Download or read book Why Our Status Quo Failed and Is Beyond Reform written by Charles Hugh Smith and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-04-23 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our status quo-the pyramid of wealth and power dominated by the few at the top-has failed and is beyond reform. This failure is not rooted in superficial issues such as politics or governmental regulations; the failure is structural. The very foundation of the status quo has rotted away, and brushing on another coat of reformist paint will not save our societal house from collapse. Yet those who benefit from our status quo naturally deny it has failed, for the reason that it has yet to fail them personally-either pretending to not understand all unsustainable systems eventually collapse, or hoping to postpone it. The writing is on the wall for us to read: We are doing more of what has failed spectacularly. We are implementing emergency measures as permanent policies. We receive diminishing returns on status quo solutions. We suffer declining social mobility. We have a loss of social cohesion/shared purpose. Our status quo is not only failing to solve humanity's six core problems-it has become the problem. Since this failure is now inevitable, something is coming to replace it. It is urgent that each of us understand why our status quo has failed, and why the usual menu of reforms can't stop this failure, so we can prepare ourselves for the radical transformations ahead.
Download or read book Why Congressional Reforms Fail written by E. Scott Adler and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2002-06-15 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For decades, advocates of congressional reforms have repeatedly attempted to clean up the House committee system, which has been called inefficient, outmoded, unaccountable, and even corrupt. Yet these efforts result in little if any change, as members of Congress who are generally satisfied with existing institutions repeatedly obstruct what could fairly be called innocuous reforms. What lies behind the House's resistance to change? Challenging recent explanations of this phenomenon, Scott Adler contends that legislators resist rearranging committee powers and jurisdictions for the same reason they cling to the current House structure—the ambition for reelection. The system's structure works to the members' advantage, helping them obtain funding (and favor) in their districts. Using extensive evidence from three major reform periods—the 1940s, 1970s, and 1990s—Adler shows that the reelection motive is still the most important underlying factor in determining the outcome of committee reforms, and he explains why committee reform in the House has never succeeded and probably never will.
Download or read book Toward Self Sufficiency written by George Hunt and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2018-11-16 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: George Hunt spent more than fifty years as a community planner and landscape architect. This included hands-on work in impoverished and low-income areas which helped him understand the dynamics that hold us back from achieving self-sufficiency. In this book, he outlines a sustainable community project that seeks to solve social problems that most community planners overlook. The pilot project includes numerous ways to make communities self-sufficient, and while it’s geared for those in middle- and lower-income brackets, anyone can use its concepts. He explains how multiple-purpose buildings can be used to house a diversity of people, ways to launch a business within the community by collaborating and sharing with others, how to obtain a vocational work/study program offered on site, and more. The book is also a reference manual on transition community design, creating a purpose, the meaning of happiness, sustainable agricultural practices, how to live without stuff, and how to reduce anxiety and depression.
Download or read book Our Status Quo Is Crumbling written by Luis Daniel Cortes and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-05-02 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our status quo, the pyramid of wealth and power dominated by a few at the top, is crumbling. The very foundation of the status quo is crumbling and rotting away and reforms will not change that. The writing is on the wall, we have lost social mobility and opportunity, we have lost social cohesion and a shared purpose and our central banks and the state continue to do more of what has failed in the past.
Download or read book Defending the Status Quo written by Cecilia Josefsson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2024 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Defending the Status Quo explores political elites' resistance against electoral gender quota reforms, a widespread reform aimed at improving women's political representation. The book introduces The Resistance Stage Framework, a theoretical model rooted in feminist institutionalism, which outlines how politicians try to block or slow down gender-equitable change throughout the policy process. Through a detailed analysis of Uruguay's 30-year struggle to adopt and implement electoral gender quotas, the book reveals the adaptive nature of resistance among powerful status quo defenders. Drawing on interviews and legislative debates, the book shows how resistance strategies vary over the policy process and across political parties in response to changing institutional and ideational constraints.
Download or read book Why International Cooperation is Failing written by Thomas Kalinowski and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2019 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ten years after the global financial crisis of 2008/09 there is widespread scepticism about the ability to curb volatile financial markets and achieve true international cooperation. Changes in the global rules of finance discussed in the G20 during the last decade remain limited, and it is uncertain whether they are suitable to help mitigate and manage future crises to come. This book offers an alternative to the popular notion that this failure is the result of the 'nature' of international relations, the clash of national egoisms, or ineffective national leadership. It instead provides an understanding of recent lapses in international cooperation by revealing their deeper structural origins in the competing models of capitalism operating across the globe. US finance-led, EU integration-led, and East Asian state-led capitalism complement each other globally yet have conflicting preferences on how to complement their distinct domestic regulations at the international level. This interdependence of capitalist models is relatively stable but also prone to crises caused by volatile financial flows, global economic imbalances, and 'currency wars'. To understand international economic cooperation, we must understand the diverse dynamics of the different models of capitalism on a domestic level, not only in financial markets but also in areas of corporate structure, labour markets, and welfare regimes. By establishing a deeper integration of approaches from International Political Economy and Comparative Capitalism, this book shows that regulating international finance is not a technocratic exercise of fine-tuning the machinery of international institutions, but rather a political process dependent on the dynamic of institutional change on a national and regional level
Download or read book The Polarized Presidency of George W Bush written by George C Edwards III and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2007-05-24 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection examines the foreign and domestic policies of President George W Bush's administration. The analysis begins with an account of how highly polarized - in terms of public opinion and electoral patterns - this presidency has proved to be (in a chapter by the editors). This is followed by chapters on the use of unilateral executive powers (by Louis Fisher and William Howell) and pre-rogative powers (by Richard Pious). Because the policy choices of the Bush presidency have had such fundamental effects both in domestic policy and in US foreign policy, three contributors (Thomas Langston, John Burke, James Pfiffner) then address the processes of decision making especially in respect to the war against Iraq. How the administration governs by a recurring process of campaigning is examined in chapters on public opinion and war (by Gary Jacobson), the promotional presidency (by Larry Jacobs), mobilizing congressional support for war (by Scott Blinder) and the White House communications system (by Martha Kumar). Finally the way in which the Bush White House relates to congress and the process of building congressional coalitions to enact laws is the subject of chapters on 'executive style' of this administration (by Charles O Jones) and the failure to reform social security (by Fiona Ross). It will be essential reading for anyone wishing to understand one of the most controversial administrations in recent years.
Download or read book Arbitrary Lines written by M. Nolan Gray and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2022-06-21 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's time for America to move beyond zoning, argues city planner M. Nolan Gray in Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It. With lively explanations, Gray shows why zoning abolition is a necessary--if not sufficient--condition for building more affordable, vibrant, equitable, and sustainable cities. Gray lays the groundwork for this ambitious cause by clearing up common misconceptions about how American cities regulate growth and examining four contemporary critiques of zoning (its role in increasing housing costs, restricting growth in our most productive cities, institutionalizing racial and economic segregation, and mandating sprawl). He sets out some of the efforts currently underway to reform zoning and charts how land-use regulation might work in the post-zoning American city. Arbitrary Lines is an invitation to rethink the rules that will continue to shape American life--where we may live or work, who we may encounter, how we may travel. If the task seems daunting, the good news is that we have nowhere to go but up
Download or read book Failure of Corporate School Reform written by Kenneth J. Saltman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-11-17 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Corporate school reforms, especially privatization, union busting, and high-stakes testing have been hailed as the last best hope for public education. Yet, as Kenneth Saltman powerfully argues in this new book, corporate school reforms have decisively failed to deliver on what their proponents have promised for two decades: higher test scores and lower costs. As Saltman illustrates, the failures of corporate school reform are far greater and more destructive than they seem. Left unchecked, corporate school reform fails to challenge and in fact worsens the most pressing problems facing public schooling, including radical funding inequalities, racial segregation, and anti-intellectualism. But it is not too late for change. Against both corporate school reformers and its liberal critics, this book argues for the expansion of democratic pedagogies and a new common school movement that will lead to broader social renewal.
Download or read book Leading Change written by John P. Kotter and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the ill-fated dot-com bubble to unprecedented merger and acquisition activity to scandal, greed, and, ultimately, recession -- we've learned that widespread and difficult change is no longer the exception. By outlining the process organizations have used to achieve transformational goals and by identifying where and how even top performers derail during the change process, Kotter provides a practical resource for leaders and managers charged with making change initiatives work.
Download or read book Global Justice Reform written by Hiram Chodosh and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A rare comparative study of judicial systems throughout the world.
Download or read book Superfund Reauthorization written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Commerce. Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Hazardous Materials and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Why Movements Succeed or Fail written by Lee Ann Banaszak and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1996-08-05 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wyoming became the first American state to adopt female suffrage in 1869--a time when no country permitted women to vote. When the last Swiss canton enfranchised women in 1990, few countries barred women from the polls. Why did pro-suffrage activists in the United States and Switzerland have such varying success? Comparing suffrage campaigns in forty-eight American states and twenty-five Swiss cantons, Lee Ann Banaszak argues that movement tactics, beliefs, and values are critical in understanding why political movements succeed or fail. The Swiss suffrage movement's beliefs in consensus politics and local autonomy and their reliance on government parties for information limited their tactical choices--often in surprising ways. In comparison, the American suffrage movement, with its alliances to the abolition, temperance, and progressive movements, overcame beliefs in local autonomy and engaged in a wider array of confrontational tactics in the struggle for the vote. Drawing on interviews with sixty Swiss suffrage activists, detailed legislative histories, census materials, and original archival materials from both countries, Banaszak blends qualitative historical inquiry with informative statistical analyses of state and cantonal level data. The book expands our understanding of the role of political opportunities and how they interact with the beliefs and values of movements and the societies they seek to change.
Download or read book The Routledge International Handbook of Equity and Inclusion in Education written by Paul Downes and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-05-13 with total page 587 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Providing a cornerstone to the global debate on equity and inclusion within education, this handbook explores equity issues pertaining to poverty and social class, race, ethnicity, sociocultural, sociolinguistic exclusion in education and recognises intersectionality and gender across these dimensions. This carefully curated collection of essays written by international experts promotes inclusive systems in education that explicitly recognise the voices of learners who may be at risk of marginalisation, exclusion or underachievement. Developing a multilayered innovative conceptual framework involving spatial, emotional-relational and dialogical 'turns' for education, it emphasises key system points for reform, including building strategic bridges between health and education for vulnerable groups and shifts in focus for initial teacher education and the wider curriculum. The handbook is organised into the following key parts: Theoretical Frameworks Funding Models and Structures for Equity and Inclusive Systems Exclusion and Discrimination Bridging Health and Education Agency and Empowerment Outreach and Engagement The Routledge International Handbook of Equity and Inclusion in Education will be of great value to academics operating in the areas of education, psychology, sociology, social policy, ethnography, cultural studies; researchers in university research centres and in policy institutes pertaining to education, poverty, social inclusion as well as international organisations involved with inclusion in education.
Download or read book Insiders and Outsiders written by Gerald Kernerman and published by UBC Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Insiders and Outsiders celebrates the work of Alan Cairns, one of the most influential Canadian social scientists of the contemporary period. Few scholars have helped shape so many key debates in such a wide range of topics in Canadian politics, from the electoral system and federalism, to constitutional and Charter politics, to questions of Aboriginal citizenship. This volume contains engaging and critical analyses of Cairns' contributions by a diverse group of scholars--political scientists, legal scholars, historians, and policymakers, many of them leaders in their own fields. It includes assessments of his role as a public intellectual, his interpretation of Canada's electoral system, his views on federalism and on Canadian unity, his approach to Aboriginal/non-Aboriginal relations, and his writings on citizenship and diversity. The book will be of particular interest to students and scholars of Canadian politics, history, and society, especially those examining issues such as the Charter of Rights, Aboriginal politics, federalism, multiculturalism, political institutions, and political change. It should also be of interest to a larger public that follows the Canadian political scene, and that shares Cairns' concerns with broad questions of citizenship, diversity, and national unity.
Download or read book Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States written by United States. President and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 1094 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Containing the public messages, speeches, and statements of the President", 1956-1992.
Download or read book Confronting Failures of Justice written by Paul H. Robinson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2024-08-06 with total page 589 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most murderers and rapists escape justice, a horrifying fact that has gone largely unexamined until now. This groundbreaking book tours nearly the entire criminal justice system, examining the rules and practices that regularly produce failures of justice in serious criminal cases. Each chapter outlines the nature and extent of justice failures in present practice, describing the interests at stake, and providing real-world examples. Finally, each chapter reviews proposed and implemented reforms that could balance the competing interests in a less justice-frustrating manner and recommends one—sometimes completely original—reform to improve the system. A systematic study of justice failures is long overdue. As this book discusses, regular failures of justice in serious criminal cases undermine deterrence and the criminal justice system’s credibility with the community as a moral authority. The damage caused by unpunished crime is immense and, even worse, falls primarily on vulnerable minority communities. Now for the first time, students, researchers, policymakers, and citizens have a resource that explains why justice failures occur and what can be done about them. Confronting Failures of Justice is accessible for use by college freshman through graduate students and law students and is designed to be main text for a course on justice failures, but it could be used in conjunction with other texts in a broad range of courses touching on criminal justice. It presents arguments in a highly-organized fashion and provides dozens of case studies, many with photographs, to gain student interest and to bring the academic discussions to life.
