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Crisis of Conservatism? assesses the status of American conservatism--its politics, its allies in the Republican Party, and the struggle for the soul of the conservative movement. This struggle became especially acute with the controversial policies of the Bush administration and Republican losses in the 2006 and 2008 elections.The book's contributors, a broad array of leading scholars of conservatism, identify a range of tensions in the conservative movement and the Republican Party, tensions over what conservatism is and should be, over what conservatives should do when in power, and over how conservatives should govern. While the conservative movement remains beset by many problems and divisions, it has fundamental strengths. Crisis of Conservatism? reveals the many varieties of conservatism and examines the internal conflicts, strengths and challenges that will define the movement in the future.
The relationship between religious belief and sexuality as personal attributes exhibits some provocative comparisons. Despite the nonestablishment of religion in the United States and the constitutional guarantee of free exercise, Christianity functions as the religious and moral standard in America. Ethical views that do not fit within this consensus often go unrecognized as moral values. Similarly, in the realm of sexual orientation, heterosexuality is seen as the yardstick by which sexual practices are measured. The notion that "alternative" sexual practices like homosexuality could possess ethical significance is often overlooked or ignored. In her new book, An Argument for Same-Sex Marr...
Drawing on White House and congressional documents as well as on personal interviews, Mark Rozell provides both a historical overview of executive privilege and an explanation of its importance in the political process. He argues for a return to a pre-Watergate understanding of the role of executive privilege.
Nelsen and Guth contend that religion, or "confessional culture, " plays a powerful role in shaping European ideas about politics, attitudes toward European integration, and national and continental identities in its leaders and citizens. Catholicism has for centuries promoted the unity of Christendom, while Protestantism has valued particularity and feared Catholic dominance. These confessional cultures, the authors argue, have resulted in two very different visions of Europe that have deeply influenced the process of postwar integration. Catholics have seen Europe as a single cultural entity that is best governed by a single polity; Protestants have never felt part of continental culture a...
"Federalism: A Very Short Introduction provides a concise overview of the principles and operations of federalism, from its origins and evolution to the key events and constitutional decisions that have defined its framework. While the primary focus is on the United States, a comparative analysis of other federal systems, including those of Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Nigeria, and Switzerland, is provided. The role of federal government is explained alongside the critical roles of state and local governments. This Very Short Introduction also examines whether federal structures are viable in an era of increasingly centralized and authoritarian-style government"--
Do the religious affiliations of elected officials shape the way they vote on such key issues as abortion, homosexuality, defense spending, taxes, and welfare spending? In Religion, Politics, and Polarization: How Religiopolitical Conflict is Changing Congress and American Democracy,William D’Antonio, Steven A. Tuch and Josiah R. Baker trace the influence of religion and party in the U.S. Congress over time. For almost four decades these key issues have competed for public attention with health care, war, terrorism, and the growing inequity between the incomes of the middle classes and those of corporate America. The authors examine several contemporary issues and trace the increasing pola...
The Routledge Handbook of Political Management is a comprehensive overview of the field of applied politics, encompassing political consulting, campaigns and elections, lobbying and advocacy, grass roots politics, fundraising, media and political communications, the role of the parties, political leadership, and the ethical dimensions of public life. While most chapters focus on American politics and campaigns, there are also contributions on election campaigns in Europe, the Middle East, Russia, Australia, East Asia, and Latin America. In addition to a thorough treatment of campaign and elections, the authors discuss modern techniques, problems, and issues of advocacy, lobbying, and politic...
Reviled as a fascist and zealot by libertarians and liberals but praised as a great patriot and devout man of God by many conservatives, John Ashcroft may have been the most powerful and polarizing attorney general in our nation's history. Looking past such oversimplified stereotypes, Nancy Baker offers the first in-depth study of Ashcroft's controversial tenure as attorney general-and as domestic commander in our campaign against global terrorism. Addressing new concerns about challenges to civil liberties in the wake of 9/11, Baker provides a critical assessment of Ashcroft's impact on national life within the context of an enormous expansion of presidential power. Baker depicts a man who ...
“I have an Article II,” Donald Trump has announced, citing the US Constitution, “where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.” Though this statement would have come as a shock to the framers of the Constitution, it fairly sums up the essence of “the unitary executive theory.” This theory, which emerged during the Reagan administration and gathered strength with every subsequent presidency, counters the system of checks and balances that constrains a president’s executive impulses. It also, the authors of this book contend, counters the letter and spirit of the Constitution. In their account of the rise of unitary executive theory over the last several decades, the...
When President Warren G. Harding fell ill in 1923, Steve Early, a reporter for the Associated Press, became skeptical of the innocuous bulletins being issued by the White House. He remained at the hotel where the president was staying, and when Florence Harding called out for a doctor, Early scrambled down a fire escape to file the story. His Associated Press report was six minutes ahead of others with the news of Harding's death. A decade later, when Franklin D. Roosevelt entered the White House, Steve Early became the first person to hold the title of presidential press secretary. Mike McCurry, Jody Powell, and Marlin Fitzwater have all become familiar names. But how has the role of the Wh...