This book explores the social and political implications of what the authors identify as the decline of the social contract in America and the rise of a citizenry that has become self-centered, entitled, and independent. For nearly two decades, America has been in a “cultural war” over moral values and social issues, becoming a divided nation geographically, politically, socially, and morally. We are witnessing the decline of American Democracy, the authors argue, resulting from the erosio...

From Nixon to Clinton, Watergate to Whitewater, few Americans have observed the ups and downs of presidential leadership more closely over the past thirty years than David Gergen. A White House adviser to four presidents, both Republican and Democrat, he offers a vivid, behind-the-scenes account of their struggles to exercise power and draws from them key lessons for leaders of the future.Gergen begins Eyewitness to Power with his reminiscence of being the thirty-year-old c...

From the intellectual leader of the Republican party, an unvarnished look into the state of the conservative movement today and a clear plan for what needs to be done to save the American Idea.The Way Forward challenges conventional thinking, outlines his political vision for 2014 and beyond, and shows how essential conservatism is for the future of our nation.Beginning with a careful analysis of the 2012 election--including a look at the challenge t...

It Still Takes A Candidate serves as the only systematic, nationwide empirical account of the manner in which gender affects political ambition. Based on data from the Citizen Political Ambition Panel Study, a national survey conducted of almost 3,800 'potential candidates' in 2001 and a second survey of more than 2,000 of these same individuals in 2008, Jennifer L. Lawless and Richard L. Fox find that women, even in the highest tiers of professional accomplishment, are substantially less ...

How is legislation crafted? How do you lose an election? What do "bundler," "quorum call" and "omnibus" mean? Why do some of the White House's most important meetings occur at a Starbucks? Why are Washington insiders obsessed with something called Jumbo Slice? What, exactly, is a "skintern?" Eliot Nelson, one of Washington's funniest and most admired young journalists, knows how the sausage factory works and his new book, The Beltway Bible, is every citizen's must-have owner's man...

Her comments turned Charlie Rose red in the face. Bill Clinton called her 'hostile, combative, and even disrespectful.' Newt Gingrich said to her, 'You're the kind of reporter I warned my mother about.'Meet Amy Goodman, award-winning journalist and host of the daily hour-long talk show that is a beacon for passionate, critical, and hard-hitting news. On subjects ranging from the deceptions of the George H. W. Bush administration to the corruption of media monopolies and corporate in...

LIBERAL DEMOCRACY. This is the fourth in a series of texts on government and politics designed for students and the general reader (see author's other publications or a full list of titles). All the books interlink and cross-reference but are designed to stand alone. This fourth text continues the series with a detailed exploration of liberal democracy. A democracy of course is 'government of the people, by the people, for the people'. In a democracy 'the people' are sovereign. Majorities ...

Why compromise is essential for effective government and why it is missing in politics todayTo govern in a democracy, political leaders have to compromise. When they do not, the result is political paralysis—dramatically demonstrated by the gridlock in Congress in recent years. In The Spirit of Compromise, eminent political thinkers Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson show why compromise is so important, what stands in the way of achieving it, and how citizens ...

In a lot of ways, the past four years have been wasted by the B.C. government. In mid 2009, the B.C. Liberals, led by Premier Gordon Campbell and Finance Minister Colin Hansen, plunged into the HST quicksand and never emerged. The more they struggled, the deeper they sank, until the electorate spoke and killed the HST once and for all.The HST dominated every political and economic discussion in this province over the past four years. Yo-yo deficits, a new premier, a new opposition ...

This book is a comparison of the history and politics of two sister societies, comparing Canada with Australia, rather than, as is traditional, with the United Kingdom or the United States. It is representative of a particular interest in promoting more contact and exchange among Canadian and Australian scholars who were investigating various features of the two societies. Because some of them were individually involved in aspects of federalist studies, an examination of the early evolutio...

Most African economies range from moderately advanced capitalist systems with modern banks and stock markets to peasant and pastoral subsistent systems. Most African countries are also characterized by parallel institutions of governance – one is the state sanctioned (formal) system and the other is the traditional system, which is adhered to, primarily but not exclusively, by the segments of the population in the subsistence peasant and pastoral economic systems.Traditional In...

Why do governments tolerate the violation of their own laws and regulations? Conventional wisdom is that governments cannot enforce their laws. Forbearance as Redistribution challenges the standard interpretation by showing that politicians choose not to enforce laws to distribute resources and win elections. Alisha Holland demonstrates that this forbearance towards activities such as squatting and street vending is a powerful strategy for attracting the electoral support of poor voters. I...