State (polity)

About: State (polity) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 36954 publications have been published within this topic receiving 719822 citations. The topic is also known as: state (polity).

A history of Brazil

Abstract: List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Interactions: New Challenges and ContinuitiesThe LandThe IndianThe EuropeanDiscovery and ChallengesPatterns for the Future2. The Colonial ExperienceSocial AmalgamationTerritorial ExpansionEconomic and Political Dependency3. Nation BuildingPsychological and Intellectual Formation of NationhoodThe Braganzas in BrazilPolitical IndependenceChaos Into Order4. Modernization and ContinuityCoffee as a Motor of ChangeMaterial TransformationProgress and DependencyStatesmen and Diplomats5. Change and ContinuityNew Social Groups and New IdeasAbolition, Immigration, and LaborThe Middle Groups and the MilitaryIncorporating Rural Folk into Capitalism6. The New BrazilThe Old Republic AscendingThe Triumph of DiplomacyExploiting the AmazonThe Decline of the Old Republic7. The Challenge of ChangeNew Themes in HistoryIntellectual and Political FermentShifting Patterns of PowerNationalism and Industrialization8. Reform, Radicalization, and ReactionDemocratizationDevelopmental NationalismsGrowing PainsA Political SurpriseThe Promise or Threat of Reform9. The Past as PresentMilitary DictatorshipThe Masquerade of DemocracyFrontiers of ChallengeAppendix 1: Chiefs of State of BrazilAppendix 2: A Chronology of Significant Dates in Brazilian HistoryA Glossary of Portuguese Words Used in the TextThe Novel as History: A Bibliographic EssayIndex

Elections in Africa: A Fading Shadow of Democracy?

Abstract: Elections constitute an important element in liberal democracy. They are a viable means of ensuring the orderly process of leadership succession and change and an instrument of political authority and legitimation. The failure of elections or their absence largely defines the predominance of political dictatorships and personalized rule in Africa. The current wave of democratic enthusiasm has evoked a process of competitive and multiparty elections. This has provided a platform for the civil society to make political claims on the state. However, both the structure and process of elections, the former being the organizational infrastructure for managing elections and the latter, the precepts and procedures of elections, remain largely perverted. Election rigging and brigandage, violence and election annulment are common practices. The trend is towards a reversal to the old order of despotic political rulership under the guise of civil governance. Elections in their current form in most African states appe...

Do ‘Zimbabweans’ Exist?: Trajectories of Nationalism, National Identity Formation and Crisis in a Postcolonial State

Abstract: Contents: Deconstructing the National Project - Nationalism and its Moments - National Identity and Common Citizenship - A Nation within a Nation - Violence and Impunity - Mugabeism as Nationalism - Endgame or Elite Transition?

The Crisis of Minorities in Ethnic States: The Case of Palestinian Citizens in Israel

Abstract: The vast majority of states in the international system, democratic and non-democratic, are multi-ethnic (Gurr 1993). A liberal-democratic multi-ethnic state serves the collective needs of all its citizens regardless of their ethnic affiliation, and citizenship—legally recognized membership in the political structure called a state—is the single criterion for belonging to the state and for granting equal opportunity to all members of the system. Whether a multi-ethnic democratic state should provide group rights above and beyond individual legal equality is an ongoing debate (Gurr & Harff 1994).

Terror and consent : the wars for the twenty-first century

Abstract: An urgent reconceptualization of the Wars on Terror from the author of "The Shield of Achilles" ("magisterial"-- "The New York Times," "a classic for future generations"--"The New York Review of Books"). In this book Philip Bobbitt brings together historical, legal, and strategic analyses to understand the idea of a "war on terror." Does it make sense? What are its historical antecedents? How would such a war be "won"? What are the appropriate doctrines of constitutional and international law for democracies in such a struggle? He provocatively declares that the United States is the chief cause of global networked terrorism because of overwhelming American strategic dominance. This is not a matter for blame, he insists, but grounds for reflection on basic issues. We have defined the problem of winning the fight against terror in a way that makes the situation virtually impossible to resolve. We need to change our ideas about terrorism, war, and even victory itself. Bobbitt argues that the United States has ignored the role of law in devising its strategy, with fateful consequences, and has failed to reform law in light of the changed strategic context. Along the way he introduces new ideas and concepts--Parmenides' Fallacy, the Connectivity Paradox, the market state, and the function of terror as a by-product of globalization--to help us prepare for what may be a decades-long conflict of which the battle against al Qaeda is only the first instance. At stake is whether we can maintain states of consent in the twenty-first century or whether the dominant constitutional order will be that of states of terror. Challenging, provocative, and insightful, "Terror and Consent" addresses the deepest themes of governance, liberty, and violence. It will change the way we think about confronting terror--and it will change the way we evaluate public policies in that struggle.