The Multilevel Politics of Trade presents a timely comparative analysis of eight federations plus the European Union to explore why some sub federal actors have become more active in trade politics in recent years As the contributing authors find there is considerable variation in the intensity and modes of sub federal participation This they attribute to three key factors the distinctive institutional features of federal systems the nature and scope of trade policy and trade agreements and the extent of social mobilization that accompanies a particular trade policy conversation As a whole The Multilevel Politics of Trade argues that sub federal actors interests jurisdictional political and economic are what motivate them to participate in trade debates However institutional configurations coupled with the influence of civil society actors political parties and others determine the nature and scope of that participation Informed by a deep knowledge of federal dynamics this volume provides extensive comparative analyses of all seven of the North American and European federations and represents a significant intervention into the study of both federalism and political economy

David E. SmithThe Canadian Senate in Bicameral Perspective is the first book-length scholarly study of the Senate in over a quarter century and the first such analysis of the upper house as one chamber of a bicameral legislature. David E. Smith's aim is to demonstrate the inter-relationship of the two chambers and the constraint this poses for Senate reform. He analyzes past literature on the Senate and current proposals for reform - such as Triple-E Senate - drawing detailed comparisons between Canada's upper chamber and the upper chambers of Australia, the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. There is a revival of interest and literature abroad in upper chambers and also in bicameralism. Using Parliamentary debates and committee reports, as well as a broad reading of comparative literature, The Canadian Senate in Bicameral Perspective sets the Canadian Senate into this international milieu, contextualizing the debate and arguing for a renewed investigation into its future.

The Presidentialization of Politics shows that the politics of democratic societies is moving towards a presidentialized working mode, even in the absence of formal institutional changes. These developments can be explained by a combination of long-term structural changes in modern politics and societies' contingent factors which fluctuate over time. While these contingent, short-term factors relate to the personalities of office holders, the overall political agenda, and the majority situation in parliament, there are several structural factors which are relatively uniform across modern nations. First, the internationalization of modern politics (which is particularly pronounced within the European Union) has led to an 'executive bias' of the political process which has strengthened the role of political top elites vis-a-vis their parliamentary groups and/or their parties. Their predominance has been amplified further by the vastly expanded steering capacities of state machineries which have severely reduced the scope of effective parliamentary control. At the same time, the declining stability of political alignments has increased the proportion of citizens whose voting decisions are not constrained by long-standing party loyalties. In conjunction with the mediatization of politics, this has increased the capacity of political leaders to by-pass their party machines and to appeal directly to voters. As a result, three interrelated processes have led to a political process increasingly moulded by the inherent logic of presidentialism: increasing leadership power and autonomy within the political executive; increasing leadership power and autonomy within political parties; and increasingly leadership-centred electoral processes. The book presents evidence for this process of presidentialization for 14 modern democracies (including the US and Canada). While there are substantial cross-national differences, the overall thesis holds: modern democracies are increasingly following a presidential logic of governance through which leadership is becoming more central and more powerful, but also increasingly dependent on successful immediate appeal to the mass public. Implications for democratic theory are considered.

This study of contemporary Swiss politics draws on research in Switzerland, and the author's own observations and offers wide coverage of Swiss political forces, processes and policies. Clive H. Church argues that Switzerland is actually a vibrant and pluralist polity, in which politics are increasingly competitive. However, it still retains some distinctive characteristics like direct democracy, which mean that the Swiss people play a larger role than in other countries.

"A brilliant book, and indispensable reading for anyone interested in democratic theory. Estlund''s careful treatment of the ''wisdom of crowds'' and the idea of deliberative democracy stands out as a particularly large advance. One of the very few truly major contributions to democratic theory in the last quarter century."--Cass R. Sunstein, University of Chicago "David Estlund defends democracy for its ability to make good decisions without handing things over to experts. This book is original, imaginative, and filled with subtle and compelling philosophical argument. A wonderful book, and an important one."--"This book breaks new ground, developing an overall view of democratic procedure, in particular of its legitimacy, that really has no precedent in the literature. It will stand as the canonical defense of epistemic proceduralism