The problem of bureaucratic rationality

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Nicholas Atkin and Frank Tallett

"This revised and updated work shows how the resurgence of the French Far Right has a long pedigree and has entered into all areas of political, social, cultural and religious life, flourishing on concepts of race and nationhood. While the French Right, like most political movements and sets of ideas, may not have a coherent, consistent and dogmatic structure with a single ideology, there are powerful connecting links throughout modern French history. These stretch from Legitimatist support for the Bourbon monarchy, a nostalgia for imperialism, the occasional craving for a 'man of order', to the kind of rabid anti-semitism that produced the Dreyfus affair, and support for Petain's pro Nazi Vichy regime or the right-wing zealotry over Algeria which challenged de Gaulle. Le Pen's Front National is just the latest incarnation of a familiar demon. The Right in France is vital reading for anyone concerned with its re-emergence."--BOOK JACKET.

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Gino G. Raymond

"Chronicles foretelling the death of the French Communist Party have been a staple part of the literature on the Left in France since the 1980s, when the party began to lose control over the dissident voices in its own ranks and had to face the evidence of its failure at the ballot box. The collapse of the Berlin Wall and the demise of the Soviet Union reinforced the belief that the party had lost its raison d'etre and therefore any enduring hope of survival. Nonetheless, the party emerged from the elections of 2004 in France on a much more even keel than those parties to its left which had been tipped to overtake it. Instead of viewing the party in isolation, Raymond treats it as part of the host society whose evolution invariably impacts on its fortunes and suggests that the obituaries for communism in France may be premature."--Jacket.

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Maria Victoria Murillo

"Due to economic crises, labor parties followed economic policies that hurt labor unions during the 1990s, such as trade liberalization and privatization. This book explains why labor unions resisted on some occasions and submitted on others and what the consequences of their actions were by studying three countries: Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela. The comparison between the experiences of the three countries and five different sectors in each country shows the importance of politics in explaining labor reactions and their effects on economic policies."--Jacket.

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Ilan Peleg, Dov Waxman

"This timely book explores the causes and consequences of the growing conflict between Israel's Jewish majority and its Palestinian-Arab minority"-- "Arguing that a comprehensive and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict depends on a resolution of the Jewish-Palestinian conflict within Israel as much as it does on resolving the conflict between Israel and Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, this timely book explores the causes and consequences of the growing conflict between Israel's Jewish majority and its Palestinian-Arab minority. It warns that if Jewish-Arab relations in Israel continue to deteriorate, this will pose a serious threat to the stability of Israel, to the quality of Israeli democracy, and to the potential for peace in the Middle East. The book examines the views and attitudes of both the Palestinian minority and the Jewish majority, as well as the Israeli state's historic approach to its Arab citizens. Drawing upon the experience of other states with national minorities, the authors put forward specific proposals for safeguarding and enhancing the rights of the Palestinian minority while maintaining the country's Jewish identity"--