For over a century, voting has been a surprisingly common political activity in China. Voting as a Rite examines China’s experiments with elections from the perspective of intellectual and cultural history. Rather than arguing that such exercises were either successful or failed attempts at political democracy, the book instead focuses on a previously unasked question: how did those who participated in Chinese elections define success or failure for themselves? Answering this question reveals why Chinese elites originally became enamored of elections at the end of the nineteenth century, why critics complained about elections that featured real competition in the early twentieth century, and why elections continued to be held after the mid-twentieth century even though outcomes were predetermined by the state. While no mainland Chinese government has ever felt that its rule required validation at the ballot box, the discourses that surrounded elections reveal much about important tensions within modern Chinese political thought. What is the best means to identify talent? Can the state trust the people to act responsibly as citizens? As Joshua Hill shows, elections are vital, not peripheral, to understanding these concerns fully.

The authors of this ambitious book address a fundamental political question: why are leaders who produce peace and prosperity turned out of office while those who preside over corruption, war, and misery endure? Considering this political puzzle, they also answer the related economic question of why some countries experience successful economic development and others do not.The authors construct a provocative theory on the selection of leaders and present specific formal models from which their central claims can be deduced. They show how political leaders allocate resources and how institutions for selecting leaders create incentives for leaders to pursue good and bad public policy. They also extend the model to explain the consequences of war on political survival. Throughout the book, they provide illustrations from history, ranging from ancient Sparta to Vichy France, and test the model against statistics gathered from cross-national data. The authors explain the political intuition underlying their theory in nontechnical language, reserving formal proofs for chapter appendixes. They conclude by presenting policy prescriptions based on what has been demonstrated theoretically and empirically.

西班牙从独裁平稳过渡到民主，这一过程被称为20世纪的政治奇迹。缔造这一奇迹的最关键人物是国王胡安·卡洛斯一世。自出生起，胡安·卡洛斯便背负着王室和国家的重任，父亲唐·胡安希望他献身于君主制，独裁者佛朗哥则力图将他培养成独裁统治的接班人。胡安·卡洛斯立志投身西班牙的民主事业，做人民的国王。他在佛朗哥的阴影下忍辱负重，委曲求全，暗中积蓄力量，为将来的民主改革做准备。他继位后，努力平衡各方政治力量，安抚左派，使共产党合法化，并组织大选；同时竭力减少恐怖主义组织袭击的不良后果。他挺身而出粉碎了1981年未遂军事政变，挽救了西班牙的民主事业。
《民主国王：胡安·卡洛斯传》是由世界著名西班牙历史研究学者撰写的权威传记。作者生动描绘了处在政治阴谋和权力斗争漩涡中的卡洛斯在推动民主的过程中，做出的巨大的牺牲，表现出的勇气和智慧。本书也得到了国王本人的认可。

书籍简介:
我想，我们的历史遗产落在我们的肩上是过于沉重了，好象使我们无法前进。自从1945年光复以后，我们的国家遭受了特殊的苦难，17年来，两届充斥着贪污腐化的政权制造了今日危机的基础，我们正陷于贫困和痛苦的恶性循环之中。
我懂得，一个病人不能仅靠一次所谓革命的外科手术来治愈；他的健康也不能仅仅靠切除病灶而达到。要防止旧病复发，就需要经久不变地讲究卫生和保持一个强健的体魄。
但是，我们能在哪里找到出路呢？应当有路，有某条路。我常深夜迟迟不能入睡，思考着我们民族的过去和未来，草草记下不时产生的想法，按顺序整理出来，便写成了这本书。书中的叙述是粗糙的，描写也常常过于零散，但通观全篇，它相当忠实地表述了作者的思想。
作者简介：
朴正熙（1917年9月30日－1979年10月26日），1917年出生于韩国庆尚北道的善山市。1937年，他毕业于大邱师范学校，40年，入读新京满洲军官学校，44年毕业。
韩国光复后，服役于韩国陆军。1960年，韩国爆发了3·15选举舞弊事件以及4·19革命，整个国家陷入一片混乱当中。朴正熙当时担任第2军副司令。他表示要“尽快拯救陷入混乱中的祖国以及生活在水生火热之中的人民”，与青年将校们一起领导了1961年的5·16军事政变。
政变成功后，朴正熙掌握了最高国家权力，成为大韩民国第5至第9任总统，任期长达18年之久。
朴正熙任内最重要的政绩在于促成京釜高速国道的兴建，亦大力推行新村运动改革农村，使韩国的物流大幅改善，经济得以突飞猛进。韩国的GDP在1969年首次超越北韩，国民普遍认为那是朴正熙的改革取得成效。
朴正熙以俭朴著称，在任内大力整肃歪风，坚定捍卫自由立场，即使身故多年仍然赢得南韩国民的掌声。
但是，70年代以后，相对性的贫困现象的深化、长期执政所带来的副作用以及反维新民主化运动在很大程度上削弱了朴正熙的执政基础。为了保住执政地位，朴正熙反而愈加强硬地压制民主化的要求。政府通过了紧急措施，有很多人因此而被捕，此后以政治人物、知识分子、学生、宗教界人士为中心的民主化运动以及在经济开发过程中被忽略的劳动者和农民为中心的保卫生存权的运动愈演愈烈。
1979年10月26日朴正熙被韩国中央情报部首长金载圭暗杀身亡，终年62岁。

Review
"This comprehensive work...provides a thorough and contemporary examination of the field of comparative politics and various central questions within it...there is more than enough material here (including detailed references) to keep scholars and bring graduate students completely up to date; indeed the analyses are often cutting edge. Lastly, inasmuch as this handbook series aspires to shape the discipline and not just describe it, many chapters in this handbook usefully conclude with a precise outline of the future research agenda as seen by the author."--Politics Studies Review
"Two visionary editors--who see clearly where research in comparative politics is heading--and a star-studded cast of authors who are acknowledged masters of their fields make this Oxford Handbook an accurate compass for those who wish to be brought to the frontiers of comparative research."--David D. Laitin, James T. Watkins IV and Elise V. Watkins Professor of Political Science at Stanford University
Product Description
The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics offers a critical survey of the field of empirical political science through the collection of a set of chapters written by 48 top scholars in the discipline of comparative politics. Part I includes chapters surveying the key research methodologies employed in comparative politics (the comparative method; the use of history; the practice and status of case-study research; the contributions of field research) and assessing the possibility of constructing a science of comparative politics. Parts II to IV examine the foundations of political order: the origins of states and the extent to which they relate to war and to economic development; the sources of compliance or political obligation among citizens; democratic transitions, the role of civic culture; authoritarianism; revolutions; civil wars and contentious politics. Parts V and VI explore the mobilization, representation and coordination of political demands. Part V considers why parties emerge, the forms they take and the ways in which voters choose parties. It then includes chapters on collective action, social movements and political participation. Part VI opens up with essays on the mechanisms through which political demands are aggregated and coordinated. This sets the agenda to the systematic exploration of the workings and effects of particular institutions: electoral systems, federalism, legislative-executive relationships, the judiciary and bureaucracy. Finally, Part VII is organized around the burgeoning literature on macropolitical economy of the last two decades.

民主与市场，研究的就是在东欧和拉丁美洲的一些国家，在迈向民主与市场的途中，会遇着什么样的结局？普沃斯基教授并 没有给出一个定论，相反，他以学者的认真与严谨，探讨的是向民主过渡的策略与条件。读者翻开这本书，您首先选择看的应当是普沃斯基教授自己所作的序言，他已经对全书的内容作了提纲挈领式的概括，这远甚于译者所能做的一切了。作者所强调的政治与经济转型的相互依赖性，在分析中所引用的广泛的各方数据，运用的源于政治哲学、经济学和博弈论中的一些模型，都将会给大家留下畅快淋漓的感觉。在东欧与拉丁美洲，传统的经济发展战略已经崩溃，整个政治经济体系都处于转型之中。
这些大胆迈向民主与市场的国家，这样的过渡是会导致民主还是一种新的独裁？将会形成的经济体系是全新的或者本质依旧？本书重点分析了东欧和拉美国家向民主的过渡和市场经济化和改革。作者运用源于政治哲学、经济学和博弈论中的一些模型，特别强调了政治与经济转型的相互依赖性。

The quest for freedom from hunger and repression has triggered in recent years a dramatic, worldwide reform of political and economic systems. Never have so many people enjoyed, or at least experimented with democratic institutions. However, many strategies for economic development in Eastern Europe and Latin America have failed with the result that entire economic systems on both continents are being transformed. This major book analyzes recent transitions to democracy and market-oriented economic reforms in Eastern Europe and Latin America. Drawing in a quite distinctive way on models derived from political philosophy, economics, and game theory, Professor Przeworski also considers specific data on individual countries. Among the questions raised by the book are: What should we expect from these experiments in democracy and market economy? What new economic systems will emerge? Will these transitions result in new democracies or old dictatorships?

本书致力于通过多种研究方法如不同国家及地区的政治状况、历史角度等构建较为系统的比较政治学理论，共包括八部分内容：第一部分导论；第二部分理论与方法，主要从历史角度及案例分析角度进行研究；第三部分国家与国家形成的认同，主要讲国家的形成、国家的合法性、公民对国家的认同以及民族冲突；第四部分政治制度与转变，主要研究了民主的形成以及与公民文化的关系；第五部分政治不稳定性与政治冲突，主要研究全球化背景下的公民示威运动；第六部分群众运动的转移，主要研究政党与选举制度；第七部分政治要求的处理，主要研究分权、联邦主义理论；第八部分比较视角中的政府治理，主要进行不同制度国家间的比较；索引。

《民主的胜利》讲述的是西班牙从独裁走向民主的曲折历程。从佛朗哥政权的瓦解开始，到卡雷罗·布兰科、阿里亚斯·纳瓦罗登场，再到苏亚雷斯和卡尔沃·索特洛时期，最后以三个重大的历史事件作结：共产党的合法化、1981年2月政变、1982年西班牙工人社会党选举，保罗·普雷斯顿爵士提供了理解西班牙社会变革的独到视角。本书情节引人入胜，叙述生动，是研究西班牙现代史和民主转型的权威著作。
普雷斯顿（作者）向我们揭示了西班牙民主胜利的关键：既在于有意愿达成妥协的西班牙新兴民主政治阶层，也有赖胡安·卡洛斯国王在1981年2月政变中发挥的重要作用。这本写作技巧上乘，权威、研究详尽的著作，值得推荐给所有感兴趣的人阅读。
—— 沃特·奥贝罗（纽约州立大学）
想要理解现代西班牙，想要了解现代西班牙的塑造者及其领导集团，此书是必读著作。
——《泰晤士报文学增刊》
这位才华横溢、精力充沛的英国学者，当代西班牙历史研究的领军人物，在本书中讲述了从佛朗哥到冈萨雷斯时代那些不可思议的历史转变。
—— 《洛杉矶时报》

这部权威著作代表了作者毕生研究民主崩溃、民主转型与民主巩固所达到的顶峰，它在很多领域开辟了新的天地。作者重新概括了当代非民主政体的主要类型，并探讨了每种类型向民主转型的可行道路和民主巩固所要完成的任务。作者提出的对民主的巩固而言必需的五个场域——公民社会、政治社会、法治、官僚机构和经济社会——以及诸如“后全能主义”等更加宽广的分析范畴，将成为规范的分析框架，而他们对前共产主义世界的研究，也标志着苏联学开始回归主流比较政治学。
无可置疑，本书将成为有关建立民主政体的最重要文献。所有对民主感兴趣的人以及研究东欧、中欧和南美的学者都会怀着极大的兴趣来阅读本书。

如果一场政变的威胁是短暂的，那么，制定不那么亲多数派政策的承诺也许就不可信。令人信服地改变政策的唯一途径就是改变政治权力的分配，这只有通过制度变革——一场政变，或更为普遍地说，向一个较不民主的政体的转变——才能实现。本书的主要贡献是提供一种理解民主的创立和巩固的统一框架。特别是，这一框架强调为什么政治制度变革与在非民主政体背景下的政策让步有根本性的不同。