The Americanization of European Union Democracy Promotion: Ideology, Diversity, and United States Hegemony is a timely and thought-provoking exploration of the origins, development and growing prominence of international democracy promotion in the past hundred years.

The conference “The United States and the World: from Imitation to Challenge” was meant to gather those interested in various aspects of the mutual connections between the United States and the world. It concentrated on the problem of the model of American democracy, the presidential system, American politics, American society, American culture and the world's reflections about them from imitation to challenge. For this, there was an invitation to scholars from many research fields: political science, philosophy, law, culture studies, economy, and sociology. It was a result of our vision of American Studies as an interdisciplinary effort. And so, thanks to the rich and diverse approaches of the participants, our vision turned out to be true. The effect of the conference is reflected in the contributions that follow in this volume and in the rich, interdisciplinary debate over the American impact on the world, integration in Pax Americana and patterns of integration in other parts of the world, different and/or similar approaches to challenges to international order, and last but not least the issue of continuity and change in politics. Here one also needs to mention the ever-present debate on the American “export” of values: separation of church and state, human rights, the idea of sovereignty, the rule of separation of powers, modern federalism, democratization approaches, Americanism, American Studies dilemmas, American exceptionalism, uniqueness in contemporary American society, and patterns in foregin policy

In a critical engagement with the function of public law and constitutionalism in its political dimensions, this volume brings together the reflections of three leading constitutionalists: Martin Loughlin, James Tully and Frank Michelman. Comprising three critical commentaries on each, it addresses the multiple ways in which public law is implicated in the logic of rule.

The reinvigorated debate on imperialism in the last two decades focuses on the means by which Euro-American capital is currently spread around the globe and the different ways it pillages the wealth of the developing countries. The Economic Partnership Agreements being foisted on the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries by the European Union, however, has been under the radar of the debate on imperialism. This book draws on the experiences of the Caribbean Forum-EU EPA to fill that void by bringing into focus the economic partnership agreement as a conduit of European imperialism. Critical Global Studies, vol. 1

Why does the United States promote democracy? How successful has it been? And why do critics often attack it for doing so? These are at least three of the questions examined in this wide-ranging discussion of American efforts to recast the international order in its own political image. The answers provided by a distinguished group of analysts are as diverse as they are challenging to traditional ways of thinking about US democracy promotion in terms of either a misconstrued moralism or an ideological facade masking some deeper, more sinister purpose. As we enter into the Twenty First century with American hegemony intact, it is vital to understand what drives the world's last remaining superpower. And this original study helps us do precisely that by exploring in detail and depth one of the more contentious, least analysed and most misunderstood aspects of American foreign policy.

Using Germany as a case study of the impact of American culture throughout a period characterized by a totalitarian system, two destructive wars, ethnic cleansing, and economic disaster, this book explores the political and cultural parameters of Americanization and anti-Americanism.

Iraq can be considered the 'perfect storm' which brought out the stark differences between the US and Europe. The disagreement over the role of the United Nations continues and the bitterness in the United States against its betrayal by allies like France is not diminishing. Meanwhile, the standing of the United States among the European public has plummeted. Within Europe, political tensions between what US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld euphemistically called the 'Old' Europe and the 'New' Europe continue to divide. To fully comprehend these rifts, this volume takes a specific look at the core security priorities of each European state and whether these interests are best served through closer security collaboration with the US or with emerging European structures such as the European Rapid Reaction Force. It analyzes the contribution each state would make to transatlantic security, the role they envisage for existing security structures such as NATO, and the role the US would play in transatlantic security.

This is a new and revised edition of a book which has had a major impact upon the social sciences and public political debate. Anthony Elliott and Charles Lemert's THE NEW INDIVIDUALISM inspired readers with the dramatic suggestion that 'the reinvention craze' - from self-help and therapy culture to management restructurings and corporate downsizings - is central to a 'new individualism' sweeping the globe. Giving particular attention to the narratives of people seeking to define anew their lives in an age of globalization, the authors contend that an endless hunger for instant change and relentless emphasis on self-reinvention is fundamental to grasping the disorientating effects of the new individualism. This edition contains a substantial new Introduction in which Elliott and Lemert reply to some of the standard criticisms made of the theory of the new individualism, and also addresses the escalation of new individualist thinking in the wake of recent global crises.

Few applied disciplines are more sensitive to cross-cultural issues than marketing and consumer psychology. The chapters prepared for this volume reflect awareness of both similarities and differences within and across cultures. They include analyses of methodological issues, theoretical investigations of cultural and social values and their implications for marketing specialists, studies of gender- and sub-culture specific advertising, and investigations of advertising efforts in several different international markets. The scholars and advertising professionals who contributed these chapters will have much to say to consumer psychologists and marketing specialists alike.

This book provides a thorough introduction to East Central Europe and its renewed emergence since the momentous changes in the former Soviet bloc. By carefully differentiating between Central Europe, East Central Europe and the Balkans, Attila [ac]Agh shows how the term `Eastern Europe′ was a political misnomer of the Cold War. Drawing on theories of democratization to develop a common conceptual and theoretical framework, this textbook is the first to place the political and social changes of this complex region in a genuinely comparative perspective. Through broad thematic sections the student is shown how to distinguish between processes of democratization and redemocratization, transition and transformation and is introduced to the important issues of Europeanization, nation-building, institutionalization, parties and political culture. Illustrated throughout with chronological charts and the latest data analysis, this is an invaluable guide to the emerging political systems and their future prospects at the core of the new Europe.