Corrupted Ambition

Corrupted Ambition
Author: Obi Orakwue
Publisher: Obrake Books - (Obrake Cana
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2007-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780978270315

Reckless Endangerment

Reckless Endangerment
Author: Gretchen Morgenson
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012-06-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781250008794

A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book for 2011 One of The Economist's 2011 Books of the Year In Reckless Endangerment, Gretchen Morgenson exposes how the watchdogs who were supposed to protect the country from financial harm were actually complicit in the actions that finally blew up the American economy. Drawing on previously untapped sources and building on original research from coauthor Joshua Rosner—who himself raised early warnings with the public and investors, and kept detailed records—Morgenson connects the dots that led to this fiasco. Morgenson and Rosner draw back the curtain on Fannie Mae, the mortgage-finance giant that grew, with the support of the Clinton administration, through the 1990s, becoming a major opponent of government oversight even as it was benefiting from public subsidies. They expose the role played not only by Fannie Mae executives but also by enablers at Countrywide Financial, Goldman Sachs, the Federal Reserve, HUD, Congress, and the biggest players on Wall Street, to show how greed, aggression, and fear led countless officials to ignore warning signs of an imminent disaster. Character-rich and definitive in its analysis, and with a new afterword that brings the story up to date, this is the one account of the financial crisis you must read.

Ambition, A History

Ambition, A History
Author: William Casey King
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2013-01-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 0300182805

Looks at how ambition, once considered a vice, became a celebrated virtue that defines American character.

How Shakespeare Put Politics on the Stage

How Shakespeare Put Politics on the Stage
Author: Peter Lake
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 683
Release: 2016-11-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 0300225660

A masterful, highly engaging analysis of how Shakespeare’s plays intersected with the politics and culture of Elizabethan England With an ageing, childless monarch, lingering divisions due to the Reformation, and the threat of foreign enemies, Shakespeare’s England was fraught with unparalleled anxiety and complicated problems. In this monumental work, Peter Lake reveals, more than any previous critic, the extent to which Shakespeare’s plays speak to the depth and sophistication of Elizabethan political culture and the Elizabethan imagination. Lake reveals the complex ways in which Shakespeare’s major plays engaged with the events of his day, particularly regarding the uncertain royal succession, theological and doctrinal debates, and virtue and virtù in politics. Through his plays, Lake demonstrates, Shakespeare was boldly in conversation with his audience about a range of contemporary issues. This remarkable literary and historical analysis pulls the curtain back on what Shakespeare was really telling his audience and what his plays tell us today about the times in which they were written.

Ambition in America

Ambition in America
Author: Jeffrey A. Becker
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2014-05-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0813145058

Most Americans admire the determination and drive of artists, athletes, and CEOs, but they seem to despise similar ambition in their elected officials. The structure of political representation and the separation of powers detailed in the United States Co

National Ambition

National Ambition
Author: David Kieghe
Publisher: New Generation Publishing
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2016-10-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1787191974

National Ambition: Reconstructing Nigeria, leverages on the example and experience of Nigeria - a sub-Saharan African Country in West Africa - to discuss National Ambition within the context of national social and economic aspirations, and the impact of corruption on governance, development and peace. The book uses credible sources of information from secondary research to offer a reasoned perspective on core issues and contains concrete pragmatic and common-sense proposals and models that Nigeria and other developing countries especially in Africa can adapt to their environment in the short to long term to improve conditions. It addresses issues on Global Justice and the intersections with Sustainable Development Goals - the responsibility of the global community in improving collaboration and cooperation among nations; creating opportunities for local people; reducing inequality and inequity within countries; promoting greater inclusion and interconnection among diverse peoples; and investing in people to strengthen communities and individuals to fully unleashed human potential for a much better world. The book is compelling with positive, progressive and positive-sum messages. It has been written in a way that is simple to read and easy to understand for a wider audience. Sadly, many people become rich by creating problems. It should be the other way round, solving problems. Grand corruption resulting in 'state capture' increases the vulnerability of citizens and inflicts the most pain on the population. Corruption is the single most important threat to Domestic Policies in Nigeria. It distorts the evidence base and misinforms legislations, policies, regulations, programmes, projects and the activities that drive them. It compromises the impact of social interventions; confusing markets; and business environment. It weakens social, economic, political and environmental systems and leaves Nigerians and Nigeria weak. Corruption is the Master Problem, fuelled by excessive greed, patronage and loyalty networks operating at the expense of national interest. This book proposes the Triple Lock against corruption, contributing new perspectives to addressing fundamental structural deficits that provide the incentives, motivations and opportunities to express corrupt behaviour. Nigeria requires a systematic, holistic and integrated approach to radically reduce the corruption burden that drags Nigeria back. With a large population of young people and huge natural capital, Nigeria potentially has unique assets and opportunities to build a fairer and more progressive country and to tap into the hardwork, ingenuity and resilience of its diverse population. But Nigeria will have to work differently to realise THE FULL POTENTIAL for which it is capable. Working differently would mean unlocking value chains currently locked-in in all the sectors of the Nigerian economy, to improve quality and drive demand and supply of locally made goods and services; promoting enterprise; creating decent jobs; pursuing progressive taxation policies; and building a self-sustaining country that can pay its way and voice its own worldview. The possibilities are enormous, but first, Nigeria needs a smarter government and governance intelligence that knows every Nigerian to invest in them as most important assets; drive efficiency and innovation; operating transparent and accountable systems; joining up government and reducing silo-vertical working that promotes opacities; removing bottlenecks that stifle creativity and ideas to markets; reducing inequalities and inequities; ensuring social justice and solidarity; and enabling the best of Nigeria to emerge and to altogether, thrive. This is the big challenge right now, to define the future!

Political Corruption

Political Corruption
Author: Robert Alan Sparling
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2019-04-02
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0812295927

The notion of corruption as a problem for politics spans many centuries and political, social, and cultural contexts. But it is incredibly difficult to define what we mean when we describe a regime or actor as corrupt: while corruption suggests a falling away from purity, health, or integrity, it flourishes today in an environment that is often inarticulate about its moral ideals and wary of perfectionist discourse. Providing a historical perspective on the idea, Robert Alan Sparling explores diverse visions of corruption that have been elucidated by thinkers across the modern philosophical tradition. In a series of chronologically ordered philosophical portraits, Political Corruption considers the different ways in which a metaphor of impurity, disease, and dissolution was deployed by political philosophers from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century. Focusing specifically on the thought of Erasmus, Étienne de La Boétie, Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Bolingbroke, Robespierre, Kant, and Weber, Sparling situates these thinkers in their historical contexts and argues that each of them offers a distinctive vision of corruption that has continuing relevance in contemporary political debates. He contrasts immoderate purists with impure moderates and reveals corruption to be a language of reaction and revolution. The book explores themes such as the nature of civic trust and distrust; the relationship of transparency to accountability; the integrity of leaders and the character of uncorrupted citizens; the division between public and private; the nature of dependency; and the relationship between regime and civic disposition. Political Corruption examines how philosophers have conceived of public office and its abuse and how they have sought to insulate the public sphere from anticivic inclinations and interests. Sparling argues that speaking coherently about political corruption in our present moment requires a robust account of the good regime and of the character of its citizens and officeholders.

Getting Along?

Getting Along?
Author: Adam Morton
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 401
Release: 2016-04-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317128311

Examining the impact of the English and European Reformations on social interaction and community harmony, this volume simultaneously highlights the tension and degree of accommodation amongst ordinary people when faced with religious and social upheaval. Building on previous literature which has characterised the progress of the Reformation as 'slow' and 'piecemeal', this volume furthers our understanding of the process of negotiation at the most fundamental social and political levels - in the family, the household, and the parish. The essays further research in the field of religious toleration and social interaction in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries in both Britain and the wider European context. The contributors are amongst the leading researchers in the fields of religious toleration and denominational history, and their essays combine new archival research with current debates in the field. Additionally, the collection seeks to celebrate the career of Professor Bill Sheils, Head of the Department of History at the University of York, for his on-going contributions to historians' understanding of non-conformity (both Catholic and Protestant) in Reformation and post-Reformation England.