America's current transformation from an industrial to a new information-based culture presents new challenges as well as new perspectives on old debates. This book offers a comprehensive survey of America's changing values. It examines notions of American exceptionalism and how the 'melting pot' is coping with race relations and changing demographics; it assesses the agenda of government, the domestic and global constraints, and how social exclusion can be tackled. Current changes in the US are likely to be a harbinger for other societies, and the authors examine new models of civic society, of learning and of reconfiguring social values for a fast-changing world.

Since independence, the political institutions of many African states have undergone a process of consolidation and subsequent deterioration. Constrained by external economic dependency and an acute scarcity of economic and technical resources, state officials have demonstrated a diminished capacity to regulate their societies. Public policies are agreed upon but ineffectively implemented by the weak institutions of the state. Although scholars have analyzed the various facets of state-building in detail, little systematic attention has been given to the issue of the decline of the state and mechanisms to cope with state ineffectiveness in Africa. This book focuses especially on the character of the postcolonial state in Africa, the nature of and reasons for state deterioration, and the mechanisms and policies for coping with state malfunction. Scholars from Africa, the United States, Europe, and the Middle East combine a broad understanding of African political processes with expertise on specific regions. Their analytic and comparative perspective provides a comprehensive and timely treatment of this vital and heretofore neglected theme in African politics.

This is Morton Shulman's own fast- moving story of his eight years in politics. It is sharp but full of public concern, opinionated but self-critical, serious in intent but often hilarious in the telling. It reflects perfectly the life-style of its author-- there is never a dull moment. During his eight years as a member of the provincial Legislature, Morton Shulman's name was rarely off the front pages. Here Shulman tells the dramatic stories behind the headlines, and the stories that never made the front page. For Shulman, an "unrepentant capitalist" millionaire, the decision to run for the NDP was a chance to get back at the Conservative government that had fired him as Coroner. But it became much more than that, as Shulman, the man who always was approachable, became an unofficial ombudsman for the province and the people. Shulman's career as a Member of the Legislature was as stormy as his record in office as Chief Coroner. He smuggled a camera into the House and took pictures of government members asleep during debates. Disguised as a workman, he walked into the INCO plant at Sudbury and spent the night measuring sulphur dioxide levels which proved that in spite of government inspectors' assurances the pollution levels were dangerously high. He exposed Mafia connections with union leaders, politicians and police, and ended up with a Mafia contract on his life and a full-time police guard. He put on a hard hat and walked unchallenged into the Pickering Nuclear Power Plant to show that there was virtually no security in this potentially dangerous area. All these capers had but one goal -- to expose the bureaucratic bungling that affected and sometimes even endangered the lives of the ordinary Canadians who paid the tax bill. One after another he took on the Departments of Labour, Health, Highways, Reform Institutions, Natural Resources, Energy, the Attorney General, Bell Canada and more. His eight years as a Member of the Legislature brought some changes in government policies, Royal Commissions and numerous editorials about the situations he brought to public attention. Sometimes he lost, but the degree of public trust in Morton Shulman brought him national attention. There's never been another Member like Shulman.

The Philosophy of Art of Karl Marx by Mikhail Lifshitz is a comprehensive study of the Marxist theory of art. The book explores the relationship between art and society, and how art reflects the political and economic structures of society. Lifshitz examines the Marxist perspective on the role of art in the revolution and the struggle for social change. He also delves into the Marxist critique of bourgeois art and the concept of alienation in art. The book includes a detailed analysis of the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels on art, as well as the works of other Marxist theorists such as Georg Lukacs and Antonio Gramsci. The Philosophy of Art of Karl Marx is a thought-provoking and insightful exploration of the Marxist perspective on art, and its relevance in the contemporary world.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Americans today recognize and celebrate leadership genius in the management of private companies. At the same time, the American public remains deeply skeptical of government's ability to address real economic and social challenges. The contributors to this timely and important volume increase our understanding of the potential incentives for and barriers to creative problem-solving in the public sector. Drawing on case studies of state and local government, as well as theoretical literature on private sector management, these scholars reveal both the problems and the possibilities in governmental decision-making.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This book is probably the most imoprtant that Trotsky ever wrote. It is an anlysis of why the Russian Revolution failed and a passionate counter-blast to Stalin and what Trotsky sees as the betrayal of revolutionary ideals.More importantly, perhaps, it is also a blue-print for the future - the permanent revolution - which is as relevant today as it was when it was first written.

Fifteeen studies of world politics from a Socialist perspective. Includes work from Leo Panitch and John Saville.

In a world where politics is often associated with notions such as moral decay, frustration and disappointment, the feeling of betrayal, and of democracy in trouble, Kis examines theories about the morality of political action. Amending the two classical theses of realism and of indirect motivation in politics, Kis argues for a constrained thesis of realism and a wide thesis of indirect motivation. By these means the place of moral motivation and common deliberation can be identified, and political agents can be held morally accountable. The analysis refers to a broad range of classic and contemporary literature as well as to recent cases from international politics which call for moral judgment. The Appendix is dedicated to Václav Havel’s seminal essay on "The Power of the Powerless," which sheds light on the diversity of approaches dissident intellectuals have taken to politics.

About the Author J. L. GRANATSTEIN is the author of over 60 books, including the bestsellersWho Killed the Canadian Military? and Whose War Is It?, along withYankee Go Home?, Victory 1945 and The Generals, which won the J. W. Dafoe Prize and the UBC Medal for Canadian Biography. A distinguished research professor of history emeritus at York University, he was a member of the RMC Board of Governors and is chair of the Advisory Council of the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute. He lives in Toronto. Visit Granatstein atwww.whosewar.ca.

A confrontation and critique edited by Irving Howe with essays by Michael Harrington, Paul Goodman, Eugene Genovese, Robert Brustein, Theodore Draper, Lewis Coser, and many others.

A Solution to the Problem of Authority. Originally published: New Haven: Yale University Press, 1919. x, [19]-398 pp. This work was intended to be a sequel to Studies in the Problem of Sovereignty (1917). Here Laski argues that sovereignty is best understood as a type of authority, and he supports his case with examples drawn principally from modern French history. After tracing the origins of his subject, Laski considers the significance of Bonald, Lamennais, Royer-Collard and the Syndicalist movement. Laski was a professor at Harvard at the time of publication. He was Justice Holmes' protege and notes in his preface that some of the ideas in this book were drawn from their discussions. "This book is especially valuable because it warns us not to exaggerate the importance of law... If the individuals in the legislatures and the departments of justice and on the bench do not stand for the best things men stand for, men begin to wonder whether, after all, that government ought to endure. (...) So, in order to make people loyal to the state, you must make the state the kind of institution that they want to be loyal to. Such is the lesson of this very able book." --Zechariah Chafee, Jr. Harvard Law Review 32:979-983. Harold J. Laski [1893-1950] was a teacher, political scientist, and leader of the Labour Party. His ideas influenced the work of Felix Frankfurter and Oliver Wendell Holmes, who were two of his closest friends. His work also influenced Jawaharlal Nehru who would go on to become India's first prime minister."

Transcript of interviews with 27 women, chiefly politicians.

A great contemporary German philosopher attacks the explosive problem of political myth in our day, and reveals how the myth of the state evolved from primitive times to prepare the way for the rise of the modern totalitarian state. "A brilliant survey of some of the major texts in the history of political theory."—Kenneth Burke, The Nation.

"Is alienation, or estrangement from one's fellow human beings, an innate and inevitable condition of human existence? The authors of this book say no. They explain that alienation is rooted in the development of class society itself, in the alienation of labor under all systems of private property from slavery to capitalism, where the products of the hands and minds of the vast majority are taken from them and controlled by the propertied class. Mandel and Novack argue that alienation can be overcome through the revolutionary fight for a society both free of domination by the capitalist class, and with complete democratic control of the government and economy by working people" -- Back cover.

If the 1970s were the "Me Decade," and the '80s were the years of the Reagan counterrevolution, then the '90s, writes Ellen Willis, were the Decade of Denial. In keeping with the mass media's glib assumption that a phenomenal increase in wealth for a minority meant genuine national prosperity, the 1990s saw an astounding refusal, on both the left and right, to question received wisdom or engage in substantive deliberation. Turning her acute eye to the decade's defining moments-imbroglios like those surrounding the O. J. Simpson trial, The Bell Curve, Monica-gate, and the Million Man March-Ellen Willis reveals the mindlessness behind the noise. Arguing that we suffer from a lack of true freedom, she demands that we radically rethink our country and ourselves to create a society in which we can fully enjoy life.

In this groundbreaking work, Ellen Meiksins Wood rewrites the history of political theory. She traces the development of the Western tradition from classical antiquity through to the Middle Ages in the perspective of social history—a significant departure not only from the standard abstract history of ideas but also from other contextual methods. Treating canonical thinkers as passionately engaged human beings, Wood examines their ideas not simply in the context of political languages but as creative responses to the social relations and conflicts of their time and place. She identifies a distinctive relation between property and state in Western history and shows how the canon, while largely the work of members or clients of dominant classes, was shaped by complex interactions among proprietors, labourers and states. Western political theory, Wodd argues, owes much of its vigour, and also many ambiguities, to these complex and often contradictory relations. From the Ancient Greek polis of Plato, Aristotle, Aeschylus and Sophocles, through the Roman Republic of Cicero and the Empire of St Paul and St Augustine, to the medieval world of Averroes, Thomas Aquinas and William of Ockham, Citizens to Lords offers a rich, dynamic exploration of thinkers and ideas that have indelibly stamped our modern world.