Kategoria BISAC: Political Science >> Comparative Politics

The world's richer democracies all provide such public benefits as pensions and health care, but why are some far more generous than others? And why, in the face of globalization and fiscal pressures, has the welfare state not been replaced by another model? Reconsidering the myriad issues raised by such pressing questions, Clem Brooks and Jeff Manza contend here that public opinion has been an important, yet neglected, factor in shaping welfare states in recent decades.
Analyzing data on sixteen countries, Brooks and Manza find that the preferences of citizens profoundly influence...

In Eritrea, state, traditional, and religious laws equally prevail, but any of these legal systems may be put into play depending upon the individual or individuals involved in a legal dispute. Because of conflicting laws, it has been difficult for Eritreans to come to a consensus on what constitutes their legal system. In Blood, Land, and Sex, Lyda Favali and Roy Pateman examine the roles of the state, ethnic groups, religious groups, and the international community in several key areas of Eritrean law-blood feud or murder, land tenure, gender relations (marriage, prostitution, rape), and...

Readings in African Politics provides an overview of key topics and themes that collectively contribute to an understanding of politics in Africa. The selections included here come from a wide range of Western and non-Western sources and together represent core knowledge in the field of African politics. Topic areas covered are methods for appraising the modern African state, approaches to understanding African states and their politics, dimensions of regional conflict, conflict between traditional and modern values, the politics of new social forces, and the meaning of contemporary...

This book is a brilliant commentary on the political culture of the BaKongo of Lower Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). MacGaffey analyzes texts written by young Kongo men between 1914 -1916 to explicate KiKongo culture and to question long-cherished anthropological assumptions.

"In Looking Forward," Marifeli Perez-Stable and her colleagues imagine Cuba's future after the poof moment Jorge I. Dominguez's vivid phrase when the current regime will no longer exist. Written in an accessible style that will appeal to all interested readers, this volume does not try to predict how and when the Castro regime will end, but instead considers the possible consequences of change. Each chapter prepared by an expert in the field takes up a basic issue: politics, the military, the legal system, civil society, gender, race, economic transition strategies, social policy and...

Popkin analyzes the role of international actors, notably the United States and the United Nations, and the contributions and limitations of international assistance in efforts to establish accountability and reform the justice system in El Salvador. The author discusses the essential role of civil society in attempts to establish accountability and an effective justice system for all, and looks at the reasons for and the consequences of the limited role played by Salvadorean civil society. She also addresses the challenges facing democratic reform efforts in the context of a postwar crime...