Phantoms Of A Beleaguered Republic

Author : Stephen Skowronek
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0197543103
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic written by Stephen Skowronek and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-03-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A powerful dissection of one of the fundamental problems in American governance today: the clash between presidents determined to redirect the nation through ever-tighter control of administration and an executive branch still organized to promote shared interests in steady hands, due deliberation, and expertise. President Trump pitted himself repeatedly against the institutions and personnel of the executive branch. In the process, two once-obscure concepts came center stage in an eerie faceoff. On one side was the specter of a "Deep State" conspiracyadministrators threatening to thwart the will of the people and undercut the constitutional authority of the president they elected to lead them. On the other side was a raw personalization of presidential power, one that a theory of "the unitary executive" gussied up and allowed to run roughshod over reason and the rule of law. The Deep State and the unitary executive framed every major contest of the Trump presidency. Like phantom twins, they drew each other out. These conflicts are not new. Stephen Skowronek, John A. Dearborn, and Desmond King trace the tensions between presidential power and the depth of the American state back through the decades and forward through the various settlements arrived at in previous eras. Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic is about the breakdown of settlements and the abiding vulnerabilities of a Constitution that gave scant attention to administrative power. Rather than simply dump on Trump, the authors provide a richly historical perspective on the conflicts that rocked his presidency, and they explain why, if left untamed, the phantom twins will continue to pull the American government apart.

Author : Stephen Skowronek
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780197543115
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.11/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic written by Stephen Skowronek and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The American people have been enlisted in an eerie face-off, one all the more nightmarish for the way the competing specters play off one another. On one side is a Deep State conspiracy that threatens to thwart the will of the people and undercut the constitutional authority of the leader they elected. On the other side is a raw personalization of power, one that a theory of the unitary executive has gussied up and allowed to run roughshod over reason and the rule of law. These, we submit, are the phantom twins of a beleaguered republic. Each threat implicates the other in every central controversy of the Trump era. Phantoms of a Beleaguered Republic argues that the Deep State and the unitary executive are two sides of the same syndrome, that the contest they frame speaks to basic issues of governance long suppressed, and that two distinct conceptions of authority are now drawing each other out to no good effect. The worry is that, left untamed, these phantom twins will continue to pull American government apart"--

Author : John A. Dearborn
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022679783X
Total Pages : 347 pages
Book Rating : 4.30/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Power Shifts written by John A. Dearborn and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2021-09-10 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The extraordinary nature of the Trump presidency has spawned a resurgence in the study of the presidency and a rising concern about the power of the office. In Power Shifts: Congress and Presidential Representation, John Dearborn explores the development of the idea of the representative presidency, that the president alone is elected by a national constituency, and thus the only part of government who can represent the nation against the parochial concerns of members of Congress, and its relationship to the growth of presidential power in the 20th century. Dearborn asks why Congress conceded so much power to the Chief Executive, with the support of particularly conservative members of the Supreme Court. He discusses the debates between Congress and the Executive and the arguments offered by politicians, scholars, and members of the judiciary about the role of the president in the American state. He asks why so many bought into the idea of the representative, and hence, strong presidency despite unpopular wars, failed foreign policies, and parochial actions that favor only the president's supporters. This is a book about the power of ideas in the development of the American state"--

Author : Stephen Skowronek
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521288651
Total Pages : 404 pages
Book Rating : 4.57/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Building a New American State written by Stephen Skowronek and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1982-06-30 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the reconstruction of institutional power relationships that had to be negotiated among the courts, the parties, the President, the Congress, and the states in order to accommodate the expansion of national administrative capacities around the turn of the twentieth century.

Author : Stuart Neville
Publisher : Soho Press
ISBN 13 : 1616957697
Total Pages : 401 pages
Book Rating : 4.98/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Ghosts of Belfast written by Stuart Neville and published by Soho Press. This book was released on 2016-01-12 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Northern Ireland's troubles may be over, but peace has not erased the crimes of the past. Gerry Fegan, a former paramilitary contract killer, is haunted by the ghosts of the twelve people he slaughtered. ... In order to appease the ghosts, Fegan is going to have to kill the men who gave him orders"--Page 4 of cover

Author : Hannah L. Walker
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190940670
Total Pages : 188 pages
Book Rating : 4.76/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Mobilized by Injustice written by Hannah L. Walker and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-10 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Activated by injustice, members of over-policed communities lead the current movement for civil rights in the United States. Responding to decades of abuse by law enforcement and an excessive criminal justice system, activists protested police brutality in Ferguson, organized against stop-and-frisk in New York City, and fueled the rise of Black Lives Matter. Yet, scholars did not anticipate this resistance, instead anticipating the political withdrawal of marginalized citizens. In Mobilized by Injustice, Hannah L. Walker excavates the power of criminal justice to inspire political action. Mobilization results from the belief that one's experiences are a consequence of policies that target people like one's self on the basis of group affiliation like race, ethnicity and class. In order to identify how individuals connect their experiences to a collective struggle, Walker centralizes the voices of those most impacted by criminal justice, pairing personal narratives with analysis of several surveys. She finds that the mobilizing power of the criminal justice system is broad, crosses racial boundaries and extends to the loved ones of custodial citizens. Mobilized by Injustice offers a compelling account of the criminal justice system as a spark for the formation of a movement with the potential to remake American politics.

Author : Charles O. Jones
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190458224
Total Pages : 206 pages
Book Rating : 4.25/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The American Presidency: A Very Short Introduction written by Charles O. Jones and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-06-01 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The American founding fathers were dedicated to the project of creating a government both functional and incapable of devolving into tyranny. To do this, they intentionally decentralized decision making among the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches. They believed this separation of powers would force compromise and achieve their goal of "separating to unify." In the second edition of this Very Short Introduction, Charles O. Jones delves into the constitutional roots of the American presidency to show how presidents faced the challenges of governing within a system of separation of powers. This updated edition of The American Presidency reviews crucial themes, including democratization of presidential elections, transitioning into and organizing a presidency, challenges in leading the permanent government, making law and policy, and reforming and changing the institution. It also introduces new case studies from the Obama administration, providing compelling insights into contemporary critical issues such as military power, the role of the First Lady, and the new trends in electoral campaigning-including the stunning advances in mass media and campaign technology. Jones lucidly shows that American presidents are not, and simply cannot be, as powerful as most Americans believe them to be. Accordingly, he stresses the necessity to acknowledge the president's political status and style within the constitutional structure: the president is not the presidency, and the presidency is not the government.

Author : Julia Payson
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0197615260
Total Pages : 209 pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

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Download or read book When Cities Lobby written by Julia Payson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a political environment characterized by intense urban-rural polarization and growing hostility between cities and state legislatures, When Cities Lobby explores how local officials use lobbyists to compete for power in state politics. When Cities Lobby tells the story of what happens when city officials rely on professional lobbyists to represent their interests in state government. In a political environment characterized by intense urban-rural polarization and growing hostility between cities and state legislatures, the ability to lobby offers a powerful tool for city leaders seeking to amplify their voices in state politics. The cities that lobby at the highest rates include large urban centers that have historically faced obstacles to effective representation in our federal system, and, increasingly, blue-leaning cities engaged in preemption battles against Republican-led legislatures. But high-income places have also figured out how to strategically use lobbyists, and these communities have become particularly adept at lobbying to secure additional grant money and shift state funding in a direction that favors them. How did we end up with a system where political officials in different levels of government often choose to pay lobbyists to facilitate communication between them, and are the potential benefits worth the costs? Author Julia Payson demonstrates that the answer is deeply rooted in both the nature of the federal system and the evolution of the professional lobbying industry. While some states have recently debated measures to restrict lobbying by local governments, these efforts will likely do more harm than good in the absence of structural reforms to the lobbying industry more broadly.

Author : John Tirman
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780199831494
Total Pages : 416 pages
Book Rating : 4.91/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Deaths of Others written by John Tirman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-07-01 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Americans are greatly concerned about the number of our troops killed in battle--100,000 dead in World War I; 300,000 in World War II; 33,000 in the Korean War; 58,000 in Vietnam; 4,500 in Iraq; over 1,000 in Afghanistan--and rightly so. But why are we so indifferent, often oblivious, to the far greater number of casualties suffered by those we fight and those we fight for? This is the compelling, largely unasked question John Tirman answers in The Deaths of Others. Between six and seven million people died in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq alone, the majority of them civilians. And yet Americans devote little attention to these deaths. Other countries, however, do pay attention, and Tirman argues that if we want to understand why there is so much anti-Americanism around the world, the first place to look is how we conduct war. We understandably strive to protect our own troops, but our rules of engagement with the enemy are another matter. From atomic weapons and carpet bombing in World War II to napalm and daisy cutters in Vietnam and beyond, we have used our weapons intentionally to kill large numbers of civilians and terrorize our adversaries into surrender. Americans, however, are mostly ignorant of these facts, believing that American wars are essentially just, necessary, and "good." Tirman investigates the history of casualties caused by American forces in order to explain why America remains so unpopular and why US armed forces operate the way they do. Trenchant and passionate, The Deaths of Others forces readers to consider the tragic consequences of American military action not just for Americans, but especially for those we fight.

Author : Susan L. Shirk
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199751978
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.76/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Changing Media, Changing China written by Susan L. Shirk and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-27 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thirty years ago, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) made a fateful decision: to allow newspapers, magazines, television, and radio stations to compete in the marketplace instead of being financed exclusively by the government. The political and social implications of that decision are still unfolding as the Chinese government, media, and public adapt to the new information environment. Edited by Susan Shirk, one of America's leading experts on contemporary China, this collection of essays brings together a who's who of experts--Chinese and American--writing about all aspects of the changing media landscape in China. In detailed case studies, the authors describe how the media is reshaping itself from a propaganda mouthpiece into an agent of watchdog journalism, how politicians are reacting to increased scrutiny from the media, and how television, newspapers, magazines, and Web-based news sites navigate the cross-currents between the open marketplace and the CCP censors. China has over 360 million Internet users, more than any other country, and an astounding 162 million bloggers. The growth of Internet access has dramatically increased the information available, the variety and timeliness of the news, and its national and international reach. But China is still far from having a free press. As of 2008, the international NGO Freedom House ranked China 181 worst out of 195 countries in terms of press restrictions, and Chinese journalists have been aptly described as "dancing in shackles." The recent controversy over China's censorship of Google highlights the CCP's deep ambivalence toward information freedom. Covering everything from the rise of business media and online public opinion polling to environmental journalism and the effect of media on foreign policy, Changing Media, Changing China reveals how the most populous nation on the planet is reacting to demands for real news.