What Work Means
What Work Means goes beyond the stereotypes and captures the diverse ways Americans view work as a part of a good life. Dispelling the notion of Americans as obsessive workaholics, Claudia Strauss presents a more nuanced perspective. While some live to work, others prefer a diligent 9-to-5 work ethic that is conscientious but preserves time for other interests. Her participants often enjoyed their jobs without making work the focus of their life. These findings challenge laborist views of waged work as central to a good life as well as post-work theories that treat work solely as exploitative and soul-crushing. Drawing upon the evocative stories of unemployed Americans from a wide range of occupations, from day laborers to corporate managers, both immigrant and native-born, Strauss explores how diverse Americans think about the place of work in a good life, gendered meanings of breadwinning, accepting financial support from family, friends, and the state, and what the ever-elusive American dream means to them. By considering how unemployment experiences diverge from joblessness earlier, What Work Means paves the way for a historically and culturally informed discussion of work meanings in a future of teleworking, greater automation, and increasing nonstandard employment.
The Mercenary
Ever since the French Revolution and the rise of the rise of national armies, the mercenary has been viewed as a maligned and marginalized actor in international relations. The Mercenary challenges this view, suggesting instead that while delegated to the periphery of Great Power politics, the mercenary remained a coercive instrument of state power who was willing to discretely promote the client's foreign policy when called upon to do so. Never has this been more evident than today. This book offers fresh insight into the future of the mercenary as an instrument of state coercion and explains why there is a mercenary renaissance in the 21st century. The start of the 21st century has seen renewed interest in the mercenary from across the political spectrum. The growing reliance by the US, Russia, and China on military and security contractors suggests that the mercenary remains a key player in International Politics, now emerging from the shadows to help expand state influence on the world stage by serving as an important actor in the conduct of conflict and the winning of small wars. Far from being marginalized, the future of the mercenary is set to be increasingly active.
The Strange Demise of the Local in Local Government
This book challenges the notion that bigger local government is always better. Whilst the central government in Britain has often supported increases in local government size, the book argues that this has been detrimental, and has caused the erosion of distinctive community identities that were previously represented by local authorities empowered to make significant local choices about services and future strategy. Drawing from national and international evidence, it offers an alternative narrative about the size, role, function and purpose of local government to that currently dominating policy discussion. It aims to provide readers who oppose size increases in local government with the evidence and arguments to influence change in their areas. The book will appeal to policymakers working in central and local government, as well as academics interested in public policy, public administration and local government.
New Military Strategies in the Gulf
In the last decade, rulers in Gulf regimes have aspired to greater strategic autonomy and distance from the West. Coined the "Gulf moment" by local commentators, this regional trend reflects a redistribution of power in the Arab world. This is the first book to examine the military dimensions of these shifts. Gulf military strategy has prioritised the improvement of local armed forces and the diversification of defence partnerships towards countries such as Russia, Turkey or China. However, this book shows how this has led to the militarisation of Gulf societies, the further erosion of multilateral initiatives - including the Gulf Cooperation Council - and the Gulf's perilous involvement in the war in Yemen. The book also highlights enduring reliance on the West. Each chapter covers a key aspect of defence policy from governance of armed forces, military education and power projection capabilities to regional security cooperation and lessons from warfighting experiences. Close attention is paid to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, countries that have enjoyed prominent roles in the region's security affairs during the last ten years. The research is based on extensive fieldwork and interviews with major decision-makers, officials, and diplomatic and military representatives. It is also uses recently declassified official documents to gain rare insight into what Gulf countries intend for their defence policies.
The Literature of Lashkar-E-Tayyaba
Since its inception in Afghanistan in the late 1980s, the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), also known as the Jamaat-ul-Dawa (JuD), has arguably been the most threatening and disruptive terrorist organization in South Asia and beyond. While there is considerable scholarship on its history and operations, few scholars have exploited the organization's vast publications. This volume is the first scholarly effort to curate a sample of LeT's Urdu-language publications and then translate them into English for the scholarly community studying this group and related organizations. While the original texts were written and published by Dar al Andalus, which exclusively publishes LeT's books, pamphlets, posters, speeches, and other materials with the explicit intention of diffusing the group's ideology, raising funds, and cultivating volunteers for the organization, the authors hope that by rendering the group's materials more accessible, this book can contribute to the myriad efforts to combat such groups and the violence they perpetrate.
Mexican Workers and the State
Almost eighty years before the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Ricardo Flores Mag籀n--revolutionary, anarchist, labor organizer and expatriate nationalist--challenged the prevailing social order of both Mexico and the United States. Mag籀n predicted that if Mexican workers failed to organize and shake off the yoke of capitalism, the nation would soon be dominated by foreign economic interests. And American workers, he warned, would find their firms and factories employing low-wage laborers in Mexico. Mag籀n's message: "Mexico for Mexicans." Organized labor, however, would never gain a strong foothold in Mexico. Although the Constitution of 1917 guaranteed the right of workers to organize and strike, government restrictions, a historically unstable economy and meddling by the American interests (including the IWW and the AFL), combined to limit the effectiveness of Mexican unions. "Mexico for Mexicans," or working-class nationalism, was and is little more than rhetoric. In Mexican Workers and the State, historian Norman Caulfield traces the evolution of organized labor from its radical roots during the Mexican Revolution to its present status as a mere pawn in the game of Mexican politics. The implementation of NAFTA in 1993 has been beneficial to some (almost one million low-wage workers are employed in the maquila industries south of the border), but it has also aggravated the question of workers' rights. Outside industries continue to play an unsettling role in the vacillating Mexican economy. Ricardo Flores Mag籀n's 1914 prediction was right. Mexico has become a haven for foreign interests. Material on which Mexican Workers and the State is based has won the Harvey Johnson Award from the Southwestern Council of Latin American Studies.
Desiccated Land
"This is an extraordinary book."- Amitabh Mattoo, Padma Shri honoree, prominent author and columnist"This book is a vital document of the bravery of our colleagues in Kashmir."- Naresh Fernandes, award-winning journalist"One of the most objective and insightful accounts I've read of the lives of Kashmiri people."- Rahman Abbas, novelist & winner of India's Sahitya Akademi AwardYou've never read a book like this. With its innovative narrative style, Desiccated Land paints a bracing picture of India's most troubled region. American journalist David Lepeska's first full-time reporting job was for Srinagar-based daily Kashmir Observer, and this book gathers his best KO work, details his personal journey and lessons learned as a foreign correspondent, and presents his sober assessment, years later, of the impact of Indian and US policies on the region. Yet the book's focus is local. Media coverage of conflict often leaves out the long-term human toll, the eviscerating impact of decades of violence - on society, culture, education, justice, and well-being. Yet only by gauging what war has wrought can we know how to respond and, eventually, recover. Desiccated Land combines reportage, memoir, and travelogue to explore the reality of daily life in a war-torn land. The book catalogs Kashmiri suffering and its root causes and wonders when the Valley might be able to look toward the future with hope.
Carbon Pricing and Fossil Fuel Subsidy Rationalization Tool Kit
This tool kit explores some of the key attributes of potential and existing emission trading systems, carbon taxes, and fossil fuel subsidies rationalization programs in Asia and the Pacific and other emerging countries. It aims to guide policymakers in the Asian Development Bank's developing member countries to effectively design, implement, and manage the interplay of carbon taxes, emission trading systems, and fossil fuel subsidies reduction programs. The tool kit provides illustrative case studies as examples of the problems governments have encountered in implementing these programs and the solutions they have found to address these issues.
Nuclear Vigilance
In 1945, the United States exited the Second World War as the sole possessor of nuclear weapons. As the Cold War began, tensions between East and West mounted when communist expansionism quickly spread throughout Eastern Europe. By 1946, the most important national security question was: when would the Soviet Union acquire a nuclear capability? With U.S. human intelligence assets incapable of penetrating the secretive Soviet nuclear weapons program, America's political and military leaders turned to technology to answer the question. In 1947, the U.S. Air Force assumed responsibility for creating a system capable of monitoring any nuclear detonation within the Soviet Union. Uncertainty about Soviet nuclear advancements compelled the Air Force to staff a small, highly classified unit with some of America's most talented scientists. These people were experts in the fields of seismology, nuclear physics, radiochemistry, acoustics, atmospheric sciences, and several other geophysical disciplines. The result was the creation of the Atomic Energy Detection System (AEDS). In 1949, the Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear weapons test. The AEDS, while still under development, detected the detonation. This success immediately validated the Air Force's Long Range Detection (LRD) mission. From that point on, and throughout most of the 1950s, the AEDS became the nation's primary surveillance system for monitoring nuclear weapons testing. This first part of the narrative details how the Air Force embraced unprecedented levels of innovation to harness new sciences for the invention of instruments capable of conducting LRD. The second part reveals how LRD scientists played a key role in nuclear treaty negotiations during President Eisenhower's second term in office. Their direct involvement resulted in the derailment of Eisenhower's strong attempt to negotiate a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty with the Soviet Union.
Teachers Guide to Preventing Behavior Problems in the Elementary Classroom
Joseph R. Biden Jr. was inaugurated as President of the United States (POTUS) on January 20, 2021. In his inauguration speech, Biden gave glowing remarks about his goal being to unite America and to "Build Back Better." But in fact, his main goal seems to have been to reverse everything his predecessor, Donald J. Trump, accomplished during his four years as President. Never mind if a policy was benefiting America, if Trump did it, it had to be reversed. This reversal of Trump's policies did little to unite and benefit America. Instead, Biden's policies began alienating the half of Americans who supported Trump for those very policies. By reversing Trump's beneficial policies, Biden began destroying America, as his presidency began to be failing. Biden's early actions also set the stage for more failures later in his presidency, so it is important to remember them. On the day Biden was inaugurated, he took over the @POTUS account on Twitter and began tweeting profusely. His tweets promoted his "Build Back Better" policies. But with them being a reversal of Trump's policies, they were often subtle attacks on Trump and his supporters. This two-volume set reproduces Biden's tweets for the first year of his presidency. It also includes my comments I posted on Twitter in response to his tweets. Some of my comments were added later and reflect later developments. I have also added an occasional "Extended Comment" to provide further context and commentary to some tweets. Volume One of this two-volume set recorded all of Biden's tweets from January 20, 2021 to the end of July 2021. This Volume Two covers his tweets from the beginning of August 2021 to January 20, 2022. These two volumes are followed up by a three-volume set on Biden's second year.
Progressive States' Rights
Today, when politicians, pundits, and scholars speak of states' rights, they are usually referring to Southern efforts to curtail the advance of civil rights policies or to conservative opposition to the federal government under the New Deal, Great Society, and Warren Court. Sean Beienburg shows that this was not always the case, and that there was once a time when federalism--the form of government that divides powers between the state and federal governments--was associated with progressive, rather than conservative, politics.In Progressive States' Rights, Sean Beienburg tells an alternative story of federalism by exploring states' efforts in the years before the New Deal of shaping constitutional discourse to ensure that a protective welfare and regulatory governmental regime would be built in the states rather than the national government. These state-level actors not only aggressively participated in constitutional politics and interpretation but also specifically sought to create an alternative model of state-building that would pair a robust state power on behalf of the public good with a traditionally limited national government.Current politics generally collapse policy and constitutional views (where a progressive view on one policy also assumes a progressive view on the other), but Beienburg shows that this was not always true, and indeed many of those most devoted to progressive policy views were deeply committed to a conservative constitutionalism.
Welcome to Capitol Hill
Although Tennessee has a rich history of political scandals dating back to the founding of the state, the last fifty years have been a confusing, confounding, and sometimes ludicrous period of ne'er-do-welling. Welcome to Capitol Hill is a guide to the state's modern history of corruption. From Governor Ray Blanton's pardon scandals to the FBI investigation that started with now lieutenant governor Randy McNally wearing a wire in the late 1980s to the sexual misconduct that plagues Tennessee politics, this book chronicles it all. Veteran political reporters Joel Ebert and Erik Schelzig draw from interviews, archival documents, and never-before-seen federal investigative files to provide readers with a handy resource about the wrongdoings of our elected officials.
India & the G20
India's G20 Presidency is occurring at a crucial moment in the history of the world economy; as such it is important to ask what India's role would be sitting on this high table. This compendium brings together diverse voices that are not afraid of asking difficult questions, or presenting analyses that diverge from the mainstream narratives and attempt to provide a much needed grounded analysis of the G20 framework.
The Impact of Covid-19 on the Institutional Fabric of Higher Education
This open access book assesses how the Covid-19 pandemic caught higher education systems throughout the world by surprise. It maps out the responses of higher education institutions to the challenges and strategic opportunities brought about by the pandemic, and examines the effects such responses may have. Bringing together scholars and case studies from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, the book is both comparative and global in nature. It also brings together researchers from a variety of disciplinary fields, including political scientists, historians, economists, sociologist, and anthropologists. In doing so, the book fosters an inter-disciplinary dialogue and inclusive methodological approach for unpacking the complexities associated with modern higher education systems and institutions.
Holy Bible
The irrational social system known as capitalism has, over time, led to the destruction of the environment. A possibility exists to replace capitalism with a form of rational socialism that doesn't necessitate conquering the environment.
The Impact of Covid-19 on the Institutional Fabric of Higher Education
This open access book assesses how the Covid-19 pandemic caught higher education systems throughout the world by surprise. It maps out the responses of higher education institutions to the challenges and strategic opportunities brought about by the pandemic, and examines the effects such responses may have. Bringing together scholars and case studies from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, the book is both comparative and global in nature. It also brings together researchers from a variety of disciplinary fields, including political scientists, historians, economists, sociologist, and anthropologists. In doing so, the book fosters an inter-disciplinary dialogue and inclusive methodological approach for unpacking the complexities associated with modern higher education systems and institutions.
The Annotated Works of Henry George
Volume V of The Annotated Works of Henry George presents the unabridged and posthumously published text of The Science of Political Economy (1898). George's original text is comprehensively supplemented by annotations which explain his many references to other political economists and writers both well known and obscure.
Transitional Justice in Troubled Societies
This book discusses the crucial strategic topic for the practical implementation of transitional justice in post-conflict societies by arguing that the dilemma is defined by the extent to which the actual achievement of the political goals of transition is a necessary condition for the long-term observance and implementation of justice.
A Post-Western Account of Critical Cosmopolitan Social Theory
The book offers a critical synthesis of critical theory, decolonial theory and Buddhist/Confucian inspired social theory.
Equality and the City
In Equality and the City, Enrique Pe簽alosa Londo簽o draws on his experience as mayor of Bogot獺, Colombia, as well as his many years of international work as a lecturer and consultant, to share his perspective on the issues facing developing cities, especially sustainable transportation and equal access to public space. As mayor of Bogot獺, Pe簽alosa Londo簽o initiated development of the TransMilenio Rapid Bus Transit system, among the largest and most comprehensive public transit systems in the Global South, which carries 2.5 million passengers a day along dedicated bus lanes, bike paths, and a rapid metro line. The system emphasizes accessibility for the entire population. Pe簽alosa Londo簽o's efforts to create public space were similarly ambitious: over the course of his two terms, more than a thousand public parks were created or improved. Underlying these policies was a conviction of how cities should be--a compelling humanistic philosophy of sustainable urbanism. For Pe簽alosa Londo簽o, city design is not just engineering; it defines human happiness, dignity, and equality. "An advanced city is not one where the poor own a car," Pe簽alosa writes, "but one where the rich use public transport." Equality and the City provides practical criteria for conceiving and constructing different and better cities, describes the obstacles that are confronted when doing so, and identifies ways to overcome them.
The Battle Against Poverty
In the second decade of the 21st century, Colombia showed surprising results in the fight against poverty. Monetary poverty dropped, extreme monetary poverty was cut in half, and multidimensional poverty fell. More than five million Colombians overcame poverty. Inequality also decreased significantly. In the middle of an internal armed conflict and peace negotiations, Colombia became a poverty reduction success story. All of this happened under the leadership of President Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018). How was this accomplished? In this important book, based on his experience and with data and statistics, former President Santos explains how this battle against poverty was waged and describes the tools, programs, and policies that produced these results. In particular, he emphasizes the importance of Colombia's globally pioneering adoption of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), calculated according to the Alkire-Foster method and developed at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI). The MPI, inspired by the work of Professor Amartya Sen, has been used in Colombia not only as a poverty measure but also as an instrument to guide social policy. The Colombian approach to poverty offers lessons, clearly explained in this book, to other nations, academics, and decision-makers. The Colombian experience demonstrates that, with political leadership and reliable poverty measurement, it is possible to make progress toward social equality.
Something for Nothing
America's greatness comes from people working hard to fulfill their dreams. But today that greatness is being undermined by people using the government to steal other people's dreams (and money). Rather than participate and innovate in the marketplace, generating goods and services that benefit society, people are increasingly vying for political advantage to live at the expense of others. Something for Nothing reveals the social and personal threats inherent in this emerging "grabbing match" culture, juxtaposing free-market virtues against government vices, explaining how the something-for-nothing mentality corrupts the political system, undermines corporate success, and stifles the individual's ability to prosper and contribute long-term to society. More than exposing the dangers, however, Tracy helps readers set a personal and culture-wide agenda for change.
Overload, Creep, Excess
This book locates India's flourishing internet within a complex 24-year history that has seen an unprecedented re-organization of social and political life. Three essays provide independent perspectives on a common area of inquiry, an ra that witnessed a fundamental mutation of the State, its mechanisms of planning and governance, the public domain and the everyday, all mediated by digital technology, all impacting its internet. Bringing the essays together is a common timeline, which begins in the late 1970s, includes such landmarks as the Information Technology Act, the much-discussed Aadhaar biometric identification programme, the chequered career of social media, and the widespread use of internet shutdowns.
Union Man
The reason I wrote Union Man is to give you a better understanding of labor union and the racial situation in America. Every union person in America should read this book. Becoming the first black president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU}, I Local 29 in Pittsburgh is what inspired me to write this book, Union Man. It really gave me a greater insight on how serious the race problem is in America, and how little people in the union understand the concept of unionism. First, I see what I call black on black racism. Blacks have a negative image toward their own people because they perceive themselves with the same perception as white people have about them. White people still view black people as being inferior to them. I felt the need to write this book to wake up white and black people, because if we do not wake up and address this problem of racism, we will self-destruct in this country.
Mobilities on the Margins
This open access book examines places on the margins and the dynamics through which a marginal position of a place is created. Specifically, it explores how places, mostly in sparsely populated areas, often perceived as immobile and frozen in time, come into being and develop through interference of everyday mobilities and creative practices that cut across the spheres of culture and nature as usually defined. Through fieldwork and case studies from areas in Iceland, Finland, Greenland, and Scotland, the book's twelve chapters draw out the multiple relations through which places emerge, where people compose their lives as best they can with their surroundings. A special concern is to explore the links between travelling, landscape, and material culture and how places and margins are enacted through mobilities and creative practices of humans and other beings. The emphasis on mobility disturbs the perception of a place as a bounded entity and offers a useful and necessary understanding of places as mobile and fluid. Mobilities on the Margins is a novel and timely contribution to the exploration of human and more-than-human interactions in a world of increasingly fluid mobilities and insistent crises.
Welfare Politics in Mexico
When it was originally published in 1986, this was the first book to deal simultaneously with several aspects of social welfare provision in a developing country.
Personal Data-Smart Cities: How Cities Can Utilise Their Citizen's Personal Data to Help Them Become Climate Neutral
This book sets out to address some of the issues that a smart city needs to overcome to make use of both the data currently available to them and how this can be enhanced by using emerging technology enabling a citizen to share their personal data, adding value.It provides answers for those within a smart city, advising their mayors or leaders on introducing new technology. We will cover the topic so as to enable many different public officials to be able to understand the situation from their own perspective, be they lawyers, financial people, service providers, those looking at governance structures, policy makers, etc.We are contributing to the new model for the European Data Economy. Case studies of existing best practice in the use of data are augmented with examples of embracing a citizen's personal data in the mix, to enable better services to develop and potential new revenue streams to occur. This will enable new business models and investment opportunities to emerge.We will address the topic of how to put a value on data and will conclude by looking at what new technologies will be emerging in the coming years, to help cities with carbon-neutral targets to have more chance of succeeding.
Discrimination and the Foundation of Justice
Discrimination is still not sufficiently addressed within liberal democracies. Often only some groups are protected against discrimination and merely in certain situations. This leaves many who suffer because of discrimination without recourse. And that is only one of the dilemmas with group-based approaches to the protection against discrimination. So why are these approaches so common? And can we find a viable alternative? In this new book, legal scholar Erwin Dijkstra answers these questions. His analysis is thorough, original, and thought-provoking. This makes Discrimination and the Foundation of Justice indispensable for anyone who seeks a better understanding of discrimination law, the relevant human rights context, and the debate on improving the protection against discrimination. That debate is brought to life through a thoughtful discussion of hotly debated topics like hate speech, affirmative action, and institutions that speak out against discrimination. As discrimination concerns us all, this book was written as a resource for all. It is meant to be read by those studying discrimination law professionally and the broader public alike.
Reclaiming Indigeneity and Democracy in India's Jharkhand
Created in 2000 following a long-standing regional movement, Jharkhand-the land of forests-represents an important experiment in regional autonomy and self-determination for indigenous communities in a postcolonial democracy. Over two decades, Jharkhand has experienced a volatile political environment as competing political groups have mobilised indigenous subaltern communities for different ends. In Reclaiming Indigeneity and Democracy in India's Jharkhand, Ipshita Basu contributes to scholarship on critical social justice and indigeneity by highlighting 'relations of justification' as a central feature of group-based claims-making for social groups identifying with indigeneity in diverse ways. Specifically, the book focuses on reclaiming political recognition for Adivasis within the contemporary dynamics of majoritarian populism and the market economy. Uniting perspectives from philosophy (social justice), politics (democracy and public reasoning), and culture studies (identity), and based on ethnographic and archival research, the author indicates that when 'relations' are at the epicentre of claims-making, expressive attachments determine political activism over the instrumental choices that groups are compelled to make in the context of large power differentials. This book is a timely account of indigenous politics and is an attempt to foreground the complex 'political nature' of social justice claims-making in a democracy such as India.
The Politics of Revenue Bargaining in Africa
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Academic and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. This book examines the politics of revenue bargaining in Africa at a time when attention to domestic revenue mobilization has expanded immensely. Measures to increase taxes and other revenues can - but do not always - lead to a process of bargaining, where revenue providers negotiate for some kind of return. This book offers in-depth analyses of micro-instances of revenue bargaining across five African countries: Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda. The case studies all draw on a common theoretical framework combining the fiscal contract theory with the political settlement approach, which enables a systematic exploration into what triggers revenue bargaining; how these processes unfold; and finally, if and when they result in an agreement - whether that is a fiscal contract or not. From these empirically rich case narratives emerges a story of how power and initial bargaining position influence not only whether bargaining occurs in the first place, but also the processes and their outcomes. Less resourceful taxpayers find it harder to raise their voice, but in some cases even these groups manage to ally with other civil society groups to protest tax reforms they perceive as unfair. Indirect taxes such as VAT often trigger protests, as do sudden changes in tax practices. Revenue providers rarely call for improved services in return for paying tax, which would be expected to nurture the foundation for a fiscal social contract. Instead, revenue providers are more likely to negotiate for tax reductions, implying that governments' efforts to increase revenue are impeded. Indeed, we find many instances of state-society reciprocity when ruling elites try to be responsive to revenue providers' demands. The Politics of Revenue Bargaining in Africa hence provides insights into the nature and dynamics not only of revenue bargaining but of policymaking in general as well as its implications for state-society reciprocity in Africa.
Decolonizing Constitutionalism
Decolonizing Constitutionalism aims to contribute to a post-abyssal reflection on law and constitutionalism by considering the structural axes of power that are constitutive of modern law "capitalism, colonialism, and heteropatriarchy" alongside the legal plurality of the world.
Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy
The new edition of Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy offers an updated overview and critical discussion of contemporary discourses around truth, misinformation, and democracy, while also mapping cutting-edge scholarship.
Contracting in Japan
Economic arrangements, Ramseyer writes, are structured and implemented with the intent and hope that they will be carried out with 'care, intelligence, discretion, and effort.' Yet entrepreneurs work with partial information about the products, and people, they are dealing with. Contracting in Japan illustrates this by examining five sets of negotiations and unusual contractual arrangements among non-specialist businessmen, and women, in Japan. In it, Ramseyer explores how sake brewers were able to obtain and market the necessary, but difficult-to-grow, sake rice that captured the local terroir; how Buddhist temples tried to compensate for rapidly falling donations by negotiating unusual funerary contracts; and how pre-war local elites used leasing instead of loans to fund local agriculture. Ramseyer examines these entrepreneurs, discovering how they structured contracts, made credible commitments, obtained valuable information, and protected themselves from adverse consequences to create, maintain, strengthen, and leverage the social networks in which they operated.
2021 Energy Policy of the Asian Development Bank
The new Asian Development Bank (ADB) Energy Policy, approved in October 2021, guides ADB's energy sector operations to support energy access improvement and low-carbon transition in Asia and the Pacific. It is consistent with ADB's Strategy 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Paris Agreement on climate change and anchored on five principles: (i) securing energy for a prosperous and inclusive Asia and the Pacific; (ii) building a sustainable and resilient energy future; (iii) supporting institutions, private sector participation, and good governance; (iv) promoting regional cooperation and integration; and (v) maximizing development impact through integrated cross-sector operations.
Contracting in Japan
Economic arrangements, Ramseyer writes, are structured and implemented with the intent and hope that they will be carried out with 'care, intelligence, discretion, and effort.' Yet entrepreneurs work with partial information about the products, and people, they are dealing with. Contracting in Japan illustrates this by examining five sets of negotiations and unusual contractual arrangements among non-specialist businessmen, and women, in Japan. In it, Ramseyer explores how sake brewers were able to obtain and market the necessary, but difficult-to-grow, sake rice that captured the local terroir; how Buddhist temples tried to compensate for rapidly falling donations by negotiating unusual funerary contracts; and how pre-war local elites used leasing instead of loans to fund local agriculture. Ramseyer examines these entrepreneurs, discovering how they structured contracts, made credible commitments, obtained valuable information, and protected themselves from adverse consequences to create, maintain, strengthen, and leverage the social networks in which they operated.
Decisions about Decisions
Here is one of the most fundamental questions in human life: How do we decide how we decide? We make such decisions all the time. If you trust your doctor, you might decide to follow a simple rule for medical decisions: Do whatever your doctor suggests. If you like someone a lot, and maybe love them, but are not sure whether you want to marry them, you might do this: Live with them first. Some of these strategies are wise. They prevent error. They improve your emotional well-being. Some of these strategies are foolish. They lead you in the direction of terrible mistakes. They prevent you from learning. They might make you miserable. Decisions about Decisions explores how people do, and should, make decisions about decisions. It aims to see what such decisions are, to explore how they go right, and see where they go wrong.
Everyone Orthodox to Themselves
Religious liberty is one of the hallmarks of American democracy, but the principal architects of this liberty believed that it was only compatible with a certain form of Christianity--namely, a liberal, rational, Christianity. Conservative and postliberal champions of the freedom of religion often ignore this point, sometimes even arguing that orthodox Christianity was, or should be, at the root of democratic liberty.Everyone Orthodox to Themselves, John Colman's close study of the religious views and political theologies of John Locke, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson, shows otherwise. Colman demonstrates that Locke and his three American students specifically took aim at the idea of orthodoxy, which they argued continuously tempted its believers to try to impose an artificial uniformity upon the religious diversity that naturally exists in society and thought it necessary to advance a more rational, non-dogmatic Christianity given the threat they saw religious orthodoxy posed to a free, liberal society.While recent arguments have endorsed the idea that there is a crisis of liberalism that can only be met by the revival of more orthodox forms of religious devotion, Colman argues that, according to some of the most prominent American Founders and their philosophic predecessors, such orthodoxy is incompatible with religious freedom and the right to free inquiry. Everyone Orthodox to Themselves demonstrates that only a non-dogmatic, rationalist Christianity could be made a friend rather than an adversary to the inalienable right of religious liberty.Colman's work reveals how the reform of Christianity, and with it the inculcation of a particular theological disposition, is necessary to secure religious liberty and the right of free inquiry. The book also establishes the importance of Locke's Reasonableness of Christianity for his larger argument for toleration.
New Media Discourses, Culture and Politics after the Arab Spring
This book investigates the interplay between media, politics, religion, and culture in shaping Arabs' quest for more stable and democratic governance models in the aftermath of the "Arab Spring" uprisings. It focuses on online mediated public debates, specifically user comments on online Arab news sites, and their potential to re-engage citizens in politics. Contributors systematically explore and critique these online communities and spaces in the context of the Arab uprisings, with case studies, largely centered on Egypt, covering micro-bloggers, Islamic discourse online, Libyan nationalism on Facebook, and a computational assessment of online engagement, among other topics.
Throwaway Nation
Americans are burying ourselves in our own waste. It's befouling our air, land, waters, food, and bodies. The US tosses out enough foodstuff to feed the rest of the world. America is the largest buyer of fashion and cosmetics, the second dirtiest industry in the world. We lead the planet in transportation usage and waste, and we're now polluting outer space. Throwaway Nation takes a look at the pileup of waste in the US, including the problem of plastic, the industry of overmedication, e-waste products, everyday garbage, fast fashion trash, space waste, and other forms of profligacy that serve to make our nation the biggest waster on the planet. Looking at the environmental impact of so much garbage, Dondero explores not just how we got here and where we're headed, but ways in which we might be able to curb the tide. From what you do and don't eat, what and how your products are packaged, the rampant production of clothes, the space and waste in which you work, live, what you breath, eat, drink, the tools you use to work and play, the energy overproduced and ill-used for a pleasant lifestyle, the waste you generate, and how humans are beginning to clutter the cosmos--all and more are profiled in the Throwaway Nation--and what we ought to do to prohibit and mitigate the flow of our garbage and to use it productively.
The Big Government We Love to Hate
At the root of modern political troubles, says political scientist James Payne, is the assumption that government can fix whatever is wrong in society. This faith in government is not logical or scientific, Payne explains in his new book, The Big Government We Love to Hate. It is an unexamined "cultural presumption," a blind attachment that produces error and contradiction, even among otherwise thoughtful commentators. Only in recent historical times have innovative thinkers broken from the grip of this irrational loyalty to government. These are libertarians, who have realized that government cannot create a healthy society. Their growing numbers portend an evolution toward "Neighbor" values emphasizing personal relationships and voluntary social organization.
Blackbird
The fascinating story of the spy plane SR-71 Blackbird-the fastest manned aircraft in the history of aviation.The SR-71 Blackbird, the famed "spy" jet, was deliberately designed to be the world's fastest and highest-flying aircraft-and its success has never been approached since.It was conceived in the late 1950s by Lockheed Martin's highly secret 'Skunk Works' team under one of the most (possibly the most) brilliant aero designers of all time, Clarence "Kelly" Johnson. Once fully developed in 1964, the Blackbird represented the apogee of jet-powered flight. It could fly at well over three times the speed of sound above 85,000 feet and had an unrefueled range of 3,200 nautical miles. It flew with great success until 1999). Despite extensive use over Vietnam and later battlefields, not one was ever shot down (unlike the U2 in the Gary Powers incident).The Blackbird's capabilities seem unlikely ever to be exceeded. It was retired because its function can be performed by satellites-and in today's steady trend toward unmanned military aircraft, it is improbable that another jet aircraft of this speed and caliber will ever again be conceived.
Terrorists on the Border and in Our Country
"We recommend it to you, highly. This is an important book and it is one that I think that everyone should be reading."--Lou Dobbs"Details the immediate danger America now faces...how the battle for the "heart and soul" of America is now being fought on American soil!"--U.S. Representative Ralph NormanA nationally recognized security expert reveals the REAL Terrorist threat from the U.S. Southern Border and already INSIDE America. Terrorists on the Border and in Our Country reveals how radical, left-wing, liberal politicians and woke, progressive, "defund-the-police," and "stop-the-wall," nation-wrecking policies caused this crisis and the steps the country must take to combat crime, protect the homeland and its citizens and stop the growing existential challenge to Amercian freedoms and way of life.Charles Marino outlines how and why Biden's open border policies will ultimately destroy America from the Rio Grande up. Some of the catastrophic problems created, enabled, or increased by weak borders include: Approximately 5 million migrants since the start of the Biden administration.Migrants from over 130 countries have been encountered.Over 100 migrants encountered on the terrorist watch list.Approaching 2 million "getaways" (unknown migrants who are not apprehended).Cartels are more empowered and funded than any time in history.Record breaking amounts of deadly fentanyl entering our cities.Increased violent crime, nationwide.Strain on infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, criminal justice systems, law enforcement, etc.Human trafficking/Sex trafficking.Erosion of American values and culture.Decriminalization of border and immigration laws.Marino offers his expert recommendations--a step-by-step corrective and desperately needed policy roadmap--on how America can be saved. Before it's too late.THE THREAT IS NOT JUST ON THE BORDER, IT IS ALREADY HERE.
Tainted Legacy Islam, Colonialism and Slavery in Northern Nigeria Revised and Expanded Edition 2019
This is a revised and expanded edition 2019 of the tainted legacy released in 2017. This new edition included update to the chapters and an addition of Chapter 16 detailing specific ways the latest impact of islamization in having on Northern Christians and minorities. The past twenty years have seen a spate of violent riots and other conflicts in Nigeria resulting in considerable numbers of Christian and Muslim dead, of churches and mosques destroyed, of homes and businesses ransacked and burned. These incidents have taken place mainly in the Middle Belt, where Christians and Muslims are present in approximately equal numbers. Recently, however, we have seen such violence occurring in the "northern North" itself, where Christians are a small minority. More often than not, Christians have been the targets of Muslim-initiated violence, perpetrated by groups ranging from gangs of young people to fully armed Islamist militias. Attacks by Muslims in the last ten years have killed thousands of Christians.The climate of intimidation and fear that these repeated conflicts engender adds to an existing situation of anti-Christian discrimination and marginalisation in the North. The vulnerability of Christians has been effectively enshrined in law in twelve northern states, where shari'a has has become the main source of civil and criminal law since 1999. Despite Muslim promises that Christians will be exempt, expe- rience has repeatedly shown the opposite. The fact that some Islamists are calling for an Islamic state in Nigeria, ruled by shari'a, is a cause of very serious concern for Nigerian Christians.This valuable work by Yusufu Turaki shows how the present situa- tion does not arise simply from ethnic differences, as is often suggest- ed, but is deeply rooted in the history of West Africa, dominated as it was by the mighty empires of the Sokoto Caliphate and the Sultanate of Kanem-Bornu and their Islamic colonialism. This Islamic rule was then consolidated by British colonialism, employing Lord Lugard's policy of indirect rule. The centralised administration of the Fulanis
Managing for a Change
Project management is a skill we have to learn; good intentions and enthusiasm are not enough! This book provides an insight into development project planning and management by guiding the reader, chapter by chapter, through the stages from concept to completion. Topics covered include problem identification, mobilizing a group, solution identification and planning, resource identification and cost estimating, project funding, basic book-keeping and records, project supervision, project execution and post-project management. There is advice on all aspects of the process including problem analysis, meetings, letter-writing, decision-making, leadership, employment of contractors and quality control. The last chapter includes sections on profit and non-profit making enterprises and each chapter ends with exercises to help test the new knowledge and reinforce the lessons in good practice. This book will be invaluable to community group leaders and trainers as well as to individuals who are involved in community organizations of any kind.
Ban This Book Now!
"Ban This Book Now!: The Politics and Power of Book Bans" starts with a cheeky, sarcastic introduction that might have you chuckling, but the humor quickly gives way to a compelling investigation into a serious issue - book banning. This incisive examination takes you on an enlightening tour of the categories of book bans, showcasing the specific titles that have fallen prey to censorship, and the motivations behind these actions.As you journey through its pages, this book exposes the real costs of book bans - to education, to diversity, to the free flow of ideas, and to the intellectual growth of individuals and societies. It probes the driving forces behind censorship, from political ideologies to cultural conservatism, and unpacks the often veiled reasons for each prohibition."Ban This Book Now" delves into the disquieting consequences of suppressing literature. It spotlights the implications for critical thinking, academic freedom, and societal progress when certain narratives are silenced. It raises pressing questions about what is at stake when the powerful decide which stories get to be told and which don't.The book concludes with a powerful call to action, detailing ways readers can combat book bans and fight for intellectual freedom. It is a clarion call to resist the erasure of diverse voices in literature.Satirical, yet sincere, "Ban This Book Now!" is a crucial read for book lovers, educators, and anyone passionate about preserving freedom of thought. The book challenges, educates, and inspires readers to acknowledge the silent war against literature and to rise up against censorship.
I Heard You Were Going on Jihad
A true account of how al-Qaeda operatives operated in America before 9-11. The road to 9-11 began after the break-up of the Ottoman Empire. The aspirations of people living in the Middle East were frustrated by the geopolitical designs of the British and French after World War One. Various political movements in the Arab countries attempted to achieve independence and to end western suzerainty. Among those movements was political Islam that blamed Muslim failures on corrupt pro-western Arab leaders and the acceptance of western principals. After the successful Shia revolution in Iran in 1979, Muslims were galvanized globally to achieve their goals through Islamic channels. When the United States provided support to the Islamic Mujahideen in Afghanistan as part of a 1980s Cold War strategy to bloody the Soviet Union it facilitated a call to Jihad that proliferated cells throughout Europe, Southeast Asia and the United States as well as the Islamic world. Groups like al-Qaeda espoused violent jihad as the only method to defeat western empires and establish true Islamic regimes. The goal of 9-11 was more than killing Americans and achieving terror. The purpose of 9-11 was to draw America into the heart of the Islamic world where it's armies would be defeated and it's citizens demoralized.
All We Want Is the Earth
Sixty years ago, an upsurge of social movements protested the ecological harms of industrial capitalism. In subsequent decades, environmentalism consolidated into forms of management and business strategy that aimed to tackle ecological degradation while enabling new forms of green economic growth. However, the focus on spaces and species to be protected saw questions of human work and histories of colonialism pushed out of view. This book traces a counter-history of modern environmentalism from the 1960s to the present day. It focuses on claims concerning land, labour and social reproduction arising at important moments in the history of environmentalism made by feminist, anti-colonial, Indigenous, workers' and agrarian movements. Many of these movements did not consider themselves 'environmental, ' and yet they offer vital ways forward in the face of escalating ecological damage and social injustice.
The Italian Diaspora in South Africa
This book investigates the experiences of second- and third-generation Italians living in South Africa, exploring how nostalgia for Italy influences their sense of identity and belonging. It will be of interest to scholars from across migration studies and the Humanities in general.
