Central / national / federal government policies Books

Book SynopsisBy drawing together widely dispersed yet central writings, the Berlin Reader is an essential resource for everyone interested in urban development in one of the most interesting and important metropolises in Europe. It provides scholars as well as students, journalists and visitors with an overview of the most central discussions on the tremendous changes Berlin experienced since the fall of the wall. It covers a wide range of issues, including inner city renewal, housing and the local economy, gentrification and other urban conflicts. The book breaks ground in two dimensions: first, by offering also non-German speakers an insight into the very controversial debates after reunification, and, second, by highlighting the ambivalent consequences of Berlin's urban transformation in the past decades.Trade Review"As a profound introduction, the 'Berlin Reader' [provides] a critical overview of urban development, its accompanying debates, and activism in Berlin since the 1990s." Elke Krasny, dérive [Austrian quarterly academic journal for urbanism], 55 (2014)

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Book SynopsisThe volume entails a collection of contributions by leading scholars (Raymond Bryant, Michael K. Goodman, Benjamin Huybrechts, Andrew E.G. Jonas, Roger Lee, Peter North, and Katinka Weber) concerned with alternative modes of economic and social exchange. The cases addressed in these contributions - including credit unions, alternative currencies, sustainable consumption, and social enterprises - deliver valuable insights into how such alternatives are performed at various scales and spaces in relation to and beyond the economic mainstream. In sum, the collection provides vital grounds for both a transition of the economic system towards a more sustainable one, and a reconceptualisation of the economic itself in our scholarly thinking and everyday lives.

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Book SynopsisThe journal "movements" collects academic, activist and artistic output that deals with migration and border regimes. It fosters exchange between academic discourse and the movements of migration, and thus allows for political debate about our societies in motion. This issue discusses the current developments of the Turkish migration and border regime in relation to EUropean migration policies. The contributions analyze the so called EU-Turkey Deal and its implications on politics and society in Turkey and its neighborhood as well as the living conditions of asylum seekers and migrants in Turkey. "movements" is published in print with transcript and online (open access) at www.movements-journal.org.

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Book SynopsisDue to global processes of transformation and the social challenges posed by demographic change, rural areas increasingly demand attention from politics and the public sphere. The contributions in this volume demonstrate how in different European countries it is mainly the cultural players who offer suggestions for an organization of the changing forms of communal life that is keeping with the times. The arts in particular have proven to be able of providing fresh impetus and new insights.This compendium of theory and practice combines outcomes of studies in cultural policy, introduces exemplary models and thus constitutes a first attempt at determining the position of innovative cultural work in rural areas. All essays both in English and German.Durch globale Transformationsprozesse und die gesellschaftlichen Herausforderungen des demographischen Wandels rücken ländliche Räume immer mehr in den Fokus von Politik und Öffentlichkeit. Die Beiträge des Bandes zeigen für verschiedene europäische Länder, dass vor allem Kulturakteure relevante Anregungen für die zeitgemäße Gestaltung des sich verändernden Zusammenlebens geben. Insbesondere die Künste stellen dabei einen Nährboden für weiterführende Impulse dar.Dieses Handbuch für Theorie und Praxis führt Ergebnisse der Kulturpolitikforschung zusammen, stellt beispielhafte Modelle vor und wagt somit erstmals eine Positionsbestimmung innovativer Kulturarbeit in ländlichen Räumen. Alle Beiträge sind in Englisch und Deutsch enthalten.

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Book SynopsisGender impact assessment has been both celebrated as a beacon of hope for the cause of gender equality and criticised as being ineffectual. More than 20 years of gender mainstreaming have demonstrated that equality governance with and through impact assessment is an intersectional and still evolving process. Arn T. Sauer's study examines the instruments of gendered policy analysis and the conditions under which they are being used by the Canadian federal government and the European Commission. Interviews with experts from public administration and instrument designers as well as document analyses reveal benefits and challenges and show that the success of equality governance depends upon whether knowledge about gendered policy and appropriate administrative practices are embedded, embodied and entrenched in public administration.

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Book SynopsisAre artists seismographs during processes of transformation? Is theatre a mirror of society? And how does it influence society offstage? To address these questions, this collection brings together analyses of cultural policy in post-apartheid South Africa and actors of the performing arts discussing political theatre and cultural activism. Case studies grant inside views of the State Theatre in Pretoria, the Market Theatre in Johannesburg and the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town, followed by a documentation of panel discussions on the Soweto Theatre. The texts collected here bring to the surface new faces and voices who advance the performing arts with their images and lexicons revolving around topics such as patriarchy, femicide and xenophobia.Table of ContentsTheatre in Transformation. Foreword of the editors; Bibliography; Prologue: Time to take stock? The Role of Theatre in Transformation; Theatre in Transformation. The history; Arts and Culture in South Africa. Taking Centre Stage on the Globe from Colonialism, Fascism, Apartheid and Beyond; Pinholes against apartheid. A Brief History of Political Theatre in South Africa; Theatre of Resistance. The Funda Community College in South Africa from the 1980s to the 1990s; The Unequal Brothers. The controversial history of the two leading South African theatres; Transformation in Theatre. The discourse; The performing arts as a social force. South Africa's post-apartheid theatre in the process of transformation; "Taking meat to the knives". Report of the panel discussion "Political Power of Theatre - Cultural Policy for Theatre in South Africa"; Same old apartheid drama or new democratic play? Report of the panel discussion "The State of Theatre in Soweto"; Soul food. South Africa's theatre shows how the country is seeking its future role; Theatre for Protest. The political dimension; The State of the Nation's redress re-dressed. The new forms of protest in South African Theatre and the Theatre of Excess; Political Theatre and Cultural Activism in the Free State Province, South Africa. The vacuum lef t by the death of Thamsanqa Duncan Moleko; Ubulution! A re-imagining of protest and the public sphere in contemporary theatre; Artists as "Seismographs", Theatre as a "Mirror" of Society? Conversation with Cultural Activists: Yvette Hardie, Ismail Mahomed and Omphile Molusi about Social Transformation; Theatre for Young Audiences. The Art of Education; Between Traditional Practise and Contemporary Forms. Theatre for Young Audiences in (South-) Africa; The ideal of a Rainbow Nation 1. What Theatre Arts and Cultural Policy in Europe can learn from Southern Africa; Cradle of Creativity. Cape Town was the Capital of Theatre for Young Audiences; Who's saying what about whom? South Africa's next generation is on a quest for its own identity; Township Theatre Making. An Ethnographic Study about a Developmental Tool for Khayelitsha Youth; Freedom of Expression. Perspectives on the Performing Arts; From "Playing" to "Working". Arresting systemic labour regression in the creative economy of Theatre in South Africa; Staring Dispassionately into the Abyss. Director and Author Mpumelelo Paul Grootboom from Soweto; Theatre Development and Cultural Policy in Rural Areas. A grassroots perspective from North West Province, South Africa; Are we actually deeply enough with these socio-political questions in our theatres?; Scratching the Wounds of the Past. A Playwright-Director's Note on the Play - Silent Scars; Application of indigenous performance techniques in South African theatre. The case of Mmabana Arts Culture Sports and Foundation, North West Province; Unleashing the caged power of the Black girl. South Africa's sociological theatre landscape; Epilogue: Theatre and the post-apartheid condition; Authors List.

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Book SynopsisThe external border of the EU remains under permanent construction. Sabrina Ellebrecht engages with two of its primary building sites - the European Border Surveillance System (Eurosur) and the Refugee Boat. She analyzes how the function and quality of the EU's current political border is crafted, shaped, produced and eventually stabilized through these two mediators. Eurosur and the Refugee Boat mediate a level of Europeanization which has hitherto - and would otherwise have - been impossible. While Eurosur mobilizes the limits of border policing in various ways, the Refugee Boat functions as the vacillating European Other to legitimize both control and humanitarian interventions. The study shows the specific, if not constitutive, ambivalences of EU border policies, and explores the emergence of viapolitics.

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Book SynopsisThe displaced are often rendered silent and invisible as they journey in search of refuge. Drawing on historical and contemporary examples from Turkey, the Ottoman Empire, Iraq, Syria, UK, Germany, France, the Balkan Peninsula, US, Canada, Australia, and Kenya, the contributions to this volume draw attention to refugees, asylum seekers, exiles, and forced migrants as individual subjects with memories, hopes, needs, rights, and a prospective place in collective memory. The book's wide-ranging theoretical, literary, artistic, and autobiographical contributions appeal to scholarly and lay readers who share concerns about the fate of the displaced in relation to the emplaced in this age of mass mobility.

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Book SynopsisIn the summer of 2015, an extraordinary number of German residents felt an urge to provide help to refugees. Doing good, however, is not as simple and straightforward as it might appear. Practices of solidarity are intertwined with questions of power. They are situated, relative and contested, unfolding in an ambivalent space between humanitarianism and political activism. This ethnographic account of the German "welcome culture" provides insights into the contested practices, imaginaries, interests and politics of refugee solidarity. Drawing on works from critical migration studies to social anthropology, Larissa Fleischmann develops an empirically grounded understanding of solidarity in migration societies.

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Book SynopsisRecent portrayals of the private sector as the engine of poverty alleviation in Africa's agricultural growth corridors have sparked critique by scholars and activists alike. Land acquisitions by investors are the most criticized, but the private sector engages in corridors in other ways, on which research remains scarce. Idil Ires provides a political economy analysis of whether smallholders prosper when they coordinate with input suppliers, banks, and crop buyers through markets and contract farming in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania. This book will appeal to scholars and practitioners from diverse fields, offering timely insights into a critical debate.

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Book SynopsisWhat does migration-generated diversity mean for cultural policy and the performing arts scene in Germany and how is it promoted? Through bridging theory and practice, Özlem Canyürek introduces the concept of "thinking and acting interculturally" and proposes a set of criteria as a stepping stone for a semantic shift in cultural policy towards achieving a fair and accessible performing arts scene for all. She delineates the framework conditions of a receptive cultural policy to envision cultural diversity in motion to enable the production and dissemination of multiplicity of thoughts, experiences, knowledge, worldviews, and aesthetics of an intercultural society.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; Inter-Cultural-Policy; Why Cultural Diversity in Performing Arts?; Cultural Policy, Systematic Exclusion, Structural Racism; Integration, Intercultural Management, Migration Mainstreaming; Cultural Diversity, Inclusion Policy, Intercultural Dialogue; Federal Programmes, Intercultural and Transcultural Projects; Solidarity, Collective Thinking, Self-Empowerment; Intercultural Reorganisation in Performing Arts; Abbreviations; List of Tables; Reference List.

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Book SynopsisDigitization is transforming our world economically, culturally, and psychologically. The influx of new forms of communication, networking, and business opportunities, as well as new types of distraction, self-observation, and control into our societies represents an epochal challenge. Following Bernard Stiegler's concept of pharmacology, Felix Heidenreich and Florian Weber-Stein propose to view these new forms as digital pharmaka. Properly dosed, they can enable new self-relationships and forms of sociality; in the case of overdose, however, there is a risk of intoxication. In this essay, Felix Heidenreich, Florian Weber-Stein, and, in a detailed interview, Bernard Stiegler analyse this complex change in our world and develop new skills to use digital pharmaka.

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Book SynopsisMigration is not a state of emergency, but a basic existential experience of humanity. It shapes contemporary societies by challenging established orders, creating transnational spaces beyond national hegemonies, creating new economies, influencing urban and communal ways of life, making inequality and precariousness visible locally and globally. Migration research as a social science does not narrow the focus to 'the migrants', but investigates the conditions for living together and shaping life between ethnicization and pluralization, discrimination and empowerment, division and participation.The Yearbook Migration and Society repeatedly turns the prism of narrative anew. The 2022/2023 edition focuses on the topic ?Climate?.

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Book SynopsisThe escalating rivalry between the EU and Russia in their shared neighbourhood creates important economic, political, and legal challenges for the lands in between. Belarus and Ukraine have received proposals of integration from both the EU and Russia. However, the extents to which they accepted these offers differ and result from a multitude of factors as well as their interplay affecting the policy choices of their governments. International integration is a foreign policy question, but it has a strong domestic dimension too. Explaining various integration stances demands considering a countrys foreign and internal affairs. Alla Leukavets applies here Putnams two-level game-theoretical approach in combination with findings from comparative neighborhood Europeanization and democracy promotion studies, as well as Levitsky/Ways linkages-and-leverage-model. She develops various actor-centered and structural explanatory variables and applies them in the subsequent empirical analysis. Her research results benefit from triangulation through primary documents analysis and semi-structured interviews with elites and experts in Minsk, Moscow, Brussels, and Washington, DC. The book analyses how the simultaneity of European and Eurasian integration challenged the two countries to make a major strategic integration choice. The study sheds light on the reasons for and genesis of the Ukraine Crisis, and on how external actors, such as the EU, can succeed in facilitating domestic reforms in Eastern Partnership countries.

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Book SynopsisIn the US as well as in Europe, migration and migration policy is one of the top issues. This timely volume gathers distinguished authors from academic institutions throughout Europe addressing the growing importance of migration policy making and the refugee crisis that European Union member states and other countries are currently facing. By focusing on the most important effects that the migration from Third World countries has brought to the European Union, they provide a critical overview of the politicization, securitization, and social discourse of migration. The authors analyze the impacts on public administration and governance and also discuss the rise of the radical right in EU member states, the rise of populism, and the alienation of citizens from formal politics which is also caused by the growing interest in security and public safety. The pan-European character of the publications scope is vested in its narration; the contributors cover the situation in Western Europe, the critical positions of the Visegrad countries as well as foreign policy making in Slovenia and the Western Balkans. Moreover, the authors address case studies from states such as Armenia and Moldova, including their labor migrants in the Western world. The collection is completed by contrasting and discussing the immigration policies of countries that are well-known for their open and liberal immigration activities such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States.

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Book SynopsisIn the present social and cultural transformation of South Thailand's cultural politics, ideologies involving the family, gender and home provide the cultural codes in social dramas of the state, the media and social and religious movements. This study looks at micropolitics and the nesting of the political action of everyday life in larger, ultimately global structures of power. Exploring the making of class, culture and space, the production and consumption of culture is understood as work which involves the constant negotiation of boundaries.Trade Review"As the literature on Southern Thailand is very limited, the book is a welcome source of information about the cultural and societal situation in this region. The study can be recommended to readers interested in detailed regional information about Southern Thailand." Patrick Ziegenhals, Internationales Asienforum, 11 (2004)

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewTim is a supremely gifted storyteller who writes with brutal honesty and stylish gallows humor about the GOP’s toxic mix of opportunists, joy riders, and grifters who enabled Donald Trump’s rise and guaranteed his enduring grip on the Republican Party. Tim takes a scalpel to the malignant tumor smothering American democracy by dissecting his own friends and onetime colleagues. The most valuable contribution of Tim’s book may be the anthropological examination of just how little separates a ‘normal’ Republican from an activist working to overthrow a free and fair presidential election. — Nicolle Wallace Tim’s smart and witty takes on the current madness of our political times has been my balm of Gilead. In this book, Tim examines what makes some people abandon their principles to align with the current center of power and what makes others hold fast to their convictions in spite of finding themselves suddenly on the outs. As a former Republican partisan, Tim breaks it all down in precise bombs of truth and keen insight into some of the more awful truths of human nature when it comes to the allure of power. — Jane Lynch Mea culpa and tell-all, Tim Miller’s Why We Did It reveals why and how a generation of Republican politicos bent the knee to a president so many of them privately feared and despised. — David Frum From any dark experience springs something hopeful and good. In the Trump years, that bright side has been Tim and his compatriots who took up arms to fight the MAGA scourge. Before this book, I understood why the crazies and kooks went along with Trump, but now I fully grasp why smart, supposedly ‘normal’ Republicans did, too. Tim’s observations are clear-eyed, wise, brutally honest, and darkly hilarious. Everyone should read this book, especially fellow Democrats who want to better understand our political foes. — James Carville When the history of this era is written, the dominant question will likely be, How did this happen? Tim Miller’s Why We Did It offers a crucial insider’s answer to that question. It’s a must-read report from the belly of the beast detailing how the unimaginable becomes inevitable. Looking back at a career in politics and being horrified at what you were part of is not the most fun exercise in life. Tim examines his role with clear honesty, sadness, and an amusing sense of the absurd. This is a big, important book. Read it. — Stuart Stevens

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Book Synopsis#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!President Trump''s nominee for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has written a revolutionary road map to saving our children from leftist indoctrination.Behind a smokescreen of ?preparing students for the new industrial economy,? early progressives had political control in mind. America?s original schools didn?t just make kids memorize facts or learn skills; they taught them to think freely and arrive at wisdom. They assigned the classics, inspired love of God and country, and raised future citizens that changed the world forever.Today, after 16,000 hours of K-12 indoctrination, our kids come out of government schools hating America. They roll their eyes at religion and disdain our history. We spend more money on education than ever, but kids can barely read and write?let alone reason with discernment. Western culture is on the ropes. Kids are bored and aimless, flailing for purpose in a system that says racial and gender identity is everything.Battle for the AmericanMindis the untold story of the Progressive plan to neutralize the basis of our Republic ? by removing the one ingredient that had sustained Western Civilization for thousands of years. Pete Hegseth and David Goodwin explain why, no matter what political skirmishes conservatives win, progressives are winning the war?and control the ?supply lines? of future citizens.Reversing this reality will require parents to radically reorient their children?s education; even most homeschooling and Christian schooling are infused with progressive assumptions. We needto recover a lost philosophy of education ? grounded in virtue and excellence ? that can arm future generations to fight for freedom. It?s called classical Christian education. Never heard of it? You?re not alone.Battle for the American Mindis more than a book; it?s a field guide for remaking school in the United States.We?ve ceded our kids? minds to the left for far too long?this book gives patriotic parents the ammunition to join an insurgency that gives America a fighting chance.Whether you''re a conservative looking to push back against the progressive agenda or simply someone who cares about the education of our children, this book is for you.

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Book SynopsisIn light of the intertwining logics of military competition and economic interdependence at play in US-China relations, Trading with the Enemy examines how the United States has balanced its potentially conflicting national security and economic interests in its relationship with the People''s Republic of China (PRC). To do so, Hugo Meijer investigates a strategically sensitive yet under-explored facet of US-China relations: the making of American export control policy on military-related technology transfers to China since 1979. Trading with the Enemy is the first monograph on this dimension of the US-China relationship in the post-Cold War. Based on 199 interviews, declassified documents, and diplomatic cables leaked by Wikileaks, two major findings emerge from this book. First, the US is no longer able to apply a strategy of military/technology containment of China in the same way it did with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. This is because of the erosion of its capacity to resTrade ReviewA fascinating sub-story of US-China relations. Despite all of the changes in the relationship, one constant over six-plus decades has been Washington's effort to restrict military-related technology transfers to China through its unilateral and multilateral export control regimes. Hugo Meijer's Trading with the Enemy offers a fine-grained historical accounting of this effort, which is of use to scholars and policymakers alike." * David Shambaugh, George Washington University, and The Brookings Institution *Based on new and unique primary source information, Hugo Meijer's Trading with the Enemy tells the important and heretofore untold story of US policy toward China on the export of arms and military-related technology from the Korean War to the present. This excellent and eminently readable work significantly contributes to our understanding of the shifting security and economic dynamics at play between the United States and China at a time when these dynamics are critical to global stability and prosperity." - Evan S. Medeiros, former U.S. National Security Council Senior Director for Asian AffairsAs geo-strategic and military competition grows between the United States and China, the greatest rivalry will take place in the strategic and dual-use high technology domain. Even as they contest for influence and dominance in the South China Sea and cyberspace, the overall race for global leadership will ultimately be decided in terms of technological innovation, industrial capacity, and economic sustainability. Hugo Meijer does a great service in shedding considerable light and providing analytical clarity in addressing this hugely complex issue. This is essential reading for anyone looking to understand the dynamics and long-term prospects for US-China strategic competition." - Tai Ming Cheung, University of California San DiegoDuring the Cold War, the United States made the sensible decision to restrict the export of advanced military technologies to its chief strategic rival, the Soviet Union. In contrast, U.S. high-tech firms now need access to large and growing markets in China in order to fund the research and development that keeps them at the cutting edge. Meijer charts an admirably clear path through the complexities of his subject to show how U.S. export control policy evolved over 30 years." * Foreign Affairs *...an 'ambitious and comprehensive study of US export control policy toward the People's Republic of China Meijer's book is an impressive piece of scholarship that is both accessible and highly engaging Meijer does an outstanding job of leveraging the information and insights gained from his many high-level interviews in building his argument. His nuanced empirical analysis draws from declassified documents, government reports and public statements by various US officials, and - most importantly - nearly 200 interviews. The book will be of great interest to experts in the academic and policy communities who focus on US-China relations." * China Quarterly *...Ultimately, Meijer's account of how growing economic interdependence in trade and finance potentially undermines the ability to utilize typical instruments of military and technological containment in the 21st century offers dynamic analysis of US foreign policy towards China. In highlighting the consequences of increasingly multifaceted security objectives amid the commercialization of military-related technology in global markets, Meijer provides a rich tapestry from which to understand the potential pitfalls for America's national security and its primacy in technology and innovation in a world accustomed to US dominance in these realms...Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students and faculty. * N. Sackeyfio, CHOICE *Table of ContentsPreface by David Lampton Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction Part I: The Strategic Triangle and US Defense Technology Transfers to the PRC during the Cold War Chapter 1: From the Korean War to Normalization: US Export Controls Prior to 1979 Chapter 2: US-China Military Cooperation in the Last Decade of the Cold War Part II: The Legacy of Tiananmen: Technology Controls in the Post-Cold War Era Chapter 3: The Rise of China and the Collapse of COCOM Chapter 4: Key Actors and Coalitions in the 1990s: The Rise of the Run Faster Coalition Chapter 5: Supercomputers, Telecommunications Equipment, and China's Military Modernization Chapter 6: Chinagate, the Cox Report, and Communications Satellites Part III: China's Military Buildup and Strategic Trade Controls in the 21st Century Chapter 7: China's Military Modernization and Foreign Defense Technology Acquisition Chapter 8: The People's Liberation Army and Dual-Use Information and Communications Technologies Chapter 9: Communications Satellites and the China Quagmire Chapter 10: The China Rule and the China 'Threat' Conclusion: Beyond Containment: Security and Economics in the US-China Relationship Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisOn November 10, 1995, the Nigerian military government under General Sani Abacha executed dissident writer Ken Saro-Wiwa along with eight other activists, and the international community reacted with outrage. The response was quick, decisive, and nearly unanimous: Nigeria is an outcast in the global village. The events that led up to Saro-Wiwa''s execution mark Nigeria''s decline from a post-colonial success story to its current military dictatorship, and few writers have been more outspoken in decrying and lamenting this decline than Nobel Prize laureate and Nigerian exile Wole Soyinka.In The Open Sore of a Continent, Soyinka, whose own Nigerian passport was confiscated 1994, explores the history and future of Nigeria in a compelling jeremiad that is as intense as it is provocative, learned, and wide-ranging. He deftly explains the shifting dramatis personae of Nigerian history and politics , arguing that `a glance at the mildewed tapestry of the stubbornly unfinished nation edifice''Trade Reviewa great work by a great writer on the grave travails of a potentially great nation * Moffat Ekoriko, The Observer *a bold and stimulating book ... required reading for anyone who wishes to examine critically the present turmoil in Africa. * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisTaking the well-known Irish language revival policy as a case study, this book examines the complex relationship between processes of economic and social development on the one hand, and processes of language and cultural change on the other. Does modernization inevitably mean the end of traditional languages and cultural practices, or can they re-emerge in new forms?Trade Reviewhe devotes most of his book to a re-assembly of statistical data from a series of language surveys, census returns and administrative files ... Prof. Ó Riagáin usefully brings diverse sets of data into this single volume. * Patrick Cummins, Journal of Linguistics Institute of Ireland, 36/36 *this book is critical reading for anyone interested in either the Irish language or minority language policy in general. He brings together the key findings of previous studies along with an in-depth analysis of more recent research...a handy reference book. * irish Journal of Sociology *Having meticulously laid the foundations for his study, he sets about considering the nature of theoretical perspectives in sociolinguistic research in general, and in Irish in particular ... excellent research is characterised by its clarity of argument, its objectivity and attention to detail. This book is to be recommended by all who are interested in language, and particularly those who are involved in minority language planning. * The Month *This is an interesting, challenging contribution to studies of language policy and language planning in general, as well as to our understanding of Irish-English biligualism in Ireland ... The book ... contributes to the development of hypotheses about the fate of linguistic minorities in the modern world. * Monica Heller, American Journal of Sociology, May 1999, 104:6 *

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Book SynopsisNon-linguistic conflicts - economic, religious, territorial - are often projected on to language differences, and may be played out in the language policies of governments and other holders of power. Jean-Louis Calvet deals broadly, in a non-technical and introductory style, with this interaction of language issues and political process. He examines the fundamental problems arising from language contact, multilingualism, and the conflicts caused by inequalities symbolized in various patterns of language use. The author draws extensively on his own research and uses numerous case studies to illustrate the power-political dimensions of language policies from many parts of the world, such as Africa, China, South America, the former Soviet Union, and Europe. He cites the former Soviet Union as a prime example of an attempt to impose, for ideological reasons, a supra-national vehicular language, in order to supersede the languages of regional nationalism. Professor Calvet offers no simple solutions to the `war of languages'' but urges all those involved in language intervention - from the professional `language planners'' to school teachers - to combine the need to promote majority languages with respect for the diversity of local languages and language varieties.Trade ReviewNontechnical and interesting, it is addressed to nonspecialists and is recommended for all academic and public collections. * G. R. Wasserman, CHOICE *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; PART I: THE ORIGINS OF CONFLICT ; 1. The Question of Origins ; 2. Religions and Language ; 3. A Multilingual World ; 4. Ideologists of Superiority ; PART II: THE BATTLEFIELD ; 5. Lingua Francas and Vernaculars ; 6. The Family as a Battlefield ; 7. Markets and Languages ; 8. Lingua Francas ; 9. The Death of Languages ; PART III: AMONG THE ADMINISTRATORS ; 10. Language Policy and Planning: First Approach ; 11. Case Studies: The Management of Multilingualism ; 12. Case Studies: Language Planning and Nationalism ; 13. Case Study: The Language Struggle of the Jivaro of Ecuador ; 14. The War of Writing ; 15. The War of Words ; 16. Trench Warfare: The Case of French ; 17. The Pacifist Illusion and Esperanto ; Conclusion

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Book SynopsisThrough a comparative analysis of England, the European Union, and the United States, this book considers legal responses to delegation of governmental power to private parties. Although private delegation has the potential to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of governance, it should not be assumed to have this result. Private delegation creates risks to democracy, accountability, and human rights. Any legal controls must therefore respond to the challenge of enhancing the potential effectiveness of private delegation, while minimising the risks.The legal responses of the three jurisdictions to private delegation are categorised in a two-fold and functional way: responses which impose controls on the delegator of governmental power, and responses which impose controls on the private delegate of governmental power. The controls imposed by different legal disciplines such as constitutional law, administrative law, regulatory law, and private law are assessed.Three goals are pursuTrade ReviewThe author's aim of demonstrating the changes to the legal system necessitated by political changes in different countries and organisations is achieved by a meticulous analysis of cases in different areas of law in each of the case study areas...the study enriches the literatures of both public administration and governance as well as law. * Rory Shand, Political Studies Review *This is a marvellous analysis of an intricate and difficult area. * The Edinburgh Law Review, Volume 13, Issue 1 *Table of Contents1. Introduction ; PART I: DELEGATION IN CONTEXT ; 2. The Jurisdictional Context of Private Delegation ; 3. The Benefits and Challenges of Private Delegation ; PART II: CONTROLS ON DELEGATION ; 4. Constitutional Controls on Delegation ; 5. Legislative and Regulatory Controls on Delegation ; PART III: CONTROLS ON PRIVATE PARTIES ; 6. Human Rights Controls on the Delegate ; 7. Administrative Law Controls on the Delegate ; 8. Private Law Controls on the Delegate ; PART IV: COMPARISONS, LAW, AND DELEGATION ; 9. Conclusion

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Book SynopsisSince the mid-1990s European welfare states have undergone a major transformation. Relative to the post-war years, today they put less emphasis on income protection and more on the promotion of labour market participation. This book investigates this transformation by focusing on two fields of social policy: active labour market policy and childcare. Throughout Europe, governments have invested massively in these two areas. The result, a more active welfare state, seems a rather solid achievement, likely to survive the turbulent post-crisis years. Why? Case studies of policy trajectories in seven European countries and advanced statistical analysis of spending figures suggest that the shift towards an active social policy is only in part a response to a changed economic environment. Political competition, and particularly the extent to which active social policy can be used for credit claiming purposes, help us understand the peculiar cross-national pattern of social policy reorientatiTrade Reviewthese case studies are woven into a coherent narrative concerning the origins of active social policy which draws upon an impressive range of theoretical discussion of the policy making process. * Jan Windebank, Journal of Contemporary European Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ; List of Figures ; List of Tables ; 1. Introduction ; 2. Defining active social policy ; 3. Mapping variation in active social policies ; 4. Explaining the emergence of active social policy ; 5. Active labour market policies in a comparative perspective ; 6. Childcare policy in a comparative perspective ; 7. Quantitative evidence: the determinants of public spending on active labour market policy and childcare ; 8. The origins of active social policy ; Index

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Book SynopsisWhat is the role of legislatures in the budget process? Do powerful assemblies give rise to pro-spending bias? This survey of legislative budgeting tackles these questions using cross-national data and case studies. It highlights the tension between legislative authority and prudent fiscal policy, exploring strategies for reconciliation.Trade Review'Given the importance of the topic, it is a surprise that there is so little truly comparative work on the role of legislatures in budgeting. This book admirably fills this gap in the literature. It combines quantitative approaches with careful case studies that delve into the causal mechanisms at work. We learn that the legislature's ability to amend the budget does change budgetary outcomes. At the same time, the careful case study evidence indicates that quantitative scholars need to pay more attention to the institutional details of how processes like 'top-down budgeting' are introduced and implemented. Scholars and policymakers alike interested in executive legislative relations, institutional design, and budgeting should pay close attention to this book.' Mark Hallerberg, Professor of Public Management and Political Economy, Hertie School of Governance, Germany 'In this insightful book, Joachim Wehner combines systematic cross-national analysis and case studies to assess the budgetary role and predicament of modern legislatures. Armed with growing independence from government, national legislatures are more active in amending the budget, but must also be more disciplined in fiscal policy. This book offers practical guidance, based on the experiences of innovative legislatures, on how to balance these cross pressures.' Allen Schick, Professor of Political Science, University of Maryland, USA 'This book makes an important addition to previous work, especially with regard to the relationship between the power of a legislature and public spending. It should be of real value to legislatures and governments alike as fiscal constraints gain more prominence in the years ahead.' Barry Anderson, Former Head of the Budgeting and Public Expenditures Division, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, FranceTable of ContentsPerspectives on Legislative Budgeting The Institutional Foundations of Fiscal Control Assessing the Power of the Purse Explaining Cross-national Patterns Legislative Institutions and Fiscal Policy Outcomes The Promise of Top-down Budgeting Beyond the Myth of Fiscal Control

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Book SynopsisDyson explains the convergence and divergence between British, French and German defence reforms in the post-Cold War era. He engages with cultural and realist theories and develops a neoclassical realist approach to change and stasis in defence policy, bringing new material to bear on the factors which have affected defence reforms.Table of ContentsPART I: CONTEXT: THE CASE FOR CONVERGENCE Europe's Partial and Selective Emulation of the US-led Revolution in Military Affairs Convergence and Divergence in the Institutional Forums of Defence Policy: Functional Complementarity; Spatial and Temporal Differentiation PART II: THEORISING AND TESTING DEFENCE POLICY CONVERGENCE Competing Theoretical Frameworks: Realist and Cultural Approaches PART III: TESTING CULTURAL AND REALIST APPROACHED: DEFENCE POLICIES BETWEEN INTERNATIONAL STRUCTURE AND EXECUTIVE AUTONOMY France: Domestic Incentives and Timely Adaptation to Systemic Imperatives Germany: Domestic Constraint and the Temporal Management of Reform The United Kingdom High Executive Autonomy and Timely Adaptation to Systemic Imperatives Conclusions: The Empirical and Theoretical Implications

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Book SynopsisUsing an analytical framework based on Foucault's concept of governmentality and through unique case-studies, this volume explores the ongoing transformations taking place in the Swedish welfare state. Trade Review'For many of us Sweden is the iconic social democratic welfare state. But this fascinating collection of essays from the University of Gothenberg, covering a wide range of aspects of contemporary Sweden, helps us to understand that the Swedish welfare state is certainly reconfiguring and may well be transforming'. - Jonathan Bradshaw, Professor at the Social Policy Research Unit, University of York, UK 'The plural in the title signals the break between this book and many others on the topic. Typically seen in monolithic terms, the Swedish Welfare State is invariably regarded as either a continuing marvel or in the 'neoliberal fairytale' alluded to in the Introduction as ineluctably broken. But what if a mix of social engineering by experts and public-private partnerships as much as central governmental administration by design was always intrinsic to the Swedish welfare state? Rather than state versus market versus civil society, the detailed chapters in this volume point to a variety of ways in which human welfare continues to be regarded as a collective political engagement in Sweden even as an emphasis on 'responsibility' represents a renegotiation of the old social contract.' - John Agnew, Professor in the Department of Geography, UCLA, USA 'This collective project of a new generation, the most circumspect and theoretically engaged attempt at grasping contemporary Sweden, is also a manifestation of the continuing vitality of the Sociology Department at Gothenburg University.' - Göran Therborn, Chair and Professor of Sociology, University of Cambridge, UKTable of ContentsList of Figures, Tables, and Illustrations Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors PART I: APPROACHING THE SWEDISH MODEL Transformations of the Swedish Welfare State: Social Engineering, Governance and Governmentality – An Introduction; B.Larsson, M.Letell & H.Thörn Pathways of the Welfare State: Growth and Democracy; M.Peterson PART II: SECURITY AND CONTROL The Swedish 'Welfare-Warfare Nexus' and the New Security Architecture; H.Glimell Governing Unruly Technology: Swedish Politicians and Nuclear Power; G.Sundqvist Social Policy Reforms in Sweden: New Perspectives on Rights and Obligations; U.Björnberg Labour Market Policies in Transition: From Social Engineering to stand-by-ability; M.Bengtsson & T.Berglund Decentring Economic Regulation and Control: Reinforcing Trust through Self-regulation; B.Larsson & O.Engdahl Criminal Records: Governing Symbols; C.Backman PART III: PUBLIC HEALTH The Advanced Liberal Logic of Nicotine Replacement and the Swedish Invention of Smoking as Addiction; M.Elam and A.Gunnarsson From Medicine by Wire to Governing Wireless: Changing Geographies of Healthcare; J.Petersson Governance of End of Life: The Case of Sweden; N.Machado Governing by Drugs: The Denial of Subsidy for Viagra Use in Sweden; E.Sjögren & E.Johnson PART IV: THE CITY Governing Movements in Urban Space; H.Thörn From the Lonely Homophile in the Darkness to Rainbow Families in the Streets – A Story of Liberation?; C.Wasshede Real Estate Ownership Concentration and Urban Governance; M.Landzelius Homelessness as Politics and Market; C.Löfstrand Conclusions: Re-engineering the Swedish Welfare State; H.Thörn & B.Larsson Epilogue: Social Change, Scholarly Change, and Scholarly Continuity; G.Therborn References

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Book SynopsisBringing together contributions from leading researchers, this volume reflects on the political, institutional and social factors that have shaped the recent expansion of wind energy, and to consider what lessons this experience may provide for the future expansion of other renewable technologies.Trade Review'What the book does well is to identify and disucss several barriers to making wind projects more acceptable for communities and environmental groups...Learning from Wind Power is an accessible and weighty contribution to the field.' - Ralitsa Hiteva, Sustainable Consumption Institute and School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester, Environment and PlanningTable of ContentsWind Power: Towards a Sustainable Energy Future?; C.Warren , R.Cowell , G.Ellis , P.A.Strachan & J.Szarka PART I: GOVERNANCE AND POLICY LEARNING Wind Power: Opportunities, Limits and Challenges; D.Elliott Wind Power Policy in Germany and the UK; V.Lauber Wind Power and Spatial Planning in the UK; S.Power & R.Cowell From Laggard to World Leader: the United Kingdom's Adoption of MarineWind Energy; S.Jay Planning with the Missing Masses: Innovative Wind Power Planning in France; A.Nadai PART II: SOCIETAL ENGAGEMENT WITH WIND POWER The Misdirected Opposition to Wind Energy; M.J.Pasqualletti The Social Experience of Noise from Wind Farms; C.Haggett Navigating a Minefield? Wind Power and Local Community BenefitFunds; P.A.Strachan & D.Jones Fostering Public Engagement in Wind Energy Development: the Role of Intermediaries and Community Benefits; P.Devine-Wright Social Acceptance of Wind Energy Projects: Learning from Trans-national Experience; S.Huber , R.Hobarty & G.Ellis Drawing Lessons from Wind Power for Future Sustainable Energy; J.Szarka , G.Ellis , R.Cowell , P.A.Strachan & C.Warren

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Book SynopsisThis book provides a Europe-wide comparative analysis of the role of civil society organizations active in the field of unemployment and precarity. It illustrates how crucial civil society organizations are for the inclusion of the young unemployed, mainly in two ways: by delivering services and by advocating policy.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Simone Baglioni and Marco Giugni PART I: RESOURCES AND ACTIVITIES 1. The Political Role of Civil Society in the Policy Field of Youth Unemployment and Precarious Working Conditions; Simone Baglioni, Jasmine Lorenzini, and Lorenzo Mosca 2. Addressing Unemployment in Different Welfare Regimes: Civil Society Organizations and Their Strategies; Jennifer Hobbins, Birgitta Erkisson, and Ewa Bacia 3. Between Passion and Money: Human and Financial Resources and Patterns of Professionalization of Civil Society Organisations; Luis Mota and Vitória Mourão 4. The Impact of Political Opportunity Structures on the Politicization of Civil Society Organizations in the Field of Unemployment and Precarity; Manlio Cinalli and Marco Giugni PART II: NETWORKS 5. Networks within the Multi-Organizational Field of Unemployment: A Tale of Seven Cities in Europe; Matteo Bassoli and Manlio Cinalli 6. Local Civil Societies in the Field of Labor Market Issues: Cliques, Cleavages, and Conflicts in the Organizational Networks of Cologne and Turin; Christian Lahusen and Bettina Grimmer 7. Who Are the Powerful Actors? An Analysis of Brokerage in the Networks of Organizations Dealing with Unemployment and Precarity; Matteo Bassoli, Manlio Cinalli, and Marco Giugni 8. Inheriting Divisions? The Role of Catholic and Leftist Affiliation in Local Cooperation Network: The Case of Italy and Poland; Matteo Bassoli and Maria Theiss 9. Mind the Gap: Local Civil Society Organizations and the European Union; Christian Lahusen Conclusion; Simone Baglioni and Marco Giugni

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Book SynopsisHow institutions for Internet governance are emerging from the tension between the territorially bound nation-state and a transnational network society.When the prevailing system of governing divides the planet into mutually exclusive territorial monopolies of force, what institutions can govern the Internet, with its transnational scope, boundless scale, and distributed control? Given filtering/censorship by states and concerns over national cybersecurity, it is often assumed that the Internet will inevitably be subordinated to the traditional system of nation-states. In Networks and States, Milton Mueller counters this, showing how Internet governance poses novel and fascinating governance issues that give rise to a global politics and new transnational institutions. Drawing on theories of networked governance, Mueller provides a broad overview of Internet governance from the formation of ICANN to the clash at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the f

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