The Policy State

The Policy State

Author: Karen Orren

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2017-10-23

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0674728742

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The steady accretion of public policies over the decades has fundamentally changed how America is governed. The formulation and delivery of policy have emerged as the government’s entire raison d’être, redefining rights and reconfiguring institutional structures. The Policy State looks closely at this massive unnoticed fact of modern politics and addresses the controversies swirling around it. Government has become more responsive and inclusive, but the shift has also polarized politics and sowed a deep distrust of institutions. These developments demand a thorough reconsideration of historical governance. “A sterling example of political science at its best: analytically rigorous, historically informed, and targeted at questions of undeniable contemporary significance... Orren and Skowronek uncover a transformation that revolutionized American politics and now threatens to tear it apart.” —Timothy Shenk, New Republic “Wherever you start out in our politics, this book will turn your sense of things sideways and make you rethink deeply held assumptions. It’s a model of what political science could be, but so rarely is.” —Yuval Levin, National Review “A gripping narrative...opening up new avenues for reflection along methodological, conceptual, and normative lines.” —Bernardo Zacka, Contemporary Political Theory


The Study of Comparative Government and Politics

The Study of Comparative Government and Politics

Author: Gunnar Heckscher

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-06-17

Total Pages: 130

ISBN-13: 113502717X

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Originally published in 1957, the first part of the book discusses the general problems of approach, classification, typology and terminology, and examines ancillary fields of study and the methods of teaching comparative government. Part Two is concerned with studies of particular areas, democratic control of foreign policy, political parties, contemporary revolutionary movements, parliamentary procedures, electoral systems and elections, and nationalized industries.


Nationalism, Inequality and England’s Political Predicament

Nationalism, Inequality and England’s Political Predicament

Author: Charles Leddy-Owen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-03-28

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1351617656

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Based on fine-grained ethnographic research in an English city, this book offers a highly original perspective on England’s contemporary political predicament. It argues that some of the most influential academic accounts of the country's current political situation, particularly those focusing on culture or racism, have neglected the key role of nationalism as an often unspoken, banal political principle and framing ideology. Suggesting that economic inequalities remain the key causal ingredient of English political life and, crucially, that these are being interpreted by individuals in relation to a nationalist/cosmopolitan ideological axis, the author argues that any effective, progressive political future will require a reinvigorated sense of political community. Proposing a politics that will promote both nationhood and cosmopolitanism, Nationalism, Inequality and England’s Political Predicament advocates a seemingly contradictory but necessary approach by which explicitly anti-nationalist and anti-racist principles coexist expediently alongside short-term protectionist and immigration control policies.


Teaching and Its Predicaments

Teaching and Its Predicaments

Author: David K. Cohen

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2011-08-31

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 0674051106

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Since Socrates, teaching has been a difficult and even dangerous profession. Why is teaching such hard work? In this provocative, witty, sometimes rueful book, Cohen writes about the predicaments that teachers face and explores what responsible teaching can be. He focuses on the kind of mind reading teaching demands and the resources it requires.


The Dictator's Dilemma

The Dictator's Dilemma

Author: Bruce J. Dickson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 0190228555

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Many observers predicted the collapse of the Chinese Communist Party following the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, and again following the serial collapse of communist regimes behind the Iron Curtain. Their prediction, however, never proved true. Despite minor setbacks, China has experienced explosive economic growth and relative political stability ever since 1989. In The Dictator's Dilemma, eminent China scholar Bruce Dickson provides a comprehensive explanation for regime's continued survival and prosperity. Dickson contends that the popular media narrative of the party's impending implosion ignores some basic facts. The regime's policies may generate resentment and protest, but the CCP still enjoys a surprisingly high level of popular support. Nor is the party is not cut off from the people it governs. It consults with a wide range of specialists, stakeholders, and members of the general public in a selective yet extensive manner. Further, it tolerates and even encourages a growing and diverse civil society, even while restricting access to it. Today, the majority of Chinese people see the regime as increasingly democratic even though it does not allow political competition and its leaders are not accountable to the electorate. In short, while the Chinese people may prefer change, they prefer that it occurs within the existing political framework. In reaching this conclusion, Dickson draws upon original public opinion surveys, interviews, and published materials to explain why there is so much popular support for the regime. This basic stability is a familiar story to China specialists, but not to those whose knowledge of contemporary China is limited to the popular media. The Dictator's Dilemma, an engaging synthesis of how the CCP rules and its future prospects, will enlighten both audiences, and will be essential for anyone interested in understanding China's increasing importance in world politics.


Spectacles and Predicaments

Spectacles and Predicaments

Author: Ernest Gellner

Publisher: CUP Archive

Published: 1979

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 9780521424349

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A collection of essays concerned with some key problems in the study of philosophy, politics and society.


Between Two Nations

Between Two Nations

Author: Michael Jones-Correa

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2018-09-05

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 1501731343

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Immigrants come to the United States from all over Latin America in search of better lives. They obtain residency status, find jobs, pay taxes, and they have children who are American citizens by birth; yet decades may go by before they seek citizenship for themselves or become active participants in the American political process. Between Two Nations examines the lack of political participation among Latin American immigrants in the United States to determine why so many remain outside the electoral process. Michael Jones-Correa studied the political practices of first-generation immigrants in New York City's multiethnic borough of Queens. Through intensive interviews and participant observation, he found that immigrant participation was stymied both by lack of encouragement to participate and by the requirement to renounce former citizenship, which raised the fear of never being able to return to the country of origin. The hesitation to naturalize as American citizens can extend over decades, leaving immigrants adrift in a political limbo. Between Two Nations is the first qualitative study of how new immigrants assimilate into American political life. Jones-Correa reexamines assumptions about Latino politics and the diversity of Latino populations in the United States, about the role of informal politics in immigrant communities, and about gender differences in approaches to political activity.


Mr. Crum’s Potato Predicament

Mr. Crum’s Potato Predicament

Author: Anne Renaud

Publisher: Kids Can Press Ltd

Published: 2017-09-05

Total Pages: 41

ISBN-13: 1771389494

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A mouthwatering tale of invention. When a persnickety customer named Filbert P. Horsefeathers complains that George CrumÍs fried potatoes are too thick, George makes them thinner. When Filbert insists they are still too thick, George makes them even thinner. But when the plate is sent back a third time, George mischievously decides to use his sharpest knife to cut paper-thin potato slices, which he fries until they are crackling and douses liberally with salt. At last, Filbert is satisfied, proclaiming, ñPerfection!î Which they are. Because, quite by accident, George has invented potato chips! Based on true events, this delicious tale will have kids clamoring for more, more, more!


The Human Predicament

The Human Predicament

Author: David Benatar

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017-05-05

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0190633832

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Are our lives meaningful, or meaningless? Is our inevitable death a bad thing? Would immortality be an improvement? Would it be better, all things considered, to hasten our deaths by suicide? Many people ask these big questions -- and some people are plagued by them. Surprisingly, analytic philosophers have said relatively little about these important questions about the meaning of life. When they have tackled the big questions, they have tended, like popular writers, to offer comforting, optimistic answers. The Human Predicament invites readers to take a clear-eyed and unfettered view of the human condition. David Benatar here offers a substantial, but not unmitigated, pessimism about the central questions of human existence. He argues that while our lives can have some meaning, we are ultimately the insignificant beings that we fear we might be. He maintains that the quality of life, although less bad for some than for others, leaves much to be desired in even the best cases. Worse, death is generally not a solution; in fact, it exacerbates rather than mitigates our cosmic meaninglessness. While it can release us from suffering, it imposes another cost - annihilation. This state of affairs has nuanced implications for how we should think about many things, including immortality and suicide, and how we should think about the possibility of deeper meaning in our lives. Ultimately, this thoughtful, provocative, and deeply candid treatment of life's big questions will interest anyone who has contemplated why we are here, and what the answer means for how we should live.