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The book introduces the principles underpinning the US Constitution and, on the basis of this, surveys core federal institutions: Congress, the presidency, and the US Supreme Court and lower courts. The different chapters outline the defining features of each and introduce some of the core scholarly debates about their powers and performance. The book also considers processes of political participation through elections, parties, and organised interests. It looks, in particular, at the changing nature of voting behaviour, the reasons why electoral turnout levels are comparatively low, and the different reasons why Donald Trump secured the presidency in the 2016 contest. It also considers the character of the party system and claims that organised interests, particularly groups representing those at the highest ends of the income and wealth scales, play a disproportionate role in the US system. The book thereby offers a guide to debates about the democratic ‘health’ of the contemporary US. The final chapter places the study of US politics in a comparative and theoretical context. It suggests that comparative approaches are essential if political developments and processes are to be fully understood. It then considers the value of employing theoretical frameworks in the study of politics and explores the ways in which structural theories, approaches drawing upon representations of political culture, and rational choice perspectives can explain political outcomes.
that were negotiated over time and in response to rapidly changing conditions on the ground. A comparative approach allowed us to develop an analysis of the formation, negotiation and rejection of the legitimacy of local, national and international actors and interventions that had different implications for the duration of the epidemic and the effectiveness of the response in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. There were significant regional and national differences in local
Islamic Relief Worldwide and the Edhi Foundation, returning to the original Qur’anic injunction to care for the poor and disadvantaged, have had considerable success in dispelling these objections by setting a practical example of ‘pure’ humanitarianism. Tools for a more comparative approach This study assumes Christian, or secular post
migration history that combines the diasporic or transnational with the comparative or cross-national.’5 In attempting to discern ‘Where Irish studies is bound’ Liam Harte also drew attention to opportunities offered by joint programmes of area study to challenge an ongoing deficit; ‘Irish and Scottish studies … have the added advantage of encouraging comparativist perspectives, of which there is still a marked dearth’ (emphasis added).6 The problems which have impeded the embrace of comparative approaches, broadly identified by Solomos and Bulmer, were fleshed out by
of the cultural or historical specificity of their analysis. In addition, there have been relatively few studies of security sector reform as a unified policy at all, whether comparative or particularistic in nature. 3 In order to address these gaps, this book takes a comparative approach to the concept and policy of security sector reform in transforming societies. Specifically, it examines the
The explanations and emphases presented in this book are set within a cross-national comparative approach to the study of the Labour and other kinds of ‘popular’ politics in Australia and Britain. As noted above, this approach has been either neglected by or absent from most of the relevant and predominantly nationally focused literature. I maintain that the strengths of the comparative approach greatly outweigh its weaknesses. Above all, it provides us with a wider and potentially more fruitful way of
9780719055157_4_009.qxd 20/3/09 12:05 PM Page 197 9 Whitehall in comparative context Thus far in our study we have explored the impact of EU membership on UK central government in isolation from other member states. In this chapter we have two objectives. First, by comparing the experiences of other member states we seek to give a clearer profile to the distinctive features of adjustment in UK central government. Secondly, we aim to build on our framework (Chapter 2) and explanatory model (Chapter 8) to offer a comparative approach to exploring the
.Janet Nelson, who has written so tellingly about the Franks and their neighbours, has encouraged us above all to adopt a comparative approach when thinking about early medieval Europe, and this paper is offered in gratitude for her teaching and example. Our starting point is Pope Gregory the Great’s celebrated plan for the English episcopate. Gregory’s envoy, Augustine, who had already been ordained bishop on
across domestic political divides. Taking a comparative approach to this subject, and looking at Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, shows the process of decolonisation as more than just a redefinition of the relationship between Britain and its former colonies. The three countries had shared a single currency, and there had been the expectation that they would continue to use a single East African
This book focuses on the ways in which the British settler colonies of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa treated indigenous peoples in relation to political rights, commencing with the imperial policies of the 1830s and ending with the national political settlements in place by 1910. Drawing on a wide range of sources, its comparative approach provides an insight into the historical foundations of present-day controversies in these settler societies.