"Dancing with Dogma. Britain under Thatcherism" by Ian Gilmour
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
The document under study here is extracted from Dancing with Dogma. Britain under Thatcherism, a book by Ian Gilmour, a Scottish leading figure on the liberal, or "wet", left-wing of the Conservative party, essentially under the governments of Heath and Thatcher. The piece of writing concentrates...
The balance of power
Essay - 6 pages - Political science
It was not until the beginning of the 17th century, when the science of international law took shape at the hands of Grotius and his successors, that the theory of the balance of power was formulated as a fundamental principle of diplomacy in the realist theory. According to Cobden, the first...
Try and identify Jonathan Swift's political stands
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
To put it simply, party politics in England during the 18th century were practiced in two different camps - Tory and Whig. Globally, the differences of opinion between the two were based on three key topics - (1) the origin of government, (2) the position of the Church in society and (3) the role...
The third way
Essay - 9 pages - Political science
In 1999, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder issued a joint statement entitled The Third Way, Die neue Mitte. The statement committed itself to a “newly defined role for the active state” and stated that “the essential function of markets must...
Is there a French Affirmative Action Policy?
Essay - 7 pages - Political science
Affirmative action was born in the United States. It was originally designed to favour Black people, whose ancestors where slaves. Then, such programs extended to other underprivileged categories of the population: the disabled, the women, the Latinos. The first to use the phrase...
Case Study: Surasia's ministry of internal affairs (headquarters)
Essay - 13 pages - Political science
This paper will analyse the Suraisia government Ministry of Internal Affairs' attempt to introduce an innovative culture to the Ministry of internal affairs HQ (MIQ) through the creation of “SSS” and “3i” initiatives. This analysis will take into account the drivers of the...
Building democratic institutions: East and West Lecturer: A. Dimitrova
Essay - 6 pages - Political science
The accession in May 2004 of eight countries from Eastern Europe to the European Union and the future membership of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007 tends to show the importance, for these post-communist states, to find a new order and to gain more stability and security. Indeed, the end of the Cold...
To what extent can the Thatcher-type reforms be applied in France or adapted to France?
Essay - 3 pages - Political science
During the past twelve years, three of Jacques Chirac's Prime ministers -Alain Juppé, Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Dominique de Villepin- decided to reform but backed out in the face of protests. The election of a new President, who claimed that he was the candidate for change, during the whole...
What's wrong with the elite theory of democracy?
Essay - 7 pages - Political science
The elite theory of democracy has emerged out of two major concerns of its precursors: no theory of democracy until now has given leadership the importance it ought to have, and none has really settled the issue of whether the common man is up to the task of governing a modern and large society....
Towards a democratisation of the Middle-East?
Essay - 6 pages - Political science
The Middle East has traditionally been a region where democracy has never really managed to break through. The times of the caliphs had been replaced by a more or less violent period of colonisation. When the time for decolonisation finally came, most of the states -some more or less artificially...
The nature of present-day public administration theory
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
“A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation”. This quote from Edmond Burke can be applied not only to the state but also, to some extent, to the field of public administration. Indeed, a book such as The Public Administration Theory Primer (2003),...
Critically consider Thomas Franck's argument about an emerging right to democratic governance in international law with particular reference to the recent Palestinian elections returning a Hamas governing authority
Essay - 8 pages - Political science
“Democratic tradition involves a richly evolving collection of diverse beliefs, processes and structures that are neither easily characterized in concise terms nor summarized in a single systematic philosophy of governance” . The complexity of democratic governance could not be better...
Social policy and practice in Canada, a history, by Alvin Finkel
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
Social Policy and Practice in Canada is a history book, which deals with the birth and the evolution of the Welfare State in Canada since pre-confederation times. It aims at narrating but also analyzing the social policy, defined as a “set of non-market decisions, public and private, that...
Quebec separatism
Essay - 7 pages - Political science
One of the main concerns since the creation of the Canadian Confederation in 1867 has been the Quebec question. Nowadays, it is still a big issue in Canadian politics. Quebec has always appeared as a 'distinct society' within the country. It is the core of the main cleavage in Canada: the...
Judicial activism in Canada
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
In 1982, Canada has known a very significant shift with the adoption of the Charter of Right of Freedom. Before this date, Canada only had a Bill of Rights (1960's) which was a statute and did not allow the courts to restrict the action of the Parliament. But the 1982 Charter of Rights and...
How far have the French succeeded in imposing a necessary reduction on the role and power of the state?
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
The French state has always occupied a central and essential role and has over the years taken measures to reduce state power. This necessity has to be related to the unprecedented shift in the balance of power, when the Socialists won the elections in 1981. For the first time during the Fifth...
What are the causes and the consequences of division within the mainstream Right, and to what extent has the creation of the UMP in 2002 created a new unity?
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
The French party system has traditionally been very divided. However, the Fifth Republic is the most “efficient” and stable democratic regime France has ever experienced. Despite this, there still appear to be divisions between the mainstream Right. Therefore, to begin with, the...
Crisis? What crisis? Darfur
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
Is there a crisis in Darfur? This question looks at first sight rather provoking; everybody is aware of what is happening there. It is one of the main international hot spots. All the more so as the horrible events in Darfur are everything but new. However, this conflict takes place while the...
Explain the chief causes of the conflict in Chechnya
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
The conflict in Chechnya constitutes one of the most burning issues of the post Cold War Russian federation politics. Actually, the two wars, that took place under Yeltsine's and Putin's presidencies, from 1994 to 1996 and from 1999 to 2001, and even to nowadays, have been the most important...
Explain why French trade unions, which enjoy so little support, nevertheless seem to exert considerable political influence
Essay - 7 pages - Political science
In France, trade unions were legalised in 1884, but developed very slowly. Trade unions have never enjoyed phenomenal support in France as in the post-war period approximately 35% of workers belonged to a trade union as opposed to a mere 8-9% nowadays, which is by far the lowest proportion...
How did the feminist politics appear in the nineteenth century?
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
The nineteenth century was very significant for women, mainly because they were at a turning point in their living conditions. It was ascertained that their place was at home and they were not able to think, unlike men. This situation was considered as unbearable by a growing number of women and...
"What accounts for the success of Silvio Berlusconi in Italian politics since the political crisis of the early 1990's?"
Essay - 8 pages - Political science
As the most dominant Italian politician of his time, Silvio Berlusconi has introduced important innovations in many fields of Italian politics: new ideological approaches, new coalition strategies, new campaign methods and a new leadership style and language. All of these innovations have had a...
What are the most important features of contemporary Irish political culture? Has this political culture really change significantly since 1960? If so, why has this not had a greater impact on the political party system?
Essay - 2 pages - Political science
Irish political culture is often seen as a peculiar one compared to western European countries. The political culture might be considered as a psychological part of political system: the set of values and attitudes of a political community. According to J. Coakley, it can be divided in tree...
Discuss de Gaulle's handling of the Algerian War and consider some of the ways in which he exploited the crisis to political ends
Essay - 3 pages - Political science
In 1954, the discontent displayed by Algerian rebels, the Front de Libération National, demanding independence, turned into war and was not settled until 1962, with the involvement of the French national hero, General de Gaulle. The situation in Algeria was different to that in Tunisia or even...
Critically assess available explanations of the rise of the National Front, and assess and explain its impact on French politics
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
The National Front was founded in 1972 by Jean-Marie Le Pen and since the 1980s has managed to enter French political life. The European elections of 1984 saw the National Front gain 11% of votes, and in the parliamentary elections of 1986 and 1988, the National Front won 10%. The presidential...
Is social capital a useful tool for explaining the politics of public health in the twentieth century city?
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
The development of “politics of public health” is historically dated. As Foucault noted, it appeared with the broader emergence of the idea of “population” which provides, in the modern era, the conceptual framework of health policies. The existence of a common concept,...
Elites in the United States
Essay - 6 pages - Political science
One of the arguments that have been laid down to explain the defeat of John F. Kerry on the US-Presidential elections in 2004 was his elitist side. Being a White Anglo-Saxon from the North-East, Kerry really corresponded to the image of a politician who would run the country in a technocratic...
What is meant by the French party system, and what has produced its changing form in the period since 1958?
Essay - 5 pages - Political science
The French party system emerged in the form of parliamentary factions in the Third Republic. Soon enough, these factions were no longer only evident at the parliamentary level, but were organising the nation. From 1958, there is a considerable change in the organisation of the political parties...
Sir William Beveridge - social insurance and allied services, 1942
Essay - 4 pages - Political science
This text is the introduction of the Beveridge Report, called Social Insurance and Allied Services. This report was presented to the British Parliament in November 1942 and was published the on 1st of December 1942. He was commissioned by Arthur Greenwood, in June 1941. William Beveridge...
Former Soviet Republics of Central Asia and democracy
Essay - 6 pages - Political science
Nowadays, Central Asia can be considered as the “Heartland”, that is to say the center of geopolitical positioning, given the abundance of natural resources in the region. Indeed this area, particularly Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, benefits from oil and natural gas reserves among the...
