Paweł Laidler – författare

Investigating the theoretical and empirical relationships between transparency and trust in the context of surveillance, this volume argues that neither transparency nor trust provides a simple and self-evident path for mitigating the negative political and social consequences of state surveillance practices. Dominant in both the scholarly literature and public debate is the conviction that transparency can promote better-informed decisions, provide greater oversight, and restore trust damaged by the secrecy of surveillance. The contributions to this volume challenge this conventional wisdom by considering how relations of trust and policies of transparency are modulated by underlying power asymmetries, sociohistorical legacies, economic structures, and institutional constraints. They study trust and transparency as embedded in specific sociopolitical contexts to show how, under certain conditions, transparency can become a tool of social control that erodes trust, while mistrust—rather than trust—can sometimes offer the most promising approach to safeguarding rights and freedom in an age of surveillance. The first book addressing the interrelationship of trust, transparency, and surveillance practices, this volume will be of interest to scholars and students of surveillance studies as well as appeal to an interdisciplinary audience given the contributions from political science, sociology, philosophy, law, and civil society. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Investigating the theoretical and empirical relationships between transparency and trust in the context of surveillance, this volume argues that neither transparency nor trust provides a simple and self-evident path for mitigating the negative political and social consequences of state surveillance practices. Dominant in both the scholarly literature and public debate is the conviction that transparency can promote better-informed decisions, provide greater oversight, and restore trust damaged by the secrecy of surveillance. The contributions to this volume challenge this conventional wisdom by considering how relations of trust and policies of transparency are modulated by underlying power asymmetries, sociohistorical legacies, economic structures, and institutional constraints. They study trust and transparency as embedded in specific sociopolitical contexts to show how, under certain conditions, transparency can become a tool of social control that erodes trust, while mistrust—rather than trust—can sometimes offer the most promising approach to safeguarding rights and freedom in an age of surveillance. The first book addressing the interrelationship of trust, transparency, and surveillance practices, this volume will be of interest to scholars and students of surveillance studies as well as appeal to an interdisciplinary audience given the contributions from political science, sociology, philosophy, law, and civil society. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Scholars from political science and law examine the latest research on the constitutionalization of politics in comparative perspective.The scope includes both inter- country and intra- country perspectives, institutional and systemic analyses, common and civil law systems, focusing on historical and contemporary case studies. There are chapters limited to a concrete legal and political system, analyzing the tools and processes guarding constitutionalization of politics in such countries as the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Finland, and Bulgaria, as well as studies offering comparative analysis of various institutions representing different countries and different legal and political systems. Taken together, this book uncovers a wide variety of legal and political cultures, systems of governments, and forms of territorial organization. Once uncovered, this approach makes it easier to determine repetitive patterns which may be observed in constitutional review and constitutional interpretation, or significant differences occurring in the models of constitutionalization of politics around the world.Constitutionalization of Politics in Comparative Perspective tackles important debates among academics interested in the theoretical and practical aspects of constitutions and constitutionalism and will appeal to social scientists, including sociologists, philosophers, security studies and international relations experts but also cultural studies scholars.The publication is a result of a research project “Constitutionalization of Politics as an Element of Checks and Balances System in Comparative Perspective” funded by the Polish National Science Center (NCN, 2018/31/B/HS5/02637).

This volume examines the state of American democracy during the “Donald Trump Era,” spanning 2015 to 2025.From Trump’s first campaign to his return to the White House, this decade has shaken America’s political foundations. Edited by leading scholars, the volume brings together contributors from political science, law, sociology, media studies, and history to place these upheavals in sharp historical perspective. Together, they draw bold comparisons to past democratic crises such as the Civil War, Watergate, and the New Deal, while offering fresh interdisciplinary insights into polarization, populism, and democratic resilience. Case studies address presidential powers, the judiciary, elections, and the role of media and misinformation, offering a clear framework for assessing whether these shifts reflect routine democratic contestation or deeper signs of backsliding.Testing Democracy in the Donald Trump Era offers scholars a comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis of a pivotal phase in U.S. politics, while giving students clear, accessible explanations of complex issues. It serves as a valuable resource for courses on government, democracy, and political change, with its timely focus on Trump’s second presidency, historical comparisons, and engagement with debates on democratic resilience.

This book addresses new problems and challenges of development in the 21st century, trying to answer questions, how to turn nations that are underdeveloped and torn apart by conflict into good places to live and how to help them develop. Issues connected with globalization, political challenges, constitutional systems as a condition for development are addressed. Problems of entrepreneurship in developing regions, as well as transnational connections between countries, making them vulnerable to economic crises are also touched upon. Finally, issues connected with institutional design, clean energy, health service challenges, as well as gender issues are analyzed. All those issues refer to developing countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, as well as Central and Eastern Europe.

The book analyzes the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings in cases concerningsurveillance, both domestic and foreign intelligence, focusing onhow judicial activism or judicial restraint has legitimized the almostuncontrolled surveillance of American citizens by government agencies.The purpose of the research is to examine the judiciary’s impacton the scope of government surveillance and, more broadly, on thestate of American democracy and the rule of law. By reviewing themost important SCOTUS opinions on surveillance and applying thefamous “legitimate end” approach from McCulloch v. Maryland, theauthor determines which values have prevailed in the judicial interpretationof the Constitution: security or freedom. Furthermore, the bookevaluates the legal and political arguments used by the Court to justifybroad surveillance measures, including the national security paradigmand secrecy, which have strengthened the executive branch’s positionin the U.S. governmental system.

During the 2012 election cycle, President Barack Obama was struggling for reelection, and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney was running as the first major-party candidate since Walter Mondale and the first Republican since Ronald Reagan to not hold public office at the time of his nomination. In this volume, twenty-six international scholars consider how these two different public figures steered toward the White House, discussing strategy, rhetoric, domestic and international policies, and campaign innovations.