing concern regarding problems of electoral integrity. The most overt malpractices used by rulers include imprisoning dissidents, harassing adversaries, coercing voters, vote-rigging counts, and even blatant disregard for the popular vote. Elsewhere minor irregularities are common, exemplified by inaccurate voter registers, maladministration of polling facilities, lack of security in absentee ballots, pro-government media bias, ballot miscounts, and gerrymandering. Serious violations of human rights that undermine electoral credibility are widely condemned by domestic observers and the international community. Recent protests about integrity have mobilized in countries as diverse as Russia, Mexico, and Egypt. However, long-standing democracies are far from immune to these ills; past problems include the notorious hanging chads in Florida in 2000 and more recent accusations of voter fraud and voter suppression during the Obama-Romney contest. When problems come to light, however, is anyone held to account and are effective remedies implemented? In response to these developments, there have been growing attempts to analyze flaws in electoral integrity and transparency using systematic data from cross-national time-series, forensic analysis, field experiments, case studies, and new instruments monitoring mass and elite perceptions of malpractices. This volume collects essays from international experts who evaluate the robustness, conceptual validity, and reliability of the growing body of evidence. The essays compare alternative approaches and apply these methods to evaluate the quality of elections in several areas, including the United States, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America. Election Watchdogs:Transparency, Accountability and Integrity presents new insights into the importance of diverse actors who promote electoral transparency, accountability, and ultimately the integrity of electoral governance.

This annotated document collection surveys the history and evolution of laws and attitudes regarding free speech and censorship in the United States, with a special emphasis on contemporary events and controversies related to the First Amendment. The United States' collective understanding of First Amendment freedoms was formed by more than 200 years of tensions between the power of word and the power of the government. During that time, major laws and legal decisions defined the circumstances and degree to which personal expression could be rightfully expressed-and rightfully limited. This struggle to define the parameters of free speech continues today. Vibrant and passionate debates about First Amendment limitations once inspired by the dissemination of birth control information now address such issues as kneeling during the national anthem, removing controversial books from public libraries, attempts by the Trump administration to discredit the press, and disseminating false or hateful information through social media platforms. By exploring diverse examples of censorship victories and triumphs of free expression, readers will better understand the enormous impact of First Amendment freedoms on American society. Chronological history of important milestones, documents, and events that have shaped the nation's understanding of freedom of speech/press and censorship, as well as the limitations of each Primary source selection that illuminates the importance of First Amendment freedoms as critical elements of democracy in the United States Informative, authoritative, and balanced introductory headnotes for each primary source to help readers understand the context in which they were created Readers Guide to Related Documents and sidebars

Today, African lives, cultures, and politics remain significantly affected by precolonial and postcolonial configurations of modernity, as well as hegemonic global systems. This project explores Africa's conversation with itself and the rest of the world in terms of the contest between these institutions and a pristine 'nature.' The African continent jostles between these polarities in a turbulent and unpredictable manner as wars, genocide, famine, and other hardships punctuate its history and its struggles to develop. At the same time, this unpredictability is also a manifestation of hope, vigor and dynamism. This dynamic reveals often arresting insights into what humankind has been, what it is presently, and what it could be. In this sense, Africa manifests a sense of life that perpetually strives to escape modern institutions, even if it unavoidably must engage with those institutions.

Thomas Curry argues that discussion and interpretation of the First Amendment have reached a point of deep crisis. Historical scholarship dealing with the background and interpretation of the Amendment are at an impasse, says Curry, and judicial interpretation is in a state of disarray. His purpose is to provide a new paradigm for the understanding and exploration of religious liberty. He traces much of the current difficulty to the largely unexamined assumption on the part of judges and scholars that the Amendment created a right - the right to free exercise of religion - and that the courts are the guardians of that right. In fact, however, the First Amendment is above all a limitation on government and a guarantee that the government will not impinge on the religious liberty that citizens already possess by natural right.

This title is a contribution to our understanding of how demographic consolidation works. It skilfully integrates a broad comparative analyses of the roles played by such factors as economic performance, institutional engineering, civil society and mass support with detailed attention to the situation-specific factors influencing democratic consolidation in five different settings - Poland, East Germany, South Africa, Chile and South Korea.

The success or failure of democratic reform in Indonesia is a key question for Indonesia itself and for the surrounding region. Although Indonesia's transition to democracy holds out the promise of good governance, this cannot be taken for granted - as the recent military takeover in Thailand shows. This book is about the challenge of making democracy work in Asia's third-largest nation.

This collection makes a compelling case for the importance of studying ceremony and ritual in deepening our understanding of modern democratic parliaments. It reveals through rich case studies that modes of behaviour, the negotiation of political and physical spaces and the creation of specific institutional cultures, underpin democracy in practice

Political Tactics, composed for the Estates General just before the French Revolution, is one of Bentham's most original works. It contains the earliest and perhaps most important theoretical analysis of parliamentary procedure ever written. It was subsequently translated into many languages and has had a far-reaching influence -- as recently as the early 1990s it was reprinted by the Spanish Cortes.

This book explores the following: What is the art of power? What is the art of French power? How did Charles de Gaulle understand and assert power, establishing the Fifth Republic and breaking centuries of political instability? How well or poorly have his successors wielded the art of French power to define, defend, or enhance French interests?

Part of the Praeger Series in Political Economy, this volume assembles prominent political scientists, sociologists, economists, historians, anthropologists, theologians, and journalists to examine the intricacies of the ground-breaking 1984 campaign for president by Jesse Jackson. As no other studies have done, this book explores the social and cultural context of the evolving political process in which the campaign took shape. The contributors study the campaign in a broad social and cultural context that helps to explain the campaign's strengths and weaknesses. The book's interdisciplinary approach reveals the economic, sociological, and political ramifications of the first serious run for the presidency by an African-American. Students and scholars of political science, sociology, anthropology, and communications, as well as professionals in the fields of journalism, public relations, and campaign consulting, will find this book enlightening reading. The volume explores a broad range of issues in terms of how they relate to Jackson's historical run for president, including: racial equity questions; educational and economic opportunity for minorities; family stability in minority communities; community development; and Third World politics. The contributors come to a number of conclusions about the future of politics for minority candidates. Some suggest that future campaigns by Jackson, or any minority candidate, will run into more difficulty inside the political parties than did Jackson's. Others suggest that the 1984 campaign represents a radicalization of the black and progressive American voter. The future, according to this provocative book, holds difficulty for both the Democratic and Republican parties as their candidates, whatever race or religion, bridge the ideological gaps dividing the voters.

Since 1952, when Eisenhower's media consultants decided they could warm up the General's personality and overcome selective exposure by using short spots on television, advertising has played a major role in American presidential campaigns. By the late 1990s, candidates and their political parties spend hundreds of millions on TV ads. Political spots have become the dominant form of communication between voters and candidates.

Kaid and Johnston report the results of a systematic and thorough analysis of virtually all of the political commercials used in general election campaigns from 1952 through the 1996 presidential contest. Important to scholars, students, and other researchers involved with political communications, mass communications, and presidential elections.

Reprint of the rare 1843 edition. Tucker proposes a vigorous defense of states-rights principles in the manner of John Taylor of Caroline. A notably sophisticated argument, it balances detailed analysis of the U.S. Constitution with criticism of Joseph Story, Daniel Webster and other proponents of a powerful Federal government. Henry St. George Tucker 1780-1848] served as U.S. Congressman representing Virginia's 3rd District in the United States House of Representatives from 1815 to 1819. He studied under his father, St. George Tucker (editor of the American edition of Blackstone's Commentaries), at the College of William & Mary, and after he received his law degree, taught there himself. He was later was captain of Cavalry in the War of 1812, President of Virginia's Supreme Court of Appeals, (1831-1841) and, later in life, a prominent Professor of Law at the University of Virginia. He founded the Honor System there. Works that grew out of the classroom include Commentaries on the Laws of Virginia (1836-1837) and the present work. Tucker County, West Virginia, is named in his honor.

In the wake of the 2004 election, pundits were shocked at exit polling that showed that 22% of voters thought "moral values" was the most important issue at stake. People on both sides of the political divide believed this was the key to victory for George W. Bush, who professes a deep and abiding faith in God. While some fervent Bush supporters see him as a man chosen by God for the White House, opponents see his overt commitment to Christianity as a dangerous and unprecedented bridging of the gap between church and state.
In fact, Gary Scott Smith shows, none of this is new. Religion has been a major part of the presidency since George Washington's first inaugural address. Despite the mounting interest in the role of religion in American public life, we actually know remarkably little about the faith of our presidents. Was Thomas Jefferson an atheist, as his political opponents charged? What role did Lincoln's religious views play in his handling of slavery and the Civil War? How did born-again Southern Baptist Jimmy Carter lose the support of many evangelicals? Is George W. Bush, as his critics often claim, a captive of the religious right? In this fascinating book, Smith answers these questions and many more. He takes a sweeping look at the role religion has played in presidential politics and policies. Drawing on extensive archival research, Smith paints compelling portraits of the religious lives and presidencies of eleven chief executives for whom religion was particularly important.
Faith and the Presidency meticulously examines what each of its subjects believed and how those beliefs shaped their presidencies and, in turn, the course of our history.

This authoritative book provides a deeply informed overview of one of the most dynamic social movements in Latin America. Focusing on contemporary Indigenous movements in Ecuador, leading scholar Marc Becker traces the growing influence of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), which in 1990 led a powerful uprising that dramatically placed a struggle for Indigenous rights at the center of public consciousness. Activists began to refer to this uprising as a "pachakutik," a Kichwa word that means change, rebirth, and transformation, both in the sense of a return in time and the coming of a new era. Five years later, proponents launched a new political movement called Pachakutik to compete for elected office. In 2006, Ecuadorians elected Rafael Correa, who many saw as emblematic of the new Latin American left, to the presidency of the country. Even though CONAIE, Pachakutik, and Correa shared similar concerns for social justice, they soon came into conflict with each other. Becker examines the competing strategies and philosophies that emerge when social movements and political parties embrace comparable visions but follow different paths to realize their objectives. In exploring the multiple and conflictive strategies that Indigenous movements have followed over the past twenty years, he definitively documents the recent history and charts the trajectory of one of the Americas' most powerful and best organized social movements.

The republics of Greece and Rome proved incapable of waging war effectively and remaining free at the same time. The record of modern republics is not much more encouraging. How, then, did the United States manage to emerge victorious from the world wars of this century, including the Cold War, and still retain its fundamental liberties?

For Karl-Friedrich Walling, this unprecedented accomplishment was the work of many hands and many generations, but of Alexander Hamilton especially. No Founder thought more about the theory and practice of modern war and free government. None supplied advice of more enduring relevance to statesmen faced with the responsibility of providing for the common defense while securing the blessings of liberty to their posterity.

Hamilton's strategic sobriety led many of his contemporaries to view him as an American Caesar, but this revisionist account calls the conventional "militarist" interpretation of Hamilton into question. Hamilton sought to unite the strength necessary for war with the restraint required by the rule of law, popular consent, and individual rights. In the process, he helped found something new, the world's most durable republican empire.

Walling constructs a conversation about war and freedom between Hamilton and the Loyalists, the Anti-Federalists, the Jeffersonians, and other Federalists. Instead of pitting Hamilton's virtues against his opponents' vices (or vice versa), Walling pits Hamilton's virtue of responsibility against the revolutionary virtue of vigilance, a quarrel he believes is inherent to American party government. By reexamining that quarrel in light of the necessities of war and the requirements of liberty, Walling has written the most balanced and moving account of Hamilton so far.

Citizens, journalists, and watchdog organizations claim that U.S. Congress members serve special interest groups in return for lucrative jobs in industry once they leave office-and that these legislators become lax in their final term of office as they are no longer compelled by elections to provide quality representation to citizens. This book investigates the veracity of these claims. The established consensus among scholars and citizens groups is that democracy suffers when U.S. Congress members prepare to leave office-that legislators are quick to satisfy pressure groups' requests in part because they anticipate being rewarded with financially compelling positions in those organizations once they leave office. But is this actually true? Focusing on 346 of the senators and representatives who left office during the 107th through 111th Congresses (January 2001 to January 2011), this book makes a counterintuitive argument: that job-seeking legislators provide stalwart service to citizens during their final term of office for fear of damaging their reputations and imperiling their post-Congressional career prospects. After an introductory chapter, author Matthew S. Dabros summarizes past research on political opportunism before discussing how nonelectoral constraints imposed by special interests (namely, diminished post-Congressional employment opportunities) actually encourage job-seeking legislators to provide quality representation to citizens even in their final term in office. The book also describes the nature and identifies the determinants of post-Congressional careers. The chapters use numerous contemporary examples and draw parallels to topics familiar to general readers to ensure that the book is highly accessible and interesting to nonspecialists. Offers a timely and fact-based perspective on the relationship between legislators and special interest organizations, one in which special interests constrain-not exploit-lawmakers' opportunistic proclivities Documents how the fear of diminished post-office employment opportunities compels legislators to supply quality representation rather than succumb to opportunism in the final term of officeholding and in the absence of electoral constraints Reveals that post-Congressional careers entail more than just lobbying through an up-to-date accounting of the career decisions of almost every senator and representative who left office between 2001 and 2011 Investigates and identifies the major factors that prompt legislators to remain in public service, take up a career in lobbying or elsewhere in the private sector, or retire from work altogether

Colin Powell epitomizes the American success story, yet his heroism is uncommon and unique. Born in New York City to Jamaican-immigrant parents, Powell entered a recently desegregated army, rising to become its highest-ranking member. He is a Republican at a time when a vast majority of African Americans consider themselves Democrats. He is one of the most famous Americans alive, yet has spent much of his professional life in behind-the-scenes positions. Beginning with his humble origins, this biography traces Powell's experiences from childhood, moving from his early days in the military through his climb to the highest echelons of power in Washington D.C. A timeline clarifies the key events in Powell's life and career, and a bibliography covers print and electronic sources for further research. This concise biography is ideal for students and general readers interested in the story behind one of America's most important and respected citizens, and the struggles an African American must face and overcome to succeed in contemporary America.

Since the late 1980s, the changing dynamic of global development has driven the tide of democratic expansion in the developing world. In Africa, western donors have sought to impose "neo-liberal" visions of socio-economic and political institution-building, spreading political reforms and economic liberalization with far-reaching consequences. Associated with external interventions, but also sometimes conflicting with them, are internal protests against authoritarianism, which have problematically reinforced and/or undermined the donor agenda for democratic reform.

Here Usman Tar questions the assumption that Africa was lacking the essential components for a spontaneous transition to democracy. He explores the dynamic, but contradictory, links between external and internal dimensions of neo-liberal democratic expansion in Africa, focusing on Nigeria. Tar dissects the struggles for democracy, and for democratic policy and practice in a country with rich economic potential, but a troubled political dispensation.

The culmination of work begun in 1985 by the authors under the joint sponsorship of the Ekonomski Institut Zagreb and Florida State University, this book posits the most comprehensive and relevant model yet developed to explain the workings of Yugoslavia's economy. The authors have developed a model that is both theoretically oriented and empirically relevant--ensuring its appropriateness for recommending and evaluating alternative policy remedies for the acute problems of inflation, unemployment, and foreign trade now facing Yugoslavia, a country until recently noted for its economic successes. Already chosen to represent Yugoslavia in the ongoing international Project LINK, a global system for tracking and forecasting the economic conditions of some eighty countries and regions, the model is distinguished by its policy emphasis and by its ability to capture the fundamental divisions of the Yugoslav economy. Students and scholars of socialism, Marxism, and comparative economics will find this a major contribution to the literature of economic modeling.

The book begins by providing essential background information about Yugoslavia including highlights of the country's economic experience, special features of its economic structure, the composition of its political system, the operation of its financial system, and the behavior of firms. Part two includes four chapters which examine the different components of the Yugoslav economy and review the theoretical basis and empirical performance of the equations which describe those components. A separate chapter presents the complete model, called the EIZFSU Mark 1.0 in recognition of its major sponsoring institutions. In the final part, the model is used to study policies for improving the performance of the economy and obstacles to their implementation. An appendix describes and quantifies the variables used in the model while a list of references provides additional information for the researcher who wishes to pursue further study in this area.

"The Little Platoons" examines sub-local government--the small-scale structures of civil society that lie between the individual and large governmental actors--in England, France, Germany, the United States, Russia, China, and Japan. The work examines community councils, educational districts, neighborhood organizations, and the like, as seen in various societies in the modern age. And, in identifying common attributes of these civil and societal organizations, the work has particular relevance--and indeed makes ameliorative recommendations--for the problems of our modern cities. In a period of dissatisfaction with a self-regarding and centralized political class and with both market and bureaucratic institutions, Liebmann's thoughtful analysis of community and civil organization in a variety of societies and traditions broadens our understanding of comparative politics and sociology, urban planning, and state and local government.

The twentieth century has been described as the bloodiest in human history, but it was also the century in which people around the world embraced ideas of democracy and human rights as never before. They constructed social, political and legal institutions seeking to contain human behaviour, ensuring that by the turn of the twenty- first century more countries were democratic than non-democratic and the protection of human rights had been extended far beyond the expectations of the creators of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Todd Landman offers an optimistic, yet cautionary tale of these developments, drawing on the literature from politics, international relations and international law. He celebrates the global turn from tyranny and violence towards democracy and rights but he also warns of the precariousness of these achievements in the face of democratic setbacks and the undermining of rights commitments by many countries during the controversial "War on Terror."