Subjects:  1. Asia    2. Asia - General    3. Case studies    4. China    5. Government - Comparative    6. History    7. History & Theory - General    8. History: World    9. India    10. Politics - Current Events    11. Politics / Current Events    12. Politics and government    13. Japan    14. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT   

Reviews (1)

Good reprint
If you're reading this review you probably already know what an amazing resource the Theodosian Code is for understanding the social history of the later Roman empire. Although Pharr's translation has been criticised as inaccurate by some scholars, it is nonetheless a monumental achievement, and the full Latin text is available online if you need to check any of the fine points. The Lawbook Exchange reprint is of good quality, superbly bound and well scanned and printed, though I did find one page that was off center and hence missing the ends of lines. On balance, well worth the price for any serious student of this fascinating period of history. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Conflict of laws    2. Government - Comparative    3. Law    4. Politics / Current Events    5. United States   

Subjects:  1. Automobile industry and trade    2. China    3. General    4. Government - Comparative    5. Government policy    6. Industrial policy    7. Investments, Foreign    8. Political Science    9. Politics - Current Events    10. Politics / Current Events    11. Politics/International Relations    12. Development economics    13. Political Science / General   

Reviews (1)

Not for the Non-Specialist Reader
Daniel N. Robinson's Wild Beasts and Idle Humours (The Insanity Defense from Antiquity to the Present) sounds and looks more fun than it actually will be for the average reader without a sure grounding in legal, philosophical and psychological theory and history.The author does indeed cover the period from antiquity to the present, as per the sub-title, and provides many interesting ideas along the way, taking a rather conservative approach, but there are also many cases and people just dropped into the book without any explanation on the assumption that the reader will be familiar with all of these legal cases and philosophers from the past two centuries.A grounding in classical and medieval history (with luck I did have that) will help the reader manage the first part of the book.For students of legal history, this book could prove quite interesting and, perhaps, invaluable as the author makes a clever attempt to bring ideas of insanity as far back as the writings of Homer and Hesiod.For this poor soul, the book was a struggle with a few rewards along the way. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. Criminal Law - General    3. General    4. Law    5. Legal History    6. Legal Reference / Law Profession    7. Pathological Psychology    8. Clinical psychology    9. Criminal law    10. Disability: social aspects    11. English law: criminal law    12. History of medicine    13. Jurisprudence & General Issues    14. Law / Criminal Procedure    15. Social history    16. USA   

Subjects:  1. Asia - India    2. Government - Comparative    3. Islamic Studies    4. Political Science    5. Politics/International Relations    6. Sociology    7. Women's Studies - General   

Reviews (1)

An Unsurpassed Wealth of Insight about Justice.
After five dazzling books each penned - in its own way - at the outlands of the vast intellectual map he is master of - William Ian Miller now gives us Eye for an Eye- a supercharged book fixed inexorably, brilliantly and meticulously at the core of his unrivaled expertise on revenge cultures; a book which explicates with extraordinary sensitivity,precision, even delicacy Miller's tough-minded sensibility about justice. In his preface Miller calls his book "an anti-theory of justice." The appellation is less a description of his own work than a concise critique (so very concise, indeed, as to be a flat dismissal) of the abstract theories of justice that have dominated the academy in the past century and have made scholarly writings about justice irrelevant to 99.99% of the world. Yet Miller's book is a theory of justice -one which insists that justice is about righting the balance, achieving reciprocity and cultivating a willingness to bear the not inconsiderable costs of getting even. Miller explores and explains the nuances of balance in its relation to wrongdoing and he argues convincingly that revenge - to be worthy of the name - must be finely tuned, skillfully measured, and meted out with intelligence (not to mention style). Miller demonstrates the admirable sophistication of revenge cultures. He shows us both how vengeance within such cultures was not indiscriminate, unbridled violence and that much intellectual agility and practical reasonableness went into getting it right when getting even.
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Subjects:  1. Government - Comparative    2. History    3. Jurisprudence    4. Law    5. Law, Ancient    6. Law, Primitive    7. Legal Reference / Law Profession    8. Lex talionis    9. Ethics & moral philosophy    10. Jurisprudence & philosophy of law    11. Law / Jurisprudence   

Reviews (1)

This book made me cream myself
(a) While lawyers are associated in a firm, none of them shall knowingly represent a client when any one of them practicing alone would be prohibited from doing so by Rules 1.7 or 1.9, unless the prohibition is based on a personal interest of the prohibited lawyer and does not present a significant risk of materially limiting the representation of the client by the remaining lawyers in the firm. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Comparative    2. Comparative law    3. Government - Comparative    4. Law    5. Law and legislation    6. Legal Reference / Law Profession    7. Taxation    8. Taxation law   

Subjects:  1. Foreign relations    2. Government - Comparative    3. International Relations - General    4. Political Science    5. Politics / Current Events    6. Politics/International Relations    7. Scandinavia    8. States, Small    9. International relations    10. Northern Europe, Scandinavia    11. Political Science / International Relations   

Reviews (5)

Hmmmm
Engaging but, as another another reader points out, Siedentorp is no de Tocqueville. Insightful Primer
This is a very engaging and readable primer on federalism, its history and various forms.Siedentop advocates not so much a British solution to EU federalism, as a German onewith a written constitution and clear seperation of powers between Union and member states, and judicial review.He also advocates creation of a European Senate indirectly elected by national legislators to preserve the Federal character of the union.

A Work of Intelligent Skepticism
This is a most impressive book.Drawing lessons from the American experience of creating a continental, federal union and inspired by 19th Century French liberals such as Tocqueville and Guizot, Siedentop takes a skepticial (but sympathetic) look at the current project to create a "United States of Europe".The book is grand (even majestic) in its scope and (deliberately) provocative in its claims.The author is a political theorist and intellectual historian, which is the key to its appeal.There are countless books on the EU out there, written by political scientists and economist, full of arcane details and figures.This book, by contrast, is written from a larger perspective, drawing on the author's apparently vast knowledge of European social, cultural and intellectual life.The style is engaging and straightforward.The book will appeal most to journalists and very senior bureaucrats, I think.(Judging by the endorsements on the cover, this is indeed the case.)It will probably be judged too sweeping and general by most academic specialists and too intellectual and abstract by most ordinary readers.It is a work of popular scholarship or "high journalism", in the highest and best sense of that term.There is still an appreciation for such things among British journalists (although it is diminishing), unlike their American cousins, for whom this book will probably seem far too substantial to engage their attention for long.The principal villains of the piece are the French elites, who (the author alleges) have so far successfully imposed an elitist, centralist, statist vision on the construction of the European Union.The Germans have been too politically weak and self-absorbed to resist this aggressive French agenda, and the British are trapped in their own social and constitutional ancien regime, unable to offer any practical alternatives to their traditional rivals.So Siedentop turns to American federalism for an alternative conception of how the New Europe should develop.He is a Tocquevillian liberal who favors decentralization spiced with Rousseauian democratic republicanism.One of his principal complaints about the debate on Europe is that economics has completely eclipsed the political, resulting in a union that is politically retarded and dangerous (one of his favorite words).At the very least, his assessment of the many dangers on the road to union in Europe deserves very serious consideration.Hopefully, it will help to raise the standard of debate on its future course.Read more

Subjects:  1. Democracy    2. Europe    3. Europe - General    4. European Union    5. Federal government    6. Literary Criticism    7. Literature: Classics    8. Political Ideologies - Democracy    9. Political Process - General    10. Politics / Current Events    11. Representative government and    12. Representative government and representation    13. Semiotics & Theory    14. History    15. Political Science / Foreign Legal Systems   

Subjects:  1. 1949-    2. Asia - China    3. China    4. Government - Comparative    5. International Relations - General    6. Political Science    7. Politics / Current Events    8. Politics and government    9. Politics/International Relations    10. History of other lands    11. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT    12. Political Science / General    13. Political science & theory   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Africa - General    3. General    4. Government - Comparative    5. History    6. Politics / Current Events    7. Politics and government    8. Politics/International Relations    9. Geopolitics    10. Political structure & processes    11. Social history   

Subjects:  1. Government - Comparative    2. Government - State & Provincial    3. Political Ideologies - Democracy    4. Political Science    5. Politics / Current Events    6. Politics/International Relations    7. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT    8. Political Science / Democracy   

Subjects:  1. Foreign relations    2. International Relations - General    3. Mexico    4. Political Science    5. Politics / Current Events    6. Politics/International Relations    7. United States    8. American studies    9. International relations    10. International trade    11. Political Science / Foreign Legal Systems    12. USA   

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Chinese literature    3. Government - Comparative    4. History    5. History & Theory - General    6. History and criticism    7. Nationalism and literature    8. Politics / Current Events    9. Politics/International Relations    10. Taiwan    11. Asian studies    12. Japan    13. Literary studies: general    14. Nationalism    15. Social Science / Ethnic Studies   

Subjects:  1. Developmental - General    2. Developmental - Lifespan Development    3. Ethnic Studies - General    4. Ethnopsychology    5. Government - Comparative    6. Islam    7. Middle East    8. Personality and culture    9. Psychology    10. Social Psychology    11. Psychology & Psychiatry / Social Psychology    12. Psychology | Social    13. Social, group or collective psychology   

Reviews (10)

Too long and repetative
In this book, Bacevich spends at least 150 pages analyzing every single military decision made by the United States in the 1990s.
A flawed book filled with old news...
According to Thomas Barnett (see his blog), author of rival account "The Pentagon's New Map," Andrew Bacevich "is an 'empire' guy now in recovery."
Useful, though idealistic, account of US empire
The author is an American academic, an ex-officer of the US Army. Chapter One, `The myth of the reluctant superpower', exposes the nonsense that the US state just responds to events, improvising as it goes, containing others' aggressions, going to war only in necessary self-defence. Bacevich notes that the US state's "purpose is to preserve and, where both feasible and conducive to U.S. interests, to expand an American imperium." He shows the basic continuity of US foreign policy, "the unflagging self-interest and large ambitions underlying all U.S. policy."
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Subjects:  1. General    2. Government - Comparative    3. Political Science    4. Politics / Current Events    5. Politics/International Relations    6. United States - 20th Century    7. Current Events / Political    8. Diplomacy    9. USA   

Subjects:  1. 1980-    2. Democracy    3. Democratization    4. Government - Comparative    5. Latin America    6. Political Ideologies - Democracy    7. Political Science    8. Politics / Current Events    9. Politics and government    10. Politics/International Relations    11. Political Science / Foreign Legal Systems    12. Political structures: democracy    13. Politics | Comparative Politics | Latin America   

Subjects:  1. 1943-1955    2. Argentina    3. Communication    4. Education and state    5. Government - Comparative    6. History    7. History - General History    8. History: World    9. Latin America - General    10. Latin America - South America    11. Political aspects    12. Politics and government    13. Propaganda    14. 20th century    15. American history: postwar, from c 1945 -    16. Political Science / General    17. Political leaders & leadership   

Editorial Review

Marriage, when it's right (and usually when it's wrong), is a subject that stirs strong feelings. Gay marriage inspires its own set of passions, with opponents decrying it as a step that will undermine the very fabric of society while supporters posit it as an inevitable next stage in step-by-step acceptance of homosexuality by mainstream America. Appearing as the issue heats ups following President George W. Bush's call for a constitutional amendment that would block the gathering tide of gay nuptials, this polemic by Read more

Reviews (20)

Enlightening and thought provoking
Having read two excellent books, A History of the Wife by Marilyn Yalom and Public Vows : A History of Marriage and the Nation by Nancy F. Cott I was interested in why anyone gay/lesbian or heterosexual would want anyone to be 'married'.
Equality, or Mutual Caring?
Rauch is a leading author and contributor to numerous magazines, including the prestigious "National Journal." He is often identified as a "libertarian" and less often as a "conservative." I consider Rauch to be one of the leading writers, gay or straight, in America today.
(...)
(...) Gay people should have rights too. You can't enforce a ban that takes away someone's rights.
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Subjects:  1. Civil rights    2. Family & Relationships    3. Family/Marriage    4. Gay Studies    5. Gender Studies    6. Government - Comparative    7. Marriage    8. Politics and government    9. Same-sex marriage    10. Social life and customs    11. Sociology - Marriage & Family    12. United States   

Subjects:  1. Criminal Law - General    2. Criminal justice, Administrati    3. Criminal justice, Administration of    4. Criminology    5. Methodology    6. Research    7. Social Science    8. Sociology    9. Sociology - General    10. Crime & criminology    11. English law: criminal law    12. Social Science / Criminology