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The past few decades have brought a shift in the nature of American democracy-an alarming shift that threatens such liberal democratic values as respect for pluralism, acceptance of the separation of powers, and recognition of the rights of opposition parties. In this insightful book, political scientist Alan Wolfe identifies the current political conditions that endanger the quality of our democracy. He describes how politics has changed, and he calls for a democracy protection movement designed to preserve our political traditions not unlike the environmental protection movement's efforts to safeguard the natural world.Voters who know little about issues, leaders who bend rules with little fear of reprisal, and political parties that are losing the ability to mobilize citizens have all contributed to a worrisome new politics of democracy, Wolfe argues. He offers a brilliant analysis of how religion and morality have replaced political and economic self-interest as guiding principles, and how a dangerous populism promotes a radical form of elitism. Without laying blame on one party or ideology and without claiming that matters will improve with one party or the other in office, Wolfe instead suggests that Americans need to understand the danger their own indifference poses and take political matters more seriously.

Democracy --- United States --- Politics and government. --- Government --- History, Political

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The State of the Union is no ordinary speech on at least two accounts: it is a fundamental statement of how a president approaches current policy debates, and it is the one presidential address that US citizens are most likely to hear each year. Donna Hoffman and Alison Howard document the political significance and legislative impact or, often, lack of impact of this most visible of presidential communications. Exploring how and why the State of the Union address came to be a key tool in the exercise of presidential power, the authors outline the ways presidents use it to gain attention, to communicate with target audiences, and to make specific policy proposals. Their richly textured analysis offers a penetrating look at the complex relationship between contemporary presidential leadership and Congressional lawmaking.

Presidents --- Political oratory --- Speechwriting --- Speech writing --- Writing, Speech --- Ghostwriting --- Oratory --- State of the Union messages --- United States --- Politics and government. --- Government --- History, Political

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This study of educational policy from Lyndon Johnson through Bill Clinton focuses on three specific issues--public school aid, non-public (especially Catholic) school aid, and school desegregation--that speak to the proper role of the federal government in education as well as to how education issues embody larger questions of opportunity, exclusion, and equality in American society. Lawrence J. McAndrews traces the evolution of policy as each president developed (or avoided developing) a stance toward these issues and discusses the repercussions and implications of policy decisions for the educational community over nearly four decades.

Education and state --- United States --- History --- Federal aid to education --- Politics and government --- Education --- Federal grants for education --- History. --- Federal aid --- Law and legislation --- Finance --- Politics and government. --- Government --- History, Political

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Americans Without Law shows how the racial boundaries of civic life are based on widespread perceptions about the relative capacity of minority groups for legal behavior, which Mark S. Weiner calls “juridical racialism.” The book follows the history of this civic discourse by examining the legal status of four minority groups in four successive historical periods: American Indians in the 1880s, Filipinos after the Spanish-American War, Japanese immigrants in the 1920s, and African Americans in the 1940s and 1950s.Weiner reveals the significance of juridical racialism for each group and, in turn, Americans as a whole by examining the work of anthropological social scientists who developed distinctive ways of understanding racial and legal identity, and through decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court that put these ethno-legal views into practice. Combining history, anthropology, and legal analysis, the book argues that the story of juridical racialism shows how race and citizenship served as a nexus for the professionalization of the social sciences, the growth of national state power, economic modernization, and modern practices of the self.

Minorities --- Ethnic minorities --- Foreign population --- Minority groups --- Persons --- Assimilation (Sociology) --- Discrimination --- Ethnic relations --- Majorities --- Plebiscite --- Race relations --- Segregation --- Politics and government. --- Legal status, laws, etc. --- Government policy --- United States --- Race relations. --- Government --- History, Political --- Race question --- Argues. --- citizenship. --- economic. --- growth. --- juridical. --- modern. --- modernization. --- national. --- nexus. --- power. --- practices. --- professionalization. --- race. --- racialism. --- sciences. --- self. --- served. --- shows. --- social. --- state. --- story. --- that.

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The United States has built a carceral state that is unprecedented among Western countries and in US history. Nearly one in 50 people, excluding children and the elderly, is incarcerated today, a rate unsurpassed anywhere else in the world. What are some of the main political forces that explain this unprecedented reliance on mass imprisonment? Throughout American history, crime and punishment have been central features of American political development. This 2006 book examines the development of four key movements that mediated the construction of the carceral state in important ways: the victims' movement, the women's movement, the prisoners' rights movement, and opponents of the death penalty. This book argues that punitive penal policies were forged by particular social movements and interest groups within the constraints of larger institutional structures and historical developments that distinguish the United States from other Western countries.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT -- 343.81 --- CIVIL RIGHTS -- 343.81 --- GOVERNMENT POLICY -- 343.81 --- Capital punishment --- Imprisonment --- Prisoners --- Prisons --- Government policy --- Civil rights --- Civil rights. --- United States --- Politics and government. --- Convicts --- Correctional institutions --- Imprisoned persons --- Incarcerated persons --- Prison inmates --- Inmates of institutions --- Persons --- Confinement --- Incarceration --- Corrections --- Detention of persons --- Punishment --- Prison-industrial complex --- Inmates --- Government --- History, Political --- School-to-prison pipeline --- Social Sciences --- Political Science --- Prisons - United States. --- Imprisonment - Government policy - United States. --- Capital punishment - United States. --- Prisoners - United States - Civil rights.