Kategoria BISAC: Political Science >> American Government - State

Tales of Two Cities explores the impact of disparate political institutions and leaders on the lives of women citizens in London, England, and Toronto, Ontario. Sylvia Bashevkin examines three dimensions of urban citizenship before and after the creation of the Greater London Authority, and before and after the forced amalgamation of local boroughs in Toronto. Although citizen engagement is relatively robust during periods of institutional decentralization and progressive urban leadership, it has generally been weaker when senior governments centralized power and conservative mayors...

Globalization has challenged taken-for-granted relationships of rule at all levels. This unsettling of legitimacy raises some serious questions. Under what conditions do individuals and communities accept globalized decision making as legitimate? And what political practices do individuals and collectivities under globalization use to exercise autonomy?

To answer these questions, the contributors to Unsettled Legitimacy explore the disruptions and reconfigurations of political authority that accompany globalization. Arguing that we live in an era in which political legitimacy...

We tend to think of institutions in terms of structure, most commonly as committees, staffs, and information systems, says Loomis. Less obvious, but no less significant, he contends, are the ways in which time is structured-electoral deadlines, budget cycles, and legislative...

"A Texas governor has only two happy days: the day he is inaugurated and the day he retires."

So spoke Joseph D. Sayers at the beginning of the twentieth century. Now, in an analysis of the Texas governorship by Fred Gantt, Jr., the reader learns why Governor Sayers' remark remains true many years after it was uttered: the office has come to be so demanding that the reader may ask why anyone would want it. Price Daniel described a typical day: "The governor's job is a night-and-day job; I usually get up in the morning about seven and start answering the telephone, and then look over...

Social upheaval, political gridlock, and controversies over taxes, the environment, and an unpopular war: the state of Minnesota in 1968 was a lot like the state of America today. Tom Berg, a lawmaker in Minnesota during the 1970s, was a witness--and a party--to the deal cutting, arm-twisting, and just plain hard work that led to historic political shifts. His account of the making of legislative history at the state level and relationships with federal and local governments has much to tell us about where we stand as a nation and how change happens.

A firsthand look into the...

Human rights based budget analysis projects have emerged at a time when the United Nations has asserted the indivisibility of all human rights and attention is increasingly focused on the role of non-judicial bodies in promoting and protecting human rights. This book seeks to develop the human rights framework for such budget analyses, by exploring the international law obligations of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in relation to budgetary processes. The book outlines international experiences and comparative practice in relation to economic and...

So the good people of Texas weren't able to get the Kinkster into the Governor's Mansion in 2006. It was a solid race, and he fought the good fight. Getting on the ballot as an independent -- a feat that had not been achieved in over a century -- was a victory in itself. And with ideas like "slots for tots" (legalized gambling to pay for education), the five Mexican generals plan (bribes to enforce border protection), and a firm stand against the "wussification" of the state, he would have done a helluva job.

If that 2006 election was...