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Can interest groups and lobbyists arguably undemocratic institutions operate in democratic systems without hindering the people s interests? Karolina Karr s "Democracy and Lobbying in the European Union" explores the role and potential impact of interest groups on democracy, both in theory and practice, in the context of a changing continent. This timely volume explores how the power of interest groups has developed due to the growing distance between elected representatives and the European people and forecasts what this development might mean for the vitality of government."
This book provides a clear conceptual framework for the understanding of British politics, influenced in broad terms by a systems approach to public policy. It considers the bodies responsible for scrutinizing and legitimizing the policies of the U.K. government: Parliament and the monarchy.
An extraordinarily rich account of the lives of Turkish men and women living in contemporary Germany, Conceptualising 'Home' offers striking insights into how members of a marginalized immigrant community make room for themselves and reconstruct homes away from home. Based on in-depth interviews, the volume places the life experiences of Turkish people into a broader theoretical perspective, while Esin Bozkurt's careful attention to gender and generational differences ensures an accurate, balanced representation. The result is a surprisingly useful understanding of the very idea of "home."
Is the ‘golden age’ of democracy really over due to the pressures of globalisation and the erosion of the nation state? Within this book, Heinelt seeks to address the democratic deficit in political systems linked to limited Citizen Participation reflecting on the notion of democracy and participatory governance and how they relate to each other. Exploring democracy beyond the governmental structures and focusing on participatory governance in particular this book demonstrates that common notions of democracy have to be re-conceptualised without neglecting its key ideas. By arguing that it is a political task to turn the inevitability of governance into a participatory form, Heinelt develops a model of different ‘worlds of democratic actions’ which shows that democratic political systems have to be considered as a complex and broad web of various forms of interest articulation and intermediation as well as decision-making. Making an important contribution to the ‘third transformation of democracy’, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of governance, democracy, policymaking & European studies.
Conventional wisdom holds that globalization has made the world more modern, not less. But how has modernity been conceived of in colonial, postcolonial, and post-revolutionary worlds? In Figurations of Modernity, an international team of scholars probe how non-European worlds have become modern ones, from the perspective of a broad range of societies around the globe. From vocational education in Argentina to secular morality in Tibet, from the construction of heroes in Central Asia to historical memory in Nigeria, this comprehensive volume reckons with the legacy of empire in a globalizing world. Enhanced by the perspectives of historians, anthropologists, and scholars of comparative education, Figurations of Modernity will be an essential book for those studying post-colonial nations across disciplines.
In 2005 hopes for closer European integration were dealt a potentially fatal blow when French and Dutch voters rejected the proposed new European Union constitution. Going beyond the instant analysis of journalists, which placed blame for the failed vote on the two nations' internal politics, Democracy Needs Dispute examines a collection of media accounts of European policy debates to argue that the problem with the EU is its relative lack of vibrant political conflict. Democracy Needs Dispute offers both up-to-date analysis and a rich theoretical understanding of the problems facing further efforts at European integration.
Lobbying is an integral part of the political reality of the European Union and a highly competitive and dynamic field of interest groups. This book takes a systematic look at lobbyists in order to broaden our understanding of the staff entrusted with the responsibility of influencing European politics. Who are the European lobbyists? What are their professional backgrounds, career patterns, practices, and beliefs? The study uses a sociological framework to explore the professionalisation and professionalism of the field across national proveniences, policy fields and interest groups, and develops a systematic analysis that considers three different dimensions: occupational patterns, shared ...
Contributors to this volume outline how societal actors have been closely involved in European integration from the founding of the EU to the Maastricht Treaty. Based on newly accessible sources, the authors discuss the participation of political parties, business groups and civil society organizations in European polity-building and policy-making.
An encyclopedia unlike any other, this work focuses on lobbying, corruption, and political influence in America to inspire readers to think critically about the U.S. government and to appreciate the opportunities of citizenship. Even before the founding of the Republic, James Madison expressed the concern that special interest influence could become "adverse to the rights of other citizens [as well as] the permanent and aggregate interests of the community." In modern times, examples of lobbying scandals and corruption associated with political campaign contributions abound—and yet our political system can and does further the larger goals of American democracy. Suited for advanced high sc...
This volume addresses the complex relationship between memory, culture, and gender--as well as the representation of women in national memory--in several European countries. An international group of contributors explore the national allegories of memory in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the relationship between violence and war in the recollections of both families and the state, and the methodological approaches that can be used to study a gendered culture of memory.