This comparative volume examines the ways in which current controversies and political, legal, and social struggles for gender equality raise conceptual questions and challenge our thinking on political theories of equality, citizenship and human rights.

Bringing together scholars and activists who reflect upon challenges to gender equality, citizenship, and human rights in their respective societies; it combines theoretical insights with empirically grounded studies. The volume contextualises feminist political theory in China and the Nordic countries and subsequently puts it into...

This book examines the role of civil society organizations in several advanced European democracies: Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Specifically the book focuses on how voluntary organizations contribute to civic and democratic health and assesses the impact of different organizational types on social capital.

Building on Citizenship and Involvement in European Democracies and Social Capital and Associations in Europe (2007), this volume seeks to widen and deepen the analysis by introducing new data on activists and combining...

This book explores the problems associated with regulating the funding of political parties and election campaigns in a timely assessment of a topic of great political controversy.

From interest in Obama's capacity to raise vast sums of money, to scandals that have rocked UK and Australian governments, party funding is a global issue, reflected in this text with case studies from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and the United States. Taking an interdisciplinary approach with leading scholars from politics, geography and law, this text addresses key themes:...

For the first time since 1601, a number of leading common law nations have almost simultaneously chosen to revise and place on the statute books the law relating to charity. The Politics of Charity examines the reasons for this and for the varying legislative outcomes.

This book examines the legal framework and political significance of charity, as developed within England & Wales, contrasts this with the experiences of other common law nations and explores the resulting implications for government/sector relationships in those countries. It suggests that charity...

Presents a comparative assessment of social pacts between governments, labor unions and employer organizations in Western Europe. This title argues that governments' choice of social pacts or legislation is less influenced by economic problems, but is strongly influenced by electoral competition.

Famine is the most extreme manifestation of the existence of poverty, inequality and political apathy. Whereas poverty, hunger and diseases are not easily eradicated in the world today, famines are often perceived to be relatively simple to avert. However, the political incentives to prevent famines are not always present.

Inspired by the work of Amartya Sen, whose influential hypothesis that democratic institutions together with a free press provide effective protection from famine, Democracy and Famine is a study combining qualitative and quantitative evidence, analysing...

Women in Executive Power studies the participation of women in the political executive around the world-notably in cabinet positions as ministers and sub-ministers and as heads of government and state.

Providing multiple case studies in each chapter, the book provides regional overviews of nine different world regions covering those with the fewest to the most women in executive power. Evaluating the role of socio-cultural, economic and political variables of women's access to cabinet positions and positions of head of state and government, the book shows that women are...

Leading the debate on the domestic effect of the growing influence of international adjudication, this invaluable text examines Serbia and Croatia's erratic record of compliance with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Since the demise of the Milosevic and Tudjman regimes, Serbian and Croatian governments have been inconsistent in cooperating with the ICTY, despite the conditions of EU membership and US financial incentives. This study reconstructs events before, during and after extradition to build up a picture of the complex politics involved in...

'Metropolitan Governance and Policy' explores how partnerships between local governments are established or maintained. It will be of interest to students and scholars of urban politics and governance, and comparative politics.

'Inclusion and Exclusion in the Liberal Competition State' aims to understand and explain the transformation of the old welfare state into the new competition state taking place in the context of the globalized economy.