CentreHouse Press
CentreHouse Press is an independent UK publisher.
View Rights PortalThe Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS) is an autonomous institution attached to the Spanish Ministry of the Presidency and Territorial Administrations. Its main aim is to contribute to the study and better understanding of Spanish society.
View Rights PortalThe book uses a combination of historical perspective and theoretical perspective to review the past 110 years since the establishment of democratic centralism in China, especially since China adhered to and developed this organizational system, its status, role, basic connotations, and basic requirements in party building.
Why is the search for democratic renewal so elusive? This book examines both the political and policy implications of efforts by the centre-left to transform democracy. This is a story not only about democratic change, but also the identity crisis of centre-left political parties. The book offers a fresh critique of the Big Society agenda, and analyses why both left and right are searching for democratic renewal. Drawing on high-profile interviews and examining an in-depth series of comparative cases, the book argues that the centre-left's search for democratic renewal contains a range of policy and political aims, contradictions and tensions. It will be of interest to students, academics, researchers, interest groups and policy analysts interested in consultation, democratic renewal, labour politics, and Australian and British politics. ;
Can terrorism and state violence cause democratic breakdown? Although the origins of violence have been studied, only rarely are its consequences examined. In this detailed comparative study of Uruguay, Spain, and Peru, Holmes claims that to understand the consequences of violence on democratic stability, terrorism and state responses to terrorism must be studied together. This extensively revised and expanded second edition takes advantage of new historical sources, an extended time span, and new theories that have emerged since the original publication. In addition to adding new data sources in the Peruvian and Spanish cases, the time period covered has been expanded from the late 1990s to early 2007, allowing a more comprehensive treatment of the consequences of state and non-state violence on democratic stability and the prospects for stability. The literature reviews have been significantly revised and updated and an entirely new chapter covers the special case of Spain, which faces both a domestic and an international threat. ;
This book offers a new interpretation of the Conservative party's revival and adaptation to democratic politics in the early twentieth century. We cannot appreciate the Conservatives' unique success in British politics without exploring the dramatic cultural transformation which occurred within the party during the early decades of the century. This was a seminal period in which key features of the modern Conservative party emerged: a mass women's organisation, a focus on addressing the voter as a consumer, targeted electioneering strategies, and the use of modern media to speak to a mass audience. This book provides the first substantial attempt to assess the Conservatives' adaptation to democracy across the early twentieth century from a cultural perspective and will appeal to academics and students with an interest in the history of political communication, gender and class in modern Britain. ;
— By two renowned authors from the fields of philosophy and education — Julian Nida-Rümelin – a popular talk show guest The debate about the correct school policy has been going on for many years. And there's no end to the bad news regarding the shortage of teachers, poor performance by students at PISA or the lack of suitable equipment in schools. What is being neglected in the discussions about the education policy but is, in fact, a central momentum in its development, is the school's task of conveying democratic values and patterns of action. This is the only way our society's supporting pillars can be strengthened in future generations. In the light of the complex situation, from the authors' point of view it is important to formulate a wake-up call: Democracy education – now!
Can the participation of civil society organisations democratise policy making in the European Union? This book challenges the widespread optimism about civil society participation in European governance and offers a nuanced and realistic evaluation of its democratic potential. Friedrich argues that the participation of these groups is only of democratic value if participatory patterns are democratised through appropriate institutional means. This book systematically brings together insights from normative democratic theory with an empirical evaluation of concrete policy-processes. It demonstrates that the participation of civil society organisation cannot be conceived as a panacea for the European Union's democratic deficit, because the participatory pattern of EU policy-making violates the key democratic value of political equality. This book will be of interest to all of those concerned about the future of European democracy, those studying and teaching European politics, the European Union, international relations and democratic theory. ;
Brazil has one of the most significant and productive film industries in Latin America. This ground-breaking study provides an entertaining insight into the Brazilian films that have most captured the imagination of domestic audiences over the years. The recent international success of films such as Central Station and City of God, has stimulated widespread interest in Brazilian film, but studies written in English focus on the 'auteur' cinema of the 1960s. This book focuses on individual films in their socio-historical context, drawing on extensive fieldwork in Brazil and Latin America. It argues that Brazilian cinema has almost always been grounded in intrinsically home-grown cultural forms, dating back to the nineteenth century, such as the Brazilian music-hall, the travelling circus, radio shows, carnival, and, later, comedy television. Combining a chronological structure with groundbreaking research and a lively approach, Popular cinema in Brazil is the ideal introduction to Brazilian cinema.
This collection brings together studies of popular performance and politics across the nineteenth century, offering a fresh perspective from an archivally grounded research base. It works with the concept that politics is performative and performance is political. The book is organised into three parts in dialogue regarding specific approaches to popular performance and politics. Part I offers a series of conceptual studies using popular culture as an analytical category for social and political history. Part II explores the ways that performance represents and constructs contemporary ideologies of race, nation and empire. Part III investigates the performance techniques of specific politicians - including Robert Peel, Keir Hardie and Henry Hyndman - and analyses the performative elements of collective movements.
This book analyses the political legitimacy of the European Union, taking democratic citizenship seriously. Developing a distinctive normative theory of political association, it evaluates the project of European integration in terms of democratic values. It argues that the goods of democratic citizenship have been advanced by European integration in many respects, including environmental policy. In other respects, including social policy, democratic citizenship is best advanced by keeping primary political authority at the level of the nation-state. Weale develops these arguments through an original interplay of political science and political theory. The contents combine original normative political theory, drawing on the concept of practical reason, with applications to the fields of social policy, environmental policy, security policy and enlargement. The book is primarily an original work of political theory, but it will be of interest to all those concerned about the future of the European Union. It is written in a style that makes it accessible to students on advanced courses as well as specialists. ;
Penny politics offers a new way to read early Victorian popular fiction such as Jack Sheppard, Sweeney Todd, and The Mysteries of London. It locates forms of radical discourse in the popular literature that emerged simultaneously with Brittan's longest and most significant people's movement. It listens for echoes of Chartist fiction in popular fiction. The book rethinks the relationship between the popular and political, understanding that radical politics had popular appeal and that the lines separating a genuine radicalism from commercial success are complicated and never absolute. With archival work into Newgate calendars and Chartist periodicals, as well as media history and culture, it brings together histories of the popular and political so as to rewrite the radical canon.
The documents in this stimulating volume span from 1245 to 1424 but focus on the 'contagion of rebellion' from 1355 to 1382 that followed in the wake of the plague. They comprise a diversity of sources and cover a variety of forms of popular protest in different social, political and economic settings. Their authors range across a wide political and intellectual horizon and include revolutionaries, the artistocracy, merchants and representatives from the church. They tell gripping and often gruesome stories of personal and collective violence, anguish, anger, terror, bravery, and foolishness. Of over 200 documents presented here, most have been translated into English for the first time, providing students and scholars with a new opportunity to compare social movements across Europe over two centuries, allowing a re-evaluation of pre-industrial revolts, the Black Death and its consequences for political culture and action. This book will be essential reading for those seeking to better understand popular attitudes and protest in medieval Europe.
What is public opinion? What does public opinion do with you? Does public opinion have a temper? The author joined hands with "public opinion" for more than two decades, and integrated many years of observation experience into the hotspots of public opinion, and wrote "How much is a catty for" false public opinion "," Who sacrificed for public opinion "," You liar "," Wu Hezhong ", etc. Twenty notes, using smooth texts to tell people: Public opinion is everywhere, no one can hide. These twenty notes are both academic and readable, and strive to be targeted and systematic. They will comment on public opinion events, popular science phenomena, analyze public opinion strategies, and discuss public opinion safety in as easy-to-understand manner as possible. These 20 notes, from shallow to deep, from the surface to the inside, can be ordinary readers to understand the phenomenon of public opinion, can also be used by public opinion workers to take stock of public opinion work, or experts and scholars to discuss the safety of public information.
This Book systematically explores the formation and development of the mass line thought of the Chinese Communist Party, and analyzes its mass viewpoint under different historical conditions, including: (1) Formation and theoretical generalization of the mass line thought. For the first time, the Communist Party of China realized the transformation of the revolutionary subject from the elite to the masses. (2) Continuations and setbacks of the mass line thought. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the general implementation of democratic centralism in national institutions and organizations, and the establishment of political consultation system and the system of people's congress fully reflect the application of the Party's mass line in the establishment of specific systems. (3) Restoration and innovation of the mass line thought. Since the Reform and Opening-up, the Party has restored the fine tradition of the mass line. DENG Xiaoping's theory of "People's Support", "People's Approval", "People's Delightfulness" and "People's Agreement", JIANG Zemin's "Three Represents", and HU Jintao's theory that "The government must function by the mandate of the people, empathize with the feelings of the people, and work for the well-being of the people" all reflect the innovation of the Party's mass line in the new century."