Introduction: The Presidency as Global Performance: Symbolic Power, Media Spectacle, and the Crisis of Democratic Representation
Adebowale Akande

Part I: Presidency in Crisis: Populism, Power, and the Unravelling of Democratic Ideals

1. The Presidential Difference: Persuasion and Power in a Fragmented Global Order
Adebowale Akande, Vito Bobek, Kim A. Haynes, Estee Ti. Akande, David A. Jones, and Filippo Ferrari

2. American Presidency: Donald Trump, Populism and democracy: Not the same but interconnected
Barbara Wejnert

3. The Politics of Spectacle: Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, and the Collapse of Democratic Norms
Douglas Kellner

4. A Strategy of Withdrawal: Surges, Power Projection, and the Limits of U.S. Statecraft


5. From Blockchain-Based Fundraising to Virtual Engagement Tools
Vito Bobek, Andrej Lisec, and Tatjana Horvat

6. The Pinwheel Presidency: Trump’s Foreign Policy and the Unravelling of Global Order
Jose Filipe Pinto

7. The Deconstruction of a President: Trump, Epstein, and the Spectacle of Power
Mark Goodman

8. Adebowale Akande, David Lester, and Bijou Yang

9. Mr. Trump and the Law: Power, Legitimacy, and Legal Institutions in American Society
David A. Jones

10. The Price of Power-Money, Autocracy, and the Decline of Liberal Democracy
Bruce E. Johansen

Part II: Structures of Power and Displacement: Theoretical Frames and Innovative Research Methodologies

11. Rethinking Research: Paradigms, Methodological Power, and the Politics of Inquiry
Adebowale Akande with Vito Bobek and Tatjana Horvat

12. Migration in Crisis-Qualitative Methods for Understanding and studying Migrants on the Move in the Trump Era
Dan Ha Le, Charlotte Jonasson, and Jakob Lauring

13. Theoretical Paradigms ? Systems Theory, Social Action Theory, Power, Relations Dependence and Authority
David C. Coker

Part III: Disorder and Dominion: Global Power Shifts, Political Mythmaking, and the Erosion of Innocence

14. Mass Scale Protests: Vladimir Putin and Disruptive Politics: Russia’s “Hybrid Aggression” against Georgia
Andrey Makarychev and Johan Skytte

15. Propaganda and Power-Shaping Public Perception in Modern Politics
Vlad M?rgina? and Sergiu Mi?coiu

16. Children Fall Apart: America’s War on Childhood, Structural Violence, Digital Predation, and the Global Collapse of Child Dignity
Adebowale Akande, Vito Bobek, Estee Ti. Akande, Modupe Adewuyi, Douglas Kellner, Steven G. Koven, and Kim A. Haynes, Elizabeth Goryunova, Ester Shapiro

Part IV: Specters of Power and Ideologies of Collapse - Denial, Supremacy, and the Myth of Progress

17. Zombie Causes: Moldy Corpses, Rising Again
Barbara Alice Mann

18. A Trumpian Fantasy Hoax as Existential Threat
Bruce E. Johansen

19. The best of all Possible Worlds: Measuring Progress In Relative vs Absolute Terms
Leonardo Diaz Abraham and Rodrigo R. Gomez Garza

20. Climate Crimes and the Trump Administration: The Politics of Environmental Destruction
Ronald C. Kramer

Part V: Contours of Presidential Power: Law, Foreign Policy, and Global Order

21. Media, Diplomacy, and Presidential Influence-Clinton and Obama’s Visits to Ghana
Todd Schaefer

22. Timothy C. Bagwell and Heather C. Roberson

23. Netanyahu: A War Horse, not the Messiah’s Donkey
Jose Filipe Pinto

24. World on the Brink: An Essay on World War III
Advocate Zaki Kamal

25. America, Nuclear Stability in Asia and a Rising China
Stephen J. Cimbala

26. U.S. Foreign Policy Traditions and the Foreign Policy of the First Donald J. Trump Administration (2017-2020)
Yannis A. Stivachtis

27. Democracy in Retreat: Misrule, Extremism, and the Transatlantic Collapse of the Political Center-from the 1930s to Today
Vito Bobek, Julian Seebacher, and Simona Kustec

28. The New Cold War with Russia: Trump’s Influence on the Global Divide
Armin Krishnan

29. Constitutional Meaning in an Age of Contestation: Beyond Judicial Finality and Executive Absolutism
Adebowale Akande and Louis Fisher

Epilogue