Political parties and party platforms Books

Book SynopsisAfter the Referendum on whether Scotland should become an independent country in September 2014 - and following a momentous mobilisation of voters by both the Yes and No campaigns - Scotland''s political environment has been fundamentally energised. But how was the Referendum campaign reported and structured in the media in Scotland, the wider United Kingdom, and in other parts of the world, and was it a matter of ''construction'' rather than ''representation''?In this book scholars, commentators and journalists from Britain, Europe and beyond examine how the media across the world presented the debate itself and the shifting nature of Scottish - and British - identity which that debate revealed. Several of the contributors also explore how the emphases and constructions which were put on the debate in their particular countries illuminated these countries'' own responses to nationalism and separatism.The consequences of the Referendum''s No result are traced in the media through until the May general election of 2015.

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Book SynopsisGuy Standing is Professorial Research Associate at SOAS University of London, a Fellow of the British Academy of Social Sciences, and co-founder and now honorary co-president of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), an international NGO that promotes basic income. His latest book is Battling Eights Giants: Basic Income Now (2020). .Trade ReviewA very important book. * Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA *Buy Guy Standing's book, The Precariat! Or nick/borrow it! * John Harris, The Guardian *Guy Standing provides an incisive account of how precariousness is becoming the new normality in globalised labour markets, and offers important guidelines for all concerned to build a more just society. * Richard Hyman, London School of Economics, UK *This is an important book. * Citizen's Income Newsletter *This important and original book brings out the political dangers, so clear in contemporary America, of failing to address the insecurities of the Precariat. It also suggests the way forward: a reconstruction of the concept of work. * Eileen Applebaum, Center for Economic and Policy Research, Washington DC, USA *Over 90% of workers in India are informal, poorly paid, without any economic security. Guy Standing combines vision with practicality in outlining policies that are urgently needed to provide security to workers such as these around the world. * Renana Jhabvala, Self-Employed Women’s Association of India *Standing has produced a well-informed and important book investigating, for the first time in a comprehensive way, the direction in which global economic security is moving in the 21st century. The book is packed with statistics presented in a very readable form and drawing on extensive published research. It is a compelling account of economic insecurity... * Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation *[T]here is much in The Precariat to recommend it to labor educators, labor studies scholars, and activists of all sorts...a book that provides a clear and detailed understanding of how the situation of precarious employment affects the lives of the “precariat” individually, collectively, day to day, and over the longer term. This is the book’s greatest value. Standing does this with many international examples, even though his main intellectual base is in Britain. His analysis of the impact of precarity, along with the diversity of examples from around the world, makes this the primary book on the topic to date. * Labor Studies Journal *In summary, the analysis and arguments are compelling, for The Precariat brings together and develops many current strands of thought within the (social science) literature, and builds on the materialist tradition which ultimately leads to a rejection of 'neoliberalism'. Standing captures some of the collectivist social policy tradition established by Richard Titmuss, but with more attention to all forms of work and notions of occupational citizenship...The social policy community needs to engage more with issues at stake here, making The Precariat essential reading * Journal of Social Policy *The most challenging proposal here is probably the one urging states to grant all citizens individually a modest basic income, without conditions or behavioural rules, but Standing provides the most brilliant, succinct and clear-eyed exposition of its economic and social advantages available so far. * E-International Relations *Table of ContentsCovid – 19 Preface Abbreviations 1 The Precariat 2 Why the Precariat is Growing 3 Who Enters the Precariat 4 Migrants: Victims, Villains or Heroes? 5 Labour, Work and the Time Squeeze 6 A Politics of inferno 7 A Politics of Paradise Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAssesses how the news media covered the extraordinary 2016 US presidential election and, more importantly, what information - true, false, or somewhere in between - actually helped voters make up their minds. The evidence uncovered shows how Donald Trump's victory, and Hillary Clinton's loss, resulted in large part from how the news media responded to these two unique candidates.

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Book Synopsis Curing the causes and consequences of Trumpism It''s no secret that the United States faces extraordinary political and societal challenges, even as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Political polarization and extremism are the most apparent symptoms, resulting from long-term economic and social inequities as well as a toxic information ecosystem. It is easy to blame Donald Trump for the sad state of American democracy. After all, he abused his executive authority, spread false claims, and even incited violence. But Trumpism is almost certain to outlast Trump himself. The grievances he exploited and the aggrieved to whom he appealed existed well before he became president and likely will endure after he is gone from the political scene. The current political atmosphere is poisonous for those who operate on the basis of facts, reason, and logic. It is time to step back from this dangerous precipice and reflect on the causes of the serious threats to American democracy, procedural justice, and a reason-based society. With polarization now entrenched and authoritarianism gaining strength, no one should assume that facts somehow will triumph over falsehoods and reason will prevail over emotion. Drawing on his personal experiences in the D.C. policy world, Darrell West offers advice for protecting people, organizations, and the country as a whole from our contemporary challenges. This book makes the risks to democracy understandable by explaining specific threats and offering concrete ideas for ameliorating them. It will appeal to anyone interested in American politics, democracy, elections, mass media, technology, and governance.

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Book SynopsisThis second in the six volume series covers the years of the General Strike, and includes a detailed examination of the policies, successes and failings of Communists and the militant left generally.

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Book SynopsisThe History of the Communist Party of Great Britain 1927-41 Volume 3 Noreen Branson This volume covers some of the most turbulent years of the century, spanning a crucial period between the bitter aftermath of the General Strike and the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union.

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Book SynopsisTo get a better sense of power dynamics in global politics, this book presents an innovative theoretical framework, combining a critical engagement with, and further development of, Michel Foucault's governmentality on the one hand, and the theory of world society of the Stanford School of Sociology on the other. Making an original contribution to academic debates about power and global political order, this book develops a comprehensive theoretical perspective on power relations and political dynamics. The book starts from the presupposition that any theoretical engagement of that kind requires nuanced empirical study as well. It therefore analyzes the dynamics of world-societal order in the concrete empirical example of Palestine, and raises the question of how its political and societal order comes into existence. The author argues that governmentality represents a fundamental pattern of political order in world society that also profoundly affects power dynamics in PalestTrade Review"In the vast field of literature on the Middle East in general, and on Palestine in particular, this book by Jan Busse is a gem. Rich in of understanding the local conditions, it shows how locality is inextricably woven into, and partly produced by, global context. This global context is analysed in a conceptually innovative fashion. This book is a must-read not only for every student of contemporary Palestine, but also for those interested in the uses of sociological approaches in understanding contemporary world affairs."- Mathias Albert, Bielefeld University, Germany"This volume addresses in an excellent way the growing number of calls for a stronger cross-fertilization between IR Theory and Middle East Studies and for disciplinary boundary crossing more generally. Based on an innovative theoretical framework that combines Foucault’s notion of governmentality and the Stanford School’s sociological neo-institutionalism the volume not only contributes, in original ways, to our understanding of how order is constituted and power exercised in a Palestine embedded within the world society. It, furthermore, succeeds in showing why it is important to transcend prevalent but problematic dichotomies in the study of global politics, such as universalism/particularism, inside/outside, traditional/modern, local/global, and, not at least, how this can be done." - Morten Valbjørn, Aarhus University, Denmark"I was fascinated by the research undertaken by Jan Busse. This is an outstanding book that succeeds in what many publications in the field fail to do. Namely, to combine innovative theoretical reflection with rigorous empirical insights generated on the basis of intimate knowledge about a specific place. The book elegantly combines theories of world society and Foucauldian theory with an inspiring analysis of politics in Palestine. A must-read." - Stephan Stetter, Bundeswehr University Munich, GermanyFrom the Series Editor Preface, authored by by Iver B. Neumann:This book draws on two perspectives that have a rightful place in a series on the new International Relations, namely Foucauldian governmentality studies and the world society perspective of the Stanford School. (…)The book introduces these perspectives, as well as their contested uptake within the discipline of International Relations, and brings them to bear on detailed empirical analyses of Palestinian practices. (…) The result is a book that challenges the all-too-prominent methodological nationalism of Palestinian Studies and, by implication, other area-specific fields. More than that, however, the book is part and parcel of the general thrust towards making International Relations a more social discipline that is arguably at the core of the new International Relations.In sociology-speak, it succeeds in pairing up the micro, the meso, and the macro. In anthropology-speak, it begins to look at interaction data in order to say something about social form. In New International Relations parlance, it focuses on the everyday as it is shaped by and shapes institutions and states. That should be as true an aim as any social science could ask for."Jan Busse’s Deconstructing the Dynamics of World Societal Order offers a unique and innovative analysis of Palestine for scholars of International Relations (IR). (...) Deconstructing the Dynamics of World Societal Order requires attention from the discipline. It speaks to the various literatures, from post-structuralist IR to area studies. It advances the debates on how governmentality can be adopted to study political and social phenomena without abandoning a global perspective. Most importantly, the book provokes new ideas and ways of thinking about Palestine." - The International Spectator"Deconstructing the Dynamics of World Societal Order requires attention from the discipline.It speaks to the various literatures, from post-structuralist IR to area studies. It advances the debates on how governmentality can be adopted to study political and social phenomena without abandoning a global perspective. Most importantly, the book provokes new ideas and ways of thinking about Palestine." - Ali Bilgic, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Loughborough UniversityTable of Contents1. Introduction 2. Global Palestine and world society 3. Conceptualizing governmentality in world society 4. Contested numbers: the biopolitics of statistics in Palestine 5. The surveillance of good governance in Palestine 6. The order of the subject: technologies of the self in Palestine 7. Conclusion

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Book SynopsisIn Post-War Britain cultural interventions were a feature of fascist parties and movements, just as they were in Europe. This book makes a new major contribution to existing scholarship which begins to discuss British fascism as a cultural phenomenon. A collection of essays from leading academics, this book uncovers how a cultural struggle lay at the heart of the hegemonic projects of all varieties of British fascism. Such a cultural struggle is enacted and reflected in the text and talk, music and literature of British fascism. Where other published works have examined the cultural visions of British fascism during the inter-war period, this book is the first to dedicate itself to detailed critical analysis of the post-war cultural landscapes of British fascism. Through discussions of cultural phenomena such as folk music, fashion and neo-nazi fiction, among others, Cultures of Post-War British Fascism builds a picture of Post-War Britain which emphasises the importanTrade Review"For years scholars denied the very existence of a fascist culture and largely ignored post-war developments of fascism as a political force. Cultures of Post-war British Fascism lies at the cutting edge of the new wave in fascist studies. It reveals the complex ideological, creative, and mythic contortions of British fascists who still find ways to assert the imminent or ultimate triumph of their race and creed over decadence and the new enemies of national rebirth despite the drastic shrinking of fascism’s political space since 1945." Professor Roger Griffin, Oxford Brookes University."This exciting new collection of essays, by the leaders in the field of British fascist studies, offers the first and a very illuminating cultural perspective on the post-war extreme Right in Britain. It follows the major paradigm shift in fascist studies to a cultural interpretation of political belief systems. By exposing the way post-war fascists have engaged with, aped, and tried to destabilize both high and popular culture in Britain, this in-depth study will make us better equipped to challenge the appeal of fascism."Dr Julie Gottlieb, Senior Lecturer in History, University of SheffieldTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Cultural regeneration :Mosley and the Union Movement 2. History and cultural heritage: The far right and the ‘Battle for Britain’ 3. Cultures of space: Spatialising the National Front 4. Securing the future of our race: Women in the culture of the modern-day BNP 5. British neo-Nazi fiction: Colin Jordan’s Merrie England – 2000 and The Uprising 6.When popular culture met the far right: Cultural encounters with post-war British fascism 7. Subcultural style: Fashion and Britain’s extreme right 8. British, European and White: Cultural constructions of identity in post-war British fascist music 9. Nazi punks folk off: Leisure, nationalism, cultural identity and the consumption of metal and folk music 10. The ‘cultic milieu’ of Britain’s ‘New Right’: Meta-political ‘fascism’ in contemporary Britain 11. ‘Cultural-Marxism’ and the British National Party: A transnational discourse

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Book SynopsisThe African National Congress was founded a hundred years ago, in January 1912. But the roots of the ANC run even deeper in South African history. In fact, the ANC's founding was the culmination of more than sixty years of organisation by a new class of African modernisers.Table of ContentsRoots: Conquest; Missionaries and the growth of Christianity and literacy in southern Africa; Africans in a colonial order; Tiyo Soga and voices from the 1860s; The emergence of the first generation of activists, 1870s; 'Deeper than his civilisation'; Isigidimi and the Native Educational Association's fight in the mission heartland; Formation of Imbumba Yama Nyama, 1882; New organizations and a new church in Thembuland; Mobilising along the Kei; Using the ballot box; Launch of the 'National Newspaper', 1884; 'Eye of the House': The Union of Native Vigilance Associations, 1887; Vigilance Associations challenge Tung' umlomo. The creation of wider networks: Formation of the South African Native Congress, 1891; Two bulls in the camp: 'The Congress' versus 'The Union'; 'A Native Bill for Africa'; First Stirrings in Natal; Bloemfontein, 'Black Mountain' and Basutoland 'Bechuanaland': Diamonds and the Expanding Network; Gold and a new nationalism; Marriage between 'Ethiopianism' and eastern Cape politics; Congress takes first steps as a 'national' movement, 1898; The Role of Women in the Struggle; Black Economic Empowerment; Playing the White Man at his own Game; Part of a Global Dialogue (The humanitarian project and early visits to Britain); Part of a Global Dialogue (America, Pan-Africanism and fresh ideological ideas). War and Change: Britain Takes Control, 1899-1902 (The South African War); New politics in the Transvaal; New politics in the Orange River Colony; Natal Native Congress; Gandhi and the Congresses; Cape Town and post-war politics; Growth of the Eastern Cape-based South African Native Congress; Transkei organizations and Bunga Politics; Jabavu, the SANC and the politics of Higher Education; Bambatha and the Momentum towards Unity. Unification: The Queenstown Conference And 'Closer Union', December 1907; Preparations for the National Convention; The National Convention, October 1908; Petitioning the National Convention; Swaziland, Basutoland and Bechuanaland Part of South Africa?; Responses to the National Convention and its Report; Protests and Plans for a Counter-Convention; The South African Native Convention, March 1909; Imbumba and APO join the Chorus, April 1909; 'Appeal to the Parliament and Government of Great Britain and Ireland'; Preparations to send a Delegation to England; The Coloured and Native Delegation in London, July 1909; Birth of the new South Africa, May 1910; First elections: Dr Rubusana makes history; South African Native Convention and attempts to Cement Unity, 1910-1911; The formation of the South African Native National Congress, 8 January 1912; Past and Present.

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Book SynopsisThe African National Congress (ANC) has established itself as Africa's most famous liberation movement. The year 2012 is an important year in the history of the African National Congress' organisational, political and ideological development and growth.

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Book SynopsisExplores various dimensions of internal organizational reform by examining parties from around the South. Several chapters investigate the ANC in South Africa, one of several dominant parties that have begun to lose their shine. Other chapters look at the Chinese Communist Party, the Indian National Congress, and the Workers' Party in Brazil.Table of ContentsModernising mass parties: The challenge for the ANC. Social democratic politics and policies in developing countries: The case of the Workers' Party in Brazil. Information technology and the transformation of the Chinese Communist Party. Factional management: From national liberation to governance in the ANC and INC. Persistent single party dominance: The case of UMNO in Malaysia. Back from the dead? Party organisation and electoral comeback in Mexico's PRI. Hard habit to break? The organisational learning of the Kuomintang in a democratic Taiwan. Party reform and civil service strengthening in South Africa: Deployment in the ANC. Party-to-party relations: The Chinese Communist Party & the ANC. Cooption as a mechanism of survival for the ANC. Reforming the ANC. Electoral policy shifts in the ANC: Community participation, representivity, and local government elections. Towards a new ANC: Political incumbency and the ANC's new wave of renewal and transformation. Renewing the vanguard: Transformation, mobilisation and nostalgia.

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Book SynopsisThis is a wide-ranging and trenchant critical account of South Africa since 1994, focusing particularly upon the follies and failures of the ANC government over the past 25 years.

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Book SynopsisHow did the development of two small countries at the north of Europe, whose histories were joined from about the year 795 AD - including a 300 year alliance - nevertheless diverge sharply in the modern era? This is a topical, comparative study of the economic, social and political development of Norway and Scotland since 1800.

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Book SynopsisMathew Whiting explores Irish republicanism's transformation from violence to political power. He examines their electoral participation and engagement in democratic bargaining, the role of Irish-America and British government policy to argue that moderation was a long-term process of concessions in return for increased political inclusion.

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Book SynopsisThis book presents a distinctive reading of inter-war Scottish politics, reinterpreting the consequences of the expanded electorate after 1918 by focusing on changing perceptions of the radical political culture of urban Scotland.

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Book SynopsisDavid Torrance combines nationalist theory with empirical historical and archival research to reassess the relationship between 'nationalism' and 'unionism' in Scottish politics, challenging a binary reading of the two ideologies with the concept of 'nationalist unionism'.

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Book SynopsisThis book, which brings together leading academics and analysts, examines the extraordinary revival of the Scottish Conservative Party between 2011 and Ruth Davidson's shock resignation in 2019.

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Book SynopsisFrom political insider and New York Times bestselling author Roger Stone, unofficial advisor to Donald Trump, and subject of the documentary Get Me Roger Stone comes a hard-hitting look at a ruthless and flawed political dynasty.Roger Stone smashes through the layers of lies and secrecy that have surrounded and protected our country’s most successful political dynasty for nearly two centuries. Here is a blistering indictment, exposing the true history and monumental hypocrisy of the Bushes. In Stone’s usual “go for the jugular” style, this is a no-holds-barred history of the Bush family, comprised of smug, entitled autocrats who both use and hide behind their famous name. They got a long-overdue taste of defeat and public humiliation when Jeb’s 2016 presidential bid went down in flames.Besides detailing the vast litany of Jeb’s misdeeds — including receiving a $4 million taxpayer bailout when his father was vice president as well as his startlingly-close alignment with supposed “enemy” Hillary Clinton — Stone travels back to Bush patriarchs Samuel and Prescott, right on through to presidents George H. W. and George W. Bush to weave an epic story of privilege, greed, corruption, drug profiteering, assassination, and lies. A new preface to this paperback edition features explosive information, including the family’s Machiavellian plan to propel Jeb’s son George Prescott Bush forward as the family’s next political contender. Chapters include: The Preppy Drug Dealer Jeb Bungles Immigration Issue The S&L Scandal Benefits the Bushes Jeb’s Shady Partner, Fugitive Miguel Recarey How Jeb Made His Money An Indifference to Ethics Russians and Nazis Make Strange Bedfellows George Herbert Walker Bush (aka “Poppy”) Recruited by the CIA? Bush and Watergate The CIA in the ‘70s The Iran-Contra Quagmire The Pedophile Network Getting Started in the Family Business The Bush Dynasty—Now and in the Future And much more! The Bush Crime Family will have readers asking, “Why aren’t these people in prison?”Trade Review"This book is very tough."President Donald Trump "Known for hard-ball politics and a cloak and dagger sensibility."New York Times "Stone exposed LBJ, now he rips the veil off the Bush crime syndicate,"East Orlando Post "Skilled in the dark arts of politics."The Atlantic "A dashing, colorful artist of the underhanded."David Brooks, New York Times "The most dangerous man in America."Village Voice "Stone has been a colorful and at times maligned figure in the Republican Party who relishes political combat and playing a role in causing or exposing unseemly scandals."Washington Post "Possibly The Most Dangerous Man In Politics."MSN.com"Stone is one of the best sources in Washington for 'inside dirt.'"Slate.com"This book is very tough."President Donald Trump "Known for hard-ball politics and a cloak and dagger sensibility."New York Times "Stone exposed LBJ, now he rips the veil off the Bush crime syndicate,"East Orlando Post "Skilled in the dark arts of politics."The Atlantic "A dashing, colorful artist of the underhanded."David Brooks, New York Times "The most dangerous man in America."Village Voice "Stone has been a colorful and at times maligned figure in the Republican Party who relishes political combat and playing a role in causing or exposing unseemly scandals."Washington Post "Possibly The Most Dangerous Man In Politics."MSN.com"Stone is one of the best sources in Washington for 'inside dirt.'"Slate.com

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Book Synopsis"[Corn is] a great journalist. I love the way he thinks. I love the way he writes. I'm so glad he's done a super-readable, modern history of the right...We just need smart, digestible history about this stuff right now...[AMERICAN PSYCHOSIS] is perfectly timed...Relevant history for where we are right now." -Rachel Maddow, host, The Rachel Maddow Show"With AMERICAN PSYCHOSIS, David Corn 'did the full homework to take us all the way back to where it really begins.'" -Lawrence O'Donnell, host, The Last WordA fast-paced, rollicking, behind-the-scenes account of how the GOP since the 1950s has encouraged and exploited extremism, bigotry, and paranoia to gain power, AMERICAN PSYCHOSIS offers readers a brisk, can-you-believe-it journey through the netherworld of far-right irrationality and the Republican Party's interactions with the darkest forces in America. In a compelling and thoroughly-researched narrative, Corn reveals the hidden history of how the Party of Lincoln forged alliances with extremists, kooks, racists, and conspiracy-mongers and fostered fear, anger, and resentment to win elections-and how this led to Donald Trump's triumph and the transformation of the GOP into a Trump personality cult that foments and bolsters the crazy and dangerous excesses of the right.The Trump-incited insurrectionist attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, was no aberration. AMERICAN PSYCHOSIS shows it was a continuation of the long and deep-rooted Republican practice of boosting and weaponizing the rage and derangement of the right.The gripping tale in AMERICAN PSYCHOSIS covers the last seven decades. From McCarthyism to the John Birch Society to segregationists to the New Right to the religious right to Rush Limbaugh to Newt Gingrich to the militia movement to Fox News to Sarah Palin to the Tea Party to Trumpism, the Republican Party has deliberately nurtured and exploited rightwing fear and loathing fueled by paranoia, grievance, and tribalism. This powerful and important account explains how one political party has harnessed the worst elements in politics to poison the nation's discourse and threaten American democracy.

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Book SynopsisWith Trump's four years in the White House now in the rearview, an unprecedented period in American political history is concluded. The transition, however, has set off a mad scramble for control of a Republican Party that for so long has reflected the domineering image of one man-and might even still in the years ahead. Who emerges from the warring factions and familial rivalries that proliferated and quietly festered during Trump's presidency could determine the fate of the GOP for a generation, and the first hint of what's to come begins with the 2024 campaign to crown the first Republican nominee, and national party leader, of the post-Trump era.With Trump's exit, a singular era in American political history has ended-and the Republican Party, whose identity had for so long been centered around one man, will be forced to redefine itself for the future.Featuring profiles of everyone from Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, and Nikki Haley to Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and those in the Trump family, In Trump's Shadow tells the story of a GOP under-and after-the forty-fifth president, and all of those jousting for influence over the party's direction in the wake of Donald Trump.

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Book SynopsisIt is commonly held that the ANC – after its banning in 1960 and the imprisonment of its leaders – largely disappeared off the face of South Africa until public support for it revived in the wake of the Soweto uprising of 1976. This book takes issue with that view. Drawing on substantial oral testimony, Raymond Suttner develops a convincing case that internally based activists, sometimes working independently of the ANC in exile and sometimes in combination, were able to reconstitute networks within South Africa after the organization's banning.

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Book SynopsisThe Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is a Hindu nationalist volunteer organisation. It is also the parent of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Prime Minister Modi was himself a career RSS office-holder, or pracharak. This book explores how the RSS and its affiliates have benefitted from India's economic development and concurrent social dislocation, with rapid modernisation creating a sense of rootlessness, disrupting traditional hierarchies, and attracting many upwardly mobile groups to the organisation. India seems more willing than ever to accept the RSS's narrative of Hindu nationalism–--one that seeks to assimilate Hindus into a common identity representing true 'Indianness'. Yet the RSS has also come to resemble 'the Congress system', with a socially diverse membership containing a distinct left, right and centre. The organisation's most significant dilemma is how to reconcile the assault from its far right on cultural issues like cow protection with condemnations of globalisation from the left flank. Andersen and Damle offer an essential account of the RSS's rapid rise in recent decades, tracing how it has evolved in response to economic liberalisation and assessing its long-term impact on Indian politics and society.Trade Review'Readers get a valuable guide to the recent success of the RSS in permeating virtually every field of Indian life … Probably the most revealing and prescient insight [is] how far Hindutva feels threatened by seccessionist movements in Muslim-majority Kashmir and the Christian-majority Northeast.' -- Times Literary Supplement‘This is an important and quite detailed account of how the intellectual super-structure of Modi’s government works, and where one can expect tensions in the future … it will be hard to find a better telling of this story.’ -- Survival: Global Politics and Strategy‘This book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on Hindutva politics.' -- Commonwealth & Comparative Politics'A manual on the functioning of the RSS over the last three decades … It allows the critical reader to understand what the RSS wants the people to think of it. And it, though perhaps not unwittingly, brings to the fore the contradictions between what the organisation professes it is or what it wants to be, and what it actually is.' -- Financial Express'Walter Andersen is, perhaps, the only scholar to have observed, or studied, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for nearly five decades.' -- The Indian Express'While not saying so explicitly, the book captures a fundamental aspect of the RSS: the focus on the long-term goal of Hindu consolidation while maintaining tactical flexibility.' -- The Hindu'Possibly the most interesting chapter is on the debate within the Sangh Parivar on “Economic Self-Sufficiency”. The conflict between the BJP’s ideas of global capitalism and the more socialist and India-centric notions of the RSS and its trade unions and affiliates is laid out for the reader, with examples of back and forth negotiations and compromises.' -- The Hindustan Times

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Book SynopsisPolitical Islam in Tunisia uncovers the secret history of Tunisia's main Islamist movement, Ennahda, from its origins in the 1960s to the present. Banned until the popular uprisings of 2010-11 and the overthrow of Ben Ali's dictatorship, Ennahda has until now been impossible to investigate. This is the first in-depth account of the movement, one of Tunisia's most influential political actors. Drawing on more than four years of field research, over 400 interviews, and access to private archives, Anne Wolf masterfully unveils the evolution of Ennahda's ideological and strategic orientations within changing political contexts and, at times, conflicting ambitions amongst its leading cadres. She also explores the challenges to Ennahda's quest for power from both secularists and Salafis. As the first full history of Ennahda, this book is a major contribution to the literature on Tunisia, Islamist movements, and political Islam in the Arab world. It will be indispensable reading for anyone seeking to understand the forces driving a key player in the country most hopeful of pursuing a democratic trajectory in the wake of the Arab Spring.Trade Review'Illuminating... comprehensive ... gives the most nuanced understanding of this fractured society'.'An exceptionally well-crafted and objective history of Tunisia's principal Islamist movement and party, Ennahda . . . This study, so well grounded in recent history, is essential reading for anyone interested in political Islam or the evolution of regimes in the Middle East and North Africa.''A largely historical work that is rich in empirical detail. . . . an insightful revision and hind-sight analysis of the development and evolution of Ennahda and its precursor.''Anne Wolf provides a comprehensive account of the evolution of the political party in both its activities and ideology, which is essential to understanding the role of political Islam in Tunisia and comprehending its enduring role elsewhere in the Middle East . . . an important and detailed history.''Are Rached Ghannouchi and his Ennahda Party in Tunisia true democrats or merely tactical ones? Wolf spent four years and conducted 400 interviews trying to answer that question.''One of the most interesting books this summer ... As the first full history of Ennahda, the book ought to be rightfully lauded as a major contribution to literature on Tunisia, Islamist movements in general, and more broadly political Islam in the Arab world.' -- openDemocracy'Political Islam in Tunisia: The History of Ennahda emerges at a critical time. [...] Wolf has shed important light on the historical evolution of the party, its place within Tunisian history, and its approaches to governance.' -- The New Arab'Wolf analyses effectively . . . tension between discipline and plural expression.''A clear, meticulously researched narrative that explains the remarkable rise, repression and survival of what is the Arab world s most genuinely successful and democratic Islamist movement. It will become the standard reference work.' -- Michael Willis, St Antony s College, University of Oxford'This outstanding study bridges the gap between the origins of Ennahda and its evolution into a party of government in post-revolutionary Tunisia. Comprehensive and authoritative, Wolf s book is also compelling reading.' -- Eugene Rogan, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, University of Oxford'Wolf adopts a critical and rigorous approach to the history of Ennahda and shows that Islamists , like any other ideological activists, are prone to change and mature. A sound, timely and objective study of a movement that is becoming a model for any peaceful transition towards democracy in the Arab world.' -- Olivier Roy, Professor, European University Institute, author of 'Jihad and Death: The Global Appeal of Islamic State''A thorough, pioneering, reflective history of Ennahda that contextualises the unique evolution of the group since its inception. Essential reading.' -- Lina Khatib, Head of the MENA Programme, Chatham House'Wolf's meticulous, readable, and well-grounded analysis of Ennahda's origins succeeds in intertwining its story with that of the Tunisian state, and with the role of Islam in Tunisian society.' -- Charles Tripp, Professor of Middle East Politics, SOAS, University of London'This masterly book fills a serious gap in the literature: a cool-headed and rigorously researched history of Ennahda.' -- François Burgat, Senior Research Fellow at CNRS, author of 'Islamism in the Shadow of Al-Qaeda''In addition to placing the movement at the heart of Tunisia's democratic transition, Anne Wolf s study of Ennahda has the singular virtue of showing how it is also a reflection of the country's Islamic and Arab identity, stretching back to pre-colonial times.' -- George Joffé, University of Cambridge'Based on extensive field research, Wolf's book details the historical development and rise of Ennahda. Timely, thorough, and thoughtful, it brilliantly highlights the evolution of its ideological worldview, goals and strategies. It also diligently captures its dilemmas in Tunisia's post-authoritarian era. Wolf's study is an indispensable tool to all those interested in understanding the complex trajectory of the contemporary Tunisian Islamists. It is a commendable contribution to the literature on mainstream Middle eastern Islamist movements.' -- Noureddine Jebnoun, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Centre for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS)‘Fascinating . . . this first-rate book provides an objective study of the evolution of the Islamist movement in Tunisia and may serve as a model for approaching the study of political Islam in the Maghreb.’ 'Outstanding. . . the most comprehensive and, more importantly, up to date and in-depth study on the nature of Islamic revivalism and failures in Tunisia.' 'Political Islam in Tunisia is a very readable yet informative work, and answers many of the questions . . . surrounding a fascinating and relevant political movement. It is likely to become a standard text on the subject, and properly so. Highly recommended.'‘Wolf’s book provides a comprehensive account of the evolution of Ennahda, by disentangling the complex process of transformation from movement to party, that began in the 1960s as a diffuse socio-cultural trend, into one of the country’s most influential political actors.’ -- Libyan Studies‘[A] deep, fascinating scholarly investigation that makes a serious contribution to existing literature on the topic … an accurate and readable scholarly investigation into one of the most compelling topics in contemporary politics in the Arab world. It is essential reading for those interested in understanding Islam in the Arab world, Islam and democracy, and Tunisia’s history and politics.’ -- Bustan: The Middle East Book Review

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Book SynopsisContemporary Germany is a modern industrial democracy admired throughout the world. Many Germans believe that they live in the 'best Germany' that has ever existed. Yet there are dissenting voices: individuals and groups that reject cosmopolitanism, globalisation and multiculturalism, and yearn for the more homogeneous country of earlier times. They are part of a global movement, often characterised as populist, that values tradition over innovation or constant change. In Germany, such people are routinely portrayed as reactionary or even neo- fascist. The present study seeks to provide a portrait of these individuals and their organisations. Very little has been written in English about the cultural figures who play a role in this movement. When the political side is discussed--whether in its manifestation as a party (the Alternative for Germany) or a citizens' group (Pegida)--the cultural dimension is usually ignored. Jay Julian Rosellini places the so-called New Right in the context of currents in German culture and history that differ from those in other countries. With Germany the dominant country in the European Union, economically and politically, this volume offers an essential view of its current conditions, future prospects and political particularities.Trade Review'The German New Right is … not only a study of political thought but also a careful, sober plea for dialogue, close reading, and, ultimately, for the humanities.' -- The German Quarterly

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Book SynopsisThe Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), founded as a small guerrilla movement in 1974, became the leading party in the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). After decades of civil war, the EPRDF defeated the government in 1991, and has been the dominant party in Ethiopia ever since. Its political agenda of federalism, revolutionary democracy and a developmental state has been unique and controversial. Drawing on his own experience as a senior member of the TPLF/EPRDF leadership, and his unparalleled access to internal documentation, Mulugeta Gebrehiwot Berhe identifies the organisational, political and sociocultural factors that contributed to victory in the revolutionary war, particularly the Front's capacity for intellectual leadership. Charting its challenges and limitations, he analyses how the EPRDF managed the complex transition from a liberation movement into an established government. Finally, he evaluates the fate of the organisation's revolutionary goals over its subsequent quarter-century in power, assessing the strengths and weaknesses the party has bequeathed to the country. 'Laying the Past to Rest' is a comprehensive and balanced analysis of the genesis, successes and failings of the EPRDF's state-building project in contemporary Ethiopia, from a uniquely authoritative observer.Trade Review‘A sharp and ultimately excruciating critique of the party to which [Mulugeta Gebrehiwot Berhe] once dedicated his life.’ -- Foreign Policy'A sympathetic yet thoughtful critical analysis … a remarkable case study.’ -- CHOICE‘Essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand contemporary Ethiopian politics … a remarkable work of scholarship.’ -- H-Africa‘This book deserves to be a reference book for everyone interested in the history of TPLF/EPRDF in Ethiopia … It is a highly illuminating book, filling a serious gap in the discourse about the TPLF/EPRDF.’ -- World Peace Foundation‘[The book is] a highly useful and relevant intellectual work [with] incisive insight and sound arguments.’ -- Addis Standard‘Will become required reading for academics studying rebellion, institutional development, transitions, and Ethiopian history and politics.’'Mulugeta's book draws uniquely on first-hand accounts of key politico-military junctures, a treasure trove of primary documents and incisive personal memories to tell the story of one of Africa's most remarkable state-building projects. A much-awaited and much-needed memoir of an important actor.' -- Harry Verhoeven, Associate Professor at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and author of 'Why Comrades Go To War: Liberation Politics and the Outbreak of Africa's Deadliest Conflict''Celebrated or demonised, but rarely understood: the EPRDF is central to Ethiopia's contemporary history. Mulugeta Berhe provides the crucial missing element to that story. A true insider's account of how a rural revolution triumphed, transformed the country, and lost its way. Empirically rich, theoretically cogent, and incisively critical.' -- Alex de Waal, Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation and Research Professor at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University'A rare, first-hand, yet critical assessment of the TPLF/EPRDF's military victory and subsequent transition to government in Ethiopia. This book makes an important contribution to understanding a crucial period in Ethiopian history, with much wider implications for Africa as a whole.' -- Christopher Clapham, Professor Emeritus of African Studies, University of Cambridge'An absorbing and critical account of the rise of the TPLF/EPRDF, animated by the internal perspective of an author who fought in and served the liberation movement. Essential reading for students of Ethiopia, liberation movements, and democratic transitions in a post-communist world.’ -- Andreas Eshete, UNESCO chair for Peace, Human rights, and Democracy, and former President of Addis Ababa University'A poignant, critical and expert study of the TPLF/EPRDF through the eyes of an insider. Essential reading not only for students of liberation fronts, Ethiopia, and democratic transitions, but also for current and former members of the TPLF/EPRDF.' -- Abay Tsehaye, one of the founders, longest serving leaders and former chairman of the TPLF

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Book SynopsisThe remarkable advance of "Corbynism" did not emerge from nowhere. It is the product of developments in socialist and working-class politics over the past forty years and more. The Thatcher era witnessed a wholesale attack on the postwar consensus and welfare state, through a regime of deregulation, attacks on the unions, privatisations, and globalisation. However, at the same time, there existed a persistent resistance to the growing powers of neo-liberalism. This side of the story is rarely told as it was considered to be a history of defeat. Yet out of this struggle emerged a thoroughly modern socialism.This book is essential reading for those who want to know where Corbynism comes from: the policies, personalities and moments of resistance that have produced this new horizon. This includes the story of power struggles within the Labour Party, and the eventual defeat of New Labour. The movements outside it-unions, feminists groups, anti-fascists activists, anti-war protestors-that have driven the policies of the movement forward. And the powerful influence of international groups that have shaped the potential for a global progressive politics.Trade ReviewOf all the analyses of Labour's astonishing 2017 General Election performance, Andrew Murray's provides a detailed explanation of the road the British left has taken to reach touching distance of power. This is a brilliant book - a must read not just for academics but for every party activist. -- Len McCluskey, General Secretary of Unite the UnionAn in-depth examination of how a full-blooded version of socialism moved from the fringes to the centre of British political life. * Choice Magazine *This studious and succinct account of the politics of the left is essential reading for any socialist navigating the dangers of political life as progressive ideas are tested in the real world. * Morning Star *For insights into the Corbyn mindset [this] new book could be invaluable for those unfamiliar with Labour's enduring civil war. . . .The enduring theme is how the left was underestimated. -- Jim Packard * Financial Times *Uniquely insightful in its appraisal of both the prospects and limitations facing the Corbyn project . . .A rich and needed intervention into the mass movement currently pushing for a humane society in Britain.' -- Marcus Barnett * Jacobin *A lucid, perspicuous account of how Thatcherism - and its subsequent enablers under New Labour - broke the progressive left, and how the left returned from the margins of political life, the book is an honest reckoning with both the promises and limitations of socialism -- Gavin Jacobson * New Statesman *Excellent...you should read this book because it is not just charting the history of the recent past, but it also charts the likely course of events in the future * Counterfire *

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Book SynopsisIs Scottish politics mired in a constitutional dogfight with no end in sight?Why has Scottish Labour failed to develop a radical and credible alternative to independence?Is it possible for a campaigning politician to make a difference?Can people power lead to positive change?Over the last few years, political campaigner and former Labour msp Neil Findlay kept a log of his time in the Scottish Parliament, a time which he describes as one of perpetual crisis and scandal.This book is my account of being an elected politician. My comments convey my feelings and emotions as events unfolded. If they cause upset to some, then so be it. I can only report the truth.There is little doubt the tectonic plates of Scottish politics are shifting. Is this a time of hope or of despair? Time will tell. As a socialist, I am an optimist and live in hope and have a belief that tomorrow will always be better than today.Trade ReviewThis book shows how a campaigning msp can make a real difference. Neil’s work on mesh, the pardon for Scottish miners and the Covid scandal in our care homes is an example to others. MARION SCOTT, The Sunday Post Neil is scathing about the state of Scottish politics and despite honest attempts to build a coalition for change across the divide. MATT KERR, Morning StarFindlay’s book, Hope and Despair, reveals an attempt to bridge the divide between March 2020 and January 2021 - months before the Holyrood poll. PAUL HUTCHEON, Daily RecordNeil Findlay is not someone who can be accused of understatement. HAMISH MORRISON, The NationalFindlay was one of the few at Holyrood – even in his own party – who seemed comfortable with being described as a Socialist. And who could accurately be described as hailing from a working-class background. KEVIN MCKENNA, The HeraldThis is a very important book that reminds us of some of the shameful decisions made here in Scotland during the Covid pandemic, I couldn’t put it down. JAMIE CALDWELL, UNITE the UnionThis book does indeed lift the lid on the rot at the heart of our politics - it is an essential read. GORDON MARTIN, RMT ScotlandWhilst this fascinating insight into Scottish politics over the past few years confirms many of our worst fears about the desperate inadequacies for our political class, Findlay’s refreshing honesty and outstanding commitment to campaigning for justice and fairness is a beacon of genuine hope. STEPHEN WRIGHT, The Musician’s Union

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Book SynopsisIn 2021, the Chinese Communist Party celebrated a century of existence. Since the Party's humble beginnings in the Marxist groups of the Republican era to its current global ambitions, one thing has not changed for China's leaders: their claim to represent the vanguard of the Chinese working class. Spanning from the night classes for workers organised by student activists in Beijing in the 1910s to the labour struggles during the 1920s and 1930s; from the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution to the social convulsions of the reform era to China's global push today, this book reconstructs the contentious history of labour in China from the early twentieth century to this day (and beyond). This will be achieved through a series of essays penned by scholars in the field of Chinese society, politics, and culture, each one of which will revolve around a specific historical event, in a mosaic of different voices, perspectives, and interpretations of what constituted the experience of being a worker in China in the past century.Contributors: Corey Byrnes, Craig A. Smith, Xu Guoqi, Zhou Ruixue, Lin Chun, Elizabeth J. Perry, Tony Saich, Wang Kan, Gail Hershatter, Apo Leong, S.A. Smith, Alexander F. Day, Yige Dong, Seung-Joon Lee, Lu Yan, Joshua Howard, Bo Ærenlund Sørensen, Brian DeMare, Emily Honig, Po-chien Chen, Yi-hung Liu, Jake Werner, Malcolm Thompson, Robert Cliver, Mark W. Frazier, John Williams, Christian Sorace, Zhu Ruiyi, Ivan Franceschini, Chen Feng, Ben Kindler, Jane Hayward, Tim Wright, Koji Hirata, Jacob Eyferth, Aminda Smith, Fabio Lanza, Ralph Litzinger, Jonathan Unger, Covell F. Meyskens, Maggie Clinton, Patricia M. Thornton, Ray Yep, Andrea Piazzaroli Longobardi, Joel Andreas, Matt Galway, Michel Bonnin, A.C. Baecker, Mary Ann O'Donnell, Tiantian Zheng, Jeanne L. Wilson, Ming-sho Ho, Yueran Zhang, Anita Chan, Sarah Biddulph, Jude Howell, William Hurst, Dorothy J. Solinger, Ching Kwan Lee, Chloé Froissart, Mary Gallagher, Eric Florence, Junxi Qian, Chris King-chi Chan, Elaine Sio-Ieng Hui, Jenny Chan, Eli Friedman, Aaron Halegua, Wanning Sun, Marc Blecher, Huang Yu, Manfred Elfstrom, Darren Byler, Carlos Rojas, Chen Qiufan.Trade ReviewThis volume offers an exciting engagement with the extended historical event of the proletariat in China. Through dialogue between past and present and among scholars across the globe, the anthology's chronological organization makes it ideal for teaching, research, and casual reading. More important, the march of time demonstrates how workers as a class made themselves into a proletariat even as they were simultaneously unmade through state repression, capitalist advance, internal division, and globalized diffusion. In its insistence that any genuine commitment to communism take seriously the proletariat as a specifically laboring class, this book marks out a clear political position. The individual chapters are short, readable, informative, and passionate. -- Rebecca E. Karl, New York University, History DepartmentThis is not a history of Chinese labour or the Chinese labour movement. Proletarian China is rather a chronicle of insurgency, of a proletarian politics that again and again opens and disrupts spaces of representation. The Chinese Communist Party is of course implied in this history, which nevertheless goes well beyond it and often challenges it. A century of proletarian struggles, uprisings, and dreams parades before readers' eyes composing another history of contemporary China and at the same time inciting to imagine the future anew - in China and beyond. This is a remarkable book! -- Sandro Mezzadra, University of BolognaA tour de force! A single book that covers an entire century of the Chinese working class, its various phases, diverse voices, and hopes for the future. As it is customary for the Made in China Journal, the most salient thoughts and reflections are collected here. -- Luigi Tomba, University of SydneyPraise for Christian Sorace's Shaken Authority:With his detailed knowledge of the politics of Sichuan, and his ability to integrate specific policies into broader ideological formations, he has demonstrated the vital insights that can be gained through analysing the Communist Party on its own terms. One of the most fascinating of these insights is the fact that ideology can easily be transformed into a burden for the Party. -- Chris Courtney * PRC History Review *Sorace forces us to confront the truth that ideological framing has made the party remarkably resilient because it is difficult to weaken the shaper of reality itself. By holding up a mirror to those of us who study China, his honest reflections force us to face how easily we view the country through the lens of hypothetical fantasies. -- Gina Anne Tam * Journal of Asian Studies *Praise for Afterlives of Chinese Communism:What makes Afterlives particularly commendable is the way that it navigates the difficult terrain of Chinese Communism...The result is a volume of essays in which easy answers are not forthcoming. We are asked to "approach the Chinese Revolution...to stand in relation to it, and to feel something towards it." What we feel is often a mix of discomfort and inspiration. We encounter the euphoria of liberation, the state-organized cruelty of "speaking bitterness" to one's oppressors, the simultaneously positive and catastrophic consequences of collectivization, the Cultural Revolution's empowerment of the working classes and its chaotic collapse, the creation of new kinds of revolutionary class consciousness and their eventual disintegration. This is the complex history and fraught present of Chinese Communism and it is brought brilliantly to life across this collection of essays. -- Kai Heron * Jacobin *Afterlives at once performs an important documentary function, capturing the symbolic worlds of communist China in the past and present within a convenient index format; but it should also be praised for its analytical contribution, which offers a call to action for new ideas and politics to come. -- Aaron Su * China Review International *

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Book SynopsisJustin Keating, son of the artist Sean Keating, attended UCD and TCD. He was a Labour Party politician (Minister for Industry 1973-77), academic, journalist, veterinary surgeon, television pioneer (as Head of Agricultural Broadcasting at RTE) and award-winning documentary filmmaker. In later life he served as Member of the European Parliament and became president of the Humanist Association. President Michael D. Higgins called him ‘a man who saw socialism as both essential and adaptable to change’. Keating introduced the first substantial legislation for the development of Ireland's oil and gas, set up the National Film Studios of Ireland at Ardmore and gave impetus to Kilkenny Design. He wrote extensively – and with opinions well ahead of his time – on the natural world, including women’s health, animal welfare, sustainable energy and ecology. ‘A well made, fit thoroughbred really striding out seems to me one of the most beautiful things on earth, on a par with an orchid or porpoise.’ Edited posthumously by his wife, Barbara Hussey, Justin Keating’s notebooks offer an in-depth, often-impassioned account of the interests, musings and opinions of one of Ireland’s most wide-ranging intellectuals. His dealings with J.D Bernal, Noël Browne, Sean McBride, Charles Haughey, Gerry Fitt and Conor Cruise-O’Brien, form part of this absorbing chronicle, aside from myriad friendships with writers and artists. Nothing Is Written in Stone is a brilliant selfportrait of this multi-dimensional man, who did so much to shape twenty-first century Ireland.Trade ReviewThe work is a personal testimony. -- Barry Sheppard * The Irish Story *That [Justin Keating] remained willing to change is clear from this illuminating chronicle of a singular and fulfilling life. Barbara Hussey edited these extracts from her husband’s notebooks with the astute collaboration of Anna Kealy. Together they have succeeded, as John Boorman writes in his affectionate preface, in giving Justin a voice beyond the grave. -- Alex White * The Irish Times *Absorbing tale reliving a political odyssey. -- Deirdre Conroy * The Independent *Table of ContentsAcorns to Oaks- On Education; The Godless Institution- On Marxism; Snake and Ladders- Women Religion and Sexuality; Genesis Vs Gaia- Care of the Earth; Ireland's Future- Entering Irish Politics; Doubt is the Mother of Wisdom- Zionism; The Future of the Left- Globalization and Democracy; Loves, Loss and Leavetaking.

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Book SynopsisIn From Lucifer to Lazarus: A Life on the Left, Mick O'Reilly shares his experiences as a politician and trade unionist and his unwavering thoughts and insights on controversial, complex issues. O'Reilly discovered socialism and militant trade unionism in the early 1960s when he joined the National Union of Vehicle Builders. He went on to join the committee of the Irish Communist Party in 1967 and the Dublin Housing Action Committee, and helped establish Connolly Youth. He took part in strikes against the European Economic Community and negotiated for protection for car workers. This book explores the power struggles and negotiations that O'Reilly has faced throughout his career, without generalities or truisms. After a party dispute in 1977, O'Reilly was employed by the Transport and General Workers' Union, and in 1979 negotiated a huge equal pay claim. Later, O'Reilly's Labour Left group sparked reform within the Labour Party, establishing that its leader must be elected by its members. O'Reilly was even suspended from the Party for a time before the charges against him were proven to be untrue, and he was reinstated in 2004. Despite navigating a career filled with adversity, O'Reilly remains decent, honest and humble. The authenticity of From Lucifer to Lazarus: A Life on the Left emphasises these often overlooked values, setting itself apart as a unique, intimate read. The foreword is written by Gene Kerrigan of The Independent.Trade Review‘This memoir brings late twentieth-century Ireland to life – socially, industrially and politically … O’Reilly is ideally placed to dissect the fractious relationship between different elements of the Irish Left, and does so with gusto … This memoir shines a pithy, acerbic and occasionally erudite light on the development of the Irish trade union movement and the Irish Left.’ —Len McCluskey‘This memoir brings late twentieth-century Ireland to life – socially, industrially and politically … O’Reilly is ideally placed to dissect the fractious relationship between different elements of the Irish Left, and does so with gusto … This memoir shines a pithy, acerbic and occasionally erudite light on the development of the Irish trade union movement and the Irish Left.’ —Len McCluskeyThis autobiography by the former Irish Regional Secretary of the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers’ Union (ATGWU, since renamed Unite) is, among other things, an important window into a period of the Irish workers’ movement going back to the 1960s and 1970s. -- Michael O'Brien * Socialist Party *

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Book SynopsisExternal Mission is the Winner of the Recht Malan Prize for Non-Fiction awarded by Media24 in South Africa. Nelson Mandela's release from prison in February 1990 was one of the most memorable moments of recent decades. It came a few days after the removal of the ban on the African National Congress; founded a century ago and outlawed in 1960, it had transferred its headquarters abroad and opened what it termed an External Mission. For the thirty years following its banning, the ANC had fought relentlessly against the apartheid state. Finally voted into office in 1994, the ANC today regards its armed struggle as the central plank of its legitimacy. External Mission is the first study of the ANC s period in exile, based on a full range of sources in southern Africa and Europe. These include the ANC s own archives and also those of the Stasi, the East German ministry that trained the ANC's security personnel. It reveals that the decision to create the Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) -- a guerrilla army which later became the ANC's armed wing -- was made not by the ANC but by its allies in the South African Communist Party after negotiations with Chinese leader Mao Zedong.In this impressive work, Ellis shows that many of the strategic decisions made, and many of the political issues that arose during the course of that protracted armed struggle, had a lasting effect on South Africa, shaping its society even up to the present day.Trade Review'The real message of Stephen Ellis's history of the African National Congress (ANC) in exile painfully and palpably obvious between the lines is how the conspiratorial past affects the ruling party to the present day. It makes uncomfortable reading, for it goes some way towards explaining why President Jacob Zuma, a former head of the ANC s intelligence service in exile, and his comrades now running South Africa find it so hard to embrace the notion that a diversity of opinion and tolerance of dissent must be at the heart of any functioning, decent democracy.' -- The Economist'[A] book that contains startling revelations about the ANC s flirtation with totalitarianism. ... Mr Ellis is a clear-eyed observer of all things African, a fearless butcher of sacred cows. External Mission begins by annihilating conventional understandings of the circumstances surrounding the ANC s 1961 declaration of war on apartheid. According to Mr Ellis, all critical decisions were actually taken by the South African Communist Party (SACP), which sought support from Moscow and Beijing and then bounced the ANC into following its lead. ... Mr Ellis goes so far as to report that Mr Mandela was almost certainly a member, at least for a time, of the SACP's central committee.' -- Wall Street Journal'The remarkably prolific Ellis has written a fascinating history of the internal politics of the African National Congress (ANC) in the 30 years during which it was banned in South Africa and was forced to operate from bases outside the country. Ellis' research suggests that the South African Communist Party enjoyed a higher degree of influence on the ANC's decision-making than has been acknowledged by the ANC's leadership.' -- Foreign Affairs'Ellis's evidence is impressive and he makes his case forcefully. A battery of archival sources including the ANC's own records help to underpin his argument.' -- Times Literary Supplement'There is hardly a page of this fascinating book does not throw fresh light on South Africa s murky past. Impeccably researched and written in the clear, dispassionate prose of a historian, Stephen Ellis has provided an indispensable guide to the ANC.' -- Martin Plaut, Africa editor, BBC World Service'[External Mission] will probably cast Ellis as a troublemaker in the ANC's South Africa, but there can be little doubt that his research is sound and his interpretations credible ... He provides exhaustive evidence for what are now recognized to have been the most significant weaknesses of the ANC in exile [and] adds much data on the extent of corruption within the party ... Ellis's book will undoubtedly stand as the definitive account of the ANC in exile.' -- Patrick Chabal, International Affairs'External Mission clarifies what has long been a rather murky area: the precise origins of the armed struggle. [...] Ellis marshalls this information convincingly. Best of all, he weaves it all into a densely patterned history that combines local detail and broader context -- and still comes out as a very readable narrative. [...] If you read only one work of history in the coming year, this should be it.' -- Shaun De Waal, Weekly Mail & Guardian (South Africa)'Meticulously researched and passionately argued, this book casts valuable new light on the ways that the African National Congress was formed and deformed by its years in exile.' -- Mark Gevisser, author of Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred'This thoroughly researched book explains much about why SA is in the condition it is today. It makes it depressingly obvious that our "rainbow nation" is no longer the legacy of Nelson Mandela, or even Thabo Mbeki, but rather of Joe Modise. [...] a remarkable new study of the ANC in exile.' -- Financial Mail (South Africa)'Ellis has produced an excellent, even brilliant, book that greatly adds to our knowledge of the ANC.' -- Professor David Welsh, author of The Rise and Fall of Apartheid'It is time that the ANC's mythology about its years in exile gives way to critical history. Stephen Ellis's new book is to be welcomed as a step along the journey from myth to history.' -- Jonny Steinberg, author of The Three-Letter Plague'An explosive exposé that is timeous and relevant as much as it may be discomforting to some.' -- Barney Pityana, theologian and human rights lawyer'Stephen Ellis lays bare a history that the ANC would prefer to forget. Basing his account on ANC and other historical archives, including those of the Stasi--the former East German secret police--complemented by confidential information from former comrades, he shows that the history of the ANC is less noble than usually presented. This book is full of shocking surprises. Not only does Ellis shows the crucial role of the South African Communist Party in the ANC's decision to launch the armed struggle, but he also reveals Nelson Mandela's role as a secret Party member.' -- Rian Malan, Media24 (South Africa)'This is a book ANC-ologists will pore over (or maybe pour things over), dissect, discover what's new, what's already out in the open but newly contextualised, by a tireless student of the liberation movement and South Africa's Communist party. ... At the conclusion of this densely-researched roller-coaster of a book, Ellis writes that the ANC's "sanitised" version of its immediate past, propagated by means of official documents, speeches, monuments and commemorations, is that the liberation movement initiated an armed struggle that, after much sacrifice, was the main factor forcing the apartheid government to negotiate in circumstances that handed effective victory to the majority of the population.' -- Denis Herbstein, African Arguments'Stephen Ellis' book provides a readable, detailed and well-researched account of these events ... If you read nothing else, I would strongly recommend his brilliant final chapter entitled "Perspectives".' -- Nigel Watt, Chartist'The depth of evidence makes this an important work, especially given how the micro-history of ANC archives raises questions about what may never be known. ... Ellis open[s] new pathways for the study of the uncomfortable realities of exile.' -- Journal of African History

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Book SynopsisAlex Salmond, a talented politician in charge of Scotland's devolved government since 2007, is mounting the biggest challenge to the British union state in its 300-year history. His fast-growing Scottish National Party wants Scotland to cease being the invisible country of Europe and to embrace independence. This book argues that if the Union is demolished, change will remain elusive and Scotland will continue to be run by the close-knit administrative, commercial and religious elites who have dominated the country for centuries. Tom Gallagher contends that the SNP remains fixated by resentment towards England and has no strategy for reviving a struggling economy and the deep-seated social problems which disfigure urban Scotland. He argues that the SNP are not committed to independence, that the SNP is a super-unionist party, that it recoils from popular sovereignty and is an enthusiastic backer of the EU's plans for a post-national Europe based on federalist rule from Brussels, and that it endorses a radical multi-culturalism that devalues individual citizenship and places Scotland at the mercy of globalization. Gallagher's hard-hitting analysis will stir emotions and generate debate, especially his claim that if the SNP triumphs it will reinforce the authoritarian trends which have disfigured Scottish history and contributed to heavy emigration. He passionately believes that moral and practical energies need to be released if Scotland is to renew itself, but fears that as long as the country is seen in romantic and propagandistic terms, this overdue transformation will be stillborn.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisOn the eve of the general election, Ed Miliband declared that Labour had won the ‘ground war’. He proclaimed that his activists had been in touch with many more voters than his opponents: ‘We have had five million conversations. This will go to the wire.’ Yet the Conservatives went on to win a majority for the first time in more than two decades - while Labour lost seats in England, and were all but wiped out in Scotland. How could they get it so wrong? Iain Watson followed the Labour campaign around Britain, and now he examines what its senior politicians are now calling the party’s ‘political and organisational failures.’ He exposes the high-level divisions over when to rule out a deal with the SNP, the gulf between perception and reality over Labour’s level of support, and looks at the more successful campaigns of the Conservatives and Scottish Nationalists. He sets out the challenges for the next Labour leader, having had his own conversations with voters, activists and senior party figures, and discovers there is no easy solution to the party’s problems.Trade ReviewA gripping, well-crafted insight into Labour's failures. - Mark Aitken, Sunday MailTable of ContentsContents Acknowledgements 9 Preface 11 The Accidental Leader 13There may be Trouble Ahead – The Election in Microcosm 41Deal or No Deal 48The Battle for Downing Street 53From Builder to Soldier: Britain Succeeds When Working People Succeed 58Funny Business 63Zero Sum Game 69We’re all Labour Here 76Happy Warrior 83Chips off the Old Block 86A bit of Politics 89A Taxing Issue 90Education, Education… Fratricide 93One Nation, No Vision? 96Unions and the Union 100Worry Points 102A Flock of Starlings 10813,000 Conversations 111In Good Health? 114Hold the Front Page 116Missing a Trick? 120Invitation Only 122Campaign Stop 127Not a Big Enough Difference 130Put to the Test 133Immigration and Exploitation 135Marriage of Convenience 141A Day at the Races 143The Most Unlikely Cult of the 21st Century 146Blood on His Hands, Blood on the Carpet 148New Town Blues 151Generation Rent 154Marred by the SNP Myth 156A Trip to the Theatre 158Building Non-Traditional Support 160Labour’s Brand Problem 162Dangerous Territory 164No Question of Deals 168A Question of Credibility 171Mayday, Mayday… Scottish Labour’s Existential Threat 178Facebook v Foot-Weary: Right People, Wrong Conversations 184Luvvies for Labour 190Edstone 192Message, Not Mileage 197Five Million Conversations 199The Strange Disappearance of Arnie Graf 205A Little Less Conversation: Food, Drink and Fun 208Breakfast in Doncaster 213The Loser Always Wins? 215Moment of Truth 220Nuneaton is the New Basildon 223Exit 226A Question of Leadership 230AppendicesAppendix 1 Clause 4 – Aims and Values 265Appendix 2 Labour Party Leaders 266Appendix 3 Selected quotes 268Appendix 4 Labour Votes at General Elections 273Appendix 5 Campaign Chronology 274Appendix 6 Labour Party Leadership results announced12 September 2015 277Appendix 7 Miliband and Corbyn buzzwords 278

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Book SynopsisThe last few years have seen a Scottish independence referendum, a couple of General Elections and a vote on whether or not we should remain in the European Union. Throw in two uncompromising Labour leadership battles at UK level and a couple in Scotland, and it would be true to say that nothing less than a political whirlwind has swept through the corridors of the Scottish Parliament since it ‘reconvened’ in 1999. Following the turbulent six years for which Neil Findlay has been a member of the Scottish Parliament for Lothian, Socialism & Hope tracks the highs and lows of his personal and political life. From standing in the 2014 election to become the Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, to acting as Jeremy Corbyn’s Scottish campaign chief in the 2015 and 2016 leadership elections, Neil’s political career has been tireless and active. This book, described by Jeremy Corbyn as ‘an honest, frank and challenging – as well as humorous of course – account of his time […] at the forefront of Scottish politics’, also includes Neil’s inside view on the events of the 2014 Scottish Referendum and the rise of a more socialist Labour Party. With its entertaining narrative, it provides unprecedented and personal insights from within the political sphere itself. As well as surveying the past few years of political tumult, Socialism & Hope also looks forward to envision a society transformed by a revitalised Labour movement.Trade Review.

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Book SynopsisThe Internet and "social media" may initially have been understood as just one more instrument politicians could employ to manage without political parties. However, these media cannot be reduced to being a tool available solely to politicians. The electronic media make reinforcement of the "glocalization" of the public and political sphere, a process already set in motion with the advent of television, and they can develop the trend even further. Political parties are therefore once again becoming indispensable; they are in an unparalleled position to recreate social and political bonds, for only they stand both at the center and on the periphery of the new sphere encompassing public and political life. TABLE OF CONTENTS New Technologies: Helping Political Parties and the Democratic Processes or Threatening Them? (Guy Lachapelle and Philippe J. Maarek) Part I: The Integration of Technological Innovations in the Practices of Parties and Citizens Innovations in Information Technology in American Party Politics Since 1960 (Kenneth Janda) Internet, Social Media Use and Political Participation in the 2013 Parliamentary Election in Germany (Reimar Zeh and Christina Holtz-Bacha) Part II: The Consequences of New Technologies on Activism The Decline of Activism in Political Parties: Adaptation Strategies and New Technologies (Eric Montigny) Party Activists and Partisan Communication in Quebec (Isabelle Gusse) Part III: The New Role Played by Social Networks Changing Communications? Political Parties and Web 2.0 in the 2011 New Zealand General Election (Ashley Murchison) Social Media and American Presidential Campaigns: The Dark Side of the Electoral Process (Karine Premont and Charles-Antoine Millette) Part IV: The Resilience of the Printed Press in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and the British Press: Integration, Immigration and Integrity (David Deacon and Dominic Wring) Part V: New Technologies and Leadership Evolution Political parties and the Internet: changes in society, changing politics – the case of the Parti Quebecois (Guy Lachapelle) Political communication, electronic media and social networks in France (Philippe J. Maarek) Index of Proper NounsTable of Contents•Decline of Activism Within Political Parties: Coping Strategies and New Technologies •Innovations in Information Technology in American Party Politics Since •Social Media and the U.S. Presidential Campaigns: the Dark Side of the Electoral Process •Party Activists and Communications in Quebec •The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and the British Press: Integration, Immigration and Integrity •The French Political Communication and the Emergence of Electronic Media and Social Networks •Internet, Social Media Use and Political Participation in the 2013 Parliamentary Election in Germany •Changing Communications? Political Parties and Web 2.0 in the 2011 New Zealand General Election •Political Parties and the Internet: Social Changes and Political Transformations - the case of the Parti Quebecois

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Book SynopsisExamines the pamphlet war between Edmund Burke and the followers of Henry St John, First Viscount Bolingbroke during the mid-eighteenth century. In this book, the author points out that while parties have always existed, the party government that we know today is possible only because parties are now considered respectable.Trade Review"Many readers will be grateful to him for his candor and bravado." (Weekly Standard)"

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