Origins, Foundations, Sustainability and Trip Lines of Good Governance: Archaeological and Historical Considerations

Origins, Foundations, Sustainability and Trip Lines of Good Governance: Archaeological and Historical Considerations

Author: Gary M. Feinman

Publisher: Frontiers Media SA

Published: 2022-10-05

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 2832501737

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Until recently, scholarly consensus across the social sciences and history adhered to the view that the incorporation of citizen voice in governance (e.g., democracy) was an entirely Western phenomenon that mostly is a product of the emergence of rational thought and the modern world. These views are now empirically questioned and subject to serious reconsideration. Yet, even researchers who recognize a broader temporal span for democratic or “good” governance draw fundamental distinctions between these political forms in the past and present. Building on the collective action theories, in particular those focused on fiscal financing, the editors of this Research Topic outline fundamental characteristics (internal financing, equitable taxation, checks on power, and a functioning bureaucracy) at the core of good governance, which are neither the sole project of the contemporary West, nor tied to any specific ideological construct or form of leadership. Even elections can no longer be conceived as assurance of good governance. At this time of global challenges to democracy, understanding the comparative history of good governments, their core institutions, how they worked, their foundations, what led to their downfalls, and the factors that prompted their sustenance or their collapses are extremely important to document. The historical trends and coactive processes that underpinned those human cooperative arrangements, which fostered growth and general well-being, require comparative focus if we are to draw on the wealth of human history to help craft better governance in the future and forestall the tripwires that lead to its failures. We welcome contributions which focus on; • Diachronic examinations of changes in the fiscal foundations of governance and their impacts on governance. • Comparative analysis of governmental variability and its relationship to collective action and its fiscal financing. • Cross-temporal studies of shifts in the degree of good governance and relations to inequality, sustainability, bureaucracy, public goods and services, and fiscal financing. • The importance of social compacts and contracts in representative government and how these are sustained and break down. • Alternatives and supplements to elections as means of assessing subaltern voices. • The relationship between governance and inequality over time and across space. • Differences in modes of political collapse and their relationship to governance, fiscal financing, and responses of principals. • The role of public ritual in good versus autocratic governments. • Variance in communication and computation in good versus autocratic governments. • The relationship between comparative governance and the uses and spatial distributions of community/urban space, residential and non-residential architecture, sprawl versus compact settlement. • The relationship between comparative governance and neighborhood organization. • Was there one or many episodes of enlightenment? • The relationship between governance and coactive processes including considerations of demographic growth, patterns of migration, well-being, economic growth. • The relationship between slave labor and governance, spot resources and governance. • Non-hierarchical and egalitarian forms of governance in non-state societies. • Indigenous inspirations and influences on the Constitution of the United States. • Collective action and establishment of early cities. Our aim for this Research Topic is to compile a series of research essays drawn from a broad cross-regional and cross-temporal sample of historical settings to explore issues and themes relevant to the history and processes that have been at the heart of good governance.


Obsidian Across the Americas

Obsidian Across the Americas

Author: Gary M. Feinman

Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd

Published: 2022-12-08

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 1803273615

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume draws attention to recent obsidian studies in the Americas and acts as a reference for archaeologists and scholars interested in material culture and exchange. Moreover, it provides a wide range of case studies in obsidian characterization, material application, and theoretical interpretations in the Americas.


Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1970-06

Total Pages: 116

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is the premier public resource on scientific and technological developments that impact global security. Founded by Manhattan Project Scientists, the Bulletin's iconic "Doomsday Clock" stimulates solutions for a safer world.


Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1973-10

Total Pages: 64

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is the premier public resource on scientific and technological developments that impact global security. Founded by Manhattan Project Scientists, the Bulletin's iconic "Doomsday Clock" stimulates solutions for a safer world.


The Historical Archaeology of Virginia from Initial Settlement to the Present

The Historical Archaeology of Virginia from Initial Settlement to the Present

Author: Clarence R. Geier

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2017-02-10

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 9781541023482

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The book includes six chapters that cover Virginia history from initial settlement through the 20th century plus one that deals with the important role of underwater archaeology. Written by prominent archaeologists with research experience in their respective topic areas, the chapters consider important issues of Virginia history and consider how the discipline of historic archaeology has addressed them and needs to address them . Changes in research strategy over time are discussed , and recommendations are made concerning the need to recognize the diverse and often differing roles and impacts that characterized the different regions of Virginia over the course of its historic past. Significant issues in Virginia history needing greater study are identified.


Power from Below in Premodern Societies

Power from Below in Premodern Societies

Author: T. L. Thurston

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-10-21

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1316515397

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume challenges traditional narratives on power, moving away from elite-centered models and focusing instead on the archaeology of commoners.


Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication

Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication

Author: National Aeronautics Administration

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2014-09-06

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 9781501081729

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Addressing a field that has been dominated by astronomers, physicists, engineers, and computer scientists, the contributors to this collection raise questions that may have been overlooked by physical scientists about the ease of establishing meaningful communication with an extraterrestrial intelligence. These scholars are grappling with some of the enormous challenges that will face humanity if an information-rich signal emanating from another world is detected. By drawing on issues at the core of contemporary archaeology and anthropology, we can be much better prepared for contact with an extraterrestrial civilization, should that day ever come.


Violence and Social Orders

Violence and Social Orders

Author: Douglass Cecil North

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-02-26

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 0521761735

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book integrates the problem of violence into a larger framework, showing how economic and political behavior are closely linked.


Sustainability in Tourism

Sustainability in Tourism

Author: Ian Jenkins

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-06-03

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 3834970433

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Sustainability and green topics have become a crucial element in modern economy. All sectors of the economy are concerned, also the tourism industry. This book takes an overview on developments of sustainability in tourism from a multidisciplinary view point: economy, marketing, social science, media studies, political studies. In order to under-stand the long term changes in the field it is important to include different scientific approaches.


Human Beginnings in South Africa

Human Beginnings in South Africa

Author: H. J. Deacon

Publisher: New Africa Books

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 9780864864178

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Stone Age is now beginning to be recognised as vital in establishing who we are and where we have come from. This period has long been neglected.