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Elections in Africa is the first volume of a series of election data handbooks published by OUP; it covers all the 53 states in Africa. Elections have always been an integral part of post‐independence African politics and have assumed the utmost importance in the course of recent democratization processes. However, comparative research on political development in Africa lacks reliable electoral data. Elections in Africa fills this gap. Following the overall structure of the series, an initial comparative introduction on elections and electoral systems is followed by chapters on each state of the region. These contributions examine the evolution of institutional and electoral arrangements from independence to the present (1999), and provide systematic surveys of the up‐to‐date electoral provisions and their historical development. Exhaustive statistics on national elections (presidential, parliamentary, and constitutional assembly), referendums and coups d’état are included within each chapter; these cover electoral bodies and voting, electoral participation of parties and alliances, vote distribution, parliamentary composition, and power holders. The data are presented in the same systematic manner for all countries in order to provide electoral statistics in line with internationally established standards of documentation, so that the data can be easily compared. The book, therefore, provides a definitive and comprehensive set of data on elections in order to facilitate comparative research. Together with the other books of this series, Elections in Africa is a highly reliable resource for historical and cross‐national comparisons of elections and electoral systems worldwide.

Illustrates relational approaches to the study of social movements and collective action. Contributors analyse most recent developments in the analysis of the role of networks as facilitators or constraints of individual recruitment, various forms of interorganizational networks, and the relationship between social networks and the political context in which social movements operate. They also relate the growing attention to social networks by social movement analysis to broader theoretical debates. Both quantitative and qualitative network analysis are considered, and attention is paid to the time dimension and the evolution of networks, through both simulation models and empirical data. Empirical chapters cover both contemporary and historical episodes of collective action, in reference to authoritarian as well as progressive, left‐libertarian movements. Chapters focusing on individual networks specify different effects of network embeddedness over participation in different types of collective action (Passy, Anheier). Interorganizational relations are explored by looking at leadership dynamics (Diani), the relationship between categorical traits and network position within coalitions (Ansell), and the role of individuals in linking different organizations both synchronically and diachronically (Osa). Network approaches to the political process illustrate shifts in alliance and conflict networks at a time of regime change (Tilly and Wood), the evolution of social networks during protest cycles (Oliver and Myers), and the role of local elites in shaping protest networks in the community (Broadbent). Theoretical chapters discuss network perspectives on social movements in relation to recent theoretical developments in rational choice theory (Gould), cultural analysis (Mische), and the analysis of social mechanisms (McAdam). A radical case is also made for a reorientation of the whole social movement agenda along network lines (Diani).

St Maximus the Confessor (580–662) is an influential Byzantine thinker. The book is a study of the basic features of his thought, his philosophical theology or metaphysics. The term ‘Christocentric cosmology’ describes precisely the contents of his conception. God's Logos (the Word, Christ) contains the principles (divine ideas, logoi ) according to which a well‐ordered cosmos is created, and in accordance with which the cosmos returns (converts) to its origin. In accordance with these principles the created world participates in divine activity ( energeia , power, perfections), and the return (conversion) is the way from participation in being to participation in eternal well‐being or deification. Man is created as microcosm and mediator. Through his human nature, the incarnate Logos transforms the created totality and makes human beings able to participate in the redemptive movement. Maximus develops in a precise way the tension between God's transcendence and immanence. His philosophical theology makes it possible in the modern age to develop a conception of ecological theology and even to appreciate the modern concept of human rights.

Despite children making up around a quarter of the population, the first edition of this book was the first to focus on a public health approach to the health and sickness of children and young people. It combined clinical and academic perspectives to explore the current state of health of our children, the historical roots of the speciality, and the relationship between early infant and child health on later adult health. Child public health is a rapidly developing field, and is increasingly recognised throughout the world as a major area of focus for population health. Targeting the health of children now is essential if we are to achieve a healthy population as adults. For the second edition the text has been revised and updated with new material on health for all children, global warming, child participation, systems theory, refugees, commissioning, and sustainable development.

In children, magical thinking has traditionally been viewed as an immature form of thinking that is destined to diminish with age. With some exceptions, the study of magical thinking and magical beliefs in adults has mostly remained on the fringes of psychology, along with the study of such topics as superstitions, anomalistic beliefs, and parapsychology. In this book, I argue that the role of magical thinking in child development and in adult life should be reconsidered. In children, magical thinking is an important part of cognitive development. In adults, magical thinking and magical beliefs assist individuals as they struggle with situations that are beyond rational control. There is evidence that suggestive techniques used in politics, commercial advertising, and psychotherapies target magical thinking and magical beliefs. In this book, the mechanisms and development of magical thinking and beliefs throughout the lifespan are discussed.

Presents a comprehensive account of sanctification and divinization in Cyril as set forth in his New Testament biblical commentaries. By establishing the importance of pneumatology in Cyril’s narrative of divine life and by showing the requirement for an ethical aspect of divinization grounded in the example of Christ himself, this study brings a corrective to certain readings of Cyril that tend to exaggerate the ‘somatic’ or ‘physicalistic’ character of his understanding of divinization, by arguing that Cyril correlates the somatic and pneumatic means of our union with Christ, and impressively integrates the ontological and ethical aspects of our sanctification and divinization. The final chapter offers brief sketches of Cyril in comparison with Theodore of Mopsuestia, Augustine, and Leo the Great, with the aim of gaining further clarity to the Christological debates of the fifth century, and a better grasp of the theological similarities and differences between the East and West.

This book attempts to solve two problems in deliberative democratic theory and practice: How can agreements reached inside deliberative forums be legitimate for those who did not take part? And why should people with strongly-held views participate in the first place? The solution involves rethinking deliberative theory, but also draws on lessons from practical experience with deliberative forums in Britain’s National Health Service. The book discusses the competing representation claims that different participants make, the pros and cons of different approaches to democratic accountability, and different conceptions of rationality and public reasoning. It concludes by rejecting the idea that we can have authentic, legitimate deliberation in any one forum. Instead, authentic, legitimate deliberation can only result from linkages between different kinds of institutions, drawing on different kinds of participants, at different points of a decision-making cycle. That is, it promotes a macro, society-wide view of deliberative democracy quite different from the micro, deliberative-forum view which dominates thinking on the subject in the UK. The book sketches the outline of such a deliberative system, suggesting how various institutions in civil society and elected government might link together to create public decisions, which are both more rational and more democratic.

This book examines whether and how children should be involved in the process of resolving family law disputes. Although there is widespread acceptance in the Western world that the views of children should be taken into account, and that the weight given to those views should depend on their age and maturity, there is much less agreement about how children's voices should be heard and the purposes for which they are to be heard. This book examines these issues, drawing upon empirical data from interviews which explore the views and experiences of children, parents, counsellors, mediators, lawyers, and judges involved in such disputes in Australia. Most parents, children, and professionals were in favour of giving children a say, while not allowing them to make the decision. There were, however, quite different rationales for this. Mediators and family report writers, for example, emphasized the enlightenment that can come from giving children a say, while lawyers were more concerned with assessing the competence of children to make rational choices. There was also a general consensus among parents and professionals that giving children a say in resolving family law disputes also involved dangers. On the basis of this research, the book suggests ways in which children can better be heard without placing them at the centre of their parents' conflicts. Children might be given a say in some kinds of decisions much more than others and they should not be asked to choose between their parents competing positions. A major rationale for listening to children in family law disputes is that it provides a window upon children's worlds.

Why do people living in different areas vote in different ways? Why does this change over time? How do people talk about politics with friends and neighbours, and with what effect? Does the geography of well-being influence the geography of party support? Do parties try to talk to all voters at election time, or are they interested only in the views of a small number of voters living in a small number of seats? Is electoral participation in decline, and how does the geography of the vote affect this? How can a party win a majority of seats in Parliament without a majority of votes in the country? This book explores these questions by placing the analysis of electoral behaviour into its geographical context. Using information from the latest elections, including the 2005 General Election, the book shows how both voters and parties are affected by, and seek to influence, both national and local forces. Trends are set in the context of the latest research and scholarship on electoral behaviour. The book also reports on new research findings.

The basic task of this book is to explore what, exactly, is meant by ‘justice’ in definitions of environmental and ecological justice. It examines how the term is used in both self-described environmental justice movements and in theories of environmental and ecological justice. The central argument is that a theory and practice of environmental justice necessarily includes distributive conceptions of justice, but must also embrace notions of justice based in recognition, capabilities, and participation. Throughout, the goal is the development of a broad, multi-faceted, yet integrated notion of justice that can be applied to both relations regarding environmental risks in human populations and relations between human communities and non-human nature.

Focusing contemporary democratic theory on the neglected topic of punishment, this book argues for increased civic engagement in criminal justice as an antidote to the American penal state. It considers how the jury may serve as a participatory institution that gathers and utilizes citizen’s juridical capabilities rather than merely expressing unreflective public opinion. In doing so, the book resists trends in criminal justice scholarship holding citizen participation to blame for greater penal severity, and it rejects the longstanding skepticism of lay abilities in political theory. It distinguishes a mass politics mobilized superficially around single issues from more constructive citizen involvement that takes responsibility for public problems. This more positive view of citizen action was once a major justification for the jury trial and is now also manifest in the restorative justice movement, which has incorporated laypeople into community boards and sentencing circles. Jury trials and restorative justice programs are examples of rational disorganization, in which lay citizen action renders a process less efficient yet also contributes valuable qualities such as attunement, reflectiveness, and full-bodied communication. While restorative justice programs and participatory policy forums such as citizens’ juries have become attractive to reformers, traditional juries have suffered a deep decline. This book advocates a broader role for jurors in the criminal courts and more widespread use of jury trials. Though no panacea for a political culture grown too comfortable with criminalization and incarceration, participatory institutional designs that rationally disorganize punishment practices and slow down criminal justice can increase civic responsibility and public awareness about the need to conceive alternative paths forward.