This text discusses the central role of bureaucratic representation as a key vehicle for representing the general interests of most citizens in a way that is consistently superior to electoral systems in representative democracies, particularly large states. Though formal elections remain indispensable, bureaucracies in the capital, public and social sectors, have used their superior expertise and continuity, combined with social policies like affirmative action and equal pay, to achieve responsible discretion and creative implementation.

Social capital may foster the integration of a society and the stability of a democracy.This volume examines the differences in levels, causes and consequences of social capital between 22 European countries surveyed in the 2002 European Social Survey. Muliti-level analyses are used in each contribution

The book analyzes the dynamics of factionalism among the political elite in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the approaches of the different political factions to economic, socio-cultural, and foreign policy issues from the Islamic Revolution in 1979 until 2008.

This book deals with transnationalism and captures its singularity as a generalized phenomenon. The profusion of transnational communities is a factor of fluidity in social orders and represents confrontations between contingencies and basic socio-cultural drives. It has created a new era different from the past at essential respects.

Securitization and Democratization reveals the mutual dependency between democratization and securitization, two processes that while evolving reinforce each other. The study of the democratic consolidation is complemented by the more complex and dynamic securitization elements that offer an in-depth view of the internal threats to be faced. Ms. Stefan's analysis creates an articulated and coherent concept underlying the close dependence between democracy and security. As a study case, Romania provides a wide scale of situations in several security sectors and contributes to building a...

Since the conclusion of the 1985 trade and cooperation agreement between the European Community and China, a new political dynamic has been set in motion between two emerging entities: industrializing China and integrating Europe. It is reflected in, among others, European Commission policy strategy papers and, probably more importantly, in numerous sectoral dialogues and agreements. Europe has become China's largest export destination. For the E.U., China has become its second largest trading partner and its most important source of imports. The book edited by Mehdi Parvizi Amineh and Yang...

This book grapples with questions at the core of philosophy and social theory - Who am I? Who are we? How are we to live? That is, questions of what humans are capable of, the 'nature' of our relationships to each other and to the world around us, and how we should live. They appear to be both prohibitive and seductive - that they are ultimately irresolvable makes it tempting to leave them alone, yet we cannot do that either. This interdisciplinary investigation proceeds primarily as a dialogue with Cornelius Castoriadis and Charles Taylor.

To date, the nascent consequential notion of 'multiple modernities' has been predominately grounded in historical research with the purpose of validating the theory. Yet, the notion of multiple modernities represents a radical transformation in the way modernity and, indeed, the contemporary world is viewed. As such, the central aim of this volume is to explore the implications and hidden understanding of the multiple modernities research project beyond historical analysis in order to investigate its wide ranging omnipresent implications as they exist in communication and in the social order...

With one quarter of proven oil reserves and the largest oil production in the world, Saudi Arabia has been at the center of world politics. Its vast oil resources have been utilized in various ways to maximize internal and external security. While oil revenue allowed the Saudi state to buy off legitimacy at home and abroad, the Saudi state exploited oil supply to either forge alliances with or pressure consuming and producing countries. By providing an insightful account of how oil resources shaped Saudi security policies since the mid-twentieth century, Islam Y. Qasem offers a timely...

This book is about new forms of religiosity and religious activity emerging in the context of their dialectic relations with contemporary multicultural realities. World religions are effectively a major agent of the multiculturalization of contemporary societies. However, multiculturalism pushes them not only toward change and reforms, but also toward new conflicts between and within them. This process should remind us of the Jewish legend of the Golem - an animated being created by man which finally challenges the latter's control over it - a dialectic relation, indeed. World religions today...