General elections today

Sample

Katsuyoshi Fukui, John Markakis

Conflicts in the Horn have all too often dominated press coverage of Africa. This book exposes the subtle and ambiguous role ethnicity can play in social conflict - a role that is nowhere as simple and direct as commonly assumed. Social conflict is routinely attributed to ethnic differentiation because dividing lines between rival groups often follow ethnic contours; and cultural symbolism has proved a potent ideological weapon. The purpose of this book is to examine the nature of the bond linking ethnicity to conflict in a variety of circumstances. The diverse groups are involved in confrontations at different levels and of varying intensity, ranging from elemental struggles for physical survival of groups at the margin of society, to contests for state power and control of resources at the centre. The ten studies from Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya are based on primary research by anthropologists and historians who have long experience of the region. The insights gained from this comparative work help to refine common assumptions about conflict among ethnic groups.

Sample

Mitchell Dean and Barry Hindess

Inspired by Foucault's discussion of governmentality, this book makes a major contribution to our understanding of government. The book is interdisciplinary in approach, and combines theoretical discussion with empirical focus. It includes a substantial introduction by the editors, and contains work critiquing the central notion of governmentality. This book will be essential reading in political science, sociology, law, philosophy, education and economics.

Sample

Karl P. Benziger

Imre Nagy is a compelling figure both in life and in death--one whose actions stimulated consequences in Hungary that continue into the present. Providing a summary review of Hungarian Cold War history, the author examines the ways in which the memory of the martyred prime minister and the story of the 1956 revolution influenced political socialization in Hungary.

Sample

Jonathan C. Valdez

In this timely book Jonathan Valdez explores the role of ideology in the maintenance and subsequent collapse of Soviet influence in Eastern Europe. He begins by examining how to define ideology, proposing that it should not be viewed as any specific body of thought but as the interpretation of a body of thought for a political purpose. Valdez then looks at how Marxism-Leninism was used to legitimize Soviet influence. He shows how it was interpreted to rationalize policy actions, to communicate Soviet intent and policy desires to East European elites, and to explain change in socialist systems. Valdez argues that the use of the fundamental principles of Marxism-Leninism to perform various functions ultimately brought about a change in the basic assumptions of the theory itself. This resulted in the abandonment of the previous insistence on a universal model of socialism and of the idea that the international interests of the socialist bloc must take precedence over individual national interest. Soviet influence in Eastern Europe rested on little else than these ideological principles and consequently stood little chance of surviving their re-interpretation. Finally Valdez assesses the re-interpretation of the fundamental principles of Soviet-East European relations by reformist scholars in the Soviet Union, and the response by conservative members of the party apparatus. . By focusing upon both the political debates between the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and the political uses of ideology within that relationship, Jonathan Valdez makes an important and innovative contribution to the study of Soviet external relations. Internationalism and the ideology of Soviet influence will be widely read by students and specialists of Soviet and East European studies, international relations and political science.