SPECIALIZED RESEARCH HANDBOOKS
Handbooks are useful for obtaining background information about contemporary theories, concepts, issues, events, or topics and for understanding how scholars have debated a specific area of study. These handbooks are available either electronically and/or located on the book shelves in the Medicine Crow Center Library for International and Public Affairs.
GENERAL/COMPREHENSIVE
Bächtiger, André, John S. Dryzek, Jane J. Mansbridge, and Mark E. Warren, editors. The Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2018. [Medicine Crow Center Library bookstacks JC 423 .O93 2018]
The handbook takes stock of deliberative democracy as a research field, as well as exploring and creating links with multiple disciplines and policy practice around the globe. It provides a concise history of deliberative ideals in political thought while also discussing their philosophical origins, locating deliberation in a political system with different spaces, publics, and venues, including parliament and courts but also governance networks, protests, mini-publics, old and new media, and everyday talk. It also documents the intersections of deliberative ideals with contemporary political theory.
Popelier, P., Giacomo Delledonne, and Nicholas Aroney, editors. The Routledge Handbook of Subnational Constitutions and Constitutionalism. Abingdon, Oxon, UK: Routledge, 2021.
This handbook provides a toolbox of definitions and typologies to develop a theory of multilevel constitutionalism and subnational constitutions. The volume examines systems with subnational entities that have full subnational constituent autonomy and systems where subnational constituent powers, while claimed by subnational governments, are incomplete or non-existent. Understanding why complete subnational constituent power exists or is denied sheds light on the status and functioning of subnational constitutions. The book deals with questions of how constitutions at multiple levels of a political system can co-exist and interact. The term 'multilevel constitutionalism', recognized as explaining how a supranational European constitution can exist alongside those of the Member States, is now used to capture dynamics between constitutions at the national, subnational and, where applicable, supranational levels. The book encompasses many different types of multi-tiered systems worldwide to map the possible meanings, uses and challenges of subnational or state constitutions in a variety of political and societal contexts.
AFRICA
Fombad, Charles Manga and N. C. Steytler, editors. Democracy, Elections, and Constitutionalism in Africa. Oxford, UK; Oxford University Press, 2021.
This volume examines democracy and elections in Africa in relation to democratic gains of the 1990s and 2000s followed by evidence mounting that regimes are concealing authoritarianism under the veneer of elections. The volume also focuses on multiparty democracy and the proper functioning of the state in addressing the major problems facing Africa, including internal conflict, inequality and lack of development, and poor governance and corruption. The book aims to show how competitive politics or multiparty democracy can be realized and how, through competition, such politics could lead to better policy and practice outcomes.
Lynch, Gabrielle, editor. Routledge Handbook of Democratization in Africa. Abingdon, Oxon, UK: Routledge, 2020.
This volume explores the issues and debates surrounding the ongoing processes of democratization in sub-Saharan Africa, illuminating the central dynamics characterizing Africa's democratic experiments, and considering the connections between democratization and economic, social, and cultural developments on the continent. The book features more than thirty contributions structured into six thematic sections: The politics and paths of regime development Institutional dynamics Political mobilization and voting dynamics The politics of identity Social forces from below The consequences of democracy. Chapters offer overviews of the key scholarship on particular topics, including central insights from the latest research, and provide suggestions for those interested in further inquiry. The material includes attention to broad cross-continental patterns, for example with respect to public opinion, political violence, or the role of different institutions and actors. It also includes rich case material, drawing on and highlighting the experiences of a diverse collection of countries.
Oloruntoba, Samuel Ojo and Falola, Toyin. The Palgrave Handbook of African Politics, Governance and Development. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
This handbook constitutes a single collection of articles and essays on African politics, governance, and development from the pre-colonial through colonial to the post-colonial eras. Over the course of these interconnected periods, African politics have evolved with varied experiences across different parts of the continent. This work provides in-depth engagement in the universe of scholarly debates around African politics, economics, demography, and its relations with the world.
Onyango, Gedion. Routledge Handbook of Public Policy in Africa. New York: Routledge, 2022.
This handbook provides an overview of African public policy and a comprehensive examination of the practicalities of policy analysis, policymaking processes, implementation and administration in Africa today. While mostly attentive to comparative public policy in Africa, this book attempts to address some of the following pertinent questions: How can public policy be understood and taught in Africa? How does policymaking occur in unstable political contexts, or in states under pressure? Has the democratization of governing systems improved policy processes in Africa? How have recent transformations, such as technological proliferation in Africa, impacted public policy processes? What are the underlying challenges and potential policy paths for Africa going forward?
ASIA
Chang, Teh-Kuang and Angelin Chang. Routledge Handbook of Asia in World Politics. London: Routledge, 2018. [Medicine Crow Library bookstacks JZ1980 .R68 2018]
This handbook brings together leading scholars of different disciplines to provide a comprehensive analysis of both the prospects and problems which have emerged from Asia's rise, including how economic growth and social change seen in the region, combined with new global security profiles and environmental challenges, have contributed to placing Asia at the forefront of international affairs. Sections cover: Major actors in Asian politics, especially China, Japan and India, international relations in Asia, and intra-Asian tensions, such as the 'Taiwan time bomb.”
Cheng, Tun-jen and Yun-han Chu, editors. Routledge Handbook of Democratization in East Asia. Abingdon, Oxon, UK: Routledge, 2018.
Examining the challenges that East Asian emerging democracies still face today, as well as the prospects of the region's authoritarian regimes, this handbook provides a comprehensive analysis of the dynamics and prospects of democratization in East Asia. It offers discussion at both the country and regional level, including analysis of democratic attitudes and movements in China, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong. Evaluating all the key components of regime evolution, from citizen politics to democratic institutions, the sections covered include: Regional Trends and Country Overviews, Institutions, Elections and Political Parties. Democratic Citizenship, Democratic Governance, and the Political Economy of Democratization.
Facal, Gabriel, Elsa Lafaye de Micheaux, and Astrid Norén-Nilsson. The Palgrave Handbook of Political Norms in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Springer Singapore, 2024.
This handbook covers political norm dynamics in Southeast Asia, by bringing together the array of normative repertoires that frame the possibilities for citizens to participate in, set agendas for, make decisions in, and contest, not only electoral and institutional politics, but also informal and imaginary political spaces. Chapters shed light on intersecting political and social transformations and their consequences from the vantage point of political norms. While the handbook lays out and analyzes how political norms across Southeast Asia have been shaped in successive historical phases, the core of the handbook addresses current dynamics involved in defining and transforming political norms.
Hua, Shiping, editor. Routledge Handbook of Politics in Asia. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, UK: Routledge, 2018. [Medicine Crow Center Library bookstacks JS 6950 .R68 2018]
The handbook serves as a comprehensive guide to politics in East, South, Southeast, and Central Asia. Taking a comparative approach, it is divided in four parts: thorough introduction to the politics of the four regions of Asia, from the perspectives of democratization, foreign policy, political economy, and political culture; examination of the 'Big Three' of Asia: China, India, and Japan, focusing on issues including post-Mao reform, China's new world outlook, Indian democracy and Japanese foreign policy; discussion of important contemporary issues such as human rights, the politics of the internet, security, nationalism, and geopolitics; and, analysis of theoretical ideologies and belief systems connected with the politics of the continent, such as Confucianism, Hinduism, socialist constitutionalism, and gender norms.
Pekkanen, Robert J. and Saadia Pekkanen, editors. The Oxford Handbook of Japanese Politics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021.
This volume is divided into two parts, roughly corresponding to domestic Japanese politics and Japan’s international politics. Within the domestic politics part, there are four distinct sections: “Domestic Political Actors and Institutions,” covering the Japanese Constitution, electoral systems, prime minister, Diet, bureaucracy, judiciary, and local government; “Political Parties and Coalitions,” covering the Liberal Democratic Party, coalition government, Kōmeitō, and the political opposition; “Policymaking and the Public,” covering the policy making process, public opinion, civil society, and populism; and, “Political Economy and Social Policy,” covering industrial, energy, social welfare, agricultural, monetary, and immigration policies, as well as social inequality. In the international relations part, there are four sections: “International Relations Frameworks,” covering grand strategy, international organizations, and international status; “International Political Economy,” covering trade, finance, foreign direct investment, the environment, economic regionalism, and the linkage between security and economics; “International Security,” covering remilitarization, global and regional security multilateralism, nuclear nonproliferation, naval power, space security, and cybersecurity; and, “Foreign Relations” covering Japan’s relations with the United States, China, South Korea, ASEAN, India, the European Union, and Russia.
Yap, Po Jen and Rehan Abeyratne, editors. Routledge Handbook of Asian Parliaments. Abingdon, Oxon, UK: Routledge, 2023.
This work showcases the varieties of legislatures that exist in Asia and explains how political power is constituted in seventeen jurisdictions in East, Southeast, and South Asia. Divided into thematic and country-by-country sections, this handbook surveys the range of political systems operating in Asia. Each jurisdiction chapter examines the structure and composition of its legislature, the powers of the legislature, the legislative process, thereby providing a clear picture of how each legislature operates both in theory and in practice. The book also thematically analyses the following political systems operating in Asia: communist regimes, liberal democracies, dominant party democracies, turbulent democracies, presidential democracies, military regimes, and protean authoritarian rule.
EUROPE
Abels, Gabriele, editor. The Routledge Handbook of Gender and EU Politics. Abingdon, Oxon, UK: Routledge, 2021.
This handbook maps the expanding field of gender and EU Politics, giving an overview of the fundamentals and new directions of the sub-discipline. In investigating the gendered nature of European integration and gender relations in the EU as a political system, it summarizes and assesses the current research on gender and the EU, identifies existing research gaps in gender and EU studies, and addresses directions for future research. Contributors inform about gender approaches and summarize the state of the art in gender and EU studies framed in the context of EU politics, gender studies, political theory, comparative politics, international relations, political economy, and European law.
Christiansen, Peter Munk, Jørgen Elklit, and Peter Nedergaard, editors. The Oxford Handbook of Danish Politics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2020.
This is a comprehensive and thorough book on Danish politics and Danish political institutions and political life. It covers issues related to the Danes reservations towards the EU despite close to 50 years of EC/EU membership, the Danes rejection of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, and its conflicted political battles over progressive issues such as being the first country to legalize pornography and formally register same-sex couples, yet recent Danish politics being associated with xenophobia and anti-Muslim sentiments. The handbook provides the reader with a detailed knowledge and understanding of almost all aspects of Danish politics.
Diamond, Patrick, Peter Nedergaard, and Ben Rosamond, editors. The Routledge Handbook of the Politics of Brexit. Abingdon, Oxon, UK: Routledge, 2018.
This book examines the Brexit phenomenon so far, and looks to make sense of the British referendum held in June 2016 to leave the European Union. The book asks simple questions across a range of areas and topics so as to frame the debate into a number of navigable discussions, providing structure and form to what is an evolving and potentially inchoate topic. As such, it provides a systematic account of the background for, the content, and the possible implications of Brexit. The handbook therefore does not examine in detail the minutiae of Brexit as it unfolds on a day-to-day basis, but considers both the broad contextual factors that shape and are shaped by Brexit and the deeper sources and implications of British exit from the European Union.
Fagan, Adam, and Petr Kopecky, editors. Routledge Handbook of East European Politics. Abingdon, Oxon, UK: Routledge, 2018. [Medicine Crow Center Library bookstacks JN 96 .A58 R68 2018]
This work provides a comprehensive overview of the political, economic, and social complexity of Central Europe, the Baltic republics, South Eastern Europe, and the Western Balkans, as well as all the countries of the former Soviet Union. Articles seek to explain and understand patterns of current Eastern European politics in support of the study of East European Politics, Russian Politics, EU Politics, and more broadly in European Politics, Comparative Politics, Democratization Studies, and International Relations.
Fernandes, Jorge M., Pedro Magalhaes, and António Costa Pinto, editors. The Oxford Handbook of Portuguese Politics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2022.
This volume offer comprehensive coverage of the politics (broadly defined) of the country over the past fifty years. The handbook includes eight sections. Past and Present provides an overview of Portuguese political developments since democratization in the 1970s. Political Institutions explores the building blocks of Portuguese democracy. The third section examines the demand-side of mass politics. The fourth section turns to the supply side of mass-politics by looking at ‘Parties and the Party System’. The fifth section reviews the ‘Portuguese Society’ by unpacking a plethora of societal aspects with direct implications for politics. The sixth section examines ‘Governance and Public Policies’, with a view to understanding how a constellation of public policies has an impact on the quality of governance and in fostering well-being. The seventh section looks at ‘Portugal and the European Union’ and the last section unpacks Portuguese Foreign Policy and Defense.
Gendzwiłł, Adam, Ulrik Kjaer, and Kristof Steyvers, editors. The Routledge Handbook of Local Elections and Voting in Europe. Abingdon, Oxon, UK: Routledge, 2022.
This work covers issues as local electoral systems and voting behavior or political representation in Europe. It provides comprehensive and expert coverage of forty European countries, organized along the respective local state traditions, and in addressing a wide range of important questions related to local elections and voting, broadens the scope of existing analyses quantitatively as well as qualitatively. Each country chapter follows a rigorous conceptual framework for cross-national comparisons, providing an overview of the local government system, details on the place of local elections within the multi-level political system, specific features of the electoral system, analysis of the main electoral outcomes in the recent decades and finally reflective discussion.
Gillespie, Richard, and Frederic Volpi, editors. Routledge Handbook of Mediterranean Politics. Abingdon, Oxon, UK: Routledge, 2018. [Medicine Crow Center Library bookstacks DE 100 .R68 2018]
This handbook provides an overview of the political processes that shape the Mediterranean region in the contemporary context. It explores the issues of crucial importance to Mediterranean dynamics through a series of analytical sections that guide the reader towards a comprehensive understanding of the main regional interactions and trends.The book explores: The complex historical formation of the contemporary Mediterranean; geopolitical perspectives; issues around peace and conflict; the political economy of the region; and, the role of non-state actors and social movements, all in the context of how distinct political, economic, social and cultural dynamics interact across the region.
Gill, Graeme J., editor. Routledge Handbook of Russian Politics and Society. 2nd edition. New York: Routledge, 2023.
Through balanced theoretical and empirical investigation, each chapter examines both the Russian experience and the existing literature, identifies and exemplifies research trends, and highlights both the richness of experience, history and continued challenges inherent to this shifting polity. This book addresses questions about democratic transition, the relationship between the market and democracy, stability and authoritarian politics, the development of civil society, the role of crime and corruption, the development of a market economy, and Russia's likely place in the emerging new world order.
Keating, Michael, editor. The Oxford Handbook of Scottish Politics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2020.
This handbook provides a detailed overview of politics in Scotland, looking at areas such as elections and electoral behavior, public policy, political parties, and Scotland's relationship with the EU and the wider world. It focuses on the period since 1999 as a European nation, with its own history and society, within the larger union of the United Kingdom. Since devolution, the book documents the party system and how voting patterns have changed as well as Scotland’s capacity to make its own public policy has grown in relation to the Independence Referendum of 2014 and a new phase with Brexit.
Klaus Larres, Holger Moroff, and Ruth Wittlinger, editors. The Oxford Handbook of German Politics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2022.
Germany emerged from the Cold War as a newly united and sovereign state, eventually becoming Europe's indispensable partner for all major domestic and foreign policy initiatives. This work provides a comprehensive overview of some of the major issues of German domestic politics, economics, foreign policy, and culture. This book serves primarily as a reference work on Germany’s political landscape, but through this broader lens it also provides a magnifying glass of global developments, which are challenging and transforming the modern state. The growing importance of Germany as a political actor and economic partner makes this endeavor all the more timely and pertinent from both a German and European but also from a global perspective.
Marczewska-Rytko, Maria, editor. Handbook of Direct Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989. Opladen, Germany: Barbara Budrich Publishers, 2018. [Medicine Crow Center Library bookstacks JF 497.E85 H36 2018]
The handbook offers an instructive approach to the political history of Central and Eastern Europe since the collapse of the Soviet Union by focusing on the relevance of practices and institutions of direct democracy. It collects twenty political analyses of direct democracy in twenty Central and Eastern European countries with the aim of the book provide an in-depth political analysis of direct democracy in particular as it relates to: 1) the diagnosis of the state of democratic processes taking place in this area; 2) the synthesis and analysis of direct democracy institutions used there, and 3) the analysis and comparative study of implementations of solutions characteristic of direct democracy in the area investigated, both on a national and local scale.
TezcuÌr, GuÌnesÌ Murat, editor. The Oxford Handbook of Turkish Politics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020.
This book includes in-depth analyses of Turkey being perceived as a model country that showed the feasibility of democratic governance in a Muslim-majority society, the rise of religious-nationalist populism and sociopolitical polarization that has resulted in an authoritarian turn that has stifled political liberalization, Turkish foreign policy with strong linkages to the West, and Turkish national identity. Coverage includes examining issues of authoritarianism and democratization, political economy, electoral politics, politics of identity, social movements, foreign policy, and the politics of art.
Descriptions of resources are adapted or quoted from vendor websites.