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Social Mobility: And Its Enemies (Pelican Books)
By Lee Elliot Major, Stephen Machin. 2018
What are the effects of decreasing social mobility?How does education help - and hinder - us in improving our life…
chances?Why are so many of us stuck on the same social rung as our parents? Apart from the USA, Britain has the lowest social mobility in the Western world. The lack of movement in who gets where in society - particularly when people are stuck at the bottom and the top - costs the nation dear, both in terms of the unfulfilled talents of those left behind and an increasingly detached elite, disinterested in improvements that benefit the rest of society.This book analyses cutting-edge research into how social mobility has changed in Britain over the years, the shifting role of schools and universities in creating a fairer future, and the key to what makes some countries and regions so much richer in opportunities, bringing a clearer understanding of what works and how we can better shape our future.The Social Distance Between Us: How Remote Politics Wrecked Britain
By Darren McGarvey. 2022
*A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK**SHORTLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION**LONGLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE*'An Orwell…
for today's poor' - The Times'The standout, authentic voice of a generation' Herald'McGarvey is a rarity: a working-class writer who has fought to make the middle-class world hear what he has to say' Nick Cohen, GuardianWhy are the rich getting richer while the poor only get poorer? How is it possible that in a wealthy, civilised democracy cruelty and inequality are perpetuated by our own public services? And how come, if all the best people are in all the top jobs, Britain is such an unmitigated bin fire?Join Darren McGarvey on a journey through a divided Britain in search of answers. Here, our latter-day Orwell exposes the true scale of Britain's social ills and reveals why our current political class, those tasked with bringing solutions, are so distanced from our lived experience that they are the last people you'd want fighting your corner.Praise for Darren McGarvey:'Utterly compelling' Ian Rankin, New Statesman'Brilliant' Russell Brand'An absolutely fascinating individual' Owen Jones'Offer[s] an antidote to populist anger that transcends left and right... articulate and emotional' Financial TimesShowtime: The Inside Story of Fianna Fáil in Power
By Pat Leahy. 2009
In boom and in bust, Ireland has been led by Fianna Fáil. Showtime gets behind the party's remarkable dominance of…
the political landscape and leading political writer Pat Leahy, tells the gripping story of how it won, kept and has used power since the mid-1990s.Showtime explains how Fianna Fáil operated during the boom years - from November 1994, when Bertie Ahern assumed leadership of a battered party, expecting to become Taoiseach but instead finding himself cast into opposition, to the day he relinquished the party leadership on the brink of the bust. For a decade after it achieved power in 1997, Fianna Fáil led the government during an unprecedented economic boom and enjoyed riches beyond the wildest dreams of any previous administration. Showtime reveals how government really worked in these years: the favours, the grudges, the backroom deals, the political strokes, the policy compromises and the choices that have led the country to where it is today.Showtime is politics in the raw: the exciting, enlightening and sometimes disturbing story of a remarkable era that changed the face of modern Ireland.A Short History of Brexit: From Brentry to Backstop (Pelican Books)
By Kevin O'Rourke. 2018
A succinct, expert guide to how we got to BrexitAfter all the debates, manoeuvrings, recriminations and exaltations, Brexit is upon…
us. But, as Kevin O'Rourke writes, Brexit did not emerge out of nowhere: it is the culmination of events that have been under way for decades and have historical roots stretching back well beyond that. Brexit has a history.O'Rourke, one of the leading economic historians of his generation, explains not only how British attitudes to Europe have evolved, but also how the EU's history explains why it operates as it does today - and how that history has shaped the ways in which it has responded to Brexit. Why are the economics, the politics and the history so tightly woven together? Crucially, he also explains why the question of the Irish border is not just one of customs and trade, but for the EU goes to the heart of what it is about. The way in which British, Irish and European histories continue to interact with each other will shape the future of Brexit - and of the continent.Calm and lucid, A Short History of Brexit rises above the usual fray of discussions to provide fresh perspectives and understanding of the most momentous political and economic change in Britain and the EU for decades.A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies
By Bartolome Las Casas. 1992
Bartolomé de Las Casas was the first and fiercest critic of Spanish colonialism in the New World. An early traveller…
to the Americas who sailed on one of Columbus's voyages, Las Casas was so horrified by the wholesale massacre he witnessed that he dedicated his life to protecting the Indian community. He wrote A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies in 1542, a shocking catalogue of mass slaughter, torture and slavery, which showed that the evangelizing vision of Columbus had descended under later conquistadors into genocide. Dedicated to Philip II to alert the Castilian Crown to these atrocities and demand that the Indians be entitled to the basic rights of humankind, this passionate work of documentary vividness outraged Europe and contributed to the idea of the Spanish 'Black Legend' that would last for centuries.Shadows: Inside Northern Ireland's Special Branch
By Alan Barker. 2004
In the early hours of 30 April 2003, twelve armed and uniformed officers accompanied by four plain-clothes detectives burst into…
Alan Barker's house. They stayed for hours, turning over rooms, seizing documents, impounding computers, files and anything else that interested them. The family were treated as terrorist suspects, the operation resembling so many others in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. But Alan Barker was and is no terrorist. In fact, he has spent his adult life fighting terrorism on the streets of his native province. Barker belonged to the Special Branch, the RUC's elite unit dedicated to fighting the IRA, the INLA and loyalist terrorists. He gives a gripping insider's account of life on the frontline and demonstrates how the RUC used sophisticated listening devices and informants, including the notorious supergrass Raymond Gilmour, in their fight to gain the upper hand. After nearly 30 years of loyal service, Barker retired angry and disillusioned about what he views as the government's capitulation to the terrorists. This is the book that Downing Street and the Northern Ireland Office don't want you to read. It is a story of courage under fire, guile, Le Carré-esque plots and treachery.An inside look at al-Qaeda from 9/11 to the death of its founder—told through the words of Bin Laden and…
his closest circle As seen on 60 Minutes "A comprehensive, meticulously constructed and eye-opening look at bin Laden as husband, father and leader-in-hiding. . . . An engaging and persuasive read."—Karen J. Greenberg, Washington Post "Never less than gripping. . . . [Offers] an extraordinary insight into the inner workings of al-Qaeda, both before and after 9/11, and lays bare the terrorist organisation’s closely guarded plans, ambitions and frustrations."—Saul David, Sunday Telegraph Usama Bin Laden’s greatest fear was not capture or death but the exposure of al-Qaeda’s secrets. At great risk to themselves and the entire mission, the U.S. Special Operations Forces, who carried out the Abbottabad raid that killed Bin Laden, took an additional eighteen minutes to collect Bin Laden’s hard drives and thereby expose al-Qaeda’s secrets. In this groundbreaking book, Nelly Lahoud dives into Bin Laden’s files and meticulously distills the nearly 6,000 pages of Arabic private communications. For the first time, al-Qaeda’s closely guarded secrets are laid bare, shattering misconceptions and revealing how and what Bin Laden communicated with his associates, his plans for future attacks, and al-Qaeda’s hostility toward countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan. Lahoud presents firsthand accounts of al-Qaeda from 9/11 until the elimination of Bin Laden, in his own words and those of his family and closest associates.Taking America Back: The Conservative Movement and the Far Right
By David Austin Walsh. 2024
A provocative look at the relationship between the far right and the American conservative movement from the 1930s to the…
end of the Cold War Since 2016, many commentators have expressed shock at the so-called rise of the far right in America at the expense of "responsible" and "respectable" conservatism. But is the far right an aberration in conservative politics? As David Austin Walsh shows, the mainstream conservative movement and the far right have been intertwined for nearly a century, and both were born out of a "right-wing popular front" linking racists, anti-Semites, and fascists in a broad coalition opposed to socialism, communism, and New Deal liberalism. Far from being outliers in the broader conservative coalition, these extremist elements were foundational in the creation of a right‑wing political culture centered around shared political enemies, a penchant for conspiracy theories, and a desire to restore America to its "authentic" pre–New Deal values. The popular front included Merwin Hart, a New York business lobbyist active in far-right circles who became a lobbyist for the Franco regime in Spain, the original "America First" movement, the movement to prevent Jewish immigration to the United States after World War II, the John Birch Society, the American Nazi Party, the George Wallace presidential campaign of 1968, the fight over the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Pat Buchanan’s support of Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk during the Reagan Administration. And connecting this disparate coalition was William F. Buckley, Jr., the editor of National Review and America’s leading "responsible conservative.&rdquoThis book turns to political theory as a framework for understanding the rise of political and religious extremism, and in…
particular the Christian Nationalist position, identifying solutions to civic challenges, and arguing for the vital role that public schools play in providing the civic education that prepares young people for participation in democratic self-government.Drawing on scholarly debates between liberal and republican political theorists, the author maintains that if we want to preserve our republic, then policymakers and educators must unapologetically promote a normative “vision of good citizenship” that cultivates in students the requisite civic virtue and rational autonomy needed to defend democracy from the rise of illiberal extremism. A timely contribution to academic debates about the role of civic education in the preservation of democracy, it will appeal to scholars, educators and policymakers concerned with the future of civic education, as well as the philosophy of education, political science, and educational policy.Sustainable Lessons from People-Friendly Places
By Avi Friedman. 2024
Current planning and design modes of cities are facing challenges of philosophy and form. Past approaches no longer sustain new…
demands and call for innovative thinking. In a world that is becoming highly urbanized, the need for a new outlook is propelled by fundamental global changes that touch upon environmental, economic and social aspects.The book introduces fundamental principles of timely sustainable urban design, paying attention to architecture, integration of natural features, public urban spaces and their successful use. Readers will learn how cities are transitioning to active mobility by placing the wellbeing of citizens at the heart of planning; making buildings fit nature; supporting local culture through preservation; and including community gardens in neighborhoods, among others. Written by a practicing architect, professor and author, the book is richly illustrated and features meticulously selected international case studies.This book is an important guide for individuals seeking to develop and grow their leadership skills in the wildlife conservation…
sector, across varied disciplines such as environmental management, conservation biology, and ecotourism.Conservation Leadership addresses what leadership is, why it is important, and how to be an effective leader. It identifies the common pitfalls or mistakes in a leader’s thinking or behaviour, and the unexpected consequences or responses which can arise, and then explores more helpful alternative approaches to leadership. The book is divided into three parts: Part I: Leadership principles Part II: Four areas of profound theory: knowledge, psychology, systems, and variation Part III: Skills and competencies for conservation leaders It focuses on contextual and organisational challenges in conservation, including limited resources, remote locations, fragile species of concern, politics, community conflict, crime, and commercial pressures. The scope is global, using diverse examples such as sea turtle head-starting in South Asia, reforestation in North Africa, bird conservation in North America, human–wildlife interactions in the Himalayas, and post-colonial issues in the Caribbean. Case studies illustrate key learning points from small local teams through to global transnational initiatives. Exercises in each chapter enable the exploration of less-familiar topics, including interpersonal skills, goal setting and performance measurement, plus a unique research-derived conservation leadership self-assessment tool.This book is an essential reading resource for professionals and senior leaders in the wildlife management and conservation sector, as well as students on biodiversity conservation, wildlife conservation, and environmental management courses.Buddhist Public Advocacy and Activism in Thailand: A Rhetoric of Dignity and Duty
By Craig M. Pinkerton. 2024
This book studies Buddhist public advocacy and activism in Thailand—a movement often broadly called socially engaged Buddhism—from the perspective of…
rhetorical studies, specifically, on humanizing and dehumanizing communication practices. In modern Thailand and historical Siam, Buddhism has been integral to the social change processes shaping civil society and an emerging democracy. This study examined two problems: How do contemporary Buddhists in Thailand use rhetorical practice to influence the way the issues they work on are understood, and how do these Buddhists justify their advocacy and activism in rhetorical practice? To the first, a rhetoric of dignity, or humanization, was the central answer. To the second, a rhetoric of duty was the central answer. For researchers in Southeast Asian Studies, Thai Studies, and Buddhist Studies, this book offers a fresh perspective on socially engaged Buddhism through the lens of the communication discipline. For researchers in Psychologyand Communication, it sheds light on the understudied practices of humanizing communication. The bulk of the current research is focused on its opposite—dehumanization—and most of this literature is in the field of psychology even though humanization and dehumanization are fundamentally and ontologically communication phenomena. For researchers within the field of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, this book advances innovations in the emerging practices of rhetorical field methods by applying rhetorical criticism to interview data in a new way and provides a non-western perspective on communication and rhetorical theory for which there has been continual calls.Strategic Management of the Transition to Public Sector Co-Creation
By Jacob Torfing, Ewan Ferlie, Tina Jukić and Edoardo Ongaro. 2024
As the practices of public governance are rapidly changing, so must the theoretical frameworks for understanding the creation of efficient,…
effective and democratic governance solutions. First published as a special issue of Policy & Politics journal, this book explores the role of strategic management, digitalisation and generative platforms in encouraging the co-creation of innovative public value outcomes. It considers why we must transform the public sector to drive co-creation and the importance of integrating different theoretical strands when studying processes, barriers and outcomes. This book lays out important stepping-stones for the development of new research into the ongoing transition to co-creation as a mode of governance.Health for All: A Doctor's Prescription for a Healthier Canada
By Jane Philpott. 2024
From one of Canada's most respected and high-profile health professionals (and former federal Minister of Health), a timely, practical, ambitious,…
and deeply personal call for action on health that sets out the roadmap to our future well-being.Jane Philpott has spent her life learning what makes people sick and what keeps people well. She has witnessed miracles in modern medicine. She has also watched children die of starvation in a world that has plenty of food. With Health for All, she sounds a clarion call for a radical disruption in a health care system that is broken—but not beyond repair. The vision is rooted in a deep-seated commitment to health equity.Decades ago, a few visionary Canadian leaders put laws in place to ensure health care insurance for all. But the structures to deliver that care were never fully developed as envisioned. As a result, our health systems are not comprehensive or well-coordinated. In the wake of a pandemic, we risk it all falling apart. More than six million people have no family doctor, nor any other access to primary care. Emergency rooms are routinely closed. Exhausted health workers wonder if it will ever get better. Some say we should hand health care over to the private sector. But to abandon our commitment to publicly funded health care now would only lead to more expensive and less equitable care. Philpott outlines a different solution—an ambitious, once-in-a-generation reset of health systems with universal access to primary care teams.What sets this book apart is that it’s more than a prescription for better medical care. Philpott looks at the big picture of health for all. This includes an intimate look at the personal roots of well-being: hope, belonging, meaning, and purpose. Then, through real-life stories, she examines the impact of the social determinants of health. Finally, she explains that none of this will happen without the political will to do the hard work of rebuilding a healthy society. The remedy we await is serious leadership to implement what we already know and to put the well-being of Canadians at the top of the agenda.Who's Afraid of Gender?
By Judith Butler. 2024
Inflamed by the rhetoric of public figures, the "anti-gender ideology movement" has sought to nullify reproductive justice, undermine protections against…
sexual and gender violence, and strip trans and queer people of their right to pursue a life without fear of violence. Here, Judith Butler, the groundbreaking thinker whose iconic Gender Trouble redefined how we understand gender and sexuality, confronts the attacks on "gender" that have become central to right-wing movements today. Who's Afraid of Gender? examines how "gender" has become a phantasm for emerging authoritarian regimes, fascist formations, and trans-exclusionary feminists. In this vital, courageous book, Butler illuminates the concrete ways in which this phantasm of gender collects and displaces anxieties and fears of destruction, resulting in a movement that demonizes struggles for equality, fuels aggressive nationalism, and leaves millions of people vulnerable to subjugation. An essential intervention into one of the most fraught issues of our moment, Who's Afraid of Gender? is a bold call to refuse the alliance with authoritarian movements and to make a broad coalition with all those who fight against injustice. Imagining new possibilities for freedom and solidarity, Butler offers us a hopeful work of social and political analysis that is both timely and timeless—a book whose verve and rigor only they could deliver.The Emergence and Revival of Charismatic Movements: Argentine Peronism and Venezuelan Chavismo
By Caitlin Andrews-Lee. 2021
Political movements founded by charismatic leaders are often considered ephemeral. Existing literature argues that because they rest on unmediated, emotional…
attachments between leaders and followers, these movements either fade quickly after their leaders disappear or transform into routinized parties. Yet, charismatic movements around the world have proven surprisingly resilient and have retained their personalistic core. Focusing on Argentine Peronism and Venezuelan Chavismo, this book investigates the nature and trajectory of charismatic movements from the perspectives of both leaders and followers. Using interviews, focus groups, and survey experiments, Caitlin Andrews-Lee reveals that charismatic movements can emerge, survive, and become politically revived by sustaining - not discarding - their personalistic character. Followers' charismatic attachments to the movement founder can develop into an enduring, deeply affective political identity that successors can reactivate under certain conditions by portraying themselves as symbolic reincarnations of the founder. Consequently, charismatic movements can have lasting, deleterious effects on democracy.Why do communities form militias to defend themselves against violence during civil war? Using original interviews with former combatants and…
civilians and archival material from extensive fieldwork in Mozambique, Corinna Jentzsch's Violent Resistance explains the timing, location and process through which communities form militias. Jentzsch shows that local military stalemates characterized by ongoing violence allow civilians to form militias that fight alongside the government against rebels. Militias spread only to communities in which elites are relatively unified, preventing elites from coopting militias for private gains. Crucially, militias that build on preexisting social conventions are able to resonate with the people and empower them to regain agency over their lives. Jentzsch's innovative study brings conceptual clarity to the militia phenomenon and helps us understand how wartime civilian agency, violent resistance, and the rise of third actors beyond governments and rebels affect the dynamics of civil war, on the African continent and beyond.Seeking the Right to Food: Food Activism in South Africa
By Bright Nkrumah. 2021
Despite a constitutional right to food, a comprehensive social security structure, being a net exporter of agricultural products and maintaining…
a rising GDP, freedom from hunger remains a pipedream for millions of South Africans. With a constant surge in food prices, the availability of sustenance is often seriously threatened for all of South Africa's population. While the underprivileged majority residing in townships often demonstrate their discontent for poor service delivery on the streets, they rarely channel this strategy into taming food inflation. This study seeks to understand this irony and examine ways in which this trend could be reversed. Proposing a compelling argument for food activism, Bright Nkrumah suggests ways of mobilising disempowered groups to reclaim this inherent right. Presented alongside historical and contemporary case studies to illustrate the dynamics of collective action and food security in South Africa, he draws from legal, social and political theory to make the case for 'activism' as a force for alleviating food insecurity.The first comprehensive history of the DREAM Act and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)In 1982, the Supreme Court of…
the United States ruled in Plyler v. Doe that undocumented children had the right to attend public schools without charge or impediment, regardless of their immigration status. The ruling raised a question: what if undocumented students, after graduating from the public school system, wanted to attend college? Perchance to DREAM is the first comprehensive history of the DREAM Act, which made its initial congressional appearance in 2001, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the discretionary program established by President Obama in 2012 out of Congressional failure to enact comprehensive immigration reform. Michael A. Olivas relates the history of the DREAM Act and DACA over the course of two decades.With the Trump Administration challenging the legality of DACA and pursuing its elimination in 2017, the fate of DACA is uncertain. Perchance to DREAM follows the political participation of DREAMers, who have been taken hostage as pawns in a cruel game as the White House continues to advocate anti-immigrant policies. Perchance to DREAM brings to light the many twists and turns that the legislation has taken, suggests why it has not gained the required traction, and offers hopeful pathways that could turn this darkness to dawn.The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: A System of Regulation (Globalization: Law and Policy)
By Kristina Siig, Birgit Feldtmann, Fenella M.W. Billing. 2024
The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has for four decades been considered by many…
to be one of the most important legislative achievements of international law. It is revered as a "constitution of the oceans", providing the legal framework for the governance of the oceans. This volume explores how the UNCLOS is functioning in various complex settings, how it adapts to new, emerging developments, as well as how it interacts with other regulation, both within the law of the sea regime and outside. Engaging in themes such as law and order at sea, UNCLOS’ interaction with human rights and the role of private actors, the book raises complex questions in the application, understanding, and enforcement of the convention and how it can be envisaged, interpreted, and used in a dynamic world. The volume also raises methodological questions, the answers to which may enhance the predictability and coherence of the law under UNCLOS and thus secure its role as the predominant and relevant system for legal governance at sea for many decades to come.As a contribution to ensuring the future relevance of UNCLOS, the book will be a valuable resource for scholars, diplomats, judges and other practitioners who are working with and interpreting the law of the sea and related issues of maritime law, migration law, human rights law and humanitarian law.