Madagascar’s constitution of August 19, 1992 brought hope to a population exhausted by economic failures associated with a failed experiment in scientific socialism and years of mismanagement. The repetition of transparent elections and the promulgation of “good governance” in the years that followed appeared to serve as an indicator of institutional strengthening and, by extension, progress. Unfortunately, a broader institutional analysis points toward a series of shocks to the political system by way of legal, but highly detrimental, juridical and constitutional shifts to the system. These shocks were meant to serve particularized political networks with long clientalistic roots and were made possible by the narrow vision of institutionalism that did not take careful stock of those networks or the leaders at the top of them. Little effort was made to look beyond a legislature brought in by careful elections but producing legislation serving individuals, the ways in which inchoate political parties distort institutional outcomes and the potential for institutionalization, the weakness of civil society to offer opportunities for popular engagement, or the use of donor-funded decentralization programs to build ministries that served as powerful and rapid proxies for leadership centralization. By the time the celebrated president, Marc Ravalomanana, was overthrown in March 2009 it became clear that there were few opportunities to seed political opposition and such limited space between individual leaders and primary institutions of public management that critical state functions immediately began to unravel. In this book the author considers the institutions of the Third Republic, how they formed, and why they looked like models for democratic change before turning to consider how the institutions themselves have been manipulated in plain sight by leaders looking to champion their own networks. He concludes that the rise of the Fourth Republic in 2010 did little to address these underlying concerns and argues that a new agenda is in order to consider not just the way in which institutions form, but the way in which networks of power, and leaders at the top of those networks, grow and change malleable institutions in young democracies with few avenues of accountability.

The Politics of Institutional Failure in Madagascar's Third Republic

Politics & Social Sciences

Marcus, Richard R.

Politics & Government

Lexington Books

Do you: Ever wonder if you have been cheated at poker? Have any idea how much it goes on? Know about collusion, sleight-of-hand, marked cards and chip dumping? Cheating in poker is more common than people care to believe. Although most cheating occurs in private games that do not follow strict gaming procedures, it is also common in regulated card rooms, casinos and even online. There are many ways to cheat, some subtle, some not so subtle. Richard Marcus knows about them all. Ten years ago poker was a minority interest. The advent of online play has changed all that - poker is now big business. Millions of players play every day, both live and online. If you are one of them you will want to ensure that the games you play in are clean. This book will tell you how cheaters operate, what methods they use and how to spot them. Table of Contents: Introduction: “Why this book?” Chapter One: “Poker cheating: It's been going on for ages and not about to stop.” Chapter Two: “The underworld of legal casino poker.” Chapter Three: “It happens here, there, everywhere.” Chapter Four: “Underneath the tournament tables.” Chapter Five: “The Underworld Series of Poker.”The granddaddy of crooked tournament play. Chapter Six: “Crooked Fingers in World Series Ring Games.” Chapter Seven: “Online-Oncrime.” Chapter Eight: “For those of you who play at home.” Beware of best friends who are your poker night enemies. Chapter Nine: “The top ten poker scams of all time.” Chapter Ten: “Where will it go from here.”

Dirty Poker

Humor & Entertainment

Puzzles & Games

D&B Publishing

The World's Greatest Gambling Scams details the best scams ever pulled off in the adrenaline fuelled gambling world.

The World's Greatest Gambling Scams

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