This book considers the state of Czech democracy, following the rise of authoritarian regimes in Poland and Hungary and the ascent of billionaire oligarch Andrej Babis to the office of prime minister of the Czech Republic, leading to concerns about conflict of interest. The authors argue that civic values, such as tolerance, respect for the equality of people, and readiness to play by the rules of the political game, are key factors in determining whether the Czech Republic will maintain its democracy in the coming years. The book employs a broad perspective, bringing together insights from political science, sociology, cultural studies, and other disciplines to analyse changes in the democracy of the Czech Republic since 1989, taking into consideration various dimensions of civic values, including politics, gender inequality, film, and the media.

The collapse of the communist monopoly across Central and Southeastern Europe in 1989/1990 initiated a process of rapid political, economic, and cultural change. While Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia went on to suffer three and a half years of war, all the states of the region have confronted challenges as they dismantled communist institutions and drafted new laws, in some cases ignoring their own laws. Indeed, in certain countries, local politicians have done their best to corrupt the media and the economy, with recent years seeing some states move in an illiberal direction. Throughout the region, however, there has been a strong interest in enjoying the benefits of membership of the European Union and NATO. In this updated second edition, regional specialists comprehensively analyze the post-communist trajectories of the states of Central and Southeastern Europe, encompassing democratization, privatization, corruption, and war. It will appeal to students and scholars, whether they have a specific interest in the region, or are studying European politics more generally.

For some legal philosophers, if a law is procedurally correct, enacted in ways constitutionally recognised and agreed upon, then the content is of no significance. It is a "good" law, no matter what it does or justifies. The question of one's consent or opposition to any particular law is extraneous to the legality and is regarded merely as a political matter. The assumption is that a certain procedure and logic in law creation has taken place, and the law can be altered by a change in political leaders in a subsequent political election. However, this view and assumption obscure an uncomfortable fact. Some laws can be "bad" or "immoral." Critical legal theory suggests that there are often two (or more) sets of laws, and it makes no difference if Lady Justice is blindfolded or not. Laws change in the process of history, in part, because societal norms change. As common understandings of morality evolve, law adapts itself to the new moral environment. Norms can change slowly or rapidly, even within a lifetime. This book examines both social and legal norms and theories of how they are both created. Christine M. Hassenstab investigates how laws on sterilization, birth control and abortion were created, by focusing on the act of legislation; how the law was driven by scientific and social norms during the first and closing decades of the 20th century in the USA (especially in the state of Indiana) and Norway. The primary focus of Body Law and the Body of Law is the sociology of law and how and why the law changes. The author develops the notion "body law" for reproductive policies and uses sociological theories to untie the various strands of social history and legal history and looks at two cases of legislation. The book is divided in to two main sections. The first examines eugenic laws in the USA state of Indiana and Norway during the first decades of 20th century. The second part is about the birth control and abortion debate in both countries throughout the late 1960s and 1970s. Christine M. Hassenstab is a lawyer and sociologist. She served as a criminal defense attorney for 15 years (1987-2001) in Seattle, Washington. Currently, she is an adviser in the EU Grants Office at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway.

Second edition enlarged. Dictators pets are too often ignored but no longer They re all here in this hilarious collection of madcap ditties: Lenin s cat, Hitler s dog, Qaddafi s sweet-scented camel, Caligula s horse, Mao s cockroach (he banned real pets), Stalin s spider, and many more. The volume also includes philosophers songs and a Holy Roman opera, Turmoil in Brindisi about a long-forgotten ecumenical council called by Pope Sixtus the Sixth, an equally forgotten pope. Written over a period of 35 years, these jottings are also a record of a lifetime of laughter. Sabrina Ramet's collection of ditties is sidesplittingly hilarious What a great idea to deal with the defining concept or characteristics of world's dictators and their pets and philosophers in poems in a humorous way What is even more important, Ramet with her poems touches us on a deeper level as human beings with universal human traits. -Lea Plut-Pregelj, University of Maryland. This is a unique publication. Professor Sabrina Ramet has shown how humour can (and should) be used to unmask and demystify dictators and dictatorships. Funny and serious at the same time, these ditties include many authentic touches, such as the reference to self-criticism in the ditty about Ceausescu. The philosophers' songs are also great fun, combining witty summaries of some of their major ideas with wild humour. - Knut Erik Solem, Norwegian University of Science & Technology.

Most of the action taking place in this story occurred in the mid-1980s, when the threat of industrial pollution was already well known. The narrator was perhaps one of the first to realize that industrial pollution was interconnected with a vast international conspiracy of brain surgeons. He found evidence of this conspiracy not only in the proliferation of brain surgery clinics and in their activities, but in coded messages embedded in bus schedules, in syringe marks on fruit, even in television commercials. Although he played only a minor role in the struggle against the brain surgeons, he felt it was his duty as a living being to record these strange events exactly as they occurred, so that the truth could be known. "Hilariously zany, brisk, and suspenseful, and so strange in an otherworldly sense that you cannot stop turning the pages - I kept muttering "what the. " to myself - Cafe Bombshell is a Montypythonesque rendition of the incredible adventures of two stuffed rabbits and their wards. Reading the novel was a lot of fun, and it lifted my spirits in some unexpected ways. This is a genuinely unique piece of writing." - Gordana P. Crnkovic, University of Washington "Ramet's first novel takes us on a surrealistic rollercoaster ride blending in psychedelic adaptations of events from the author's life into a hilarious, wacky adventure that takes the reader from one side of the Pacific to the other and back, with a short jaunt into outer space, culminating in a world-saving song-and-dance-routine climax in Las Vegas, in which two stuffed eco-terrorist rabbits and an assortment of robotized weasels play the decisive role. Filled with a menagerie of unforgettable animal characters and told through the eyes of an apparently paranoid character worried about brain surgery, this story also incorporates a serious critique of environmental destruction, as well as swipes at corporations and their aggressive marketing campaigns." - Vjeran Pavlakovic, NCEEER Research Scholar in Zagreb.

Building democracy in societies that have known only authoritarian rule for half a century is complicated. Taking the post-Yugoslav region as its case study, this volume shows how success with democratisation depends on various factors, including establishing the rule of law, the consolidation of free media, and society's acceptance of ethnic, religious and sexual minorities. Surveying the seven successor states, the authors argue that Slovenia is in a class by itself as the most successful, with Croatia and Serbia not far behind. The other states - Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Kosovo - are all struggling with problems of corruption, poverty, and unemployment. The authors treat the issue of values as a policy problem in its own right, debating the extent to which values have been transformed by changes in education and the media, how churches and women's organisations have entered into the policy debate, and whether governments have embraced a programme designed to effect changes in values.