Logic And Politics

In this book, Livingston develops the political implications of formal results obtained over the course of the twentieth century in set theory, metalogic, and computational theory. He argues that the results achieved by thinkers such as Cantor, Russell, Godel, Turing, and Cohen, even when they suggest inherent paradoxes and limitations to the structuring capacities of language or symbolic thought, have far-reaching implications for understanding the nature of political communities and their development and transformation. Alain Badiou's analysis of logical-mathematical structures forms the backbone of his comprehensive and provocative theory of ontology, politics, and the possibilities of radical change. Through interpretive readings of Badiou's work as well as the texts of Giorgio Agamben, Jacques Lacan, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, Livingston develops a formally based taxonomy of critical positions on the nature and structure of political communities. These readings, along with readings of Parmenides and Plato, show how the formal results can transfigure two interrelated and ancient problems of the One and the Many: the problem of the relationship of a Form or Idea to the many of its participants, and the problem of the relationship of a social whole to its many constituents.

The authors of this ambitious book address a fundamental political question: why are leaders who produce peace and prosperity turned out of office while those who preside over corruption, war, and misery endure? Considering this political puzzle, they also answer the related economic question of why some countries experience successful economic development and others do not. The authors construct a provocative theory on the selection of leaders and present specific formal models from which their central claims can be deduced. They show how political leaders allocate resources and how institutions for selecting leaders create incentives for leaders to pursue good and bad public policy. They also extend the model to explain the consequences of war on political survival. Throughout the book, they provide illustrations from history, ranging from ancient Sparta to Vichy France, and test the model against statistics gathered from cross-national data. The authors explain the political intuition underlying their theory in nontechnical language, reserving formal proofs for chapter appendixes. They conclude by presenting policy prescriptions based on what has been demonstrated theoretically and empirically.

Power is the essence of politics. Whoever seeks to understand and master it must understand its logic. Drawing on two decades of international experience in political consulting, Dominik Meier and Christian Blum give profound and honest insights into the inner workings of power. Introducing their Power Leadership Approach, the authors provide a conceptual analysis of power and present the tools to successfully exercise it in the political domain. "Power and its Logic" is a guidebook for politicians, business leaders, civil society pioneers, public affairs consultants and for every citizen who wants to understand the unwritten rules of politics.

This is a shrink-wrapped, discounted packaged for the introduction to American government course. The books included are: Kernell and Jacobson's 'The Logic of American Politics, 3rd ed.'; Kernell and Smith's 'Principles and Practice of American Politics, 3rd ed.'

What is ideology, and what is the scope of its influence? Are all political doctrines ideological? Is there such a thing as a non-political ideology? Can these questions be answered conclusively, and if so by what means? Different conceptions and theories of ideology offer a variety of contradictory answers, resulting in general muddle and confusion. This powerful and original book argues that philosophy alone can give clear and decisive answers to such questions. Its rigorous logical analysis reveals ideology to be a distinctive form of thought with its own particular vocabulary and structure. It is these logical features that define ideology, and not any allegedly necessary connection with social class or fanaticism or even politics. What ideology does necessarily connect with is human action and its moral justification. Understanding the nature of ideological belief goes to the heart of the relationship between theory and practice, and consequently to the way in which human beings understand themselves. The Logic of Political Belief is essential reading for those concerned with political theory, moral philosophy and the social sciences in general. Its outstanding clarity and force of argument will also commend it to all those with an interest in wider political, social and human issues. Contents: Chapter One: Ideology and Confusion; Ideology and Political Theory; Ideology and Political Science; Ideology and Philosophy; Chapter Two: Understanding, Knowledge, and Ideological Concepts; Forms of Understanding and Kinds of Knowledge; Practice and Theory; The Vocabulary of Political Belief; Chapter Three: Ideology, Science, and Theory; Ideology as Bad Science: Karl Popper; Science as Ideology: Thomas Kuhn; The Nature of Ideological Theory; Chapter Four: Ideology and Ethics; The Nature of Ordinary Morality; Morality and Ethical Belief; Ideology and Religion; Chapter Five: Human Nature and the Structure of Ideology; Ideological and Non-Ideological Conceptions of Man; The Struct

Widely recognized both in America and Japan for his insider knowledge and penetrating analyses of Japanese politics, Gerald Curtis is the political analyst best positioned to explore the complexities of the Japanese political scene today. Curtis has personally known most of the key players in Japanese politics for more than thirty years, and he draws on their candid comments to provide invaluable and graphic insights into the world of Japanese politics. By relating the behavior of Japanese political leaders to the institutions within which they must operate, Curtis makes sense out of what others have regarded as enigmatic or illogical. He utilizes his skills as a scholar and his knowledge of the inner workings of the Japanese political system to highlight the commonalities of Japanese and Western political practices while at the same time explaining what sets Japan apart. Curtis rejects the notion that cultural distinctiveness and consensus are the defining elements of Japan's political decision making, emphasizing instead the competition among and the profound influence of individuals operating within particular institutional contexts on the development of Japan's politics. The discussions featured here -- as they survey both the detailed events and the broad structures shaping the mercurial Japanese political scene of the 1990s -- draw on extensive conversations with virtually all of the decade's political leaders and focus on the interactions among specific politicians as they struggle for political power. The Logic of Japanese Politics covers such important political developments as • the Liberal Democratic Party's egress from power in 1993, after reigning for nearly four decades, and their crushing defeat in the "voters' revolt" of the 1998 upper-house election; • the formation of the 1993 seven party coalition government led by prime minister Morihiro Hosokawa and its collapse eight months later; • the historic electoral reform of 1994 which replaced the electoral system operative since the adoption of universal manhood suffrage in 1925; and • the decline of machine politics and the rise of the mutohaso -- the floating, nonparty voter. Scrutinizing and interpreting a complex and changing political system, this multi-layered chronicle reveals the dynamics of democracy at work -- Japanese-style. In the process, The Logic of Japanese Politics not only offers a fascinating picture of Japanese politics and politicians but also provides a framework for understanding Japan's attempts to surmount its present problems, and helps readers gain insight into Japan's future.

'Hegel's Philosophy of Right'-his moral and political philosophy-was conceived and elaborated as an integral part of a larger speculative system. Despite this, both critics and defenders often have examined his political ideas in isolation, apart from their philosophical context.

One of three volumes in honour of the teaching and scholarship of the late Michael I. Handel, this book details the universal logic of strategy and the ability of liberal-democratic governments to address this logic rationally. Treating war as an extension of politics, the diverse contributors (drawn from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Israel) explore the difficulties in matching strategy to policy, especially in free societies.