The motivating thesis of this book is that political opinions and behavior of individuals cannot be explained apart from the environments within which they occur. Individual characteristics alone do not determine political actions and opinions. Rather, political behavior must be understood in terms of the actor's relationship to the environment, and the environmental factors that impinge on individual choice.

Politics in Context: Assimilation and Conflict in Urban Neighborhoods

Politics & Social Sciences

Huckfeldt, Robert

Politics & Government

Algora.Publishing

The aim of this book is to provide an overview of recent research on electoral laws and their political consequences by scholars who have helped shape the field. After several decades of virtual neglect (except for Douglas Rae's seminal work), the comparative study of electoral systems is undergoing a lively revival. In the past five years, over a dozen books on electoral systems have been written by scholars from many nations and from many disciplines (see reviews of a number of these in Lijphart, Political geography, long moribund, is undergoing a remarkable renaissance (see reviews in Grofman, Taylor, Gudgin, and Johnston, this volume). Social choice theorists have begun to link axiomatic criteria for representative systems to practical political issues in choosing an election system (see especially Brams and Fishburn, Fishburn, this volume). In the United States, sparked in large part by the efforts of the section on Representation and Electoral Systems of the American Political Science Association, the history of American electoral experimentation with proportional representation, weighted voting, and limited voting is being rediscovered (see Grofman Weaver, this volume). This renewed scholarly attention to the study of electoral systems is long overdue. The late Stein Rokkan wrote in 1968, "Given the crucial importance of the organization of legitimate elections in the development of the mass democracies of the twentieth century, it is indeed astounding to discover how little serious effort has been invested in the comparative study of the wealth of information available . The long past neglect of electoral systems by social scientists is especially surprising since election rules not only have important effects on other elements of the political system, especially the party system, but also offer a practical instrument for political engineers who want to make changes in the political system. Indeed, Sartori aptly characterizes electoral systems as the most specific manipulative instrument of politics . Part 1. The Effect of Election Type on Political Competition: 1. Duverger's Law Revisited 2. The Influence of Electoral Sysems: Faulty Laws or Faulty Method? 3. Duverger's Law: Forty Years Later 4. Intraparty Preference Voting 5. Thinking About the Length and Renewability of Electoral Terms Part II. Evaluating the Impact of Electoral Laws: Proportional and Semiproportional Systems Case Studies: 6. Proportionality by Non-PR Methods: Ethnic Representation in Belgium, Cyprus, Lebanon, New Zealand, West Germany and Zimbabwe 7. Australian Experience with Majority-Preferential and Quota-Preferential Systems 8. The Rise, Decline and Resurrection of Proportional Representation in Local Governments in the United States 9. The Limited Vote and the Single Nontransferable Vote: Lessons from the Japanese and Spanish Examples 10 Degrees of Proportionality of Proportional Representation Formulas Part III. Evaluating the Impact of Electoral Laws: Plurality Systems: 11. The Geography of Representation: A Review of Recent Findings 12. Social Choice and Plurality-like Electoral Systems 13. The Effect of At-Large Versus District Elections in U.S. Municipalities 14. The Nonpartisan Ballot in the United States 15. Ballot Format in Plurality Partisan Elections 16. Cross-Endorsement and Cross-Filing in Plurality Partisan Elections Part IV. Redistricting: 17. Whatever Happened To The Reapportionment Revolution In The United States? 18. Constituency Redistribution In Britain 19. Districting Choices Under The Single-Transferable Vote.

Electoral Laws & Their Political Consequences - Vol. 1: The Impact of Electoral Systems on Political Competition and Democratic Governance

Grofman, Bernard

Criminal Law

Political Science: The Science of Politics

Weisberg, Herbert

Congress and Policy Change

Wright, Jr. Gerald C.

The Madisonian approach to institutional design, as set forth in The Federalist Papers, is examined from the point of view of leading theorists of the "public choice" school who see themselves as the political heirs of that earlier legacy.Bernard Grofman taught a course on representation in which the readings included both the Federalist Papers and Buchanan and Tullock s Calculus of Consent. In teaching that course (and, as he writes, forcing himself to reread the Federalist carefully for the first time since his own graduate student days), his admiration for its authors, already high, grew even higher. Convinced that theorists of the public choice school were the natural heirs to the Federalist legacy, he was inspired to invite other scholars to contribute to this volume of articles.  The new institutionalists of the public choice school are, Grofman says, the natural heirs to Madisonian political theory, but the features of Madisonian theory are almost entirely absent from the public choice literature: the role of deliberation and rational persuasion, a concern for justice and the search for the public good, and a respect for civic virtue and civic education. In that vision, institutions really do matter.  Contemporary theorists of the new institutionalism have at their disposal powerful analytic tools which can be used to reformulate and clarify classic issues in political theory. A leading traditional political theorist wrote that public choice modelers needed to rediscover the Constitution (Mansfield, 1987, 41). This volume is intended as a first start in that direction.

The Federalist Papers And The New Institutionalism (Representation Vol 2)

Illustrating how changing laws can shape future elections, each chapter in this collection narrates the history of, and the largely partisan political maneuvering behind, the evolution of electoral laws in the five Nordic countries. Because the chapters are written to a common overall outline, and include a number of standard tables, they have an unusually high degree of comparability a great asset. Many political scientists in English-speaking countries tend to think of Proportional Representation in terms of the underlying concepts of proportionality and examples that institutionalize it in relative pure form, such as Israel. Reading these chapters, one gains a more sophisticated understanding of the variety and complexities of real PR systems, including the interaction of geographical representation with the principle of proportionality, the practical stakes behind the seemingly technical choice of allocation formulas, the origin of the "modified" St. Laguë divisors, the functioning of apparentement and other vote-pooling devices, the interaction of strategic advantage and normative principles in the development of the Proportional Representation systems, the role of partisan manipulation, etc. A model of comparative, cumulative political science, and of "embedded system" research design, the book is part of a major project by both Grofman and Lijphart to bring a vast improvement in rigor and systemicity in the analysis of electoral laws and their impacts. Each chapter offers a narration of the history of, and political (largely partisan) maneuvering behind, the evolution of electoral laws in the five Nordic countries. In this respect, it is in the tradition of A Short History of Electoral Systems in Western Europe, by Carstairs, 1980 (out of print). Yet, it differs from that work, and represents a significant advance on it, by focusing on fewer countries and thus going into greater depth and wider history span. 1. Bernard Grofman and Arend Lijphart, Introduction 2. Jorgen Elklit, Denmark 3. Jan Sundberg, Finland 4. Olafur Hardarrson, Iceland 5. Bernt Aardal, Norway 6. Bo Sarlvik (with the assistance of Peter Eisaisson and Ola Jodal), Sweden Bernard Grofman has edited or co-edited sixteen books, three with Arnold Lijphart. Two of their collaborations won the Hallett Prize of the American Political Science Association (the prize is granted for works that have proved to have a lasting impact in the field, at least ten years beyond the date of publication: Lijphart and Grofman, Choosing an Electoral System, 1984; Grofman and Lijphart, Electoral Laws and Their Political Consequences, 1986). This volume is one of four collections on electoral systems originating in Conferences on Political Economy at the University of California at Irvine. The others deal with elections using the single non-transferable vote (Michigan, 1999), single transferable vote (Michigan, 2000), and mixed-member arrangements (Oxford, 2000).

The Evolution of Electoral and Party Systems in the Nordic Countries

Lijphart

Legal Theory & Systems

Prophets without Honor - A Requiem for Moral Patriotism

William Strabala

Michael Palecek

M. Palecek

No Greater Threat: America After September 11 and the Rise of a National Security State

Includes review and analysis of: Homeland Security Act, "PATRIOT Act II," Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, Supreme Court decisions, "National Strategy" documents, 9-11 Commission recommendations, and variousongoing developments nationally and internationally in the "war on terrorism."Did America's proud history of civil liberties come tumbling down on September 11? In this searing analysis of the US Patriot Act the author seeks to start a different, parallel dialog about the "war on terrorism," to prevent it becoming a war on ourselves and a war on the Constitution. A wake-up call for Americans concerned with preserving our nation's values. No Greater Threat: America After September 11, and the Rise of a National Security State examines the prospect that America (with the Congress and the Executive Branch in the lead) may be transforming itself into a national security culture.The book identifies and examines 12 common characteristics of a national security state, and discusses how those characteristics are being fulfilled today (in some instances in an accelerated manner).The book includes a meticulous description of each of the ten parts of the USA PATRIOT Act (which is often discussed, but seldom explained) and shows why the Act ranks as one of the most significant pieces of legislation in many years the Act grants broad powers to Federal investigators in surveillance, intelligence, prosecution, and inter-agency information sharing; and most of its provisions have no "sunset" but are permanent.The book is a readable review, in plain and common sense language, of the Act's scope and breadth. A final section makes general observations on the long-term concepts of "security" versus "peace," and offers ways in which the reader can be involved in the issues.This is the most detailed analysis of the USA PATRIOT Act and illustrates why patriotic Americans should be concerned (if not alarmed) by this country s potential move into a national security state.

Michaels, William C.

Constitutional Law

Reason in Revolt further develops the theory of Dialectical Materialism, using the most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century as a tool. First exposed by Marx and Engels, Dialectical Materialism is a comprehensive methodology explaining the unity of the laws that govern nature, science and society, from evolution to chaos theory, nuclear physics to childhood development. First published in 1995 to coincide with Engel's centenary, Reason in Revolt has had a great success around the world. It has been published in Spanish, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Urdu, and is now being translated into German and Flemish. The Spanish edition recently went into its second edition. To date, no one has found serious fault with the science of the book. And every new discovery of science serves to confirm the statement of Engels, that "in the last analysis, Nature works dialectically."

Reason in Revolt - Dialectical Philosophy and Modern Science, Vol. 1

Woods, Alan

Grant, Ted

Philosophy

The dialectical materialism of Marx is not only a useful philosophical method for understanding the processes of society, but is also a powerful tool for the assessment of the scientific method, according to Marxists Grant and Woods. . . . They explain the philosophical basis of dialectical materialism and defend its practice using examples from current work in formal logic and physics. They suggest that just as science provides confirmation of dialectical materialism, so dialectical materialism helps demonstrate where science has lost its way. They are especially critical of the injection of mysticism into current works of theoretical physics. Book News

Reason in Revolt - Dialectical Philosophy and Modern Science, vol. 2

Woods, Ted

Science & Math

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