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Eminence: Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France. By Jean-Vincent Blanchard. Walker and Company, 2011, 320 pp. $30.00. The Submerged State: How Invisible Government Policies Undermine American Democracy. By Suzanne [...]

An essay concerning the book "The Submerged State: How Invisible Government Policies Undermine American Democracy" by Suzanne Mettler is presented. It talks about U.S. government policies that are designed to be hidden from view, such as Medicare payments that are made through private insurance companies. It mentions how the Republican and Democrat political parties use the submerged state to reward specific beneficiary groups which results in the lobbyists' strategy of donating to both parties.

Abstract:This review of new directions in the American and comparative literatures on the state reveals important intellectual trends that parallel each other quite closely. Both comparativists and Americanists address similar questions about the sources of state authority, and both propose similar answers. Collectively, these scholars and others are retheorizing the state-developing a suppler, multidimensional picture of the state's origins, structure, and consequences-to shed light on the reasons for the state's stubborn refusal to cede the stage. The emerging understanding of the state that the authors describe provides a framework not only for revisiting the state in the international realm but also, in dialogue with recent Americanist studies, for revising and deepening the understanding of the state's paradoxical role in American political development and finally setting aside the assumption of the United States as stateless. In this emerging view, American state building, strength, and institutional capacity form through links with society, not necessarily through autonomy from society. But such distinctive patterns provide insights for comparative studies, too, for instance, in respect to the relationship between the state and welfare policy across nations.

A burgeoning literature in comparative politics has sought to incorporate ideas into political analysis. In this article the authors categorize the main ways in which this incorporation has occurred—ideas as culture, ideas as expert knowledge, ideas as solutions to collective action problems, and ideas as programmatic beliefs—and explicate the different assumptions about causality and the permanence of ideas implied by these different frameworks. This theoretical exercise is then applied to an empirical examination of eugenic ideas about sterilization and immigration and their influence on public policy in Britain and the United States between the world wars. Given that ideational ideas were (broadly) equally powerful in both countries, the cases provide a basis for shedding light on when and how extant ideational frameworks influence public policy. Employing primary sources the authors conclude that ideas remain powerful expressions of societal interests but depend upon key carriers to realize such expressions.

This article examines the politics of higher education expansion in Britain between the 1960s and 1990s, bookmarked by the Robbins and Deanng reports respectively. We argue that throughout this period higher education expansion has been employed, by all political parties, as an instrument of economic growth though this justification has been dressed up to satisfy transient ideological preferences. We first present a detailed account, based on archival and primary sources, of the three major reforms to higher education since the 1950s—Robbins, Thatcherism, and Dearing; and second, develop an argument about how the dominant ideas about the rationale for higher education constitute a form of path dependency for policy choices once these institutions are publicly funded and explicitly linked to economic needs.

The author reflects on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation on the contacts between President Donald Trump's political campaign team and the Russian government which has been suspected of meddling in the U.S.' 2016 presidential elections. Topics include presidential power, Trump's refusal to release his tax returns due to failure to pay taxes, and Trump's connections to Russia. Also discussed is the U.S.' relationship with Russia.

The article focuses on the U.S. politician Hillary Clinton who got defeated in the 2016 presidential election by President Donald Trump. Topics discussed include Democratic party lost the support from white working-class voters, need to show state approved Identities to poll workers in Michigan, and expressed support for women's rights, disability rights, and justice for racial minorities by Hillary Clinton.

The author discusses how chemical engineers can take advantage of the opportunity being presented by the celebration of the International Year of Chemistry in 2011 (IYC 2011). He highlights ways IChemE, the global membership organization for chemical, process and biochemical engineers, can participate in IYC 2011 events, activities and talks slated all over the world. He also notes the chemical engineers' chance to use IYC 2011 to raise the public profile of chemistry and chemical engineering.

Feature the book 'An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King,' by William F. Pepper. Facts of King's assassination; Conspiracy involving government agencies; Pros and cons of the book.

Comments on Liberian people's outrage when UN special representative, James Jonah suggested Liberia become a UN trust territory.