Systems Of Government Books - Page 23

Congress at the Grassroots: Representational Change in the South, 1970-1998

Richard F. Jr. Fenno

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Editorial Review:

However much politicians are demeaned and denounced in modern American society, our democracy could not work without them. For this reason, says Richard Fenno, their activities warrant our attention. In his pioneering book, Home Style, Fenno demonstrated that a close look at politicians at work in their districts can tell us a great deal about the process of representation. Here, Fenno employs a similarly revealing grassroots approach to explore how patterns of representation have changed in recent decades.

Fenno focuses on two members of the U.S. House of Representatives who represented the same west-central Georgia district at different times: Jack Flynt, who served from the 1950s to the 1970s, and Mac Collins, who has held the seat in the 1990s. His on-the-scene observation of their differing representational styles—Flynt focuses on people, Collins on policy—reveals the ways in which social and demographic changes inspire shifts in representational strategies.

More than a study of representational change in one district, Congress at the Grassroots also helps illuminate the larger subject of political change in the South and in the nation as a whole.

God's Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights

Charles Marsh

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In the summer of 1964, the turmoil of the civil rights movement reached its peak in Mississippi, with activists across the political spectrum claiming that God was on their side in the struggle over racial justice. This was the summer when violence against blacks increased at an alarming rate and when the murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi resulted in national media attention. Charles Marsh takes us back to this place and time, when the lives of activists on all sides of the civil rights issue converged and their images of God clashed. He weaves their voices into a gripping narrative: a Ku Klux Klansman, for example, borrows fiery language from the Bible to link attacks on blacks to his "priestly calling"; a middle-aged woman describes how the Gospel inspired her to rally other African Americans to fight peacefully for their dignity; a SNCC worker tells of harrowing encounters with angry white mobs and his pilgrimage toward a new racial spirituality called Black Power. Through these emotionally charged stories, Marsh invites us to consider the civil rights movement anew, in terms of religion as a powerful yet protean force driving social action.

The book's central figures are Fannie Lou Hamer, who "worked for Jesus" in civil rights activism; Sam Bowers, the Imperial Wizard of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi; William Douglas Hudgins, an influential white Baptist pastor and unofficial theologian of the "closed society"; Ed King, a white Methodist minister and Mississippi native who campaigned to integrate Protestant congregations; and Cleveland Sellers, a SNCC staff member turned black militant.

Marsh focuses on the events and religious convictions that led each person into the political upheaval of 1964. He presents an unforgettable American social landscape, one that is by turns shameful and inspiring. In conclusion, Marsh suggests that it may be possible to sift among these narratives and lay the groundwork for a new thinking about racial reconciliation and the beloved community. He maintains that the person who embraces faith's life-affirming energies will leave behind a most powerful legacy of social activism and compassion.

American Government: Readings and Cases

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great book, clear and concise 4 out of 5 stars.
8 of 13 people found this review helpful.

Government text, and writings, and so on, can be very difficult to understand, but this book clearly explains what the text means, it also is organized greatly, I would recommend this book to anybody wanting a little extra knowledge about US Government

Geat book! 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book is a great book full of cases to help you learn how some of our nation's laws came into effect.

I used this to teach college... 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book is a must for any American Government class. Excellent source materials add depth to any textbook or class structure.

Editorial Review:

As it has since its first edition, this reader provides a strong, balanced blend of classics that illustrate and amplify important concepts in American government, along with extremely current readings and cases drawn from today's literature.

Kaplan Civil Service Exams

Kaplan

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Editorial Review:

The government is the largest employer in the United States, with nearly two million workers, a number that is growing every year. Kaplan Civil Service Exams, Second Edition helps government employment applicants master the material they need to succeed. Applicants are required to take and pass a comprehensive civil service exam, including people interested in specific government careers such as law enforcement, clerical work, air traffic control, as well as the majority of postal jobs.

Features:

• A review of the information covered on the civil service exams
• Kaplan's unique score-raising strategies
• 6 practice exams
• Detailed answer explanations
• Advice and resources for all types of civil service exams

Polyarchy; participation and opposition,

Robert Alan Dahl

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Classic of political science that is still relevant today 5 out of 5 stars.
17 of 18 people found this review helpful.

Dahl's work, which has been cited by countless political scientists since it was first published, provides a useful framework for the examination of democracy (which is not quite equivalent to what he terms 'polyarchy'; democracy consists of a bit more than a polyarchal system). The book is particularly concerned with the two main variables of political orders: 'competition' (public contestation among various political actors) and 'participation' (defined with regards to the right to participate). Using these variables, these systems can graded based on whether they possess these qualities to a greater or lesser degree. While most modern political systems fall in a 'gray area' (they are neither perfectly competitive nor inclusive), Dahl believes that all should strive towards the ideal type, or polyarchy. Dahl goes on to outline the benefits of a polyarchal system and the various ways in which such a system can be achieved. Yet, Dahl also recognizes that the transition to polyarchy is neither inevitable nor invariably desirable. Certain conditions are needed in order for the full benefits of a polyarchy to be realized. Thus, the minimal nature of Dahl's conception allows flexibility in its application. This is why his notion of democracy, as defined through polyarchy, has been adopted time again by those engaging in the debate over democracy, including such luminaries as Samuel P. Huntington and Larry Diamond.

European Democracies

Jurg Steiner

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Editorial Review:

Organized thematically rather than country-by-country, European Democracies is an introduction to the politics and governments of Western, Central, and Eastern Europe. Considering the countries of Europe from both the "supranational" level of the European Union and the "subnational" level of regions, this text employs a comparative approach to survey issues ranging from parties and policy to democratization and globalization. These issues are illustrated with in-depth examples from a variety of European countries as well as examples from politics in the United States. Throughout, Markus Crepaz and Jurg Steiner and treat Europe as a single but diverse entity and ask students what European politics can teach them about politics in their own country.

The CIA and the Culture of Failure: U.S. Intelligence from the End of the Cold War to the Invasion of Iraq

John Diamond

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The 9/11 attacks and the war in Iraq sprang in no small part from massive intelligence failures, that much is well understood. How the CIA got to a point where it could fail so catastrophically is not.

According to John Diamond, this slippage results from the tendency to overlook the links between seemingly unrelated intelligence failures and to underestimate the impact of political pressure on the CIA: factors we need to examine to understand both the origin and magnitude of the 9/11 and Iraq intelligence failures.

To bring these links to light, Diamond analyzes the CIAs role in key events from the end of the Cold War (when the Soviet Union—and thus the CIAs main mission—came to an end) to the war in Iraq. His account explores both CIA successes and failures in the Soviet break-up, the Gulf War, the Ames spy case, the response to al-Qaedas initial attacks, and the US/UN effort to contain and disarm Iraq.

By putting into historical perspective the intelligence failures--both real and perceived—surrounding these events, Diamond illuminates the links between lower-profile intelligence controversies in the early post-Cold War period and the high-profile failures that continue to define the War on Terrorism.

Stasi: The Untold Story of The East German Secret Police

John O. Koehler

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Simply Amazing... 1 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

It's not the content of this book that is amazing, rather it is that the author has been able to take a subject that is inherently interesting and make it seem more boring than even the dullest textbook. The book is poorly organized, full of editing errors, and lacks any kind of discernable flow. Tedious at best, I found it almost impossible to read more than three or four pages at a time, much less finish it. Many of the glowing reviews on the back of the book are from people who figure in the narrative; the rest have to be from shills who never read it. Save your money.

Very informative book 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I chose to read "The Stazi" in preparation for viewing "The Lives of Others". The book gave me the background necessary to understand what went on during that period in East Germany and provided insight into the motivations of the people on both sides of the Berlin Wall.

Koehler, who was a journalist during the time these events took place, did a commendable job researching what he did not actually experience himself. Lots of statistics and documentation made reading slow at first but the details he provides relative to how spies on both sides are recruited and what they went through and how they did their job made for fascinating reading.

I was amazed at the stupidity of the various organizations, including the US military, in not doing a better job of protecting classified documents. In that regard the book was a real eye opener.

Public Administration and Public Affairs

Nicholas Henry

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Is Public Adminitration Is science or Art 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 26 people found this review helpful.

I would like to ask Is the public administration is Science or Ar

Editorial Review:

This comprehensive, up-to-date book emphasizes a value-based approach to the practice of public administration. It looks at the recent efforts to make government more accountable and responsive, and gives its constituents a sense of direction for the future. Chapter topics include the constraint of American government; direct democracy; bureaucratic image verses reality; performance measurement, program evaluation, and productivity; budgeting for results; affirmative action policies; local government contracting; and ethical behavior in government. For individuals interested in the field of public administration—as a career, or as a citizen who supports it.

A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet

Pamela Constable, Arturo Valenzuela

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Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

An excellent overview of the Pinochet years in Chile. 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 19 people found this review helpful.

There has been a lot of trash written about Pinochet, but this book along with Soldiers in a Narrow Land have a very balanced perspective. As the title states, there were both supporters of Pinochet and the Armed Forces, and there were opponents. Allende was not skillful in leading his country through the changes of the seventies, so a ruluctant Pinochet and the Armed Forces removed him. The excesses of the reign of terror following the coup de etat are unforgiveable, but one should remember that in Argentina the dirty war killed close to twenty thousand, where Chile's coup and terror killed 3,000.
The authors do a great job describing the successes and failures of the Pinochet regime. Also a good description of the power struggles within the Armed Forces themselves (Air Force versus Army). The one thing needing improvement in this book is an update on what has since happened in Chile.
Since I am marrying a Chilean, I found this book a great way to know more about this country. It describes the still powerful emotion in Chile over Pinochet (positive and negative).

Editorial Review:

Following a military coup in 1973 led by General Augusto Pinochet, the Chilean people lived for 17 years under his dictatorial rule. This study describes the gradual struggle for civil rights and freedoms which took place during that time, leading to public presidential elections in 1990.