International Encyclopaedia of Government and Politics (5 Volumes)

The dictates of history and the unpredictable actions of the leaders of nations at several points of time in history continue to throw long shadows as the world today struggles to cope with the problems of sensible development. The new world order after the break up of the erstwhile Soviet Union demands the creation of new international economic order and the global market-place functioning on the basis of a free market economy has put together strange bed-fellows in the nuptial chambers of commerce and politics. The crucial question arises: Has there been, or is there presently taking place, a decidedly revolutionary break from the past? What are the changes taking place in the relations between political entities, commercial entities and rich-poor societies? Has there been any irreversible change in the political and social structures of communities the world over? The flux of history is dependent on the actions of leaders, who in turn seek to optimise the status of the nations they are entrusted to safekeeping. The shadow of the Third Reich seems to be present in modern unified Germany as neo-Nazi groups rules of political and social conduct. Japan’s commercial juggernaut steamrolls across the western nations and generates a wave of reaction among the right-wing and also unenlightened sections. The Commonwealth of Independent States strives for a place of honour and profit in the comity of nations while Marx, Engels, Lenin and Gorbachev are being consigned to an ideological limbo. The present set of compilations in five volumes have the above backdrop in the effort to bring together important material on the subject of modern governments and political systems. The historical basis noticeable in the collections would seem to be justified in view of the empirical analysis mentioned above. It is hoped that the valuable materials available in these Volumes in the shape of articles, papers, discussion notes, reviews, abstracts and excerpts will be of use to the scholars as well as students of politics and political science in identifying areas which require more focussed attention. These volumes embodying such painstaking research on the subject should be the asset of all libraries public or private.