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Wisconsin doesn't often provide political leadership at the national level, but when it does, it's like that old nursery rhyme about the little girl with the curl right in the middle of her forehead: When it's good it's very, very good, and when it's bad it's horrid. For more than a week, Americans have been following the protests in Madison. Most of the protestors oppose the proposals of their newly elected governor, Scott Walker, especially his effort to curtail the power of public employee unions. They share the view of New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who says that Walker and his backers are trying to "make Wisconsin—and eventually, America—less of a functioning democracy and more of a third-world-style oligarchy."

"Opium's Orphans is the first full history of drug prohibition and the 'war on drugs'. A no-holds-barred but balanced account, it shows that drug suppression was born of historical accident, not rational design. The war on drugs did not originate in Europe or the USA, and even less with President Nixon, but in China. Two Opium Wars, followed by Western attempts to atone for them, gave birth to an anti-narcotics order that has come to span the globe. But has the war on drugs succeeded? As opioid deaths and cartel violence run rampant, contestation becomes more vocal and marijuana is slated for legalization in many places, Opium's Orphans proposes that it is time to go back to the drawing board."--

Long ignored by scholars in the humanities, sound has just begun to take its place as an important object of study in the last few years. Since the late 19th century, there has been a paradigmatic shift in auditory cultures and practices in European societies. This change was brought about by modern phenomena such as urbanization, industrialization and mechanization, the rise of modern sciences, and of course the emergence of new sound recording and transmission media. This book contributes to our understanding of modern European history through the lens of sound by examining diverse subjects such as performed and recorded music, auditory technologies like the telephone and stethoscope, and the ambient noise of the city.

"The study of legal history has a broad application that extends well beyond the interests of legal historians. An attorney arguing a case today may need to cite cases that are decades or even centuries old, and historians studying political or cultural history often encounter legal issues that affect their main subjects. Both groups need to understand the laws and legal practices of past eras. This essential reference is intended for the many nonspecialists who need to enter this arcane and often tricky area of research"--Back cover

THE AUTHORS EXAMINE COURT USAGE IN SPAIN BETWEEN 1960 AND 1980. DURING THIS PERIOD SPAIN EXPERIENCED RAPID ECONOMIC GROWTH WITH ITS ATTENDANT SOCIAL CHANGE AND DRAMATIC POLITICAL TRANSITION FROM AUTHORITARIANISM TO DEMOCRACY. BOTH THE MOVEMENT TOWARD DEMOCRACY AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ARE FOUND TO BE POSITIVELY LINKED TO INCREASES IN LEGAL MOBILIZATION.

Pleines, Heiko: Russia in Political Country Ratings:International Comparisons of Democracy, Rule of Law, and Civil Rights. - S. 2-4 Walker, Christopher: Freedom House - The Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties. - S. 5-6 Donner, Sabine: Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI). - S. 6-7 Documentation. - S. 7-24

AbstractThis research examines the extent to which political similarities—that is, homophily between political actors at the local level—affect patterns of interorganizational collaboration in an emergency response situation. While the field of emergency management has focused on implementation‐oriented arrangements among key stakeholders, few studies have systemically investigated the creation and development of interorganizational collaborations led by political actors, especially following catastrophic events. The analysis reveals that a dyadic tie with political homophily boosts local responders' ties with other agencies during emergencies. Findings indicate that political solidarity, formulated by chief elected officials of municipalities and council members, can broaden the scope of interorganizational collaboration by mitigating institutional collective action problems at the local level. This research presents a critical recommendation for emergency managers that interlocal collaboration for timely response to a disaster is attributable to political similarities that facilitate frequent interlocal interactions through formal and/or informal agreements.

The use of quantitative data & multiple tests of hypotheses in political science causes chance to play a significant role in shaping the results. Here, recent statistical work on the likelihood of coincidences is reviewed, & findings are applied to common problems of data analysis in political science, eg, significance testing, model specification, & dummy variable analysis. Several ways that statistical results can appear to be meaningful when they are not are illustrated, & remedies that aid in the assessment of the true probability of the improbable in research results are suggested. 3 Tables, 42 References.

"The language of political debate and analysis has changed dramatically in recent years. Today, both academics and practitioners have largely abandoned the vocabulary of the left and replaced it with a set of concepts that structure debate and set the political agenda. Thus, the world economy is discussed in terms of globalization instead of international capitalism, analysis of the capitalist state has given way to the study of governance, and gender and ethnicity are treated as more significant dimensions of inequality than class. Moreover, the apparently benign concepts of civil society, citizenship and stakeholder have replaced those of class and class conflict, poverty is about social exclusion rather than exploitation, and consumer choice and worker empowerment have replaced the pursuit of class interests. In today's political climate, socialism is seen as old-fashioned or utopian. In contrast, capitalism is seen as realistic, and the 'third way' is presented as the solution to all our ills." "This book explores the real issues behind these catchphrases of modern politics, explaining what they mean, and offering a critique of the ideology of which they are a part. With chapters written by experts in each field, this is an excellent guide for students of politics, and anybody who is looking for a critical introduction to the key ideas, so often shrouded in rhetoric, that we hear about in the news. Chapters cover postmodernism, gender, citizenship, civil society, stakeholding, globalization, governance, the Third Way, ethnicity, social exclusion, empowerment and sustainable development."--Jacket

ObjectiveThe objective of this article is to address a chief criticism of public meetings in democratic society, a lack of minority representation. Further, it explores the issue of political efficacy and the extent to which it may differ between minority and nonminority citizens.MethodsThese issues are analyzed through logistic and multiple regression models applied to the results of a random‐sample telephone survey administered across the United States (N = 601).ResultsResults indicate that members of one minority group, African Americans, are more likely to attend public meetings than whites. Further, no statistically significant differences between whites and Hispanics or other‐race individuals were found. African Americans also reported higher levels of political efficacy than whites, while no statistically significant difference was found between whites and Hispanics or other‐race individuals for this measure.ConclusionThus, public meetings are not necessarily fraught with a lack of minority representation, nor do minorities necessarily suffer from lower levels of political efficacy than whites. Findings indicate a potential for minority representation in public meetings. Thus, rather than dismissing public meetings as legally required rituals, there is reason to improve the methods used to mobilize attendance and facilitate two‐way communication between citizens and government.