Major European governments (The Dorsey series in political science)

by Alex N. Dragnich and Jorgen S. Rasmussen

Book Overview

This book should be of interest to western europe or introduction to comparative politics, upper-level political science courses. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Loose Leaf
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0256027382
• ISBN13: 9780256027389
• Release Date: January 1982
• Publisher: Dorsey Press
• Length: 601 Pages
• Weight: 2.10 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A quality textbook

I began using 'Major European Governments' when it was in its 6th edition, in 1982, written by Alex Dragnich and Jorgen Rasmussen. The latest edition I have is its 9th edition, with Dragnich no longer sharing the authorship, and Joel Moses as contributor. This is an expensive book, generally used as a textbook for undergraduate courses on Comparative Politics or European Politics. Dragnich was primarily responsible for the part on the Soviet Union; as Dragnich was an emeritus professor even back in 1982, and the Soviet Union no longer exists, the evolution of this book, begun by Dragnich, is such that it is now almost exclusively Rasmussen's work.Rather like the philosophical puzzle -- if you replace a plank in a ship, is it the same ship? Replace another plank -- still the same ship? And another, and another; if you have replaced each plank in succession and still called it the same ship, at what point does it become a different ship? Particularly if you then take the removed planks and build another ship. But, you're asking, what has this to do with Major European Governments? Well, I'm glad you asked. Just as this book has become both a different book, yet remained the same book, so do have the governments in Europe changed, and yet remained the same. As I examine the variations in the sections on the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, I notice that the basic structures of these governments have remained the same, and those that have changed are very much like the removed-planks of the ship described above. For instance, the political party structure of Britain remains fairly constant, as does the overall political activity of the population and the foundations of government in Parliament, civil service, blended executive and judicial functions, all without a written constitution (in the American sense, anyway). The same is true for France and Germany, although Germany has had to integrate new populations and institutions with the rejoining of East and West Germanies. The section on Prospects for European Democracy/Unity still addresses the same questions, with more current history and structures, to be sure. But then, one doesn't expect the average undergraduate to retain the detail on the level of how many Members of Parliament are there in the British House of Commons? What is the appeal procedure of judicial review in France? What specific ordinances have had to be modified to allow an integration of economies from East and West Germany? When teaching this subject, I do give detail, but I strive for the broader history, philosophy, and sociology of politics to come through, because I am aware that if anything has a chance of surviving, that will be it.The section on Russia/Commonwealth of Independent States/former Soviet Union is the one that has undergone the most radical transformation over time in these editions. Of course, much of the political discussion in the older editions amounted to learned speculation, given the closed nature