Suchergebnisse

Back in print for the first time in 30 years, this volume provides a brilliant and accessible summation of the ideas of left Marxist giant C.L.R. James. Originally delivered in 1960 as a series of lectures in his native Trinidad (Modern politics : being a series of lectures on the subject given at the Trinidad Public Library, in its adult education programme). James's wide-ranging erudition and enduring relevance are powerfully displayed. From his analysis of revolutionary history and the role of literature, art, and culture in society to an interrogation of the ideas and philosophy of such thinkers as Rousseau, Lenin, and Trotsky, this is a magnificent tour de force from a critically engaged thinker at the height of his powers. Still relevant to politics today and an essential introduction to an important body of work, the ideas of C.L.R. James remain as necessary and illuminating for this century as they have for the last

IN THE 192O'S AMERICAN ELITES KNEW HOW TO ENFORCE THE TWO-PARTY SYSTEM. IT WAS CONSIDERED SUCH "BAD BUSINESS" TO VOTE FOR A THIRD PARTY THAT LITERALLY NO ONE OF THE BUSINESS GROUP CONFESSED TO DOING SO. THE TWO-PARTY LOCK ON POWER AND LEGITIMATE POLITICAL DISCOURSE WAS SECURE UNTIL ROSS PEROT'S REMARKABLE CAMPAIGN IN 1996. PEROT HASMADE A PROFOUND DIFFERENCE, IN 1996 FOUR MEN OF NATIONAL PROMINENCE ARE CONSIDERING INDEPENDENT CAMPAIGNS FOR PRESIDENT. YET, THE AUTHOR EXPLAINS, AS OFTEN HAPPENS IN AMERICAN POLITICS, THIS OSTENSIBLE BREAK WITH TRADITION IS BEING OVER-SOLD. JOURNALISTS ROUTINELY GLOSS OVER THE DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN A THIRD PARTY AND ONE OR MORE SERIOUS INDEPENDENT CANDIATES FOR PRESIDENT. DISPITE THEIR RISING PROMINENCE IN THE ELECTORAL PROCESS, THE AUTHOR LOOKS AT MANY EXPLAINATIONS FOR THIRD-PARTY FUTILITY.

Cover -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Contributors -- INTRODUCTION -- 1 Fiscal Politics -- PART I: ELECTIONS, IDEOLOGY, AND POLITICAL FRAGMENTATION -- 2 Governments and Promised Fiscal Consolidations: Do They Mean What They Say? -- 3 Fiscal Policy over the Election Cycle in Low-Income Countries -- 4 Economic and Political Determinants of Tax Policies in OECD Countries -- 5 Now or Later? The Political Economy of Public Investment in Democracies -- 6 Do Elections Affect the Wage Bill? -- 7 Energy Subsidies and Public Social Spending: Theory and Evidence -- 8 It's Politics, Stupid! Political Constraints Determine Governments' Reactions to the Great Recession -- 9 Fragmented Politics and Public Debt -- PART II: INSTITUTIONS, RULES, AND FISCAL COUNCILS -- 10 Political Institutions, State Building, and Tax Capacity: Crossing the Tipping Point -- 11 Fiscal Discipline and Exchange Rates: Does Politics Matter? -- 12 Expenditure Rules: Effective Tools for Sound Fiscal Policy? -- 13 Fiscal Rules to Tame the Political Budget Cycle: Evidence from Italian Municipalities -- 14 On the Determinants of Fiscal Noncompliance: An Empirical Analysis of Spanish Regions -- 15 Budget Institutions in Low-Income Countries -- 16 Fiscal Watchdogs and Sound Fiscal Policy: Is the Barking Loud Enough to Tame Politicians? -- PART III: SUPRANATIONAL FISCAL POLITICS -- 17 The Making of a Continental Financial System: Lessons for Europe from Early American History -- 18 Fiscal Politics in the Euro Area -- 19 IMF Conditionality and Revenue Performance -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y.

AbstractStrikingly innovative developments in brain science during the past two decades, reflecting advances in a dozen different biological disciplines (such as biochemistry, biophysics, endocrinology, neuropsychology, genetics, and human development) have created a new psychobiology that thus far appears to have had only slight impact upon mainstream political science theory and research. This field analysis examines the implications of psychobiology for the study and practice of politics, from the perspective of the founding father of political behaviouralism. The article discusses the psychobiology of mind in terms of human consciousness and memory and then examines the epigenetic and recursive relationships between brain structure and political perception; between brain lateralization and dynamics, and political thinking and decision-making; and between brain development and political equality, with particular regard to sex, age, health, race, and intelligence.

We tend to think of ourselves as living in a time when nations, for the most part, obey the rule of law - and where they certainly don't engage in the violent grabs for territory that have characterised so much of human history. But as Rob de Wijk shows in this book, power politics very much remains a force on the international scene. Offering analyses of such actions as Putin's annexation of the Crimea and China's attempts to claim large parts of the South China Sea, de Wijk explains why power politics never truly went away-and why, as the West's position weakens, it's likely to play a bigger and bigger role on the global stage in the coming years.