Many Americans wish to believe that the United States, founded in religious tolerance, has gradually and naturally established a secular public sphere that is equally tolerant of all religions--or none.
A lively history of the peculiar math of votingSince the very birth of democracy in ancient Greece, the simple act of voting has given rise to mathematical paradoxes that have puzzled some of the greatest philosophers, statesmen, and mathematicians.
This anthology gathers Giuseppe Mazzini's most important essays on democracy, nation building, and international relations, including some that have never before been translated into English.
Whether you are a politician caught carrying on with an intern or a minister photographed with a prostitute, discovery does not necessarily spell the end of your public career.
Balancing respect for religious conviction and the values of liberal democracy is a daunting challenge for judges and lawmakers, particularly when religious groups seek exemption from laws that govern others.
This absorbing book explores the tensions within the Roman Catholic church and between the church and royal authority in France in the crucial period 1290-1321.
The most widely debated conception of democracy in recent years is deliberative democracy--the idea that citizens or their representatives owe each other mutually acceptable reasons for the laws they enact.
The American political reformer Herbert Croly wrote, "e;For better or worse, democracy cannot be disentangled from an aspiration toward human perfectibility.
Whether examining election outcomes, the legal status of terrorism suspects, or if (or how) people can be sentenced to death, a judge in a modern democracy assumes a role that raises some of the most contentious political issues of our day.
The New American RevolutionA controversial and powerful manifesto for twenty-first-century American Patriots"e;It's time to swing back the curtains and invite the light in.
After fifteen weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list, God's Politics not only changed the conversation about faith and politics in this country, it began a movement.
New York Times bestseller God's Politics struck a chord with Americans disenchanted with how the Right had co-opted all talk about integrating religious values into our politics, and with the Left, who were mute on the subject.
The bestselling author and prominent New Testament scholar draws parallels between 1st-century Roman Empire and 21st-century United States, showing how the radical messages of Jesus and Paul can lead us to peace today Using the tools of expert biblical scholarship and a keen eye for current events, bestselling author John Dominic Crossan deftly presents the tensions exhibited in the Bible between political power and God's justice.
How Donald Trump laid waste to American politics, culture, and social orderAfter Donald Trump's rise to power, after the 2020 presidential election, after January 6, is American politics past the point of no return?
Why some of Asia's authoritarian regimes have democratized as they have grown richer-and why others haven'tOver the past century, Asia has been transformed by rapid economic growth, industrialization, and urbanization-a spectacular record of development that has turned one of the world's poorest regions into one of its richest.
How the actions and advocacy of diverse religious communities in the United States have supported democracy's development during the past centuryDoes religion benefit democracy?
A new model for the relationship between science and democracy that spans policymaking, the funding and conduct of research, and our approach to new technologiesOur ability to act on some of the most pressing issues of our time, from pandemics and climate change to artificial intelligence and nuclear weapons, depends on knowledge provided by scientists and other experts.
How middle-class economic dependence on the state impedes democratization and contributes to authoritarian resilienceConventional wisdom holds that the rising middle classes are a force for democracy.
A bold new approach to combatting the inherent corruption of representative democracyThis provocative book reveals how the majority of modern liberal democracies have become increasingly oligarchic, suffering from a form of structural political decay first conceptualized by ancient philosophers.
An anthropologist's groundbreaking account of how Islamic religious authority is assembled through the unceasing labor of community building on the island of JavaThis compelling book draws on Ismail Fajrie Alatas's unique insights as an anthropologist to provide a new understanding of Islamic religious authority, showing how religious leaders unite diverse aspects of life and contest differing Muslim perspectives to create distinctly Muslim communities.
How the executive branch-not the president alone-formulates executive orders, and how this process constrains the chief executive's ability to act unilaterallyThe president of the United States is commonly thought to wield extraordinary personal power through the issuance of executive orders.
An authoritative guide to federal democracy from two respected experts in the fieldAround the world, federalism has emerged as the system of choice for nascent republics and established nations alike.
An in-depth look into the psychology of voters around the world, how voters shape elections, and how elections transform citizens and affect their livesCould understanding whether elections make people happy and bring them closure matter more than who they vote for?
A groundbreaking look at how group expectations unify Black Americans in their support of the Democratic partyBlack Americans are by far the most unified racial group in American electoral politics, with 80 to 90 percent identifying as Democrats-a surprising figure given that nearly a third now also identify as ideologically conservative, up from less than 10 percent in the 1970s.
How political protests and activism influence voters and candidatesThe "e;silent majority"e;-a phrase coined by Richard Nixon in 1969 in response to Vietnam War protests and later used by Donald Trump as a campaign slogan-refers to the supposed wedge that exists between protestors in the street and the voters at home.
How the NRA became a political juggernaut by influencing the behaviors and beliefs of everyday AmericansThe National Rifle Association is one of the most powerful interest groups in America, and has consistently managed to defeat or weaken proposed gun regulations-even despite widespread public support for stricter laws and the prevalence of mass shootings and gun-related deaths.
The racist legacy behind the Western idea of freedomThe era of the Enlightenment, which gave rise to our modern conceptions of freedom and democracy, was also the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
A major new history of how democracy became the dominant political force in Europe in the second half of the twentieth centuryWhat happened in the years following World War II to create a democratic revolution in the western half of Europe?
A compelling account of South Africa's post-Apartheid democracyAt a time when many democracies are under strain around the world, Until We Have Won Our Liberty shines new light on the signal achievements of one of the contemporary era's most closely watched transitions away from minority rule.
An exploration of the factors behind neoliberalism's resilience in developing economies and what this could mean for democracy's futureSince the 1980s, neoliberalism has withstood repeated economic shocks and financial crises to become the hegemonic economic policy worldwide.
An incisive history of the changing relationship between democracy and capitalismThe twentieth century witnessed the triumph of democratic capitalism in the industrialized West, with widespread popular support for both free markets and representative elections.
The gripping story of an explosive turning point in the history of modern IndiaOn the night of June 25, 1975, Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency in India, suspending constitutional rights and rounding up her political opponents in midnight raids across the country.
A major new history of how the Enlightenment transformed people's everyday livesThe Secular Enlightenment is a panoramic account of the radical ways that life began to change for ordinary people in the age of Locke, Voltaire, and Rousseau.
How a hybrid Confucian-engendered form of governance might solve today's political problemsWhat might a viable political alternative to liberal democracy look like?
How referendums can diffuse populist tensions by putting power back into the hands of the peoplePropelled by the belief that government has slipped out of the hands of ordinary citizens, a surging wave of populism is destabilizing democracies around the world.
Democracy establishes relationships of political equality, ones in which citizens equally share authority over what they do together and respect one another as equals.
How Hawai'i became an emblem of multiculturalism during its journey to statehood in the mid-twentieth centuryGateway State explores the development of Hawai'i as a model for liberal multiculturalism and a tool of American global power in the era of decolonization.