In the context of the global decline of democracy, The Authoritarian Divide analyzes the tactics that populist leaders in Turkey, Venezuela, and Ecuador have used to polarize their countries. Political polarization is traditionally viewed as the result of competing left/right ideologies. In The Authoritarian Divide, Orçun Selçuk argues that, regardless of ideology, polarization is driven by dominant populist leaders who deliberately divide constituents by cultivating a dichotomy of inclusion and exclusion. This practice, known as affective leader polarization, stymies compromise and undermines the democratic process. Drawing on multiple qualitative and quantitative methodologies for support, as well as content from propaganda media such as public speeches, Muhtar Meetings, Aló Presidente, and Enlace Ciudadano, Selçuk details and analyzes the tactics used by three well-known populist leaders to fuel affective leader polarization: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, and Rafael Correa in Ecuador. Selçuk’s work provides a rubric for a better understanding of—and potential defense against—the rise in polarizing populism across the globe.

How should constitutional design respond to the opportunities and challenges raised by ethnic, linguistic, religious, and cultural differences, and do so in ways that promote democracy, social justice, peace and stability? This is one of the most difficult questions facing societies in the world today. There are two schools of thought on how to answer this question. Under the heading of accommodation, some have argued for the need to recognize, institutionalize and empower differences. There are a range of constitutional instruments available to achieve this goal, such as multinational federalism and administrative decentralization, legal pluralism (e.g. religious personal law), other forms of non-territorial minority rights (e.g. minority language and religious education rights), consociationalism, affirmative action, legislative quotas, etc. But others have countered that such practices may entrench, perpetuate and exacerbate the very divisions they are designed to manage. They propose a range of alternative strategies that fall under the rubric of integration that will blur, transcend and cross-cut differences. Such strategies include bills of rights enshrining universal human rights enforced by judicial review, policies of disestablishment (religious and ethnocultural), federalism and electoral systems designed specifically to include members of different groups within the same political unit and to disperse members of the same group across different units, are some examples. In this volume, leading scholars of constitutional law, comparative politics and political theory address the debate at a conceptual level, as well as through numerous country case-studies, through an interdisciplinary lens, but with a legal and institutional focus.

This short and simple introduction to European politics, which includes Western and Eastern Europe as well as Russia, demonstrates how European nations have attempted to cope with division within Europe and in international politics. Highlighting differences with U.S. politics, Slomp examines the European system from various perspectives, including geography, religion, economics, and social composition. Two separate chapters discuss relations within the European Union as well as its interaction with nations outside the group. Tables and figures provide a wealth of information on the location of minorities, the ideological spectrum, and social policies. Directed toward both an American and a European readership, this study includes information about the importance of ethnicity and religion, the impact of new migration waves, and the position of the labor movement. It covers the role of political parties, the Americanization of election campaigns, and the prevalence of coalition governments. A chapter on European style civil society focuses on the influence of pressure groups, the popularity of formal business/trade union/government contracts, the mass media, local politics, and federal political systems. Every chapter deals with the social transformation of the former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. A final section contains a brief description of all the nations by groupings.

The quadrology covers the entire dramatic global strategic development since the Kosovo war in 1999, Russia and China's cooperation in the BRICS, SCO, the Ukraine crisis in 2014, Syria, the dramatic development in the South China Sea, the US presidential elections in 2016 and 2020 and its implications for the US global leadership. Dialogues occur in parts 1 to 2 between the author and American, Swedish highly ranked retired military and a Russian geostrategist in Vietnam in 2013. The military development is analyzed in detail. Finally, a summary analysis of more than fifty pages follows, including the latest dramatic development around the US epic chaos-influenced retreat from Afghanistan and the development of events after February 24 until May 9, 2022. Note that parts 1 to 3 are also published as a trilogy entitled A Slavic People, a Russian Superpower, a Charismatic World Leader. The global upheaval. Trilogy.

This book is about the radical novelty of modern polities in a functionally differentiated world society. Premodern states were at the apex of a stratified, hierarchical society. They dominated society and all its groups and strata. Modern polities have to be understood through the ecology of relations among different function systems. They have to find and incessantly redefine their place in society. They produce decisions that are collectively binding, but in preparing these decisions experience constraints and knowledge deficiencies that are related to the complexity of a functionally differentiated society. The book concentrates on six analytical perspectives that reflect how modern polities are embedded into 21st century society. These perspectives are: the concept of inclusion and the inclusion revolution constitutive of modern polities; the internal differentiation of polities that endows them with an unprecedented complexity; the fact that polities do not know anything about society and the ways in which they compensate for this; representation and responsiveness as strategies to reconnect with society; the self-restriction of some polities that brings about ever new autonomous expert organizations; the symmetrical rise of autocracies and democracies as the two modern variants of political regimes.

This interdisciplinary book offers a new analysis of the concepts, spaces, and practices of activism that emerge under diverse authoritarian modes of governance in Asia. Demonstrating the limitations of existing conceptual approaches in accounting for activism in Asia, the book also offers new understandings of authoritarian governance practices and how these shape state-civil society relations. In conjunction with its tripartite theoretical framework, the book presents regional knowledge from an array of countries in Asia, with empirically rich contributions from both scholars and activists. Through in-depth case studies, the book offers new scholarly insights that highlight the ways in which activism emerges and is contested across Asia. As such, it will be of interest to students and scholars of Asian politics, law, and sociology.

The traditional Marxian picture of a two-class polarisation seems far removed from today's diverse society. Re-examining the very foundations of the Marxian theory in the process, the author argues that important critiques can fruitfully be understood and to accomplish the goal, he extends the traditional concepts in innovative and original ways.

Many authors have alluded to the unique nature of Russia’s dual transition and its difficult task of simultaneously reforming its economy and polity. But there is in fact a third transition still far from completed that is of no less importance, the need to reconfigure central-regional relations and to create a stable and viable form of federalism. There are vast economic, demographic and political variations across the Russian federation. Therefore an understanding of regions, and the causes and consequences of cross-regional diversity, is a vitally important dimension of Russian politics that should not be overlooked. It is only by studying regional level politics that we can gain a full understanding of the complexities of Russia’s protracted transition. This edited volume examines regional politics and centre-regional relations over the period 2000-2010, including the most recent developments which have taken place under the new dual leadership of Medvedev and Putin. All eight chapters have been written by leading experts in the field of Russian politics. In addition to chapters on regional elections, parties, regional governors and local politics, there are three chapters devoted to the important developments which are currently taking place in the Caucasus. This book was published as a special issue of Europe-Asia Studies.

The objective in this work was to analyze the structure and organization in the operations of a military organization that supports one of the greatest Divisions of the United States Army, the 3rd Infantry Division. The history of Morale, Welfare and Recreation Division as it relates to civilians employees, soldiers, family members and the Ft Stewart, Hunter Army Airfield Community. Morale, Welfare, and Recreation history started on the battlefields of World War 1 were Salvation Army sisters and Red Cross volunteers ministered to the needs of soldiers. The focus of this work provided administrative aspects of public administration and its effects on military success. On October 18th, 2007 Chief of Staff of the Army General George W. Casey Jr, and Secretary of the Army Pete Green signed and unveiled the Army Family Covenant pledging to support its soldiers and families, and active guard and reserve organizations with funding programs to deliver a quality of life commensurate with their service and sacrifices to the nation. It is this commitment that propelled and motivates this organization. The Army Morale, Welfare and Recreation exists because the United States Army states it is committed to the wellbeing of the community of people who serve and stand ready to defend the nation and enhance the lives of soldiers, their families, civilian employees and military retirees. In all organizations there will be transition, changes and improvements within their environments I hope with this work I have opened the minds and hearts of those brave men and women who love the military and the United States of America. With god on our side who can defeat us.

In 1899, the United Fruit Company (UFCO) was officially incorporated in Boston, Massachusetts, beginning an era of economic, diplomatic, and military interventions in Central America. This event marked the inception of the struggle for economic, political, and cultural autonomy in Central America as well as an era of homegrown inequities, injustices, and impunities to which Central Americans have responded in creative and critical ways. This juncture also set the conditions for the creation of the Transisthmus—a material, cultural, and symbolic site of vast intersections of people, products, and narratives. Taking 1899 as her point of departure, Ana Patricia Rodríguez offers a comprehensive, comparative, and meticulously researched book covering more than one hundred years, between 1899 and 2007, of modern cultural and literary production and modern empire-building in Central America. She examines the grand narratives of (anti)imperialism, revolution, subalternity, globalization, impunity, transnational migration, and diaspora, as well as other discursive, historical, and material configurations of the region beyond its geophysical and political confines. Focusing in particular on how the material productions and symbolic tropes of cacao, coffee, indigo, bananas, canals, waste, and transmigrant labor have shaped the transisthmian cultural and literary imaginaries, Rodríguez develops new methodological approaches for studying cultural production in Central America and its diasporas. Monumental in scope and relentlessly impassioned, this work offers new critical readings of Central American narratives and contributes to the growing field of Central American studies.