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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > International relations > Diplomacy
The summer of 2016 saw one of the most significant citizen protests in the history of democratic South Korea, eventually culminating in the impeachment and conviction of then President Park Geun-hye for corruption. Concerns about the president's behavior were raised in a polarized media environment with low public trust, where extreme right-wing media outlets amplified conspiracy theories and false claims in opposition to impeachment. How then was it possible for pro-impeachment protests seeking major social change to succeed? And why did pro-Park protesters and government efforts to defend Park ultimately fail? Based on interviews with key players in the impeachment movement and original analyses of news reports and social media posts, Networked Collective Actions untangles the intricate interactions among different actors that were supported and sometimes constrained by the technological, socio-political, and legal environments in which they occurred. Moreover, Hyunjin Seo develops a theoretical framework for understanding collective actions in dynamic information ecosysems and analyzes how information consumption patterns might prompt someone to either immediately reject a certain piece of information or to reconsider and adopt that same information. Seo provides a nuanced examination of the role of journalism in a democracy where non-traditional intermediaries (e.g., social media influencers and bots) have emerged as important producers and filters of information, and in light of declining trust in news media.
Today's analysts of world affairs are often loosely referring to 'geopolitics', but do not always clearly define it. This book therefore offers a necessary introduction into the main components of geopolitical analysis, an overview of the main geopolitical schools of thought, as well as reflections on technology and geopolitics. In addition, empirical studies showcase innovative approaches.
Information overload is something that humans have dealt with for millennia. During different historical eras, massive increases in what was available to know has motivated the creation of systems for sorting, indexing, and compiling information as well as concerns that the abundance of information might cause cultural anxiety or even drive people to madness. The digital age has renewed concerns about information overload and the detrimental effects it has on our ability to sort through the stream of online data, decide what is most important, or even to train our attention on it long enough to make sense of it. In Abundance, Pablo J. Boczkowski builds upon what we know about the historical and contemporary scholarship to develop a novel framework on the experience of living in a society that has more information available to the public than ever before, focusing on the interpretations, emotions, and practices of dealing with this abundance in everyday life. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and survey research conducted in Argentina, Abundance examines the role of cultural and structural factors that mediate between the availability of information and the actual consequences for individuals, media, politics, and society. Providing the first book-length account of information abundance in the Global South, Boczkowski concludes that the experience of information abundance is tied to an overall unsettling of society, a reconstitution of how we understand and perform our relationships with others, and a twin depreciation of facts and appreciation of fictions.
The revival of authoritarianism is one of the most important forces reshaping world politics today. However, not all authoritarians are the same. To examine both resurgence and variation in authoritarian rule, Karrie J. Koesel, Valerie J. Bunce, and Jessica Chen Weiss gather a leading cast of scholars to compare the most powerful autocracies in global politics today: Russia and China. The essays in Citizens and the State in Authoritarian Regimes focus on three issues that currently animate debates about these two countries and, more generally, authoritarian political systems. First, how do authoritarian regimes differ from one another, and how do these differences affect regime-society relations? Second, what do citizens think about the authoritarian governments that rule them, and what do they want from their governments? Third, what strategies do authoritarian leaders use to keep citizens and public officials in line and how successful are those strategies in sustaining both the regime and the leader's hold on power? Integrating the most important findings from a now-immense body of research into a coherent comparative analysis of Russia and China, this book will be essential for anyone studying the foundations of contemporary authoritarianism.
Andrew Mumford challenges the notion of a "special relationship" between the United States and United Kingdom in diplomatic and military affairs, the most vaunted and, he says, exaggerated of associations in the post-1945 era. Though they are allies to be sure, national self-interest and domestic politics have often undercut their relationship. This book combines for the first time a history of the US-UK interaction during major counterinsurgency campaigns since 1945, from Palestine to Iraq and Afghanistan, with a critical examination of the widely perceived special relationship that has been tested during these frequently difficult, protracted, and costly conflicts. An assessment of each nation's respective internal political discussions and diplomatic exchanges about the other's conflicts reveals that in actuality there is only a thin layer of specialness at work in wars that shaped the postcolonial balance of power, the fight against Communism in the Cold War, and the twenty-first-century "war on terror." This work is especially timely given that the US-UK relationship is once again under scrutiny because of the Trump administration's "America First" rhetoric and Britain's changing international relations as a result of Brexit. Counterinsurgency Wars and the Anglo-American Alliance will interest scholars and students of history, international relations, and security studies as well as policy practitioners in the field.
Like all professions, diplomacy has spawned its own specialized terminology, and it is this lexicon which provides A Dictionary of Diplomacy's thematic spine. However, the dictionary also includes entries on legal terms, political events, international organizations and major figures who have occupied the diplomatic scene or have written influentially about it over the last half millennium. All students of diplomacy and related subjects and especially junior members of the many diplomatic services of the world will find this book indispensable.
This is the first book-length study of the role that friendship plays in diplomacy and international politics. Through an examination of a vast amount of sources ranging from diplomatic letters and bilateral treaties, to poems and philosophical treatises, it analyses how friendship has been talked about and practised in pre-modern political orders and modern systems of international relations. The study highlights how instrumental friendship was for describing and legitimising a range of political and legal engagements with foreign countries and nations. It emphasises contractual and political aspects in diplomatic friendship based on the idea of utility. It is these functions of the concept that help the world stick together when collective institutions are either embryonic or no more. -- .
It is now well-established that the long-time economic model on which the news industry has relied is no longer sustainable. Facebook, Google, and declining levels of popular trust in the media have been major contributors to this situation. Simultaneously, the closure of local media outlets across the country has left many areas without access to regional news, compounded the distance between media and publics, and further eroded civic engagement. Despite the looming crisis in journalism, a research-practice gap plagues the news industry. This book argues that an underappreciated factor in the news crisis is a potentially symbiotic relationship between journalism studies and the industry that it researches. As this book contends, scholars must think about their work in a public context, and journalists, too, need to listen to media scholars and take the research that they do seriously. Including contributions from journalists and academics, Journalism Research That Matters offers journalists a guide on what they need to know and journalism scholars a call to action for what kind of research they can do to best help the news industry reckon with disruption. The book looks at new research developments surrounding audience behavior, social networks, and journalism business models; the challenges that scholars face in making their research available to the public and to journalists; the financial survival of quality news and information; and blind spots in the way that researchers and journalists do their work, especially around race, diversity, and inequality. A final section includes contributions from journalists about how researchers can better engage on the ground with newsrooms and media professionals.
Diplomacy at the Highest Level provides the first comprehensive analysis of the theory and practice of international summitry. The implications of the increased involvement of political leaders in international diplomacy is analyzed through case-studies of specific meetings and types of summit representing a broad historical, geographic and political spectrum. The volume also explains the development of high-level meetings from pre-modern times until the present day, the increase in summitry in the twentieth century and the advantages and disadvantages of summits for international politics and diplomacy.
This book looks at U.S.-Korea relations and argues that the durability of military alliances depends upon a combination of power distribution, material assets, and identities. The author asserts that military alliances, beyond being mere tools of power balancing, are also engaged in material, representational, and institutional practices that constitute the identity of allies and adversaries.
In the 1980s, Britain actively engaged with China in order to promote globalisation and manage Hong Kong’s decolonisation. Influenced by neoliberalism, Margaret Thatcher saw Britain as a global trading nation, which was well placed to serve China’s reform. During the negotiations over Hong Kong’s future, British diplomats aimed to educate the Chinese in free-market capitalism. Nevertheless, Deng Xiaoping held an alternative vision of globalisation, one that privileged sovereignty and socialism over market liberalism and democracy. By drawing extensively upon the declassified British archives along with Chinese sources, this book explores how Britain and China negotiated for Hong Kong’s future, and how Anglo-Chinese relations flourished after 1984 but suffered a setback as a result of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. This original study argues that Thatcher was a pragmatic neoliberal, and the British diplomacy of ‘educating’ China yielded mixed results. -- .
Since the early 2000s, Turkey has shown an unprecedented interest in its diaspora. This book provides the first in-depth examination of the institutionalisation of Turkey's diaspora engagement policy since the Justice and Development Party's rise to power in 2002, the Turkish diaspora's new role as an agent of diplomatic goals, and how Turkey's growing sphere of influence affects intra-diaspora politics and diplomatic relations with Europe. The book is based on fieldwork in Turkey, France and Germany, and interviews conducted with diaspora organisation leaders and policymakers. Diasporas have become transformative for relations at the state-to-state level and blur the division between the domestic and the foreign. A case study of Turkey's diasporas is significant at a time when emigrants from Turkey form the largest Muslim community in Europe and when issues of diplomacy, migration and citizenship have become more salient than ever. -- .
First Published in 2004. Throughout the half-century between the Crimean War and the outbreak of the First World War, few countries confronted successive British governments with the complexity of problems posed by the Ottoman Empire. This study attempts to attain three main objectives. The first is an analysis of the growth and development of British policy at two levels: the Embassy and the Foreign Office. The second is an assessment of the influence of various embassies on decision-making in the Foreign Office. The third is an estimate of the influence of European and Imperial considerations upon the formulation of Britain's policy towards the Ottoman Empire.
Valone has selected 71 documents that have either defined America's place in the world or reflected a significant episode in the history of U.S. foreign affairs. Each selection is prefaced by brief introductory remarks, that place the document in context, and is followed by a short list of suggested readings for those interested in pursuing the topic further. Designed primarily to supplement a one-semester introductory level course covering U.S. diplomatic history from its origins to the present, this collection can, because of the large number of 20th century documents, also be used in a variety of upper-level undergraduate courses in U.S. history.
Addressing values and politics in the Muslim world, this pioneering volume examines attitudes towards democracy and politics, self-expression and traditional values, convergence and divergence of values between the elite and the publics of Islamic and European countries, political and economic consequences of religious beliefs, perceptions of outsiders and xenophobia, family and health, all topics of interests to sociology, political science, history, and Middle Eastern and Islamic studies.
The conduct of public diplomacy is carried out as much abroad, by Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) stationed at U.S. embassies, as it is in Washington. This book focuses on what FSOs do in actual practice in field operations. In a series of analytical case studies of public diplomacy operations in different regions of the world, the authors explain how the foreign publics in different countries view America and how FSOs deal every day with misconceptions and distortions of America's image and policies. Every country is unique, so public diplomacy must be tailored to fit local conditions. The authors also discuss how their work is being impacted today by various developments such as the rise of terrorism, the spread of the Internet and the cell phone, or the election of Barack Obama. This book focuses on field operations and goes beyond broad generalizations and theory, presenting information about actual operational challenges and the best practices used today in working abroad.
Dr. Evans examines the international responses to the ethnic
conflicts in Burundi and Rwanda from 1993-1997 and their overspill
into Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). A senior UK
diplomat, she concludes that the international response was
impotent and incoherent--soundbite diplomacy led decision-makers to
act before adequately assessing the situation and in the end it was
the power of local rather than international intervention that set
the agenda and provided the solution.
'James Cable's book...has deservedly remained the classic work' - Geoffrey Till, International Relations;When Gunboat Diplomacy was first published in 1971, it broke new ground with its study of how, in peacetime and in the twentieth century, governments used their naval forces in international disputes. Now fully revised and brought up to date after the collapse of the Soviet empire and the end of the cold war, this third edition of a book that was already a modern classic has a foreword by Admiral of the Fleet Sir Julian Oswald.
The Alpha Barrier was officially featured at a Roundtable discussion facilitated by the National Defense University, Washington D.C. on April 7, 2010. On that occasion, strategic planners, policy personnel and decision makers representative of the highest levels of government discussed and offered perspectives on the arguments put forward in the book. Within 2 days of the Roundtable, two strategically timed and calibrated visits were launched to countries that were identified in the publication as key geo-strategic players that should be of immediate concern to the United States, 1. The visit of Defence Secretary Robert Gates in April. The visit of Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton in June The successive itineraries were specifically intended to bolster and consolidate accords in the area of defense cooperation, to reaffirm the commitment of the Obama administration to the promotion of cooperation and partnership and to render tangible support for the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative in the form of a $73 million Congressional budgetary allocation. The latter would fuel a collective regional offensive against the trafficking of drugs and firearms and effectively stymie the cross-border flows of illicit proceeds derived from the drug trade. These high-profiled visits have lent salience and relevancy to the arguments advanced in The Alpha Barrier...that there is a political imperative for the Obama administration to reinvigorate relationships between the United States and specific players in the south and thereby redress the legacy of diffused interest that typified the post 9/11 era. This compels the application of a new brand of statecraft that is compatible with a drastically altered strategic environment. Key components of this statecraft must necessarily be multilateralism and consensual decision making. The selective delivery of aid packages is merely a first step. The Alpha Barrier is an insightful book that touches on the above topics in detail, and offers clear-minded discussion on these very important issues.
This study analyzes the United States policies regarding China during the administration of President George W. Bush. Chi Wang examines the relationship between the United States and China from its tense origins to its current stability and shows that the China policy of the U.S. is ultimately based on pragmatic national interest that eventually overcomes short-term ideological difficulties or mistakes by inexperienced American administrations. Briefly touching on the China-policy legacy of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, Wang provides a review of significant developments in U.S.-China policy during President George W. Bush's first term in office. By following with an analysis of the varied agendas of Bush's foreign policy advisors during his second term, readers are able to trace the influence of advisors on the president's China policy. Wang chronicles the reordering of U.S. security priorities after September 11, showing how this prompted Washington to embrace China in a measured partnership and has resulted in the short-term stabilization of U.S.-China relations.
Gestures of Conciliation examines the ideas, assumptions and theories that underpin how leaders of parties in intractable conflicts begin and sustain a process of peacemaking by offering to their adversaries 'olive-branches' - in more modern terms symbolic gestures, concessions, tension-reducing moves or confidence-building measures. It discusses means of overcoming political and psychological barriers to accurate communication, trust-building, domestic consensus formation, and 'ripe' conditions for conciliation, suggesting practical guidelines for accommodation.
This significant contribution to the literature of international politics and diplomacy assesses the three failed peacemaking attempts during the Falklands crisis of 1982. Douglas Kinney examines the reasons for the failures in negotiations and offers several distinct but interrelated case studies in negotiating and third party mediation of international conflict. Using the Falklands crisis as an example, he examines the unique political context of the territorial crisis; what the Third World insists is the ongoing process of decolonization, the global spread of sophisticated military technologies, and the world arms bazaar. These changes in turn have led to new norms and new means of establishing territory and sovereignty, according to Kinney. Unchecked, they promise more brushfire wars like the approximately 200 the world has experienced in the peace prevailing since World War II. "National Interest/National Honor" delineates the major stages in the diplomacy of the Falklands crisis, including the bilateral negotiations and General Assembly resolutions, third-party and Security Council preventative diplomacy, a settlement by Peru, and extended negotiations under the auspices of the Secretary General of the U.N. Kinney assesses British and Argentine diplomacy in terms of each country's national interest and honor. He offers a study of British representational democracy, politics, defense, world view, Argentine history and politics as well as the lack of political and diplomatic imagination of both parties at the source of the conflict. This book sets the Falklands War in the context of the many conflicts since World War II, and warns that such wars will likely increase as states seem to feel less and less reticence in resorting to violence in disputes over territory.
This book provides practice-oriented insights into the agency of two previously underestimated actors in Southeast Asian regionalism: the ASEAN Secretariat and ASEAN's dialog partners. In doing so, it offers an inside view of the policymaking processes in the ASEAN Political-Security and the ASEAN Economic Community, analyzing the interplay and agency by both actors in agenda setting, formulation, decision-making, implementation, and monitoring. Drawing on a trove of novel data, including never-before analyzed sources and numerous interviews with ASEAN insiders, the book showcases a number of concrete cases of policymaking, including competition and counterterrorism policies. The chapters focusing on the ASEAN Secretariat address aspects related to institutional autonomy, capacity, and reforms within the bureaucracy. In the chapters on ASEAN's dialog partners, the book provides insights into the bilateral management of institutional support programs, as well as the impacts of support on ASEAN's policymaking processes. |
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