Kategoria BISAC: Political Science >> Comparative Politics

In the wake of 9/11, and with ongoing wars and tensions in the Middle East, questioning contemporary connections between and among religion, identity, and global governance is an exercise that is both important and timely. This volume, edited by Patrick James, addresses essential themes in international relations today, asking how we can establish when religious identity is a relevant factor in explaining or understanding politics, when and how religion can be applied to advance positive, peace-oriented agendas in global governance, and how governments can reconsider their foreign and...

This book considers the ways in which religious beliefs and practices have contributed to the formation of Chinese legal culture. It does so by describing two forms of overlap between religion and the law: the ideology of justice and the performance of judicial rituals.

One of the most important conceptual underpinnings of the Chinese ideology of justice is the belief in the inevitability of retribution. Similar values permeate Chinese religious traditions, all of which contend that justice will prevail despite corruption and incompetence among judicial officials in this...

Despite a late and fitful start, democracy in Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe has recently shown promising growth. Kathleen M. Fallon discusses the role of women and women's advocacy groups in furthering the democratic transformation of formerly autocratic states.

Using Ghana as a case study, Fallon examines the specific processes women are using to bring about political change. She assesses information gathered from interviews and surveys conducted in Ghana and assays the existing literature to provide a focused look at how women have become involved in the democratization...

What is and what makes a nation? What forces work for and against the emergence of new nations? What does the emergence of a nation mean to its people, and what does it mean to international stability? Nation Building in Comparative Contexts answers these questions. Nine leading area specialists compare and analyze the long history of nationalism in Europe, with its shorter histories in the Americas, Asia, and Africa. The result is an outstanding contribution to understanding the problems confronting today's emerging nations, one that remains of importance to the field.

The essays in...

The representative assembly, or parliament, as it is most widely called, is at once an old, a ubiquitous, and a controversial political institution. In this century it has attracted the criticism of both disillusioned democrats and true believers in the superior representatives of mass movements or of charismatic leaders. Even among its supporters the institution is constantly the object of reform. This book deals with parliament (the generic term for what also may be known as legislature, congress, assembly, diet, or knesset), what it has been and is, what it does and should do, and what...

Valerie O'Regan examines the relationship between female policymakers and policy outputs. Her primary concern is whether female policymakers are associated with the advancement of women's issues in the policy realm. Although this question is important in the study of representation theory, there has been surprisingly little research on the topic, and it has tended to provide limited, often contradictory results.

O'Regan's research design and analysis utilizes time-series, cross-sectional procedures to examine the effects of the independent variables on the dependent variables...

This first comprehensive guide to English-language criminal justice materials on Israel covers over 820 sources written between 1948 and 1993. The books, book chapters, articles, and annual and other professional reports have been written by both Israeli and non-Israeli authors. The topic was defined broadly to serve students, teachers, researchers, and professionals in different disciplines and to review the important literature on a score of topics, such as addiction, corrections and probation, correctional treatment, crime and society, homicide, juvenile delinquency, organized crime,...