Effective leadership in public administration: "The great leader is seen as servant first", Robert K. Greenleaf
Essay - 8 pages - Political science
Globalization, decentralization, economic uncertainties, and other contemporary challenges ask for a new kind of governance and a new role for public agents in every country. Governments have to reshape the public sector to cope with this environment that requires civil servants to assume new...
Women and Unions in Contemporary Japan
Essay - 15 pages - Political science
Post-war Japan has seen considerable change with regard to women. The 1946 Constitution guaranteed for the first time, the equality of men and women under the law. Subsequently, the revised Civil Code and a range of domestic laws, including the Fundamental Law of Education and the Labor Standards...
To what extent does media coverage of grass-root citizen activity promote citizen activism?
Essay - 2 pages - Political science
The American citizen has evolved as a well-behaved political spectator, keen towards national affairs. The combination of an authoritative presentation style on behalf of the network news organizations and a lack of thorough coverage on citizen activist groups has cultivated a pacified audience...
How democratic is the British government?
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
In fact, we could set a few provisional requirements to the evaluation of a government as democratic in order to analyze the British particular case. These requirements would be of different natures, and would be related first to the institutional system, then to the society itself. Indeed, the...
Measuring the efficacy of the weekly presidential radio address
Essay - 7 pages - Political science
The first presidential radio address in United States history was delivered by President Warren G. Harding on June 14th, 1922. He delivered a speech in Baltimore, MD and it was broadcasted by WEAR (now WFBR). Perhaps more historic than this was the first official radio address delivered in 1921...
Does devolution constitute a challenge to the British political tradition?
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
In 1998, the New Labor government passed the Scotland Act, the Government of Wales Act and the Northern Ireland Act, enforcing devolution in the United Kingdom. In order to determine if devolution constitutes a challenge to the British political tradition, one needs to look at pre-devolution...
Explain the reasons for the durability of the National Front
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
Even though it is not the biggest extreme-right party in Europe, the French National Front finds a particular resonance internationally, considering its long-lasting influence on the national political field. Often wrongly considered as a simple heir of Poujadism, it can no longer be considered...
Evaluate Charles Taylor's arguments against neutralist liberalism
Essay - 6 pages - Political science
Every society needs cohesion to survive. However, we are likely to have different views on how to implement and manage this cohesion. In this context, the state has a primary role regarding this task as it is often seen as the only alternative to anarchy. The question then arises as to the basis...
Interest groups and voter ignorance
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
Certain interest groups are often depicted as pursuing only their self-interest. They are supposed to "push government to enact policies that benefit small constituencies at the expense of the general public". These criticisms lead to the creation of a new word: lobbying, which designates the...
How effective is the communitarian critique of liberalism? Use Rawls, Sendel and McIntyre to organise your arguments
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
Communitarianism is a political and social philosophy that emphasizes the importance of community in the functioning of political life, in the analysis and evaluation of political institutions, and in understanding human identity and well-being. It was developed in the 1980s and '90s in...
The debate of the carrying of arms in the United State and the role of the NRA (National Rifle Association)
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
The question of the regulation of handguns is 'one of the most divisive social issues in American society' because 'firearms in general, and handguns in particular, are emblematic of individual autonomy and freedom from government intrusion' . This debate is actually centered on...
Mel Lastman, Mayor of a Megacity (Toronto: 1998-2003)
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
Melvin Douglas 'Mel' Lastman was born to Polish-Jewish immigrants in 1933. He entered into politics in 1969, after having created a chain of stores in the area of Toronto. According to legend, at the age of 22, he borrowed $2,000 and a truck to open his first appliance store; and the...
Security and emancipation
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
The 20th century has witnessed many struggles for emancipation, and a strong emphasis put on security agenda in many countries. Regarding emancipation, many examples come to our mind like the decolonization era, after World War II, the feminist struggles for equality between genders all over the...
How does Gramsci understand social cohesion and consent?
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
Antonio Gramsci is without doubt, a spiritual follower of Marxism. Drawing the consequences of his experiences of worker's movements and communist party politics, as well as of his numerous readings and philosophical influences, he has greatly contributed to the evolution of Marxist thought...
Three ideas of contractualism : the ones of Locke, Rousseau and Rawls
Essay - 8 pages - Political science
“The great non sequitur committed by defenders of the State, including the classical Aristotelian and Thomist philosophers, is to leap from the necessity of society to the necessity of the State” , noted the American anarcho-capitalist Murray N. Rothbard (1926-1995). Indeed, what...
The provision of welfare in the United Kingdom
Essay - 9 pages - Political science
Among all the typologies, which exist within Welfare States, most authors classify the United Kingdom as a 'liberal state'. For example, Titmuss sees the United Kingdom as a 'residual model of social policy', where the needs are met by the state only when the private market and...
How useful are Marxist theories of Capitalist world hegemony?
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
Even if the word "hegemony? linguistically comes from the Greek "egemon? meaning leader or ruler, one can find the roots of this word in Marxist thought as it was first used by Russian Social-Democrats from the late 1890's through the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. Nevertheless, since the...
What is the role of IO's - IGO's and NGO's - regarding hostage takings and kidnappings in the world?
Essay - 7 pages - Political science
Today hostage taking is considered as a crime or as a terrorist act. Indeed, hostage taking is one of the many ways of action of the terrorists because, by this way, they can put pressure on States and thus obtain an important media coverage. The hostage taking is one of the favourite ways of...
Case study: To what extent did the democratization process cause Côte d'Ivoire to collapse?
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
Between 1960 and 1990, Côte d'Ivoire was regarded as a model of state stability and state efficiency. But in 2002 the Ivorian State completely collapsed. At the same time the level of democracy in Côte d'Ivoire went up between 1990 and 2002, leading the country from a paternalistic...
Differences and similarities among the contemporary security policies in Nordic countries
Essay - 9 pages - Political science
“Since 1720, all the Nordic countries have remained minor powers on the international stage. As such, the Nordic states have had to adapt to the constraints that are usually beyond their control.” This statement could summarize the geopolitical situation which has shaped the security...
Cosmopolitanism according to Kant, Negri, and Hardt
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
What is cosmopolitanism? The etymology of the word goes back to Ancient Greek, and is composed of the words kosmos, world, and polites, citizen. Cosmopolitanism should therefore be a theory of world politics, of a world in which a single shared political order would rule and of which every...
What is governmentality? Is it a useful concept?
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
Although the concept of governmentality was elaborated in Foucault's last years, its philosophical premises are to be found in many of his earlier publications. From 1961 (Madness and Civilization) to 1984 (The History of Sexuality) , he explored various forms of powers and constraints, in...
Should Turkey be admitted into the European Union ?
Essay - 14 pages - Political science
Although many people believe the debate regarding the admission of Turkey into the European Union (EU) is recent, it actually dates back to 1959, just two years after the signing of the Rome Treaty, which created the EU (see appendix 1). In July 1959, Turkey asked for an association agreement...
The subprime crisis
Essay - 10 pages - Political science
Edward Gramlich in his presentation during the Jackson Hole yearly central bankers symposium of August 31, 2007, said that, 'productivity often improves in fits and starts, in other words, booms and busts play a prominent role. In the 19th century, the United States benefited from the canal...
Is realism still a relevant theory?
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
International Relations have traditionally focused on the State and its ability to survive. Major theories of international relations try to adequately explain and therefore predict security developments and constructing international relations in the world in which we live. The predominant...
Can the proliferation of nuclear weapons of mass destruction be halted?
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
Proliferation is a traditional issue of International Security and has always been at the heart of strategic analysis. In the last few weeks, the International Community has been worried about the situation in Pakistan. General Musharaff proclaimed a state of emergency and convened general...
International Law and Organization: Weighing the Democracy Deficit
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
The history of the relationship between the United States and international law and organization has always been a love-hate one. While historically the U.S. has unquestionably been one of the strongest proponents of the development of international organizations such as the United Nations...
The American Declaration of Independence
Essay - 3 pages - Political science
On the 4th of July 1776, was adopted by the Second Continental Congress, the American Declaration of Independence, completing the Lee Resolution, that asserted the independence of the Thirteen Colonies. This Declaration proclaimed that the Thirteen British Colonies in North America were 'Free...
The World Trade Organization (WTO) law and the environment
Essay - 9 pages - Political science
In 1979 the Brandt Commission recommended that an international trade organization incorporating both GATT and UNCTAD was the objective towards which the international community should work. This dream came true in January 1995 when the World Trade Organization (WTO) became the successor to GATT,...
Why, according to Iversen, have the United States and Continental Europe adopted such different approaches to labor markets and social protection?
Essay - 2 pages - Political science
Published in 2005, Torben Iversen, tries in his book ?Capitalism, Democracy and Welfare', to build a general explanation on why within a group of countries labeled western type democracies there are such differences regarding economic equality and welfare protection. With an integrated...
