Political Elites in a Democracy
Political Elites in a Democracy

Author: Peter Bachrach

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 1351498932

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One of the potentially explosive issues of the modern era is a vast and growing disparity between the overwhelming predominance of elites in the decision-making process and the democratic ideal that people should participate in making decisions that vitally affect them. In this book an impressive array of political theorists offer conflicting views on the form of democratic elitism practiced in the United States.Defining the political elite as "the power holders of the body politic," Harold Lasswell explains that the division into elite and mass is universal, while Robert Dahl confirms that key political, economic, and social decisions are indeed made by these tiny minorities. Paul Good man argues that we are now in a period of excessive centralization that he regards as "economically inefficient, technologically unnecessary, and humanly damaging." From another standpoint, Herbert Marcuse calls for a struggle against the ideology of tolerance husbanded by the political elites in this country and Jack L. Walker contends that elitist theory has provided an unconvincing explanation of the widespread political apathy in American society.As the events of recent decades vividly demonstrate, a growing number of people refuse to recognize elite rule. This many-sided work puts before the student a variety of strongly held opinions regarding the place and function of the political elite and its power. The wide range of authoritative articles makes Political Elites in a Democracy a most useful addition to every course in political science that touches on the subject of elites and political power.

Island Compliance Risk and the Protocol of Global Finance
Island Compliance Risk and the Protocol of Global Finance

Author: Kirk Harrison Taitt

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-01-15

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1317112024

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Kirk Harrison Taitt examines the threat money laundering and terrorist financing pose to Caribbean island nations involved in international financial services, the role of compliance regimes in averting sanctions and the future of these nations at the table of global capital. He addresses and, indeed, positions island nations in a strategic space outside the global clamour, unceasing debate and severe criticism over their bona-fides/qualifications to engage in the trillion-dollar industry of offshore finance, alongside their G20 nemeses. He asserts a high ground (ethical) approach as essential to counteracting potential reputational harm. Throughout the book, Taitt weaves a governance, risk and compliance (GRC) thread in order to speak directly to practitioners and to demonstrate how a strong GRC paradigm at the jurisdictional and institutional levels could be leveraged for competitive advantage. Among the key recommendations outlined in his IRIE Mitigation Matrix are: effective regulatory governance of the jurisdiction’s financial system by ensuring conformance with international standards, the deployment of sufficient resources to adequately supervise financial institutions and the promotion of values-based decision-making amongst corporate financial managers and leaders. He also recommends on-going engagement of the wider civil society to ensure present and future generations of the Caribbean island financial centre (IFC) workforce appreciate the value of personal moral excellence in business and its inextricable link to sustainable development of the IFC sector.

Criminological Theories
Criminological Theories

Author: Suzette Cote

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2002-03-19

Total Pages: 441

ISBN-13: 0761925031

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Criminological Theories is an anthology of previously published articles and book focuses on the major theories, past and present, that inform criminology today.

Democratic Theories and the Constitution
Democratic Theories and the Constitution

Author: Martin Edelman

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 1985-06-30

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 1438401841

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Although the government of the United States is traditionally viewed as a democracy, there is considerable disagreement about what democracy means and implies. In a comprehensive study Professor Edelman examines the three democratic paradigms most prevalent in America today: natural rights, contract, and competition. Theories based on these paradigms lead to different ideas of democracy, each of which yields variant interpretations of the Constitution. This close relationship between democratic theories and constitutional interpretations is analyzed in an extensive historical introduction, which focuses on some of the major thinkers in American history. Edelman's discussion shows that neither the Constitution nor the development of American political thought can serve as an authoritative basis for any one theory of democracy. Instead of a particular theory, the historical constant was an appeal to reason inherent in our basic charter. In his methodological section, Edelman argues that we must use reason to clarify the latent values inherent in the differing concepts of democracy and the consequences that flow from them. He analyzes judicial ideas in the light of three concepts deemed central to any democratic theory—citizenship, political participation, and political freedom—and concludes with a balanced account of contemporary democratic theories, the constitutional theories related to them, and a critique of both.

Politics and Society
Politics and Society

Author: Roland L. Warren

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-04-03

Total Pages: 544

ISBN-13: 1351308181

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This carefully selected and integrated series of discourses on the central issues of political life presents Robert M. MacIver's views on ethics and politics, society and the state, government and political change, war and peace, and the conditions of a viable international order. It is both a key to the astonishing scope and versatility of MacIver's mind and a major contribution to political thought.Politics and Society elucidates some of the major themes and essential problems of political theory. Here are incisive essays on the nature of understanding in social and political science; on the discontinuities between ethics and politics that render difficult, yet imperative, the ordering of a multigroup society; and on the ever-present tensions between liberty and authority, private interests and the common good. Here too are MacIver's assessments of the forces that make for social change and the transformations requisite to the establishment of a viable international order. And here, with sensitivity and wisdom, are MacIver's articulations of relevant ends and their realization through appropriate means.David Spitz provided a lengthy introduction to this volume on its first publication in 1969 assessing the importance of MacIver's teachings as well as relating these essays within the broader context of MacIver's political and social thought. The republication of this collection now attests to Spitz's conclusion:"The rewards that await the reader of these essays support my conviction that MacIver's eminent achievements, in both method and vision, stamp him as the most distinguished of our social and political theorists." Robert M. MacIver (1882-1970) was Lieber Professor of Political Philosophy and Sociology at Columbia University (1929-1950) and held many other academic posts, directorships and honorary degrees, and in 1962 came out of retirement to be chancellor of the New School for Social Research. Among his most important books were Social Causation and Community, a Sociological Study.David Spitz was professor of political science at Columbia University. He was the author among other books of The Liberal Idea of Freedom. The David and Elaine Spitz Prize is awarded every year for the best book in liberal and/or democratic theory by the International Conference for the Study of Political Thought in his honor.