Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River explores the interaction of people and environment in two contemporary rural villages in the Midwest. Michael O. Johnston examines how place and identity are constructed differently among residents of these two villages and how this reflects and shapes the different experiences that people have while attending this annual interstate festival. Johnston analyzes media coverage about this event from local newspaper, local television news, and freelancers who covered this festival to show the significance of media representations in providing a glimpse at people's experiences while attending this festival. Throughout this book, Johnston demonstrates the dialectical relationship between the making of identity and place at this festival. By tracing these contemporary festivals, this book challenges the persistent homogenization of people and place that often exists when talking about communities in the Midwest.

Mexican drug networks are large and violent, engaging in activities like the trafficking of narcotics, money laundering, extortion, kidnapping, and mass murder. Despite the impact of these activities in Mexico and abroad, these illicit networks are remarkably resilient to state intervention. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and interviews with US and Mexican law enforcement, government officials, organized crime victims, and criminals, Nathan P. Jones examines the comparative resilience of two basic types of drug networks -- "territorial" and "transactional" -- that are differentiated by their business strategies and provoke wildly different responses from the state. Transactional networks focus on trafficking and are more likely to collude with the state through corruption, while territorial networks that seek to control territory for the purpose of taxation, extortion, and their own security often trigger a strong backlash from the state. Timely and authoritative, Mexico's Illicit Drug Networks and the State Reaction provides crucial insight into why Mexico targets some drug networks over others, reassesses the impact of the war on drugs, and proposes new solutions for weak states in their battles with drug networks.

This book provides a comprehensive review of the Measures for Administration of Takeover of Chinese Listed Companies (the Chinese takeover law), with emphasis on the differences between the Chinese takeover law and takeover legislation in the UK, the US and Hong Kong. The Chinese M&A market has been booming at an unprecedented rate in recent years; not only domestic investors, but also foreign funds and multinational companies are actively participating on the market. For both market participants and researchers, it is crucial to understand the emerging and transitional aspects of the Chinese economy and its M&A market, and the impacts of those aspects on relevant laws. While there are ongoing academic discussions on the convergence between the Chinese takeover law and its counterparts in the UK, Hong Kong and the US, this book offers a comprehensive discussion of the divergence and focuses on key differences in the transplanted Chinese takeover law.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for governments to generate the necessary capacity to address important security and institutional challenges; this volume deepens our understanding of the nature and extent of state governance in Latin America. State capacity is multidimensional, with all elements interacting to produce stable governance and security. As such, a collection of scholars and practitioners use an explicit interdisciplinary approach, drawing on the contributions of history, political science, economics, public policy, military studies, and other fields to gain a rounded understanding of the link between security and democracy. Democracy and Security in Latin America is divided in two sections: Part 1 focuses on the challenges to governance and key institutions such as police, courts, armed forces. and the prison system. Part 2 features country case studies that illustrate particularly important security challenges and various means by which the state has confronted them. Democracy and Security in Latin America should appeal not only to those seeking to learn more about the capacity of the democratic state in Latin America to effectively provide public security in times of stress, but to all those curious about the reality that a democracy must have security to function.

This book explores identity-mediated dynamics of food and nutrition entitlement in urban India analysing concerns around equity, access to food and public health. The issues of disentitlement and identity dynamics when it comes to nutrition and health are more intricate in the urban context, due to a greater population and cultural diversity. While in the global north, urban food planning is increasingly dependent on local government, in developing countries urban nutrition is yet to be considered a serious policy issue. This book, with a disaggregated analysis for urban India and an in-depth case study of Mumbai, examines how malnutrition in India is becoming an urban challenge. It discusses how far caste, religion and migratory identities serve as a source of deprivation and analyses the role of local governance, particularly municipal governance and urban planning, in facilitating the disentitlement. It also offers suggestions for the global south to reverse the stark inequality in its urban centres and address nutrition challenges by developing their own sustainable and resilient food systems. This book is an essential read for scholars and researchers of public health, nutrition, urban sociology, urban planning, development studies, political sociology, public policy and political studies.

The European Union is facing a profound crisis and is confronted with multiple challenges. Over the last two decades, it has experienced a series of dramatic changes to its powers, its institutional design, its constitutional framework and its borders. The current political, economic and financial crisis puts the EU's legitimacy further under pressure and creates the impression of a turning point. This book provides a concise analysis of the EU and its dynamics by paying particular attention to its day-to-day operation. It aims to help students and scholars understand its evolution, its institutions, its decision-making and the interactions between the EU and various actors. Avoiding abstract theorizing, the authors propose an easy to read analysis of how the Union works while recognizing the complexity of the situation. Throughout the book, the key issues of European integration are addressed: democratic deficit, politicization, the role of member states, institutional crisis and citizen involvement. This edition has been fully updated to include: Brexit, the migration crisis as well as the consequences of the 2014 EP elections for all the EU institutions; An in-depth analysis of the 2014 EU elections; More empirical data across the board; New developments in EU decision-making such as the trialogues, and differentiated integration; More in-depth discussion of the role of interest groups in EU policy-making. This text is of key interest to students, scholars and readers interested in European Union politics and studies.

'This elegantly written and very readable book can be highly recommended to scholars and students in regional science and economic geography alike. Those familiar with the wider discourse and contemporary debates will find this book a stimulating complement to the established repertoire on creativity and innovation while those just starting to explore these themes will experience this book as valuable introduction.' Melanie Fasche, Journal of Regional Science What is creativity and who exactly is creative? In this insightful and highly readable book, Gunnar Tornqvist attempts to answer these questions by arguing that geographical millieux are hotbeds for creativity and renewal - places where pioneers in art, technology and science have gathered and developed their special abilities. In light of ongoing social and economic transformations, special attention is paid to the institutional settings in firms and universities. The goal is to identify those features which facilitate and those which impede the creative process. Individual lives are illustrated through the autobiographies of hundreds of Nobel Laureates. Their life paths reveal the importance of geographic mobility and contact patterns for the development of creativity and international prestige. From these biographies we can also see how local millieux and schools have influenced many scientists. The Geography of Creativity will be of great benefit to academics and students in regional science, economic geography and economics.

First published in 1968. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Using decades of their own insight into teaching undergraduate International Relations (IR) courses, leading experts offer an introduction to IR thinking throughout history in Latin America, unfolding ideas, voices, concepts and approaches from the region that can contribute to the broader Global IR discussion. The book highlights and discuss the growing possibility of a Latin American agency, defined broadly to include both material and ideational elements, in regional and international relations, covering areas where Latin America's contributions are especially visible and relevant, such as regionalism, international law, security management, and Latin America's relations with the outside world. This is not about exclusively "Latin American solutions to Latin American problems", but rather about contributions in which Latin Americans define the terms for understanding the issues and set the terms for the nature and scope of outside involvement. Written with verve and clarity, Latin America in Global International Relations exposes readers to the relevance of redefining and broadening IR theory. It will serve as a guide for instructors in structuring their courses and in identifying the place of Latin America in the discipline.

First Published in 1968. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This is a study of how ethnic diversity is represented in public institutions in India, and of the politics and policy solutions devised to manage ethnic inequalities. With new data on representational patterns in parliament and cabinet, it provides an account of representation that encompasses the diversity of caste, tribe and religion. Emphasising the overlapping nature of social and economic inequalities in India, it seeks to place the issue of material disadvantage at the very heart of the debate on ethnic and cultural inequality.

In a world which increasingly requires place-based approaches to economic development, Regional Competitiveness and Smart Specialization in Europe offers a new methodology and a framework in order to promote the smart specialization of territories. Rich in examples and evidence, the book is an essential tool for the design of sound development strategies and a must read for policy-makers and development practitioners.' - Andres Rodriguez-Pose, London School of Economics, UKRegions economically differ from each other - they compete in different products and geographical spaces, exhibit different strengths and weaknesses, and provide different possibilities for growth and development. What fosters growth in one region may hamper it in another. This highly original book presents an accessible methodology for identifying competitors and their particular circumstances in Europe, discusses regional competitiveness from a conceptual perspective and explores both past and future regional development policies in Europe. The authors illustrate that for the concept of regional competition to be valued correctly it should not solely be identified by the structural asset characteristics of cities and regions. They therefore present a unique applied analytic framework that takes into account economically valued network relations between places of (mobile) production factors and traded goods. Underpinned with thorough analysis and theory, the framework uses actual networks of competing and economically valued relations between regions to help develop smart specialization strategies that are central in the place-based policy initiatives of the new European cohesion policy. This path-breaking book presents a crucial contribution to the current academic discussion on regional competitiveness and the policy debate on smart specialization, place-based development and cohesion policy in the European Union. As such it will prove an invaluable read for academics, researchers, students and policy-makers with an interest in economics - particularly applied regional economics, European studies and regional studies. Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Smart Specialization, Regional Innovation Systems and EU Cohesion Policy by Philip McCann and Raquel Ortega-Argiles 3. Regional Economic Development and Competitiveness 4. Clustering and Specialization in European Regions 5. Revealed Competition in European Regions 6. Dynamics in Revealed Regional Competition between Firms in Europe 7. A Smart Specialization Strategy: Locational and Network Determinants of International Competitiveness 8. Conclusion: One Size Fits Only One in Place-based Regional Policy Appendix: European Regional Trade Flows Bibliography Index

India embarked upon the liberalisation path in 1991 by dismantling the Licence, Quota, Permit Raj. A decade later, the defence sector allowed 100 percent private sector participation with 26 percent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The offset policy in 2005 and its subsequent refinements aimed at leveraging India's big ticket acquisitions to bring in substantial FDI, Joint Ventures (JVs) and outsourcing arrangements, thereby improving the self-reliance quotient. Despite such policy initiatives, India's military industry capability and self-reliance remain at a low ebb. There is considerable unease over the implementation of defence offsets, due to the meagre inflow of FDI into manufacturing and the R&D sector, lukewarm long-term investment interest of foreign arms majors in Indian industry and outsourcing arrangements predominantly for low end products, services and Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul (MRO) so far. To galvanise the process, the government needs to develop a comprehensive industrialisation strategy for the manufacturing sector and dovetail defence industry capability as part of this larger policy mosaic. Use of offsets can be a critical facilitator of this strategy. Of the four BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries that are expected to be global leaders in 2020, Brazil, China and Russia are seen to have taken significant strides in aerospace, shipbuilding, manufacturing, exports and R&D, with offsets playing a significant role. India is yet to realise its full potential in these areas. The offset policy can be a powerful instrument for such global leadership. FDI in defence should be increased to at least 50 percent as this is likely to bring in significant key manufacturing and design technology capability. Simultaneously, substantial R&D investment and joint technology projects will be needed to spur the export potential and the spin-off to the civil sector. Front end defence technology in electronics, avionics and metallurgy and propulsion has always been a precursor to overall growth in Science and Technology (S&T) and national capability build-up. This has to be supplemented by social sector investment, skill upgradation and training. A mix of direct and indirect offsets will bolster this process. A liberal offset policy, with strong government mentoring, has the heady potential to make India a global hub in defence technology and manufacturing, and more self-reliant in critical defence systems and platforms.

This edited volume examines the most pressing social and political issues confronting Israel from a multidisciplinary perspective, focusing on the breakdown of social solidarity and the inability to formulate consensus. The contributors – encompassing political scientists, historians, communication researchers, sociologists, economists, and educators – focus on specific topics that serve as exemplary cases of various trends of consensus and polarization. These trends are examined in the context of ideological, religious, economic, national, and ethnic cleavages. In addition, this volume analyzes how political actors’ preference for “non-decision” on various issues has resulted in the maintenance of a status quo, with cleavages or conflicts being neither mitigated nor polarized. Together, this collection of articles paints a picture of Israel as a state racked by increasing polarization along ideological and religious lines. It is argued that this difficulty in determining a consensual definition of the state threatens to destroy social solidarity in Israel altogether, a climate in which “the center cannot hold.” This book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the major internal threats to Israel’s self-definition as a Jewish-democratic state and will also appeal to sociologists and political scientists interested in global polarization trends.

In an ever more globalized world, sustainable global development requires effective intercultural co-operations. This dialogue between non-western and western cultures is essential to identifying global solutions for global socio-political challenges. Modern Japanese Political Thought and International Relations critiques the formation of non-western International Relations by assessing Japanese political concepts to contemporary IR discourses since the Meji Restoration, to better understand knowledge exchanges in intercultural contexts. Each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of this dialogue, from international law and nationalism to concepts of peace and Daoism, this collection grapples with postcolonial questions of Japan's indigenous IR theory.

This book demonstrates the fragility of democratic norms and institutions, and the allure of fascist politics within the Trump era. The chapters consider the antagonistic cultural practices through which divergent political machinations, including white (patriarchal) nationalism, are staged, and examine the corresponding policies and governing practices that threaten the civil rights, security, and wellbeing of racialized minorities, immigrants, women, and gender nonconforming people. The book contributes to social theory on nation-building by delineating processes of exclusion, intimidation, and violence, with a focus on rhetoric, performance, semiotics, music, affectivity, and the power of media. Various chapters also analyze creative, restorative, and at times unruly practices of community building, which reknit the social fabric with expansive visions of the polity. This anthropology-led volume incorporates contributions from a number of disciplines including sociology, American studies, communication, and Spanish, and will be of interest to scholars across the social sciences and humanities.

"A welcome addition to the often-bloated scholarship on literary postmodernism. . . . Bilton's command of the fiction and scholarship is impressive."
-- "Choice"

"Bilton offers a critical but accessible introduction to postmodernism in America, surveying the selected works of eight contemporary writers. . . . This is an intriguing if eclectic mix of authors."
--"Library Journal"

Don DeLillo, Paul Auster, Cormac McCarthy, Rolando Hinojosa, E. Annie Proulx, Bret Easton Ellis, Douglas Coupland, and Thomas Pynchon: An Introduction to Contemporary American Fiction introduces the work of a range of key American authors, all of whom can be said to engage with postmodernism. Exploring the vitality and energy of contemporary writing in light of pessimistic proclamations on the state of postmodern American culture, Bilton highlights the tension between "realistic" description and linguistic self-consciousness in contemporary fiction.

In addition, by addressing a central problem in literary theory--its neglect of literary discussion and the practice of reading--An Introduction to Contemporary American Fiction is able to present a working model for reading a text theoretically.

As an introductory text, it assumes no prior knowledge of the authors of the novels discussed. To encourage understanding and aid further study, the following features are included:

* GLOSSARY OF CRITICAL AND LITERARY TERMS
* BIBLIOGRAPHY OF EACH AUTHOR'S WORKS
* BIOGRAPHY OF EACH AUTHOR
* GUIDE TO FURTHER READING
* THEMATIC AND AUTHOR INDICES

A novel contribution to the growing field of regional innovation policies, this timely book combines recent theoretical developments and empirical contributions. With a keen focus on non-core regions, some of the top scholars in the field discuss the topics of regional path transformation, place-based strategy and policy learning. Analysing the role of EU institutions, the book includes a thematic section on EU regional and innovation policies as well as four key case studies of peripheral European regions, Galicia, Apulia, Malopolska and Agder. By analysing these case studies, the authors offer advice on how to improve regional innovation policies and systems within a modern context, where smart specialisation dominates and competitiveness is increasingly relevant. EU studies, innovation and regional studies scholars will appreciate the blend of empirical evidence and theory. It will also be useful to policy-makers in charge of innovation policies at regional as well as EU level. Contributors include: C. Ares, A. Arrona, B.T. Asheim, E. Baier, C.A.M. del Carmen Sanchez-Carreira, I. Dileo, J. Gancarczyk, M. Gancarczyk, M. Gonzalez-Lopez, R. Hassink, A. Isaksen, J. Karlsen, R.N.S.S. J.P. Knudsen, M. Larrea, F. Losurdo, M. Najda-Janoszka, O. Rodil-Marzabal, S. Strickert, M. Trippl, P. Varela-Vazquez, X. Vence-Deza, A. Zenker

Signs and images of Chinese martial arts increasingly circulate through global media cultures. As tropes of martial arts are not restricted to what is considered one medium, one region, or one (sub)genre, the essays in this collection are looking across and beyond these alleged borders. From 1920s wuxia cinema to the computer game cultures of the information age, they trace the continuities and transformations of martial arts and media culture across time, space, and multiple media platforms.

Considering the rise of global political instability and subsequent importance of new social movements, this cutting edge book examines the relationship between the alter-globalization movement and political power in Italy, Spain, and Greece. It argues that not only is the movement anti-political, but that it operates within an apolitical social milieu, as a ritualized holding pattern for middle class youths that find themselves uncomfortably placed between a receding state structure on the one hand, and a rising informal economy on the other. Its ritual liminality allows adherents to act revolutionary while assuring that their middle class privileges remain intact. The author considers the social ramifications of the movement at a time when Europe finds itself at a political and economic crossroads, and offers specific and timely case studies from the three southern European countries.

This volume is an introductory textbook that provides a survey of Indian history through a thematic lens of women’s and gender history across a variety of different contexts – including analysis of primary sources and theoretical and methodological debates, giving readers a fully rounded picture of gender history in India. A book on women and gender in Indian history will be in demand with students studying Indian history and women and gender studies. It is introductory so has a wide and varying scope and provides a lot of primary sources. The volume places emphasis on the diversity of women and their experiences, disrupting the ‘grand narrative’ of South Asian history and culture which many scholarly books focus on.

This book traces the history of the Chinese Communist Party's behavior toward itself, and the way it has created and developed the regime on the state of affairs at home and abroad, and on a compelling ideology dominated by the giant-like personality of Mao Tse-tung.

Hans Kelsen is commonly associated with legal theory and philosophy of law. Democracy in Its Essence: Hans Kelsen as a Political Thinker instead investigates Kelsen's democratic theory as it developed between the 1920s and 1950s, which challenged the existence of democracies in many different respects. Kelsen provided a critical reflection on the strengths and problems of living within a democratic system, while also defending it against a series of specific targets: from the Soviet regime and Bolshevism to European Fascisms, from religious-based conceptions of politics to those claiming a perfect identity between capitalism and classical liberal institutions, and chiefly against all those ideologies claiming to possess objective understanding of what true freedom and true democracy signify. By seeking what he defined as the "essence" and "value" of democracy, Kelsen elaborated a pluralist, relativist, constitutional, proceduralist, and liberal theory of representative democracy, characterized by a strong recall to the values of tolerance, responsibility, and respect toward "the other" as well as to the idea of politics as space for compromise. In this book, Sara Lagi reconstructs his political theory as a relevant contribution to the twentieth-century liberal-democratic tradition of thought, while representing a stimulating reflection on the meaning and implication of democracy both as a political system and as a form of co-existence.

This edited volume brings together a range of essays by individuals who are centrally involved in the debate about the role and utility of theory in intelligence studies.

The volume includes both classic essays and new articles that critically analyse some key issues: strategic intelligence, the place of international relations theory, theories of 'surprise' and 'failure', organisational issues, and contributions from studies of policing and democratisation. It concludes with a chapter that summarises theoretical developments, and maps out an agenda for future research. This volume will be at the forefront of the theoretical debate and will become a key reference point for future research in the area.

This book will be of much interest for students of Intelligence Studies, Security Studies and Politics/International Relations in general.

Although a number of selected African countries have made efforts to implement various financial sector reforms, many countries have not fully implemented the requisite reforms required for sustainable development. Instead, they have focused mainly on bank-based financial reforms, thereby neglecting market-based financial reforms. This study provides a one-stop shop for understanding the history and evolution of the financial sector in Africa with a special focus on the sub-Saharan region where the financial system in many countries is still at a relatively nascent stage. The analysis is extensive and robust, and starts from financial repression to financial liberalisation (both internal and external), and its role in sustainable development and poverty alleviation. The book covers a range of important research issues pertaining to financial development in selectede African countries, including interest rate and exchange rate reforms, the dynamics of bank-based and market-based financial development; the role of the informal financial sector in sustainable development; the finance-growth nexus; bank-based versus market-based financial sectors in Africa; financial development and information and communication technology; and financial development and gender equality, among other topics. The book also considers the relationship between the COVID-19 global pandemic and financial development, and concludes by presenting a forecast of the future trends of financial and sustainable development on the African continent in general and sub-Saharfan Africa in particular. The chapters are authored by prominent scholars and researchers in the field of finance and banking, applied econometrics and development economics, with a deep understanding and knowledge of financial development and the local situations in African countries. This book provides crucial reference material for academics, researchers, policymakers and students of all levels and is a must-read for anyone wishing to understand the nature of finance and sustainable development in Africa in relation to the rest of the world. It covers African countries, but with more emphasis on the sub-Saharan African region where the financial systems in many of the countries are still relatively underdeveloped.