The achievement of a magnum opus is quite rare. In this instance it consists of the combination of four books with the common thread of an amazing model that spans macroeconomics, microeconomics, ethical economics, and economic justice. That is the journey traversed in this book. All along the way the potential and power of the individual is honored; and this is how the greatness of human beings is channeled into the process of an ever-advancing civilization. There is no reason to restrict the voluntary nature of social cooperation because humans are intelligent and spiritual and have--after thousands of years of learning--acquired certitude about the symmetrical benefits from reciprocity and harmony. The theory in this book has rich ancient roots yet its newness is not just a fresh perspective, and that is because what lies at the heart is a new economic model with the transformative power of a new technology. The model and the technology seamlessly connect macroeconomics, microeconomics, ethical economics, and economic justice. There is nothing else out there that accomplishes such a remarkable feat. No doubt there are many who object to the words in the title of this book. If your mind conjures up anything other than freedom and the glorious pursuit of knowledge then it is time for you to reboot. This ground-breaking and foundation-laying work will satisfy and develop your deductive logic and strengthen your resolve to take action and to appreciate human action. It will galvanize your entrepreneurial spirit which, in turn, will make the world a better place. And in this book you will find a highly readable narrative that both a general audience and an audience that is keen on economics and ethics and justice will enjoy.

Introduces theocracies, discussing the social, political, economic, religious, and cultural effects, and examining various contemporary governments.

Commonly perceived as a direct threat to the practice of liberal democracy, the global reemergence of theocratic claims to political rule is a misunderstood development of twenty-first-century politics. Analyzing the relationship between religion and politics throughout the Middle East, Africa, and the United States, as well as classical and medieval political philosophical sources, Challenging Theocracy critiques the contemporary formation of theocracy. Providing an account of the origins and influence of theocracy, the chapters in this volume explore ancient texts that articulate the theocratic political ideas that continue to bubble under the surface of political life today. In an effort to consider how regimes extend beyond their immediate institutional and legal forms and find their foundation in timeless ideas, the contributors examine ancient and modern political thought to better understand their persistent power and impact on global politics.

This 1938 book gives an engaging account of the main controversies within Dutch Calvinism between 1600 and 1650. Although the relation of Church and state was debated throughout the seventeenth century in the Netherlands, two disputes in the first half were most significant, and the book provides detailed information on both.

At the intersection of two sweeping global trends—the rise of popular support for principles of theocratic governance and the spread of constitutionalism and judicial review—a new legal order has emerged: constitutional theocracy. It enshrines religion and its interlocutors as “a” or “the” source of legislation, and at the same time adheres to core ideals and practices of modern constitutionalism. A unique hybrid of apparently conflicting worldviews, values, and interests, constitutional theocracies thus offer an ideal setting—a “living laboratory” as it were—for studying constitutional law as a form of politics by other means. In this book, Ran Hirschl undertakes a rigorous comparative analysis of religion-and-state jurisprudence from dozens of countries worldwide to explore the evolving role of constitutional law and courts in a non-secularist world. Counterintuitively, Hirschl argues that the constitutional enshrinement of religion is a rational, prudent strategy that allows opponents of theocratic governance to talk the religious talk without walking most of what they regard as theocracy’s unappealing, costly walk. Many of the jurisdictional, enforcement, and cooptation advantages that gave religious legal regimes an edge in the pre-modern era, are now aiding the modern state and its laws in its effort to contain religion. The “constitutional” in a constitutional theocracy thus fulfills the same restricting function it carries out in a constitutional democracy: it brings theocratic governance under check and assigns to constitutional law and courts the task of a bulwark against the threat of radical religion.

A journalist's penetrating and controversial look at the untold story of Christian fundamentalism's most elite organisation- a self-described 'invisible' global network dedicated to a religion of power for the powerful. They are 'the Family' - fundamentalism's avant-garde, waging spiritual war in the halls of American power and around the globe. They consider themselves the 'new chosen'- congressmen, generals and foreign dictators who meet in confidential 'cells', to pray and plan for a 'leadership led by God', to be won not by force but through 'quiet diplomacy'. Jeff Sharlet is the only journalist to have reported from inside its walls. The Family is about the other half of American fundamentalist power - not its angry masses, but its sophisticated elites. In public, they host Prayer Breakfasts; in private they preach a gospel of 'biblical capitalism', military might and American empire. Citing Hitler, Lenin and Mao as leadership models, the Family's current leader, Doug Coe, declares, 'We work with power where we can, build new power where we can't'. Part history, part investigative journalism, The Family is a compelling account of how fundamentalism came to be interwoven with American power and the no-holds-barred economics of globalisation. No other book about the Right has exposed the Family or revealed its far-reaching impact on democracy, and no future reckoning of fundamentalism will be able to ignore it.