In the United States and other western nations, debates rage over whether welfare, medical care, educational programs, and many other aspects of public policy should be the responsibility of central govern ment, local government, or the private sector. In most nations, the issues of regional autonomy and decentralization are constantly in the news, with intensity varying from mild debate to open warfare. Less visibly, battles are continuously fought in the political arena over what groups should have the right to make decisions concerning the allocation of soci ety's resources. In response to these concerns, social scientists have focused consider able attention on the causes and consequences of centralization and de centralization in political, economic, and social organizations. Their analyses of centralization have been varied, ranging from systems that are quite small (e. g. , the family, the firm, and the community) to those sys tems that are very large (e . g. , the welfare state). While centralization is a concept of major concern in most of the social science disciplines, each discipline has tended to focus on centralization with a different set of interests. Economists have been very much concerned with the causes and the consequences of the concentration of economic resources. Polit ical scientists have long sought to understand the origins and conse quences of dictatorship and democracy. Sociologists have focused on inequalities in the distribution of power.

Leading global experts in the field of politics and mathematics bring forth key insights on how voting power should be allocated between EU member states, and what the policy consequences are of any given institutional design. Close attention is paid to the practical implications of decision-making rules, the nature and distribution of power, and the most equitable ways to represent the preoccupations of European citizens both in the Council and European Parliament. Highly theoretical and methodologically advanced, this volume is set to enrich the debate on the future of the EU's institutional design. A valuable source of information to scholars of political science, European studies and law, as well as to people working on game theory, theory of voting and, in general, applications of mathematics to social science.

This book investigates whether a power shift has taken place in the Asia-Pacific region since the end of the Cold War. By systematically examining the development of power dynamics in Asia-Pacific, it challenges the notion that a wealthier and militarily more powerful China is automatically turning the regional tides in its favour. With a special emphasis on Sino-US competition, the book explores the alleged linkage between the regional distribution of relevant material and immaterial capabilities, national power and the much-cited regional power shift. The book presents a novel concept for measuring power in international relations by outlining a composite index on aggregated power (CIAP) that includes 55 variables for 44 regional countries and covers a period of twenty years. Moreover, it develops a middle power theory that outlines the significance of middle powers in times of major power shifts. By addressing political, military and economic cooperation via a structured-focused comparison and by applying a comparative-historical analysis, the book analyses in depth the bilateral relations of six regional middle powers to Washington and Beijing.

This book examines the everyday operations of the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police. The Gestapo were able to detect the smallest signs of non-compliance with Nazi doctrines, especially 'crimes' pertaining to the private spheres of social, family, and sexual life. One of the key factors in the enforcement of Nazi policies was the willingness of German citizens to provide the authorities with information about suspected 'criminality'. This book examines women denouncers in Nazi Germany through close examination of the Gestapo files. The author seeks to answer questions about how women in particular used denunciation and why so many ordinary women denounced 'deviants and dissenters' to the Gestapo.

This edited volume offers useful resources for researchers conducting fieldwork in various global conflict contexts, bringing together a range of international voices to relay important methodological challenges and opportunities from their experiences. The book provides an extensive account of how people do conflict research in difficult contexts, critically evaluating what it means to do research in the field and what the role of the researcher is in that context. Among the topics discussed: Conceptualizing the interpreter in field interviews in post-conflict settings Data collection with indigenous people Challenges to implementation of social psychological interventions Researching children and young people’s identity and social attitudes Insider and outsider dynamics when doing research in difficult contexts Working with practitioners and local organizations Researching Peace, Conflict, and Power in the Field is a valuable guide for students and scholars interested in conflict research, social psychologists, and peace psychologists engaged in conflict-related fieldwork.

God is fearful in praises; and there is great power in praise! If you have done all you know to do without success, use the weapon of praise, and the result you will get will blow your mind! A classic example of the power of praise is when the people of Moab, Ammon, and Mount Seir came to battle with Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. The Lord fought for them, as they sang and praised. But I want you to notice that it was not praises alone that secured the victory for them. Firstly, they fasted; secondly, they prayed; thirdly, they believed God; fourthly, they appointed holy and sanctified people to offer praises; and fifthly, they sang and praised.

Published in 1999. Originally published in 1981, Control and Power in Central-Local Government Relations set out to provide a re-interpretation of central-local relations in Britain. The book reviewed the (then) existing literature; redefined the subject of intergovernmental relations (IGR); and developed a theory linking IGR to broader issues in the study of British Government. It rapidly became a classic in the study of local government. The link to broader issues what achieved through the power-dependence model and the focus on policy communities. The book underpinned the vast growth in the study of policy networks in British government. This revised edition includes four new chapters, two of which have been specially written. The new Preface traces the fortunes of the power-dependence model, commenting on and updating the individual chapters. A new part II continues the story. It contains a 1986 essay reviewing criticism of the original model (chapter 6); a 1992 article discussing unresolved issues in the study of policy networks (chapter 7); and a new chapter assessing where we are now in the study of networks. It argues, provocatively, for an ethnographic focus on traditions and narratives; on how individuals construct networks. The book remains essential reading for all students and academics concerned with the study of IGR and policy networks.

This textbook provides fundamental theoretical concepts for the understanding, modelling, and optimisation of energy conversion and storage devices. The discussion is based on the general footing of efficiency-power relations and energy-power relations (Ragone plots). The book is written for engineers and scientists with a bachelor-degree level of knowledge in physics.

An analysis of the forces which shaped politics and culture in Germany, France and Great Britain in the eighteenth century.

Cunobelin, Shakespeare's Cymbeline, ruled much of south-east Britain in the years before Claudius' legions arrived, creating the Roman province of Britannia. But what do we know of him and his rule, and that of competing dynasties in south-east Britain? This book examines the background to these, the first individuals in British history. It explores the way in which rulers bolstered their power through the use of imagery on coins, myths, language and material culture. After the visit of Caesar in 55 and 54 BC, the shadow of Rome played a fundamental role in this process. Combining the archaeological, literary and numismatic evidence, John Creighton paints a vivid picture of how people in late Iron Age Britain reacted to the changing world around them.