Steven L. Taylor Knihy

Iste máte aspoň zhruba jasno v najbežnejších politických výrazoch, ako napríklad pravičiar, ľavičiar, národniar, ale vedeli by ste povedať, kto sú neokonzervatívci? A čo tak pojmy ako oligarchia alebo anarchosyndikalizmus? Všetci uznávame, že politika patrí k najčastejším a najhorúcejším témam spoločenských debát, ale koľkým z nás sa už stalo, že náš v politickej hádke nachytali, že nám chýbajú základy tej či onej politickej teórie a že iba tápeme dookola? Kniha 30 sekúnd politiky vám aspoň trochu pomôže vyhnúť sa takýmto trápnym chvíľkam. Politickí teoretici rozličných farieb v nej dostali za úlohu jasne, neskreslene a vecne charakterizovať 50 najvychytenejších "izmov", "archíí" či "kracií", ktoré od čias aténskeho Perikla hýbu svetom. Kniha opisuje vybrané politické teórie všeobecne prístupným spôsobom, každú asi tristo slovami na dvoch stranách, z ktorých jednu vždy venuje ilustrácii - výstižný obrázok dá niekedy čitateľovi viac ako dlhý a nudný novinársky rozhovor.

American democracy differs greatly from other democracies around the world. But is the American way more or less efficacious than comparable democracies in Asia, Latin America, or Europe? What if the United States had a prime minister instead of (or in addition to) a president, or if it had three or more parties in Congress instead of two? Would there be more partisan animosity and legislative gridlock or less? These are the kinds of questions that thinking about U.S. government in comparative perspective helps us to analyze. This valuable contribution to political studies takes a unique approach to a much-studied subject, looking at the U.S. government from a comparative point of view. Four distinguished scholars in the field examine the Constitution, the two-party system, the division of power between state and federal governments, and other major features of the American political system in terms of how they differ from other democracies, and they explore what those differences ultimately mean for democratic performance. By merging two important fields of study, American government and comparative political systems, this essential text offers a new and refreshingly insightful view of American exceptionalism.

You may be OK with standard stuff like Conservatism and Democracy, but do you really know what Patrimonialism is? And what about Oligarchy? Anarcho-syndicalism? Politics is the most passionately argued-over subject matter, and yet many of us flounder around in confrontational debates because we have no grip on political theory. 30-Second Politics challenges political theorists of all colors to come up with no-frill, no-spin, tell-it-like-it-is explanations of the 50 most important political -isms, -archies, and -ocracies that have pertained since the time of Periclean Athens. At no public expense, the book explains each political theory in nothing more than two pages, 300 words, and some propaganda-style imagery, for we all know that a picture opportunity is worth a thousand words of dull interview.