The Bulgarian Communist Party From Blagoev to Zhivkov
Histories of Ruling Communist Parties
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Since the days of Dimitur Blagoev, a member of the first Marxist group in Russia and a founder of Bulgarian communism, the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP) was closely identified with its Russian counterpart. In the waning days of the Soviet Bloc, the best-known fact about Bulgaria was that it modeled itself closely on the USSR and was allegedly linked to KGB terrorist activities.
Those similarities were more than superficial. The internal factions in the early history of the party, the emphasis on personal leaders and democratic centralism, the foreign policy of the pre-World War II united front, the partisan experience in the war, industrialization and collectivization, Stalinization and de-Stalinization-all these developments in Bulgaria reflected the Russian experience. Nonetheless, their extent and effect were inevitably colored by Bulgaria's size, its role in the complicated politics of Eastern Europe, and, of course, the fact that the BCP did not come to power in Bulgaria until after World War II and occupation by the Red Army.
Under Todor Zhivkov, the head of the BCP from 1954 until its near demise in 1989, Bulgaria continued its close collaboration with the USSR while reviving some elements of Bulgarian national culture. Zhivkov, unlike his Soviet mentor, Nikita Khrushchev, proved an enduring leader whose anticorruption campaigns and attempts to professionalize the Bulgarian bureaucracy were relatively successful. But even at the time this history of the BCP was written, in 1986, before the fall of the Soviet Union, the path of Bulgaria's future was uncertain.
Crosswinds
The Way of Saudi Arabia
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Fouad Ajami presents a firsthand look at the political culture in Saudi Arabia and its conduct and influence in foreign lands from the early 1990s to around 2010. From the influence of Islam in public life to Saudi rulers' attitudes toward the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, the author fills a significant gap in our understanding of that country.
American Individualism
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
In late 1921, then secretary of commerce Herbert Hoover decided to distill from his experiences a coherent understanding of the American experiment he cherished. The result was the 1922 book American Individualism. In it, Hoover expounded and vigorously defended what has come to be called American exceptionalism: the set of beliefs and values that still makes America unique. He argued that America can make steady, sure progress if we preserve our individualism, preserve and stimulate the initiative of our people, insist on and maintain the safeguards to equality of opportunity, and honor service as a part of our national character. American Individualism asserts that equal opportunity for individuals to develop their abilities is "the sole source of progress" and the fundamental impulse behind American civilization for three-now four-centuries. More than ninety years have passed since this book was first published; it is clear, in retrospect, that the volume was partly motivated by the political controversies of the time. But American Individualism is not simply a product of a dim and receding past. To a considerable degree the ideological battles of Hoover's era are the battles of our own, and the interpretations we make of our past-particularly the years between 1921 and 1933-will mold our perspective on the crises of the present.
Road Ahead for the Fed
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Expert contributors examine the recent actions of the Federal Reserve and suggest directions for the Fed going forward by drawing on past political, historical, and market principles. They explain how the Fed arrived at its current position, offer ideas on how to exit the situation, and propose new market-based reforms that can help keep the Fed on the road to good monetary policy in the future.
To America's Health
A Proposal to Reform the Food and Drug Administration
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
A government monopoly over drug regulation is not sacrosanct. This hard-hitting book describes the current regulation of drugs by the FDA and proposes a model for fundamental, yet workable, reform-including an innovative proposal for drug testing and certification review.
Myth of the Great Satan
A New Look at America's Relations with Iran
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
This critical review of the history of America's relations with Iran shows how little of the two countries' long and complicated relationship is reflected in the foundational axioms of the "Great Satan" myth. The author explains why meaningful and equitable relations can begin only after the two nations have arrived at a common, critical, and accurate reading of the past.
Liberal Reform in an Illiberal Regime
The Creation of Private Property in Russia, 1906-1915
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
An examination of property rights reforms in Russia before the revolution reveals the advantages and pitfalls of liberal democracy in action-from a government that could be described as neither liberal nor democratic. The author analyzes whether truly liberal reform can be effectively established from above versus from the bottom up-or whether it is simply a product of exceptional historical circumstances.
Social Security
The Unfinished Work
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Arguing that an equitable Social Security solution will be unattainable unless we bring stakeholders together around a common understanding of the facts and of the need to take action to address them, former White House adviser Charles Blahous presents some often misunderstood, basic factual background about Social Security. He discusses how it affects program participants and explains the true demographic, economic, and political factors that threaten its future efficacy.
Torn Country
Turkey Between Secularism and Islamism
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Zeyno Baran examines the intense struggle between Turkey's secularists and Islamists in their most recent battles over their country's destination. Looking into the fate of both Turkey's secularism and its democratic experiment, she shows that, for all the flaws of its political journey, the modern Turkish state has managed to maintain an essential separation between religion and the political realm, a separation that is now in jeopardy.
Illusion of Net Neutrality
Political Alarmism, Regulatory Creep And The Real Threat To Internet Freedom
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
In this riveting treatise, coauthors Bob Zelnick and Eva Zelnick sound the alarm on the debilitating effect that looming regulations, rules, and powerful interests would have on today's regulation-free Internet. The authors lay out the imminent threats-from "network neutrality" to FCC regulations-that would rob this global, society-changing, communication powerhouse forever of its full potential.
The Second Twentieth Century
How The Information Revolution Shapes Business, States, And Nations
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Jean-Jacques Rosa offers an analysis of the "grand cycle" in social organization of the twentieth century, showing how the transformation in communication and information technology has led to the downfall of the old political and corporate hierarchies. He explains how today's explosion of freely available information is fueling the democratic free-market revolution and reveals its universal contemporary consequences.
Transnational Dimension of Cyber Crime and Terrorism
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
In December 1999, more than forty members of government, industry, and academia assembled at the Hoover Institution to discuss the problem of cyber-crime and explore possible countermeasures. The Transnational Dimension of Cyber Crime and Terrorism summarizes the conference papers and exchanges, addressing pertinent issues in chapters that include a review of the legal initiatives undertaken around the world to combat cyber crime, an exploration of the threat to civil aviation, analysis of the constitutional, legal, economic, and ethical constraints on use of technology to control cyber crime, a discussion of the ways we can achieve security objectives through international cooperation, and more. Much has been said about the threat posed by worldwide cyber crime, but little has been done to protect against it. A transnational response sufficient to meet this challenge is an immediate and compelling necessity-and this book is a critical first step in that direction.
Our Brave New World
Essays on the Impact of September 11
by Wladyslaw Pleszczynski
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Every American remembers exactly how it unfolded, where they were, and what they were doing on that terrible morning of September 11. And like any other unprecedented historic jolt, September 11 continues to roil our collective mind. We still ponder the questions it raised: What changed that day? What remains of the old? What is truly new? The essays in this collection examine these and other questions, taking a sometimes sobering, sometimes uplifting look at a historic turning point in our lives. The contributors examine the challenges and dangers of our new foreign policy and the sense that we have only seen the opening stage of a long-term realignment. They also examine our domestic politics, revealing that, with the exception of national security matters, partisan considerations remain as strong as before. A look at the Islamic world after 9/11 shows how, as never before, it is understood that American assertiveness is the main deterrent against Islamist terror and a stabilizing force in an unsteady cultural sphere.
Seeking Middle Ground on Social Security Reform
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
This book looks at both the Republican and the Democratic Party plans for Social Security, showing how each confronts significant ideological and political hurdles. David Koitz cuts through the partisan rhetoric that has made social Security one of the most debated programs on the U.S. political scene and looks at both the Republican and the Democratic plans for Social Security, showing important flaws in each.
Stalin's Loyal Executioner
People's Commissar Nikolai Ezhov, 1895-1940
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Stalin's Loyal Executioner, drawn from still-classified Soviet archives, chronicles the meteoric and bloody career of Nikolai Ezhov, NKVD leader and security chief, revealing the tragic scope of communist terrorism under Joseph Stalin.
Government Policies and the Delayed Economic Recovery
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
This book examines the reasons for the unprecedented weak recovery following the recent US recession and explores the possibility that government economic policy is the problem. Drawing on empirical research that looks at issues from policy uncertainty to increased regulation, the volume offers a broad-based assessment of how government policies are slowing economic growth and provides a framework for understanding how those policies should change to restore prosperity in America.
Reroute the Preschool Juggernaut
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Chester E. Finn, Jr. outlines the issues that define, animate, and complicate today's contentious pre-kindergarten debate in American education. He examines such topics as: which children really need it; how many aren't getting it; who should provide it and at what expense; what is the right balance between education and child care; and how to know whether it is succeeding.
Islamic Extremism and the War of Ideas
Lessons From Indonesia
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
John Hughes examines lessons learned from the practice of public diplomacy-especially international broadcasting-in the cold war and tells how the United States could more effectively counter extremism, promote democracy, and improve understanding of itself in the Islamic world. He offers Indonesia as a successful example of the melding of democracy, Islam, and modernity and suggests that this country and other nations where Islam and democracy coexist-such as Turkey-could play a significant role in helping thwart Islamist extremism.
Reacting to the Spending Spree
Policy Changes We Can Afford
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
A team of expert contributors analyze the near- and long-term implications of efforts by both the Obama and Bush administrations to fix the current financial crisis. They examine a range of issues affected by the proposed reforms, including health care, "going green," the Employee Free Choice Act, an open world economy, and more.
Remaking Domestic Intelligence
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
The author reveals the dangerous weaknesses undermining domestic intelligence in the United States and tells why a new national security service should not be part of the FBI. He explains the need for a new domestic intelligence agency, modeled on the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and lodged in the Department of Homeland Security.
Unconditional Democracy
Education and Politics in Occupied Japan, 1945-1952
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
The difficult mission of a regime change: Toshio Nishi gives an account of how America converted the Japanese mindset from war to peace following World War II.
Learning From No Child Left Behind
How And Why The Nation's Most Important But Controversial Education Law Should Be Renewed
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
The author, writing on behalf of Hoover's Koret task Force on K–12 Education, presents a convincing case that, despite the controversy it has ignited, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law is making a positive difference and should be renewed. He outlines ten specific lessons and recommendations that identify the strengths and weaknesses of NCLB and offers suggestions for improving the law, building on its current foundation.
Power to the Patient
Selected Health Care Issues and Policy Solutions
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
The debate rages on over how to cope with the rising costs of medical care-proposed solutions range from a single payer system with a broad government control to loosely defined market-driven plans. The authors look at three key elements of health care costs and offer thoughtful, realistic suggestions to help stem the tide of rising expenses for everyone.
Varieties of Progressivism in America
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Varieties of Progressivism in America focuses on the debates within the party of progress about how best to increase opportunity in America and to make social and political life more egalitarian. The contributors to this volume offer different expertise and varying perspectives as they examine the Old Democrats of the New Deal, the contributions of the Clinton-era New Democrats, and the future of progressivism in America.
Agenda for Economic Reform in Korea
International Perspectives
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
An Agenda for Economic Reform in Korea looks at Korea's economic problems from the perspective of the American experience with economic reforms and sheds new light on the problems of economic reform facing nations all over the world. The authors examine such issues as corporate governance, social welfare, labor relations, and other pressing challenges-and suggest a new vision for the Korean economy.
Estonia and the Estonians
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
A comprehensive survey of Estonian history, placing recent events into historical perspective. The author analyzes the country's post-communist transition, its strategic geopolitical location, and the role of ethnic Estonians in shaping the history of the area.
Burden of Empire
An Appraisal Of Western Colonialism In Africa South Of The Sahara
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Since its publication in 1967, Burden of Empire has been widely praised and criticized for its controversial approach to the problem of colonialism in Africa. The authors have challenged the new "orthodoxy" about Africa-the belief that little but evil and exploitation has resulted from the era of European colonialism.
My Times & Life
A Historian's Progress Through A Contentious Age
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Morton Keller recounts his "not extraordinary life played out in quite extraordinary times"-from the Great Depression through World War Two, the cold war, the sixties, and 9/11. A classic American saga of respectable achievement from relatively humble origins, his life through eight-plus decades as a dues-paying member of the middle class resonates beyond the individual to echo the experiences, the beliefs, and the values of his generation.
Nuclear Security
The Problems And The Road Ahead
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Concern about the threat posed by nuclear weapons has preoccupied the United States and presidents of the United States since the beginning of the nuclear era. Nuclear Security draws from papers presented at the 2013 meeting of the American Nuclear Society examining worldwide efforts to control nuclear weapons and ensure the safety of the nuclear enterprise of weapons and reactors against catastrophic accidents. The distinguished contributors, all known for their long-standing interest in getting better control of the threats posed by nuclear weapons and reactors, discuss what we can learn from past successes and failures and attempt to identify the key ingredients for a road ahead that can lead us toward a world free of nuclear weapons. The authors review historical efforts to deal with the challenge of nuclear weapons, with a focus on the momentous arms control negotiations between U.S. president Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. They offer specific recommendations for reducing risks that should be adopted by the nuclear enterprise, both military and civilian, in the United States and abroad. Since the risks posed by the nuclear enterprise are so high, they conclude, no reasonable effort should be spared to ensure safety and security.
Eric Hoffer
The Longshoreman Philosopher
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Drawn from Eric Hoffer's private papers as well as interviews with those who knew him, this detailed biography paints a picture of a truly original American thinker and writer. Author Tom Bethell interviewed Hoffer in the years just before his death, and his meticulous accounts of those meetings offer new insights into the man known as the "Longshoreman Philosopher."
New Deal & Modern American Conservatism
A Defining Rivalry
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Providing an often-overlooked historical perspective, Gordon Lloyd and David Davenport show how the New Deal of the 1930s established the framework for today's U.S. domestic policy and the ongoing debate between progressives and conservatives. They examine the pivotal issues of the dispute, laying out the progressive-conservative arguments between Hoover and Roosevelt in the 1930s and illustrating how those issues remain current in public policy today. The authors detail how Hoover, alarmed by the excesses of the New Deal, pointed to the ideas that would constitute modern U.S. conservatism and how three pillars-liberty, limited government, and constitutionalism-formed his case against the New Deal and, in turn, became the underlying philosophy of conservatism today. Illustrating how the debates between Franklin Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover were conducted much like the campaign rhetoric of liberals and conservatives in 2012, Lloyd and Davenport assert that conservatives must, to be a viable part of the national conversation, "go back to come back"-because our history contains signposts for the way forward.
Gravest Danger
Nuclear Weapons
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
The mortal danger of nuclear weapons is unique in its terrifying potential for devastation on an unprecedented and unimaginable scale. In this book, Sidney D. Drell and James E. Goodby-each with more than twenty years' experience in national security issues both in public and private capacities-review the main policy issues surrounding nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. They address the specific actions that the community of nations-with American leadership-should take to confront and turn back the nuclear danger that imperils humanity. The nuclear genie, say the authors, cannot be put back in the bottle. Our most urgent task as a nation today is to successfully manage, contain, and reduce the grave danger of nuclear weapons-whether in the hands of adversaries or friendly states. This book hopes to stimulate active public dialogue on this important subject.
Ending Government Bailouts as We Know Them
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
This book examines the dangers of continuing government bailouts and offers alternative strategies designed to produce growth based on the vigor of the private sector with inflation under control. The expert authors show that it is indeed possible to explain the causes of the crisis in understandable terms and clarify why resolving the bailout problem is essential to preventing future crises.
Agriculture and the Environment
Searching For Greener Pastures
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
The authors focus on the major environmental constraints that limit U.S. food production without necessarily improving environmental quality. Each chapter documents a specific issue, discusses the regulatory response, and offers ideas for reform.
Education and Capitalism
How Overcoming Our Fear Of Markets And Economics Can Improve
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
The authors call on the need to combine education with capitalism. Drawing on insights and findings from history, psychology, sociology, political science, and economics, they show how, if our schools were moved from the public sector to the private sector, they could once again do a superior job providing K–12 education.
The Crimean Tatars
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
The first in a series of volumes to discuss the history and development of the non-Russian nationalities in the Soviet Union.
Eyes on Spies
Congress And The United States Intelligence Community
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Amy Zegart examines the weaknesses of US intelligence oversight and why those deficiencies have persisted, despite the unprecedented importance of intelligence in today's environment. She argues that many of the biggest oversight problems lie with Congress-the institution, not the parties or personalities-showing how Congress has collectively and persistently tied its own hands in overseeing intelligence.
Tests, Testing, and Genuine School Reform
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
The author draws on scientific studies of tests and their uses to show how standardized achievement tests must play a central role in improving achievement in K-12 schools. He explains the central considerations in developing and evaluating tests and tells how tests can best be best used, covering such topics as using tests for student incentives, paying teachers for performance, and using tests in efforts to attain new state and national standards.
Eight Questions You Should Ask About Our Health Care System
(Even If The Answers Make You Sick)
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Charles E. Phelps provides a comprehensive look at our health care system, including how the current system evolved, how the health care sector behaves, and a detailed analysis of "the good, the bad, and the ugly" parts of the system-from technological advances (the "good") to variations in treatment patterns (the "bad") to hidden costs and perverse incentives (the "ugly"). He shows that much of the cost of health care ultimately derives from our own lifestyle choices and thus that education may well be the most powerful form of health reform we can envision.
More Liberty Means Less Government
Our Founders Knew This Well
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
In this collection of thoughtful, hard-hitting essays, Walter E. Williams once again takes on the left wing's most sacred cows with provocative insights, brutal candor, and an uncompromising reverence for personal liberty and the principles laid out in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
Managing American Hegemony
Essays On Power In A Time Of Dominance
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Kori Schake examines key questions about the United States' position of power in the world, including, Why is the United States' power so threatening? Is it sustainable? Does military force still matter? How can we revise current practices to reduce the U.S. cost of managing the system? What accounts for the United States' stunning success in the round of globalization that swept across the international order at the end of the twentieth century? The author also offers suggestions on what issues the next president should focus to build an even stronger foundation of U.S. power.
The Best Teachers in the World
Why We Don't Have Them And How We Could
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
John Chubb shows how we can raise student achievement to levels comparable to those of the best nations in the world through a radically new strategy for raising teacher quality. He asserts that we must attract and retain much higher caliber individuals in teaching, which we can accomplish by reducing the size and increasing the compensation of the teaching force via technology, abolishing licensing and training teachers in institutions and programs that have demonstrated their efficacy in producing effective, and improving the quality of school leadership, on which teaching quality heavily depends.
The Rule of Law in South Korea
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Expert contributors examine the challenges of fully implementing the rule of law in South Korea's fledgling democracy and market economy. The expert contributors detail the obstacles that must be overcome, such as corruption in politics and corporate governance and a deep-rooted cultural indifference to the rights of the individual, and offer suggestions on what can-and what should not-be done.
American Contempt for Liberty
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Throughout history, personal liberty, free markets, and peaceable, voluntary exchanges have been roundly denounced by tyrants and often greeted with suspicion by the general public. Unfortunately, Americans have increasingly accepted the tyrannical ideas of reduced private property rights and reduced rights to profits, and have become enamored with restrictions on personal liberty and control by government. In this latest collection of essays selected from his syndicated newspaper columns, Walter E. Williams takes on a range of controversial issues surrounding race, education, the environment, the Constitution, health care, foreign policy, and more. Skewering the self-righteous and self-important forces throughout society, he makes the case for what he calls the "the moral superiority of personal liberty and its main ingredient-limited government." With his usual straightforward insights and honesty, Williams reveals the loss of liberty in nearly every important aspect of our lives, the massive decline in our values, and the moral tragedy that has befallen Americans today: our belief that it is acceptable for the government to forcibly use one American to serve the purposes of another.
Skating on Stilts
Why We Aren't Stopping Tomorrow's Terrorism
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Stewart A. Baker, a former Homeland Security official, examines the technologies we love-jet travel, computer networks, and biotech-and finds that they are likely to empower new forms of terrorism unless we change our current course a few degrees and overcome resistance to change from business, foreign governments, and privacy advocates. He draws on his Homeland Security experience to show how that was done in the case of jet travel and border security but concludes that heading off disasters in computer networks and biotech will require a hardheaded recognition that privacy must sometimes yield to security, especially as technology changes the risks to both.
Winning Florida
How The Bush Team Fought The Battle
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
With a reporter's keen eye for detail, award-winning journalist Zelnick conveys every emotion of the key players in this battle, presenting a rich, colorful tale that reads more like a fictional political thriller than the bizarre real-life drama it was-from election night through the U.S. Supreme Court's historic decision.
Currency Unions
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Currency Unions reviews the traditional case for flexible exchange rates and "countercyclical"-that is, expansionary during recessions and contractionary in booms-monetary policy, and shows how flexible exchange rate regimes can better insulate the economy from such real disturbances as terms-of-trade shocks. The book also looks at the pitfalls of flexible exchange rates-and why fixed rates, particularly full dollarization-might be a more sensible choice for some emerging-market countries. The contributors also detail the factors that determine the optimal sizes of currency unions, explain how currency union greatly expands the volume of international trade among its members, and examine the recent implementation of dollarization in Ecuador.
Roots of the Issei
Exploring Early Japanese Newspapers
Part of the Hoover Institution Press Publication series
Roots of the Issei presents a complex and nuanced picture of the Japanese American community in the early twentieth century: a people challenged by racial prejudice and anti-Japanese immigration laws trying to gain a foothold in a new land while remaining connected to Japan. Against this backdrop, Andrew Way Leong examines the emergence of generational terms that have long been used to organize Japanese American narratives: issei (first generation), nisei (second generation), and sansei (third generation). In the process, he suggests these widely-used generational concepts are in fact a recent construct. Leong's illuminating research is made possible by the Hoji Shinbun Digital Collection, the world's largest open-access, full-image, and searchable online digital collection of Japanese American newspapers. With this technology, Leong is able to analyze materials that until recently were regarded as beyond computer-aided analysis, due to difficulties presented by the complexity of Japanese language. With access to these primary sources, Leong is able to upend several scholarly assumptions and beliefs and present a never-before-seen picture of Japanese American struggles-both with an adversarial host country and among themselves-backed by the authority of primary sources.