Kategoria BISAC: Political Science >> American Government - State

The concentration of power in the caudillo (leader) is as much a formative element of Mexican culture and politics as the historical legacy of the Aztec emperors, Cortez, the Spanish Crown, the Mother Church and the mixing of the Spanish and Indian population into a mestizo culture. Krauze shows how history becomes biography during the century of caudillos from the insurgent priests in 1810 to Porfirio and the Revolution in 1910. The Revolutionary era, ending in 1940, was dominated by the lives of seven presidents -- Madero, Zapata, Villa, Carranza, Obregon, Calles and Cardenas. Since...

Hightower is mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore He's also funny as hell, and in this book he focuses his sharp Texas wit, populist passion, and native smarts on America's political, economic, scientific, and media establishments. In There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos, Hightower shows not only what's wrong, but also how to fix it, offering...

Covering all of Clinton's twenty-one elections to state and national offices, Hanes Walton Jr. explores one of the political success stories of our century, showing...

This book examines the techniques these organizations use to achieve their goals. Through the stories of ten organizations working in economically and racially diverse urban neighborhoods (in Chicago and...

The American Mayor offers a unique ranking of the nation's big-city mayors by expert scholars. Although the mayoralty is one of the most important political executive offices, it has escaped the kind of evaluations by which scholars have ranked American presidents. Now, thanks to Melvin Holli, we have a comparable survey of the "best" and "worst" mayors, covering some 730 mayors from the big-fifteen cities, from the beginning of the modern office in 1820 to the 1990s. The poll of historians, biographers, and social scientists produced a remarkably strong consensus.

Who were...

Acclaimed as the standard history of the Keystone State, this book has been updated to cover the 1978 gubernatorial election as well as other developments--political, economic, social, and cultural--during the six years since publication of the original edition. Dozens of new illustrations have been added throughout the book, and both the text and the chapter-end bibliographies take account of significant recent scholarship.

Social responsibility theory calls on the American press to serve as watchdog over powerful government and to provide a forum for robust democratic debate. Based on five current case studies, "The Publisher-Public Official" explores the extent to which politicians who simultaneously serve as newspaper editors or publishers fulfill this ethical duty. The book features interviews with the editors/publishers and with a sample of their readers, and provides results of a survey of readers who were asked whether it is possible to wear two hats and do both jobs effectively and responsibly....

Community visioning and strategic planning programs have become increasingly important in recent years as local governments in rural areas have searched for innovative ways to revitalize their local economies or manage population growth. A panel of experts describes local government programs in ten states. They also evaluate the effectiveness in reaching the vision and objective set forth in these programs. The authors examine the main components of each program and offer insights into factors contributing to its success. Major attention is paid to the need for social capital,...

In this groundbreaking study, Zimmerman explores the town meeting form of government in all New England states. This comprehensive work relies heavily upon surveys of town officers and citizens, interviews, and mastery of the scattered writing on the subject. Zimmerman finds that the stereotypes of the New England open town meeting advanced by its critics are a serious distortion of reality. He shows that voter superintendence of town affairs has proven to be effective, and there is no empirical evidence that thousands of small towns and cities with elected councils are governed better....

How might the entire citizenry of a country make the decisions that affect them? Carson and Martin provide the first accessible and comprehensive overview of random selection as a possible process for transforming our modern political systems. Building on the theoretical work of the likes of John Burnheim and Fred Emery and drawing on their own work with social action groups, they outline a set of methods that go beyond the mere tapping of community opinion to reveal not only preferences but a more active role in creating the community.

Random selection, as Carson and Martin show, has...

"Solving Problems Without Large Government" circumvents sterile discussions of federalism and privatization by discussing the potential role of sub-local government-assisted entities in providing effective and fair access to services. Some readers will be astonished at the numerous examples of vital social functions which have already been handled at this level, in a variety of societies throughout history. The proper use of small institutions, Liebmann argues, can actually serve to foster greater economic equity and political power.