This chapter follows the creation, adoption, and impact of the numerous constitutions implemented in colonial Nigeria, ultimately pushing the region toward adopting a more federal system of government. This chapter will contain overviews of the five important constitutions created in the colonial period, while also exploring the factors which drove the colonial government to push the region toward federalism and the greater inclusion of native Nigerians. It will identify two primary periods of constitution-making, one before World War II and one after, pushed more vigorously by nationalist groups. Federalism, codified by Nigeria’s consecutive implementation of different constitutions, promoted regionalism, causing the growth of ethnic nationalism. Consequently, ruling groups benefiting from previous, more unitary systems, like Northern Nigeria’s emirs, and small minority ethnic groups fearing the influence of larger groups, opposed the growth of federalism. As Nigeria transitioned into an independent nation, it walked a fine line between an oppressive unitary system and a chaotic federal one. This balancing act defined its constitutions and political landscapes during Nigeria’s colonial period, and continues to do so today.

This chapter concentrates on the painful zigzag course of Jewish emancipation during the first half of the nineteenth century. It begins with the Prussian legislation of 1812, with special emphasis on the attitude of the national-liberal movement in the various parts of Germany with regard to emancipation but also to other relevant issues of the time. It then tells of the emerging new kind of antisemitism at the time, beginning with Fichte’s ambivalence, through Wilhelm von Humboldt’s principled stand on equality and the outright antisemites, Fries and Rühs. The upheavals known as the Hep-Hep attacks on the Jews in 1819 are then briefly described, followed by quotes regarding ongoing integration in the following decades. Finally, the ambivalent situation of young Jewish scholars, who could now study at the best institutions, but were refused academic posts, is described through the biography of Eduard Gans and the changing fortunes of the young Heinrich Heine.

Of the two parallel lives, it is Hannibal who used an elected position to carry through political and economic reforms unwelcome to the ruling oligarchy, whereas Scipio was quiet and accepting of the status quo. A story that Hannibal was prosecuted after Zama is not believable. He urged acceptance of the peace terms after Zama, manhandling an opposing speaker; he apologized for this, pleading long absence from civil life. As elected ‘praetor’ (sufete), he antagonized powerful citizens. His summons of a ‘quaestor’ (financial official) was refused. Scipio, soon after, also had trouble with a recalcitrant quaestor. Hannibal’s main political reform was to end life tenure of the ‘judges’. Economically, perhaps using skills developed when managing the logistics of his Italian campaign, he calculated Carthage’s revenues and ended embezzlement. The unpopularity with the ruling class so generated, and Roman diplomatic pressure, caused him to flee permanently. Carthage’s second-century economy is evaluated.

Conclusions are summarized and final reflections added. Neither Hannibal nor Scipio received cult in the strong sense. The Roman Flamininus did – but only from Greek communities. Herodotus on a Hamilcar’s death might show cult was thinkable for defeated Carthaginian commanders – but the story is dubious. Neither Hannibal nor Scipio founded eponymous cities or aimed at monarchical positions. Both, as overseas commanders, took policy initiatives on the spot, including appointment of key subordinates; but Publius and Lucius Scipio in the east after 190 acted on general understanding of senatorial wishes. Neither was conspicuously successful as politician. Hannibal did at least bravely and single-handedly carry unpopular reforms to curb oligarchic corruption, but it is uncertain how long they lasted after his hasty exit from Carthage. Ancient poets and modern biographers have always found Hannibal, the glamorous failure and precursor of Cleopatra, a more popular and congenial subject than the more conventional Scipio.

Contrary to the prevailing narratives about China’s economic miracle, this chapter lays out the book’s main arguments that the spectacular economic boom lasting four decades was largely unexpected by both Chinese leaders and the world’s leading economists, that China’s age of abundance originated somewhere, and that a set of historical conditions made it possible. It also discusses the data sources used for this project.

This brief chapter illustrates the object of the book: to analyse the various dimensions of the notion of power (economic, political, cultural etc.). It also outlines the contents of the book and its political objective, the strategy of structural reforms aimed at reducing inequalities in the social distribution of power.

At independence in 1975, the Frelimo government took over public administration and started transforming it. The public financial management (PFM) system was adapted to central planning and management of the economy in line with nationalist and Marxist-Leninist thinking. While collapse followed in the mid-1980s, the PFM system was gradually and systematically reformed towards more transparent and efficient mechanisms, and successful reforms did coincide with high growth rates for more than 20 years, after 1993. As the nationalist agenda became more forceful from around 2005–10, when the natural gas reserves in the Rovuma Basin were confirmed, natural resources became the main focus as a source of revenue — severe cracks in the PFM system started to emerge. The ‘hidden debt’ scandal in 2013–14, renewed conflict between Frelimo and Renamo from 2013, and the insurgency war in Cabo Delgado from 2017 put the PFM system under pressure and performance suffered accordingly. The chapter demonstrates how difficult it is to make institutional reforms work, within a structure of political and economic power that may not benefit from them, even in a context of a high degree of aid dependence.

From 2000 to 2008, election overload fatigued voters when the Zimbabwe government balloted citizens in six elections – an average of one election every fourteen months. The July 2013 election was also harmonised, ending the shaky MDC–Zanu PF coalition government. The election was preceded by a generally peaceful adoption of a new constitution on 16 March 2013. The constitution was a milestone achievement but a dead letter, stipulating that all security forces and government institutions, including the state media, must be impartial and that reforms on all freedoms must be implemented. However, as in the past, Zanu PF dragged its feet on the full implementation of critical reforms needed to improve the human rights environment and create conditions for democratic elections. Such pipe dream reforms included: police training; renouncing the use of violence; ensuring that the government fully and impartially enforced domestic laws in bringing all perpetrators of politically motivated violence to justice; freedom from harassment and intimidation; the respect for the rule of law; and full realisation of the rights to freedom of association and assembly, and the promotion of freedom of expression and communication.

This overview first discusses some traditional thoughts on public finance, particularly the thought of implicit taxation, which have had a profound influence on the behavior of the Chinese government historically and currently. It then describes public finance under the centrally planned economic system, followed by an examination of market-oriented public finance reforms before exploring the challenges to China’s public finance. Finally it explains the contributions of this book. By the end of 1956, China completed the “socialist economic reforms,” turning all large- and medium-sized private enterprises into SOEs and small private enterprises into collectively-owned-enterprises. In 1958, the government took back the land previously allocated to farmers and established the people’s communes.Another economic reform started in 1978, allowing private enterprises to develop and allowing farmers to grow whatever they like on the land allocated to them. A modern tax system and a social insurance system were established and local governments have been given some fiscal freedom. However, there are still problems with public finance.

Chapter 6 analyzes the size and structure of China’s government expenditure. It estimates the size of China’s government expenditure which includes general fiscal expenditure, the expenditure financed by government funds, social insurance expenditure, the expenditure financed by the operating income from state-owned capital, the off-budget expenditure financed by local government debt, and extra-budgetary expenditure. It reveals phenomenon like the Chinese government spending a large proportion of its revenue on economic construction while spending an insufficient amount on education, health and social welfare; and local governments undertaking most of the total government expenditure. The problems with the current expenditure system are discussed, and prospective reforms of the government expenditure system are also discussed in this chapter.

Chapter 5 studies the corporate income tax. Revenue from corporate income tax has been increasing in China which is at odds with the worldwide trend. Unlike the individual income tax, the corporate income tax accounted for a large proportion of total tax revenue in China. The reasons for this unusual phenomenon are thoroughly analyzed in this chapter. It also examines corporate income taxes from various industries and from various enterprises such as SOEs, domestic private enterprises and foreign enterprises, and compares the corporate income taxes in various provinces. Policy suggestions are provided at the end of this chapter, such as reducing the corporate income tax to stimulate investment and economic growth and eliminating excessive preferential corporate income tax policies to put all enterprises on equal ground for competition.

The chapter looks at China’s approach to regional and global institutions. It starts with a quick review of Asian regionalism first led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japan, focusing on how Asian regionalism facilitated China’s socialization in the 1980s–1990s. The chapter then explores China’s multipronged strategy in dealing with its evolving institutional environment. First, China has pursued a latent regionalism, which is centered on East Asia, relies on the BRI, and takes advantage of ASEAN-led mechanisms to mitigate geopolitical trends harmful to its interests. Second, China has undertaken limited institutional innovation, opting instead to promote its targeted reformist agenda towards the Bretton Woods economic order. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the only institution China created and has led, demonstrates its preference of reform over innovation concerning the global economic order. Finally, to project influence, China has relied on its leadership positions in regional organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the United Nations system, including the World Health Organization. Taken together, China’s institutional tactics show that instead of offering an alternative Chinese order, China has been mainly interested in reshaping the institutional settings of its international environment.

This chapter discusses the normative and doctrinal implications of the theory. At the broadest level, the book is skeptical of political control of administrative actions when it comes to particularities. This viewpoint argues against the nondelegation doctrine, popular on the right, and also against models of the state that emphasize presidential control over administrative bodies, widely popular in recent decades. Lodging control over particularities of policy in the hands of democratic organs offers only the illusion of a democratically responsive state, more often delivering various forms of capture. The preferred approach is instead for democratic organs to formulate policy at higher levels, which the public plausibly understands and provides fewer inroads for corruption, and then to have the reasoning state resolve the particularities. The chapter identifies ways in which the reasoning capacity of the state might be improved, for instance through more robust publication requirements and greater use of cost-benefit analysis.

Jameson’s writings modelled ethnoexocentrism and cultural exchange and reflected the cross-cultural freedoms and opportunities she enjoyed as a result of her interchange with Germany and Ottilie von Goethe. Her three resulting ‘German’ books advanced feminist agendas in England by way of German models. Visits and Sketches (1834) details the empowerment of Jameson as writer, cultural critic, and intellectual underwritten by solo travels and her commentaries on German women’s literature, art, intellectual exchange, and sociability. Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada (1838) represents Jameson’s fullest command of contemporary German letters, often by way of writers and thinkers such as Rahel, who were underestimated or ignored by English masculine writers on German culture. Her cultural exchange with Ojibwa women including June Schoolcraft and Schoolcraft’s mother, while more limited, built in part upon the ethnoexocentrism she had learned to exercise in Germany. Social Life in Germany represents Jameson’s work as a translator but, more important, her recourse to German models for alternative marriage and divorce practices she tacitly endorsed for Britain. Her subsequent writings, while not focusing so exclusively on Germany, still drew upon the freedoms and opportunities she discovered there.