Democracy's Data

Democracy's Data PDF Author: Dan Bouk
Publisher: MCD
ISBN: 0374602557
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2022 From the historian Dan Bouk, a lesson in reading between the lines of the U.S. census to uncover the stories behind the data. The census isn’t just a data-collection process; it’s a ritual, and a tool, of American democracy. Behind every neat grid of numbers is a collage of messy, human stories—you just have to know how to read them. In Democracy’s Data, the data historian Dan Bouk examines the 1940 U.S. census, uncovering what those numbers both condense and cleverly abstract: a universe of meaning and uncertainty, of cultural negotiation and political struggle. He introduces us to the men and women employed as census takers, bringing us with them as they go door to door, recording the lives of their neighbors. He takes us into the makeshift halls of the Census Bureau, where hundreds of civil servants, not to mention machines, labored with pencil and paper to divide and conquer the nation’s data. And he uses these little points to paint bigger pictures, such as of the ruling hand of white supremacy, the place of queer people in straight systems, and the struggle of ordinary people to be seen by the state as they see themselves. The 1940 census is a crucial entry in American history, a controversial dataset that enabled the creation of New Deal era social programs, but that also, with the advent of World War Two, would be weaponized against many of the citizens whom it was supposed to serve. In our age of quantification, Democracy’s Data not only teaches us how to read between the lines but gives us a new perspective on the relationship between representation, identity, and governance today.

On Democracy's Doorstep

On Democracy's Doorstep PDF Author: J. Douglas Smith
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0809074230
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
"The inside story of the Supreme Court decisions that brought true democracy to the United States Today, Earl Warren is recalled as the chief justice of a Supreme Court that introduced school desegregation and other dramatic changes to American society. In retirement, however, Warren argued that his court's greatest accomplishment was establishing the principle of "one person, one vote" in state legislative and congressional redistricting. Malapportionment, Warren recognized, subverted the will of the majority, privileging rural voters, and often business interests and whites, over others. In declaring nearly all state legislatures unconstitutional, the court oversaw a revolution that transformed the exercise of political power in the United States. On Democracy's Doorstep tells the story of this crucial--and neglected--episode. J. Douglas Smith follows lawyers, activists, and Justice Department officials as they approach the court. We see Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy pushing for radical change and idealistic lawyers in Alabama bravely defying their peers. We then watch as the justices edge toward their momentous decision. The Washington Post called the result a step "toward establishing democracy in the United States." But not everyone agreed; Smith shows that business lobbies and their political allies attempted to overturn the court by calling the first Constitutional Convention since the 1780s. Thirty-three states ratified their petition--just one short of the two-thirds required"--

Islam and Democracy

Islam and Democracy PDF Author: John L. Esposito
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198026757
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Are Islam and democracy on a collision course? Do Islamic movements seek to "hijack democracy?" How have governments in the Muslim world responded to the many challenges of Islam and democracy today? A global religious resurgence and calls for greater political participation have been major forces in the post-Cold War period. Across the Muslim world, governments and Islamic movements grapple with issues of democratization and civil society. Islam and Democracy explores the Islamic sources (beliefs and institutions) relevant to the current debate over greater political participation and democratization. Esposito and Voll use six case studies--Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Sudan--to look at the diversity of Muslim experiences and experiments. At one end of the spectrum, Iran and Sudan represent two cases of militant, revolutionary Islam establishing political systems. In Pakistan and Malaysia, however, the new movements have been recognized and made part of the political process. Egypt and Algeria reveal the coexistence of both extremist and moderate Islamic activism and demonstrate the complex challenges confronting ruling elites. These case studies prove that despite commonalities, differing national contexts and identities give rise to a multiplicity of agendas and strategies. This broad spectrum of case studies, reflecting the multifaceted relationship of Islam and Democracy, provides important insight into the powerful forces of religious resurgence and democratization which will inevitably impact global politics in the twenty first century.

Democracy's Data

Democracy's Data PDF Author: Dan Bouk
Publisher: MCD
ISBN: 0374602557
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2022 From the historian Dan Bouk, a lesson in reading between the lines of the U.S. census to uncover the stories behind the data. The census isn’t just a data-collection process; it’s a ritual, and a tool, of American democracy. Behind every neat grid of numbers is a collage of messy, human stories—you just have to know how to read them. In Democracy’s Data, the data historian Dan Bouk examines the 1940 U.S. census, uncovering what those numbers both condense and cleverly abstract: a universe of meaning and uncertainty, of cultural negotiation and political struggle. He introduces us to the men and women employed as census takers, bringing us with them as they go door to door, recording the lives of their neighbors. He takes us into the makeshift halls of the Census Bureau, where hundreds of civil servants, not to mention machines, labored with pencil and paper to divide and conquer the nation’s data. And he uses these little points to paint bigger pictures, such as of the ruling hand of white supremacy, the place of queer people in straight systems, and the struggle of ordinary people to be seen by the state as they see themselves. The 1940 census is a crucial entry in American history, a controversial dataset that enabled the creation of New Deal era social programs, but that also, with the advent of World War Two, would be weaponized against many of the citizens whom it was supposed to serve. In our age of quantification, Democracy’s Data not only teaches us how to read between the lines but gives us a new perspective on the relationship between representation, identity, and governance today.

Georgia

Georgia PDF Author: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857735861
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 556

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Book Description
Georgia emerged from the fall of the Soviet empire in 1991 with the promise of swift economic and democratic reform. But that promise remains unfulfilled. Economic collapse, secessionist challenges, civil war and the failure to escape the legacy of Soviet rule - culminating in the 2008 war with Russia - made the transition to democratic institutions and consolidated statehood a difficult struggle that has lasted over two decades. In 1991, fifteen new states emerged from the disintegrating Soviet Union. To Western observers, Georgia was one of the most promising republics for achieving swift economic and democratic reform. Instead, the country descended into civil war and a period of populist authoritarianism. Within a year of its declaration of independence, Georgia was a 'failed state' on the verge of dissolution. Former Soviet foreign minister, Eduard Shevardnadze, returned as the president of the newly independent state in order to restore and rebuild, but over the next decade the country slipped into a period of political stagnation and corruption. Enraged by the country's decline, a group of rebellious young politicians, subsequently dubbed the 'Rose Revolutionaries', ousted Shevardnadze in 2003, promising clean government, democracy and effective institutions. However, the Georgian opposition claims that, in seven years of power, the Rose Revolutionaries have failed to deliver their domestic promises. Jones' examination of more than two decades of Georgian political struggle for independence and democracy is a chronicle and analysis of the hopes and disappointments of Georgia's aspiring democracy builders. Focusing on the domestic challenges to democracy and state-building faced by an impoverished and complex multinational state, his book examines the workings of government, popular interaction with the state, and the emergence of new social groups. As the war with Russia in August 2008 merely highlighted Georgia's continuing vulnerability to external forces and geopolitical rivalries, Jones also examines the events of the war and its implications for international law and Russia's relations with Europe and the US. An authoritative and commanding exploration of Georgia since independence, Stephen Jones' critical analysis of Georgia's political and economic development is essential for those interested in the post-Soviet world.

The Fight to Vote

The Fight to Vote PDF Author: Michael Waldman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982198931
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
On cover, the word "right" has an x drawn over the letter "r" with the letter "f" above it.

The New St. Petersburg

The New St. Petersburg PDF Author: John Slade
Publisher: WOODGATE INTERNATIONAL
ISBN: 9781893617018
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
Daily life for the real people in St. Petersburg, Russia during the 1990s. This book was written by an American teacher who lived there.

Institutional Transformations, Polity and Economic Outcomes

Institutional Transformations, Polity and Economic Outcomes PDF Author: Sophia Gollwitzer
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1475575254
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description
This paper tests the theoretical framework developed by North, Wallis and Weingast (2009) on the transition from closed to open access societies. They posit that societies need to go through three doorsteps: (i) the establishment of rule of law among elites; (ii) the adoption of perpetually existing organizations; and (iii) the political control of the military. We identify indicators reflecting these doorsteps and graphically test the correlation between them and a set of political and economic variables. Finally, through Identification through Heteroskedasticity we test these relationships econometrically. The paper broadly confirms the logic behind the doorsteps as necessary steps in the transition to open access societies. The doorsteps influence economic and political processes, as well as each other, with varying intensity. We also identify income inequality as a potentially important force leading to social change.

A Political Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Political Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson PDF Author: Alan M. Levine
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813140471
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
From before the Civil War until his death in 1882, Ralph Waldo Emerson was renowned—and renounced—as one of the United States' most prominent abolitionists and as a leading visionary of the nation's liberal democratic future. Following his death, however, both Emerson's political activism and his political thought faded from public memory, replaced by the myth of the genteel man of letters and the detached sage of individualism. In the 1990s, scholars rediscovered Emerson's antislavery writings and began reviving his legacy as a political activist. A Political Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson is the first collection to evaluate Emerson's political thought in light of his recently rediscovered political activism. What were Emerson's politics? A Political Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson authoritatively answers this question with seminal essays by some of the most prominent thinkers ever to write about Emerson—Stanley Cavell, George Kateb, Judith N. Shklar, and Wilson Carey McWilliams—as well as many of today's leading Emerson scholars. With an introduction that effectively destroys the "pernicious myth about Emerson's apolitical individualism" by editors Alan M. Levine and Daniel S. Malachuk, this volume reassesses Emerson's famous theory of self-reliance in light of his antislavery politics, demonstrates the importance of transcendentalism to his politics, and explores the enduring significance of his thought for liberal democracy. Including a substantial bibliography of work on Emerson's politics over the last century, A Political Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson is an indispensable resource for students of Emerson, American literature, and American political thought, as well as for those who wrestle with the fundamental challenges of democracy and liberalism.

The Classical World

The Classical World PDF Author: Robin Lane Fox
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465003664
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 680

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Book Description
The classical civilizations of Greece and Rome once dominated the world, and they continue to fascinate and inspire us. Classical art and architecture, drama and epic, philosophy and politics -- these are the foundations of Western civilization. In The Classical World, eminent classicist Robin Lane Fox brilliantly chronicles this vast sweep of history from Homer to the reign of Augustus. From the Peloponnesian War through the creation of Athenian democracy, from the turbulent empire of Alexander the Great to the creation of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Christianity, Robin Lane Fox serves as our witty and trenchant guide. He introduces us to extraordinary heroes and horrific villains, great thinkers and blood-thirsty tyrants. Throughout this vivid tour of two of the greatest civilizations the world has ever known, we remain in the hands of a great master.

Hearings

Hearings PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 1242

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Book Description