Politics, Philosophy & Society Books

Book SynopsisWhile the working lives of tech entrepreneurs and delivery platform workers seem far removed, both are engaged in digital labor. What unites their experience and allows us to speak of their work under the same umbrella? Is it even possible to talk about digital labor as if it were a single form of work? Digital Labor explores these questions and critically examines the economics, politics, and experiences of workers in these new modes of employment. Using a novel definition of the term "digital labor," Kylie Jarrett explores unpaid user activity, platform-mediated gig work, and formal employment within the digital media industries, mapping the common features of these varied practices. Applying a critical Marxian lens, the book interrogates the structures of exploitation in this sector, the organisation of the labor process, the dynamics of alienation associated with this work, and the commodification of workers' lives. It also documents the struggle of digital laborers to resist the iniquities and inequalities of their working environments. Ultimately, the book identifies what is specific about this form of labor and, in doing so, offers insight into the nature of work as it is being reconstituted in digital capitalism. Synthesising an extensive range of studies and sources, Digital Labor offers a comprehensive overview – and a rich critical appraisal – of work in the high-tech economy. It is suitable for students and scholars of media and communication, sociology, labour studies, and anyone interested in emerging forms of work.Trade Review"Kylie Jarrett provides a profound and indispensable analysis of digital labor. The book is an absolute must-read for everyone wanting to understand how labor has changed in the digital age."—Christian Fuchs, author of Digital Labour and Karl Marx "In this clear-eyed, crisp meditation on the meaning of 'digital labor', renowned feminist media scholar Kylie Jarrett delivers a cogent, necessary intervention in what counts as work and value in a digital world."—Mary L. Gray, co-author of Ghost WorkTable of ContentsAcknowledgments1 Defining Digital Labor2 Exploitation: Digital Deeds Done Dirt Cheap3 Process: Of Autonomy and Algorithms4 Alienation: The Romance of Entrepreneurialism5 Commodification: Affective Attachment and Inalienable Assets6 Struggle: The Workers United(ish)7 Conclusion: Digital Labor on the EdgeBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThe polysemous German word Geschlecht -- denoting gender, genre, kind, kinship, species, race, and somehow also more -- exemplifies the most pertinent questions of the translational, transdisciplinary, transhistorical, and transnational structures of the contemporary humanities: What happens when texts, objects, practices, and concepts are transferred or displaced from one language, tradition, temporality, or form to another? What is readily transposed, what resists relocation, and what precipitate emerges as distorted or new? Drawing on Barbara Cassin''s transformative remarks on untranslatability, and the activity of philosophizing in languages, scholars contributing to The Geschlecht Complex examine these and other durable queries concerning the ontological powers of naming, and do so in the light of recent artistic practices, theoretical innovations, and philosophical incitements. Combining detailed case studies of concrete category problems in literature, philosophy,Trade ReviewAs someone who has followed untranslatability for many years, it is with great pleasure that Oscar Jansson and David LaRocca have brought this theme to a point of philosophical sophistication in The Geschlecht Complex—a brilliant, bold, and eccentric work. [...]themselves to a single (but impossibly complex) German word, a range of scholars from different fields of inquiry and analysis have nonetheless produced a collection that signals a new maturity in the approach to untranslatability. In that sense, it may (hopefully) be the first of many such works. This is a collection that bravely attempts to overcome the constraints of traditional scholarship in the hope of generating work that lives up to Apter and Cassin’s invocations to ‘philosophize with languages’. The very form of the book itself challenges and expands a series of preconceptions on this topic. It is a brave, well-rounded, and seismically significant publication insofar as it exercises what previous scholars have only prescribed and envisioned. * Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation Review *Bristling with intellectual energy, The Geschlecht Complex brings together a number of brilliantly original essays and a carefully curated sample of theoretical excerpts in its exploration of the resonances and affordances of a singularly untranslatable notion. The Geschlecht Complex is many things: it is both syllabus and seminar, both a joyful intellectual exchange and a virtuoso homage to the examples of such thinkers/readers as Cassin, Cavell, Apter, and Derrida. Most of all, it is an exuberant performance of the key inspiration driving the thinking of the untranslatable: the conviction that the untranslatable is at once generated and redeemed by passionate ventures of translation-across genres, media, bodies, languages, and disciplines. In all these transpositions, this volume succeeds marvelously. * Pieter Vermeulen, Associate Professor of American and Comparative Literature, University of Leuven, Belgium *Geschlecht by any other name: that multifarious and ultimately untranslatable German word typifying in this volume a complexity and a syndrome alike -- its cultural semantics both vertical for generational kindred and horizontal for genre or kind; lineage on the one hand, typology on the other; now general species or genus, now specified gender. With this book’s erudite roundtable, we are invited to the second, collectively-edited installment of a productive -- make that generative -- seminar once convened to rethink the ramifications of such irresolvable inner difference: less as a definitional crux than as a blocked crossing, where impasse becomes surplus when confronted at the disciplinary interface of philology and philosophy, rhetoric and ontology. Giving new reach to trans-theory, the performative yield of category-hesitation in these essays is abundant, subtle, and bracing. * Garrett Stewart, James O. Freedman Professor of Letters, University of Iowa, USA, and author of The Deed of Reading: Literature * Writing * Language * Philosophy *The Geschlecht Complex is a rare and undoubtedly important book in that it treats categorization as both problem and necessity for the production of knowledge. Indeed, utilizing and developing the notion of the ‘uncategorizable’ as an analytical tool, it collects a multitude of contemporary problems into a stereoscopic perspective (albeit in a non-unitary manner and necessarily hesitant of its own limits) on the age-old aesthetic problem of the sublime and the monstrous -- and furthermore, on the ontological consequences of those seemingly impossible categories. * Isak Hyltén-Cavallius, Chief Editor, Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap/Swedish Journal of Literary Studies, Lund University, Sweden, and Associate Professor of Literary Studies. Linnæus University, Växjö, Sweden *Table of Contents1. Contending with Untranslatable Categories; or, Inducing the Nervous Condition of the Geschlecht Complex (Oscar Jansson, Lund University, Sweden, and David LaRocca, Cornell University, USA) Appendix I: Unfinished Definitions (Jansson/LaRocca) Apter | Cassin | Cavell | Crépon 2. Antitheatricality as Critical Idiom (Caro Pirri, University of Pittsburgh, USA) 3. The Cruel Beast: Settler Sovereignty and the Crisis of American Zoopolitics (Brian W. Nail, Florida State College at Jacksonville, USA) 4. Between the Body and Language: Narratives of the Moving Subject in Okwui Okpokwasili’s Bronx Gothic (Lauren DiGiulio, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA) Appendix II: Indefiniteness, Geschlechtlosigkeit, Undoing (Jansson/LaRocca) Butler | Cassin | Crépon | David-Ménard | Derrida | Deutscher | Heller-Roazen | Irigaray | Malabou | Nancy | Preciado | Sandford | Spillers | Weheliye 5. Collapsing the Gender/Genre Distinction: On Transgressions of Category in Woolf’s Orlando (Oscar Jansson, Lund University, Sweden) 6. Gazing at the Untranslatable Subject: From Velázquez’s Las Meninas to Ellison’s Invisible Man (Richard Hajarizadeh, SUNY Binghamton, USA) 7. From Lectiocentrism to Gramophonology: Listening to Cinema and Writing Sound Criticism (David LaRocca, Cornell University, USA) Appendix III: Genre Unlimited/Genre Ungenred (Jansson/LaRocca) Apter | Barthes | Cavell | Chartier | Crimmins | Croce | Derrida | Jauss | Wells Afterword: Trans-Ontology and the Geschlecht Complex (Emily Apter, New York University, USA) Bibliography Acknowledgments Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisThe title of this book, Derivative Lives, alludes to the challenge of finding one's way within the contemporary market of virtually limitless information and claims to veracity. Amid this profusion of options, it is easy to feel lost in spaces of uncertainty where biographical truth teeters between the real and the imaginative. The title thus also points to the prolific market of biographical novels that openly and intentionally play in the speculative space between the real and the fictional. Drawing on theories of risk and uncertainty, Derivative Lives considers the surge in biofiction in Spain and globally, relating literary expression to concepts such as circumstantiality, derivatives, speculation, and game studies.Trade ReviewA brilliant analysis of the Spanish biofictional novel within the wider context of contemporary thought. Virginia Rademacher examines research from both within and beyond the field of literary criticism to show how biofiction as a genre challenges the notion of history as an abstraction or an irretrievable reality by depicting how real people deal with specific historical situations. Rademacher's command of modern history, intellectual currents, and the Spanish bio-novel is indeed impressive. * Bárbara Mujica, author of Frida, Sister Teresa, I Am Venus and Miss del Río *With case studies drawn from some of contemporary Spain’s most exciting writers, this is an original and compellingly theorized exploration of how biofiction works to understand, vex, exploit, or otherwise experiment with questions of uncertainty, identity, and risk in the supermodern present. Rademacher engages playfully and productively with disciplinary discourses emerging from fields such as law, finance and economics—which similarly contend with competing claims to truth and value—and dives deep into the circumstantial and speculative games that authors play when they write fiction about reality. * Samuel Amago, Professor of Spanish, University of Virginia, USA *Considering the rich field of Spanish biofiction in relation to concepts of uncertainty, speculation, and risk in a post-truth age, Rademacher’s Derivative Lives establishes an exciting interdisciplinary nexus. In the course of this study, Rademacher expands the scope and ambition of biofiction studies. * Bethany Layne, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, De Montfort University, UK *Derivative Lives nos ofrece una profunda, amena, necesaria y muy interesante indagación de las borrosas fronteras entre lo real y lo ficticio, en un mundo cada vez más impreciso en donde ni siquiera la propia identidad resulta fiable. Derivative Lives offers us a deep, entertaining, necessary, and very interesting investigation of the blurred borders between reality and fiction, in an increasingly imprecise world where even one’s own identity is not reliable. * Rosa Montero, writer, author of El peligro de estar cuerda (2022) *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction SECTION I The Circumstantial Case: Chasing Criminals/Tracing Traumatic Histories 1. Making the Circumstantial Case: Reasonable Doubt and Moral Certainty in Javier Cercas’ Soldiers of Salamis 2. Fugitive Biofictions: Antonio Muñoz Molina’s Like a Fading Shadow and Gabriela Ybarra’s The Dinner Guest SECTION II Speculative Truths and Derivative Fictions 3. Entertaining the What-Ifs in Rosa Montero’s The Madwoman of the House and the Ridiculous Idea of Never Seeing You Again 4. Fraudulent Pasts and Fictional Futures in Javier Cercas’ The Impostor and Adolfo García Ortega’s The Birthday Buyer SECTION III Critical Play in Biofictional Games 5. Playing for Real: Simulated Games of Identity in Lucía Etxebarria’s Courtney and I and Truth is Nothing but a Moment of Falsehood Appendices to Chapter 5 6. Literary Afterlives and Paratextual Play: Elvira Navarro’s The Last Days of Adelaida García Morales and Antonio Orejudos’s The Famous Five and Me Coda: Biofiction’s Antidotes to Post-Truth Endnotes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe world faces a climate crisis and an ascendant far right. Are these trends related? How does the far right think about the environment, and what openings does the coming crisis present for them? This incisive new book traces the long history of far-right environmentalism and explores how it is adapting to the contemporary world. It argues that the extreme right, after years of denying the reality of climate change, are now showing serious signs of reversing their strategy. A new generation of far-right activists has realized that impending environmental catastrophe represents their best chance yet for a return to relevance. In reality, however, their noxious blend of conspiracy, hatred and violence is no solution at all: it is the ‘eco-socialism of fools’. Only a real commitment to climate justice can save us and stop the far right in its tracks. No-one interested in the struggle against right-wing extremism and the crusade for climate justice can afford to miss this trenchant critique of burgeoning ecofascism.Trade Review“An urgent and comprehensive survey of the risks generated by the nature politics of today's far right – and how to fight them.”Paul Mason, author of How to Stop Fascism “Since the attacks in Christchurch and El Paso in 2019, public discussion of ecofascism has become more urgent than ever. This book adds substantially to our understanding of a challenging subject through critical examination of rapidly evolving environmental politics on the far right.”Peter Staudenmaier, co-author of Ecofascism: Lessons from the German Experience “Essential reading for anyone concerned with politics in a warming world.”Andreas Malm, co-author of White Skin, Black Fuel: On the Danger of Fossil Fascism“The book ranges widely […], from individual terrorists and the fringes of the internet to main stream political parties.”Adam Weymouth, Resurgence & Ecologist“a captivating and important read.”International AffairsTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. A History of Far-Right Ecologism 2. The far right and nature now 3. Online far-right ecologism and far-right movements 4. Deadly Ecofascist Violence 5. Towards Ecofascism Proper? Notes

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Book SynopsisTroubling Masculinities: Terror, Gender, and Monstrous Others in American Film Post-9/11 is the first multigenre study of representations of masculinity following the emergence of violent terror as a plot element in American cinema after September 11, 2001. Across a broad range of subgenres--including disaster melodrama, monster movies, postapocalyptic science fiction, discovered footage and home invasion horror, action-thrillers, and frontier westerns--author Glen Donnar examines the impact of 'terror-Others,' from Arab terrorists to giant monsters, especially in relation to cinematic representations in earlier periods of national turmoil.Donnar demonstrates that the reassertion of masculinity and American national identity in post-9/11 cinema repeatedly unravels across genres. Taking up critical arguments about Hollywood's attempts to resolve male crisis through Orientalizing figures of terror, he shows how this failure reflects an inability to effectively extinguish th

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Book SynopsisUnderstanding Esports: An Introduction to the Global Phenomenon places professional Esports, a rapidly growing industry, in both the cultural and athletic landscape. This book explores how the rise of professional gaming has shapedand been shaped bymedia trends, interpersonal communication, and what it means to be classified as an athlete. Ryan Rogers has assembled contributors from a variety of backgrounds and experiences in order to provide a broad view of the history, experience, and impact of professional gaming. Scholars of media studies, communication, sports, and cultural studies will find this book especially useful.Trade ReviewRogers (Butler Univ.) offers a practical volume to enable scholars and students of sports entertainment to gain an understanding of "esports" (electronic sports), a relatively new, billion-dollar, worldwide industry. Esports is here defined as "organized competitive gaming," a form of play as mediated by human-computer interfaces. Video games were mainly enjoyed by amateur players until the late 2000s, when a crescendo of interest in observing tournaments between professional players emerged. Professional games can now be watched by spectators through live streaming, and such activities currently represent a major sector of the video game industry. As explained by Rogers, this project took shape in 2018 as he was teaching a course on esports, and encountered difficulty with locating sufficient reading materials. The book was then quickly developed, with 14 chapters contributed by 30 authors, many of whom are experts in media and communications. . . the book provides a highly informative orientation to esports and its history, analyzing the roles of fans, players, and entrepreneurs, and identifying the principal games and genres. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. * CHOICE *Esports is a field that is emerging rapidly in schools, communities, industry, and educational research, and may well become a crucial new source of modern learning for collaboration and technology. This book is an excellent user manual for an exciting ride into uncharted territory. -- James Paul Gee, Arizona State UniversityTable of ContentsChapter 1: What is Esports?Chapter 2: Can Video Games be a Sport? Debating and Complicating Esports as Physical CompetitionsChapter 3: The Origins of Esports: A Half-Century History of an "Overnight" SuccessChapter 4: Competition Formats in EsportsChapter 5: No Time for Lag: Newspaper Coverage of Esports, 2000-2018Chapter 6: Esport Spectator MotivationChapter 7: The Esports Consumer ExperienceChapter 8: The Motivations of Esports PlayersChapter 9: Fighting Games and Social PlayChapter 10: Sports Video Games (SVGs) in the Esports LandscapeChapter 11: Not Your Average Sunday Driver: The Formula 1 Esports Series World ChampionshipChapter 12: Counter-Strike or Counterpublic? Audience Creation, Transnational Discourses, and the Rhetorical Legitimation of Esports in TBS's ELEAGUEChapter 13: The Law of EsportsChapter 14: Leveraging Esports in Higher Education

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Book SynopsisAll forms of recreational digital consumption – whether on smartphones, tablets, game consoles or TVs – have skyrocketed in the younger generations. From the age of 2, children in the West clock up more than 2.5 hours of screen time a day; by the time they reach 13, it’s more than 7 hours a day. Added up over the first 18 years of life, this is the equivalent of almost 30 school years, or 15 years of full-time employment. Most media experts do not seem overly concerned about this situation: children are adaptable, they say, they are ‘digital natives’, their brains have changed and screens make them smarter. But other specialists – including some paediatricians, psychiatrists, teachers and speech therapists – dispute these claims, and many parents worry about the long-term consequences of their children’s intensive exposure to screens. Michel Desmurget, a leading neuroscientist, has carefully weighed up the scientific evidence concerning the impact of the digital activities of our children and adolescents, and his assessment does not make for happy reading: he shows that these activities have significant detrimental consequences in terms of the health, behaviour and intellectual abilities of young people, and strongly affect their academic outcomes. A wake-up call for anyone concerned about the long-term impacts of our children’s over-exposure to screens.Trade Review“Let us add this brisk and persuasive work by Michel Desmurget to the necessary list of books warning against the impact of screens on the young. He gives the digiphiles exactly the credit they deserve for having peddled to our kids the tools that clog their heads and seize their eyes. His portrait of the toddler at the screen is frightening, of the teen “submerged” in media dismaying, and he busts one happy myth after another. This is a sober caution to parents, teachers and other supervisors of the young.”Mark Bauerlein, author of The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future“Desmurget advances vitally important points.”City JournalTable of ContentsIntroduction: whom should we believe? Part One Digital natives: building a myth Part Two Uses: an incredible frenzy of recreational screens Part Three Impacts: chronicles of a disaster foretold 1. Preamble. Multiple and intricate impacts 2. Academic success. A powerful prejudice 3. Discussion. A damaging environment 4. Health. A silent aggression Epilogue: a very old brain for a brave new world Bibliography Notes Index

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Book Synopsis1989 ushered in a new age of freedom and prosperity. Thirty years later, the golden era is over. What went wrong? How did the age of globalization – of growing connectivity, affluence, and growth – give way? Jonathan Holslag navigates through the calm seas and rip tides of global politics from the Cold War to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He tells a story of faltering momentum and squandered opportunities that explains how the West's sources of strength were lost to rising consumerism, unbalanced trade, and half-hearted diplomatic engagement. All the while, other powers, like China and Russia, grew stronger. With his trademark verve, Holslag untangles the threads of this story to reveal that it was not so much the ambition of China, the cunning of Putin, or the greed of African strongmen that led the world into this dark place; it was the failure of the West to listen to its people, to show clear leadership, and reinvent itself, in spite of ample evidence that things were going awry.Trade Review"Jonathan Holslag's tour de force is the most comprehensive and insightful account of post-Cold War international developments that I've read in the last decade."Amitai Etzioni, author of Reclaiming Patriotism "Pacey and insightful, Jonathan's Holslag's book makes us look afresh at the last thirty years."Brendan Simms, University of Cambridge "A stimulating reinterpretation of the entire post-Cold War era."Colin Dueck, George Mason University "Important and timely"James Appathurai, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, NATO "A powerful and daring account of the last thirty years of world history, chronicling the failure of Western leadership, of neo-liberalism, of neo-imperial hubris, of the betrayal of the global South and the inexorable rise of China as a superpower. A must-read for all those seeking explanations of our contemporary predicament."Robert Gildea, University of Oxford "A balanced and most interesting work."He Baogang, Deakin University "This wonderfully written book takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the complexity of the last three decades of world politics. Jonathan Holslag connects the dots of a fragmented and scattered global landscape, offering multiple roads to understanding. Don't expect defined answers, but be ready to ask yourself questions you never thought of before. This book will help you ‘accept that things are not always black and white. The world is an overwhelming place. Nothing is evident'."Federica Mogherini, Rector of the College of Europe and Former High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy "Rich and comprehensive, Jonathan Holslag's book takes readers on a journey of discovery through the major changes in world politics over the past three decades. I will be assigning this book for my undergraduate international relations classes."Kun-Chin Lin, University of Cambridge "This is an utterly fascinating, carefully argued and lucidly drafted analysis of the current global circumstances. Holslag provides a deft, informed and multifaceted argument to explain how the highly optimistic views of the future of world politics failed to materialize after the end of the Cold War. This book, written in extremely accessible prose, will be of interest to both scholars and practitioners alike."Sumit Ganguly, Indiana University "With ease and elegance, Jonathan Holslag guides us masterfully through the last thirty years of global politics to reveal the complex political, economic, and ideological roots of the current crisis in the West. A brilliant book."Sergei A. Karaganov, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow "Scrupulously non-didactic and pleasingly omnivorous in its scope."New Internationalist "Accessible and timely."The Sydney Morning Herald "A deeper investigation of the rise and fall of globalisation since the cold war"Financial Times "An excellent, and measured, single-volume account of world politics since 1989"Eurasian Geography and Economics "A book that makes a deep impression through its range and analytical sharpness."Timothy Garton Ash, University of OxfordTable of ContentsMaps, figures and table The pendulum OVERTURE 1. Progress 2. A doubtful victory 3. The new order seen from elsewhere ACT 1 (1989-2000) 4. Missed opportunities 5. Reluctance to lead 6. Making rivals rich ACT 2 (2000-2010) 7. Disregard and decadence 8. A foreign policy of recklessness 9. Globalization and the return of power politics ACT 3 (2010-2020) 10. What the hell happened? 11. Abdication 12. Fragmented and turbulent Watershed Acknowledgements Notes Further reading Index

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Book SynopsisAlthough the term 'jouissance' is common currency in psychoanalysis today, how much does it really tell us? While often taken to designate a fusion of sexuality, suffering and satisfaction, the term has fallen into a purely descriptive use that closes down more questions than it opens up. Although assumed to explain the coalescence of pleasure and pain, it tends to cover a range of quite different issues that should be distinguished rather than conflated. By returning to some of the sources of the concept in Freud, and their elaborations in Lacan, this book hopes to stimulate a debate around the relations of pleasure to pain, autoerotism, the links of satisfaction to arousal, the effects of repression, and the place of the body in psychoanalytic theory. Leader aims to provide context for Lacan's work and encourage dialogue with other analytic traditions.Trade Review“In the last decades, ‘jouissance’ has emerged as the new master-signifier of those who refer to Lacan, turning it into a vague designation with no precise content. Here enters Leader, who proves that there is a strict conceptual network to jouissance with its own often different logics. To use Freud’s and Lacan’s notion of retroactivity, it is only with Leader’s booklet that we clearly see who Lacan was.”Slavoj Žižek, philosopher and professor at the Institute of Sociology, Ljubljana, Slovenia. “Impeccably researched and beautifully written, this nimble volume brims with sparkling new insights about the endlessly fascinating and deeply problematic relation between pleasure, sex and satisfaction. This book is a precious little gem, which will appeal to a very wide readership.”Dany Nobus, Professor of Psychoanalytic Psychology, Brunel University LondonTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Jouissance

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Book SynopsisIn the 2010s, as chat apps became a primary mode of communication for many people across the world, WhatsApp quickly outpaced rival messaging apps and developed into a platform. In this book, the authors provide a comprehensive account of WhatsApp’s global growth. Charting WhatsApp’s evolution from its founding in 2009 to the present day, they argue that WhatsApp has been transformed from a simple, ‘gimmickless’ app into a global communication platform. Understanding this development can shed light on the trajectory of Meta’s industrial development, and how digital economies and social media landscapes are evolving with the rise of ‘superapps’. This book explores how WhatsApp’s unique characteristics mediate new kinds of social and commercial transactions; how they pose new opportunities and challenges for platform regulation, civic participation and democracy; and how they give rise to new kinds of digital literacy as WhatsApp becomes integrated into everyday digital cultures across the globe. Accessibly written, this book is an essential resource for students and scholars of digital media, cultural studies, and media and communications.Trade Review‘Fascinating and authoritative. This genuinely international and cosmopolitan study shows the ways that WhatsApp is decisively shaped, especially in the Global South.’Gerard Goggin, The University of Sydney‘With a refreshing personal touch, the authors retrace how a seemingly simple chat app morphed into a global communication and business platform.’David B. Nieborg, University of TorontoTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction Chapter One: Why WhatsApp Matters Chapter Two: Platform Biography Chapter Three: Everyday Uses of WhatsApp Chapter Four: WhatsApp Publics: Activism, News, Disorder Chapter Five: WhatsApp Business Model Chapter Six: WhatsApp Futures Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisWhen the Berlin Wall was stormed and the Soviet Union fell apart, the West and above all the United States looked like the sole victors of history. Three decades later, the spirit of triumph rings hollow. What went wrong? In this sequel to his award-winning history of neoliberal Europe, the renowned historian Philipp Ther searches for an answer to this question. He argues that global capitalism created many losers, preparing the ground for the rise of right-wing populists and nationalists. He shows how the promise of prosperity and freedom did not catch on sufficiently in Eastern Europe despite material progress, and how the West lost Russia and alienated Turkey. Neoliberal capitalism also left the world poorly prepared to cope with Covid-19, and the pandemic further weakened the Western hegemony of the post-1989 period, which is now brutally contested by Russia’s war against Ukraine. The double punch of the pandemic and the biggest war in Europe since 1945 has brought to a close the age of transformation that was inaugurated by the end of the Cold War. This penetrating analysis of the disarray of the post-1989 world will be of great interest to anyone who wishes to understand how we got to where we are today and the tremendous challenges we now face.Trade Review"Philipp Ther joins sound wisdom to his formidable talents as a historian in this study of Europe's alarming drift towards populism. He knows that we cannot understand politics without serious attention to economics, he understands Europe as extending from Ireland to the Pacific and beyond, and he writes beautifully. His urgently needed book is a pleasure to read, and if its subjects are often grim, the lessons Ther draws illuminate a way forward."John Connelly, University of California, Berkeley"Philipp Ther has written a sad but clear-eyed tribute to the ethics of Karl Polanyi’s The Great Transformation. His analysis of the social divisions that preceded political polarization and the spurious link between capitalism and democracy exposes the global fiasco of the West’s neoliberal triumphalism."Maria Todorova, University of Illinois"Covering disturbing trends in Hungary and Poland, COVID, Brexit, Trump and the Ukraine war, [Philipp Ther’s] observations… have a cautionary touch of Christopher Isherwood’s 'I Am a Camera' approach, coupled with accessible, detailed analysis."Sydney Morning Herald“Ther moves deftly through Europe, focusing on its key economies, to explain the domestic and international effects that neoliberalism has had in each nation. What How the West Lost Peace reveals is that the growth of the far right, and the geopolitical instability that has led to the war in Ukraine, have their origin in the reorganization of Europe’s economies following the defeat of socialist forces and the growth of neoliberal hegemony.”JacobinTable of ContentsPreface: The Great Transformation after 19891. From Neoliberalism to Antiliberalism: The Enduring Relevance of Karl Polanyi2. Lost Social and Political Equilibrium: The USA after the Cold War3. The Price of Unity: Germany’s Shock Therapy in International Comparison4. La Crisi: Italy’s Decline as a Portent for Europe5. The West, Turkey and Russia: A History of Estrangement6. Eastern Europe as a Pioneer: Polanyi’s Pendulum Swings to the Right7. Systemic Competition during the Covid-19 PandemicAfterword: A Bad End: The War against UkrainePostscript and Acknowledgements Notes

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Book SynopsisThe breadth and depth of Zygmunt Bauman's engagement with social theory and the history of social thought has perhaps been underestimated, in part because many of his early writings were in Polish and never translated into English, and in part because many important pieces appeared in edited volumes and journals that are not readily available. This volume brings together hitherto unknown or rare pieces by Bauman on the theme of theory and society and also makes available previously unpublished material from the Bauman Archive at the University of Leeds. A consistent theme of Bauman's work was his sustained engagement with humanism, and this provides a unifying thread in the pieces brought together in this volume. Here Bauman reflects on some of the core concepts of sociology, examines the work of a wide range of social theorists, from Durkheim and Gramsci to Agnes Heller and C. Wright Mills, and addresses an array of key ideas and issues including inequality, identity and

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Book SynopsisThis authoritative guide has introduced many tens of thousands of clinicians to Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), a leading evidence-based treatment for traumatized children and their parents or caregivers. Preeminent clinical researchers provide a comprehensive framework for assessing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), other trauma-related symptoms, and traumatic grief in 3- to 18-year-olds; building core coping skills; and directly addressing and making meaning of children's trauma experiences. Implementation is facilitated by sample scripts, case examples, troubleshooting tips, and reproducible client handouts that can also be downloaded and printed. New to This Edition Incorporates a decade's worth of advances in TF-CBT research and clinical practice. Updated for DSM-5. Chapter on the model's growing evidence base. Chapter on group applications. Expanded coverage of complex trauma, including ways to adapt TF-CBT for children with severe behavioral or affective dysregulation. See also the edited volume Trauma-Focused CBT for Children and Adolescents: Treatment Applications for more information on tailoring TF-CBT to children's varying developmental levels and cultural backgrounds.

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Book SynopsisMen with assault rifles, balaclavas and Hawaiian shirts pulled over bulletproof vests. Horned warriors with painted faces and fur headdresses draped over their naked torsos. The storming of the Capitol brought together men who had previously come across one another only online in the Manosphere. These were men with a common interest, followers of a male-supremacist ideology, who rioted in order to fight for their privilege. Before then, the world had looked on as devastating attacks were carried out by incels: those who seek to gain unfettered access to women’s bodies by redrawing the hierarchy of the sexes in order to ensure the subjugation of women. For all of these men, masculinity is a political project, and the events at the Capitol were one episode in a growing movement. From the US and Canada to New Zealand, from Poland to Brazil, right-wing extremists, religious fundamentalists and male supremacists are coming together in order to translate their reactionary dreams of male domination into politics, underscoring the masculine roots of the authoritarian backlash.Trade Review‘Political Masculinity is an intelligent and urgently needed book on the global rise of misogyny, anti-feminism and toxic masculinity. Kaiser powerfully shows how male supremacists, right-wing populists and religious fundamentalists are tied together. From Trump to the incel movement, her book offers a thrilling and accessible deep dive into the masculinity struggles we read about in the headlines on a quasi-daily basis.’Julia Ebner, author of Going Dark: The Secret Social Lives of Extremists ‘We are witnessing a new conjuncture of political masculinity – aggressive, toxic and misogynistic. The book provides knowledgeable insights into global masculinist spaces, as well as processes of mobilizing masculinism. For those interested in gender, politics and de-democratization, a must!’Birgit Sauer, University of Vienna‘[T]he breadth and nuance present in Kaiser’s analysis firmly situates Political Masculinity as requisite reading for scholars concerned with the reshaping of hegemonic masculinity, the gendered character of the far-right, or the authoritarian turn in contemporary politics.’Social ForcesTable of ContentsAcknowledgments IntroductionI. Organized MisogynyThe Incel MovementA New Type of Misogynist MasculinityThe “Manosphere”: A Reservoir of Aggrieved MenViolence against Women, Online and OfflineAttacks against WomenA New Form of Terrorism EmergesII. The Ideologies of Authoritarians: For the “Natural Order”Aggrieved EntitlementThe Politicization of MasculinityThe Prophets of the MasculinistsWhite ShariaIII. The Politics of MasculinityTranslating Aggrieved Entitlement into Political ActionUnholy AlliancesThe Networks and Strategies of the Anti-Gender MovementFollow the Money: How Transnational Movements Are BuiltRiding Hegemonic Masculinity to PowerBiologism as an Attack on DemocracyPoster Girls and Female ArchitectsConclusion: Masculinity in Uncertain TimesNotes

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Book SynopsisThe Paradox of Freedom is an exploration of the life and work of Orlando Patterson, probing the relationship between the circumstances of his life from their beginnings in rural Jamaica to the present and the complex development of his intellectual work. A novelist and historical sociologist with an orientation toward public engagement, Patterson exemplifies one way of being a Jamaican and Black Atlantic intellectual. At the generative center of Patterson’s work has been a fundamental inquiry into the internal dynamics of slavery as a mode of social and existential domination. What is most provocatively significant in his work on slavery is the way it yields a paradoxical insight into the problem of freedom – namely, that freedom was born existentially and historically from the degradation and parasitic inhumanity of slavery and was as much the creation of the enslaved as of their enslavers. The Paradox of Freedom elucidates the pathways by which Patterson has both uncovered the relationship between domination and freedom and engaged intellectually and publicly with the struggles for equality and decolonization among descendants of the enslaved. It will be of great interest to students and scholars throughout the humanities and social sciences and to anyone interested in the work of one of the most important public intellectuals of our time.Trade Review"The Paradox of Freedom retraces the unique odyssey of the world's most eminent scholar of slavery and race in history, at the unlikely crossroads of Jamaica, literature, New Left politics, and sociology at Harvard. Read it: you will be swept along, thrilled, and educated all at once."—Loïc Wacquant, University of California, Berkeley "Forged in a crucible of life experience as a Jamaican, Orlando Patterson's lifelong exploration of the dialectical tension between freedom and slavery is brilliantly elucidated through dialogic conversation with David Scott, who traces the trajectory of a remarkable and still unfolding intellectual and artistic journey."—John Bodel, Brown University

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Book SynopsisModern history is a history of aesthetizations – and every aesthetization raises a claim of protection. We aestheticize and want to protect almost everything, including Earth, oceans, the atmosphere, rare animal species and exotic plants. Humans are no exception. They also present themselves as objects of contemplation that deserve admiration and care. For some time, artists and intellectuals struggled for the sovereign right to present themselves to society in their own way – to become self-created works of art. Today everybody has not only a right but also an obligation to practice self-design. We are responsible for the way we present ourselves to others – and we cannot get rid of this aesthetic responsibility. However, we are not able to produce our own bodies. Before we begin to practice self-design, we find ourselves already designed by the gaze of others. That is why the practice of self-design mostly takes a critical and confrontational turn. We want to bring others to see us in the way we want to be seen – not only during our earthly life but also after our death. This is a complicated struggle, and the aim of this book is to describe and analyze it.Trade Review“Boris Groys’s Becoming an Artwork is distinguished by its originality, intelligence, economy, and vividness. Anyone can understand his arguments, which is why he has become the key art theorist of our time.”Matthew Jesse Jackson, The University of Chicago

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Book SynopsisIn this short book, the leading German cultural critic Diedrich Diederichsen puts forward a fresh and original account of pop music. He argues that pop music is not so much a form of music as a constellation of different media channels, social spaces and behavioural systems, of which music is only a part. Its own logic of attraction is based less on compositions and the expression of subjectivity and more on indexicality, real or pseudo-involuntary effects as recorded by sound technologies, and on studio discipline and staging, and hence on performance. By elaborating his innovative account of pop music as a constellation, Diederichsen develops a theory that distinguishes itself from sociology, cultural studies, media studies and ethnography, while at the same time drawing on and encompassing them all.Trade Review‘Diedrich Diederichsen’s book presents itself as a rigorous study of pop music considered as a thing in itself. That it is. But then you turn what seems to be a predictable corner and find yourself ambushed by sly humour, playfulness, a willingness to place large analytical bets on what seem to be slim chances. The book is filled with trap doors which open up again and again.’Greil Marcus, author of Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century‘Diedrich Diederichsen is an always compelling analyst of pop and rock music across all its many genres, and Aesthetics of Pop Music sheds new light on the capacities, identities and meanings of the form.’Michael Bracewell, author of England is Mine: Pop Life in Albion from Wilde to Goldie‘an engaging read… With arguments from the Frankfurt school, examples of performers ranging from the 1950s to the twenty-first century, discussion of modern technical recording methods, and commentary on social media, Aesthetics of Pop Music will appeal to a variety of readers, particularly those in multimedia and cultural studies'Journal of the Society for Musicology in IrelandTable of ContentsPreface I. Pop Music is a Form of Indexical Art II. Pop Music is the Second of Three Culture Industries III. At the Heart of Pop Music is No Object, but an Impulse to Connect IV. An Assembly of Effects and Small Noises V. Minus Music: Popularity and Criticism VI. Production Aesthetics Notes

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Book SynopsisAt century’s close, American social scientists, policy analysts, philanthropists and politicians became obsessed with a fearsome and mysterious new group said to be ravaging the ghetto: the urban “underclass.” Soon the scarecrow category and its demonic imagery were exported to the United Kingdom and continental Europe and agitated the international study of exclusion in the postindustrial metropolis. In this punchy book, Loïc Wacquant retraces the invention and metamorphoses of this racialized folk devil, from the structural conception of Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal to the behavioral notion of Washington think-tank experts to the neo-ecological formulation of sociologist William Julius Wilson. He uncovers the springs of the sudden irruption, accelerated circulation, and abrupt evaporation of the “underclass” from public debate, and reflects on the implications for the social epistemology of urban marginality. What accounts for the “lemming effect” that drew a generation of scholars of race and poverty over a scientific cliff? What are the conditions for the formation and bursting of “conceptual speculative bubbles”? What is the role of think tanks, journalism, and politics in imposing “turnkey problematics” upon social researchers? What are the special quandaries posed by the naming of dispossessed and dishonored populations in scientific discourse and how can we reformulate the explosive question of “race” to avoid these troubles? Answering these questions constitutes an exacting exercise in epistemic reflexivity in the tradition of Bachelard, Canguilhem and Bourdieu, and it issues in a clarion call for social scientists to defend their intellectual autonomy against the encroachments of outside powers, be they state officials, the media, think tanks, or philanthropic organizations. Compact, meticulous and forcefully argued, this study in the politics of social science knowledge will be of great interest to students and scholars in sociology, anthropology, urban studies, ethnic studies, geography, intellectual history, the philosophy of science and public policy.Trade Review“Loïc Wacquant's exploration of the rise and decline of the 'underclass' concept features extraordinary archival research. This important and unique book is destined to become a standard reference in studies ranging from the sociology of knowledge to urban poverty.” William Julius Wilson, author of The Truly Disadvantaged “In this thoroughly historicized account, Wacquant dissects the politics, panic, and obscurantism that accompanied the ‘underclass’ debate in the closing decades of the twentieth century – at the expense of the communities the concept purported to represent. It is an essential guide to a more ethical, genuinely reflexive sociology.”Alice O’Connor, author of Poverty Knowledge ''The Invention of the 'Underclass' is a must-read for specialists and students of urban poverty, social policy, and social theory.''Social Forces "there is much to enjoy and admire here. The investigation is focused, rich and detailed and thewriting is robust and engaging.... the book is an excellent addition to scholarship in this areaand will undoubtedly become an important reference point for future sociologicalwork on the construction of undeserving and marginalised groups.''Critical Social Policy "Wacquant has erected a critical yield sign that social scientists should heed but are likely to ignore. . . . if we are to learn anything from Wacquant’s must-read text, it should be that the line between use and abuse of a concept is perilously thin."Sociology of Race and Ethnicity"[A]n interesting exploration of an uncomfortable episode in the history of social science."Critical CriminologyTable of ContentsList of Figures Acknowledgements Prologue PART ONE ~ THE TALE 1. Between concept and myth: genealogy of a shifty category 2. “The tragedy of the underclass”: policy theater and scholarship 3. The three faces of the “underclass” 4. The strange career of a racialized folk devil 5. Implications for the social epistemology of urban marginality PART TWO ~ LESSONS FROM THE TALE Quandaries and consequences of naming Forging robust concepts Epistemic opportunity costs Bandwagons, speculation, and turnkeys Coda: Resolving the trouble with “race” in the 21st century Appendix: The afterlives of the “underclass” Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe Middle East, often referred to as the cradle of the three monotheisms, is saturated with symbolism. Situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, it is a land marked by the rich confluence of religions and peoples. It has also been the focal point of endemic tensions and conflicts, many of which stretch back into the mists of time. In this new history of the Middle East, Jean-Pierre Filiu looks beyond religion and focuses his attention on the processes by which powers and their areas of domination were established over time. His starting point is 395, the year when the Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western halves: at that point, the Middle East emerged as a specific entity, freed from external domination, and a Christianity of the East asserted itself, turned towards Byzantium rather than towards Rome. From this point on, Filiu follows a strictly Middle Eastern dynamic, tracing the rise and fall of powers linked to the three principal centres of Egypt, Syria, and Iraq and recounting the procession of empires, invasions, and assertions of imperialist ambition that have characterized the region since then. The book closes in 2022, when the men and women of the Middle East were still struggling for the right to define their destiny by telling their stories in their own voices. This magisterial and up-to-date history of the Middle East will be essential reading for students and scholars and for anyone interested in the history and politics of one of the most important and contested regions of the modern world.Trade Review‘Filiu’s command of history is as stunning as his ability to write about it. Simply put, a tour de force.’Sara Roy, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University‘Jean-Pierre Filiu’s The Middle East is a comprehensive exploration of the region’s political history. The book provides a masterful account of the power struggles, foreign meddling, and local aspirations which have shaped the Middle East over nearly two millennia. Rigorous analysis and unbiased perspective make this book a must-read for those who seek to improve their understanding of the region’s past and present.’Leila Fawaz, Tufts University‘Jean-Pierre Filiu’s conceptually novel approach is matched by his compelling analysis and command of the material. Covering some fifteen centuries of an eventful history, this longue durée account demonstrates why the region’s distant past matters at least as much as the its recent history. It also gives the general reader convincing grounds as to why, beyond its recent colonial legacy, the term “Middle East” historically makes sense.’Abbas Amanat, Yale University‘There are several histories of the Middle East. The main distinctiveness of Jean-Pierre Filiu’s contribution to the field is its emphasis on the peoples’ agency. Here is a history that doesn’t claim bird’s-eye neutrality but proclaims its empathy with the emancipatory struggles of the region’s populations.’Gilbert Achcar, author of The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprisings‘[Filiu] possesses a deep and genuine knowledge of the region that allows him to navigate its vast expanse of history, geography, and culture.’Chris Doyle, New Arab‘compelling’The Critic‘ambitious’Times of IsraelTable of ContentsList of MapsA secular history1. Byzantines, Sassanids and Arabs (395-661)2. From the Umayyads to the Abbasids (661-945)3. The era of the two caliphates (945-1193)4. Sultans and invaders (1193-1501)5. Ottomans and Safavids (1501-1798)6. Colonial expansion (1798-1912)7. Reforms, renaissance and revolutions (1798-1914)8. The time of mandates (1914-1949)9. The Cold War and the Arab-Israeli conflict (1949-1990)10. The life and death of the American Middle East (1990-2020)Conclusion. The cradle of crisesNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisInternational relations emerged as a distinct academic discipline in the early twentieth century, but its philosophic foundations draw on centuries of thinking about human nature, power and authority, justice and injustice, the idea of sovereignty and the implications for relations within and between political communities. The historic sources of these ideas appear to draw largely on European or Western experiences but, as this book shows, influences have emanated from much further afield, while contemporary thought is becoming more open to insights from non-Western sources. In this fully updated and expanded fourth edition of her popular text, Stephanie Lawson retains a broad world historical and contextual approach to the central themes and theoretical perspectives in IR, while also addressing the most pressing issues facing the world today. Topics covered include the emergence of states and empires, theories ranging from classical realism and liberalism to postcolonial and green theory, twentieth-century international history, security and insecurity, global governance and world order, international political economy and the prospects for a ‘post-international’ world in an era that has seen both deepening globalization and accompanying challenges to the sovereign state, as well as the reassertion of nationalist ideas around the world. With a range of additional pedagogical features to assist learning and class discussion, this lively and accessible text is an ideal primer for beginner and intermediate students alike.Trade Review‘An immensely valuable introduction to international relations, which combines historical perspective and a comprehensive approach to theory with a keen sense of contemporary challenges. Updated in this fourth edition to include issues such as climate change and post-truth ideology, it provides readers with a sound understanding of the past, present and future of world politics.’Alex J. Bellamy, University of Queensland‘The latest edition of Stephanie Lawson’s International Relations is one of the first texts to challenge students to consider how global politics will evolve in a post-truth world. A model of clarity, the book is sure to be as popular as its predecessors.’John Ravenhill, University of WaterlooTable of ContentsLists of BoxesAbout the AuthorPreface to the Fourth EditionAcknowledgements1 Introducing International Relations 2 States in World History3 Theorizing International Relations: Methods and Traditional Approaches4 Theorizing International Relations: Critical Approaches5 International Relations in the Twentieth Century6 Security and Insecurity in the Contemporary World7 Global Governance and World Order8 International Political Economy9 Conclusion: International Relations in a Changing WorldReferences Index

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Book SynopsisPierre Bourdieu and Abdelmalek Sayad met in their twenties in the midst of the Algerian war of independence. From their first meeting, a strong intellectual friendship was born between the French philosopher and the activist from the colony, nourished by the same desire to understand the world in order to change it. The work of both men was driven by the necessity of putting knowledge to use, whether by unveiling the relations of domination that structured life in Algeria or by opening emancipatory perspectives for the Algerian people. Colonies were, of course, a customary site of ethnographic work, but Bourdieu and Sayad refused to sacrifice scientific rigor to political expediency, even as Algeria descended deeper into war. Indeed, the act of understanding as a political commitment to the transformation of society lay at the heart of their project. Based on extensive interviews and deep archival work, Amín Pérez rediscovers the anticolonial origins of the pathbreaking social thought of these brilliant thinkers. Bourdieu and Sayad, he argues, forged another way of doing politics, laying the foundations of a revolutionary pedagogy, not just for anticolonial liberation but for true social emancipation.​Trade Review“This book is a revelation. Pérez uniquely offers insights into the anticolonial thought of two major social theorists of our times: Pierre Bourdieu, and his collaborator and friend Abdelmalek Sayad. Anyone interested in social theory, anticolonialism, and postcolonialism will have to read and reread this innovative, illuminating, and clarifying work of committed scholarship.”Julian Go, author of Postcolonial Thought and Social Theory“Deeply researched and fluidly argued, Pérez’s book is essential reading for anyone wishing to grasp the anti-colonial roots of Bourdieu’s sociology and a stunning document on the entanglement of social science and empire.”Loïc Wacquant, author of The Invention of the “Underclass” and Bourdieu in the City“A landmark study of the history of social science. Based on exhaustive archival research and original interviews with their contemporaries, Amín Pérez argues compellingly that Bourdieu and Sayad always attempted to articulate politics with social science, and that this did not contradict Bourdieu’s familiar arguments in favor of scientific autonomy.”George Steinmetz, author of The Colonial Origins of Modern Social ThoughtTable of ContentsPart One: Sociology as Emancipation Chapter 1: The Origins of Subversive Knowledge Chapter 2: Resisting in War-torn Algeria Chapter 3: A Sociology of the Colonial Order Part Two: Liberation through Knowledge Chapter 4: Listening, Observing, and Testifying in Times of War Chapter 5: Renewing the Social Sciences out of Political Necessity Chapter 6: From Colonial Liberation to Social Emancipation Conclusion

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Book SynopsisFifteen years ago, Dominique Moïsi famously argued that the world was increasingly shaped by a clash of emotions' as the old politics of ideology faded. Asia was hopeful; the West was fearful; and much of the rest of the world felt humiliated. Moïsi warned that this was a dangerously unpredictable world, that authorities had a responsibility to keep tempers cool. In this bold new book, Moïsi reports that they have failed: We live in a world where emotions have triumphed. One of the world's most influential analysts of international affairs, Moïsi explains how and why the problems he identified in his path-breakingThe Geopolitics of Emotionhave deepened. More insidious emotions have been provoked by the rise of nationalism and populism, the retreat from globalization, the acceleration of climate change, and the dark sides of information technology. Raw emotions such as anger and even hatred have triumphed both in international and domestic politicsevident not just in leaders' extreme rhetoric but now in open war in Ukraine. Against the backdrop of the US-China rivalry, a new Tripolar Order is emerging, featuring hope and resentment in the Global South, humiliation and anger in the Global East, and fear and resilience in the Global West. The Triumph of Emotionsis an illuminating and passionately argued book for our fraught times.

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Book SynopsisSubjectifiedis a book about subjects, objects, and verbs. It is also a book about clothing-optional resorts, masturbation circles, and sex parties. Suzannah Weiss takes the reader through her adventures as a sex and relationship writer to explore how we can create a world with less objectification and more subjectification placing women and other marginalized groups in the subject role of sentences and actions. Offering a deeply personal critique of sexual empowerment movements, Weiss presents a way forward that focuses on what women desire, not what men desire from them.Subjectifiedcalls for women everywhere to inhabit their bodies and hearts to look through their own eyes and speak as I. The book is for everybody wanting to understand themselves as subjects. Wholeheartedly, the author invites you to follow her search for subjecthood and, should you desire, forge your own path out of objecthood.Now available as an audiobook.

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Book SynopsisThe West's strategy of engagement with China has failed. More than three decades of trade and investment with the advanced democracies have left that country far richer and stronger than it would otherwise have been. But growth and development have not caused China's rulers to relax their grip on political power, abandon their mercantilist economic policies, or accept the rules and norms of the existing international system. To the contrary: China today is more repressive at home, more aggressive abroad, and more obviously intent on establishing itself as the world’s preponderant power than at any time since the death of Chairman Mao. What went wrong? Put simply, the democracies underestimated the resilience, resourcefulness, and ruthlessness of the Chinese Communist Party. For far too long, the United States and its allies failed to take seriously the Party's unwavering determination to crush opposition, build national power, and fulfill its ideological and geopolitical ambitions. In this timely and powerfully argued study, Aaron Friedberg identifies the assumptions underpinning engagement, describes the counterstrategy that China's Communist Party rulers devised in order to exploit the West's openness while defeating its plans, and explains what the democracies must do now if they wish to preserve their prosperity, protect their security, and defend their common values.Trade Review"Friedberg throws into sharp relief the flawed reasoning that justified the failed decades-long policy of engagement. He also clarifies those elements of China's conduct and its intellectual sources to which attention must be paid in getting China right."—Peter Berkowitz, Real Clear Politics "Getting China Wrong is a concise, readable, and compelling look at the failure of United States' engagement with China. Written with expert knowledge and experience, it never strays into hyperbole or partisanship, and stands out from comparable titles by managing to be immensely reasonable yet still packing an unequivocal punch."—Bookish Asia "As a piece of analysis, Getting China Wrong is first class. As a prescription for strategy, it is just a beginning. But it ought be read as widely as possible in Australia."—Paul Monk, The Australian "Friedberg argues in crisp, compelling prose that it got most of its calculations of Chinese behaviour just plain wrong over the past 30 years."—Rana Mitter, The Critic "...makes for chilling reading in the light of events in the Ukraine."—Bloomberg "...a compact, well-argued critique of U.S. policy."—Foreign Policy "This groundbreaking book chronicles the many misperceptions that American leaders have held about China in recent decades and subjects them to withering scrutiny ... an important milestone in redirecting American thinking about China."—James Mann, author of The China Fantasy and About Face: A History of America's Curious Relationship with China "Aaron Friedberg delivers the definitive history of America's failed strategy of 'engagement' with the Communist regime in Beijing. But Friedberg doesn't abandon his readers in a cold bath of disillusionment: he illuminates a path towards a winning strategy for America and other free nations."—Matt Pottinger, Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution and former US Deputy National Security Advisor "There is simply no better assessor of China's power and its consequences for the international order than Aaron Friedberg. This book should be used as an operating manual by everyone crafting US policy on how to deal with China."—Kori Schake, Director of Foreign and Defense Policy at the American Enterprise Institute "In this careful and detailed study, Aaron Friedberg astutely explores how and why America's decades-long strategy of 'engagement' with China came asunder -- and he provides a clear and sophisticated policy roadmap for revamping US and Western policies in order to deal with a more assertive and potentially threatening China."—David Shambaugh, George Washington University and author of China's Leaders: From Mao to Now "A telling account of how and why policy-makers, academics, and business embraced a form of engagement with China that proved to be a sincerely optimistic but hopelessly wrong gamble. A trenchant and accessible foray into the geopolitics of our time and our future."—George Magnus, Research Associate, China Centre, University of Oxford and SOAS "I Getting China Wrong, Aaron Friedberg lays out a balanced and practical approach for managing relations with China. Most compellingly, he argues that liberal democracies must begin by taking their own side in this rivalry, making clear the stark differences of a future defined by the Chinese Communist Party. This book is essential reading for anyone seeking to navigate a multipolar world order."—Admiral John Richardson, USN (Ret.), 31st Chief of Naval Operations "Friedberg's Getting China Wrong nails down half a century of mistaken American assumptions about China's future path. This essential non-partisan primer highlights the increasingly bold strategy of the Chinese Communist Party to defeat Western expectations."—François Godement, Senior Advisor for Asia at Institut Montaigne, Paris "A decade ago, Aaron Friedberg courted unpopularity with A Contest for Supremacy, a book anticipating the imminent failure of engaging China at any price. His warnings were demonstrably worth heeding. Now in Getting China Wrong he makes the case that the United States and other democracies still underestimate the struggle ahead. But this is no counsel of despair: instead, Friedberg articulates a multi-layered action agenda, arguing that the best form of defense could well involve a willingness to impose costs."—Rory Medcalf, Head of the National Security College, Australian National University, and author of Indo-Pacific Empire "A splendid book with deep insights into the nature of the Chinese Communist Party dictatorship and an urgent message about the need to uphold and expand the liberal international order in Asia."—Nobu Kanehara, former Deputy National Security Advisor to PM Abe of Japan "The go-to explainer of the Chinese government and the challenge it poses to Western democracies ... Getting China Wrong makes a critical contribution to the debates over the nature of the CCP."—Law and Liberty "Aaron Friedberg's Getting China Wrong examines the past few decades to understand how we got here. It is grim but essential reading."—Free Beacon "A[n] immensely important look at China, Friedberg's book is an excellent analysis of what has got us into another Cold War."—Sun News AustinTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction 1. The Origins of Engagement 2. Rationales and Expectations 3. Politics: "The Party Leads Everything" 4. Economics: "A bird in a cage" 5. Strategy: "The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" 6. Getting China Right Notes

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Book SynopsisOn 24 February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, giving rise to the deadliest conflict on European soil since the Second World War. How could this happen in twenty-first-century Europe? Why did Putin decide to escalate Russia’s war against Ukraine, a war which began with Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014? In this timely book, Gwendolyn Sasse analyses the background to this war and examines the factors that led to Putin’s fateful decision. She retraces the history of Ukraine’s struggle for independence from Russia and shows how democratic developments in Ukraine had become a risk for Russia’s political system. She also shows that ambiguous Western policy towards Russia encouraged elites in the Kremlin to think that they had more room for action than they did. The result is a brilliant analysis of the background to the war, a concise account of the course of the war itself and a timely reflection on what its consequences will be – for Ukraine, for Russia and for the West. An indispensable book for anyone who wants to understand the most dangerous conflict of our time.Trade Review‘Clear, succinct, to the point. Gwendolyn Sasse brings a wealth of knowledge on Ukraine and Russia to answer key questions about the origins of the Russo-Ukrainian war and its consequences. A must read to understand the largest military conflict in Europe since the Second World War.’Serhii Plokhy, author of The Russo-Ukrainian War‘A concise, authoritative and penetrating account of the historical background, course and likely consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine.’Timothy Garton Ash, author of Homelands: A Personal History of Europe‘the clearest account of the complicated histories of the Donbass and Crimean issues’Sheila Fitzpatrick, Sydney Morning HeraldTable of ContentsChapter 1. Why This War? Why Now? Ukraine Chapter 2. Independence and Territory Chapter 3. Protest and Transformation Russia Chapter 4. Authoritarianism and (Neo)Imperialism The War Against Ukraine Chapter 5. The Annexation of Crimea in 2014 Chapter 6. The War in Donbas Since 2014 Chapter 7. The War of Aggression Since 24 February 2022 Chapter 8. Consequences of the War Outlook

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Book SynopsisLabour leader Harold Wilson was once asked how difficult he found being prime minister of the United Kingdom. Not half as difficult as being Leader of the Opposition', he replied. Sadly for the Labour Party, much of the last century has been spent in shadow government. But were these wasted years in the Party's history?Or did they offer vital opportunities for creation and improvement? InKeeping the Red Flag Flyingpolitical historians Mark Garnett, Gavin Hyman and Richard Johnson offer the first in-depth account of Labour's periods out of office since becoming the Official Opposition in 1922. They argue that, far from being barren periods in the Party's history, Labour's opposition years from MacDonald to Starmer have been undervalued and misunderstood. Across the book's eight chapters they scrutinise Labour's approach to reforming the party machinery, its development of policy proposals, its success in appealing to the wider electorate and its skill in opposing the go

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Book SynopsisFrom the fraught world of geopolitics to business and the academy, it's more vital than ever that Westerners and East Asians understand how each other thinks. As Jin Li shows in this groundbreaking work, the differences run deep. Li explores the philosophical origins of the concept ofselfin both cultures and synthesizes her findings with cutting-edge psychological research to reveal a fundamental contrast. Westerners tend to think of the self asbeing, as a stable entity fixed in time and place. East Asians think of the self as relational and embedded in a process ofbecoming. The differences show in our intellectual traditions, our vocabulary, and our grammar. They are even apparent in our politics: the West is more interested in individual rights and East Asians in collective wellbeing. Deepening global exchanges may lead to some blurring and even integration of these cultural tendencies, but research suggests that the basic self-models, rooted in long-standing philosophies, are likely to endure. The Self in the West and East Asiais an enriching and enlightening account of a crucial subject at a time when relations between East and West have moved center-stage in international affairs.

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