This chapter discusses the policies of George W. Bush against indecency and obscenity. It explains the impact of the appointment of John Ashcroft as Attorney-General on these policies, and cites data indicating that the application of the law and the pursuit of the pornography industry appear to have had widespread backing that extended well beyond the ranks of the Christian right. The chapter suggests that the vigour with which the indecency issue was pursued by the administration and many Congressional Republicans, and the lack of action against obscenity, are tied together. It also discusses the administration's focus on television and radio indecency to compensate for their inability to curb obscenity in any sustained way.

In Finland, Christine Ingebritsen's portrayal of the Scandinavian states as 'norm entrepreneurs' was implicitly questioned by the decision of prime minister Matti Vanhanen to attend the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. On the subject of the age cohorts making up the electorate, perhaps the greatest challenge facing Scandinavian social democracy in the new millennium is generational renewal. Once the dominant force, the social democratic parties boast increasingly the senescent memberships and risk a decomposition of their traditional vote base. Thomas Wallgren's critique of political parties pointed to a democratic paradox in the Nordic region as a whole. Regaining a basic legitimacy in the eyes of younger voters will be the foremost challenge for the political parties in the Scandinavian politics of tomorrow.

This chapter discusses the concept of internal exile, which can be found in Sinclair's 2005 non-fiction text, Edge of Orison. It studies the issues of marginalisation, suffering and exile that are addressed in Rodinsky's Room, Sinclair's collaborative text with Rachel Lichtenstein. These issues are also located in the history of the Jewish East End, a place that plays a special role in Sinclair's imagination of London. This chapter also studies his ‘democratic’ emphasis on walking the city. internal exile; Edge of Orison; marginalisation; suffering; exile; Rodinsky's Room; East End; walking the city

This chapter explains that historians have long since divined the signs and portents encompassed in the events of April and May 1916. It has often been chronicled how the seizure of buildings in Dublin by elements of the Irish Volunteers, the proclamation of an Irish republic, the short war of attrition followed by surrender and execution, led to a seismic shift in Irish political aspirations. Logue's speech was a delicate balancing act. His attempt to be critical of the government yet refrain from inflammatory language had produced a rather tortuous affair, which was riddled with inconsistencies. Logue's politics did not mean he was automatically predisposed to reject the republican movement. His disaffection with the Irish Party had been exacerbated to an extreme by the encroachment of partition. He believed that Home Rule would not provide the necessary framework to enact real change and, therefore, favoured dominion status. If Logue's intervention in the general election in Ulster indicated his acceptance of Sinn Féin as a party to do business with, other bishops were more forthright in their support.

In addition to the deep-rooted political impacts of prohibition, something else was happening in Georgian England which would shape the politics of consumption in a profound way, and which would prepare the ground for the Victorian temperance movement. This was the beginnings of a politics of sobriety. If wine, beer and port acted as signifiers of party allegiance after the Restoration, then that resonance was echoed by the way in which coffee came to signify a set of cultural, political, and philosophical values which transcended the fuzzy party lines of Georgian England. The first coffee houses appeared in England in the 1650s. In his influential study of democracy and the public sphere, the German social theorist Jürgen Habermas claimed that the coffee houses of Georgian London were fundamental to the rise of modern democratic culture. More than anything else, what coffee houses provided was a social space that reflected ‘politeness’ and ‘manners’.

This chapter first argues that Michael Foucault was a modernist and that his work, especially in its late period, was saturated with the question of aesthetics. For him, this question was connected to the ultimately ethical question of autonomy. The concept of culture haunts, most generally, Foucault's nominalism. One can argue over what kind of nominalism it was that Foucault espoused exactly. The argument of the chapter is that Foucault's nominalism was strategic, even ultimately ethical, and not just an epistemic point of view, and not even a dynamic or dialectical nominalism. Foucault explains the relevance of the idea of an aesthetics of existence but not about what contemporary form it might take. To provide a theory of an aesthetics of existence would be to contradict the idea itself. The chapter discusses a theme, namely subjectivation. Subjectivation is invocated in the chapter as the idea of an 'aesthetic of existence'.

This chapter examines the main powers and functions of the Nordic standing committees, the changes in their work practices and the contribution of parliamentary party groups (PPGs) as autonomous policy sub-systems. Peter Esaiasson and Knut Heidar's reference to 'influential party groups' in the Nordic parliaments warrants some qualification. There is a difference in influence between party groups on the governing side and those in opposition. The former will have direct contact with the minister, who will need the backing of the PPG to proceed with planned legislation. The latter will seek to influence primarily by generating and promoting alternative policies. The larger the parliamentary party, the more the substantial growth in its financial capacity will lead to a professionalisation of its PPG. In the Nordic context, the introduction of state subsidies to PPGs gave them the resources to buy in expertise, create policy research units and develop press agencies.

This chapter discusses home rule politics during Logue's time. Logue was a nationalist. He retained a fundamental conviction that the Irish had the right to govern themselves and only self-government could effectively redress Catholic grievances. His doubts over land agitation were balanced by outrage at the actions of the British government. However, there has been a tendency among historians to question Logue's nationalist credentials and dismiss his contribution to the politics of the period. Logue was much enamored with the clerical-nationalist alliance. He supported fully the bargain of mutual support struck in 1884 between the national movement and sections of the hierarchy. The chapter also discusses in brief party politics; in addition the Irish Party split into three factions whose differences remained slight on the surface but were for the time being insurmountable. All three factions had elements with which Logue and several of his colleagues might have found common cause. Logue's anxieties persisted, even when Home Rule was enacted in September 1914. Amid the euphoria and gratitude in Nationalist Ireland, he remained cautious.

This chapter traces the development of the Anglo-Irish relationship and cross-border cooperation under direct rule. It describes the different levels of institutional cooperation including the involvement of other territorial governments from Great Britain. It discusses the growth of intergovernmental bodies, the proposals for developing cross-border cooperation from 1990 to 1999 and the establishment of cross-border institutions. This chapter explains that direct rule administrations have seen cross-border cooperation as part of their approach to building peace and a political settlement, for improving relations both between North and South and between Britain and Ireland. It also suggests that though direct rule brought the political will to promote North-South cooperation, cross-border working faced a number of more practical obstacles, which include differences in policy and legislation, legal and constitutional differences and a lack of dedicated budgets.