Social and political philosophy Books

Book SynopsisHow Democracy Survives explores how liberal democracy can better adapt to the planetary challenges of our time by evolving beyond the Westphalian paradigm of the nation state.The authors bring perspectives from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America, their chapters engaging with the concept of transnational democracy by tracing its development in the past, assessing its performance in the present, and considering its potential for survival in this century and beyond. Coming from a wide array of intellectual disciplines and policymaking backgrounds, the authors share a common conviction that our global institutionsboth governments and international organizationsmust become more resilient, transparent, and democratically accountable in order to address the cascading political, economic, and social crises of this new epoch, such as climate change, mass migration, more frequent and severe natural disasters, and resurgent authoritarianism.This book Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I: The Forgotten Promise of 1945 1. The Other American Dream: The One World Order and Human Rights 2. We Were Once Colonized: Nehru, India and Afro-Asianism at the United Nations 3. The Peaceful Settlement of Disputes and Chapter VI of the UN Charter: Forgotten ‘Cardinal Feature’ of the Dumbarton Oaks Proposals? 4. The Postwar European Integration Process and the Progressive Construction of a Supranational Legal Order 5. Democracy and the Spectacle of Consent: The Forgotten Promise of the United Nations Part II: Globalizing Consent 6. Perceived Inequality and Democratic Support: A Close Analysis from the Asian Barometer Survey 7. Africa, its Diaspora, Transitional Justice, and Global Democracy: Towards a World Parliament 8. ‘World Organization Through Democracy’: Clarence Streit and the Genesis of the Present World Order 9. Current Proposals for Closer Cooperation among Democracies 10. Representation and Participation of Citizens at the United Nations: The Democratic Legitimacy of the UN and Ways to Improve It Part III: Confronting the Anthropocene 11. The Climate Commons and the Survival of Democracy 12. Democracies, Authoritarians, and Climate Change: Do Regime Types Matter? 13. Democracy to Avert Ecocide 14. What Disaster Response Can Teach Us about Democracy in the Anthropocene 15. Democracy in the Age of Automation, Robotics, and Advanced AI Epilogue

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Book SynopsisA key question for the contemporary world: What is Putin's ideology? This book analyses this ideology, which it terms Putinism. It examines a range of factors that feed into the ideology conservative thought in Russia from the nineteenth century onwards, Russian and Soviet history and their memorialisation, Russian Orthodox religion and its political connections, a focus on traditional values, and Russia's sense of itself as a unique civilisation, different from the West and due a special, respected place in the world. The book highlights that although the resulting ideology lacks coherence and universalism comparable to that of Soviet-era Marxism-Leninism, it is nevertheless effective in aligning the population to the regime and is flexible and applicable in different circumstances. And that therefore it is not attached to Putin as a person, is likely to outlive him, and is potentially appealing elsewhere in the world outside Russia, especially to countries that feel belittled by

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the policy, ideology and politics of Xi Jinping, State President and General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and China's ruler for life.Through comparisons with former CCP leaders, including Deng Xiaoping, it assesses whether, having abandoned many of the key precepts of the Era of Reform and the Open Door, the conservative supreme leader's restitution of Maoist standards might enable China to sustain economic growth and project hard and soft power worldwide. The book also examines whether the Communist Party will succeed in retaining the support of 1.4 billion Chinese in the face of unprecedented challenges in the economic and geopolitical arenas. It also provides a comprehensive picture of Xi's rise to power; his AI-assisted and legalistic surveillance and control mechanisms; China's evolving economic system; Xi's foreign and national-security policies and the implications of the 20th Party Congress of October 2022 from both domestic and foTable of ContentsForeword/Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations 1 Introduction: Retrogressions under Xi Jinping in Light of the Institutional Reforms of His Relatively Liberal Forebears 2 The Rise of Xi Jinping, His Work Style and Members of the Xi Faction 3 Xi’s Ideological Agenda: To Push Forward Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era 4 Xi Jinping’s Surveillance-State Apparatus and Its Impact on Society 5 Xi’s Economic Agenda: Boosting Party Control over Business while Avoiding Decoupling from the International Marketplace 6 Xi’s Foreign Policy Agenda: China to Become Rule-Setter of the World 7 Conclusion: The 20th Party Congress and Beyond: Xi Jinping Becomes “Leader for Life” but China Faces Unprecedented Challenges Index

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Book SynopsisIn this book, Josep M. Colomer argues, against much conventional wisdom, that political polarization is embedded in the constitutional design.The book puts forth that sustained conflict and institutional gridlock are not mainly questions of character, personalities, or determined by socioeconomic or cultural inequalities. They are, above all, the result of the formula of separation of powers between the Presidency and Congress, which, together with a system of only two parties, fosters adversarial politics and polarization. Colomer contends that in the past, bipartisan cooperation and domestic peace flourished only under a foreign existential threat, such as during the Cold War. Once such a threat vanished, unsettled issues and new social concerns have broadened the public agenda and triggered again animosity and conflict.Constitutional Polarization offers innovative and relevant insights in political science to a broad readership without technical or academic jTrade Review"Many who worry about the state of American democracy adopt a narrow focus and consequently propose specific reform proposals such as ranked-choice voting or campaign finance restrictions. This book by an eminent scholar of comparative politics situates American democracy in a broader historical, comparative, and—especially--international context. Along the way, it makes a welcome shift in the focus of attention from what is going on inside the heads of voters to what is occurring in the larger social, economic, and international worlds in which they live."Morris P. Fiorina, Stanford University and Hoover Institution"In this brilliant book, Josep Colomer documents how the visionary framers of the US Constitution devised the doctrine of separation of powers to curb monarchical rule and the follies of immoderate majorities. Although presidentialism generally succeeded in a world long dominated by imperial powers, he shows how in recent decades the increased gridlock of divided government continues to undermine genuine democratic governance."Arturo Valenzuela, Georgetown University and co-author (with Juan J. Linz) of The Failure of Presidential DemocracyTable of ContentsIntroduction: It’s the Institutions, stupid! Part 1: A Tamed Democracy 1. Democracy Was Only for Small Countries 2. From Empire to Federation 3. Montesquieu Did Not Speak English Part 2: An Elected King with the Name of President 4. The Archaic Presidential Election 5. Biased Filters and Checks 6. The Presidentialist Temptation Part 3: Two Parties with Narrow Agendas 7. The Framers Did Not Like Factions 8. The Unforeseen Emergence of Only Two Parties 9. Shifting Majorities and Accordion Agendas Part 4: Either Internal Anger or External Fear 10. Anarchy and Civil War 11. Cold-War Fear and Cooperation 12. The Ongoing Turmoil Epilogue: A Future in Hope Conclusion

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisIn Aristotle and Law, George Duke argues that Aristotle''s seemingly dispersed statements on law and legislation are unified by a commitment to law''s status as an achievement of practical reason. This book provides a systematic exposition of the significance and coherence of Aristotle''s account of law, and also indicates the relevance of this account to contemporary legal theory. It will be of great interest to scholars and students in jurisprudence, philosophy, political science and classics.Trade Review'… a delightful and rewarding work. Indeed, I recommend this book not just to those interested in Aristotle's theory of law, but to anyone looking for a lucid overview of many of the scholarly debates about Aristotelian ethics and politics.' Steven C. Skultety, The Review of PoliticsTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Law as rational restraint; 2. The legislator; 3. The constitutional relativity of law; 4. The common advantage and political justice; 5. Stability and obedience; 6. Natural justice and natural law; 7. Equity and the spoudaios; Conclusion; References; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis Element examines the many facets of ethical realism and the issues at stake in metaethical debates about itboth between realism and non-realist alternatives, and between different versions of realism itself. Starting with a minimal core characterization of ethical realism focused on claims about meaning and truth, we go on to develop a narrower and more theoretically useful conception by adding further claims about objectivity and ontological commitment. Yet even this common understanding of ethical realism captures a surprisingly heterogeneous range of views. In fact, a strong case can be made for adding several more conditions in order to arrive at a proper paradigm of realism about ethics when understood in a non-deflationary way. We then develop this more robust realism, bringing out its distinctive take on ethical objectivity and normative authority, its unique ontological commitments, and both the support for it and some challenges it faces.Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1. What is Ethical Realism?; 2. Going Further: Why More is Plausibly Needed; 3. Ardent Ethical Realism and the Value-Laden World; 4. Support and Challenges.

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Book SynopsisOnce one understands the nature and magnitude of defuturing as the negation of world futures, how one has to account for the history and making of the material world including design - dramatically changes. Defuturing as our condition forces the generation of a new philosophy of design. With these thoughts this book presents a radically new understanding of the history, context and futures of designing. First published in 1999, now reissued with a new preface by the author, Defuturing: A New Design Philosophy is a prescient and powerful account of what it means to comprehend that we live in world that is taking away futures for ourselves and non-human others. Arguing that designing is doubly implicated in this process, first in its roles in helping to create the unsustainable, but second, re-thought through the lens of defuturing, as a mode of acting in the world that can help contest the negation of the world, Defuturing transforms our comprehension of designing and ofTrade ReviewDefuturing: A New Design Philosophy bears true to its title. It’s the confident announcement of a new approach to design by a fiercely independent and original design thinker. Nobody has grasped with greater clarity design’s role in creating the structural logic of sustainability constitutive of today’s world as Tony Fry. In these pages, the reader will find a most perceptive exploration of the profound historicity of design, from which there emerges a genuinely new way of looking at the world, one that goes well beyond the redeeming rhetoric of humanism and the nihilistic lucubrations of posthumanism. By conjuring up a critical new awareness of design’s powers of world making, Fry is able to craft the contours of a compelling redirective design practice and a novel lexicon for making otherwise. * Arturo Escobar, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina, USA *Table of ContentsList of images Tony Fry's Defuturing: A new design philosophy by Clive Dilnot Preface to the 2020 edition Preface to the original edition INTRODUCTION An introductory lexicographical review Design Sustain-ability and unsustainability Defuturing Relationality Guided Reading PART I: An opening 1. TECHNOLOGY, WARRING AND THE CRISIS OF HISTORY Technology in flux From structure and from techné From war to warring The crisis of the crisis of history PART II: History, modernity and defuturing 2. MADE IN AMERICA: A WORLD PRODUCTION America Then and now Productivism and a history of world making 3. DWELLING IN STREAMLINES AMERICA Streamlining Design The New York World's Fair Utopia: A designing idea 4. TOTAL DESIGN: EUROPE The Bauhaus, as told The Vkhutemas postscript PART III: One point: Four locations 5. DESIGN AND THE BODY OF COMPETITION The body Bodies of the body The measure that measures the standards Openings as endings 6. TIME AND CHINA Time The years of 1926 China: Four perspectives 7. TELEVISUAL IN-HUMAN DESIGN The televisual Perspectives and horizons Ecology of the image 8. THE AUTONOMIC TECHNOCENTRICITY OF COMPUTERS The reason machine The force of design Reiterations towards making decisions CONCLUDING IMPRESSIONS Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisHow did Nietzsche and Sartre come to represent alternative modes of philosophy as antithetical thinkers? What exactly is their philosophical connection and how far does it extend? Tracing the connections between the existentialist philosophies of Nietzsche and Sartre, Nik Farrell Fox provides new readings attuned to questions of the self, politics and ethics. From their earliest to final writings, Fox brings into critical view the full trajectory of their lives and philosophy to reveal the underexplored parallels that connect them. Through engaging with new Nietzsche and Sartre studies as authoritative strands of interpretation, this book identifies both philosophers as twin thinkers of a deconstructive and paradoxical logic. Fox further re-examines their work in light of contemporary debates concerning posthumanism, vibrant materialism, quantum theory and speculative realism.The Parallel Philosophies of Sartre and Nietzsche presents two iconic existentialists as thoroughly conTrade ReviewThe title of the book delivers what it promises. With these parallels, Nietzsche and Sartre – and this is a very important reference from Farrell Fox – are of particular interest to a modern, post- and transhumanist philosophy ... and inspiring read. * Sartre Society (Bloomsbury Translation) *A beautifully-written tour de force, Nik Farrell Fox’s study of Sartre and Nietzsche goes far beyond simple comparison to illuminate previously unexplored aspects of both philosophers’ works and their unexpected and liberating influence on twenty first-century thought in the Age of the Anthropocene. An impressive and imaginative work. * Christina Howells, Professor of French, University of Oxford, UK *Table of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction: An Imaginary Contamination Chapter 2: Reading Nietzsche and Sartre Chapter 3: Heidegger, Derrida and the Metaphysical Charge Chapter 4: The Decentred Self Chapter 5: A Creative Ethics Chapter 6: Smooth Ontology Chapter 7: Posthuman Progenitors Chapter 8: Lebensphilosophie Conclusion: Twin Philosophers of Paradox Index

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Book SynopsisWhat I love, and those whom I love, you, that is to say us in so far as we are capable of forming a we, all this I love, and I love them, and I love you infinitely (Bernard Steigler April 1952- August 2020).When Bernard Stiegler writes I love you in the quote above, he openly provokes us to question or experience the meaning or contact of these words. He also invites us to question the relationship between a thinker''s life and their thought. For Stiegler, they were inextricable. His life was one that focused on friendship but not friendships at a purely social level but ones that produced philosophy, politics, and existential truths.Bringing together scholars who knew Stiegler, including Shaj Mohan, Achille Mbembe, Divya Dwivedi, Peter Szendy, and Emily Apter, this volume provides an original - and personal - insight into his life and philosophy. Each piece gives a sense of the wide range of Stiegler's work and how it affected the praxis of the philosopher iTable of Contents1. Introduction: Deconstruction: The Portrait of the Family, Shaj Mohan (India) 2. Preface, Jean-Luc Nancy (Marc Bloch University, France) 3. To Live, Cellulairement – In memory of Bernard Stiegler, Emily Apter (New York University, USA) 4. Memories, Didier Cahen (France) 5. Sysiphus, Michel Deguy (France) 6. Of Adoption and Inheritance: For Bernard, Divya Dwivedi (Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India) 7. A Thinking of Suspension: Melancholy and Politics Where There Is No Epoch, Erich Hörl (Leuphana University, Germany) 8. The Wind Rises – In Memory of Bernard, Yuk Hui (City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong) 9. The Universal Right to Breathe, Achille Mbembe (Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research, South Africa) 10. A Good Night for Long Walks: For Bernard Stiegler, Shaj Mohan (India) 11. Melancholia, Jean-Luc Nancy (Marc Bloch University, France) 12. I Will Have Been Late, Peter Szendy (Brown University, USA) 13. Psychoanalysis and Technè, Esther Tellermann (France) 14. The Spirit of Bernard Stiegler, Colette Tron (France) 15. Bernard Stiegler: Friendship and Fellowship, Maël Montévil (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France) Notes on Contributors Biblography Index

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Book SynopsisWhy Cicero Matters shows us how the Roman philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius, better known as Cicero, can help realize a new political world. His impact on humanitarianism, the Enlightenment and the Founding Fathers of America is immense. Yet we give Julius Caesar all our attention. Why? What does this say about modern politics and political culture? This book gives us Cicero as an antidote to the myth of the strong man of history. Reading Cicero's On Duties alongside two more introspective philosophical texts, On Friendship and On Old Age, we see how Cicero turned politics into a higher, intellectual form of art, believing in education, in culture and above all in the power of philosophy to instil morality. Cicero has reassuring words on the indispensable work philosophers make, and why the common good needs philosophy. In an age when anti-intellectualism runs rampant, Why Cicero Matters introduces us to an ancient thinker who argues cultureTrade ReviewThis book offers an engaging introduction to key elements of Cicero’s political philosophy and shows how his views and arguments can still be relevant in contemporary society: comparisons with the modern world from the author’s personal perspective provide stimulating food for thought. * Gesine Manuwald, University College London, UK *Almost in the style of his subject’s Letters, Bufacchi strikes up a warm and witty friendship with Rome’s most famous orator and statesman; this short book offers a superb introduction to Cicero’s political and philosophical thought, yet is also a thought-provoking meditation on the rise of authoritarian populism today. * Victoria Rimell, Professor of Latin, University of Warwick, UK *An engaging and accessible account of Cicero, that emphasises his contemporary relevance. Bufacchi shows how Cicero’s criticisms of the authoritarian populists of his day apply to the little Caesars of today. He draws a compelling parallel between Cicero’s defence of the Roman Republic and our current defence of democracy, showing how it likewise turns on reviving the mixed constitution. * Richard Bellamy, Professor of Political Science, University College London, UK *A lively and entertaining argument that the republican politician-philosopher Cicero can speak to us on key issues that concern us today – when economic self-interest saps citizen solidarity, social media erodes relationships, and populist autocrats undermine democracy – all richly illuminated by reference to historical and contemporary events and ideas. * Iseult Honohan, Associate Professor Emeritus, Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin, Ireland *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction: It’s All Shakespeare’s Fault 1. Cicero, Homo Philosophicus 2. Politics as Ethics 3. The People’s Republic 4. The Value of Friendship 5. Getting Old, With Decorum 6. Rome Needs Philosophy Epilogue: Why Read Cicero Today Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisNiccolo Machiavelli was born in Florence in 1469. He was one of the foremost historians, philosophers and writers of the Italian Renaissance, but it was by working as an official in the Florentine Government that he made his living. Advising princes was a dangerous game, and after the Medici retook the city he found himself exiled until his death in 1527.

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Book SynopsisPresents Judith Butler's interest in the plurality of bodily lives and her search for a social transformation conducive to a more livable world

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for The Green Carnation Prize 2014This is not a fairytale. This is a story about how sex and money and power police our dreams.'Clear-eyed, witty and irreverent, Laurie Penny is as ruthless in her dissection of modern feminism and class politics as she is in discussing her own experiences in journalism, activism and underground culture. This is a book about poverty and prejudice, online dating and eating disorders, riots in the streets and lies on the television. The backlash is on against sexual freedom for men and women and social justice and feminism needs to get braver.Penny speaks for a new feminism that takes no prisoners, a feminism that is about justice and equality, but also about freedom for all. It's about the freedom to be who we are, to love who we choose, to invent new gender roles, and to speak out fiercely against those who would deny us those rights. It is a book that gives the silenced a voice a voice that speaks of unspeakable things.Trade ReviewLaurie Penny is such an insightful, provocative and bold commentator. She is always relevant without slavishly following a supposedly 'topical' agenda set by others. Most importantly, she never compromises her compassion and humanity in the myopic pursuit of an idea. It's such qualities that make Unspeakable Things essential for anybody who truly believes in equality and freedom * Irvine Welsh *Full of the rhythm and repetition on oratory and persuasive and unsettling in its view of western society as a damaging dystopia causing untold harm to all but those at the very top. It is angry and challenging, but also full of compassion – including for men, many of whom have also been disenfranchised by systems they did not choose … Unspeakable Things is an impressive, inspiring and, I suspect, important manifesto * Melissa Harrison, Financial Times *Penny thrills in being provocative and dramatic … She writes well about the social pressures they are under to behave with macho “masculinity” at all times * Daisy Wyatt, Independent *Powerfully argued … Penny has a great turn of phrase * Evening Standard *As Penny demonstrates, in a great, defining chapter on the internet, we are dealing with a new world order … This book is funny and cheeky … and refreshingly generous * Observer *A raw, bright, urgent voice … Like Caitlin Moran, another compulsive and essentially self-taught writer, she went to places others didn’t and brought back things they had missed … Dazzling … Penny writes ... with intimacy and insight that smack of real knowledge * Guardian *Laurie Penny can certainly coin a phrase … she writes well, inclusively and cogently with passion ... Let’s hear it for "young, lady writers" behaving badly * Herald *Unflinching ... In Unspeakable Things, Laurie Penny reclaims the word insolent, turning it into a compliment and a call to arms * TLS *The spiky subversiveness of Laurie's journalism is best summed up by her sub-title, 'sex, lies, and revolution'. This is feminism with no apologies given, no compromises surrendered and a sharp-edged radicalism all the better for both. -- Mark Perryman * Philosophical Football *

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Book SynopsisA wonderful introduction to history''s most influential scribblers.--Steven PinkerWhat is truly at stake in politics? Nothing less than how we should live, as individuals and as communities. This book goes beyond the surface headlines, the fake news and the hysteria to explore the timeless questions posed and answers offered by a diverse group of the 30 greatest political thinkers who have ever lived.Are we political, economic, or religious animals? Should we live in small city-states, nations, or multinational empires? What values should politics promote? Should wealth be owned privately or in common? Do animals also have rights? There is no idea too radical for this global assortment of thinkers, which includes: Confucius; Plato; Augustine; Machiavelli; Burke; Wollstonecraft; Marx; Nietzsche; Gandhi; Qutb; Arendt; Nussbaum, Naess and Rawls. In each brief chapter, the authors paint a vivid portrait of these often prescient, always compelling poTrade ReviewA wonderful introduction to history’s most influential scribblers, filled with clear explanations and engaging detail. -- Steven Pinker, author of 'Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress'The authors have written a kind of Plutarch’s Lives of the great political philosophers. Their lively and engaging style make even the most abstract ideas come alive. This is a book that can be read and enjoyed by all. -- Steven B. Smith, Alfred Cowles Professor of Political Science, Yale University, author of Political PhilosophyAn elegant meditation on political power … Garrard and Murphy take a self-critical view of citizenship, insisting that "you may not care about politics, but politics cares about you" -- Eric Beerbohm, Professor of Government, Harvard UniversityThis book offers an excellent preparation for those who seek to distinguish the best from the worst in political life. -- Michael D. Gillespie, Professor of Political Science and Philosophy, Duke UniversityTable of ContentsThinker Dates Introduction: Politics - Might Made Right ANCIENTS 1 Confucius: The Sage 2 Plato: The Dramatist 3 Aristotle: The Biologist 4 Augustine: The Realist MEDIEVALS 5 Al-Farabi: The Imam 6 Maimonides: The Lawgiver 7 Thomas Aquinas: The Harmonizer MODERNS 8 Niccolò Machiavelli: The Patrio 9 Thomas Hobbes: The Absolutist 10 John Locke: The Puritan 11 David Hume: The Sceptic 12 Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The Citizen 13 Edmund Burke: The Counter-Revolutionary 14 Mary Wollstonecroft: The Feminist 15 Immanuel Kant: The Purist 16 Thomas Paine: The Firebrand 17 Georg Wilhelm Freidrich Hegel: The Mystic 18 James Madison: The Founder 19 Alexis de Tocqueville: The Prophet 20 John Stuart Mill: The Individualist 21 Karl Marx: The Revolutionary 22 Friedrich Nietsche: The Psychologist CONTEMPORARIES 23 Mohandas Gandhi: The Warrior 24 Sayyid Qutb: The Jihadist 25 Hannah Arendt: The Pariah 26 Mao Zedong: The Chairman 27 Friedrich Hayek: The Libertairan 28 John Rawls: The Liberal 29 Martha Nussbaum: The Self-Developer 30 Arne Naess: The Mountaineer Conclusion: The Unhappy Marriage of Politics and Philosophy Suggested Further Reading Acknowledgements Index

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Book SynopsisManuel DeLanda provides the first detailed overview of the assemblage theory found in germ in Deleuze and Guattari's writings. Through a series of case studies DeLanda shows how the concept can be applied to economic, linguistic, and military history as well as to metaphysics, science, and mathematics.

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Book SynopsisSaitya Brata Das rigorously examines the theologico-political works of Schelling, setting his thought against Hegel's and showing how he prepared the way for the post-metaphysical philosophy of Martin Heidegger, Franz Rosenzweig and Jacques Derrida.

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the historical emergence of the council system in Russia and Germany by the end of the First World War, reconstructing the intellectual history of council democracy in 20th century political theory.

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Book SynopsisThroughout the history of human societies, the question of 'we' has always entailed the question of 'us and them'. Tristan Garcia's looks at the history of how people have imagined themselves in their societies. All in all, this work is a rigorous engagement with the history of humanity's attempts at being collectively.

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Book SynopsisThis collection rethinks the relationship between objectivity and fiction beyond the realism nominalism divide through a series of 'objective fictions', such as fetishes, semblances, lies, rumours, sophistry, fantasies and conspiracy theories. The contributors include Slavoj i ek, Mladen Dolar, Frank Ruda and Samo Tom i?.Trade Review"An impressive and even exciting collection by a formidable group of scholars, and very topical as well. With essays on conspiracy theories, money, capital, rumors, and the very notion of objectivity all of the essays show how the intersection of psychoanalysis and Marxism leads to rich and surprising insights." -Ed Pluth, California State University

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Book SynopsisOffers a new perspective on Arendt as a political thinker as well as a political actorTrade Review"Robaszkiewicz and Weinman provide an invaluable map through Arendt's political though, helping the reader to understand her relevance to contemporary debates. Both scholarly and accessible, this is an important work." -Timothy Secret, University of Winchester

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Book SynopsisWith this nuanced and interdisciplinary work, political theorist Mihaela Mihai tackles several interrelated questions: How do societies remember histories of systemic violence? Who is excluded from such histories' cast of characters? And what are the political costs of selective remembering in the present? Building on insights from political theory, social epistemology, and feminist and critical race theory, Mihai argues that a double erasure often structures hegemonic narratives of complex violence: of widespread, heterogeneous complicity and of "impure" resistances, not easily subsumed to exceptionalist heroic models. In dialogue with care ethicists and philosophers of art, she then suggests that such narrative reductionism can be disrupted aesthetically through practices of "mnemonic care," that is, through the hermeneutical labor that critical artists deliver—thematically and formally—within communities' space of meaning. Empirically, the book examines both consecrated and marginalized artists who tackled the memory of Vichy France, communist Romania, and apartheid South Africa. Despite their specificities, these contexts present us with an opportunity to analyze similar mnemonic dynamics and to recognize the political impact of dissenting artistic production. Crossing disciplinary boundaries, the book intervenes in debates over collective responsibility, historical injustice, and the aesthetics of violence within political theory, memory studies, social epistemology, and transitional justice.Trade Review"Elegantly written and masterfully argued, Mihai's book contributes to debates about the critical role of art in resisting systemic violence and its political oblivion. With outstanding theoretical sophistication, exceptional interdisciplinary breadth, and remarkable empirical depth,it theorizes critical artistic practices as forms of mnemonic care for healthy hermeneutical climates. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the difficult work of resisting the mystification of the past and working toward social justice."—José Medina, Northwestern University"An eloquent and pathbreaking work of political theory that is deeply engaged with history and culture. Resolutely interdisciplinary and comparative, it provides stunningly illuminating insights into the everyday forms of complicity that prop up unjust regimes and the ordinary forms of resistance through which citizens contest domination."—Michael Rothberg, University of California, Los Angeles"Mihai once again challenges received wisdoms about the right way for nations to deal with histories of systemic violence. She makes a compelling case for messier, less triumphalist narratives of the past in favour of the ethical ambiguity of how resistance and complicity actually unfold."—Danielle Celermajer, University of Sydney"Mihaela Mihai has written a daring book that transcends disciplinary, linguistic, and national boundaries."—Catherine Guisan, Contemporary Political Theory"Mihai's book shows us how to understand action differently. In the present moment, as we struggle against the writing of political memory within enclosed perceptual experiences and hermeneutics, we might draw from Mihai's theorization of mnemonic care."—Sue Shon, Krisis: A Journal for Contemporary Philosophy"With Political Memory and the Aesthetics of Care... Mihai not only offers a rich resource for scholars working on questions of complicity and implication across different fields and disciplines – from history, to sociology, to political theory and philosophy, to memory studies, and to comparative literature among others. She also lays the foundation for new and deeper critical inquiries into the ethical demands and political stakes of studying complex involvement in violence."—Sofía Forchieri, CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture"In an argumentative tour de force, Mihai manages to dislocate petrified demarcation lines 'between the good and the bad, to reveal the relationality that underpins even the most exemplary practices of resistance'."—Maria Alina Asavei, The Review of PoliticsTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Tracing the Double Erasure 2. The Aesthetics of Care 3. France's "Dark Years" 4. Romania's Horizons of Hope and Despair 5. The Spectrum of Apartheid in South Africa Conclusion: Heretic Visions, Responsible Futures

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Book SynopsisCulture is not an industry argues that art and culture in the UK need to renew their social contract and re-align with the radical agenda for a more equitable future. Bold and uncompromising, the book offers a powerful vision for change. -- .

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Book SynopsisThis is the second volume, following the well-received edition of Mill’s writing essential to understanding the liberal tradition. His commentary on a full spectrum of issues gives further insight into the strengths and vulnerabilities of liberal democratic theory in practice. Rare and difficult to locate material is here brought to attention and made available. The contribution of Mill’s most authoritative biographer, Nicholas Capaldi, is a singular and unmatched highlight. The tenor of St. Augustine’s Press volumed on Mill is distinct in its intention to place his work in the framework of political philosophy and the conversation of the viability of liberalism as a tradition of thought.

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Book SynopsisPopular philosopher Jordan Peterson has captured the imagination of Western world. For some, Peterson represents all that is wrong with patriarchal culture; for others, he is the Canadian academic prophet who has come to save civilization from dizzying confusion. Regardless of how one feels about him, his influence in North America--and beyond--is difficult to deny. While the "Peterson phenomenon" has motivated numerous articles and responses, much of what has been written is either excessively fawning or overly critical. Little has been produced that explores Peterson's thought--especially his immensely popular 12 Rules for Life--within the context of his overall context and scholarly output. How is one to understand the ascendency of Jordan Peterson and why he's become so popular? Does his earlier Maps of Meaning shed light on how one might understand his worldwide bestseller, 12 Rules for Life? In Myth and Meaning in Jordan Peterson, scholars across various disciplines explore various aspects of Jordan Peterson's thought from a Christian perspective. Both critical and charitable, sober-minded and generous, this collection of ten essays is a key resource for those looking to faithfully engage with Jordan Peterson's thought.

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Book SynopsisIt is frequently said that we are living through the end of politics, the end of social upheavals, the end of utopian folly. Consensual realism is the order of the day. But political realists, remarks Jacques Ranciere, are always several steps behind reality, and the only thing which may come to an end with their dominance is democracy. In these subtle and perceptive essays, Ranciere argues that since Plato and Aristotle politics has always constructed itself as the art of ending politics, that realism is itself utopian, and that what has succeeded the polemical forms of class struggle is not the wisdom of a new millennium but the return of old fears, criminality and chaos. Whether he is discussing the confrontation between Mitterrand and Chirac, French working-class discourse after the 1830 revolution, or the ideology of recent student mobilizations, his aim is to restore philosophy to politics and give politics back its original and necessary meaning: the organization of dissent.Trade ReviewRancière's writings offer one of the few consistent conceptualizations of how we are to continue to resist. -- Slavoj Zizek

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Book SynopsisWhile the past 300 years have witnessed immense growth in productive capacity, the ‘logic’ of capitalist production is now pushing progress in all the wrong directions. We’ve passed the point where our biggest enemy is material scarcity. Our problems no longer revolve around insufficient production, but iniquitous distribution - and the fact that we’re fast running out of planet - and these are problems that capitalism cannot solve. Taking in a diverse range of contemporary and historical evidence - from the Putney Debates of 1647 to Modern Monetary Theory, from John Locke to Thomas Piketty, from the Rights of Man to the rise of identity politics How Capitalism Ends navigates a path through current affairs, history, economics and philosophy and sets the scene for the conversation we, as a civilization, urgently need to begin…

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Book SynopsisTHE FIVE-DAY WORKING WEEK MUST CHANGE: HERE'S HOW.Fingers crossed that this book will shake up the five-day working week.' - Sir Christopher Pissarides, 2010 Nobel Laureate in EconomicsFriday is the New Saturday makes a compelling, provocative and timely case for societal change. Drawing on an eclectic range of economic theory, history and data, Dr Pedro Gomes argues that a four-day working week will bring about a powerful economic renewal for the benefit of all society. It will stimulate demand, productivity, innovation and wages, whilst reducing unemployment and crushing populist movements. The arguments come from both the left and right of the political spectrum to show that a polarised society can still find common ground.In the 1800s, people in the West worked six days each week, resting on Sundays. In the 1900s, firms began to give workers Saturdays off as well, realising that a two-day weekend helped the

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Book SynopsisThe first step on the road to change is to imagine possibility.Imagine A Country offers visions of a new future from an astonishing array of Scottish voices, from comedians to economists, writers to musicians. Edited, curated and introduced by bestselling author Val McDermid and geographer Jo Sharp, it is a collection of ideas, dreams and ambitions, aiming to inspire change, hope and imagination. Featuring:ALI SMITH, PHILL JUPITUS, A.L. KENNEDY, ALAN CUMMING, KERRY HUDSON, GREG HEMPHILL, CAROL ANN DUFFY, CHRIS BROOKMYRE, ALISON WATT, ALASDAIR GRAY, LEILA ABOULELA, IAN RANKIN, SELINA HALES, SANJEEV KOHLI, JACKIE KAY, DAMIAN BARR, ELAINE C. SMITH, ABIR MUKHERJEE, ANNE GLOVER, ALAN BISSETT, LOUISE WELSH, JO CLIFFORD, RICKY ROSS, TRISHNA SINGH, CAMERON McNEISH, ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH, CARLA JENKINS, DON PATERSON, AND MANY MORE . . .Trade ReviewAn ambitious, thought-provoking, diverse collection of imaginings. I laughed, I cried -- WILL DEANA fascinating and rich collection * * The National * *Thoughtful . . . idealistic and interesting * * Scotsman * *

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Book SynopsisStrategy is the craft of a warrior – Miyamoto Musashi Written around 1645, Miyamoto Musashi’s Five Rings is a classic Japanese work on mastery in swordsmanship, leadership and conflict. Musashi was a swordsman, philosopher and strategist, and today his work remains of influence not only in the realm of martial arts but in the business world, too. Musashi’s no-nonsense approach to the martial arts and combat includes eliminating technical flourishes, understanding that technique should simply be understood as defeating your opponent, and appreciating that the same qualities apply in both small- scale and large-scale conflicts. Repeatedly, he stresses the importance of learning through practice, rather than merely reading about them. Produced in a handy pocket format, Five Rings is presented in an exquisite illustrated edition with a brand new modern translation.Table of ContentsIntroduction The Book of Earth Both an introduction to all the books, as well as metaphorically discussing martial arts, leadership and training The Book of Water This book describes Musashi’s approach: Ni-ten ichi-ryu –Two Heavens, One Style. It covers basic technique and fundamental principles. The Book of Fire This book looks at action in the heat of battle, and discusses matters such as different types of timing. The Book of Wind This book discusses what Musashi considers to be the failings of various contemporary schools of sword fighting. The Book of the Void An epilogue. Musashi’s probably Zen-influenced thoughts on consciousness and on how to gain and maintain the correct mindset.

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Book SynopsisPhoenix Andrews is a journalist, writer, broadcaster and researcher. His expertise in politics, fandom, popular culture and digital culture has seen him published in The Times, Independent, Slate, Prospect, New Statesman and other publications, and interviewed by BBC World Service and Times Radio. He likes clothes too much, so much so that he started to make his own (badly).

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Book SynopsisCapitalism, by the twenty-first century, has brought us an era of escalating, overlapping crisis - ecological, political, social - which we may not survive. In this brilliant, wide-ranging conversation, political philosophers Nancy Fraser and Rahel Jaeggi identify capitalism as the source of the devastation and examine its in-built tendency to crisis. In an exchange that ranges across history, critical theory, ecology, feminism and political theory, Fraser and Jaeggi find that capitalism's tendency to separate what is connected - human from non-human nature, commodity production and social reproduction - is at the heart of its crisis tendency. These "boundary struggles," Fraser and Jaeggi conclude, constitute capitalism's most destructive power but are also the sites where a fighting left movement might be able to halt the destruction and build the non-capitalist future we so desperately need.A crucial text for students of political theory, economic theory, and social change, Capitalism offers an invigorated critique of twenty-first century capitalism and an incisive study of our current conjuncture.Trade ReviewAs the world is caught up in a whirlwind of multiple crises - social, ecological, political, civilizational - we desperately need to get our hands on and shut down the source. In this book, two of the most acute minds in critical theory point their fingers towards capitalism. This is the sort of sober and passionate thinking we need in a world careening out of control. -- Andreas MalmAn eloquent, well-reasoned, and thorough account of the key institution of our time - capitalism. For them, capitalism is not only a mode of production but also an institutional order or form of life. Those who have followed Fraser's discussion of recognition or justice, or read Jaeggi on the actuality of alienation, will cherish this brilliant contribution to understanding the world in which we live. -- Robin BlackburnIn their search for a more expansive definition of capitalism, Fraser and Jaeggi maneuver through different prisms: historically, morally, ethically and functionally. In doing this, they point out the weakness of each and the necessity of combining the views each of these prisms in order to come up with an expansive, inclusive and more honest understanding. -- Ron Jacobs * Counterpunch *Table of ContentsPrefaceIntroduction1. Conceptualizing Capitalism2. Historicizing Capitalism3. Criticizing Capitalism4. Contesting Capitalism

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Book SynopsisComforting a family member or friend, soothing children, providing company for the elderly, ensuring that people feel well enough to work; this is all essential labour. Without it, capitalism would cease to function. They Call It Love investigates the work that makes a haven in a heartless world, examining who performs this labour, how it is organised, and how it might change. In this groundbreaking book, Alva Gotby calls this work 'emotional reproduction', unveiling its inherently political nature. It not only ensures people's well-being but creates sentimental attachments to social hierarchy and the status quo. Drawing on the thought of the feminist movement Wages for Housework, Gotby demonstrates that emotion is a key element of capitalist reproduction. To improve the way we relate to one another will require a radical restructuring of society.Trade ReviewA fascinating and exhaustive explanation as to why emotions are a political issue. -- Brit Dawson * AnOther Magazine *They Call It Love shines a light on the invisible labour involved in love, examining who is responsible for performing it, how it can blossom, and why we do it. -- Adele Walton * Dazed *Gotby makes clear our emotional lives are inherently political. Her analysis of the politics of reproductive labour is a cogent criticism of the bourgeois capitalist logics of feeling, of the free labour of intimacy and of normative femininity. -- Adèle Cassigneul * MAI Journal *They Call It Love is a very fine book - one that balances polemical force with careful and rigorous research. In advancing its account of emotional reproduction, it brings together existing bodies of work on unwaged social reproduction and remunerated emotional labour to great effect, shining a light upon a too often overlooked (and heavily gendered) form of work. It is sharp, thoughtful, and well-written, and represents a substantial scholarly achievement. Alva Gotby is a writer and thinker to watch out for. -- Helen Hester, author of Xenofeminism, co-author of After WorkThis thorough book sheds new light on the critics of the political economy on emotional life. It is a welcome addition to the studies on the social meaning of the immaterial production that takes place in the domestic sphere. They Call It Love is a fascinating insider's account of the hidden, economic dimension of our emotional lives whose subject matter will make for passionate arguments and conversations among feminists and scholars in general. -- Leopoldina Fortunati, author of The Arcane of ReproductionGotby's book importantly attempts to underscore and theorise the role of emotions within social reproduction theory. Her concept of 'emotional reproduction' is a reminder that fife-making work is not devoid of affect. -- Sara Farris, author of In the Name of Women’s RightsThey Call It Love is a call to attention: Alva Gotby astutely maps the work of emotional support and care that is done day in and day out and across everyday life. Gotby not only insists that more value be attributed to emotional reproduction, but makes a sophisticated and compelling case for a radical repurposing of emotions, needs, and desires in the struggle for change - a struggle that is necessarily also a struggle for new ways of being together. -- Emma Dowling, author of The Care CrisisGotby powerfully, and persuasively, argues that the labour of love is at the heart of the anti-capitalist struggle . a beautifully written and engaging book that introduces complex ideas and explains them incredibly well. -- Patrycja Sosnowska-Buxton * Sociological Review *

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Book SynopsisFreedom for the spiritual-cultural life, equality and democracy for human rights, initiative and solidarity for the economic sphere! Revolutions happen when society does not change and evolve. Stagnation and resistance create a situation in which a leap in development is required. In nature, living organisms suffering from inner blockages must heal or die. The same applies to the social organism - society - which occasionally requires drastic change in order to avoid complete collapse or violent revolution. With his oft-repeated phrase 'We are the Revolution!', the artist and social activist Joseph Beuys was intimating that true transformation develops from within, in an artistic or creative way. People are the source of metamorphosis in the social realm. But in modern times a 'we' is also required - an agreement with others. The individual connects with fellow human beings, in active cooperation, as a solid foundation for healthy forms of co-existence. In a series of clear and insightful essays, Ulrich Roesch builds on the 'threefold' social thinking of Rudolf Steiner, Joseph Beuys and others, presenting ideas for change in the context of twenty-first century life. Our world has become one through global division of labour and mutual dependence, and this calls for new thinking and rejuvenated social forms. Roesch compares the spirituality and social action of Mahatma Gandhi and Rudolf Steiner, takes the living example of a biodynamic farm as a social organism, and studies the tangible situation of the production and worldwide sale of bananas as a symptom of inequitable commerce.

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Book SynopsisA timely examination of progressive politics in the era of radical populism. Since 2016, western democracies have experienced a series of political earthquakes, spectacularly upending conventional political wisdom. Everywhere, outsider politicians rail against ‘the elite’. Yet, with a few notable exceptions, the populist mood has benefited reactionaries rather than reformers. The status quo might be in crisis, but the emerging voices are those of hate and violence. Where is the progressive alternative? In Trigger Warnings, Jeff Sparrow sympathetically but critically examines key progressive ideas. How does a billionaire position himself as anti-elitist? Are the culture wars worth fighting? What's at stake in the battles over political correctness? Should progressives defend it — and, if so, how? Sparrow traces the evolution of the Left and Right to explain the origins of this strange evolution, untangling some of the thorniest controversies of our time and arguing that the future needn't only belong to nihilists and bigots.Trade Review‘In the age of fake news and the seeming triumph of political populism, Jeff Sparrow’s Trigger Warnings is a vital book for our times. With the integrity of political thought and action under threat from social media sloganeering, with Donald Trump holding court in the White House and “political correctness” the catch-all suffocation of dissent, Jeff Sparrow challenges us to respond with intelligence and conviction.’ -- Tony Birch, author of Ghost River‘Standing on the front line of the culture war it’s clear the right are winning. In this new book, Jeff Sparrow draws lessons from contemporary debates and historical struggles to argue for an alternative to the seemingly oppositional binary of class or identity that dominates liberal discourse. Instead, Sparrow calls for a return to a “direct politics” approach that doesn’t rely on mainstream leaders but argues that a rebuilding of an activist left that sees strength in solidarity and strives for liberation is the only answer. In a time that increasingly feels like it’s now or never, this book is an urgently needed intervention. Don’t just read it, do it.’ * Roz Ward, co-founder of Safe Schools Coalition *‘A crisp, elegant and timely analysis of exactly how the world and everything in it turned to wallaby poop, also whose fault it is and how we might actually be able to do something about it.’ -- First Dog On The Moon, political cartoonist for the Guardian‘Sparrow writes with a unique combination of dignified sensitivity and a concrete commitment to solidarity and movement building.’ * Sam Wallman, political cartoonist *‘He’s one of Australia’s most crucial political thinkers … Trigger Warnings is perhaps his most polemic [book] yet, written with clear activist goals in mind: to intervene in the present, he insists we must understand the complex history that led us here.’ * The Saturday Paper *‘Australian writer Jeff Sparrow succinctly explains in Trigger Warnings how Trump cleverly skewered his political enemies by appealing to their anger at the elite political and media classes (despite being a member of the elite himself) … Trigger Warnings is a rare book that takes a necessary scalpel to the leftist political persuasion of its author as much as, if not more than, the right-wing agenda he opposes.’ -- Antony Loewenstein * Weekend Australian *‘Sparrow’s book is a provocative reading of the culture wars that develops a distinction between ‘direct’ and ‘delegated’ politics.’ -- James Ley * ‘ABR’s Books of the Year 2018’ *‘It’s a highly interesting polemic, dense with information, but well written and full of provocative and challenging views.’ -- Graeme Barrow * Horowhenua Chronicle *‘Trigger Warnings is a brave book, best read as a call for the left to re-examine its strategies during a period of immense danger, to take stock of its key resources and to align itself with the experience of ordinary people without lessening its focus on sexism, racism or homophobia.’ -- Gary Pearce * Overland *

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Book SynopsisFrom Richard Seymour, one of the UK’s leading public intellectuals, comes a characteristic blend of forensic insight and analysis, personal journey, and a vivid respect for the natural world. A planetary fever-dream. An environmental awakening that is also a sleep-walking, unsteadily weaving between history, earth science, psychoanalysis, evolution, biology, art and politics. A search for transcendence, beyond the illusory eternal present. These essays chronicle the kindling of ecological consciousness in a confessed ignoramus. They track the first enchantment of the author, his striving to comprehend the coming catastrophe, and his attempt to formulate a new global sensibility in which we value anew what unconditionally matters.Trade ReviewIn Conversation with Richard Seymour https://jacobin.com/2022/04/richard-seymour-disenchanted-earth-book-review-climate-crisis/ -- Nell Whittaker * Tank Magazine *Six New Books for Activists https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/ecosocialist-bookshelf-april-2022 -- Ecosocialist Bookshelf by Ian Angus * GreenLeft *Review - The Collapse of Our Natural World Won’t Be Like a Hollywood Disaster Movie ‘This is a persuasive call for a new, radical understanding.’ https://jacobin.com/2022/04/richard-seymour-disenchanted-earth-book-review-climate-crisis/ -- Sam Knights * Jacobin *An ecological awakening - A collection of essays by a leading Marxist thinker moves Russell Warfield 'Richard remains one of the sharpest thinkers and most stylish writers on the contemporary Marxist left...never less that interesting and insightful.' https://twitter.com/PressIndigoThe/status/1562400612498767872?s=20&t=HgMDLOmULR890sydOrjSNg -- Russell Warfield * Resurgaence and Ecologist magazine *

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Book SynopsisEgress is the first book to consider the legacy and work of the writer, cultural critic and cult academic Mark Fisher.Narrated in orbit of his death as experienced by a community of friends and students in 2017, it analyses Fisher's philosophical trajectory, from his days as a PhD student at the University of Warwick to the development of his unfinished book on Acid Communism. Taking the word "egress" as its starting point-a word used by Fisher in his book The Weird and the Eerie to describe an escape from present circumstances as experiences by the characters in countless examples of weird fiction-Egress considers the politics of death and community in a way that is indebted to Fisher's own forms of cultural criticism, ruminating on personal experience in the hope of making it productively impersonal.Trade Review"A remarkable interlacing of ambitious theoretical enquiry and raw personal memoir, Egress asks why collective thought and practice today is so broken that it takes a lacerating calamity to rediscover something like community. This is a work of thought in motion and in emotion, searching, deeply wounded but undefeated." -- Robin Mackay, Urbanomic "The dead return to us as our world falls apart. Love and loss ripple into our lives and test our integrity every day. Brutal and provocative, this book is a haunting elegy to Mark's crystalline mind. He sat on the shores of endless worlds" -- Mark Stewart, The Pop Group "Through his Xenogothic blog, and now this often touching book, few have done as much to channel, ruminate around and speculate beyond the spectre of Mark Fisher." -- Steve Goodman (Kode9) "Egress is a remarkable (and inventive) tribute to Mark Fisher's capacities as a thinker, writer, and, perhaps most importantly, teacher. Filled with brilliant new insights into Mark's philosophies and contexts, Matt Colquhoun's book is at once a moving, deeply human act of mourning, as well as a call-to-arms to bring forward the future that Mark's writings make possible."-- Hua Hsu, The New Yorker "By turns a deeply personal memoir, a scholarly and readable introduction to Mark Fisher's work, and a powerful extension of the apparatus of Fisher's thought to new application. Colquhoun perfectly captures the feeling of despair in a time when political and personal hopelessness is ubiquitous, but shows a way through it... this work is very necessary now. This book illuminates the important work of trying to figure out how to mourn: privately, publicly, personally, institutionally, politically...while maintaining a deep connection to Fisher's work and a respect for the tools it can give us to make it through." -- Michelle Spiedel "Colquhoun shuttles along the filaments of Mark Fisher's work with scholarly and deeply personal insights offering not only an introduction to his thought but a sense how we might apply it in the contemporary moment. I can't recommend this book enough." -- Laura Grace Ford, author of Savage Messiah

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Book SynopsisUnderstanding the main political projects of our times, and their plans to expand or shrink the law, is the first step towards achieving greater equality and averting climate disaster. Since 2016, Britain has been ruled by populists, who promise to expand democracy and shrink the law by taking back power from the European Union. Yet what these populists have actually done in power is institute a vast increase in new laws, made by ministers and not Parliament, regulating every aspect of our lives. This move of promising less law while actually expanding it, has been characteristic of our lives for forty years, ever since the neoliberal counter-revolution. Every year, new criminal offences are created; new regulations are introduced. Renton’s book dares us to imagine a world in which workers are winning, and ecocide treated with the urgency that it deserves. These changes can only come about, he argues, if the movements of the oppressed choose to disengage from the law.Trade Review"Renton is one of the most consistently interesting and imaginative political writers in Britain today, and this eloquent attack on the repressive legalism common to populists and neoliberals alike is one of his best yet.""Renton’s experience as a barrister and historian shines through in a learned, and eminently readable, account of the structure of law and the daily business of the Courts."“Meticulously researched and convincingly argued, Renton urges us to quit seeking liberation through legislation, instead wield our collective power for change.”“A cogent, compelling argument that the pursuit of justice requires breaking with the hegemony of law.”All police and prison abolitionists should read this book... it is a timely and sharp intervention, reminding us that laws are not only oppressively enforced but are themselves be a tool of control.”

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Book Synopsis"I’d been an activist for years. I’d marched, protested, blocked the road, been arrested. I’d exposed how banks and tax havens fuel corruption, poverty and environmental destruction. I’d launched a campaign that rewrote the laws on secret company ownership in dozens of countries. My research had contributed to the cluster munitions ban and a treaty to control the arms trade. But despite these efforts, my discomfort about activism was growing. Was I part of the problem too?" The Entangled Activist is the story of how activism is entangled in the problems it seeks to solve, told by a hard-hitting campaigner who through personal experience –– as well as extensively researched psycho-social enquiry –– comes to look at activism very differently. After years of thinking that her task was to ‘get the bastards,’ campaigner, writer and reporter Anthea Lawson came to see that activism often emerges from the same troubles it is trying to fix, and that its demons, including hypocrisy, saviourism, burnout and treating other people badly, can be a gateway to understanding the depth of what really needs to change. Drawing on her own experience, critical analysis and interviews with leading activists, Lawson looks under the surface of our attempts to change the world to offer a timely and eye-opening vision for transformative work. By considering how unexamined shadows and assumptions get in the way of well-intentioned activist goals, and how those at the forefront of sociopolitical change are often caught up in the very systems and ideologies they seek to change, Lawson dismantles hierarchies that have shaped the field for too long. The Entangled Activist is a profound call to acknowledge our entanglement with the world. To those who are worried about the state of things but are skeptical of ‘activism’, it offers possibilities for action that go beyond righteousness and reactivity. And to activists who so want to help, it mindfully unearths a different starting place, one where transforming ourselves is unwaveringly part of transforming the world.

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Book SynopsisIn this book, Tal Ben-Shahar introduces a new interdisciplinary field of study that is dedicated to exploring happiness. The study of happiness ought not be left to psychologists alone. Philosophers, theologians, biologists, economists, and scholars from other disciplines have explored ways of attaining happiness, and to do justice to this important pursuit, we ought to listen to their words and experiment with their prescriptions. Not only does the field of happiness studies embrace different disciplines, it also approaches happiness as a multifaceted and multidimensional variable that includes five parts which form the acronym SPIRE: Spiritual wellbeing Physical wellbeing Intellectual wellbeing Relational wellbeing Emotional wellbeing This book addresses each of these elements of happiness, explains them, and addresses practical ways for their cultivation.Table of ContentsPart I Introducing Happiness Studies 1 Why Happiness Studies? 2 Happiness as Wholebeing 3 The SPIRE of Happiness 4 The Twelve Principles of Happiness 5 Enter the Matrix Part II Applying Happiness Studies 6 In the Workplace 7 In Schools 8 In Society 9 Toward a Happiness Revolution

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