Since the early 1900s, the manager form of municipal government has had enthusiastic support. Today, it is one of the most popular forms of municipal government and brought greater efficiency and accountability to municipal operations. However, as Coppa makes clear, this wave of reform has not fully impacted the counties. The commission form, widely criticized for its lack of accountability, remains the most popular form of county government. Coppa suggests greater accountability and efficiency can be achieved if the commission form is replaced with the Union plan and existing county...

This comprehensive source book focuses on the Vatican from the Renaissance through the 1990s. Developments are studied within the broad context of European and world history. Crucial pre-Renaissance events are included as are entries on all of the popes, and the twenty-one councils from Nicea (325) to Vatican II (1962-1965). Alphabetically arranged, the entries provide valuable and often difficult-to-find information on the structure and organization of the church. While the emphasis remains on the interaction between the Vatican and Papal Institutions within the wider political,...

The outbreak of the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution at the turn of the nineteenth century transformed the world and ushered in the modern age, whose currents challenged the traditional political order and the prevailing religious establishment. The new secular framework presented a potential threat to the papal leadership of the Catholic community, which was profoundly affected by the rush towards modernization. In the nineteenth century the transnational church confronted a world order dominated by the national state, until the emergence of globalization towards the close...

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Focusing on modern Italian history from the Age of the Enlightenment to the present, this reference work augments and serves as a companion and bibliographical supplement to Coppa's earlier volume, "Dictionary of Modern Italian History" (Greenwood Press, 1985), which surveyed the chief events, figures, institutions, and developments from the 18th century to the present in short bibliographical entries. Select rather than comprehensive, this compact volume provides publication data and annotations ranging from two sentences to a short paragraph in length for each entry and includes only...

This title focuses on the "Risorgimento," the movement that led to the unification of Italy as a single kingdom. The Italian Wars of Independence were a sequence of three separate conflicts, taking place in 1848-49, 1859 and 1866. This volume examines the role of the major powers outside Italy in these conflicts, particularly France, Austria, Great Britain and Prussia, and in Italy the Italian states, the Catholic Church and the revolutionaries. It also examines the role of: Cavour's Piedmont, Mazzini's Young Italy and the Party of Action, Garibaldi's Red Shirts and Daniele Manin's...