Kategoria BISAC: Political Science >> Comparative Politics

Hazlehurst explores the political importance of ethnicity for a minority indigenous population, the Maori of New Zealand. Drawing on close ethnographical observation and extensive interviews with key participants, Kayleen Hazlehurst provides a comprehensive narrative and analysis of the creation of the Mana Motuhake party and its formative electoral experiences. Hazlehurst places the emergence of the party in the early 1980s in the context of historical patterns of resistance and cooperation with the European majority. Modern political networks, leadership styles, mobilization strategies,...

China has reduced the energy intensity of its economy dramatically. This book explores how this reduction was achieved and determines the major sources of energy savings. Using extensive data, the author examines the impacts of technological and structural changes on energy consumption and identifies the factors that were primarily responsible for the energy-efficiency improvements. It is an interesting work that will be useful for policy makers in assessing the energy consequences of development strategies and for economists in analyzing the relationship between energy use and economic...

In politics, individual political behavior is often ascribed to class and ethnic identity. How does this happen? In this text, Needler shows how the individual constructs his or her political identity, and develops ideologies that guide their political behavior. Intended as an alternative to traditional introductory texts in politics and political science, this book is, at the same time, a survey and introduction to political theory, a survey and introduction to comparative and American politics, and a review of contemporary international relations. These topics are combined in a novel and...

Brucan, a former Romanian ambassador to the United States and the United Nations, provides the first social history of the remarkable transition from communism to capitalism in Russia and Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He begins with an examination of the old social structure in communist societies, which used to be cosmetically advertised by the party and officialdom, paying particular attention to the "nomenklatura," who have miraculously transformed themselves into big businessmen and bankers. A chapter is devoted to the decline of the working class, whom Brucan...

With the end of white-dominated South Africa, many observers have argued for a positive transformation of the whole of Southern Africa based upon market integration and increased cooperation among the states of the region. Poku and the contributors to this collection re-examine this optimistic scenerio, and they point to the problems of translating good intentions into actual policies.

In reality, the economic imbalance between South Africa and its neighbors poses severe problems for the region. Far from finding a stronger ally in regional reconstruction and development, the countries...

From 1949 to today, China has experienced dramatic changes in its economy and urban development. This book examines these changes and looks at one city, Shenzhen, in detail. The performance and behavior of a fledgling property market in the transitional economy are analyzed in the backdrop of real estate commodification and marketization. Students and researchers in urban geography, urban planning, economics, business, and real estate will find this monograph lucid and original.

Two distinctive periods divide the last fifty years of development in China. The period 1949 to 1978 was...

The burgeoning sector of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Latin America--funded by Northern donors--is both catalyzing and responding to change, as states, market, and civil society realign in an age of information technology and globalization. The political economic perspective of this book clarifies the emerging role of Latin America's NGOs in the global community. After introducing the expanding role of NGOs in the international community at large, the book explores the history of NGOs in Latin America. It then uses case studies to examine the economics and politics of NGOs...

Feldman, Valenty, and their contributors present state-of-the-art evaluations of linkages between personality, motivation, decision making, leadership style, and behavior among political leaders across divergent cultures. Leading scholars in the field examine the application of theoretical approaches and research methods used to evaluate these important relationships. They effectively illustrate the concomitant role of cultural and political context, historical circumstance, environmental factors, and socialization agents affecting political leadership and...

The realities of Iranian life are far more harrowing than most people imagine from the outside. Ganji paints a portrait of duplicitous clerics arbitrarily arresting, torturing, mutilating, and executing citizens, all in the name of Islamic Justice. A system of apartheid has been instituted against women. While 60% of the population lives below the poverty line, the mullah regime has hoarded billions of dollars in accounts and properties in Europe, Canada, and Japan. Roughly 70% of the population is under 30 years of age and opposes the regime. In the year of 2001 alone, 220,000...

From its very inception Australia has been a derivative society: First as part of the British Empire and then, soon after World War II, what Mosler considers the American Empire and the new end-of-century Americanized global culture. This has meant that Australia has struggled to attain its own identity. Mosler explores that struggle for national independence, a struggle that seems to be doomed to failure.

According to Mosler, the reasons for this failure lie in Australia's propensity to remain a recreational culture; a culture more attuned to pleasure and dependence than regimented...

Using examples of democratic changes in former Communist states, Wejnert provides a dual-level conceptual framework that concentrates on objectification of the fundamental and unique roles of various mechanisms and components of transition. The first of these two levels is an integrative framework of the diverse social processes of transition. Here, the essays included examine the effects of global and domestic factors, and diffusion on the articulation of transition from communism. The second level is a similarly integrative framework of the interrelation of three distinct social entities...

Van der Westhuizen examines the remarkable similarity between the South African and Malaysian political economies, analyzes how Malay, Afrikaner, and African Nationalists have sought to make domestic demands for state intervention compatible with international pressures for economic liberalization, and shows what happens when they fail.

Globalization poses daunting challenges to state elites in the developing world. Caught between domestic expectations for state intervention to reduce inequalities on the one hand and global neo-liberal pressures for a liberalized economy on the other,...

Inder Singh examines why international organizations including the UN, OSCE, and Council of Europe advocated democratic governance, based on the rule of law and respect for human and minority rights, as the method by which states should try to accommodate their ethnically mixed populations. She discusses how realistic this advice has been, given the tension between the principle of the sovereignty of states and their international obligations, and the extent to which democratization had made for ethnic and political stability in post-communist Europe.

Inder Singh demonstrates that this...

Anatoly Kulik and Susanna Pshizova have compiled an engaging and comprehensive, cross-national study that explores the stormy political developments in the post-Soviet countries. They gathered essays regarding the formation of the various new democratic institutions of Russia, the Baltic States, the Slavic States, and Moldova. The contributors are all distinguished scholars indigenous to their areas of focus; consequently, they are able to provide a true insider's perspective of the political climates of their respective lands. Kulik and Pshizova have organized the studies into seven...

On September 30, 1965, six of Indonesia's highest ranking generals were killed in an effort by President Sukarno to crush an alleged coup. The events of that were part of a rapidly growing power struggle pro and anti-communist factions. The elimination of the generals, however, did little to increase and preserve Sukarno's power, though, and he was stripped of the presidency in 1967. Hunt's work is a unique and original examination of the events that culminated on that night in September, 1965. It is the first detailed account of the Indonesian Coup that reveals the previously unknown...

Xenakis examines the responses of Soviet experts in American academia--primarily political scientists, but also economists and defense scholars who specialized in the USSR--to the unfolding evidence of Soviet reform during the 1970s and 1980s and to its ultimate collapse. He concludes that American Sovietologists and other political scientists were more responsive to the Cold War consensus--to the needs of the State Department, Defense, and CIA policy makers and to the official Washington line of the moment--than to the changing face of the Soviet Union.

As Xenakis makes clear, many of...

On July 1, 1997, China took control over Hong Kong, where Britain had begun a process of introducing democracy. Beatty examines the process of democratization in Hong Kong, with the argument that democratic development will continue, despite being under Chinese rule. Through a series of 128 interviews with 89 Hong Kong elites from 1997-2002, including legislators and party leaders as well as participant and direct observation of 15 campaigns for the Legislative Council in 1998, Beatty analyzed political leaders beliefs and commitment towards democratic development and institutions and put...

Militant Islamic fundamentalists blame the ills of their societies on the West, calling for the overthrow of local governments and the resumption of Jihad against the Infidels. Ambassador Hoveyda explores the historical and contemporary causes of the current wave of militant Islamic fundamentalism. If Western colonization and economic domination of the 19th and 20th centuries are to be blamed for the predicament of Muslim countries, Hoveyda asserts that Muslims also bear a great responsibility for their situation.

This book shows how the triumph of fundamentalist interpretations of the...

In an increasingly complex post-Cold War world system, scholars interested in conflict and conflict resolution must consider a wider collection of variables in drawing conclusions about important security issues. This compendium features 13 original essays that explore the importance of culture and identity with respect to civil-military relations, national security, and nation building. Contributors reflect upon both theoretical and substantive issues and draw from case studies representing different regions of the world.

The work begins with two articles offering theoretical and...

During the years between 1980 and 1999, in the midst of war and economic crisis, a record number of women were elected to national legislatures in Central American republics. Can quantitative increases in the presence of elected women in Central America produce qualitative political changes?

In this detailed study, Michelle A. Saint-Germain and Cynthia Chavez Metoyer explore the reasons for this unprecedented political rise of women, and what effect it has had on the region. Focusing on Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, the authors analyze national and...