Post-Soviet Civil Society

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Philip Oldenburg

"The question of why some countries have democratic regimes and others do not is a significant issue in comparative politics. This book looks at India and Pakistan, two countries with clearly contrasting political regime histories, and presents an argument on why India is a democracy and Pakistan is not. Focusing on the specificities and the nuances of each state system, the author examines in detail the balance of authority and power between popular or elected politicians and the state apparatus through substantial historical analysis. India and Pakistan are both large, multi-religious and multi-lingual countries sharing a geographic and historical space that in 1947, when they became independent from British rule, gave them a virtually indistinguishable level of both extreme poverty and inequality. All of those factors militate against democracy, according to most theories, and in Pakistan democracy did indeed fail very quickly after Independence. It has only been restored as a fa ade for military-bureaucratic rule for brief periods since then. In comparison, after almost thirty years of democracy, India had a brush with authoritarian rule, in the 1975-76 Emergency, and some analysts were perversely reassured that the India exception had been erased. But instead, after a momentous election in 1977, democracy has become stronger over the last thirty years."--Pub. desc.

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Noble E. Cunningham, Jr

"To mark the two-hundredth anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's inauguration into the presidency, Noble E. Cunningham, Jr., presents The Inaugural Addresses of President Thomas Jefferson, 1801 and 1805. Of all the addresses delivered by presidents of the United States at their inaugurations, few have been as memorable as those given by Thomas Jefferson. In addition to providing the texts of President Jefferson's first and second presidential inaugural addresses, delivered on March 4, 1801 and March 4, 1805, this volume explores their dissemination and impact worldwide.". "While President Jefferson's addresses are well known, the extent to which they were published and distributed, and the responses to them by both individuals and governments, has not previously been considered. In a world where the new republican government of the United States represented a major departure from the dominant monarchical governments of Europe, the recognition given to Jefferson's inaugural addresses in Europe and elsewhere is of considerable significance. His addresses were widely published in newspapers and journals not only in the United States and Canada, but also in Great Britain, France, Italy, and other European states, as well as later republished in South America." "The Inaugural Addresses of President Thomas Jefferson, 1801 and 1805 provides evidence of the massive extent to which Jefferson's addresses have been translated and reprinted, attesting to his international stature as an early spokesman for democratic principles."--BOOK JACKET.

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T.C.W. Blanning

Few historical events have inspired so much controversy and debate as the French Revolution. The origins, nature and effects of the Revolution have been the themes of a voluminous literature, especially since the 1950s, and have aroused sharp disagreement among historians. This book discusses the present state of the controversy and provides detailed suggestions for further reading. Professor Blanning explains the different interpretations advanced by Marxist, revisionist and post-revisionist historians in order to provide students with access to the literature and to help them to form their own views.

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Jeffrey Haus

"Historians have typically characterized nineteenth-century French Jewry as largely eager to assimilate, or at the very least passively accommodating to assimilation, with only the most traditional Jews rejecting the trappings of French culture. Through the lens of Jewish primary and rabbinical education, author Jeffrey Haus shows that even integrated French Jews sought to set limits on assimilation and struggled to preserve a sense of Jewish distinctiveness in France. Challenges of Equality argues that Jewish leaders couched their views in terms that the government could understand and accept, portraying a Judaism consistent with the goal of cultural and political unification of the French nation. At the same time, their educational activities asserted the existence of distinctively Jewish cultural space." "Haus shows how French government officials repeatedly used political and financial pressure to advance their own vision of an integrated French Judaism. In response, Jewish leaders focused on the concepts of "utility" and "equality" to erect and manage the boundaries between their institutions and the state, as these were key elements of governmental policy toward religious and educational establishments. Haus examines these issues by comparing the financial and curricular histories of Jewish primary schools run by the Consistory and the central French rabbinical school. Utilizing a variety of sources - including school curricula, rabbinical ordination examinations, government documents and correspondence, state jurisprudential decisions, and the French Jewish press - Challenges of Equality paints a picture of a resilient and persistent French Judaism that adapted and integrated but nevertheless survived." "Scholars of Jewish history, French history, European history, and the history of education will appreciate the detailed look at Jewish integration in France that Haus provides."--BOOK JACKET.