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Women’s Contributions to Development in West Africa: Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives (Globalization, Urbanization and Development in Africa)
By Bridgett A. King, Kelly Ann Krawczyk. 2023
This book examines women’s participation in social, economic and political development in West Africa. The book looks at women from the premise of…
being active agents in the development processes within their communities, thereby subverting the dominate narrative of women as passive recipients of development.
This book offers an account of ten crucial moments in the history of ideas, which represent ten key moments of…
the discovery of pluralism. From the Indian emperor Ashoka to Origen and from Nicola Cusano to Las Casas, Montaigne, Lessing, giants who opened the way to the thought of tolerance, challenging the dogma of a unique truth dictated by authority, followed in this reconstruction by other glowing thinkers of the twentieth century, such as Horace Kallen, Margaret Mead, and Jacques Dupuis. These protagonists, each in their own way, battled against monism for the respect of differences and for the knowledge of otherness. This kind of hall of fame of pluralist thinkers ends with the most important figure of the pluralism of values, Isaiah Berlin, of whom an unpublished interview appears here for the first time in English. The volume is unique in this two-thousand-year-old variety of voices gathered under the denominator of cultural pluralism that they embody in the deepest and most challenging sense, often at the limits and beyond the limits of heresy. It is of great value and interest to scholars and students of theoretical, moral, political philosophy, sociology, comparative studies, comparative literature, religious diversity, religious studies, anthropology, and all those interested in the history of tolerance.
A Better Metro Manila?: Towards Responsible Local Governance, Decentralization and Equitable Development
By Teresa S. Encarnacion Tadem, Maria Ela L. Atienza. 2023
This book contributes to efforts in furthering the democratization and development processes in the Philippines by examining the decentralization efforts…
in Metro Manila. It explores existing as well as proposed development models for governance with focus on the effective and efficient delivery of social services, bringing forth growth with equity through development efforts, and addressing national-local concerns to promote political and socio-economic stability in the country. In doing so, the book examines the strong and weak governance points in the National Capital Region of the Philippines, and identifies areas for reform.
This book investigates the phenomenon of overbalancing through an analysis of Japan’s foreign policy during the interbellum. In the mid-1930s,…
Japan withdrew from a naval arms control framework that had restrained military buildup on both sides of the Pacific Ocean since the early 1920s. By doing so, Japan not only triggered a naval arms race with the United States that exhausted its economy, it also destroyed the last institutionalized structure regulating the relationship between the two Pacific powers. Japan and the United States became caught in a spiral of tensions that culminated with the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Puzzling is the fact that the international environment in the Asia-Pacific was relatively stable in the mid-1930s, while Washington was pursuing a policy of accommodation toward Tokyo. By rejecting arms control and engaging in unfettered naval expansion, Japan overbalanced against the United States and began its rush to the Pacific War.The book explains Japan’s overbalancing with a neoclassical realist model that combines the literatures on threat perception and civil-military relations. Amid the Manchurian crisis of 1931-1933, as the Japanese government collaborated with the military institution to address the situation in China, military influence on the formulation of foreign policy surged. The perceptual and policy biases of the military, which include the tendency to distrust other countries’ intentions, to adopt worst-case analyses of international dynamics and to strive to maximize military power, gradually penetrated the decision-making process. Dysfunctions in the preexisting structure of Japanese civil-military relations, engendered by an over-depoliticization of the military institution, allowed the navy to convince policymakers that the United States was inherently hostile to Japan, hence the necessity to prepare for war. The government was brainstormed, adopting the biased military perspective on international affairs. Japan overbalanced in a myopic but conscious way.
The West Versus the Rest and The Myth of Western Exceptionalism
By Imad A. Moosa. 2023
In this book, the author attempts to debunk some myths about Western exceptionalism and to evaluate critically the characteristics that…
make the West superior to the Rest. The author suggests that the West does not represent a homogenous group of countries and that the most common characteristic of the core Western countries is imperialism. The author goes on to provide a detailed critique of the proclaimed characteristics of Western countries, including democracy, human rights, judicial independence, transparency, the rule of law, and exclusive contribution to science and technology. A critique is presented of the views expressed by Samuel Huntington, Francis Fukuyama, and Niall Ferguson, arguing that they do not recognize the historical fact that civilizations rise and fall. It is argued that the Western economic system, which is based on neoliberalism, has adverse consequences for democracy, morality, and peace, as well as inequality, poverty, and homelessness. Written in a simple but powerful language, this book is a must read for those interested in international relations and anyone interested in current affairs.
Realizing the Values of Art: Making Space for Cultural Civil Society (Cultural Economics & the Creative Economy)
By Erwin Dekker, Valeria Morea. 2023
This book provides a novel approach to the understanding and realization of the values of art. It argues that art…
has often been instrumentalized for state-building, to promote social inclusion of diversity, or for economic purposes such as growth or innovation. To counteract that, the authors study the values that artists and audiences seek to realize in the social practices around the arts. They develop the concept of cultural civil society to analyze how art is practiced and values are realized in creative circles and co-creative communities of spectators. The insights are illustrated with case-studies about hip-hop, Venetian art collectives, dance festivals, science-fiction fandom, and a queer museum. The authors provide a four-stage scheme that illustrates how values are realized in a process of value orientation, imagination, realization, and evaluation.The book relies on an interdisciplinary approach rooted in economics and sociology of the arts, with an appreciation for broader social theories. It integrates these disciplines in a pragmatic approach based on the work of John Dewey and more recent neo-pragmatist work to recover the critical and constructive role that cultural civil society plays in a plural and democratic society. The authors conclude with a new perspective on cultural policy, centered around state neutrality towards the arts and aimed at creating a legal and social framework in which social practices around the arts can flourish and co-exist peacefully.
Critical Minerals, the Climate Crisis and the Tech Imperium (Archimedes #65)
By Sophia Kalantzakos. 2023
This book examines the latest manifestations of resource competition. The energy transition and the digitalization of the global economy are…
both accelerating even as geopolitics driven by Sino-American hyper-competition become increasingly contentious. The volume brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars, policy makers, institutional stakeholders, and industry experts to analyze not only the transition itself, but also the implications that the need for uninterrupted access to unprecedented levels of raw materials generates. By framing the challenges ahead for global society, governance, industry, international power politics, and the environment, the book asks hard questions about the choices that need to be made to reach net zero by mid-century. Moreover, it sheds light on different facets of the growing risks to what have been global interdependent supply chains in a way that is nuanced, balanced, and practical, thus pushing back on some of the most sensational headlines that breed confusion and may lead policymakers to make more narrow and less effective decisions. The volume is an outcome of “Rich Rocks, the Climate Crisis and the Tech-imperium” a Summer Institute at Caltech and the Huntington that took place in July 2021.
A Professional Foreigner: Life in Diplomacy
By Edward Marks. 2023
Young American Foreign Service officers are accustomed to being teased by friends and relatives as to what they do in…
the &“Foreign Legion&” or the &“Forest Service.&” In the United States, unlike in many countries, the role of a professional diplomat is little known or understood. In A Professional Foreigner Edward Marks describes his life as an American diplomat who served during the last four decades of the twentieth century, from 1959 to 2001. Serving primarily in Africa and Asia, Marks was present during the era of decolonization in Africa (but always seemed to be at the opposite end of the continent from the hottest developments), was intimately involved in the early days of the U.S. government&’s antiterrorism programs, observed the unfolding of a nasty and tragic ethnic conflict in one of the most charming countries in the world, and saw the end of the Cold War at UN headquarters in New York. Along the way Marks served as the U.S. ambassador to two African nations. In this memoir Marks depicts a Foreign Service officer&’s daily life, providing insight into the profession itself and what it was like to play a role in the steady stream of history, in a world of quotidian events often out of the view of the media and the attention of the world. Marks&’s stories—such as rescuing an American citizen from a house of ill repute in Mexico and the attempt to recruit mongooses for drug intervention in Sri Lanka—are both entertaining and instructive on the work of diplomats and their contributions to the American story.
De un día para otro: Medidas para cambiar de verdad en las primeras 24 horas de gobierno
By Patricia Bullrich. 2023
Patricia Bullrich presenta en detalle el conjunto de medidas indispensables que debe tomar, para cambiar decididamente a la Argentina, el…
gobierno que asuma el 10 de diciembre de 2023 en sus primeras 24 horas en el poder: de un día para otro. "¿Qué medidas tomaría usted en su primer día de gobierno?" La pregunta, un clásico del periodismo a aspirantes a la presidencia, puede parecer trillada; sin embargo, el modo en que un candidato la contesta dice mucho sobre la forma en que ejercerá su mandato si gana las elecciones. Este libro, que despliega la respuesta detallada de Patricia Bullrich a esa pregunta, asume que las primeras medidas de un presidente marcan el ADN de lo que será su gestión porque son las que se toman en un momento clave: cuando tiene más fuerza y el entusiasmo ciudadano está en su pico más alto. Se trata de la oportunidad de impulsar los cambios más grandes, tomar las decisiones más importantes y, por qué no, enfrentar con coraje a quienes necesariamente perderán privilegios. Después de Guerra sin cuartel, en el que dio cuenta de su trabajo como ministra de Seguridad de la Nación, Patricia Bullrich explica lo que debe hacer rápida y decididamente para cambiar de verdad a la Argentina el gobierno que asuma el 10 de diciembre de 2023. Más aún, en sus primeras 24 horas en el poder: de un día para otro.
This book uses critical metaphor analysis to show from a cognitive perspective how climate change is conceptualized in the USA.…
The author enriches his linguistic analysis with cognitive aspects such as source-target domain mapping and metaphor opposition to explain how metaphor works in terms of framing this issue, drawing on a Critical Discourse Analysis-informed framework to demonstrate how politicians represent the climate crisis in their attempts to trigger social change. Using a data set of speeches given by US-based politicians, governors and mayors speaking in the context of the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement, the book categorizes metaphors on different conceptions such as war, construction, unfairness, journey, and cleanliness to bridge the gap between ecolinguistics and critical metaphor analysis. This book will be of interest to students and scholars in fields including applied linguistics, political communication, ecolinguistics, and cognitive linguistics and psychology.
Afghanistan and the Vietnam Syndrome: Comparing US and Soviet Wars
By Deepak Tripathi. 2023
Great powers have often found that military adventurism to force their will in distant lands comes with the risk of…
spending excessive military, economic, and moral capital to the extent that war is no longer sustainable. Written by a former BBC Afghanistan correspondent who set up the corporation’s bureau in Kabul in the early 1990s, this book draws both from scholarly knowledge as well as first-hand insights on how the Americans met that fate in Vietnam, and the Soviets and Americans in Afghanistan. America’s 1975 retreat from Vietnam was a consequential event, prompting US commentators to explain it as reluctance to get involved in foreign wars, a mindset described as the Vietnam Syndrome. As Deepak Tripathi points out, the Vietnam experience made the Americans determined to give the Soviets their own Vietnam. The 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and retreat after a decade of occupation, represented the revenge America sought. However, President George W. Bush’s decision to invade Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks was the beginning of a long military venture that ended in retreat in 2021. Addressing an academic as well as a general audience, Tripathi explores parallels between wars in Afghanistan and Vietnam, and shows how the United States and the Soviet Union met the same fate.
Get Out and Vote!: How You Can Shape the Future (Orca Think #8)
By Elizabeth MacLeod. 2023
Explore the past, present and future of voting around the world, and why it's one of the most important things…
we can do as citizens. In Get Out and Vote!, discover how voting affects everyone's life, what election day looks like, why some people don’t cast a ballot and more. Did you know a ping-pong ball once decided an election or that the government in Ancient Greece voted by shouting? From elections and politics to voter suppression and accessible ballots, there is so much to explore when it comes to voting. With profiles of young people who are making the vote count, this book will empower young people of all backgrounds to make their voices heard.
Inhabitation in Nature: Houses, People and Practices
By David Clapham. 2023
Rejecting the assumption that housing and cities are separate from nature, David Clapham advances a new research framework that integrates…
housing with the rest of the natural world. Demonstrating the wider context of human lives and the impact of housing on the non-human environment, the author considers the impact of current inhabitation practices on climate change and biodiversity. Showcasing the significant contribution that housing policy can make in mitigating environmental problems, this book will stimulate debate amongst housing researchers and policy makers.
Survival: Global Politics and Strategy (February-March 2020): Deterring North Korea
By Vipin Narang, Jina Kim, Ian Campbell, Mira Rapp-Hooper, Ankit Panda, John K. Warden, Adam Mount, Michaela Dodge. 2020
Survival, the IISS’s bimonthly journal, challenges conventional wisdom and brings fresh, often controversial, perspectives on strategic issues of the moment.In…
this issue:Nigel Gould-Davies assesses the impact of Western sanctions on Russia, arguing that they represent a major development in economic statecraft In a special colloquium on the North Korean nuclear threat, Jina Kim, John K. Warden, Adam Mount, Mira Rapp-Hooper, Vipin Narang, Ankit Panda, Ian Campbell and Michaela Dodge offer their ideas for deterring PyongyangAlexander Klimburg warns that CYBERCOM’s strategy of ‘persistent engagement’ is encouraging a cyber arms raceAnd eight more thought-provoking pieces, as well as our regular book reviews and noteworthy column
Modern Politics (1969) is an introductory study of politics, with an emphasis on politics as a study in which the…
work particularly of sociologists and psychologists is increasingly relevant. It reflects the transfer of political study away from politics as the description and evaluation of ‘legal’ governments and their policies, towards politics as the study of the behaviour of individuals and groups who participate in the making and execution of public policy.
Comics and Migration: Representation and Other Practices (Global Perspectives in Comics Studies)
By Ralf Kauranen, Olli Löytty, Aura Nikkilä. 2023
Comics and human mobility have a long history of connections. This volume explores these entanglements with a focus on both…
how comics represent migration and what applied uses comics have in relation to migration. The volume examines both individual works of comic art and examples of practical applications of comics from across the world.Comics are well-suited to create understanding, highlight truthful information, and engender empathy in their audiences, but are also an art form that is preconditioned or even limited by its representational and practical conventions. Through analyses of various practices and representations, this book questions the uncritical belief in the capacity of comics, assesses their potential to represent stories of exile and immigration with compassion, and discusses how xenophobia and nationalism are both reinforced and questioned in comics. The book includes essays by both researchers and practitioners such as activists and journalists whose work has combined a focus on comics and migration. It predominantly scrutinises comics and activities from more peripheral areas such as the Nordic region, the German-language countries, Latin America, and southern Asia to analyse the treatment and visual representation of migration in these regions.This topical and engaging volume in the Global Perspectives in Comics Studies series will be of interest to researchers and students of comics studies, literary studies, visual art studies, cultural studies, migration, and sociology. It will also be useful reading for a wider academic audience interested in discourses around global migration and comics traditions.
Indian Migration to the Gulf: Issues, Perspectives and Opportunities
By Anisur Rahman, Sameer Babu M, and Ansari P A. 2023
This book explores issues of rights, issues, and challenges faced by Indian migrant workers in the GCC countries. It focuses…
on the struggle of migrants in the state of origin and destination states and how the process of migration shapes the identity and existence of migrant workers. The essays in the volume focus on policy, rights, issues, and challenges faced by migrants as well as the long-term challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. With contributions from academics and policymakers, this book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of migration and diaspora studies, public policy, and South Asian Studies.
Muslim Eurasia: Conflicting Legacies (Routledge Revivals)
By Yaacov Ro’i. 1995
Muslim Eurasia (1995) looks at the Muslim states that came into being on the ruins of the Soviet Union, and…
their complex legacies of Russian colonialism, russification, de-islamicization, centralization and communism – on top of localism, tribalism and Islam. The interaction and contradictions within each category, and between them, form the essence of the struggle to formulation new identities.
Monitoring Biodiversity: Combining Environmental and Social Data
By Alan Brown, Anna Allard, Keskitalo, E. Carina H.. 2023
This book is an exciting reappraisal of the role and practice of biodiversity monitoring, showing how new technologies and software…
applications are rapidly maturing and can both complement and maintain continuity with the best practice in traditional field skills. Environmental monitoring is a key component in a large number of national programmes and constitutes an important aspect of understanding environmental change and supporting policy development. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Monitoring Biodiversity begins by discussing monitoring as an established field and examines the various budgetary and technological challenges. It examines different methodologies, the variation between countries, and the design features relevant to understanding monitoring systems created for new policy goals or different funding situations. The huge variety of methods revealed across 18 chapters, which vary from statistical designs to remote sensing, interviews, surveys, and new ways of stacking and combining data and thematic information for visualization and modelling, underlines just how mature and multifaceted the modern practice of monitoring can be. It concludes with several problem-based chapters that discuss the design and implementation of environmental monitoring in specific scenarios such as urban and aquatic areas. All chapters include key messages, study questions, and further reading. With a focus on Europe but with international relevance, Monitoring Biodiversity will be an essential resource for students at all levels of environmental monitoring, assessment, and management.
This book argues that the world order is no longer unipolar, and the war in Ukraine proves this fact. As…
this study describes and theorizes, it has been transformed into a Multipolar World Order 2.0 stage. This title critically examines Chinese, US, Russian, EU, Indian, and a number of other powers’ cooperation and competition over security, diplomatic, economic and cyberspace issues. Accomplished scholars from various regions of the Eurasian continent consider the impact of the Russo–Ukrainian war, the Sino–Russian strategic partnership, China’s relations with the United States and the European Union, the influence of the Belt and Road Initiative, the expansion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Eurasian Economic Union, China’s policies in the Middle East, Central Asia, Indo-Asia Pacific, the South Caucasus, Central and Eastern Europe, as well as focus on details of growing contradictions and collaboration in the Eurasian continent over markets, technologies, digital leadership, vaccine distribution, and financial institutions in the Era of Multipolar World Order 2.0. Showing that the US-centred unipolar world order is replaced by Multipolar World Order 2.0 where conflicting powers fight to keep or extend their spheres of influence, this volume is of great interest to decision makers, diplomats, scholars and students of international relations, politics, global governance, Eurasian studies, Chinese studies, cybersecurity, and economics, and for those studying human security, international organizations, and geopolitics.