Terrorist Decision-Making
This book analyzes a series of decisions by leaders of three major terrorist organizations and identifies a unique "Decision DNA" for each of them.
Social Cash Transfer in Turkey
This open access book asks whether cash-transfer programs for very low-income households promote social and economic citizenship and, if so, under what conditions. To this end, it brings together elements that are too often considered separately: the transformation of social and economic citizenship rights in a market-centered context, and the increasing popularity of cash transfer as an instrument both of social policy and humanitarian action. We link these by juxtaposing theoretical treatment of citizenship and inclusion with concrete policy case studies set in contemporary Turkey. Cases are taken both from domestic social policy and international relief efforts aimed at Syrian refugees. Theoretical discussion and case studies lead to the conclusion that cash transfer programs can promote economic and social inclusion - if deployed at an appropriate scale; if sufficient financial, technical, and social resources are available; and if program design and implementation promotes market inclusion of beneficiaries both as consumers and workers.
Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics
Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics is a powerful introduction to the topic of the anti-Muslim landscape in the U.S. In it, Kazi shows that Islamophobia is not a set of anti-Muslim attitudes and prejudices. Instead, this book shows how Islamophobia is part of a greater reality: systemic U.S. racism. In other words, Islamophobia is neither a blip nor a break with a racially harmonious American social order, but rather the outcome of destructive foreign policy practices and an enduring history of white supremacy. This book illustrates how popular understandings of Islamophobia are often flawed. For instance, the assumption that the right wing is especially anti-Muslim overlooks the bipartisan history of Islamophobia in the U.S. The author draws from years of ethnographic fieldwork with Muslim American organizations to show how diversity and inequality among Muslims in the U.S. drastically shapes the experience of Islamophobia and racism. While swaths of undocumented, working class, or incarcerated Muslims bear the brunt of U.S. racism, a small subset of relatively privileged Muslim spokespeople hold the platform from which to speak about Islamophobia. The book is engaging for readers, as it shifts between a historical analysis (for instance, of the arrival of enslaved Muslim from Africa during the settling of the United States), the voices of those from the author's research with Muslim American advocacy groups, and commentary on the current political landscape. The book offers a comprehensive overview of the roots of U.S. racism as an inherent part of the nation's economic and foreign policy practices. Since 9/11/2001 and, more recently, the ascendancy of Trump, there remains a growing curiosity about Muslims and Islamophobia. The book offers a nuanced view on racism and Islamophobia that is often missing from popular understandings on the topic.
Global Responses to Terrorism
The terrorist attacks of September 11th and more recent atrocities in Russia, Indonesia and Kenya have demonstrated that terrorism now poses the most dangerous threat to stability, democracy and prosperity around the world. This major new book examines how the world has reacted to, and been affected by, the attacks on September 11th, ensuing war in Afghanistan and President George W. Bush's declaration of a 'war on terror' as the 'first war of the 21st century'. The contributions by distinguished specialists in the field examine the domestic implications of terrorism and counter terrorist initiatives across the world. Few books can boast the quality and range of the contributions to this volume, which locate the war on terror in a truly global and intellectual context.
Bringing Household Services Out of the Shadows
Despite years of growth in the number of women in paid work, gender roles in unpaid housework have remained remarkably rigid. Unpaid housework can be outsourced to non-care household service providers, such as cleaners or housekeepers, however, high prices, a substantial tax burden and a lack of easy access impose barriers to greater formalisation of the household service sector.
The Enablers
Authoritarian regimes in many countries, and the men that lead them, depend on the international management of licit and illicit funds under their control. Frank Vogl shows that curbing their activities for their kleptocratic clients is critical to secure democracy, enhance national security, and ensure international financial stability.
Global State of National Urban Policy 2021
National Urban Policy (NUP) is a key instrument to achieve sustainable urban development in a shared responsibility across countries, regions and cities. The scale and urgency of the current urban challenges has given prominence to NUPs. The COVID-19 crisis has amplified the potential of NUPs in shaping more resilient, green and inclusive cities as part of countries recovery packages.
Zero-Point Hubris
Operating within the framework of postcolonial studies and decolonial theory, this important work starts from the assumption that the violence exercised by European colonialism was not only physical and economic, but also 'epistemic'. Santiago Castro-G籀mez argues that toward the end of the eighteenth century, this epistemic violence of the Spanish Empire assumed a specific form: zero-point hubris. The 'many forms of knowing' were integrated into a chronological hierarchy in which scientific-enlightened knowledge appears at the highest point on the cognitive scale, while all other epistemes are seen as constituting its past. Enlightened criollo thinkers did not hesitate to situate the Black, Indigenous, and mestizo peoples of New Granada in the lowest position on this cognitive scale. Castro-G籀mez argues that in the colonial periphery of the Spanish Americas, Enlightenment constituted not only the position of epistemic distance separating science from all other knowledges, but also the position of ethnic distance separating the criollos from the 'castes'. Epistemic violence--and not only physical violence--is thereby found at the very origin of Colombian nationality.
Zero-Point Hubris
Operating within the framework of postcolonial studies and decolonial theory, this important work starts from the assumption that the violence exercised by European colonialism was not only physical and economic, but also 'epistemic'. Santiago Castro-G籀mez argues that toward the end of the eighteenth century, this epistemic violence of the Spanish Empire assumed a specific form: zero-point hubris. The 'many forms of knowing' were integrated into a chronological hierarchy in which scientific-enlightened knowledge appears at the highest point on the cognitive scale, while all other epistemes are seen as constituting its past. Enlightened criollo thinkers did not hesitate to situate the Black, Indigenous, and mestizo peoples of New Granada in the lowest position on this cognitive scale. Castro-G籀mez argues that in the colonial periphery of the Spanish Americas, Enlightenment constituted not only the position of epistemic distance separating science from all other knowledges, but also the position of ethnic distance separating the criollos from the 'castes'. Epistemic violence--and not only physical violence--is thereby found at the very origin of Colombian nationality.
The Struggles of Post-Independence Nigeria
In The Struggles of Post-Independence Nigeria, Ucheoma Nwagbara argues that despite Nigeria's oil wealth and arable agricultural land, Nigerians are not any better today than they were before independence. Nwagbara examines Nigeria's struggles with corruption, reckless government spending, poverty, inequality, crime, and violent insurgency to show how successive Nigerian leadership has failed to utilize the country's enormous natural and human resources to improve citizens' lives, eradicate poverty, and deliver broadly shared prosperity, especially to the middle class and the poor. Through his analysis, Nwagbara demonstrates that the nationalist ideals of dedicated and accountable leadership behind the struggle for independence in Nigeria have been betrayed as the emergent post-colonial leadership cared only for personal survival and gain. Despite these failures, Nwagbara reveals that Nigeria may still have a chance to improve and recover if Nigerians unite and demand real change through political and social activism.
Practical Sustainability
This book will teach you everything you need to know about sustainable living--from reducing your greenhouse gas footprint to making sure that you are part of the green economy. Along the way, readers will learn about the field of sustainability and the "three E's" of sustainable living--environment, economy, and equity. We are in the midst of great environmental change and all of us need to do everything we can to try to live more gently on the planet. Robert Brinkmann provides a range of options for readers as to what they can do to try to make a difference. Some involve simple lifestyle changes - but he also challenges all of us to commit to make more difficult and more meaningful changes to create a greener, more sustainable world. The book also delves into how we can create more sustainable communities, schools, and organizations. It showcases many examples of people and organizations that are making significant contributions to improving our planet's sustainability that serve as inspiration and guidance for all of us trying to live more sustainably.
The Political Construction of Public Policy
In this book, an international group of public policy scholars revisit the stage of formulating policy solutions by investigating the basic political dimensions inherent to this critical phase of the policy process. The book focuses attention on how policy makers craft their policy proposals, match them with public problems, debate their feasibility to build coalitions and dispute their acceptability as serious contenders for government consideration. Based on international case studies, this book is an invitation to examine the uncertain and often indeterminate aspects of policy-making using qualitative analysis embedded in a political perspective.
Pathways Into Creative Working Lives
This book presents research on pathways into creative work. The promise of 'doing what you love' continues to attract new entrants to the cultural and creative industries. Is that promise betrayed by the realities of pathways into creative work, or does a creative identification offer new personal and professional possibilities in the precarious contexts of contemporary work and employment? Two decades into the 21st century, aspiring creative workers undertake training and higher education courses in increasing numbers. Some attempt to convert personal enthusiasms and amateur activities into income-earning careers. To manage the uncertainties of self-employment, workers may utilise skills developed in other occupations, even developing timely new forms of collective organisation. The collection explores the experience of creative career entrants in numerous national contexts, including Australia, Belgium, China, Ireland, Italy, Finland, the Netherlands, Russia, the US andthe UK. Chapters investigate the transitions of new workers and the obstacles they encounter on creative pathways.Chapters 1, 12 and 15 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
Organizational Development in Public Administration
Cultural, economic and political trends are changing the way public administrations are organized and this book examines the new challenges managers face, with the need for a shift from a traditional bureaucratic model to a competency-based approach to organizational design and management in the areas of recruitment, training, career development and assessment. Through the analysis of an experimental project launched jointly by the Italian National School for Administration (SNA) and the Prime Minister's Office, this book showcases how a competency-based system can be a key tool in reforming HR in the public sector, with significant effects on the organization and management of public administration.
Gauging the Resilience of City and Town Government
"The book addresses the issue of resilience in organisations - and especially resilience in those organisations that go to make up the government of a country, its towns and cities and other units employed in managing an increasingly complex world. It not only gives practical guidance on how to gauge the levels of resilience, but also ways of developing strategies to improve resilience.The manual does indeed come at a fortuitous time. We would have done well to pay more attention to organisational resilience before the advent of the Covid19 pandemic.Emerging economies, as well as developed economies, are all experiencing serious economic decline as they struggle to adjust to the realities of life in a pandemic. Their lack of readiness to withstand the challenges posed are being exposed in most areas of public life: health, transport, supply chains, education, human capacity management, and governance systems, to name but some. It is almost like the sticking plaster that was keeping things together has been ripped off, and the wounds below are exposed - fault lines if you like.Some would argue that this pandemic and how we steer our way through it is just a "dress rehearsal" for the much larger disrupter that lies ahead: climate change. However one frames the issues, there can be no doubt that making sure we have resilient towns and cities is a significant way to rebuild economies and organisations and prepare ourselves for a future that is significantly different to the past. We will be surely tested to the limits.Louis' work and the research that went into the book (with a doctorate collected along the way) will be useful.''Extract from Preface by Brenda M. Gourley
Full Circle
Scott Ludlam draws on his experience as a senator and activist to capture our world on a precipice and explore what comes next.One way or another, we are headed for radical change. We are now in the Anthropocene - humans are changing the earth's climate irreversibly, and political, human and natural systems are on the cusp of collapse. Ludlam shines a light on the bankruptcy of the financial and political systems that have led us here: systems based on the exploitation of the earth's resources, and 99 per cent of the world's population labouring for the wealth of 1 per cent.In Full Circle, Ludlam seeks old and new ways to make our systems humane, regenerative and more in tune with nature. He travels the globe to see what happens when ordinary people stand up to corporations and tyrants. He takes the reader on a journey through time to discover the underlying patterns of life. And he finds that we are at a unique moment when billions of tiny actions by individuals and small groups are coalescing into one great movement that could transform history.Bringing together a wealth of new ideas, Full Circle outlines a new ecological politics.
Thirteen Ballots
Praise for Thirteen Ballots"Politics is a full contact sport, played without pads or protective equipment. If you can't stand the sight of your own blood, don't get in the game." That's the advice I've shared with countless people who are considering stepping in the arena, based on my own experience of how rough it can be. When I shared that counsel with Mark and Beth Harris when we met in New York for an extended dinner, I had no idea they would shed more blood than most folks ever have in simply seeking to serve God and the country in the public square. I liked them from the moment I first met them, and through the years, I've come to love them and cherish them as dear friends. Beth details the excruciating ordeal they have endured through various campaigns. It's a story of hope and seeming success and then the tragedy of betrayal, corruption, and self-dealing from not only the opposition party, but from those they had trusted on their own team. The beauty is that they emerged from the brutal process still faithful to God, dedicated to country, and without the cynicism most people would have been left with. Beth takes you the riveting journey with her and Mark as they experience the nastiest political trickery imaginable. I am genuinely sorry that Mark is not in Congress right now. He's one of the smartest, most disciplined, and articulate political figures I've met in the past thirty years. It's not just that North Carolina could use him--the country needs him! If you are trying to persuade someone to run for office and want to tell them how easy it will be, you probably don't want them to read this book. But if you are a friend who wants the best people to run for office, you DO want to read it and share it with all." Governor Mike HuckabeeOn November 27, 2018 a friend sent an urgent text to Beth Harris, who was in Washington attending Freshman Congressional Orientation with her husband Mark: "They're going to try to steal the election." Mark had won a hard-fought race against a well-funded Democrat by 905 votes in North Carolina's Ninth Congressional District. Every county in the district had officially declared Mark Harris the winner of the election. Now a Democrat member of the State Elections Board wanted Mark's name pulled from the official list of certified winners. A brutal struggle for the Ninth District seat ensued. This is the story you didn't hear in the mainstream media, told by the people who lived it.
Der Neue Terrorismus
Dieses Buch behandelt die Interaktion, Kooperation und Fusion von neuen Akteuren, Strategien, Taktiken und Mitteln des islamistischen Terrorismus und der transnationalen organisierten Kriminalit瓣t. Diese m羹ssen als vitale Bedrohungen sowohl f羹r die "westliche Welt" als auch f羹r die human security in Konfliktregionen analysiert werden. Das Buch wurde nach zahlreichen weiteren jihadistischen Anschl瓣gen in den Jahren 2017 bis 2020 aktualisiert und um die neue Entwicklung des "Islamischen Staats" und eine Analyse aktueller jihadistischer Akteure, wie beispielsweise Jihad-R羹ckkehrer nach Deutschland und Europa, erweitert. Ein Schwerpunkt liegt auf der neuen Analysekategorie low level-Terrorismus.
The China Model
The world has witnessed the rise of China, and there is a sustained debate on the China model. While some scholars believe that the China model is obsolete, others regard the China model as a threat to democracy. This book takes an empirical approach and regards the China model as it is and looks into different aspects of the China model, ranging from economic growth, social development, central-local relations to the development of internal pluralism, the rise of civil society and rural democracy. Given the fact that China's reform and opening up since the late Deng Xiaoping has taken place in the context of globalization, the book draws implications of the China model for the world. Particularly, the book attempts to examine the impact of China's socio-economic development model on democratization.
The Doctrine of Necessity (Ḏaruriyyāt) at the Hands of Political Islamists of Turkey
The Justice and Development Party (AKP), the ruling political Islamists of Turkey since 2002, has been using the doctrine of necessity to legitimize human rights violations. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, president of Turkey, founder of the AKP and leader of the political Islamists, demands unconditional obedience and full control of the state. Under his leadership, the AKP government has shut down all opposing media, schools and universities and put thousands of people in prisons based on a manipulation of the necessity doctrine. In the political context, hardships are interpreted as obstacles in the way of the political Islamists holding absolute power in the state. Therefore, they use this "necessity" concept as a means to preserve their political power against all potential threats after taking full control of the state. According to the political Islamists, minority groups can be sacrificed for the benefit of the majority. Their properties can be usurped and their lives can be terminated. In moderate Islamic understanding, the state and the ruler are in the service of Muslims, not the other way around. For political Islamists, the state and the ruler (the caliph) are considered so sacred that they need to be protected against all opponents. In order to protect the state against internal and external "infidels" the caliph can resort to unlawful means because the necessity doctrine makes the forbidden things permissible. In this book, the author analyzes the concept of necessity and its exploitation by the political Islamists.
Conditional Cash Transfer Programs in Ecuador and Chile
This book offers readers a deeper understanding of the diffusion process of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs in Latin America and the role played by experts and international organizations. CCTs have been increasingly implemented around the world in recent decades, and by 2010, 17 countries in Latin America had adopted them. The evidence suggests that this concentration is due to a process of policy diffusion. International organizations contribute to this process; however, the book's main argument is that there was another, more important actor involved: a regional epistemic community that increased the availability of information about CCTs and reinforced their legitimacy, playing a role in the domestic processes of formulation and adoption.This book addresses the diffusion of the programs throughout the region; diffusion mechanisms that can help us understand the programs' adoption (emulation, learning and coercion); and the impacts of key actors on the process (epistemic community, international organizations and policymakers).
Whistleblower in Paris
An Extraordinary Read When Alec Baldwin published his 2008 book, A Promise to Ourselves, his goal ostensibly was to reform our nation's broken divorce system. But as quickly as he entered the fray, he abandoned the movement altogether. For a whistleblower, it was a disillusioning exit because he crushed the hopes of divorce victims throughout the country who shared a similar vision but lacked his star power. In the years since, divorce and family courts have continued to abuse their power to program countless children. It has resulted in an epidemic that is harming society in ways never before imagined. Parents have been separated from their offspring through custody classifications that pit moms against dads, parents against the state, while illegal ones at our borders obtain greater protection. The disparity is explained by a profit motive and federal grants that incentivize court conflict. As a parent victimized by this zealously protected system, civil rights attorney Leon Koziol took a stand against his profession by exposing this epidemic with nationwide reform efforts. It led to unconscionable retributions in the way of license suspensions, seizure of parent-child relations, law office closures, and even support warrants concocted to punish a whistleblower of court corruption. Combined persecution over many years led to a near death climax in 2020. Our story here begins when this attorney-dad flies to Paris for asylum before one of those warrants could be executed. There he meets Linda, a similarly persecuted mom who was shielding her son from a fixed custody case. Also subject to an arrest warrant, Linda invites Leon to her secluded villa on the French Riviera. Lively exchanges follow which educate the reader to this epidemic. Romance also blossoms, relieving unbearable anxieties, but their fugitive status soon catches up. Find out what happens when the two join efforts to take on a child control industry.
Everyday Epiphanies
A collection of columns and other writings (1999-2015), serious, humorous, and sometimes scathing, covering abortion, affirmative action, and antitrust, marriage, minimum wage, and missile defense, and even Howard Zinn.
Whistleblower in Paris
An Extraordinary Read When Alec Baldwin published his 2008 book, A Promise to Ourselves, his goal ostensibly was to reform our nation's broken divorce system. But as quickly as he entered the fray, he abandoned the movement altogether. For a whistleblower, it was a disillusioning exit because he crushed the hopes of divorce victims throughout the country who shared a similar vision but lacked his star power. In the years since, divorce and family courts have continued to abuse their power to program countless children. It has resulted in an epidemic that is harming society in ways never before imagined. Parents have been separated from their offspring through custody classifications that pit moms against dads, parents against the state, while illegal ones at our borders obtain greater protection. The disparity is explained by a profit motive and federal grants that incentivize court conflict. As a parent victimized by this zealously protected system, civil rights attorney Leon Koziol took a stand against his profession by exposing this epidemic with nationwide reform efforts. It led to unconscionable retributions in the way of license suspensions, seizure of parent-child relations, law office closures, and even support warrants concocted to punish a whistleblower of court corruption. Combined persecution over many years led to a near death climax in 2020. Our story here begins when this attorney-dad flies to Paris for asylum before one of those warrants could be executed. There he meets Linda, a similarly persecuted mom who was shielding her son from a fixed custody case. Also subject to an arrest warrant, Linda invites Leon to her secluded villa on the French Riviera. Lively exchanges follow which educate the reader to this epidemic. Romance also blossoms, relieving unbearable anxieties, but their fugitive status soon catches up. Find out what happens when the two join efforts to take on a child control industry.
Controlling Corruption
This book presents a radically new approach of how societies can bring corruption under control. Since the late 1990s, the detrimental effects of corruption to human well-being have become well established in research. This has resulted in a stark increase in anti-corruption programs launched by international organizations such as the World Bank, the African Union, the EU, as well as many national development organizations. Despite these efforts, evaluations of the effects of these anti-corruption programs have been disappointing. As it can be measured, it is difficult to find substantial effects from such anti-corruption programs. The argument in this book is that this huge policy failure can be explained by three factors. Firstly, it argues that the corruption problem has been poorly conceptualized since what should count as the opposite of corruption has been left out. Secondly, the problem has been located in the wrong social spaces. It is neither a cultural nor a legal problem. Instead, it is for the most part located in what organization theory defines as the 'standard operating procedures' in social organizations. Thirdly, the general theory that has dominated anti-corruption efforts -- the principal-agent theory -- is based on serious misspecification of the basic nature of the problem. The book presents a reconceptualization of corruption and a new theory -- drawing on the tradition of the social contract - to explain it and motivate policies of how to get corruption under control. Several empirical cases serve to underpin this new theory ranging from the historical organization of religious practices to specific social policies, universal education, gender equality, and auditing. Combined, these amount to a strategic theory known as 'the indirect approach'.
Unheard Voices of the Pandemic
Unheard Voices of the Pandemic reveals through first-person narratives what happened the year the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the United States. The seventeen stories included in this collection speak to the precarity, uncertainty, and injustice of that year, but also to bravery, solidarity, and generosity. Although the shadow cast by the COVID-19 pandemic is long, the insights gleaned through listening can last longer.
When Politics Comes Before Patients
How Successive Governments Have Weakened the Foundation of All Canadian's Social and Economic SecurityAt some point, you will find yourself lying in a hospital bed. There is a good chance that your bed will be a firm, rubber pad held secure between two rails and parked along a corridor in a busy emergency department. Moans of "Nurse!" will echo from the beds ahead of you in line. Those pleas will fall largely on deaf ears. Your hospital is underfunded and understaffed. Welcome to the current reality of Medicare in the 21st century.Using searing analogies and first-hand accounts, Dr. Whatley makes the argument that the current Medicare system is unsustainable and unless critical choices and changes are made soon, the publicly funded, single-payer system in Canada will implode.Successive governments, regardless of political stripe, know all too well that Canada's system of health care is one of the defining characteristics of "being a Canadian", and any changes deemed harmful will have them thrown out of power. Thus, decades of cuts around the margins, centralized control, federal/provincial infighting, and government oversight has left doctors and hospitals with little input on how your health dollars are allocated and spent. Citizens are being left to languish in pain for months, sometimes years, because the current cost and delivery system is programmed for the benefit of governments staying in power. That was not what was intended. Medicare should be about delivering high-quality and timely healthcare value for Canadians.This is not an easy fix. Treatment starts with a serious look at the disease, and Dr. Whatley pulls no punches. But what sounds like a radical new approach is neither new nor radical. He is not arguing for the end of Medicare per se but is making the case to let medical professionals - those providing the services - become equal partners in its design, implementation and delivery.Praise for When Politics Comes Before Patients"In Canada, socialized medicine has been exalted to the status of a sacrament, and to criticize it, either in theory or in practice, is tantamount to heresy. Dr. Whatley dares to do both, and with such clarity of argument and abundance of evidence, that no reasonable or fair-minded person could fail to be convinced. What Dr. Whatley has demonstrated, in this beautifully written and engaging volume, is that socialized medicine fails to meet the most fundamental moral obligation of health care: to place the patient's interests above all else."Dr. Harley Price, University of Toronto"Whatley... insists that our focus should be on the patients, the people the system is supposed to serve but whose interests are too easily sacrificed in the name of some pretty but ineffectual or even destructive bureaucratic theory. I have been thinking about the health care system for thirty years yet I found Whatley's book packed with new insights and courageous thinking. A cure for what ails us."Brian Lee Crowley, Managing Director, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute"When you are getting a diagnosis from your doctor, you want the truth. If you want a truthful diagnosis of our health care system, you must read this book. With precision, wisdom, and verve, Dr. Shawn Whatley has fearlessly dissected the rot that plagues Canadian socialized medicine. Can you handle the truth?"Bruce Pardy, Professor of Law, Queen's University
A Loose Grip
If freedom is precious, our Republic is precious. In "A Loose Grip," Dr. Howard Asher warns us that we can lose both our Republic and our freedom if we don't understand the founding principles of this nation and apply the wisdom necessary to preserve our Republic's promise of liberty. In his insightful, thought-provoking, and instructive book, Dr. Asher connects the dots of what our unique and extraordinary Republic is all about, who we are as individuals, and who we are as a nation of people. Dr. Asher has written "A Loose Grip" in a personal, timely, relatable way. He points out that every era has a groundswell of challenges defined and appropriated by what he calls "pop/political culture." Dr. Asher shows why and how the current "pop/political culture" created our present era - the "Era of Trump."Dr. Asher presents a conversational interview with President Trump that didn't happen, but it could have. This fascinating exercise delineates President Trump's perspective and point-of-view on pertinent and controversial issues. In addition, Dr. Asher provides the reader with two definitive mental status assessments from respective public profiles - The media and Trump.Dr. Asher concludes with seven imperative actions that need to be taken to "strengthen our grip" on our Republic. He points out that as citizens of America, we have an obligation to understand, be wise, and act sensibly about priorities, practicalities, and that which is relevant to our lives and the life of our country, or we will lose not just our Republic, we will lose the blessings of freedom.Dr. Asher has written "A Loose Grip" to remind us that America is a republic, "if WE can keep it!"
Applications of the Universal Thermal Climate Index Utci in Biometeorology
This book introduces the UTCI (Universal Thermal Climate Index) and summarizes progress in this area. The UTCI was developed as part of the European COST Action Program and first announced to the scientific community in 2009. Since then, a decade has followed of applicability tests and research results, as well as knowledge gained from applying the UTCI in human adaptation and thermal perception. These findings are of interest to researchers in the interdisciplinary areas of biometeorology, climatology and urban planning. The book summarizes this progress, discussing the limitations found and provides pointers to future developments. It also discusses UTCI applications in the areas of human biometeorology and urban planning including possibilities of using UTCI and similar indices in climate-responsive urban planning. The book's message is illustrated with many case studies from the real world.Chapter 10 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
Violent Alternatives to War
When we take a look back at the way Western states have fought terrorist organizations in the last 20 years, it is difficult not to think that these alternatives to war might have been more ethical than the decisions to invade Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and in 2003. These cases speak for themselves as they have both led to the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, which is highly paradoxical in light of the logic that supported these interventions. There is a need to think of alternatives to war that will imply the legitimization of proactive sets of measures that would allow states to effectively prevent terrorist attacks through the use of kinetic force in a limited extent as a way to avoid the terrible and unpredictable effects of wars. Violent Alternatives to War: Justifying Actions Against Contemporary Terrorism engages in a moral discussion of the challenges associated with violent alternatives to war when confronting terrorism and suggests a comprehensive approach to how this form of violence can be legitimized and how it ought to be used against this contemporary threat.
Aktuelle Entwicklungen Zum E-Government
Dieses Buch bietet neue Impulse und Orientierungen f羹r den Weg der Digitalisierung der 繹ffentlichen Verwaltung. Wie nie zuvor ver瓣ndert die Digitalisierung Verwaltungen und ihre Dienstleistungen. So ver瓣ndert sich die Verwaltungs-Realit瓣t auf allen Ebenen von Bund, L瓣ndern und Kommunen - sowohl technisch, als auch prozessual sowie kulturell und im Arbeitsalltag der Verwaltungsmitarbeiter. Die Beitr瓣ge dieses Buches helfen bei der aktiven Gestaltung dieser Transformation.
Healthcare Policies in Kazakhstan
This book is the first of its kind about healthcare reform efforts in Kazakhstan since its independence within the context of the public sector reform movement. The book provides a brief background of Kazakhstan and its Soviet legacy and the country's efforts to modernize the health system, before creating an overview of the existing system, the reforms since independence, and the future of healthcare in Kazakhstan. This book will be of interest to policymakers, analysts, and development economists.
Controlling Corruption
This book presents a radically new approach of how societies can bring corruption under control. Since the late 1990s, the detrimental effects of corruption to human well-being have become well established in research. This has resulted in a stark increase in anti-corruption programs launched by international organizations such as the World Bank, the African Union, the EU, as well as many national development organizations. Despite these efforts, evaluations of the effects of these anti-corruption programs have been disappointing. As it can be measured, it is difficult to find substantial effects from such anti-corruption programs. The argument in this book is that this huge policy failure can be explained by three factors. Firstly, it argues that the corruption problem has been poorly conceptualized since what should count as the opposite of corruption has been left out. Secondly, the problem has been located in the wrong social spaces. It is neither a cultural nor a legal problem. Instead, it is for the most part located in what organization theory defines as the 'standard operating procedures' in social organizations. Thirdly, the general theory that has dominated anti-corruption efforts -- the principal-agent theory -- is based on serious misspecification of the basic nature of the problem. The book presents a reconceptualization of corruption and a new theory -- drawing on the tradition of the social contract - to explain it and motivate policies of how to get corruption under control. Several empirical cases serve to underpin this new theory ranging from the historical organization of religious practices to specific social policies, universal education, gender equality, and auditing. Combined, these amount to a strategic theory known as 'the indirect approach'.
A Sociology of Sound Technicians
If art, and especially music, has been framed in cultural sociology as a collective production relying on a variety of actors, technicians have been mostly framed as "support personnel" marginally impacting the meaning of a cultural production. This book analyzes sound technicians as technical intermediaries. They are autonomous actors of cultural production, and contribute in various ways to the meaning of live or recorded music performances, framed as a form of interaction rituals. From this analysis, it argues that artists should not be considered at the center of art worlds, and proposes a model including various types of actors in different roles, all necessary to produce a cultural object.
Environmental Policy and Politics
Now in its eighth edition, Michael E. Kraft has updated his definitive text to capture the changing nature of environmental problems as well as policy proposals made through 2020.
The Asian Century
The Asian Century: A History of Modern Nationalism in Asia examines the transformation of Asia from a region defined by disparate cultural traditions to one unified by its response to Western imperialism and its revolutionary embrace of modernity. The author argues that until the 19th century, Asia lacked a cohesive history, fragmented into Islamic, Hindu-Buddhist, and Sinic cultural spheres with limited interaction. However, European dominance from the 19th century onward imposed a new unity, catalyzing a revolutionary period of political independence, social transformation, and scientific and technological progress. The book traces Asia's rediscovery of its own identity through its engagement with Europe, highlighting the pivotal 20th-century movements that ended colonial rule and set the stage for modernization. Central to this narrative are the revolutionary changes in Japan, China, India, and other nations, which embraced science, reformed social structures, and pursued political sovereignty. The impact of the Russian Revolution and Soviet influence also played a critical role in shaping modern Asian societies. While acknowledging the destructive legacy of colonialism, the author also recognizes the infrastructure, education, and administrative frameworks introduced by imperial powers as factors that facilitated Asia's modernization. The study integrates perspectives from across the continent, including Soviet Asia, and emphasizes the ongoing challenge of creating a global unity that transcends historical antagonisms. Ultimately, the work views the Asian revolution not only as a regional awakening but as a significant step toward the unification of humanity and a more equitable global order. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1962.
Making Cultures of Solidarity
This book combines radical history, critical geography, and political theory in an innovative history of the solidarity campaign in London during the 1984-5 miners' strike.
Inclusive Urban Development in the Global South
Inclusive Urban Development in the Global South emphasizes the importance of the neighbourhood in urban development planning, with case studies aimed at transforming current intervention practices towards more inclusive and just means of engagement with individuals and communities. The chapters explore how diversity of gender, class, race and ethnicity, citizenship status, age, ability, and sexuality is taken (or not taken) into account and approached in the planning and implementation of development policy and interventions in poor urban areas. The book employs a practical perspective on the deployment of theoretical critiques of intersectionality and diversity in development practice through case studies examining issues such as water and sanitation planning in Dhaka, indigenous rights to the city in Bolivia, post-colonial planning in Hong Kong, land reform in Zimbabwe, and many more. The book focuses on radical alternatives with the potential to foster urban transformations for planning and development communities working around the world.
Socio-Life Science and the Covid-19 Outbreak
This open access book presents the first step towards building socio-life science, a field of science investigating humans in such a way that both social and life-scientific factors are integrated. Because humans are both living and social creatures, a human action can never be understood fully without knowing both the biological traits of a person and the social scientific environments in which he exists. With this consideration, the editors of this book have initiated a research project promoting a deeper and more integrated understanding of human behavior and human health. This book aims to show what can, and could be, achieved through our interdisciplinary project. One important product is the newly formed three-party collaboration between Pasteur Institut, Kyoto University, and the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry. Covering many different fields, including medicine, epidemiology, anthropology, economics, sociology, demography, geography, and policy, researchers in these institutes, and many others, present their studies on the COVID-19 pandemic. Although based on different methodologies, the studies show the importance of behavioral change and governmental policy in the fight against a huge pandemic. The book explains the unique genome cohort-panel data that the project builds to study social and life scientific aspects of humans.
Peace Building Through Women's Health
This book is an examination of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through psychoanalytic, sociopsychological and nationalistic lenses, highlighting the successes and the hurdles faced by one organization, HATD, in its mission to improve health in marginalized populations of Israelis and Palestinians.
The Asian Century
The Asian Century: A History of Modern Nationalism in Asia examines the transformation of Asia from a region defined by disparate cultural traditions to one unified by its response to Western imperialism and its revolutionary embrace of modernity. The author argues that until the 19th century, Asia lacked a cohesive history, fragmented into Islamic, Hindu-Buddhist, and Sinic cultural spheres with limited interaction. However, European dominance from the 19th century onward imposed a new unity, catalyzing a revolutionary period of political independence, social transformation, and scientific and technological progress. The book traces Asia's rediscovery of its own identity through its engagement with Europe, highlighting the pivotal 20th-century movements that ended colonial rule and set the stage for modernization. Central to this narrative are the revolutionary changes in Japan, China, India, and other nations, which embraced science, reformed social structures, and pursued political sovereignty. The impact of the Russian Revolution and Soviet influence also played a critical role in shaping modern Asian societies. While acknowledging the destructive legacy of colonialism, the author also recognizes the infrastructure, education, and administrative frameworks introduced by imperial powers as factors that facilitated Asia's modernization. The study integrates perspectives from across the continent, including Soviet Asia, and emphasizes the ongoing challenge of creating a global unity that transcends historical antagonisms. Ultimately, the work views the Asian revolution not only as a regional awakening but as a significant step toward the unification of humanity and a more equitable global order. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1962.
Origins of Terrorism
Origins of Terrorism examines the roots and history of Islamic terrorism including foundational figures in various organizations such as al-Qaeda, ISIS, the Taliban, and Boko Haram. The book also addresses the use of terrorism, the "hows" and "whys" of terrorists' goals, and their modus operandi.
Deliberative Mini-Publics
Bringing together ten leading researchers in the field of deliberative democracy, this important book examines the features of a Deliberative Mini-Public (DMP) and considers how DMPs link into democratic systems. It examines the core design features of DMPs and their role in the broader policy process and takes stock of the characteristics that distinguish them from other forms of citizen participation. In doing so, the book offers valuable insights into the contributions that DMPs can make not only to the policy process, but also to the broader agenda of revitalising democracy in contemporary times.
Socio-Life Science and the Covid-19 Outbreak
This open access book presents the first step towards building socio-life science, a field of science investigating humans in such a way that both social and life-scientific factors are integrated. Because humans are both living and social creatures, a human action can never be understood fully without knowing both the biological traits of a person and the social scientific environments in which he exists. With this consideration, the editors of this book have initiated a research project promoting a deeper and more integrated understanding of human behavior and human health. This book aims to show what can, and could be, achieved through our interdisciplinary project. One important product is the newly formed three-party collaboration between Pasteur Institut, Kyoto University, and the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry. Covering many different fields, including medicine, epidemiology, anthropology, economics, sociology, demography, geography, and policy, researchers in these institutes, and many others, present their studies on the COVID-19 pandemic. Although based on different methodologies, the studies show the importance of behavioral change and governmental policy in the fight against a huge pandemic. The book explains the unique genome cohort-panel data that the project builds to study social and life scientific aspects of humans.
Decency And Deception
Decency and Deception: Encouragement for a Struggling Nation, takes the reader on an information pack journey looking at the events that transpired leading up to and during the Trump Presidency. Describing those elements that defined, and haunted the one term President. Facing a very changing social and religious environment, pointing out how these elements were utilized for a desired end result. Showcasing the many different attributes between the Conservative and Liberal sides in American politics. - double standards - fear - cancel culture - beliefs - socialism - Hollywood - Mainstream Media Putting all those elements together to map out how the election went, and how the years that followed the election transpired. Decency and Deception: Encouragement for a Struggling Nation, is designed to entertain all ages interested in politics. Written to enlighten, and educate leaving the reader with a better understanding of how the period of time between 2016 and 2020 changed the political landscape. Did those changes better or eradicate the decency in America? Have we been given the real issues, information, and outcomes or have we been caught up in the deception?
Decency And Deception
Decency and Deception: Encouragement for a Struggling Nation, takes the reader on an information pack journey looking at the events that transpired leading up to and during the Trump Presidency. Describing those elements that defined, and haunted the one term President. Facing a very changing social and religious environment, pointing out how these elements were utilized for a desired end result. Showcasing the many different attributes between the Conservative and Liberal sides in American politics. - double standards - fear - cancel culture - beliefs - socialism - Hollywood - Mainstream Media Putting all those elements together to map out how the election went, and how the years that followed the election transpired. Decency and Deception: Encouragement for a Struggling Nation, is designed to entertain all ages interested in politics. Written to enlighten, and educate leaving the reader with a better understanding of how the period of time between 2016 and 2020 changed the political landscape. Did those changes better or eradicate the decency in America? Have we been given the real issues, information, and outcomes or have we been caught up in the deception?
The Wealth of Refugees
We live in an age of displacement. Refugee numbers are increasing due to a proliferation of fragile states, and this problem will be exacerbated by climate change and the impact of COVID-19. And yet, rising populist nationalism has undermined the political willingness of rich countries to accept migrants and asylum seekers. Given these contradictory trends, how can we create sustainable refugee policies that enable displaced people to live in safety and dignity, while operating at scale? The Wealth of Refugees draws upon a decade of original qualitative and quantitative research to offer practical solutions. Focusing on refugees in camps and cities in Africa, it identifies approaches that can be effective in improving the welfare of refugees, increasing social cohesion between refugees and host communities, and reducing the need for onward migration. The book argues that the key lies in unlocking the potential contributions of refugees themselves. Refugees bring skills, talents, and aspirations and can be a benefit rather than a burden to receiving societies. Realizing this potential relies upon moving beyond a purely humanitarian focus to fully include refugees in host-country economies, build economic opportunities in refugee-hosting regions, and navigate the ambiguous politics of refugee protection.
