This book offers a unique insight into the key legal and social issues at play in New Zealand today. Tackling the most pressing issues, it tracks the evolution of these societal problems from 1840 to the present day. Issues explored include: illegal drugs; racism; the position of women; the position of Maori and free speech and censorship. Through these issues, the authors track New Zealand's evolution to one of the most famously liberal and tolerant societies in the world.

From the failed attempt to ban communism in 1951 to the unsuccessful republican referendum of 1999, Australians have been cautious about constitutional change, approving only eight out of 44 referendum proposals in just over 100 years a success rate of about 18%. People Power is the only full history of constitutional change in Australia. It closely examines Australia's referendum record, and explains why success has been so rare. It includes interviews with leading proponents for constitutional change, alongside political cartoons, advertising and brochures from key referendum campaigns. Following their sustained analysis of each referendum campaign, the public response and the forces that shaped the outcome, the authors argue that the key to a successful referendum is truly engaging the people in the political process.

As protestors around the world risk their lives in pursuit of democracy, in the UK the word has never seemed so tarnished. Surveys regularly show our politicians are not liked, not trusted and not wanted. Voter turnout is shockingly low, and episodes such as the MPs’ expenses scandal serve to confirm the opinion that public officials are all as bad as each other. So what is the answer? Lighting the way through the corridors of power, Dan Jellinek provides a unique and accessible guide to democracy in Britain, explaining how its elements work – from national and local government to free speech, the internet and the rule of law – and the role that we, the public, need to play to keep the wheels turning. Illustrated by Harry Venning (Clare in the Community, Hamlet), People Power's mission is not only to explain but to galvanise and engage people in a positive way. If you want to know how your small actions can bring about big changes, how you can improve your lot and the lives of others, then you must read this book. Stand up and be counted. The power is in your hands.

Migration is one of the fundamental driving forces of change in the modern world. As regions such as the Middle East continue to experience instability, climate change is driving migration from Africa and Central Asia - these 'push factors' lead to increased migration throughout Europe. Yet despite being one of the fundamental issues of the modern age, the impact of migration on Western developed economies is dangerously misunderstood. Here, economics and migration expert Giles Merritt seeks to explode the ten most common myths about European migration. He shows how the west's aging population needs migrants, and demonstrates in clear and accessible writing how governments must adapt to increase migration to solve the challenges of the modern world. The result is a clear-eyed assessment of the issues, and a way forward for the west which preserves our political democracies by rejecting the politics of the right.

The question of the universality and relativity of human rights and the relationships between human rights, humanitarian law and refugee protection are the subject of theoretical debates that concern international lawyers, academics, and international organizations. But, most importantly, it should be stressed that these debates are among people who are trying to understand ways of constructing strategies for dealing with the fundamental issue: helping people who are victims of abuse. This volume, which has emerged from a colloquium organised by the Graduate Institute of International Studies and its Program for the Study of International Organization(s), attempts to project an integrated approach for helping those who are in need and to discuss ways of guaranteeing greater protection of certain universal values that underlie such help. It is the result of ideas shared between the major three organizations in this field, the UN Center for Human Rights, The International Committee of the Red Cross, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and outside experts on the relationship between the different protection regimes.

The election process reflects the essence of the electoral system. The justice of the electoral process can best reflect whether the electoral system is legitimate and democratic. The democratic and legal shortcomings of China's electoral system can be solved by rationalizing and democratizing the electoral process, which is consistent with the realization of justice under the electoral process. In this book, procedural justice is combined with the electoral process to find the conditions and elements needed to achieve more justice in elections. “The electoral system is still based on the political will of the political party to rule, and the electoral system itself has serious legislative problems, which shows that the foundation of China's electoral system has problems. Then China's electoral system cannot truly represent the political voices and political interests of the people in the implementation, and at the same time cannot reflect the fairness of the election in the electoral procedure and the determination of the election results. The People's Congress system and the Political Consultation system simply cannot elect the right representatives who truly represent the interests of the people. The elected government and state power organs are separated from the people's political status, political interests, and development interests in the operation of their duties and the exercise of power.” By analyzing the problems in China's electoral system and election procedures, the book concludes the conditions for the realization of more justice, rationalization, and democratization of China's electoral system and election procedures through procedural justice. The spiritual connotation of procedural justice under the electoral system and election procedures are combined with the traditional Chinese democratic political culture to construct an electoral political culture adapted to the contemporary Chinese political environment, advancing the development of procedural justice in China's electoral system to realize the rationality, legitimacy, and democracy of elections.

Reprint of the first edition. This classic work by the important Austrian jurist is the fullest exposition of his enormously influential pure theory of law, which includes a theory of the state. It also has an extensive appendix that discusses the pure theory in comparison with the law of nature, positivism, historical natural law, metaphysical dualism and scientific-critical philosophy. "The scope of the work is truly universal. It never loses itself in vague generalities or in unconnected fragments of thought. On the contrary, precision in the formulation of details and rigorous system are characteristic features of the exposition: only a mind fully concentrated upon that logical structure can possibly follow Kelsen's penetrating analysis. Such a mind will not shrink from the effort necessary for acquainting itself with...the pure theory of law in its more general aspects, and will then pass over to the theory of the state which ends up with a carefully worked out theory of international law." Julius Kraft, American Journal of International Law 40 (1946):496.