US politics today (fourth edition)

The United States Supreme Court is an important, exciting and controversial institution. This book includes the major decisions of the 2014 and 2015 Supreme Court Term. It examines some of the fascinating policy issues that are central to the Court by examining its contemporary agenda. The book analyses the Court's major decisions on controversial issues such as race, abortion, capital punishment and gay rights. It explains the ideas that underpinned the creation of the Supreme Court in the first place and how and why it has changed over the years. The book then investigates how the framers of the Constitution envisaged the nature and the role of the Supreme Court, and how and why these have evolved. With examples, it also explains the process by which the personal, the judicial and the political are interwoven in some of the Court's most important cases. Next, the book takes up the specifically judicial and legal basics of the Court's structure and processes and looks at the rules and procedures that govern the Justices' work. The key concept of judicial review, the source of the Court's power is then examined. The book moves on to analyse one of the most controversial features of the contemporary Supreme Court, the process of appointing new Justices, and examines the politicisation of the appointment process. Finally, it explores how powerful is the Court and what is its role in American government and politics.

This book is a series of 'remarks' and 'sketches', which together form a mosaic to show how the use of the referendum followed a strict, almost Hegelian pattern of the 'unfolding of freedom' throughout the ages. It outlines how referendums have been used in Britain and abroad, presenting some of the arguments for and against this institution. The book commences with an outline of the world history of the referendum from the French Revolution to the present day, and then discusses the British experience up to 2010. The book examines the referendum on European Economic Community membership in 1975, considering the alternative vote referendum in 2011 and the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014. Next, the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum in 2016, especially the campaign leading up to it, is discussed. After the analysis of the Brexit referendum, the book touches on the Maltese referendum on divorce in 2011. It summarises some of the trends and tendencies in the use of the referendum internationally, highlighting that Britain is not a unique case in holding referendums. The book shows that, notwithstanding the general assumptions about referendums, these are not usually associated with demagogues and populism, but the referendum has tended to be used as a constitutional safeguard. However, in Britain, a country without a formal written constitution, these safeguards were not in place. For the referendum to work, for this institution to be a constitutional safeguard, it must be a people's shield and not the government's sword.

This book examines and compares lobbying regulations currently in place around the world.

This edition covers more countries than the last, compares existing regulations using different measurements, and provides insights into developing or amending lobbying laws.

The book begins by introducing the concept of lobbying regulation, emphasising it is a key aspect of sunshine laws that states throughout the world are establishing. Chapters 1–3 exhaustively examine jurisdictions worldwide that adopted regulations in the 1900s, 2000s and 2010s. Chapter 4 offers novel empirical investigation by investigating if some measurements of the robustness of lobbying laws are more valid and reliable than others, closing with a revamped theoretical conceptualisation of different types of regulatory regimes. Chapter 6, based on our experience of having advised governments worldwide, has a simple, yet significant, objective: to explain to policy makers how best to make or amend a lobbying law. The Conclusion summarises our findings.

This book has two key readerships. The first is academics teaching courses on lobbying and regulatory politics and those researching in the field, given that the first edition was the considered a landmark. The second is the practitioner market. This includes legislators and civil servants who relied on the first edition when developing lobbying legislation and subsequently approached the authors to advise their governments. It also includes lobbyists who relied on the first edition in order to understand the rules in place in jurisdictions that they seek to influence globally.