The Collapse of the Democratic Presidential Majority makes sense of the last half century of American presidential elections as part of a transition from a world in which realignment was still possible to a dealigned political universe. The book combines analysis of presidential elections in the postwar world with theories of electoral changeshowing how Reagan bridged the eras of re- and dealignment and why Clinton was elected despite the postwar trend. American electoral politics since World War II stubbornly refuse to fit the theories of political scientists. The long collapse of the Democratic presidential majority does not look much like the classic realignments of the past: The Republicans made no corresponding gains in sub-presidential elections and never won the loyalty of a majority of the electorate in terms of party identification. And yet, the period shows a stability of Republican dominance quite at odds with the volatility and unpredictability central to the competing theory of dealignment. The Collapse of the Democratic Presidential Majority makes sense of the last half century of American presidential elections as part of a transition from a world in which realignment was still possible to a dealigned political universe. The book combines analysis of presidential elections in the postwar world with theories of electoral changeshowing how Reagan bridged the eras of re- and dealignment and why Clinton was elected despite the postwar trend.

Revisits the largely forgotten story of how the McGovern campaign represented the zenith of sixties-style liberalism, and how its historic defeat still haunts Democrats to this day--and in the process identifies what Democrats must do before they can reassume their role as agents of progressive change.

For Cochran, the sense of deja vu is overwhelming - and alarming."--BOOK JACKET.

Multiparty democracy that swept across Africa in the early 1990s, created a "momentum similar to that of the 1960s" (Lumumba-Kasongo 1998). The Sovereign National Conference of Brazzaville in 1991 marked the end of successive and unsuccessful monolithic powers - that led the Congo to political disarray and economic disintegration since the 1960s - and the beginning of a new era, that of multiparty democracy. The democratic dream came true. Marxist-Leninism, marred with dictatorship and military coups, was defeated. The Congolese people started to enjoy freedom of speech and vote that was confiscated since 1963. No sooner did the Congo start savouring the flavour of democracy than its path was strewn with obstacles. The move from political culture to economic performance, ethno-regional identities, the French foreign policy, the role of militias and the institutional design contributed to its failure. The 1997 civil war left the democratic dream in shambles and paved the way for a multiparty autocracy.

How much power does a president really have? Theories and arguments abound—pointlessly, Bruce Miroff says, if we don't understand the context in which presidents operate. Borrowing from Machiavelli, Miroff maps five fields of political struggle that presidents must traverse to make any headway: media, powerful economic interests, political coalitions, the high-risk politics of domestic policy, and the partisan politics of foreign policy. The prince readying for war, Machiavelli writes, must “learn the nature of the terrain, and know how mountains slope, how valleys open, how plains lie, and understand the nature of rivers and swamps.” So it is with presidents navigating the political landscape. The variability of political ground, and of the conflicts fought on it, is a core proposition of this study. The swift collapse of the Soviet Union, the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and the financial crisis of 2008—recent history offers a quick lesson in fortune’s role in the careers of presidents. Taking a historical perspective, which opens on an array of cases, Miroff explores the various ways in which a president's agenda is constrained or facilitated by political conditions on the ground. His book reveals how political identity is constructed and contested in the media through the ever-changing presidential spectacle; what happens when Democrats in the White House tangle with the titans of the economy; why presidents claiming to represent the entire nation have to manage political coalitions that direct rewards to their own followers; why domestic policy has become “tough terrain” for presidents; and how partisan polarization has reshaped presidential leadership in foreign policy, an area once considered “beyond politics.” Providing a new perspective on why and how presidents succeed or fail in each of these areas, this book is an indispensable resource for understanding the forces that shape presidencies and the power of a president to fight on such fraught terrain.

After the Civil War, Republicans teamed with activist African Americans to protect black voting rights through innovative constitutional reforms--a radical transformation of southern and national political structures. The Trial of Democracy is a comprehensive analysis of both the forces and mechanisms that led to the implementation of black suffrage and the ultimate failure to maintain a stable northern constituency to support enforcement on a permanent basis. The reforms stirred fierce debates over the political and constitutional value of black suffrage, the legitimacy of racial equality, and the proper sharing of power between the state and federal governments. Unlike most studies of Reconstruction, this book follows these issues into the early twentieth century to examine the impact of the constitutional principles and the rise of Jim Crow. Tying constitutional history to party politics, The Trial of Democracy is a vital contribution to both fields.

The Impact of Foreign Interventions on Democracy and Human Rights provides holistic studies exploring the relationship between military and economic interventions and the policies, methods, intentions, and consequences of the various American, French, and Chinese interventions in the case studies they present.

In 2002, East Timor became an independent state following a long conflict with Indonesia, and went on to adopt a semi-presidential form of government. In a semi-presidential system there is a directly elected fixed-term president, prime minister and government who are collectively responsible for the legislature. Over 50 countries in the world have adopted such a system. This book examines the politics of semi-presidentialism in East Timor from 2002-2012 and post-2012 political developments. It analyses the impact of semi-presidentialism on the performance of East Timor’s democracy, and looks at whether semi‐presidentialism encourages power sharing between competing forces, or whether it provoke a power struggle that threatens democratic stability. Using East Timor as a case study, the author explains whether the adoption of semi-presidentialism helps or hinders the process of democratisation in new democracies. It is of interest to researchers in the fields of Political Science, Conflict Resolution and Asian Studies, in particular Southeast Asian Politics.