Books

During the 1970s, Canada, Great Britain, and the United States witnessed unprecedented inflation, unemployment, and sluggish growth. This book examines government changes in economic policymaking and the public’s response to such changes, and sheds light on the political economy of three of the world’s oldest democracies.

Savoie examines the war of bureaucratic reform waged by the leaders of theree major industrial countries. Reagan, Thatcher and Mulroney were equally committed to reform and initiated wide-ranging changes. By the end of the 1990s, the changes were dramatic. Many governments operations had been privatized, and new management techniques had been introduced. Savoie suggests that the reforms overlooked problems now urgently requiring attention and, at the same time, attempted to address non-existent problems. He combines theory and research based on sixty-two interviews, nearly all with members of the executive branch of the governments of Britain, Canada and the United States.

Examining the Marcos and Aquino administrations in the Philippines, and a number of cases in Latin Amarica, Casper discusses the legacies of authoritarianism and shows how difficult it is for popularly elected leaders to ensure that democracy will flourish.

This book examines why some countries succeed in installing democracy after authoritarian rule, and why some of these new democracies make progress toward consolidation.

Violent conflicts rooted in ethnicity have, unfortunately, become increasingly common throughout the world, particularly in countries recently liberated from authoritarianism. Using theory, case studies, and aggregate data, the essays in this volume address the difficulties facing contemporary leaders and offer potential solutions to the policy issues surrounding ethnic disputes.

Bo Rothstein examines the experience of the Sweedish Social Democratic Party, otherwise known as the SAP, to analyze the limits a social democratic government labors under and the possibilities it enjoys in using the state to implement large-scale social change. He uses two SAP programs, one successful and one failed, to examine the potential for social change in capitolist nations.

Based on interviews with more than 100 participants, Van Cott demonstrates how social issues were placed on the constitutional reform agenda and transformed into the nation’s highest law. She follows each reform for five years to assess early results of what she calls an emerging model of multicultural constitutionalism.

Eighteen essays address the problems of executive leadership in the United States, Britain, Canada, and Australia.

Leadership at the Apex offers a revision of the general view concerning the boundaries of public administration. It reveals that there is more interdependence and shared influence between elected officials and appointed executives than previously realized.

Patrick Ireland argues that it is incorrect to expect unavoidable conflict between Muslim immmigrants and European host socieites. His insighful work shows that institutions matter more than culture in determining the shape and style of ethnic relations.

Distinguished scholars detail the extent to which the US Congress has influenced democractic legislatures around the world, and the myriad factors involved in the diffusion of influence. Includes the governments of Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, the European Parliament, plus new democracies in Latin America and Eastern Europe.

Over the last two decades, indigenous populations in Latin America have achieved remarkable visibility and political effectiveness, particularly in Ecuador and Bolivia. Lucero compares Ecuador’s united indigenous movement to the more fragmented situation in Bolivia, and analyzes the mechanisms at work in political and social structures to explain the different outcomes in each country.

A compelling study of the divergent political courses taken by Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan in the wake of Soviet rule. McGlinchey examines economics, religion, political legacies, foreign investment, and the ethnicity of these countries to evaluate the relative success of political structures in each nation.