The Hard Road to Reform

The Hard Road to Reform
Author: Brian Raftopoulos
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2013
Genre: History
ISBN: 1779222165

Analyzes political, economic, and social developments since the defeat of ZANU-PF in the 2008 parliamentary election, the formation of the GNU, and the end of one-party rule in Zimbabwe.

Long Road to Reform

Long Road to Reform
Author: Henry Milner
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 185
Release: 1986-09-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0773561145

The Long Road to Reform analyses attempts to change the sectarian nature of schooling in Quebec, focusing on the fate of the radical proposals advanced by the Parti québécois in their White Paper of June 1982. The then minister of education, Camille Laurin, proposed to reform the existing system of "confessional" school boards, with its separate networks of schools for Catholics and Protestants, replacing it with school boards divided along regional lines. Under this plan, individual schools would have had considerable organizational autonomy through councils composed of parent and teacher representatives. Widespread opposition to this proposal led to its eventual modification and to the substitution of a much scaled-down version of thse reforms, Bill 3, which was declared unconstitutional by the Superior Court of Quebec in May 1985. In reviewing this effort at reform, Henry Milner describes the political and historical context in which the Quebec educational system developed and show how existing forces preventsed its modification. Milner shows that, when challenged, vested interests were still capable of erecting formidable obstacles to change and that churches were not the only institutions committed maintaining the status quo. His study not only examines why this attempt to restructure public education in Quebec failed, but also provides a fascinating picture of Quebec's turbulent and often contradictory political evolution during this period.

Reform of the Security Council: The long road to a more democratic UN

Reform of the Security Council: The long road to a more democratic UN
Author: Sebastian Grasser
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 21
Release: 2007-06-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3638823407

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Politics - Topic: International Organisations, grade: 1,0, Fudan University Shanghai (Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada), language: English, abstract: This paper deals with the question why a reform of the Security Council is overdue, which types of future faces of the council could be possible and why the Security Council undercuts all attempts of reform. Do the members of the Security Council really serve national interests by trying to maintain their power in the current Security Council and by blocking every reform attempt? Or has the time for a reform not come yet? The first section will include the failed G4 reform bill and an explanation of the main problems of the Security Council. Section two will explore previous reform attempts and section three will show possible and current reform proposals. Finally, section four contains a conclusion to this topic.

The Rocky Road to Reform

The Rocky Road to Reform
Author: Lance Taylor
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 530
Release: 1993
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780262200936

These case studies provide valuable insights into the difficulty of establishing answers to the fundamental question of why nations grow at different rates, with inequitable patterns of wealth and income distribution.

The Hard Road to Reform

The Hard Road to Reform
Author: Brian Raftopolos
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2013-02-17
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1779222262

The defeat of ZANU-PF in the 2008 parliamentary election marked the end of one-party rule in Zimbabwe. The Global Political Agreement signed later that resulted in a Government of National Unity, and the former ruling party was, for the first time, faced with the reality of sharing power. The Hard Road to Reform presents a penetrating analysis of developments since the GNU was established, reviewing recent political history from a range of perspectives - political, economic, social and historical, and featuring the best work of Zimbabwe's young scholars. As Brian Raftopolos writes in his introduction: 'the book is an attempt to analyse and assess both the hopes and frustrations of the last four years and to confront the harsh challenges that lie ahead.'

Zimbabwe: The Link Between Politics and the Economy

Zimbabwe: The Link Between Politics and the Economy
Author: Godfrey Kanyenze
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2022-03-31
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1779224079

In this accessible and authoritative book, Godfrey Kanyenze provides a comprehensive and far-reaching analysis of the socio-economic development in Zimbabwe in light of the expanding authoritarianism and the ongoing destruction of democratic institutions during the four decades after independence. Kanyenze describes the various phases of the socio-economic development starting with 1980 when the people of Zimbabwe saw their hard-won independence and new democracy as a promise for a "better life for all". Kanyenze highlights how by dismantling all barriers of economic and legal restraint, and that despite being necessary, The land reform programme put the political and financial interests of the elite before those of the people which continues to this day. Kanyenze reveals the governmental attacks on civil society, and notes how economic policy was not even part of an "authoritarian bargain", an implicit arrangement between ruling elites and citizens whereby citizens relinquish political freedom in exchange for public goods. And he concludes this analysis with a current update of Zimbabwe today, where citizens have nothing -neither political freedom nor public goods. This impressive and gripping account of an authoritarian capitalist system and a country in decline is a must-read for students, researchers, policymakers and those who want to better understand how politics and the economy, interests, conflicts, and power work together.

Japanese Phoenix: The Long Road to Economic Revival

Japanese Phoenix: The Long Road to Economic Revival
Author: Richard Katz
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 371
Release: 2020-07-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1000161285

Japan will recover and its economic achievements will once again earn the world's admiration, with sustained annual growth of three percent, perhaps more, well within reach. This is the confident forecast that begins Japanese Phoenix: The Long Road to Economic Revival by the author of Japan: The System That Soured, which several years ago accurately predicted Japan's current travails at a time when others were prematurely pronouncing full recovery. Katz warns however that there is bad news to go with the good. So deep-seated are Japan's dysfunctions that, even if it did everything right today, it would take at least five years for truly vibrant growth to take hold. But Japan will not do everything right. Opposition to reform is deep-seated and a myriad of vested interests and millions of jobs are at stake. Still he notes, there is little doubt that reform will succeed. Japanese Phoenix tells the story of the struggle between the forces of reform and the forces of resistance. It dissects Prime Minister Koizumi's role in the process, and explains why Japan is in so much trouble and what needs to be done. It explore the debates among economists and gives a careful progress report on all the moves made so far in the name of reform - from greater direct foreign investment, to the financial "Big Bang", to ending one-party rule by the Liberal Democratic Party. Katz concludes that this is just the second round of a 15-round fight. Japan is a great nation currently trapped in obsolete institutions. As it has before, Japan will find a way to surmount its problems and regain its forward progress.

Twenty Years of Service

Twenty Years of Service
Author: Brandon J. Archuleta
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2020-08-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 0700629769

Military pension policies are as old as the republic itself and reside at the intersection of American social, economic, and defense policy. But as the nation’s social and economic circumstances underwent dramatic changes over the last half century, military pension policy remained static, stuck in the personnel and retirement model of the industrial age. This book examines why. Integrating policy history, theory, and practice, Twenty Years of Service provides the most comprehensive examination of US military pension policy in a generation. Brandon J. Archuleta sets the stage with an exploration of the rise, evolution, and transformation of the veterans’ policy subsystem from the American Revolution through World War II. The ensuing theoretical overview explains how the military personnel policy subsystem achieved the autonomy it enjoyed from 1948 to 2018; it also offers a new perspective on autonomous policy subsystems in general, which helps to account for the long-term pension policy stasis. In practical terms, Archuleta explores the role of the successful 2015 Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission as an institutional venue for policy change during the congressional budget battles of the 2010s. Through extensive archival research, illustrative case studies, and field interviews with Pentagon bureaucrats, congressional staffers, veterans’ lobbyists, defense scholars, and journalists, Twenty Years of Service brings the policymaking process to life. Its insights will prove invaluable to policy scholars and defense practitioners alike.

State Capacity, Economic Control, and Authoritarian Elections

State Capacity, Economic Control, and Authoritarian Elections
Author: Merete Bech Seeberg
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2018-03-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1315473399

Although the phenomenon of authoritarian elections has been a focal point for the literature on authoritarian institutions for more than a decade, our understanding of the effect of authoritarian elections is still limited. Combining evidence from cross-national studies with studies on selected cases relying on recent field work, this book suggests a solution to the "paradox of authoritarian elections". Rather than focusing on authoritarian elections as a uniform phenomenon, it focuses on the differing conditions under which authoritarian elections occur. It demonstrates that the capacities available to authoritarian rulers shape the effect of elections and high levels of state capacity and control over the economy increase the probability that authoritarian multi-party elections will stabilize the regime. Where these capacities are limited, the regime is more likely to succumb in the face of elections. The findings imply that although multi-party competition and state strength may be important prerequisites for democracy, they can under some circumstances obstruct democratization by preventing the demise of dictatorships. This text will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners of democratization, and to those who study autocracy and electoral authoritarianism, as well as comparative politics more broadly.

Political Discourse in Emergent, Fragile, and Failed Democracies

Political Discourse in Emergent, Fragile, and Failed Democracies
Author: Orwenjo, Daniel Ochieng
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 437
Release: 2016-04-19
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1522500820

Any system of government is comprised of several dimensions of functionality, which must all work in congruence. When any part of the system is dysfunctional, the government’s stability becomes fractured and societal problems can arise. Political Discourse in Emergent, Fragile, and Failed Democracies examines the effects of unstable democratic systems of government in modern society, providing an imperative analysis on political communications from such nations. Highlighting real-world examples on the constraints seen in malfunctioning or emerging governments, this book is a pivotal reference source for policy makers, researchers, academicians, and upper-level students interested in politics and governance.