Books in the SpringerBriefs in Political Science series

For all the bluster of the debt ceilingdebate, the plan passed so far does not address the changes most obviouslyneeded if we are to ever have a balanced budget again: an increase in taxes andthe next steps on health reform to address the biggest driver of our long termbudget deficit, health care costs.

This book investigates the socio-economic determinants of the emergence and persistence of Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria.

This book examines the institutions that are producing consumer law at the international level, the substantive issues enshrined in these laws, and the enforcement mechanisms meant to ensure effective protection.

Although autocrats can efficiently guide the first steps out of poverty, once a certain level of prosperity has been achieved, people begin to demand a sense of well-being - freedom and codetermination.

By using a norm contestation framework that highlights norm fluidity and actor agency, this book expands the discussion, providing insight into divergent interpretations of norm violation and compliance and the dynamic nature of norms.

This book presents an integrated approach to measuring the level of intra-party democracy through deductive and standardized content analysis of party statutes.

The mostcritical factor explaining the disjuncture between empathy's revolutionarypotential and today's empathically-impaired society is the interaction betweenthe brain and our dominant political culture.

Brazil is renowned worldwide for its remarkable reforms in pharmaceutical regulation, which have enhanced access to essential medicines while lowering drug costs. This book innovates by analysing the generic drug  reform in Brazil, demonstrating that pharmaceutical regulation is only partially influenced by non-state actors. Little is known about the institutional antecedents and policy process that channeled this regulatory reform. This is particularly intriguing because a regulatory shift in the pharmaceutical sector requires the participation of a number of stakeholders and interest groups in the policy process. Fonseca examines the generic drug reform¿s causes and consequences. No study has approached the generic drug regulation in Brazil from this perspective.  The Politics of Pharmaceutical Policy Reform: A Study of Generic Drug Regulation in Brazil, explores the following: ·         The politics of pharmaceutical regulation in Brazil over the last 25 years.·         The political negotiations to approve the Generic Drug Act, which involved a hard-to-reach agreement between the pharmaceutical industry (national and multinational), the Ministry of Health, and Congress·        The controversial decisions to regulate packaging and pharmaceutical equivalence.·         The surprising success of Brazilian pharmaceutical firms, which became market champions in a sector largely dominated by multinational firms.·         Comparative lessons from the Brazilian case for the political construction of regulatory standards to regulate generic drugs and its effects on global health. This book will interest political scientists and health policy scholars concerned with the political conflicts in the pharmaceutical sector. It argues against well-established approaches to regulatory capture such as control of the regulatory process by interest groups and policy diffusion. It can be used as evidence for graduate courses in public policy, health policy and political science. Because Brazil is one of the largest markets for pharmaceuticals in the world, business leaders and consultancy firms would also be interested.

The publication aims to familiarize students of public policy with the precautionary principle, which plays a vital role in the European Union's approach toward regulating risks. This book is thus interested in shedding light on how the precautionary principle is put into practice and to what extent precautionary measures become modified.

The third main point is the involvement of the common, regular person, and a focus on children, as the unifying hope for the future.Throughout the volume, emphasis is on moral maturation, cultural interpretation in lieu of cultural imposition and creation of a sensitive media policy.

Especially when there is a lot of political rhetoric in the air, those of us with strong political convictions are inclined to reflect on just why we hold certain views even as others who are basically like us hold very different ones.

The aim of this book is to conduct a critical survey of the main tools devised for the synthetic measurement of globalization processes. Given these premises, the book presents the principal tools employed in attempts to measure globalization, starting with those whose unit of analysis is the state.

This book provides a critical commentary on China's situation and future outlook from the perspective of the 2012-13 generational power transfer. In this power transfer, taking place against the background of an increasingly unstable domestic situation, an apparently outstandingly successful generation of ¿half-communist¿ leaders, recently increasingly plagued by scandal, transferred responsibility to a generation confronted by mixed expectations and factional in-fighting. Many international observers doubt that the new leadership will have the will or the power to introduce serious reforms in a country that reports 100,000 riots involving more than 500 persons in public areas per year. The China of 2013 seems to be in the midst of a transition seldom seen since the 1970s. The question is if the resulting hope expressed by Chinese dissidents and Western leaders for a ¿necessary¿ development of China's still largely autocratic system towards a kind of context-adequate democracy is plausible or not. Featuring incisive commentary by the authors and interviews with experts on the region¿s political economy, the volume addresses such timely questions as: Should ¿rapid democratization¿ of China be the strategic goal of the West or rather a step-by-step approach towards the ¿rule of law¿ first, and ¿illiberal democracy¿ to follow? Should the West be more worried about a thriving China, or a China in crisis? Will Chinäs success contribute to the success of the global community and the world order system, or be a threat to it? What can the West do to help China develop more participatory and inclusive approaches in order to secure social stability? And how can the West strengthen its democratic allies on Chinäs borders?Endorsements¿This is a book I recommend to students and teachers around the globe. It provides a concise introduction into present Chinäs main problems, questions and perspectives. A must for all who try to understand the rising Pacific giant not through short-term answers, but through long-term questions.¿Professor Ole Bruun, Institute for Society and Globalization, Roskilde University, Denmark¿The rise of China to global superpower calls for clear, condensed, yet comprehensive comments for the broader public. This book accomplishes those goals, providing a quick yet comprehensive introduction into what we may expect as the Middle Kingdom seeks to assert what it increasingly sees as its rightful role as a leading world power.¿Professor Richard Appelbaum, MacArthur Foundation Chair in Global & International Studies and Sociology, University of California at Santa Barbara ¿The new constellation between China and the West needs inspiring departure points of discussion, which may be sober or provocative. This booklet is both in one. It should be used as a basis for in-depth discussion and I recommend it for classrooms and the global civil society debate.¿Professor Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Mellichamp Professor of Global Studies and Sociology, University of California at Santa Barbara

While East Asia and South Asia have their share of situations that warrant R2P-justified interventions, it is the conflicts in West Asia that have severely tested the viability of R2P.