For the Many Or the Few PDF Download

Author: John G. Matsusaka
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226510816
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Author: John G. Matsusaka
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226510875
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
Direct democracy is alive and well in the United States. Citizens are increasingly using initiatives and referendums to take the law into their own hands, overriding their elected officials to set tax, expenditure, and social policies. John G. Matsusaka's For the Many or the Few provides the first even-handed and historically based treatment of the subject. Drawing upon a century of evidence, Matsusaka argues against the popular belief that initiative measures are influenced by wealthy special interest groups that neglect the majority view. Examining demographic, political, and opinion data, he demonstrates how the initiative process brings about systematic changes in tax and expenditure policies of state and local governments that are generally supported by the citizens. He concludes that, by and large, direct democracy in the form of the initiative process works for the benefit of the many rather than the few. An unprecedented, comprehensive look at the historical, empirical, and theoretical components of how initiatives function within our representative democracy to increase political competition while avoiding the tyranny of the majority, For the Many or the Few is a most timely and definitive work.

Author: Robert B. Reich
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0385350589
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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From the author of Aftershock and The Work of Nations, his most important book to date—a myth-shattering breakdown of how the economic system that helped make America so strong is now failing us, and what it will take to fix it. Perhaps no one is better acquainted with the intersection of economics and politics than Robert B. Reich, and now he reveals how power and influence have created a new American oligarchy, a shrinking middle class, and the greatest income inequality and wealth disparity in eighty years. He makes clear how centrally problematic our veneration of the “free market” is, and how it has masked the power of moneyed interests to tilt the market to their benefit. Reich exposes the falsehoods that have been bolstered by the corruption of our democracy by huge corporations and the revolving door between Washington and Wall Street: that all workers are paid what they’re “worth,” that a higher minimum wage equals fewer jobs, and that corporations must serve shareholders before employees. He shows that the critical choices ahead are not about the size of government but about who government is for: that we must choose not between a free market and “big” government but between a market organized for broadly based prosperity and one designed to deliver the most gains to the top. Ever the pragmatist, ever the optimist, Reich sees hope for reversing our slide toward inequality and diminished opportunity when we shore up the countervailing power of everyone else. Passionate yet practical, sweeping yet exactingly argued, Saving Capitalism is a revelatory indictment of our economic status quo and an empowering call to civic action.

Author: Eric Carlton
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351889796
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
Social scientists are concerned with élites of many kinds - bureaucracies, military oligarchies, political leaders and the like. The study of élites is frequently characterised by a certain suspicion, and the tone of the enquirer’s description and discussion of such groups is often sceptical if not actually hostile. While not simply an attempt to redress the balance, this book is intended to provide the reader with a fair idea of the nature and variety of élites and to offer some explanantions as to why societies over a remarkably wide range of time, space and economic development have evolved a structure in which a small group exercises a disproportionate power over the great mass of their fellows. The first section deals with theoretical approaches to élites and élitism, summarising and criticising work from Plato and Weber, Popper, Scruton and Bottomore. The second section consists of a number of historical and contemporary case studies, ranging from Classical Athens to late twentieth-century Western society, which individually and in combination illustrate and amplify the theoretical material. The final section draws together the main arguments in the form of a critique and conclusions.

Author: Sara Nelson
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1440627789
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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“Will make many readers smile with recognition.”—The New Yorker “Readaholics, meet your new best friend.”—People “This book is bliss.”—The Boston Globe Sometimes subtle, sometimes striking, the interplay between our lives and our books is the subject of this unique memoir by well-known publishing correspondent and self-described “readaholic” Sara Nelson. The project began as an experiment with a simple plan—fifty-two weeks, fifty-two books—that fell apart in the first week. It was then that Sara realized the books chose her as much as she chose them, and the rewards and frustrations they brought were nothing she could plan for. From Solzhenitsyn to Laura Zigman, Catherine M. to Captain Underpants, the result is a personal chronicle of insight, wit, and enough infectious enthusiasm to make a passionate reader out of anybody.

Author: James Surowiecki
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307275051
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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In this fascinating book, New Yorker business columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea: Large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant—better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future. With boundless erudition and in delightfully clear prose, Surowiecki ranges across fields as diverse as popular culture, psychology, ant biology, behavioral economics, artificial intelligence, military history, and politics to show how this simple idea offers important lessons for how we live our lives, select our leaders, run our companies, and think about our world.

Author: Kevin S. Decker
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119146011
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Reunites the editors of Star Trek and Philosophy with Starfleet’s finest experts for 31 new, highly logical essays Features a complete examination of the Star Trek universe, from the original series to the most recent films directed by J.J. Abrams, Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) Introduces important concepts in philosophy through the vast array of provocative issues raised by the series, such as the ethics of the Prime Directive, Star Trek’s philosophy of peace, Data and Voyager’s Doctor as persons, moral relativism and the Federation’s quest for liberation, the effect of alternate universes on reality and identity, the Borg as transhumanists, Federation Trekonomics, Star Trek’s secular society, and much, much more…! An enterprising and enlightening voyage into deep space that will appeal to hardcore fans and science fiction enthusiasts alike Publishing in time to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the original TV series

Author: Ash Amin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Cities are the focus of much of our national life. So it is right that cities are a focus of government policy, after many years of neglect. However, New Labour policy on cities (still in the making) lacks a framing vision of:what cities are forwho they are forwhat kinds of societies they might most democratically embody.Cities for the many not the few reflects on the development of policy towards cities so far, by asking some of the bigger questions about how we might imagine cities in this new century.The authors question the belief that the future of cities lies in just the knowledge economy. Further, they claim that current government thoughts on who should make decisions in cities lacks an overall conception of 'urban citizenship'.The case is argued for a strategy that seeks empowerment across the social spectrum, which feels comfortable with the reconstruction of cities as plural and open.Cities for the many not the few is essential reading for researchers, practitioners and activists interested in the future of urban life.

Author: Charles Caleb Colton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aphorisms and apothegms
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Author: Richard North
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1620401010
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 499

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Immortalized in Churchill's often quoted assertion that never before "was so much owed by so few," the top-down narrative of the Battle of Britain has been firmly established in British legend: Britain was saved from German invasion by the gallant band of Fighter Command Pilots in their Spitfires and Hurricanes, and the public owed them their freedom. Richard North's radical re-evaluation of the Battle of Britain dismantles this mythical retelling of events. Taking a wider perspective than the much-discussed air war, North takes a fresh look at the conflict as a whole to show that the civilian experience, far from being separate and distinct, was integral to the Battle. This recovery of the people's stolen history demonstrates that Hitler's aim was not the military conquest of England, and that his unattained target was the hearts and minds of British people.