Constitution: government and the state Books

Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the veteran political journalist and 60 Minutes correspondent, a deep dive into the history, evolution, and current state of the American presidency, and how we can make the job less impossible and more productive—featuring a new post-2020–election epilogue“This is a great gift to our sense of the actual presidency, a primer on leadership.”—Ken BurnsImagine you have just been elected president. You are now commander-in-chief, chief executive, chief diplomat, chief legislator, chief of party, chief voice of the people, first responder, chief priest, and world leader. You’re expected to fulfill your campaign promises, but you’re also expected to solve the urgent crises of the day. What’s on your to-do list? Where would you even start? What shocks aren’t you thinking about? The American presidency is in trouble. It has become overburdened, misunderstood, almost impossible to do. “The problems in the job unfolded before Donald Trump was elected, and the challenges of governing today will confront his successors,” writes John Dickerson. After all, the founders never intended for our system of checks and balances to have one superior Chief Magistrate, with Congress demoted to “the little brother who can’t keep up.” In this eye-opening book, John Dickerson writes about presidents in history such a Washington, Lincoln, FDR, and Eisenhower, and and in contemporary times, from LBJ and Reagan and Bush, Obama, and Trump, to show how a complex job has been done, and why we need to reevaluate how we view the presidency, how we choose our presidents, and what we expect from them once they are in office. Think of the presidential campaign as a job interview. Are we asking the right questions? Are we looking for good campaigners, or good presidents? Once a candidate gets the job, what can they do to thrive? Drawing on research and interviews with current and former White House staffers, Dickerson defines what the job of president actually entails, identifies the things that only the president can do, and analyzes how presidents in history have managed the burden. What qualities make for a good president? Who did it well? Why did Bill Clinton call the White House “the crown jewel in the American penal system”? The presidency is a job of surprises with high stakes, requiring vision, management skill, and an even temperament. Ultimately, in order to evaluate candidates properly for the job, we need to adjust our expectations, and be more realistic about the goals, the requirements, and the limitations of the office. As Dickerson writes, “Americans need their president to succeed, but the presidency is set up for failure. It doesn’t have to be.”

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Trade Review'Voici un ouvrage...fondamental pour l'établissement du texte de la République de Platon.' Marcel Meulder, L'Antiquité Classique, 1991.

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Trade Review'As an annotated bibliographic guide, ordered by topics, the book is extremely useful.' David Shulman, Pacific Affairs, 1991. 'So ist ein Buch entstanden, das seiner Anlage nach ein Kompendium im besten Sinne ist.' O.v.Hinüber, WZKSA, 1993.

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Book SynopsisThe Constitution of the Russian Federation was ratified in 1993 amid great hopes and aspirations following the collapse of the USSR. The constitution proclaims the goal of establishing a “democratic, federal state” that functions according to rule of law and promises a broad array of social, political and economic rights to its citizens. But how well has the Russian government lived up to realizing these promises? Seven distinguished scholars on Russian politics and law examine the state of political accountability, federal power-sharing, judicial independence, press freedom, and criminal procedure in Russia today. The picture that emerges is decidedly mixed; they conclude that the Russian constitution remains a work in progress.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Preface William B. Simons Introduction: The Promise of the Russian Constitution Gordon B. Smith Chief Justices of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation: 1990 to the Present Part I: Constitutional Promise and Political Realities Chapter 1: Constitutionalism and Accountability in Contemporary Russia: The Problem of Displaced Sovereignty Richard Sakwa Chapter 2: The Russian Constitutional Court’s Long Struggle for Viable Federalism Robert Sharlet Chapter 3: Russia’s Constitutional Spirit: Judge-Made Principles in Theory and Practice Alexei Trochev Part II: Constitutional Practice and Legal Obstacles Chapter 4: Press Freedom in Russia: Does the Constitution Matter? Peter Krug Chapter 5: The Procuracy: Constitutional Questions Deferred Gordon B. Smith Chapter 6: Modern Russian Criminal Procedure: The Adversarial Principle and Guilty Plea Stanislaw Pomorski Chapter 7: Jury Trial and Adversary Procedure in Russia: Reform of Soviet Inquisitorial procedure or Democratic Window-Dressing? Stephen C. Thaman Chapter 8: Russia’s Constitutional Project and Prospects for the Future Gordon B. Smith About the Authors List of Russian-Language Abbreviations Index

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Book SynopsisThis book analyses the recent and on-going regime changes, their internal causes and the external factors that either stimulate or obstruct political reforms. Comparing today’s political reforms with the evolution of the political systems in the Western world, and especially with the sequencing of and congruence between the development of civil institutions and economic and political systems then and there, permits to reveal serious problems with the current attempts at regime change. A comparison of the processes started by Gorbachev in Russia and the Chinese reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping, and the current situation in these countries and their respective positions in the world, highlights both the benefits and dangers of radical reforms. The second part of the book is devoted to the study of moral, legal and political aspects of various forms of external interference with the aim of influencing change.Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1 – From an African village to a global village 1. Ex Uno Plures in the evolution of humankind 2. Is E Pluribus Unum replacing Ex Uno Plures? 3. Homogenisation of the world and heterogenisation of individual societies 4. ‘Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat’? Chapter 2 – Whither goest thou, the world? 1. Universal history and historical determinism 2. Current regime changes: socioeconomic and political problems 3. Problems of liberal democracy and democratic capitalism 4. Limits of social democratic choice in a globalised world 5. Any viable alternatives? Chapter 3 – On the futility and danger of external attempts to ‘democratise’ China 1. China’s rise and the changing balance of power 2. Modernising China – a democratic China? 3. A small diversion to illustrate the point: the Kyrgyz tragedy of 2010 4. Back to China: reforms, not revolution 5. The world’s reaction to China’s rise 6. From Westernisation to Sinification? Chapter 4 – Regime changes in Russia: Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin 1. Understanding Russia or believing in Russia 2. Collapse of the USSR and the emergence of Yeltsin’s Russia 3. On Putin’s authoritarianism 4. Russia and its close neighbours 5. Russia – a part of Europe? Chapter 5 – Democratic peace theories and regime change 1. Theory and politics of democratic peace 2. Problems with democratic peace theories 3. Immanuel Kant and the XXI century world 4. On the war-proneness of some democratising states Chapter 6 – Humanitarian intervention, civil wars and regime change 1. Use of force and humanitarian concerns in ‘modern’ and ‘post-modern’ international societies 2. The Kosovo case revisited 3. Recognition of Kosovo, Abkhazia and South Ossetia 4. The Libya case 5. The Syria tragedy 6. Humanitarian intervention and regime change: some generalisations 7. From humanitarian intervention to R2P or ‘old wine in new bottles’? 8. Intervention in civil wars or internal disturbances and regime change 9. Determinants of success: efforts of interveners or characteristics of the target society? Conclusions, index.

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Book SynopsisConstitutions are a product of history, but what is the role of history in interpreting and applying constitutional provisions? This volume addresses that question from a comparative perspective, examining different uses of history by courts in determining constitutional meaning. The book shows that there is considerable debate around the role of history in constitutional adjudication. Are, for example, historical public debates over the adoption of a constitution relevant to reading its provisions today? If a constitution represents a break from a prior repressive regime, should courts construe the constitution’s provisions in light of that background? Are former constitutions relevant to interpreting a new constitution? Through an assessment of current practices the volume offers some lessons for the future practices of courts as they adjudicate constitutional cases. Contributors are: Mark D. Rosen, Jorge M. Farinacci-Fernós, Justin Collings, Jean-Christophe Bédard-Rubin, Cem Tecimer, Ángel Aday Jiménez Alemán, Ana Beatriz Robalinho, Keigo Obayashi, Zoltán Szente, Shih-An Wang, and Diego Werneck Arguelhes.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Tables Notes on Contributors Introduction   Francesco Biagi, Justin O. Frosini and Jason Mazzone Part 1 Framing the Problem 1 History Limit or License in Constitutional Adjudication?   Mark D. Rosen 2 When History Requires the Use of History in Constitutional Adjudication   Jorge M. Farinacci-Fernós 3 Memory as Mantle Evil Pasts and Judges’ Power in Germany and South Africa   Justin Collings Part 2 Historical Precedents and Inter-constitutional Interpretation 4 Comparing Constitutional Historicities The Case of Precedents in Canada and the United States   Jean-Christophe Bédard-Rubin 5 Inter-constitutional Interpretation A Case Study of the Articles of Confederation   Cem Tecimer Part 3 A Matter of Narratives 6 Janus’ Third Face? The Spanish Constitutional Court at the Crossroads of History   Ángel Aday Jiménez Alemán 7 Competing Narratives The Use of Historical Arguments in Constitutional Interpretation in Brazil   Ana Beatriz Robalinho 8 Manipulating Constitutional, Legislative and Judicial History Incremental Judicial Activism in the Japanese Supreme Court   Keigo Obayashi Part 4 New Democracies and Illiberal Regimes 9 How Not to Use History in Constitutional Interpretation The Aborted Resurrection of the Historical Constitution in Hungary   Zoltán Szente 10 Using the Authoritarian Past for Constitutional Interpretation in New Democracies The Example of the Taiwan Constitutional Court   Shih-An Wang  Conclusion Which History, Whose Past?   Diego Werneck Arguelhes Index

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Book SynopsisRead The Taiji Government and you will discover a bold and original revisionist interpretation of the formation of the Qing imperial constitution. Contrary to conventional wisdom, which portrays the Qing empire as a Chinese bureaucratic state that colonized Inner Asia, this book contends quite the reverse. It reveals the Qing as a Warrior State, a Manchu-Mongolian aristocratic union and a Buddhist caesaropapist monarchy. In painstaking detail, brushstroke by brushstroke, the author urges you to picture how the Mongolian aristocratic government, the Inner Asian military-oriented numerical divisional system, the technique of conquest rule, and the Mongolian doctrine of a universal Buddhist empire together created the last of the Inner Asian empires that conquered and ruled what is now China.Trade Review“Despite strongly developed historiography on the Mongolian sources of Qing institutions and political culture, in my view Munkh-Erdene is the first to develop in English the idea of a continuing organic relationship with the Mongolian aristocracy as a central controlling principle of Qing imperial governance. And what he proposes does challenge modern historiography. (…) Not only did taiji governance in Mongolia continue without disruption, it became the foundation of the dominant political values of the Qing state—its constitution. On this point Munkh-Erdene places himself in opposition to David M. Farquhar, Christopher P. Atwood, Nicola Di Cosmo, Johan Elverskog, Peter C. Perdue, Zhang Shiming and others (Oka Hiroki is given an occasional merit for not being entirely sinocentric), who all argue that the Qing used progressive bureaucratization (though in varying degrees) of the governance of Mongolia as its most effective tool for undermining the traditional elites and installing its own tame Mongol aristocrats and religious leaders. (…) No Qing, Mongolia, or Inner Asia specialist who gives The Taiji State an attentive reading will accept stock generalizations about conquest, empire, or Mongolia.” - Pamela Crossley, Journal of Chinese Studies, DOI: 10.29708/JCS.CUHK.202301_(76).0012 "One can read Lhamsuren Munkh-Erdene’s new book in one of two ways: either as a well-documented study of Manchu-Mongolian relations and the concurrent transformation of indigenous Mongolian political institutions in the early seventeenth century or as an ambitious revision of fundamental narratives of Mongolian and Qing history between 1600 and 1911.(...) Whichever angle the reader adopts, this is a work that deserves to be taken seriously and that will certainly inspire lively debate among students of Qing history, Mongolian studies, and comparative empire alike.[T]his is a very rich book, ambitious and wide-ranging, assiduously researched, and clearly organized and presented, which will repay careful reading and rereading." - Mark Elliott, Harvard University, Journal of Asian Studies, 82:2 (2023) doi: 10.1215/00219118-10290740Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Maps and Figures List of Abbreviations Note on Transcription and Translation Introduction 1 The Qing Inner Asian Political Order  1 The Qing Constitution: The Triumph of the Bureaucratic-Colonial Model  2 The Qing Tributary System: Suzerain–Vassal State Relations  3 The Manchu Colonialism: Chinese Defensive Empire into Chinese Conquest Empire  4 Manchu’s Mongolian Social Revolution  5 The Chinggisid Taiji Government and Mongolia and the Qing 2 Alliance to Coalition  1 Pre-1636 Manchu-Mongolian Relations: Alliance to Tutelage?  2 Manchu-Mongolian Princely Treaties: Defensive Alliances  3 Manchu-Khorchin Engagement and Manchu Dependence on Khorchin  4 The Creation of External Mongolia and the Formation of a Multilateral Coalition  5 The Coalition, Assembly, Codes, and Leadership 3 The Manchu Conquest: Winner Takes All  1 Shifting Borders: Qurban Tsönggereg to Shariljitai to Shonkhor  2 Changing Stories: Ligdan’s Flight or Hong Taiji’s Defeat?  3 The Demise of the Mongolian Great State and the Rise of the Daiching State  4 Ligdan: From Lawful Great Khan to Quixotic Delusional Dreamer  5 Charisma: The Very Essence of Inner Asian Politics 4 From the Taishi Government to the Taiji Government  1 The Mongol Empire and the Northern Yuan Dynasty  2 The Taishi Government and Its Demise  3 Dayan Khanid Reign: The Rise of the Taiji Government  4 The Taiji Government Structure: A Federal Constitutional Monarchy 5 The Taiji Government: A Parliamentary Aristocracy  1 The Seven Khoshuus or the Khalkha Tümen  2 An Aristocratic Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy  3 The Chuulgan: An Aristocratic Parliament  4 The Jasag: An Appointed Central Government  5 The Khoshuu: Autonomous Lordship and Government Unit  6 The Northern Yuan: An Inner Asian Parallel to the Holy Roman Empire 6 The Rise and Fall of the Jaisang Government  1 The Destruction of the Great State: Contrary-to-Government Deeds  2 The Abolishment of Taiji Government: Ligdan’s Reform and Princely Revolts  3 The Dissolution of Tümen-Khanates  4 The Saghang Saga: A Coup and the Demise of the Mongol Empire  5 The Proclamation of the Daiching Ulus: A United Manchu–Mongolian State 7 Aimag and Pre-Modern Mongolia in Modern Euro-Sinocentric Vision  1 Bichurin’s Foresight: Aimag from Principalities to Tribes to Secondary Tribes  2 Aimag and Mongolia in Modern Euro-Sinocentric Vision  3 Archaeology of Aimag or External Aimag  4 The External Aimags: Mongolian Principalities  5 The Internal Aimags: Manchu Principalities 8 The Daiching Ulus and Mongolia: An Inner Asian Aristocratic Federation  1 Conferral Letter: Covenant as Investiture  2 Covenant, Pillars, and Co-Rulers: One Accord, Mutual Reliance, and Tüshiyetü Khan  3 The Daiching Ulus: An Inner Asian Aristocratic Federation  4 The Daiching Gurun as Pax Manjurica and Pax Mongolica 9 The Mongolian World Order and the Daiching Ulus  1 The Chakravartin Monarchy and the Great State of Five Colors and Four Aliens  2 The Altanid Redefinition: The Dyarchy of Aristocracy and Theocracy  3 For the Sake of the Government and the Faith: Seeking the Qubilaid Legitimacy  4 Claiming ’Phags-pa’s Seat 10 The Rivalry of the Daiching Ulus and the Döchin and Dörben  1 The Rise of the Döchin and Dörben  2 The Daiching Ulus and the Döchin and Dörben Hostility  3 The Qing and the Khalkha Treaty  4 Turmoil in the Döchin and Dörben: Structural Problems within the Regime  5 The Khüren Belchir Assembly and Zanabazar’s Justice  6 The Failure at the Khüren Belchir Assembly  7 The Destruction of the Döchin and Dörben 11 The Empire of the Two Norms  1 The Dalai Lama and the Making of the Manjushri Chakravartin Khan  2 The Taiji Government: Mutual Reliance and the Guest State  3 The Manjushri Chakravartin Monarch: The Patron and the Protector of the Faith  4 Surpassing Qubilai: Consolidation of the Government of the Two Norms Conclusion References Index

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Book SynopsisThis book reconfigures the study of the origins of the Enlightenment in the Spanish Empire. Challenging dominant interpretations of the period, this book shows that early eighteenth-century Spanish authors turned to Enlightenment ideas to reinvent Spain’s role in the European balance of power. And while international law grew to provide a legal framework that could safeguard peace, Spanish officials, diplomats, and authors, hardened by the failure of Spanish diplomacy, sought instead to regulate international relations by drawing on investment, profit, and self-interest. The book shows, on the basis of new archival research, that the Diplomatic Enlightenment sought to turn the Spanish Empire into a space for closer political cooperation with other European and non-European states and empires.Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements 1 The Missing Century  The Enlightenment, the Nation, and Modern Spain  1 Introduction  2 The Nineteenth-Century Spanish Enlightenment  3 The Twentieth-Century View of the Absence of the Spanish Enlightenment  4 Religion and the Spanish Political Elites  5 The Diplomatic Enlightenment 2 Predicting War and Peace  1 Introduction  2 Spain, Europe, and Arbitrary Monarchy  3 Crisis and Catharsis: The Dawn of the Early Spanish Enlightenment  4 What News Do You Bring?  5 Information Overload and Elite Political Debate 3 Investing in the Luces  1 Introduction  2 Shorting Diplomacy  3 Representations of the Spanish Empire  4 The Assembly of Public Trust  5 Luces in the Mines  6 The Seminary of Lawsuits: Law, Trade, and Corporations  7 José Carvajal y Lancaster and the Arbitration of Europe  8 Private Vices, Public Virtues, and Diplomatic Cooperation  9 Coins, Corporations, China, and Europe  10 The Naval Officer and the Aristocrat 4 Revolts and Returns  Free Trade and the Fear of Independence  1 Introduction  2 Investing in a New Timepiece  3 Mapping Reform in Enlightenment Europe  4 Free Trade: The Farce of Independence and the Growth of Spanish Political Economic Debate  5 The Perils of Emulation: Corporations and the Meaning of the Spanish Empire  6 The Criticism of Carvajal’s Joint-Stock Companies 5 The Lever of the Balance of Power  1 Introduction  2 Iberia’s Role in Europe  3 Borders and Trade  4 Investing in Peace  5 A Monarchy without a King 6 Carthage’s Contractors  The Ends of the Spanish Empire  1 Introduction  2 The Grain Monopoly and the Voice of the People  3 The Idea of the Nation: Outsourcing Propaganda and Colonisation  4 Constitutionalism in the Spanish Empire and the International Order 7 Conclusion Bibliography Index

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Book Synopsis'This is the first account in English of the making of Italian nationhood from the perspective of constitutional history. It is also the first to consider the role that the House of Savoy played in this process. Bringing together influential experts in the field, the collection covers the evolution of the Italian constitution from Russian diplomacy’s little-known planning of the Risorgimento to the monarchy’s demise after its clashes with fascism. Combining systematic coverage with original research, the volume includes such varied themes as the king’s role in the Italian wars of independence, the Italian peninsula’s forgotten charters of 1848, and the story of the ephemeral building that housed the first Italian parliament. Contributors are: Carolina Armenteros, Andrea Ungari, Paolo Colombo, Frans Willem Lantink, Christian Satto, Giulio Stolfi, Valentina Villa, Tommaso Zerbi, and Romano Ferrari Zumbini.Table of ContentsNotes on Contributors List of Figures Introduction  Carolina Armenteros and Andrea Ungari 1 The Savoy Monarchy and the Parliamentary System: From the Kingdom of Sardinia to the Kingdom of Italy  Andrea Ungari 2 “Changes Appropriate to the Times, and Circumstances”: The Crown and the Modernization of the State in the Kingdom of Sardinia (1814–53)  Giulio Stolfi 3 The Pact and Its Overseer: Crown and Modern Constitutionalism in the Kingdom of Sardinia (1844–52)  Romano Ferrari Zumbini 4 Constitutionalism or “Neoabsolutism”? Monarchies in Italy, 1848–1859/1866  Frans Willem Lantink 5 The Making of Italy (through the Ephemeral): The First Italian Parliament between State-Building, “Risorgimental Neo-Medievalism,” and Glorification of the House of Savoy  Tommaso Zerbi 6 More than Kings: The Role of the Italian Monarchs in the State-Building Process and Foreign Affairs  Valentina Villa 7 The Role of the Crown in the Building of an Italian Identity (1878–1922)  Paolo Colombo 8 1925: The Jubilee of King Victor Emmanuel III  Monarchy and Fascism in a Year of Transition and Afterward  Christian Satto Conclusions  Francesco Bonini Bibliography Index

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