In this vehement defence of democracy, Jacques Ranci�re explodes the complacency of Western politicians who pride themselves as the defenders of political freedom. As America and its allies use their military might in the misguided attempt to export a desiccated version democracy, and reactionary strands in mainstream political opinion abandon civil liberties, Ranci�re argues that true democracy-government by all-is held in profound contempt by the new ruling class. In a compelling and tim...

Polemics is a series of brilliant metapolitical reflections, demolishing established opinion and dominant propaganda, and reorienting our understanding of events from the Kosovo and Iraq wars to the Paris Commune and the Cultural Revolution. At once witty and profound, Badiou presents a series of radical philosophical engagements with politics, and questions what constitutes political truth.

Powerful and enlightening. How to Overthrow the Government is an impassioned call to arms from one of America's sharpest and most independent commentators. In its pages Huffington breaks away from the party-line platitudes of Republicans and Democrats alike while challenging Amerians to rise up and take back their government. From the power of special interests to the ravages of the war on drugs, Huffington offers radical yet viable strategies for reclaiming our nation from the corporate a...

Erica Grieder's Texas is a state that is not only an outlier but an exaggeration of some of America's most striking virtues and flaws. Big, Hot, Cheap, and Right is a witty, enlightening inquiry into how Texas works, and why, in the future, the rest of America may look a lot like Texas.

Democratic equality entails a principle that everyone whose basic interests are affected by policies should be included in the process of making them. Yet individuals and groups often claim that decision making processes are dominated by only some of the interests and perspectives in the society. What are the ideals of inclusion through which such criticisms should be made, and which might guide more inclusive political practice? This book considers that question from the point of view of ...

The question of why some countries have democratic regimes and others do not is a significant issue in comparative politics. This book looks at India and Pakistan, two countries with clearly contrasting political regime histories, and presents an argument on why India is a democracy and Pakistan is not. Focusing on the specificities and the nuances of each state system, the author examines in detail the balance of authority and power between popular or elected politicians and the state app...

Bolivia decentralized in an effort to deepen democracy, improve public services, and make government more accountable. Unlike many countries, Bolivia succeeded. Over the past generation, public investment shifted dramatically toward primary services and resource distribution became far more equitable, partly due to the creation of new local governments. Many municipalities responded to decentralization with transparent, accountable government, yet others suffered ineptitude, corruption, or...

On March 18, 2014, Taiwanese students known as the "Sunflower Movement" peacefully occupied their nation's legislature. Three weeks later, after their peaceful demonstration raised national and global awareness of the dangers of secret negotiations with China, they withdrew.This inside story tells the last 21 hours of the non-violent occupancy and includes background, politics, peace, and love.

The problems of the 21st century are of unprecedented scale. Climate change, financial instability, the housing crisis, the need for health care: all of these are political issues that could be managed with ease on a much smaller scale. But with an enormous global population, that kind of change is no longer an option. As a result, some of the large bodies we once appointed to manage macroscopic problems--such as the government--have begun to fail us. Never was this more clear than during ...

The direction of change in the United States over the past 40-50 years has been decidedly in favor of wealthy individuals and corporate special-interest groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. These groups have influenced government to lower the cost of labor, to cut their contributions to our country, and to establish monopoly-like conditions for certain industries. For all practical purposes, the government of the United States no longer acts in the interests of the people of our co...

This condensed version of Lawrence Goodwyn's Democratic Promise, the highly-acclaimed study on American Populism which the Civil Liberties Review called "a brilliant, comprehensive study," offers new political language designed to provide a fresh means of assessing both democracy and authoritarianism today.

Peter Stephen Du Ponceau or DuPonceau, born Pierre-Étienne Du Ponceau, (June 3, 1760 - April 1, 1844) was a French philosopher and jurist who spent most of his life in the United States and was an avid student of the U.S. Constitution and the government. He also became well known in the field of linguistics for analyzing the indigenous languages of the Native Americans, building a collection of texts detailing the native languages of the Americas. In A Brief View of the Constitution, Du Po...