Government & Politics
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Islam in Liberalism
“Demonstrates that Western liberal ‘democracy’, portrayed as foreign to ‘Islam’, necessarily serves an imperial project. . . . timely and controversial.” —Politics, Religion & IdeologyIslam is often associated with words like oppression, totalitarianism, intolerance, cruelty, misogyny, and homophobia, while its presumed antonyms are Christianity, the West, liberalism, individualism, freedom, citizenship, and democracy. In the most alarmist views, the West’s most cherished values—freedom, equality, and tolerance—are said to be endangered by Islam worldwide.
Joseph Massad’s Islam in Liberalism explores what Islam has become in today’s world. He seeks to understand how anxieties about tyranny, intolerance, misogyny, and homophobia, seen in the politics of the Middle East, are projected onto Islam itself. Massad shows that through this projection Europe emerges as democratic and tolerant, feminist, and pro-LGBT rights—or, in short, Islam-free. Massad documents the Christian and liberal idea that we should missionize democracy, women’s rights, sexual rights, tolerance, equality, and even therapies to cure Muslims of their un-European, un-Christian, and illiberal ways. Along the way he sheds light on a variety of controversial topics, including the meanings of democracy—and the ideological assumption that Islam is not compatible with it while Christianity is. Islam in Liberalism is an unflinching critique of Western assumptions and of the liberalism that Europe and America present as salvation to Islam.
“Essential reading for all scholars of Islam and Middle East politics.” —Cambridge Review of International Affairs
“Reminds us that in order to move beyond scholarship revolving around a simplistic binarism between West and non-West, we must never forget how this opposition has shaped and continues to actively influence scholarship today.” —Los Angeles Review of Books
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£19.00Islam in Liberalism
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The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southest Asia: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia (Yale Agrarian Studies Series)
For two thousand years the disparate groups that now reside in Zomia (a mountainous region the size of Europe that consists of portions of seven Asian countries) have fled the projects of the organized state societies that surround them – slavery, conscription, taxes, corvée labour, epidemics and warfare. This book, essentially an anarchist history, is the first-ever examination of the huge literature on state-making whose author evaluates why people would deliberately and reactively remain stateless. Among the strategies employed by the people of Zomia to remain stateless are physical dispersion in rugged terrain; agricultural practices that enhance mobility; pliable ethnic identities; devotion to prophetic, millenarian leaders; and maintenance of a largely oral culture that allows them to reinvent their histories and genealogies as they move between and around states. In accessible language, James Scott – recognized worldwide as an eminent authority in Southeast Asian, peasant, and agrarian studies – tells the story of the peoples of Zomia and their unlikely odyssey in search of self-determination. He redefines our views on Asian politics, history, demographics, and even our fundamental ideas about what constitutes civilization, and challenges us with a radically different approach to history that presents events from the perspective of stateless peoples and redefines state-making as a form of internal colonialism. This new perspective requires a radical reevaluation of the civilizational narratives of the lowland states. Scotts work on Zomia represents a new way to think of area studies that will be applicable to other runaway, fugitive communities, be they Gypsies, Cossacks, tribes fleeing slave raiders, Marsh Arabs, or San-Bushmen. Chosen as A Best Book of 2009, Jesse Walker, managing editor, Reason.Read more
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Post-NATO Afghanistan: Governance, Legitimacy and Politics of the Taliban
This book offers an in-depth exploration of post-NATO Afghanistan, providing a comprehensive analysis of the formidable challenges faced by the Taliban in their pursuit of governance. It presents a detailed examination of the ever-evolving political landscape in Afghanistan, with a particular focus on the developments following the Taliban’s assumption of power. The book sheds light on the multifaceted strategies employed by the Taliban, both internally and externally, to legitimize their government, ensuring its stability and enduring presence.
Scholars and researchers in the field of political science, as well as those with a broader interest in post-conflict states, Islamic political parties, dissident groups, and conflict studies—especially those centered on Central and South Asian regions—will find this book to be an invaluable and illuminating resource.
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White Torture: Interviews with Iranian Women Prisoners – WINNER OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 2023
Fourteen women testify to the shocking human rights abuses in Iranian prisons
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 2023
‘A must-read for anyone concerned with human rights in Iran. A gripping, moving and utterly shocking account.’ Kylie Moore-Gilbert
Iranian prisons systematically violate human rights. In White Torture, fourteen women, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, share their experiences of imprisonment: harassment and beatings by guards, total blindfolding and denial of medical treatment. Angry interrogators threaten their families and lie about their whereabouts. One prisoner is even told she is dead.
None of the women have committed crimes – they are prisoners of conscience or held hostage as bargaining chips. Through torture, the Iranian state hopes to remake their souls. These interviews, carried out by Narges Mohammadi while each woman was in prison or facing charges, are astounding documents of resistance and integrity. As Iranians still fight for Woman, Life, Freedom, White Torture indicts the regime for its crimes.
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A History of British Prime Ministers (Omnibus Edition): Walpole to Cameron
Fifty-two men and one woman have held the post of Prime Minister during the past three centuries – from Sir Robert Walpole to David Cameron. In this omnibus edition, which includes Eighteenth-Century British Premiers, Nineteenth-Century British Premiers, A Century of Premiers, plus new and updated chapters on Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron, Dick Leonard recounts the circumstances which took them to the top of the ‘greasy pole’, probes their political and personal strengths and weaknesses, assesses their performance in office and asks what lasting influence they have had. The author also recounts fascinating and often littleknown facts about the private lives of each of the Prime Ministers, for example who was suspected of being the illegitimate half-brother of George III, who was assassinated in the House of Commons, who spent his evenings prowling the streets of London, trying to ‘reform’ prostitutes, which two premiers, one Tory one Labour, were taught by the same governess as a child, and who was described by his own son as ‘probably the greatest natural Don Juan in the history of British politics’?Read more
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How Migration Really Works: A Factful Guide to the Most Divisive Issue in Politics
Authoritative and myth-busting, this is the one book you need to read to understand why we’ve been wrong about migration
‘An important book that will force Left and Right alike to reconsider old assumptions’ The Telegraph
‘This book should be falling out of briefcases all over Westminster’ Tortoise Media
‘Careful, balanced and convincing . . . challenges much of what we think is obvious about migration’ Ian Morris, author of Why the West Rules – For Now
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Global migration is not at an all-time high.
Climate change will not lead to mass migration.
Immigration mainly benefits the wealthy, not workers.
Border restrictions have paradoxically produced more migration.
These statements might sound counter-intuitive or just outright wrong – but the facts behind the headlines reveal a completely different story to the ones we’re told about migration. In this ground-breaking and revelatory book, based on more than three decades of research, leading expert Professor Hein de Haas explodes myths espoused by both left and right that politicians, interest groups and media regularly spread about migration.
Comparing trends and perspectives from Western ‘destination countries’ (UK, US and Europe) as well as ‘origin countries’ in Asia, Africa and Latin America, de Haas equips readers with essential knowledge on migration based on the best evidence and data, showing migration not as a problem to be solved, nor as a solution to a problem, but as it really is.
Above all, How Migration Really Works offers a new vision of migration based on facts rather than fears, and a paradigm-altering understanding of this perennially important subject.
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When Science Meets Power
Science and politics have collaborated throughout human history, and science is repeatedly invoked today in political debates, from pandemic management to climate change. But the relationship between the two is muddled and muddied.
Leading policy analyst Geoff Mulgan here calls attention to the growing frictions caused by the expanding authority of science, which sometimes helps politics but often challenges it.
He dissects the complex history of states’ use of science for conquest, glory and economic growth and shows the challenges of governing risk – from nuclear weapons to genetic modification, artificial intelligence to synthetic biology. He shows why the governance of science has become one of the biggest challenges of the twenty-first century, ever more prominent in daily politics and policy.
Whereas science is ordered around what we know and what is, politics engages what we feel and what matters. How can we reconcile the two, so that crucial decisions are both well informed and legitimate?
The book proposes new ways to organize democracy and government, both within nations and at a global scale, to better shape science and technology so that we can reap more of the benefits and fewer of the harms.
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£19.00£23.80When Science Meets Power
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The Plot: The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson
‘A riveting read that skips along at pace. Illuminating and concerning, it lifts the lid on the tawdry world of Westminster powerbroking’ Tim Shipman, The Times
The explosive behind-the-scenes account of the plot to bring down Boris Johnson
YOU THINK YOU LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE THE ELECTED ARE CHOSEN BY THE PEOPLE.
THINK AGAIN.
When Boris Johnson came to power in 2019, he did so with the largest Conservative majority since Margaret Thatcher. Rewriting the political map, he united a party and shattered Labour’s fabled red wall. And yet, just three years later, he was ousted by the same members who had once greeted his leadership so rapturously.
What had gone so wrong?
The Plot is the seismic, fly-on-the-wall account of how the saviour of the Conservative Party became a pariah. Told with unparalleled access, from multiple inside sources talking with astonishing candour, it reveals the shocking truth about powerful forces operating behind the scenes in the heart of Westminster and those who became the architects of a Prime Minister’s downfall.
This is the story of a damning trail of treachery and deceit fuelled by an obsessive pursuit of power, which threatens to topple the very fabric of our democracy.
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Islam and Anarchism: Relationships and Resonances
Discourse around Muslims and Islam all too often lapses into a false dichotomy of Orientalist and fundamentalist tropes. A popular reimagining of Islam is urgently needed. Yet it is a perhaps unexpected political philosophical tradition that has the most to offer in this pursuit: anarchism. Islam and Anarchism is a highly original and interdisciplinary work, which simultaneously disrupts two commonly held beliefs – that Islam is necessarily authoritarian and capitalist; and that anarchism is necessarily anti-religious and anti-spiritual. Deeply rooted in key Islamic concepts and textual sources, and drawing on radical Indigenous, Islamic anarchistic and social movement discourses, Abdou proposes ‘Anarcha-Islam’. Constructing a decolonial, non-authoritarian and non-capitalist Islamic anarchism, Islam and Anarchism philosophically and theologically challenges the classist, sexist, racist, ageist, queerphobic and ableist inequalities in both post- and neo-colonial societies like Egypt, and settler-colonial societies such as Canada and the USA.Read more
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Female Masculinities and the Gender Wars: The Politics of Sex
“Thoughtful and often moving.” Gaby Hinsliff, The Guardian
Female Masculinities and the Gender Wars provides important theoretical background and context to the ‘gender wars’ or ‘TERF wars’ – the fracture at the forefront of the LGBTQ international conversation. Using queer and female masculinities as a lens, Finn Mackay investigates the current generational shift that is refusing the previous assumed fixity of sex, gender and sexual identity. Transgender and trans rights movements are currently experiencing political backlash from within certain lesbian and lesbian feminist groups, resulting in a situation in which these two minority communities are frequently pitted against one another or perceived as diametrically opposed.
Uniquely, Finn Mackay approaches this debate through the context of female masculinity, butch and transmasculine lesbian masculinities. There has been increasing interest in the study of masculinity, influenced by a popular discourse around so-called ‘toxic masculinity’, the rise of men’s rights activism and theory and critical work on Trump’s America and the MeToo movement.
An increasingly important topic in political science and sociological academia, this book aims to break new ground in the discussion of the politics of gender and identity.
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Nationalized Politics: Evaluating Electoral Politics Across Time
In the United States, politics has become increasingly nationalized in recent years as voter decision-making is now driven by partisan or national political forces rather than the attributes of individual candidates. Indeed, voters now seem more concerned with which of the two national parties will be in power across all levels of government as opposed to which candidate will represent them individually. The phenomenon has now reached levels unseen since the nineteenth century, when the party ballot was in use and voters were generally unable to select among individual candidates.Nationalized Politics asks and answers the question, “how has nationalization influenced elections across different political eras?” Jamie L. Carson, Joel Sievert, and Ryan D. Williamson look at historical variation in nationalization through an analysis of congressional elections from 1840 to 2020. By examining roughly 180 years of elections, the authors leverage considerable differences in electoral competition, electoral rules, nationalization, polarization, and partisan advantage via the incumbency advantage. Moreover, Carson, Sievert, and Williamson employ a unique survey design to capture citizen attitudes toward the nationalization of politics to further consider the question of how nationalization is currently shaping politics. Providing a comprehensive history of US congressional elections, Nationalized Politics illustrates the roots of the current electoral landscape in the US.
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Central Asia: A New History from the Imperial Conquests to the Present
A major history of Central Asia and how it has been shaped by modern world events
Central Asia is often seen as a remote and inaccessible land on the peripheries of modern history. Encompassing Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and the Xinjiang province of China, it in fact stands at the crossroads of world events. Adeeb Khalid provides the first comprehensive history of Central Asia from the mid-eighteenth century to today, shedding light on the historical forces that have shaped the region under imperial and Communist rule.
Predominantly Muslim with both nomadic and settled populations, the peoples of Central Asia came under Russian and Chinese rule after the 1700s. Khalid shows how foreign conquest knit Central Asians into global exchanges of goods and ideas and forged greater connections to the wider world. He explores how the Qing and Tsarist empires dealt with ethnic heterogeneity, and compares Soviet and Chinese Communist attempts at managing national and cultural difference. He highlights the deep interconnections between the “Russian” and “Chinese” parts of Central Asia that endure to this day, and demonstrates how Xinjiang remains an integral part of Central Asia despite its fraught and traumatic relationship with contemporary China.
The essential history of one of the most diverse and culturally vibrant regions on the planet, this panoramic book reveals how Central Asia has been profoundly shaped by the forces of modernity, from colonialism and social revolution to nationalism, state-led modernization, and social engineering.
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The Dean of Shandong: Confessions of a Minor Bureaucrat at a Chinese University
An inside view of Chinese academia and what it reveals about China’s political system
On January 1, 2017, Daniel Bell was appointed dean of the School of Political Science and Public Administration at Shandong University―the first foreign dean of a political science faculty in mainland China’s history. In The Dean of Shandong, Bell chronicles his experiences as what he calls “a minor bureaucrat,” offering an inside account of the workings of Chinese academia and what they reveal about China’s political system. It wasn’t all smooth sailing―Bell wryly recounts sporadic bungles and misunderstandings―but Bell’s post as dean provides a unique vantage point on China today.
Bell, neither a Chinese citizen nor a member of the Chinese Communist Party, was appointed as dean because of his scholarly work on Confucianism―but soon found himself coping with a variety of issues having little to do with scholarship or Confucius. These include the importance of hair color and the prevalence of hair-dyeing among university administrators, both male and female; Shandong’s drinking culture, with endless toasts at every shared meal; and some unintended consequences of an intensely competitive academic meritocracy. As dean, he also confronts weightier matters: the role at the university of the Party secretary, the national anticorruption campaign and its effect on academia (Bell asks provocatively, “What’s wrong with corruption?”), and formal and informal modes of censorship. Considering both the revival of Confucianism in China over the last three decades and what he calls “the Communist comeback” since 2008, Bell predicts that China’s political future is likely to be determined by both Confucianism and Communism.
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The Political Economy of Southeast Asia: Politics and Uneven Development under Hyperglobalisation (Studies in the Political Economy of Public Policy)
‘This is not only the best collection of essays on the political economy of Southeast Asia, but also, as a singular achievement of the “Murdoch School”, one of the rarest of books that demonstrates how knowledge production travels across generations, institutions and time periods, thereby continually enriching itself. No course on Southeast Asia can afford to miss it as its core text.’ (Professor Amitav Acharya, American University, USA)‘This book – the fourth in a path-breaking series – demonstrates why a critical political economy approach is more crucial than ever for understanding Southeast Asia’s transformation. Across a wide range of topics, the book explains how capitalist development and globalisation are reshaping the societies, economies and politics of a diverse group of countries, casting light on the deep sources of economic and social power in the region. This is a book that every student of Southeast Asia needs to read.’ (Professor Edward Aspinall, Australian National University, Australia)
‘This book does what a work on political economy should do: challenge existing paradigms in order to gain a deeper understanding of the processes of social transformation. This volume is distinctive in three ways. First, it eschews methodological nationalism and focuses on how the interaction of national, regional, and global forces are shaping and reshaping systems of governance, mass politics, economies, labor-capital relations, migration, and gender relations across the region. Second, it is a bold effort to show how the “Murdoch School,” which focuses on the dynamic synergy of internal class relations and global capitalism, provides a better explanatory framework for understanding social change in Southeast Asia than the rival “developmental state” and “historical institutionalist” approaches. Third, alongside established luminaries in the field, it showcases the younger generation of political economists doing pathbreaking work on different dimensions of the political economy of the region.’ (Walden Bello, State University of New York at Binghamton, USA, and Former Member of the Philippines’ House of Representatives)
‘This very timely fourth edition explores Southeast Asia’s political economy within the context of hyperglobalisation and China’s pronounced social-structural impacts on international politics, finance and economics over the past decade and a half. The volume successfully adopts a cross-cutting thematic approach, while also conveying the diversity and divergences among the Southeast Asian states and economies. This will be an important resource for scholars of International Relations and Comparative Politics, who need to take an interest in a dynamic and increasingly significant part of Asia.’ (Professor Evelyn Goh, Australian National University, Australia)
“This ambitious collection takes a consistent theoretical approach and applies it to a thematic, comparative analysis across Southeast Asia. The yield is impressive: the social, political and economic forces constituting the current conjuncture are not simply invoked, they are thoroughly identified and explained. By posing the deceptively simple questions of what is happening and why, the authors demonstrate the reciprocal relation between theory-building and empirical inquiry, providing a model of engaged scholarship with global resonance. Bravo!’ (Professor Tania Li, University of Toronto, Canada)
‘Counteracting the spaceless and flattened geography of much literature on uneven development, this book delivers a forensic examination of the unevenness of geographical development in Southeast Asia and the relations of force shaping capital, state, nature and civil society. This is the most compelling theoretical and empirical political economy book available on Southeast Asia.’ (Professor Adam David Morton, U
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China Hands: Nine Decades of Adventure, Espionage, and Diplomacy in Asia
James Lilley’s life and family have been entwined with China’s fate since his father moved to the country to work for Standard Oil in 1916. Lilley spent much of his childhood in China and after a Yale professor took him aside and suggested a career in intelligence, it became clear that he would spend his adult life returning to China again and again. Lilley served for twenty-five years in the CIA in Laos, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Taiwan before moving to the State Department in the early 1980s to begin a distinguished career as the U.S.’s top-ranking diplomat in Taiwan, ambassador to South Korea, and finally, ambassador to China. From helping Laotian insurgent forces assist the American efforts in Vietnam to his posting in Beijing during the Tiananmen Square crackdown, he was in a remarkable number of crucial places during challenging times as he spent his life tending to America’s interests in Asia. In China Hands, he includes three generations of stories from an American family in the Far East, all of them absorbing, some of them exciting, and one, the loss of Lilley’s much loved and admired brother, Frank, unremittingly tragic. China Hands is a fascinating memoir of America in Asia, Asia itself, and one especially capable American’s personal history.Read more
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Politics: The Basics
Now in its fifth edition, Politics: The Basics explores the systems, movements and issues at the cutting edge of modern politics. A highly successful introduction to the world of politics, it offers clear and concise coverage of a range of issues and addresses fundamental questions such as:
• Why does politics matter?
• Why obey the state?
• What are the key approaches to power?
• How are political decisions made?
• What are the current issues affecting governments worldwide?
Accessible in style and topical in content, the fifth edition has been fully restructured to reflect core issues, systems and movements that are at the centre of modern politics and international relations. Assuming no prior knowledge in politics, it is ideal reading for anyone approaching the study of politics for the first time.
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£17.30£19.00Politics: The Basics
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Resistance: The Underground War in Europe, 1939-1945
*WINNER OF THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2023*
*A NEW YORKER BOOK OF THE YEAR*‘The best book about the subject I have ever read’ Max Hastings, Sunday Times
A sweeping history of occupation and resistance in war-torn Europe, from the acclaimed author of The Eagle Unbowed
Across the whole of Nazi-ruled Europe the experience of occupation was sharply varied. Some countries – such as Denmark – were within tight limits allowed to run themselves. Others – such as France – were constrained not only by military occupation but by open collaboration. In a historical moment when Nazi victory seemed permanent and irreversible, the question ‘why resist?’ was therefore augmented by ‘who was the enemy?’.
Resistance is an extraordinarily powerful, humane and haunting account of how and why all across Nazi-occupied Europe some people decided to resist the Third Reich. This could range from open partisan warfare in the occupied Soviet Union to dangerous acts of defiance in the Netherlands or Norway. Some of these resistance movements were entirely home-grown, others supported by the Allies.
Like no other book, Resistance shows the reader just how difficult such actions were. How could small bands of individuals undertake tasks which could lead not just to their own deaths but those of their families and their entire communities?
Filled with powerful and often little-known stories, Halik Kochanski’s major new book is a fascinating examination of the convoluted challenges faced by those prepared to resist the Germans, ordinary people who carried out exceptional acts of defiance and resistance.
‘A superb, myth-busting survey of the many ways in which the subjugated peoples of Europe tried to fight back’ Saul David, Daily Telegraph
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£17.10£19.00Resistance: The Underground War in Europe, 1939-1945
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Rugby Behind Barbed Wire: The 1969/70 Springboks Tour of Britain and Ireland
‘We spent all our time surrounded by police cordons and barbed wire, never mind having our bus hijacked.’ – Tommy Bedford, Springboks No. 8 2019 and 2020 mark the fiftieth anniversary of the controversial 1969/70 Springbok rugby tour of the British Isles – a landmark event on both a sporting and political level. Taking place during the time of South Africa’s apartheid dispensation, the tour was characterised throughout by violent demonstrations against the ‘ambassadors of apartheid’. Scenes of chanting demonstrators at the players’ hotels and airports were not uncommon, nor was the sight of protesters being dragged off the field of play by police. Smoke bombs and flour bombs also became a match-day fixture. These were wild and unnerving times for the players on tour, whose movements were badly inhibited and who had to play hide-and-seek to avoid possible violence between games of rugby. During a demanding tour that lasted more than three months and took them to and fro between England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, they endeavoured to sustain a proud tradition of highly successful Springbok tours through the Isles. Through personal interviews with the players, including team captain Dawie de Villiers, vice-captain Tommy Bedford and other senior members of the squad, as well as key figures such as anti-apartheid campaigner Peter Hain, Rugby Behind Barbed Wire takes readers into the inner circle of a besieged group of sportsmen who just wanted to play rugby despite concerted efforts to deny them. The author also looks at the political context of events, and why so many felt that disrupting the tour was a matter of moral and political necessity.Read more
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Asia as Method: Toward Deimperialization
Centering his analysis in the dynamic forces of modern East Asian history, Kuan-Hsing Chen recasts cultural studies as a politically urgent global endeavor. He argues that the intellectual and subjective work of decolonization begun across East Asia after the Second World War was stalled by the cold war. At the same time, the work of deimperialization became impossible to imagine in imperial centers such as Japan and the United States. Chen contends that it is now necessary to resume those tasks, and that decolonization, deimperialization, and an intellectual undoing of the cold war must proceed simultaneously. Combining postcolonial studies, globalization studies, and the emerging field of “Asian studies in Asia,” he insists that those on both sides of the imperial divide must assess the conduct, motives, and consequences of imperial histories.Chen is one of the most important intellectuals working in East Asia today; his writing has been influential in Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and mainland China for the past fifteen years. As a founding member of the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society and its journal, he has helped to initiate change in the dynamics and intellectual orientation of the region, building a network that has facilitated inter-Asian connections. Asia as Method encapsulates Chen’s vision and activities within the increasingly “inter-referencing” East Asian intellectual community and charts necessary new directions for cultural studies.
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Propaganda and the German Cinema, 1933-1945 (Cinema and Society)
A comprehensive analysis of Nazi film propaganda in its political, social and economic contexts. It considers more than 100 films, identifying those aspects of Nazi ideology that were concealed in the framework of popular entertainment under the direction of Joseph Goebbels, Propaganda Minister.Read more
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The 48 Laws Of Power: Robert Greene (The Modern Machiavellian Robert Greene)
THE MILLION COPY INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
‘If power is your ultimate goal, this is the book you need’ The Times
Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this piercing work distils three thousand years of the history of power into forty-eight well-explicated laws. As attention-grabbing in its design as it is in its content, this bold volume outlines the laws of power in their unvarnished essence, synthesizing the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun-tzu, Carl von Clausewitz, and other great thinkers.
Some laws require prudence (“Law 1: Never Outshine the Master”), some stealth (“Law 3: Conceal Your Intentions”), and some the total absence of mercy (“Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally”), but like it or not, all have applications in real-life situations.
Illustrated through the tactics of Queen Elizabeth I, Henry Kissenger, P T Barnum, and other famous figures who have wielded – or been victimised by – power, these laws will fascinate any reader interested in gaining, observing or defending against ultimate control.
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No Politics But Class Politics
Denouncing racism and celebrating diversity have become central mainstays of progressive politics: for many on the left, social justice consists of equitable distribution of wealth, power, and esteem among racial groups. But as Adolph Reed, Jr. and Walter Benn Michaels argue in this groundbreaking collection of essays, the emphasis seems to be tragically misplaced. Not only does a fixation with racial disparities distract from the pervasive influence of class―it actually legitimises economic inequality. Adolph Reed, Jr. is the towering radical theorist of American democracy of his generation.” ―Cornel West “Walter Benn Michaels is cunning, brilliant, acutely suggestive, exhilarating to read.” ―Eric Lott “For decades, Adolph Reed and Walter Benn Michaels have brought common as well as uncommon sense to the analysis of politics under oligarchic late capitalism.” ―Barbara J. Fields “Wokelords and anti-racist liberals will be frustrated, enraged, and defeated. This book pushes us closer towards the uncompromising, bare-knuckled anti-capitalist movement we so desperately need.” ―Cedric Johnson “An exhilarating journey that swaps the orthodoxies of contemporary progressive culture for a class politics rooted in universalism.” ―James Bloodworth “Adolph Reed, Jr. and Walter Benn Michaels have been among the clearest voices critiquing the dominant race reductionism in American intellectual life and proposing a real egalitarian alternative.” ―Bhaskar Sunkara “Anyone interested in the politics of race and class must push aside the dogma of identity and grapple with what Reed, Jr. and Michaels have been arguing for decades.–Jodi Dean “These essays tell the story of the last seven decades, charting the decline of the left and American politics. The result is as rich as it is rare: a long view that is pressing and immediate.” ―Corey Robin “Reed, Jr. and Michaels take a hammer to common ways of thinking about race, class, inequality and identity, revealing ugly truths, and challenging us out of our comfort zones.” ―Kenan MalikRead more
£15.90£19.00No Politics But Class Politics
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War and Punishment: The Story of Russian Oppression and Ukrainian Resistance
‘History is made up of myths,’ writes the renowned Russian dissident journalist Mikhail Zygar. ‘Alas, our myths led us to the fascism of 2022. It is time to expose them.’ Drawing from his perilous career investigating the frontiers of the Russian empire, Zygar reveals how 350 years of propaganda, bad historical scholarship, folk tales and fantasy spurred his nation into war with Ukraine.
How did a German monk’s fear of the Ottoman Empire drive him to invent the fiction of a united Russian world? How did corny spy novels about a ‘Soviet James Bond’ inspire Vladimir Putin to join the KGB? How did Alexander Pushkin’s admiration for a poem by Lord Byron end with him slandering the legendary chief of the Cossacks? And how did Putin underestimate a rising TV comic named Volodymyr Zelensky, failing to see that his satire had become deadly serious, and that his country would be a joke no longer?
A noted expert on the Kremlin with unparalleled access to hundreds of players in the current conflict – from politicians to oligarchs, gangsters to comedians (not least Zelensky himself) – Zygar chronicles the power struggles from which today’s politics grew, and digs out the essential truths from behind layers of seductive legend. By surveying the strange, complex record of Russo-Ukrainian relations, War and Punishment reveals exactly how the largest nation on Earth lost its senses. A work of history can’t undo the past or transform the present, but sometimes it can shape the future.
In fact, that’s how the story begins.
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The First World War
The definitive account of the Great War and a national bestseller from eminent military historian John Keegan
2018 marks the centenary of the First World War – the war that created the modern world. It destroyed a century of relative peace and prosperity and saw a continent at the height of its success descend into slaughter. It unleashed both the demons of the twentieth century – political hatred, military destruction and mass death – and the ideas which continue to shape our world today: modernism in the arts, new approaches to psychology and medicine, and radical ideas about economics and society.
By the end of the war, three great empires – the Austro-Hungarian, the Russian and the Ottoman – had collapsed. But as Keegan expertly shows, the devastation extended over the entirety over Europe and still profoundly informs the politics and culture of the continent today. Pertinent, authoritative and gripping, this panoramic account of WW1 is regarded as a world history classic.
‘The best and most approachable introduction to the war’ Guardian
‘Nobody describes a battle as Keegan does, vividly relating the unfolding events to the contours of the field of combat… This book is a kind of war memorial. As first-hand memory fades, The First World War honours the dead as only true history can’ Sunday Times
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£15.20£19.00The First World War
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China Incorporated: The Politics of a World Where China is Number One
Is the West prepared for a world where power is shared with China? A world in which China asserts the same level of global leadership that the USA currently assumes? And can we learn to embrace Chinese political culture, as China learned to embrace ours?Here, one of the world’s leading voices on China, Kerry Brown, takes us past the tired cliches and inside the Chinese leadership – as they lay out a roadmap for working in a world in which China shares dominance with the West.
From how, and why, China as a dominant superpower has been inevitable for many years, to how the attempts to fight the old battles are over, Brown digs deeper into the problematic nature of China’s current situation – its treatment of dissent, of Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and the severe limitations on its management of relations with other cultures and values. These issues impact the way the West sees China, China sees the West, and how both see themselves.
There are obstacles to the West accepting a more prominent place for China in the world – but just because this will be a difficult process does not mean that it should not happen. As Kerry Brown writes: history is indeed ending, but not how the West thought it would.
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Class War: A Literary History
A bold new history of the global class warA thrilling and vivid work of history, Class War weaves together literature and politics to chart the making and unmaking of social class through revolutionary combat. In a narrative that spans the globe and more than two centuries of history, Mark Steven traces the history of class war from the Haitian Revolution to Black Lives Matter.
Surveying the literature of revolution, from the poetry of Shelley and Byron to the novels of Émile Zola and Jack London, exploring the writings of Frantz Fanon, Che Guevara, and Assata Shakur, Class War reveals the interplay between military action and the politics of class, showing how solidarity flourishes in times of conflict. Written with verve and ranging across diverse historical settings, Class War traverses industrial battles, guerrilla insurgencies, and anticolonial resistance, as well as large-scale combat operations waged against capitalism’s regimes and its interstate system.
In our age of economic crisis, ecological catastrophe, and planetary unrest, Steven tells the stories of those whose actions will help guide future militants toward a revolutionary horizon.
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£14.60£18.00Class War: A Literary History
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Politics, Poverty and Belief: A Political Memoir
‘For the past half-century Frank Field has been an outstanding parliamentarian, social reformer and champion of the disadvantaged. He joined the Labour Party at the age of 16 and was expelled from it at the age of 78.’ -Brian & Rachel Griffiths
‘Frank Field is one of the most important, iconoclastic and remarkable politicians of his generation. This book is told with his Christian belief, regrets and all, and his trademark searing honesty.’ -Nick Timmins
In the increasingly dirty world of British politics, one man has stood out for unimpeachable integrity – the former Labour Member of Parliament for Birkenhead, Frank Field.
In this touching but also profound memoir, the veteran former Labour MP and social campaigner Frank Field reveals the poverty of his own childhood and the deep and lasting effect of his Christian socialism.
Field has spent his life fighting poverty in Britain, and has found allies on all sides of the political spectrum. In this book, Field talk about his activism, his foundational work with the Child Poverty Action Group and his work passing legislation for the Minimum Living Wage. He explains why he has dedicated his life to speaking out against the corruption of greed and power and writes with great alacrity about the titans of his political age, including Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher. In the end, Field’s zeal for reform was too much for too many people, and, in 2015, he was deselected by his own local Labour party.
Politics, Poverty and Belief is an implicit indictment of modern British politics – the world of cash for questions, Partygate and all the rest – in which the poor get poorer and the rich get richer.
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£14.60£19.00Politics, Poverty and Belief: A Political Memoir
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Political ideas for A Level: Liberalism, Socialism, Conservatism, Feminism, Anarchism 2nd Edition
These Student’s Books will help students understand the core ideas and principles behind the political ideologies, and how they apply in practice to human nature, the state, society and the economy.
– Comprehensive coverage of the ideologies of Liberalism, Socialism, Conservatism, Socialism, Feminism and Anarchism
– Definitions of key terms and concepts to help clarify knowledge and understanding of political language
– Exam focus sections at the end of each chapter to test and develop understanding of key topics, offering practice for short and long essay questionsRead more
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Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time
Redefining the traditional understanding of the New Deal, Fear Itself examines this pivotal American era through a sweeping international lens that juxtaposes a struggling democracy with enticing ideologies like Fascism and Communism. Ira Katznelson asserts that, during the 1930s and 1940s, American democracy was rescued yet distorted by a unified band of southern legislators who safeguarded racial segregation as they built a new national state to manage capitalism and assert global power. This study brings to life the politicians and pundits of the time, including Walter Lippmann, who argued that America needed a dose of dictatorship; Mississippi’s five-foot-two Senator Theodore Bilbo, who advocated the legal separation of races; and Robert Oppenheimer, who built the atomic bomb yet was undone by the nation’s hysteria. Fear Itself is a work vital to understanding America and the world the New Deal made.Read more
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Higher Politics: Revise and learn (Bright Red Study Guides)
Get exam ready with our brand-new Higher Politics Study Guide!
Written specifically for the Scottish curriculum, this unmissable new study guide from BrightRED Publishing covers a wide range of topics to help build your knowledge and equip you with the tools needed to succeed in Higher Politics. In this Study Guide, you will find:- Thorough coverage of the course and assessment
- Clear and concise explanations of key topics and challenging ideas, including political theory, systems, parties and elections
- Activities and content that will help you learn how to analyse and evaluate information from a wide range of sources
- Don’t Forget pointers that offer advice on key facts and how to avoid common mistakes.
- Things to Do and Think About sections which provide you with plenty of opportunities to put your knowledge into practice.
This guide is also supported by a host of free additional material available on the BrightRED Digital Zone!
Contents:
- Introduction
- Political Theory
- Political Systems
- Political Parties and Elections
- Source Questions
- Assignment
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Against Decolonisation: Taking African Agency Seriously (African Arguments)
Selected as one of ‘100 Notable African Books of 2022’ in Brittle Paper
A leading African political philosopher’s searing intellectual and moral critique of today’s decolonisation movement.
Decolonisation has lost its way. Originally a struggle to escape the West’s direct political and economic control, it has become a catch-all idea, often for performing ‘morality’ or ‘authenticity’; it suffocates African thought and denies African agency.
Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò fiercely rejects the indiscriminate application of ‘decolonisation’ to everything from literature, language and philosophy to sociology, psychology and medicine. He argues that the decolonisation industry, obsessed with cataloguing wrongs, is seriously harming scholarship on and in Africa. He finds ‘decolonisation’ of culture intellectually unsound and wholly unrealistic, conflating modernity with coloniality, and groundlessly advocating an open-ended undoing of global society’s foundations. Worst of all, today’s movement attacks its own cause: ‘decolonisers’ themselves are disregarding, infantilising and imposing values on contemporary African thinkers.
This powerful, much-needed intervention questions whether today’s ‘decolonisation’ truly serves African empowerment. Táíwò’s is a bold challenge to respect African intellectuals as innovative adaptors, appropriators and synthesisers of ideas they have always seen as universally relevant.
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They Killed Freddie Gray: The Anatomy of a Police Brutality Cover-Up
Based on new evidence and deep reporting, the riveting truth about a case that has become a touchstone in the struggle for racial justice and Black lives.They Killed Freddie Gray exposes a conspiracy among Baltimore leaders to cover up what actually happened to Freddie Gray, who was fatally injured in police custody in April 2015. After Gray’s death, Baltimore became ground zero for Black Lives Matter and racial justice protests that exploded across the country. State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby became a hero when she charged six officers in Gray’s death, and the trials of the officers generated national headlines for two years.
Yet the cause of Gray’s death has remained a mystery. A viral video showed an officer leaning on Gray’s back while he cried out in pain. But the autopsy concluded he was fatally injured later that morning while the van was in motion—during a multi-stop “rough ride”—from sudden impact to his head. None of the officers were convicted of any crimes based on this theory.
They Killed Freddie Gray solves the mystery of Gray’s death by uncovering new evidence of how he was killed by police and how his cause of death was covered up. In coordination with a documentary film now being produced, this book revisits a pivotal moment in US criminal justice history, providing new insight into what happened, the historical structures of power that allowed it to happen, and the personalities and dynamics involved—a story never told by the mainstream media. It includes a detailed map with annotations by the author, photographs, and a foreword by Rabia Chaudry.
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Reconstruction Updated Edition: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)
From the “preeminent historian of Reconstruction” (New York Times Book Review), the prize-winning classic work on the post-Civil War period that shaped modern America.
Eric Foner’s “masterful treatment of one of the most complex periods of American history” (New Republic) redefined how the post-Civil War period was viewed.
Reconstruction chronicles the way in which Americans—black and white—responded to the unprecedented changes unleashed by the war and the end of slavery. It addresses the ways in which the emancipated slaves’ quest for economic autonomy and equal citizenship shaped the political agenda of Reconstruction; the remodeling of Southern society and the place of planters, merchants, and small farmers within it; the evolution of racial attitudes and patterns of race relations; and the emergence of a national state possessing vastly expanded authority and committed, for a time, to the principle of equal rights for all Americans.
This “smart book of enormous strengths” (Boston Globe) remains the standard work on the wrenching post-Civil War period—an era whose legacy still reverberates in the United States today.
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World Politics since 1989
1989 ushered in a new age of freedom and prosperity. Thirty years later, the golden era is over. What went wrong? How did the age of globalization – of growing connectivity, affluence, and growth – give way?
Jonathan Holslag navigates through the calm seas and rip tides of global politics from the Cold War to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He tells a story of faltering momentum and squandered opportunities that explains how the West’s sources of strength were lost to rising consumerism, unbalanced trade, and half-hearted diplomatic engagement. All the while, other powers, like China and Russia, grew stronger. With his trademark verve, Holslag untangles the threads of this story to reveal that it was not so much the ambition of China, the cunning of Putin, or the greed of African strongmen that led the world into this dark place; it was the failure of the West to listen to its people, to show clear leadership, and reinvent itself, in spite of ample evidence that things were going awry.
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£13.70£17.10World Politics since 1989
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A Short History of the Spanish Civil War: Revised Edition (Short Histories)
In elegant and accessible prose, Julián Casanova tells the gripping story of the Spanish Civil War. These anguished and traumatic years filled Spain with hope, frustration and drama. Not only did it pit countryman against countryman, and neighbour against neighbour, but from 1936-39 this bitterly contended struggle sucked in competing and seemingly atavistic forces that were soon to rage across the face of Europe, and then the rest of the world: nationalism and republicanism; communism and fascism; anarchism and monarchism; anti-clerical reformism and aristocratic Catholic conservatism. The ‘Guerra Civil’ is of enduring interest precisely because it represents much more than just a regional contest for power and governmental legitimacy. It has come to be seen as a seedbed for the titanic political struggles and larger social upheavals that scarred the entire 20th century. Charting the most significant events and battles alongside the main players in the tragedy, Casanova provides answers to some of the pressing questions (such as the roots and extent of anticlerical violence) that have been asked in the 70 years that have passed since the painful defeat of the Second Republic. Now with a revised introduction, Casanova offers an overview of key historiographical shifts since the title was first published; not least the wielding of the conflict to political ends in certain strands of contemporary historiography towards an alarming neo-Francoist revisionism.Read more
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Making Sense of the Troubles: A History of the Northern Ireland Conflict
COMPLETELY REVISED AND UPDATED EDITION — THE ESSENTIAL HISTORY OF THE TROUBLES
‘Compellingly written and very even-handed. By far the clearest account of what happened in the Northern Ireland conflict and more importantly why it happened’ Irish News
‘Extraordinarily well-balanced, sane, comprehensive and rich in sober understatement’ Glasgow Herald
__________________________First published two decades ago, Making Sense of the Troubles is widely regarded as the most ‘comprehensive, considered and compassionate’ (Irish Times) history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Written by a distinguished journalist and a teacher of history in Northern Ireland, it surveys the roots of the problems from 1921 onwards, the descent into violence in the late 60s, and the three terrible decades that followed.
In this fully revised and updated version, McKittrick and McVea take into account the momentous events of the ten years that followed their first publication, including the disbanding of the IRA, Ian Paisley’s deal with the Republicans and the historic power-sharing government in Belfast.
__________________________‘An updated reissue of a collaborative study published 12 years ago to rave reviews as a frank, accurate and authoritative narrative of events which should be required reading for anyone hoping to understand what had been going on in the North’ Irish Independent
‘I would strongly advocate that it be made compulsory reading for everyone in Northern Ireland because for the first time it is our history, all of it warts and all, presented in a clear and understandable way’ Irish News
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British Politics For Dummies, 2nd Edition
Your updated and revised guide to British politicsSo, you want to be knowledgeable about British politics but don’t know where to start? You’ve come to the right place! British Politics For Dummies is your essential guide to understanding even the trickiest questions surrounding politics in the UK. In no time, you’ll have the confidence to discuss the ins and outs of past and present elections, political leaders, parties and ideologies.
Packed with understandable information on the origins, history and structure of the UK parliamentary system, British Politics For Dummies offers a fascinating glimpse into the rollercoaster world of politics. Explaining everything from key political ideologies and the spread of democracy to the current election process and the differences between political parties, this hands-on, friendly guide is an ideal companion to British politics and elections.
- Includes expanded coverage of coalition governments, devolution and independence efforts
- Provides updated information on UKIP and Britain’s place in Europe
- Serves as a helpful guide to elections and British political parties―electoral systems, voting behaviour and trends and the role of pressure groups and the media
- Offers a fascinating examination of British politics on the world stage
Whether you want to get to grips with British politics and government or build your knowledge beyond the basics, this updated edition of British Politics For Dummies is the place to start.
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£13.30£15.20British Politics For Dummies, 2nd Edition
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Blood Royal: Dynastic Politics in Medieval Europe (James Lydon Lectures in Medieval History and Culture)
Throughout medieval Europe, for hundreds of years, monarchy was the way that politics worked in most countries. This meant power was in the hands of a family – a dynasty; that politics was family politics; and political life was shaped by the births, marriages and deaths of the ruling family. How did the dynastic system cope with female rule, or pretenders to the throne? How did dynasties use names, the numbering of rulers and the visual display of heraldry to express their identity? And why did some royal families survive and thrive, while others did not? Drawing on a rich and memorable body of sources, this engaging and original history of dynastic power in Latin Christendom and Byzantium explores the role played by family dynamics and family consciousness in the politics of the royal and imperial dynasties of Europe. From royal marriages and the birth of sons, to female sovereigns, mistresses and wicked uncles, Robert Bartlett makes enthralling sense of the complex web of internal rivalries and loyalties of the ruling dynasties and casts fresh light on an essential feature of the medieval world.Read more
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American Politics For Dummies – UK
The simplest way to get to grips with the American political systemAmerican Politics For Dummies is an engaging and accessible guide to the inner workings of the U.S. government, cutting through the political jargon, to give you the facts. The book begins with the basics, including government structure and processes, and later covers current events that make the news.
The world of American politics can be bewildering to anyone not born and bred in the U.S.A. This plain-English guide is perfect whether you are a student or simply fascinated by the world’s most powerful democracy. From the electoral process to ‘special relationships’, you discover all you need to know with American Politics For Dummies.
• The birth of America – find out about the emergence of the US,from the ideas upon which America was founded to the creation
of the US Constitution
• Go government – understand the powers of the President, how Congress operates, the function of the Supreme Court and how
US laws are created and passed
• Party on – discover the ins and outs of elections and political parties, from the electoral process and the two-party system to the voting behaviour amongst Americans
• One nation, many identities – get to understand the workings of a truly multicultural society
• All the world’s a stage – grasp the grand strategy of the US to understand why the nation acts as it does in international politics
2014 kicks off the latest round of U.S. Congressional election and marks the beginning the 2016 Presidential election cycle. There will be headlines, there will be debate and there will be news. If you’re looking to keep up and understand it all, American Politics For Dummies is a great place to start.
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£13.20£16.10American Politics For Dummies – UK
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Late Fascism: Race, Capitalism and the Politics of Crisis
In a world shaken by ecological, economic and political crises, the forces of authoritarianism and reaction seem to have the upper hand. How should we name, map and respond to this state of affairs?Late Fascism turns to theories of fascism produced in the past century, testing their capacity to illuminate our moment and challenging many of the commonplaces that debate on this extremely charged term devolves into. It can be tempting for any contemporary assessment of fascism to reach for historical analogy. Fascism is defined by returns and repetitions, but it is not best approached in terms of steps and checklists dictated by a selective reading of Italian Fascism or National Socialism.
Rather than treating fascism as an unrepeatable phenomenon or identifying it with a settled configuration of European parties, regimes, and ideologies, Toscano approaches fascism as a problem and a process, one that is intimately linked to capitalism’s demands for domination. Drawing especially on Black radical and anti-colonial theories of racial fascism, Late Fascism makes clear the limits of identifying fascism simply with the political violence of bygone European regimes. Developing anti-fascist theory is a vital and urgent task. From the “Great Replacement” to campaigns against critical race theory and “gender ideology”, today’s global far-right is launching lethal panics about the threats to traditional political, sexual and racial regimes. Late Fascism allows us to rediscover some truly inspiring anti-fascist thinkers, rooted in their turn in largely anonymous collective practices of worldmaking against domination, traditions of the oppressed that remain a resource for those set on dismantling the hierarchies and segregations that the partisans of Order and Tradition seek to revive and reimpose.
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