This now-classic examination of the development of viable political institutions in emerging nations is a major and enduring contribution to modern political analysis. In a new Foreword, Francis Fukuyama assesses Huntington's achievement, examining the context of the book's original publication as well as its lasting importance."This pioneering volume, examining as it does the relation between development and stability, is an interesting and exciting addition to the literature."-American Political Science Review"'Must' reading for all those interested in comparative politics or in the study of development."-Dankwart A. Rustow, Journal of International Affairs
Understanding change over time is a central concern for research in sociology, political science, education, geography and related disciplines. It is also an issue which presents significant methodological problems, in response to which different techniques have been developed - for example, time series analysis, multilevel models, log-linear models and event history analysis. Outlining the nature of such techniques, this accessible collection covers: the respective values of cross-sectional and longitudinal data in the analysis of change; the variety of methods available for the analysis of change over time; the types of research objective to which various techniques are suited; the limitations and constraints of individual methods; and the different philosophies which underlie particular approaches.
Nations are not trapped by their pasts, but events that happened hundreds or even thousands of years ago continue to exert huge influence on present-day politics. If we are to understand the politics that we now take for granted, we need to understand its origins. Francis Fukuyama examines the paths that different societies have taken to reach their current forms of political order. This book starts with the very beginning of mankind and comes right up to the eve of the French and American revolutions, spanning such diverse disciplines as economics, anthropology and geography. The Origins of Political Order is a magisterial study on the emergence of mankind as a political animal, by one of the most eminent political thinkers writing today.
What social groups support which political party, and how that support has changed over time, are central questions in the sociology of political behaviour. This study provides the first systematic book-length reassessment and restatement of the sociological approach to American politics in more than 20 years. It challenges widespread arguments that the importance of social cleavages have declined precipitously in recent years in the face of post-industrial social and economic changes. The book reconceptualizes the concept of social cleavages and focus on four major cleavages in American society: class, religion, gender, and race, arguing a that a number of important changes in the alignments of the groups making up these four cleavages have occurred. The book examines the implications of these changes for the Democratic and Republican Parties. The findings of the book are examined in light of the central dilemmas facing the two major parties in the contemporary political environment.
This contribution argues that a long-established social order has been in place since the first stratified societies in the Near Middle East which unavoidably comes with substantial economic, political and environmental repercussions. Part I of the book dissects the various facets of this order, which is termed the social dominance paradigm, while in Part II a fundamentally different order, the peace paradigm, is introduced. The latter rests on real democracy (in the Athenian sense), sustainability and peace. As such, both paradigms function as vehicles for further analysis and research while the peace paradigm also provides a rough plan for the implementation of transformational change. Typically, political, economic, social, and environmental research seeks to increase specialized knowledge. Here, however, the overall intent is to utilize interdisciplinary evidence and connect the dots between a number defining features within seemingly modern societies. The argument is that these are, in fact, not modern at all but follow an ancient template of power, control, and coordination concentrated in the hands of the few. Potentially, this contribution can function as a trans-disciplinary methodological framework as well as an information hub for researchers in the fields of political and social sciences, history, anthropology, evolutionary biology, organization and peace studies. Practitioners who are interested in fundamental social change may also find the issues raised to be of interest. As such, this book provides a generalist, evidence-based discussion of a multi-disciplinary nature that may pique the interest of both experts and amateurs alike.
Do we live in basically orderly societies that occasionally erupt into violent conflict, or do we fail to perceive the constancy of violence and disorder in our societies? In this classic book, originally published in 1980, Cedric J. Robinson contends that our perception of political order is an illusion, maintained in part by Western political and social theorists who depend on the idea of leadership as a basis for describing and prescribing social order. Using a variety of critical approaches in his analysis, Robinson synthesizes elements of psychoanalysis, structuralism, Marxism, classical and neoclassical political philosophy, and cultural anthropology in order to argue that Western thought on leadership is mythological rather than rational. He then presents examples of historically developed "stateless" societies with social organizations that suggest conceptual alternatives to the ways political order has been conceived in the West. Examining Western thought from the vantage point of a people only marginally integrated into Western institutions and intellectual traditions, Robinson's perspective radically critiques fundamental ideas of leadership and order.
