Competing without Fighting
This CSIS report offers one of the most comprehensive analyses to date of Chinese political warfare activities and examines China's main actions, primary goals, and options for the United States and its partners.
Routledge Handbook of Feminist Peace Research
This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of feminist approaches to questions of violence, justice, and peace.
Japanese Public Diplomacy in European Countries
Gadjeva explores the potential for the Japan Foundation as a central public diplomacy actor by examining its activities in France and Bulgaria since the 1970s.
Routledge Handbook on China-Middle East Relations
This handbook brings together a mix of established and emerging international scholars to provide valuable analytical insights as to how China's growing Middle East presence affects intra-regional development, trade, security, and diplomacy.
The United States and Greek-Turkish Relations
This book examines the role of the United States in Greek-Turkish relations and fills an important gap in alliance theory regarding the Guardian's Dilemma.
On Global Learning
Global security, climate and health challenges have all created a deep-seated unease about international society's capacity to cope with change. International Relations should help practitioners develop appropriate responses, but Jason Ralph argues that IR would be better positioned to do so if it drew more explicitly on the insights of classical Pragmatism. By bringing this tradition in from the margins, Ralph comprehensively engages norm, practice, realist and global IR theory to extend the 'new constructivist' research agenda in a normative direction. He develops a 'Pragmatic Constructivist' approach to assess how well communities of practice facilitate the learning that mitigates emergent social problems and improves lived experiences. This normative assessment focuses on the extent to which communities of practice are characterized by inclusive reflexivity and deliberative practical judgment. These two tests are then applied to critique existing communities of practice, including the UN Security Council, the UNFCCC and the WHO.
A Chinese Bureaucracy for Innovation-Driven Development?
This Element scrutinizes the attempts by the Chinese party-state bureaucracy since the 2000s to advance innovation and technological upgrading. It examines insights from the developmental state debate - the need for a bureaucracy to achieve internal coherence and the capacity of that bureaucracy both to forge coalitions between bureaucrats, businessmen, and scientists and to discipline domestic companies. Moreover, it assesses efforts to foster technological upgrading in the semiconductor and electric vehicle industries. While there are significant differences between China and earlier successful developmental states, with the former facing problems such as the legacies of short-termism, limited monitoring capabilities, and flawed discipline over business, the authors find that, compared with other emerging capitalist economies, the Chinese bureaucracy has developed strong capabilities to advance 'innovation-driven development.' This Element seeks to provide avenues for comparing China with other late developers.
Purging the Odious Scourge of Atrocities
Purging the Odious Scourge of Atrocities explains the growth of a small body of human rights law that bans the use of violence against a state's own population when it is deemed a mass atrocity. These laws are binding on all states regardless of whether they have accepted it by signing treaties, or whether it is consistent with widespread state practice. Yet, this challenges the doctrine of consent, which has traditionally been the foundation of international law. Bruce Cronin argues that qualitative changes in the form of global governance are leading to an expansion in the theoretical underpinnings of international law and its role in contemporary world politics. Specifically, in limited and well-defined areas of international law, states have begun to recognize the authority of collective international consensus over individual state consent as the source of some legal rules. Cronin supports this theory by examining the degree to which the international community has, via multilateral conferences among states, developed a consensus around the legal control of "excessive internal state violence"--that is, a level of coercive force that the international community considers to be disproportionate and illegitimate for pursuing state interests within its own borders. These practices, which the Genocide Convention refers to as an "odious scourge", include widespread, systematic attacks on civilian populations; violent persecution of defined groups (including genocide, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid); torture; and the violation of civilian immunity in internal armed conflicts. In these cases, state action is subject to general international law that overrides their consent. By allowing us to rethink the mechanisms that give international law actual force, Purging the Odious Scourge of Atrocities promises to reshape our understanding of why states are required to abide by human rights norms they never consented to by treaty or customary practice.
International Norm Disputes
International Norm Disputes: The Link between Contestation and Norm Robustness offers a rich, comparative study of when and why contested international norms decline. It presents central findings on the link between contestation and norm robustness based on four detailed, contemporary case studies - the torture prohibition, the responsibility to protect, the moratorium on commercial whaling, and the duty to prosecute institutionalized in the International Criminal Court. It also includes two historical case studies - privateering and the transatlantic slave trade. This book provides in-depth knowledge on contestation and robustness dynamics of central international norms. Having meticulously collected relevant data and conducted extensive qualitative coding, the authors demonstrate that norms are likely to weaken when challengers contest the validity of a norm's core claims but remain robust when they contest a norm's application and contestation does not become permanent. These important findings, comparatively presented here for the first time, are crucial for understanding the much-discussed problems of the contemporary liberal international order. The insights provided establish how different types of challenges will affect global governance mechanisms and which conditions are most likely to create fundamental change.
Building Pathways to Peace
SSR is a key element of the transitions out of war, aiming at the establishment of accountable and legitimate institutions able to prevent and sanction the use of violence. While recognizing the need to include local actors, donor policies still focus mostly on the state as a provider of security. Second generation SSR has emphasized the need to include local communities and recognize the existence of non-state actors in the provision of security and justice. However, recognition is not enough. This Element promotes a radical re-think of SSR in the context of conflict and war. Guiding question for the considerations is how can security sector reform be set up and implemented to contribute to constructive and inclusive state-society relations, and build the path to long-lasting peace? This Element argues that a focus on functional equivalents, minorities, gender, and human rights is key for the design, implementation, and success of SSR.
A Guidebook for City and County Managers
Whether you are a student preparing for a career in public administration, a mid-career professional manager or a seasoned veteran, A Guidebook for City and County Managers provides policy guidance and advice to local governmental challenges and issues. Assuming a knowledge of the basics of public management, James M. Bourey provides real-world recommendations for issues managers are facing this decade and beyond. Relying on experience from his long career in local government in chief executive positions in city, county and regional council management in locations throughout the United States, Bourey outlines the best approaches to the most critical issues for local governments. The book is comprehensive in its breadth of subject matter yet targeted in the recommendations that focus on the most critical issues. Social equity, environmental protection and global warming, good fiscal management, adequate public infrastructure and active citizen engagement are important themes throughout. Merely being an administrative caretaker is not sufficient; managers must have the knowledge of ways to improve their communities and take the initiative to enhance the quality of life of its residents. Making a difference is both the reason for the job and its reward. This book helps provide a roadmap for the journey.
Female Ex-Combatants, Empowerment, and Reintegration
Female Ex-Combatants, Empowerment, and Reintegration investigates the role of United Nations-led Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) programs in undermining female ex-combatants' empowerment.
Russian Realism
Russian Realism analyzes Russian contemporary geopolitical thinking, or realism, and explores the notion of Derzhava as the foundation of Russian realism.
Us-China Relations in the 21st Century
The beginning of the new millennium marked the meteoric rise of China in a decades-old world order dominated by the United States of America. This book explores the intricacies of China's political, economic and diplomatic relationship with the US and its consequences on international politics.
Building Pathways to Peace
SSR is a key element of the transitions out of war, aiming at the establishment of accountable and legitimate institutions able to prevent and sanction the use of violence. While recognizing the need to include local actors, donor policies still focus mostly on the state as a provider of security. Second generation SSR has emphasized the need to include local communities and recognize the existence of non-state actors in the provision of security and justice. However, recognition is not enough. This Element promotes a radical re-think of SSR in the context of conflict and war. Guiding question for the considerations is how can security sector reform be set up and implemented to contribute to constructive and inclusive state-society relations, and build the path to long-lasting peace? This Element argues that a focus on functional equivalents, minorities, gender, and human rights is key for the design, implementation, and success of SSR.
The Peace Epistemologies of the National Coordination of Indigenous Women in Mexico
The book dismantles prevalent misconceptions surrounding Indigenous peoples' epistemologies on peace, arguing that the peace epistemologies which Indigenous peoples have built do not correspond to the past but are changing, living theories created and recreated through praxis. By examining the knowledge that members of the National Coordination of Indigenous Women (CONAMI) have built through their collective struggle in favor of Indigenous self-determination, this work illustrates how Indigenous women play a central role in revitalizing the worldviews of their peoples and fostering social change.
Practical Biopolitics of COVID-19
Practical Biopolitics of COVID-19: Indonesian and Russian Experiences consists in applying biopolitical theorizing - in particular, the concept of practical biopolitics - as a framework for studying different experiences and policies of tackling health and medical crises. The book explains how the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the enormity of interconnections between life and politics, and the ensuing challenges for political actors in Indonesia and Russia.. Practical biopolitics as a concept includes different regimes of care and protection, along with different techniques of governing human lives and administering healthcare, conditioned by the self-securing and self-sustaining public "conduct of the conduct". Practical biopolitics is a sub-field of that, which comprises analysis of specific policy practices and administrative and managerial tools, and the measures that governments apply to fight health threats. The book raises a number of questions: how did the COVID-19 state of global alert transform the conceptual vocabulary of politics? How different national experiences of crisis management during a pandemic might be compared with each other, and how these comparisons might be theorized in terms of national sovereignties, good governance, and public policy, and foreign policy?
Russia’s National Security in Aleksandr Dugin’s Neo-Eurasianism
Aleksandr Dugin is an extremely radical thinker. Nevertheless, it is worth dealing with his thought because it shows in an exaggerated form how the evolution of social and political ideas took place in the history of Russia, which led to Putin's contemporary neo-imperialism. This book presents the Russian discourse on national security against a broader background of global academic reflection, takes a closer look at the sources and ideological basis of the concept of Russia's security developed by Dugin, discusses the subject and main dimensions of Russia's national security in Dugin's works, and shows the importance of Russia's foreign policy for the creation of its national security.
God's Man in Iraq
During decades of turmoil, war, and regime change in Iraq, one influential figure has loomed above all others: Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.As the revered senior Shia cleric in a Shia-majority country, Sistani commands the loyalty of millions of faithful. With quiet authority, Sistani has tried from behind the scenes to steer Iraq through a series of existential crises since the U.S. invasion and fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.Century International fellow Sajad Jiyad draws on new sources and hundreds of interviews during decades of fieldwork inside Iraq to argue that Sistani has redefined the role of the Shia clergy and created a model of indirect influence that starkly differs from Iran's approach of direct clerical rule. Contenders have already begun positioning themselves to succeed Sistani, and Jiyad assesses the players and the complex selection process for Najaf's leadership. Observers of Iraq and of Shia power will find God's Man in Iraq: The Life and Leadership of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani an incomparable appraisal of Sistani's legacy-and an invaluable guide to the perilous transition that will follow his tenure.
Legitimacy, the Chinese Communist Party and Confucius
This book explores the use of Confucianism by the Chinese Communist Party in its assertion of political legitimacy. Confucian thought offers an enduring framework for political legitimacy in East Asian societies, including China. All states strive to acquire legitimacy, and despite once denouncing Confucianism as the remnants of feudal poison, the Party is turning towards Confucianism as part of its legitimation efforts. This suggests that the Party is suffering from an ideological void in terms of legitimacy and legitimation due to the diminishing relevance of Marxism in Chinese societal practices. The book will devise a non-liberal legitimacy framework, drawing on the ideas of Habermas and Bernard Williams, to examine the legitimacy of the Party, and use an analysis of the elite discourse to determine the nature of the Confucian turn, in a sharp polemic that will interest scholars of Chinese politics, of the role of traditional beliefs in Asian modernity, and in China's future.
In Search of an Independent Ambazonian Nation: Dimensions of Identity and Freedom
This book documents the unusual courage by different generations of Ambazonians fighting to build a modern postcolonial nation-state in Africa. Written by experts in the field, the chapters analyze the Ambazonia liberation struggle from different perspectives. Examining the tangled origins of the Ambazonian war as well as documenting the region's extensive history of foreign occupation up until recent uprisings erupting in 2016, the contributors expose the unwillingness of the international systems to stand up to mandates and call for complete decolonization of the territory from French Cameroun. This book forces a re-examination of colonialism, neo-colonialism, and post-colonialism in West Africa, especially in the relatively obscure area of black-on-black colonization, and the inadequacy of international instruments in enforcing the universally accepted ideas from the previous century.
Transborder Pastoral Nomadism and Human Security in Africa
This book examines the nexus between political borders, pastoral nomadism, and human security in Africa. It uses a host of applied interdisciplinary insights to showcase the human security crisis in the context of climate change, inter-group relations, leadership strategies, institutions, and governance within the region.
Democracies at War Against Drugs
This book provides an in-depth account of military operations against drug gangs and organizations in two of the biggest countries in Latin America: Brazil and Mexico. Recent studies on drug wars have detailed case studies on the war on drugs but do not focus on the role of the army in such policies. Publications that do drive attention to the military in such situations are usually from human rights organizations or the press and are therefore not scholarly works. There are therefore no recent academic books dealing with the role of the military in the fight against drugs in Latin America. This book aims to fill this gap. It also offers an empirical and theoretical examination of the issue of the role of the military (rather than the police) on national soil--the army being generally devoted to interventions abroad, and the police, to law enforcement on the national ground. The book is also the first work to look at high-level negotiations between military and civilian elites that define the conditions for the use of force during military operations. It provides a theoretically informed understanding of contemporary security politics in Brazil and Mexico.
National Role Conceptions in a New Millennium
National Role Conceptions in a New Millennium examines the transformation of the international system through an examination of the role conceptions adopted by the different global actors. Advancing current role theory scholarship in International Relations, the contributors take as their starting point the question of how international actors are responding to the reordering of the global system. They reflect on the rise of new actors and the reemergence of old rivalries, the decline of established norms, and the unleashing of internal political forces such as nationalism and parochialism. They argue that changes in the international system can impact how states define their roles and act as a variable in both domestic and international role contestations. Further, they examine the redefinition of roles of countries and the international organizations that have been central to the US and western dominated world order, including major powers in the world (the US, Russia, China, Britain etc.) as well as the European Union, NATO, and ASEAN. By looking at international organizations, this text moves beyond the traditional subjects of role theory in the study of international relations, to examine how roles are contested in non-state actors. National Role Conceptions in a New Millennium is the first attempt to delve into the individual motivations of states to seek role transition. As such, it is ideal for those teaching and studying both theory and method in international relations and foreign policy analysis.
Making Sense of Cyber Capabilities for Small States
Domingo explores the potential of cyber capabilities for small states in the Asia-Pacific, the most active region for cyber conflict. He develops a systematic explanation for why Brunei, New Zealand, and Singapore have developed or are developing cyber capabilities.Studies on cyber conflict and strategy have substantially increased in the past decade but most have focused on the cyber operations of powerful states. This book moves away from the prominence of powerful states and explores the potential of cyber capabilities for small states in the Asia-Pacific, the most active region for cyber conflict. It develops a systematic explanation of why Brunei, New Zealand, and Singapore have developed or are developing cyber capabilities despite its obscure strategic value. The book argues that the distribution of power in the region and a "technology-oriented" strategic culture are two necessary conditions that influence the development of cyber capabilities in small states. Following this argument, the book draws on neoclassical realism as a theoretical framework to account for the interaction between these two conditions. The book also pursues three secondary objectives. First, it aims to determine the constraints and incentives that affect the utilization of cyber capabilities as foreign policy instruments. Second, the book evaluates the functionality of these cyber capabilities for small states. Lastly, it assesses the implications of employing cyber capabilities as foreign policy tools of small states. This book will be an invaluable resource for academics and security analysts working on cyber conflict, military strategy, small states, and International Relations in general.
Armed Banditry in Nigeria
In Nigeria, armed banditry has emerged as a contemporary threat to national security. Commentators and scholars have repeatedly pointed to overlapping foci such as herders-farmers' conflicts, warlordism, ungoverned spaces, transnational criminal networks, and the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) from Libya as dynamics influencing the current security dilemma in Nigeria. The emergence of armed banditry has triggered the prevalence of everyday killings, kidnapping for ransom, property destruction, and cattle rustling. However, the group's origin remains obscure, while its objectives and organizational structure are fuzzy.This book aims to unravel the evolution, dynamics, and trajectories of armed banditry in Nigeria. As it explores the activities of armed banditry in Nigeria, the debate will focus on its historical context, socio-economic consequences, transnational dimensions, and the response to armed banditry in Nigeria. Furthermore, the book will explore whether the scourge of armed banditry represents a new terrorist organization with a distinct ideological orientation (if at all) or another non-state armed group creating and profiting from a criminal economy through the reign of terror. In response to the increasing concern for the criminal activities of armed banditry in Nigeria, the book anticipates unpacking its emerging trends and operational nomenclature.
Power-Sharing in the Global South
Power-sharing serves as a popular conflict resolution device at war's end. Yet, the performance record of such arrangements is highly variable, sometimes leading to peace and stability and at other times to immobilism and institutional collapse. This book explores the adoption, function, and dissolution of power-sharing arrangements across the Global South, including case studies of Colombia, Ethiopia, Malaysia, and Iraq, and others to make sense of this mixed record. Authors identify a range of contextual factors as well as significant variations in the institutional rules and their meaning across the cases that help to explain divergent power-sharing outcomes. Emphasis throughout the chapters is placed on system adaptability for power-sharing success.
Tracing the Undersea Dragon
This book is a comprehensive study of the development of China's Nuclear-powered Ballistic Missile Submarines (SSBNs). It offers insights into the secretive world of nuclear submarines and ballistic missiles of the Chinese (PLA) Navy.
India’s Pakistan Conundrum
Historically, the relationship between India and Pakistan has been mired in conflicts, war, and lack of trust. This book examines the nature of the Pakistani state, its internal dynamics, and its impact on India.
Society and Democracy in South Korea and Indonesia
This book is divided into three sections comprised of pairs of chapters. First, a section examining how Confucianism interacts with democratic resilience in South Korea, compared with the societal role and challenge of Islam in Indonesian democracy. The second section will conduct brief historical surveys of the role of civil society role in Korean and Indonesian democratization, and debates about the appropriate role for civil society after democratization. In particular, the various roles of civil society non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and popular movements will be highlighted in both countries. The final section looks at socio-economic conditions and distributive justice in relation to democracy in the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Indonesia.
The Belt and Road Initiative and the Politics of Connectivity
This volume analyses New Delhi's reaction to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the rise of politics of connectivity and infrastructure building which has heightened Sino-Indian rivalry in South Asia and the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). It can be evidenced that the BRI has transformed the Sino-Indian dynamics from a 'managed rivalry' to an intense geo-political competition. It is contended that competition is inevitable when two powers rise in the same neighbourhood.The Indian government has opposed the BRI since its inception noting that the 'BRI violates India's sovereignty and territorial integrity' because one of the flagship BRI projects - the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) - runs through (Pakistan-controlled) Kashmir which India claims to be its own territory. It has consistently maintained that China's 'connectivity initiatives must be based on universally recognized international norms, good governance, rule of law, openness, transparency and equality, and must be pursued in a manner that respects sovereignty and territorial integrity' of other states.Beyond those stated reservations, New Delhi is concerned about the BRI infrastructure and connectivity projects in the smaller South Asian countries and the Indian Ocean littoral states. India has traditionally viewed South Asia and the IOR as its backyard over which it has historically maintained a position of influence. It is apprehensive that the BRI projects will enhance Beijing's stature and undermine India's influence in the region. In eleven chapters including Introduction and Conclusion, this book explores the dimensions of the rivalry and analyses the causes, dynamics and implications of an accelerated Sino-Indian competition.
Tatarstan’s Autonomy Within Putin’s Russia
This book explores how the Volga Tatars, the largest ethnic minority within the Russian Federation, a Muslim minority, achieved a great deal of autonomy for Tatarstan in the years 1988 to 1992, but then lost this autonomy gradually over the course of the Putin era. It sets the issue in context, tracing the history of the Volga Tatars, the descendants of the Golden Horde whose Khans exercised overlordship over Muscovy in medieval times, and outlining Tsarist and Soviet nationalities policies and their enduring effects. It argues that a key factor driving the decline of greater autonomy, besides Putin's policies of harmonisation and centralisation, was the behaviour of the minority elites, who were, despite their earlier engagement in ethnic mobilization, very acquiescent to the new Putin regime, deciding that co-operation would maximise their privileges.
Secularism Confronts Islamism
This book provides in-depth examination of the recent confrontation between Islamists and secularists in Egypt and Tunisia. Presenting a new approach to understand Islamism and secularism, the research addresses the variables that could affect the outcome of transitional negotiations.
Forging Latin America
A sweeping yet intimate exploration of Latin America's political history, Forging Latin America profiles fifty-two of the region's most influential figures who, for better or worse, have shaped its character and destiny from the Spanish Conquest to the present day. This polyphonic gathering of dictators, reformers, revolutionaries, artists, writers, priests, and activists not only foregrounds the major political developments since 1492 but also spotlights lesser-known stories of hope, change, and resistance from the ground up. Along the way, the book shows how ideas can bring down a government or build one, how power corrodes ideology until the perpetuation of power becomes an ideology in and of itself, and how the intellectual heritage of Latin America has been used, disputed, and reinvented over five astonishing centuries.
Writing Saved Me
Writing is a central part of the life of a scholar-academic. The writing that makes it into public spaces, however, is but a glimpse of the writing we do and might find meaningful. This edited volume is an attempt to collect writing that often remains hidden in academia - the email exchange with a student or colleagues, the writing that grapples with our loneliness, rage, and failures - and yet provide crucial insight into the ugly realities of global politics and the work that gets done on it (or not) in the neoliberal, extractive university.
Great Power Competition as the New Normal of China-Us Relations
Will China-U.S. relations come back to the normal track? Does the confrontational approach work for China-US relations? This book argues that it is an unrealistic hope to bring China-US relations back to the so-called normal track because the great power competition will be a new normal of China-US relations and the USA will gain more from strategic competition than cooperation in the long run. This book shows that the strategy of "great power cooperation through competition" is more positive and constructive than the approaches of "peaceful coexist" and "maximum pressure." This book does not intend to provide policy recommendations for governments to consider, but mainly to explain why the great power competition is inevitable and why it is necessary to continuously work with China in some areas through strategic competition. This book alarms the importance of understanding the nature of the Chinese Communist Party during the great power competition and aims to motivate both sides to revisit their foreign policy practice and come up with a better foreign policy strategy of handling China-US relations.
Nostalgic Empires
The present state of European integration finds its roots in the decolonization processes and the dissolution of empires in the past. Building upon this fundamental idea, this work presents a narrative that explores the Western European states' struggle for national survival within the framework of European supranational structures. H癡ctor L籀pez Bofill argues that the European Union, with its intricate legal framework, serves as a means to ensure national cohesion and social stability within its member states. Bofill identifies several sources of domination stemming from the combined actions of nation-states and European institutions, including the marginalization of internal minorities, the consolidation of economic oligarchies, and the exploitation of immigrants from former colonies.However, the sequence of economic and political crises, particularly since the 2008 crash, poses a threat to the continuity of this delicate balance of power between the member states' aspirations to strengthen themselves as independent nations and the supranational level's pursuit of stability. Nostalgic Empires: The Crisis of the European Union Related to Its Original Sins provides a fascinating and detailed description of the conflicts that permeate Europe within the context of its existential struggle vis-?-vis global superpowers. Finally, it offers an interpretation of the weaknesses within the European project that may signal a potential transformation of the political order in the Western world.
The Autocrat’s Predicament
In their quest for national revival, China's leaders under Xi Jinping have sought to improve the economy's performance. The disappointing economic record of authoritarian regimes provides ample grounds for doubt, yet not all have failed. Why have some succeeded where most did not? The theory of the "enabling condition" highlights the central role that politics plays in the pursuit of economic advancement. The theory explains that a political situation characterized by a strong central leadership, weak elite opposition, and a united public offers favorable prospects for enacting concentrated growth policies. This arrangement enables the central leadership to enlist the public in convincing elites to implement policies that they might otherwise resist. Focusing on the experience of single party, authoritarian regimes, The Autocrat's Predicament: The Political Peril of Economic Upgrade in Single Party, Authoritarian Regimes examines episodes in the histories of the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, and the Soviet Union. It concludes that China's unfavorable political situation could be potentially unfriendly for its ambitions to build an efficient, highly productive economy.
Public-Private Partnerships in Africa
In the twenty-first century, governments around the world began to engage the private sector with the objective of achieving public service delivery targets, and the African continent has as such, been experiencing transformation, particularly since the introduction of public-private partnerships (PPP), as a measure of reform and method of procurement. Unfortunately, there is a mixed bag of successes and challenges through this implementation of PPPs, causing a gap in infrastructure, leaving more than 640 million Africans without access to energy. Muhiya Tshombe Lukamba, Thekiso Molokwane, Alex Nduhura, and Innocent Nuwagaba in Public-Private Partnerships in Africa: Exploring Africa's Growth Potential explore ways in which the government can collaborate with the private sector in order to close these gaps. The chapters analyze the implementation of PPPs and provide case studies on the use of PPPs in different African countries and industry sectors. This book unearths new findings on PPPs within Africa and provides solutions that are beneficial to scholars, the government, and the PPP industry through the theoretical underpinning of various contemporary issues.
Writing Saved Me
Writing is a central part of the life of a scholar-academic. The writing that makes it into public spaces, however, is but a glimpse of the writing we do and might find meaningful. This edited volume is an attempt to collect writing that often remains hidden in academia - the email exchange with a student or colleagues, the writing that grapples with our loneliness, rage, and failures - and yet provide crucial insight into the ugly realities of global politics and the work that gets done on it (or not) in the neoliberal, extractive university.
New Media and Political Participation in Russia and Kazakhstan
New Media and Political Participation in Russia and Kazakhstan: Exploring the Lived Experiences of Young People in Eurasia confronts the sociological problem of the usage of new media by young people in political participation, particularly in Eurasian countries. The author explains how and why new media promotes political participation among young people in Russia and Kazakhstan. While there has been no shortage of analysis about the interlinkage between new media and political participation, this research is different--it explains the mechanisms and reasons of new-media-assisted political participation. This book develops two models--theoretical and New-Media-Led Political Participation--that better explain how new-media use translates into political participation. These models are of paramount importance for the study of new-media-led political participation, which builds in-depth knowledge to the research area from a post-communist perspective. This book not only sheds light on the ways in which, and the reasons why, new media contributes to the nature of political participation, but also explains why citizens use new media in their political participation. The author sets his sights on what occurs downstream, i.e., not in the minds of political leaders and/or well-known oppositionists but on the ground in specific contexts such as cities, towns, and villages by young people.
Comparative Politics of Southeast Asia
2nd revised and extended edition Provides an introduction to the political systems of all ASEAN countriesIllustrates political institutions, actors and processes in eleven statesEach country study includes an analysis of the political parties, legal system, state and administration, civil-military relations, civil society and political culture, as well as the media
North Korea, Nuclear Risk-Taking, and the United States
Jihwan Hwang analyzes Pyongyang's nuclear policy changes over the last three decades under Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un. Why did a weaker North Korea take the risk of standing up against the much stronger U.S. with its nuclear weapons program, even escalating the crisis to the point of a war? Later, why did North Korea change its course of action amid the crisis even though the security environment remained essentially the same? Hwang draws on the main tenets of prospect theory in international relations and argues that Pyongyang becomes either risk-acceptant or risk-averse toward the U.S., depending on the situation it faces. When Pyongyang perceived the status quo to be deteriorating, it framed its situation as a loss and chose a risk-acceptant of confrontation to restore the status quo. Equally, when Pyongyang perceived the situation to be improving, it chose a risk-averse engagement in the domain of gain. In contrast, when Pyongyang perceived an extreme loss such as military confrontation against the United States, it would rather choose a risk-averse policy to avoid the catastrophic outcome of war. The issues of risk are central to an understanding of Pyongyang's nuclear policy decision-making.
The Foreign Policy and Intervention Behavior of Africa’s Middle Powers
Based on a meta-theoretical approach and insights derived from analytic eclecticism as a comparative instrument, Olumuyiwa Babatunde Amao assesses Nigeria and South Africa's foreign policy and intervention behavior in Africa, with a special focus on the conflict episodes in Sierra Leone (1991-1998) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (1997-2005). The Foreign Policy and Intervention Behavior of Africa's Middle Powers: An Analytic Eclecticism Approach explores the relative merits of structural realism and social constructivism in explaining Nigeria and South Africa's motives and intervention behavior, and why more than one theoretical perspective is required to sufficiently analyze the complexity of their intervention decisions and behavior. It demonstrates the overlapping nexus between conflict intervention, structural constraints, relative power pursuit, and the dynamics of regional complexes. Amao demonstrates how Nigeria and South Africa's relative power positions, identities as African actors, de-colonization and anti-apartheid struggles, and the existing values and bonds that their contiguous states share play a crucial role in their intervention behavior. Using Sierra Leone and the DRC as case studies, this book illustrates the advantage of applying a multi-perspective eclectic approach to foreign policy analysis and provides an alternative to the theoretical turf wars that are all too prevalent in the discipline of international relations.
Russian Hackers and the War in Ukraine
Since the beginning of the Russian aggression in Ukraine (February 2022), hackers have become more active on a global scale. The clashes between Russian and Ukrainian "cyber armies" are at its central front line. Russian Hackers and the War in Ukraine: Digital Threats and Real-World Consequences scrutinizes the unique situation where cyber criminals, who usually operate clandestinely, have surfaced and looked for public attention and approval. This book does not cover technical aspects of hacking. Instead, it scrutinizes the public activity of Russian hacker groups including building their brand, communicating with supporters, their financial situation, and other crucial aspects. This research draws mainly on open sources such as social media entries comprised of texts, videos, images, and chat comments which were collected through daily monitoring of the hacking groups' activities.
The Politics of Urban Potentiality
This volume examines how urban potentiality emerges in performances that reclaim the city, acting as an emancipatory force when dominant patterns of urban behaviour are thrown into crisis. It can result in establishing new habits of inhabiting city space, collective experiences shaping practices of urban commoning, re-inventing community relations, and freeing collaboration from capitalist expropriation. Instead of problematizing such radical change through the modernist belief in heroic unique acts, we need to explore the power dissident performances acquire when repeated. In search of an emancipatory politics of urban potentiality, commoning thus has the ability become a collective ethos based on mutuality and equality rather than merely a relatively fair way of sharing urban infrastructures. In this book, the leading social and urban theorist Stavros Stavrides draws on a wide range of classic and historical thought on the urban question and social transformation. Drawing from research in Latin American urban movements, from activist participation in urban struggles in Greece, and citizen initiatives developed in Europe, this book expands the discussion on the potentialities of urban commoning to demonstrate how an emancipatory urban future may be achieved.
Babygirl, You’ve Got This!
How do Black women experience education in Britain?Within British educational research about Black students, gender distinctions have been largely absent, male-dominated or American-centric. Due to the lack of attention paid to Black female students, relatively little is known about how they understand and engage with the education system, or the influences which shape their long-term strategies and decision-making in order to gain educational 'success'. This book will illustrate the educational experiences and journeys of Black British women graduates and considers the influence of the intersections of race, gender, ethnicity, culture and social class on their educational journeys. April-Louise Pennant uniquely documents the entire educational journey - from primary school to university - within both predominantly white (PW) and predominantly global majority (PGM) educational institutions in order to examine the various accessibility, financial and academic hurdles which face Black girls and women. The book combines theoretical frameworks such as Critical Race Theory, Bourdieu's Theory of Practice and Black Feminist epistemology, alongside the personal accounts of the author and a range of Black British women graduates. Through analysis of the strategies, choices and decisions made by Black British women in their educational journeys, the book ultimately provides insights into how to navigate the education system effectively, and provides alternatives to normalized understandings of educational 'success'.
