It has become conventional wisdom that America and China are running a "superpower marathon" that may last a century. Yet Hal Brands and Michael Beckley pose a counterintuitive question: What if the sharpest phase of that competition is more like a decade-long sprint? The Sino-American contest is driven by clashing geopolitical interests and a stark ideological dispute over whether authoritarianism or democracy will dominate the 21st century. But both history and China's current trajectory suggest that this rivalry will reach its moment of maximum danger in the 2020s. China is at a perilous moment: strong enough to violently challenge the existing order, yet losing confidence that time is on its side. Numerous examples from antiquity to the present show that rising powers become most aggressive when their fortunes fade, their difficulties multiply and they realise they must achieve their ambitions now or miss the chance to do so forever. China has already started down this path. Witness its aggression toward Taiwan, its record-breaking military buildup and its efforts to dominate the critical technologies that will shape the world's future. Over the long run, the Chinese challenge will most likely prove more manageable than many pessimists currently believe-but during the 2020s, the pace of Sino-American conflict will accelerate, and the prospect of war will be frighteningly real. America, Brands and Beckley argue, will still need a sustainable approach to winning a protracted global competition. But first, it needs a near-term strategy for navigating the danger zone ahead.

This book explores the relationship between transnational and local Islam as expressed in public discourse and policy-making, as represented in the local press. It does so against the background of local governments in majority Muslim regions across Indonesia promoting and passing regulations that mandate forms of social or economic behaviour seen to be compatible with Islam. The book situates the political construction of Islamic behaviour in West Sumatra, and in Indonesia more generally, within an historical context in which rulers have in some way engaged with aspects of Islamic practice since the Islamic kingdom era. The book shows that while formal local Islamic regulations of this kind constitute a new development, their introduction has been a product of the same kinds of interactions between international, national and local elements that have characterised the relationship between Islam and politics through the course of Indonesian history. The book challenges the scholarly tendency to over-emphasise local political concerns when explaining this phenomenon, arguing that it is necessary to forefront the complex relationship between local politics and developments in the wider Islamic world. To illustrate the relationship between transnational and local Islam, the book uses detailed case studies of four domains of regulation: Islamic finance, zakat, education and behaviour and dress, in a number of local government areas within the province.

This book explores Palestinian women's views of popular resistance in the West Bank and examines factors shaping the nature and extent of their involvement. Despite the signing of the Oslo peace accords in 1993 and 1995, the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the contemporary period have experienced tightened Israeli occupational control and worsening political, humanitarian, security, and economic conditions. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted with women in the West Bank, this book looks at how Palestinian women in the post-Oslo period perceive, negotiate, and enact resistance. It demonstrates that, far from being 'apathetic', as some observers have charged, Palestinian women remain deeply committed to the goals of national liberation and wish to contribute to an effective popular resistance movement. Yet many Palestinian women feel alienated from prevailing forms of collective popular resistance in the OPT due to the low levels of legitimacy they accord them. This alienation has been made stark by the gendered and intersecting impacts of expanding settler-colonialism, tightening spatial control, a professionalised and depoliticised civil society, reinforced patriarchal constraints, Israeli and Palestinian Authority (PA) repression and violence, and a deteriorating economy - all of which have raised the barriers Palestinian women face to active participation. Undertaking a gendered analysis of conflict and resistance, this volume highlights significant changes over the course of a long-running resistance movement. Readers interested in gender and women's studies, the Arab-Israel conflict and Middle East politics will find the study beneficial.

Confucianism has influenced Chinese societies for more than 2,000 years, and such influence is likely to continue in the future. However, during the preceding centuries, the nature of what was understood to be Confucianism has changed, and this process will also continue. Today, the scholarly tradition is adapting both to the modernization of Chinese societies--mainland China, Singapore, and Taiwan--and to the emergence of global society.

Tamney and Chiang focus on current social changes, their implications for the Chinese scholarly tradition, and the responses of Confucianists to these changes. Special topics include the response of Confucian scholars to the democracy movement, how politicians are using Confucian beliefs and values, the role of the scholarly tradition in contemporary Chinese popular culture, the challenges to Confucianism resulting from the changing role of women, and how competition with world religions is affecting the scholarly tradition. Throughout the book two themes are explored: the division of Confucianism into traditionalist and modernist forms and the nature of ideological convergence in the contemporary world. Scholars, students, and researchers interested in the ways Confucianism is becoming more similar to Western beliefs and values and in the ways Confucianism is likely to remain distinctive will find the volume invaluable.

Despite an extensive literature on homelessness there is surprisingly little work that investigates the roots of homelessness by tracking homeless people over time. In this fascinating and much-needed ethnographic study, Megan Ravenhill presents the results of ten years' research on the streets and in the hostels and day-centres of the UK, incorporating intensive interviews with 150 homeless and formerly homeless people as well as policy makers and professionals working with homeless people. Ravenhill discusses the biographical, structural and behavioural factors that lead to homelessness. Amongst the important and unique features of the study are: the use of life-route maps showing the circumstances and decisions that lead to homelessness, a systematic study of the timescales involved, and a survey of people's exit routes from homelessness. Ravenhill also identifies factors that predict those most vulnerable to homelessness and factors that prevent or considerably delay the onset of homelessness.

The incredible, harrowing account of how American democracy was hacked by Moscow as part of a covert operation to influence the U.S. election and help Donald Trump gain the presidency. Russian Roulette is...the most thorough and riveting account. -- The New York Times Russian Roulette is a story of political skullduggery unprecedented in American history. It weaves together tales of international intrigue, cyber espionage, and superpower rivalry. After U.S.-Russia relations soured, as Vladimir Putin moved to reassert Russian strength on the global stage, Moscow trained its best hackers and trolls on U.S. political targets and exploited WikiLeaks to disseminate information that could affect the 2016 election. The Russians were wildly successful and the great break-in of 2016 was no third-rate burglary. It was far more sophisticated and sinister -- a brazen act of political espionage designed to interfere with American democracy. At the end of the day, Trump, the candidate who pursued business deals in Russia, won. And millions of Americans were left wondering, what the hell happened? This story of high-tech spying and multiple political feuds is told against the backdrop of Trump's strange relationship with Putin and the curious ties between members of his inner circle -- including Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn -- and Russia. Russian Roulette chronicles and explores this bizarre scandal, explains the stakes, and answers one of the biggest questions in American politics: How and why did a foreign government infiltrate the country's political process and gain influence in Washington?

Individuals with disabilities are often "desexualized" in our society, yet they have the same need for intimacy, self-worth, and social belonging as people without disabilities. Sexuality and Disabilities addresses persons with physical, sensory, intellectual, and cognitive disabilities and their concerns in the areas of intimacy, family issues, sexuality, and sexual functioning. It offers suggestions for professionals who work with persons with these disabilities to help them work more competently with disabled persons in the sexuality arena. These concrete ideas are excellent for staff training and education and for enhancing professional development for those working with persons with physical disabilities.The contributing authors create an awareness that all people need individualized consideration and that the special needs of all individuals are important, especially for those who may have previously been left to discover things on their own--usually unsuccessfully. Sexuality and Disabilities focuses on a wide range of disabilities, including physical, developmental, and learning disabilities, mental retardation, and conditions that may have an impact on people later in life such as strokes, heart disease, or other chronic illness. Chapters discuss education and support issues for both practitioners and clients. Some of the topics examined include: components of a staff training program on sexuality and disability specific recommendations for sexuality education and counseling with people with spinal cord injuries and other acquired severe neurological disabilities a program model serving parents with mental retardation and their children specific ways educational programming, social work intervention, and policy efforts can address the special learning needs of people with cognitive impairments sources of support and stress for families caring for developmentally disabled children an analysis of special vulnerabilities and challenges relating to sexual victimization that confront people with disabilitiesAn extremely helpful tool for human service practitioners, Sexuality and Disabilities is also a valuable resource for graduate and undergraduate students who have an interest in working with people with physical, cognitive, or mental disabilities and helping them explore this basic facet of their lives.

1. This interdisciplinary volume brings together scholars from across the world who have raised pertinent issues regarding the role of stand-up comedy in contemporary times especially with increased presence of OTT platforms and internet penetration that allows for easy access to this art form. 2. It looks at the theoretical understanding of the different aspects of the humour, aesthetics and politics of stand up comedy, as well as case studies of various forms of stand up comedy such as Finnish, Persian, Indonesian, Indian, etc. 3. It will be of interest to departments of media, popular culture, digital culture, sociology, digital sociology/anthropology, and English literature across the US and UK. IT will also appeal to proplr interested in performance and performance studies as it looks at the genre of stand-up comedy in the global context with chapters on Finnish, Australian, Persian and Indian stand-up comedy, to name a few.

Set in different national contexts (Brazil, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Laos, Norway, Thailand) and in different social science disciplines, the chapters of this volume aim at questioning anti-trafficking policies and their practical impact on sex work regulation. Many actors, from media to researchers, from nonprofit organizations to law enforcement agencies, from "experts" to "reality tourists", contribute to produce knowledge on trafficking and sexual exploitation and thus to institutionalize it as a category of thought and action; by naming and framing perpetrators and victims, they make trafficking "come true" as a public problem. The book pays particular attention to the way the international expertise produced by these different actors and institutions on sexual exploitation and sex work impacts local control practices, especially with regard to law enforcement. The fight against trafficking as it gets institutionalized and put into practice then appears as a way to reaffirm a gendered and racialized public order. Building analytical bridges between different national contexts and relying on contextualized fieldwork in different countries, the book is of great interest for academics as well as for practitioners and/or activists working on sex and gender issues and migration policies. Also, it resonates with a broader literature on the construction of public problems in sociology and political science.

Reflecting on the "clash of civilizations" as its point of departure, this book is based on a series of sixteen of the author's interconnected, thematically focused lectures and calls for new perspectives to resist imperialistic homogeneity. Situated within a neo-humanist context, the book applies interactive cognition from an Asian perspective within which China can be perceived as an essential "other," making it highly relevant in the quest for global solutions to the many grave issues facing mankind today. The author critiques American, European, and Chinese points of view; highlighting the significance of difference and the necessity of dialogue; before ultimately, rethinking the nature of world literature and putting forward interactive cognition as a means of "reconciliation" between cultures. Chinese culture, as a frame of reference endowed with traditions of "harmony without homogeneity", may help to alleviate global cultural confrontation and even reconstruct the understanding of human civilization. The book will be essential reading for scholars and students of Comparative Literature, Chinese Studies, and all those who are interested in cross-cultural communication and Chinese culture in general.

Examining a range of South Asian Anglophone diasporic fiction and poetry, this monograph opens a new dialogue between diaspora studies and gender studies. It shows how discourses of diaspora benefit from re-examining their own critical relation to concepts of the maternal and the motherland. Rather than considering maternity as a fixed or naturally given category, it challenges essentialist conceptions and explores mothering as a performative practice which actively produces discursive meaning. This innovative approach also involves an investigation of central metaphors in nationalist and diasporic rhetorics, bringing critical attention to the strategies they employ and the unique aesthetic forms they produce.

French and Soviet Musical Diplomacies in Post-War Austria, 1945-1955 investigates how promoting 'national' music and musicians was used as an important asset by France and the USSR in post-Nazi Austria, covering music's role in international relations at various levels, within changing power frameworks. Bridging international relations, musical sociology, media studies, and Cold War history, four incisive chapters examine the crossroads of Soviet, French, and Austrian cultural politics and discourse-building, presented in two parts - institutions of musical diplomacy: Soviet and French cultural diplomats in comparison; sounds of music coming to Austria: Soviet and French musicians on tour. Using a communication- and media-oriented approach, this study casts new light, firstly, on the interpretative power of 'receiving' publics and, secondly, on the role of cultural transmitters at different levels. This is a valuable study for those specialising in Russian and East European music and music and politics. It will also appeal to cultural historians and all those interested in the intersections between music, international relations, and Cold War history.

1) Awakening is a unique book because it looks at the freedom movement and its key landmarks through the prism of Urdu literature. 2) This English translation It is originally written in Urdu by Gopi Chand Narang, author of numerous pathbreaking scholarly books. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of English Literature, Modern Indian history and South Asian Studies across UK.

This volume considers the Arabic and African diasporas through the underexplored Afro-Hispanic, Luso-Africans, and Mahjari (South American and Mexican authors of Arab descent) experiences in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. Utilizing both established and emerging approaches, the authors explore the ways in which individual writers and artists negotiate the geographical, cultural, and historical parameters of their own diasporic trajectories influenced by their particular locations at home and elsewhere. At the same time, this volume sheds light on issues related to Spain, Portugal, and Latin American racial, ethnic, and sexual boundaries; the appeal of images of the Middle East and Africa in the contemporary marketplace; and the role of Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American economic crunches in shaping attitudes towards immigration. This collection of thought-provoking chapters extends the concepts of diaspora and transnationalism, forcing the reader to reassess their present limitations as interpretive tools. In the process, Afro-Hispanic, Afro-Portuguese, and Mahjaris are rendered visible as national actors and transnational citizens.

This book probes into the beedi industry, a highly gendered and class-divided unorganised sector in India. It introduces an analysis of the lives, health status and work of the Indian women and girl children in the industry and discusses the role of gender constructions, global capitalism, and global racism in shaping the ideologies and conceptions about men and women at work. The volume presents a gendered postcolonial perspective on women's employment in the context of social and economic processes that are critical to globalization. It focuses on Telangana's Nizamabad district - where a majority of the women population are employed in the beedi industry. Through detailed surveys and case studies, the author analyses different aspects of exploitation of these women such as poor working conditions, income inequalities, health risks and the realities of child labour in the process of beedi making. Richly detailed, this book will be of great interest to students, researchers and teachers of geography, particularly human geography and feminist geography, women and gender studies, feminism, labour economics, capitalism, development studies, political sociology, and cultural studies. It will also be of interest to gender and feminist geographers, occupational health professionals, NGOs, and those interested in the issues of gender and development.

Connected Places examines the words and actions of people who live in regions in the state of Maharashtra in western India to illustrate the idea that regions are not only created by humans, but given meaning through religious practices. By exploring the people living in the area of Maharashtra, Feldhaus draws some very interesting conclusions about how people differentiate one region from others, and how we use stories, rituals, and ceremonies to recreate their importance. Feldhaus discovers that religious meanings attached to regions do not necessarily have a political teleology. According to Feldhaus, "There is also a chance, even now, that religious imagery can enrich the lives of individuals and small communities without engendering bloodshed and hatred."

Explores the contradictions in Britain's humanitarian and military intervention in Libya and Syria, beginning with the Arab Spring in 2010 Provides a detailed study of intentions and motives expressed by Members of Parliament, of consequent British state actions and their outcomes, and of MPs' reactions to outcomes

1. This book examines experiments in decentralized development and related topics as cooperativism and self-management from a global and comparative perspective and tries to arrive at some general conclusions about the viability and promise offered by these. 2. The book examines different countries and their states - such as Kerala in India, South Africa, Brazil, etc. 3. It will be of interest to departments of international development, political science, business, community development, social justice as well as of cooperative management programs across the US and US.

This book analyses Japan's security policy after the Cold War and engages with the question of whether, since the Cold War ended, Japan has again become a global security player. The contributions to the book explore Japan's security policy by providing a detailed overview of the evolution of Japan's security policy after the Cold War, including the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and the Senkaku/Daioyu Islands dispute. It also reveals the preeminent security concerns of contemporary Japan by delving into regional security issues such as the Layered Security of Okinawa, the increasing nuclear threat from North Korea, and the Taiwan Strait Crisis of 1995-6. The book culminates by discussing security in terms of the essential functions of energy, food, and human security, including an assessment of Japan's energy policy since World War II and an assessment of the impact food security on Japan's agriculture and trade. This book will be of interest to student and scholars of East Asian Politics, Security Studies and the International Relations of the Asia Pacific. It is also a valuable resource for diplomats and policymakers on Japan and East Asia.

Broaden your understanding of lesbians of color, their perspectives, and their needs from a human services point of view. Lesbians of Color: Social and Human Services helps you understand the ways in which lesbians of color perceive important issues related to their oppression and discrimination by the dominant social service community. The authors'personalized accounts graphically depict the deep-seated impacts of society's racism, sexism, and homophobia. This insightful book suggests effective ways of changing detrimental practices and agency policies that perpetuate oppression and discrimination, and it enhances your interactions with lesbians of color. Chapters build on "feminist standpoint theory," a theory of inquiry enlightened by authors'firsthand knowledge that helps you move from an intellectual to an empathic grasp of the points made by each author. The use of standpoint theory gives you a different way of gaining insight and understanding of the experiences of lesbians of color. It acts as a springboard for valuing and celebrating the experiences and perspectives of lesbians of color so you can, in turn, provide more sensitive and effective services to members of this population. Among the topics explored in Lesbians of Color are: specific ways white practitioners should behave to demonstrate their sensitivity and respect for lesbians of color insight as to how "need perceptions" and "problem diagnosis" varies when the practitioner listens to and understands lesbians of color specific identity issues that affect the emotional well-being of adopted lesbians visibility and activism as contributors to the mental health of lesbians of color how visibility and activism are essential in creating positive changes in policies and practices for lesbians of colorThis volume is useful for professionals involved in direct service practice with lesbian clients and for administrators of social service agencies. The book is also a helpful guide for educators in professional preparation programs who must introduce students to issues related to lesbians of color.

Citizens' participation, especially participatory budgeting, has spread in both Asia and Europe, and has been a symbol of democratic renewal. These transformations are already very visible in Europe, where more than 200 municipalities have adopted participatory budgeting. By contrast, in some Asian democracies, such as Japan or South Korea, it has considerably enlarged the agenda of citizen participation, integrating new forms such as taxpayers' budgets. In other countries, especially in China, participatory budgeting represents some adaptations of opening and transparency. With a global cast of authors, this study provides an overview of the impact of these devices, such as improving the modernisation of public administration or improving the contact between citizens and politicians, and documents the latest developments of citizen participation in both continents.

This book critically examines the intersection of religion, public health and human security in Nigeria. Focusing on Christianity, Islam, traditional religions and "intra-religious" doctrinal divergencies, the book explores the impact faith has on health-related decisions and how this affects security in Nigeria. The book assesses the connection between religion and five contemporary major health and medical issues in the country. This includes the issue of epidemics and pandemics such as the Covid-19 pandemic, vaccines, contraception, blood transfusion and the controversies associated with "miracle healing". In particular, this book explores situations where individuals have the power of choice but instead embraces faith and religious positions that contradict science in the management of their health and, in the process, expose themselves and others to personal health insecurity. It investigates aspects of human security including the wider international ramifications of health issues, approaches to cures and the interpretation of causes of diseases, as well as the ethno-religious connotations of such interpretations. Exploring key issues that have brought religion into the politics of health and human security in Nigeria, this book will be of interest to students and scholars in the field of African Religion, African Politics, African Studies, public health, security, and Sociology.

This fascinating new book explores the myriad aspects of biological theories of sexual preference. Sex, Cells, and Same-Sex Desire describes, reviews, and questions recent biological research on sexual preference from the point of view of knowledgeable scientists and of scholars in the social sciences and humanities representing the emerging field of gay studies. The issues involved have a vibrant history, are wide-ranging, and remain the objects of much controversy. This book demystifies biological research on sexual preference and makes it accessible to readers unfamiliar with biological and medical research.Sex, Cells, and Same-Sex Desire is divided into several sections, each of which is introduced by an explanation of key concepts and terms found in that section. The book begins with a discussion of the history of biological theories and sociocultural concepts of gender and sexuality. The next 3 sections explore specialized areas of biological science and related issues: genetics and evaluation, hormones and the endocrine system, and brain physiology and structure. A final section discusses social stigma, science, and medicine. A glossary of terms used by the authors is included, so readers may look up those that may be unfamiliar.

This is an account of the Afghan War and its tragic aftermath as told by the women who were caught up in it and became its innocent victims. The voices in this oral history will provide personal snapshots to the news reports of the Taliban activities now coming out of Afghanistan. These accounts provide an historical background to the growth of the Taliban, and reveal circumstances of the daily life of the women who must survive in this very closed society.

Through the medium of oral history, this book brings to light the stories of the women who have suffered the consequences of the Afghan War and whose lives and whose daughter's lives have been changed forever. Through the voices of the Soviet women who supported their soldiers on Afghan soil, and the voices of the Afghan women scattered by circumstance around the globe, the last Cold War battle between the superpowers takes on a very personal tone. Policy decisions issued from on high became the rockets that destroyed these women physically, mentally, and emotionally. Children were killed or maimed and homes and families destroyed. Ultimately, these women were forced to flee or become invisible within their homeland. The Taliban militia rose from the dust of this war and by government decree reduced even the most educated and influential of the women to non-person status.

This is the first book to offer a systematic comparison of the philosophies of Albert Camus and Frantz Fanon. It shows how the ethical, political, and psychological outlooks of these two influential thinkers can further our understandings of how to bring about justice in the face of deep power imbalances. The author foregrounds the bloody Algerian War of Independence in his analysis of the philosophies of Camus and Fanon. Although neither supported French colonial occupation of Algeria, they held radically different views of the conflict. Fanon supported emancipation through violence, which the author argues has been uncritically romanticized. Camus, on the other hand, supported an ethics of moderation that shunned indiscriminate violence. The author argues that Camus has been unfairly accused of being an apologist for colonialism. Finally, the author draws out the common endorsement of humanist values that drive both Camus' and Fanon's thought. Camus and Fanon on the Algerian Question will appeal to scholars and advanced students interested in twentieth-century Continental philosophy, postcolonialism, existentialism, and African philosophy.