Leading political innovation activist Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter bring fresh perspective, deep scholarship, and a real and actionable solution, Final Five Voting, to the grand challenge of our broken political and democratic system. Final Five Voting has already been adopted in Alaska and is being advanced in states across the country. The truth is, the American political system is working exactly how it is designed to work, and it isn't designed or optimized today to work for us—for ordinary citizens. Most people believe that our political system is a public institution with high-minded principles and impartial rules derived from the Constitution. In reality, it has become a private industry dominated by a textbook duopoly—the Democrats and the Republicans—and plagued and perverted by unhealthy competition between the players. Tragically, it has therefore become incapable of delivering solutions to America's key economic and social challenges. In fact, there's virtually no connection between our political leaders solving problems and getting reelected. In The Politics Industry, business leader and path-breaking political innovator Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter take a radical new approach. They ingeniously apply the tools of business analysis—and Porter's distinctive Five Forces framework—to show how the political system functions just as every other competitive industry does, and how the duopoly has led to the devastating outcomes we see today. Using this competition lens, Gehl and Porter identify the most powerful lever for change—a strategy comprised of a clear set of choices in two key areas: how our elections work and how we make our laws. Their bracing assessment and practical recommendations cut through the endless debate about various proposed fixes, such as term limits and campaign finance reform. The result: true political innovation. The Politics Industry is an original and completely nonpartisan guide that will open your eyes to the true dynamics and profound challenges of the American political system and provide real solutions for reshaping the system for the benefit of all. THE INSTITUTE FOR POLITICAL INNOVATION The authors will donate all royalties from the sale of this book to the Institute for Political Innovation.

Is European party politics hovering above society? Why do voters pick one party over others? Is it a question of class? Of religion? Of attitudes about taxes or immigration or global warming? Or is it something else entirely? The Structure of Political Competition in Western Europe takes a detailed look at the ways in which Western Europe’s party systems are anchored in social and ideological structures. The book’s first section focuses on the role of social structures - particularly education, class and religion - and analyzes the complex interplay among these factors. The second section addresses the ways that the sociological structures such as class and religion interact with voters’ values. The third section examines the way that these structures and values shape the space of political competition among parties. The conclusion integrates the findings of the empirical articles, putting them into broader comparative perspective, discussing whether relatively predictable structures have been overwhelmed by media-driven spectacles, political personalities and focus on short-term economic performance. This volume will appeal to scholars and graduate students in Europe and those from North America, Asia and other regions who study European politics, political parties, cleavages and political behaviour. This book was published as a special issue of West European Politics.

First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Throughout the twentieth century, much of the population in Latin America lacked access to social protection. Since the 1990s, however, social policy for millions of outsiders - rural, informal, and unemployed workers and dependents - has been expanded dramatically. Social Policy Expansion in Latin America shows that the critical factors driving expansion are electoral competition for the vote of outsiders and social mobilization for policy change. The balance of partisan power and the involvement of social movements in policy design explain cross-national variation in policy models, in terms of benefit levels, coverage, and civil society participation in implementation. The book draws on in-depth case studies of policy making in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico over several administrations and across three policy areas: health care, pensions, and income support. Secondary case studies illustrate how the theory applies to other developing countries.

Welfare states globally have been subjected to reform agendas that have stressed economic competitiveness but how has global competition reshaped welfare states in practice? Providing a new cross-national and international narrative this book captures the complexity of social policy reform process that have taken place over the past 25 years. Drawing on data relating to multiple countries the authors examine global, cross-national and local cases in order to shed light on the impact of international forces on social policy. The book addresses major theoretical debates about the direction of welfare state reform processes across the OECD and beyond, offering empirically rooted analyses of change and new perspectives on the impact of global competition on social policy.

An exploration of the role that special interest groups play in modern democratic politics.

The pace of electoral change is accelerating in contemporary democracies. This study explains why. Green parties, far right parties, and shifting voting patterns reflect deeper processes of electoral realignment. This book tracks the evolution of citizen and party elite opinions on economic and cultural issues from the 1970s to the 2010s - and the impact of these opinions on electoral politics. Economic issues remain important predictors of vote, but are now matched by cultural issues. An unprecedented time series of empirical evidence from Europe and the United States shows how these changes have reshaped party systems, and the policy linkages between voters and parties.

The authors succeed in presenting very detailed findings from a post-election study of the electorate using a theoretical approach that accounts for the most worrying phenomena in contemporary Indian politics' - John Hickman, Contemporary South Asia Drawing on a 1996 nationwide post-election survey of 10,000 people, this book analyzes the process and progress of democratization in India. It begins with a discussion of some of the major schools of thought in the area of social change. This is followed by a description of the survey findings on how Indians view their state, how they judge those who govern them and how they understand their society. The authors provide an important analysis of the findings, providing answers to questions such as: - are there generational differences in the views expressed? - does the rhetoric of regionalization find resonance in the views of the people surveyed? - is India truly a nation or merely an accidental geographical assemblage of separate communities? Using innovative statistical analysis, the authors explore the relative success of Indian democracy in coping with the processes of modernization and social change.

'One of the most powerful books in the social sciences ever written. ... A must-read' Thomas Piketty 'The twentieth century's most prophetic critic of capitalism' Prospect Karl Polanyi's landmark 1944 work is one of the earliest and most powerful critiques of unregulated markets. Tracing the history of capitalism from the great transformation of the industrial revolution onwards, he shows that there has been nothing 'natural' about the market state. Instead of reducing human relations and our environment to mere commodities, the economy must always be embedded in civil society. Describing the 'avalanche of social dislocation' of his time, Polanyi's hugely influential work is a passionate call to protect our common humanity. 'Polanyi's vision for an alternative economy re-embedded in politics and social relations offers a refreshing alternative' Guardian 'Polanyi exposes the myth of the free market' Joseph Stiglitz With a new introduction by Gareth Dale

A study of patronage politics and the persistence of clientelism across a range of countries.