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Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > General
This volume is based upon personal observations and recollections of the author extending over six different periods of residence in Japan between 1859 and 1877. It examines how the focus of the West towards Japan changed, as Japan became a dominant force in the political arena of the Far East when it freed itself of Chinese rule and, through the Meiji restoration adopted a democratic system of government based on the West. This rapid development in the history & governance of a nation had never been seen before on such a scale and this volume therefore covers a momentous period in the history of the Japan and its role in international politics.
Deleuze and Guattari's work has today become ubiquitous in the humanities and social sciences, being regularly drawn on by a vast array of subjects. Throughout their careers, Deleuze and Guattari also engaged with a myriad of disciplines; yet they declared themselves that "Philosophy is not interdisciplinary". This apparent contradiction has rarely been explicitly confronted by scholars. Fortunately, however, Deleuze and Guattari left us a number of clues in their works signaling how to approach this apparent impasse. These clues amount to a complex and penetrating, if un-unified, theory of disciplinarity and cross-disciplinary articulation. Energized by recent developments in critical transdisciplinarity studies, this volume analyzes and evaluates instances of disciplinarity and transdisciplinarity within Deleuze and Guattari's shared and respective bodies of work. The first volume in English specifically devoted to examining Deleuze and Guattari's work using this framework, this book both contributes to the field of critical transdisciplinarity studies and in doing so helps shed light on the heart of Deleuze and Guattari's intellectual project.
This book charts the experiences of a textile enterprise in Russia during the 1990s, analysing post-Soviet management and managerial practices in order to illuminate the content, nature and direction of industrial restructuring in the Russian privatised sector during the years of economic transition. Based on extensive factory-level fieldwork, it focuses upon changes in ownership, management and labour organisation, unveiling the complex texture of social, communal and gender relations in the workplace over an extended period of time, including through crisis and bankruptcy, acquisition by new capitalist owners and attempted restructuring. It argues, contrary to dominant Western managerial theories which blame the failure of transition on the irrationality of Russian managerial strategies, that the rationale for the continued reliance on Soviet era managerial practices lay in the peculiar form of social relations in the workplace which were characteristic of the Soviet system. It engages with key issues, often neglected in the literature, such as social domination, power and conflict, that capture the problematic and open-ended character of social and economic transformation in post-Soviet production. It demonstrates that far from a simple transition to a market economy, the post-Soviet transition has reproduced most of the features of the old Soviet system, including its patterns of labour relations.
This book provides an analysis of the construction, diagnosis (as chaotic) and evaluation of models in chaos theory. It contains a detailed look at the interaction of the different models used in chaos theory and analyses how these models influence the way chaos is defined. Furthermore, the book discusses the conditions for the occurrence of chaos and the detection of chaos in nature.
Offering a fresh and unique approach to surveying the historical transformations of the Chinese state, Human Security and the Chinese State focuses on human security in contrast with the twenty-first century obsession with national security. Building upon Hobbes' Leviathan, Robert Bedeski demonstrates how the sovereignty of the state reflects primary human concerns of survival, indeed, that fundamental purpose of the state is the preservation of the life of its citizens. Combining political science theory with historical literary, cinematic and sociological materials and ideas, Bedeski has produced a truly original approach to the last two thousand years of Chinese political history, explaining the longevity of the imperial Confucian state and locating the dilemma of modern China in its incomplete sovereignty.
Instagram is at the heart of global digital culture, having made selfies, filters and square frames an inescapable part of everyday life since it was launched in 2010. In the first book-length examination of Instagram, Tama Leaver, Tim Highfield and Crystal Abidin trace how this quintessential mobile photography app has developed as a platform and a culture. They consider aspects such as the new visual social media aesthetics, the rise of Influencers and new visual economies, and the complex politics of the platform as well as examining how Instagram's users change their use of the platform over time and respond to evolving features. The book highlights the different ways Instagram is used by subcultural groups around the world, and how museums, restaurants and public spaces are striving to be 'Insta-worthy'. Far from just capturing milestones and moments, the authors argue that Instagram has altered the ways people communicate and share, while also creating new approaches to marketing, advertising, politics and the design of spaces and venues. Rich with grounded examples from across the world, from birth pictures to selfies at funerals, Instagram is essential reading for students and scholars of media and communication.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, both the Russian state and Russia's Muslim communities have struggled to find a new modus vivendi in a rapidly changing domestic and international socio-political context. At the same time as Islamic religious belief and practice have flourished, the state has become increasingly concerned about the security implications of this religious revival, reflecting and responding to a more general international concern over radicalised political Islam. This book examines contemporary developments in Russian politics, how they impact on Russia's Muslim communities, how these communities are helping to shape the Russian state, and what insights this provides to the nature and identity of the Russian state both in its inward and outward projection. The book provides an up-to-date and broad-ranging analysis of the opportunities and challenges confronting contemporary Muslim communities in Russia that is not confined in scope to Chechnya or the North Caucasus, and which goes beyond simplistic characterisations of Muslims as a 'threat'. Instead, it engages with the role of political Islam in Russia in a nuanced way, sensitive to regional and confessional differences, highlighting Islam's impact on domestic and foreign policy and investigating sources of both radicalisation and de-radicalisation.
Providing insights into this neglected Southeast Asian city, this interesting book interprets Vientiane's landscape - physical as well as imagined - as a reflection of key aspects of Lao geo-political history, the nature of Lao urbanism, and its critical relation to constructions of Lao identity in the contemporary period. It is argued that the patterns of change seen through Vientiane's past embody the key political and economic processes and transformations impacting on the people of Laos. The Lao urban past has rarely been an object of attention by scholars. Laos, in fact, is continually portrayed as a rural backwater, marginal to the dynamic trends affecting most of the Southeast Asian mainland. In contrast to these persistent and static portrayals of Laos as a tiny landlocked backwater, with no significant urban present or past, the authors aim to document, explain and evaluate the significance of the Lao urban landscape. Focusing on the theme of Vientiane's 'marginality' in its various forms, the book interprets this apparent marginality as an historically-produced phenomenon resulting from geo-politics dating from the pre-colonial period and extending into the post-colonial period. Drawing on a wide range of research materials, Vientiane is the first work of its kind on this ignored city.
Policymaking is of its very nature a people-centered business-a good reason why highly effective policy analysts display not only superb technical expertise but excellent people skills as well. Those "people skills" include the ability to manage professional relationships, to learn from others about policy issues, to give presentations, to work in teams, to resolve conflict, to write for multiple audiences, and to engage in professional networking. Training programs for policy analysts often focus on technical skills. By working to enhance their people skills, policy analysts can increase their ability to produce technical work that changes minds. Fortunately, this unique book fills the gaps in such programs by covering the "people side" of policy analysis. Beyond explaining why people skills matter, this book provides practical, easy-to-follow advice on how policy analysts can develop and use their people skills. Each chapter provides a Skill Building Checklist, discussion ideas, and suggestions for further reading. "People Skills" is essential reading for anyone engaged in public policymaking and public affairs as well as all policy analysts. Completely changing how we think about what it means to be an effective policy analyst, "People Skills for Policy Analysts" provides straightforward advice for students of policy analysis and public management as well as practitioners just starting their professional lives.
Providing a unique anthropological perspective on Jewish mysticism and magic, this book is a study of Jewish rites and rituals and how the analysis of early literature provides the roots for understanding religious practices. It includes analysis on the importance of sacrifice, amulets, and names, and their underlying cultural constructs and the persistence of their symbolic significance.
Providing an excellent overview of the latest thinking in Maimonides studies, this book uses a novel philosophical approach to examine whether Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed contains a naturalistic doctrine of salvation after death. The author examines the apparent tensions and contradictions in the Guide and explains them in terms of a modern philosophical interpretation rather than as evidence of some esoteric meaning hidden in the text.
This comprehensive study of local politics in Russia shows that the key reforms of local government, and the struggle to forge viable grassroots democracies have been inextricably linked to the wider struggle for power between the regions and the Kremlin, and to the specific nature of Russia's highly politicized and negotiated form of asymmetrical federalism. During the Yeltsin era all attempts to create a universal and uniform system of local-self-government in the federation were a failure. Under the protection of their constitutions and charters, and the extra-constitutional rights and powers granted to them in special bilateral treaties, regional leaders, particularly in Russia's 21 ethnic republics were able to instigate highly authoritarian regimes and to thwart the implementation key local government reforms. Thus, by the end of the Yeltsin era the number of municipalities, their type, status and powers, varied tremendously from region to region. Putin's local government reforms also need to be viewed as an integral component of his wider centralizing political agenda, and his assault on the principles and practices of federalism. With the instigation of his 'dictatorship of law' and 'power vertical', Putin has thwarted the development of grassroots democracy and overseen the creation of local 'electoral authoritarian' regimes. Putin's new system of local self-government marks a victory for the proponents of the 'statist concept' of local self-government over those who championed the 'societal concept', codified in Article 12 of the Russian Constitution. Overall, this book is an important resource for anyone seeking to understand politics in Putin's Russia.
Synthesizing political, anthropological and psychological perspectives, this book addresses the everyday causes and appeal of long-term involvement in extreme political violence in urban Pakistan. Taking Pakistan's ethno nationalist Mohajir party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) as a case study, it explores how certain men from the ethnic community of Mohajirs are recruited to the roles and statuses of political killers, and sustain violence as a primary social identity and lifestyle over a period of some years. By drawing on detailed fieldwork in areas involved in the Karachi conflict, the author contributes to understandings of violence, tracing the development of violent aspects of Mohajir nationalism via an exploration of political and cultural contexts of Pakistan's history, and highlighting the repetitive homology of the conflict with the earlier violence of Partition. Through a local comparison of ethnic and religious militancy she also updates the current situation of social and cultural change in Karachi, which is dominantly framed in terms of Islamist radicalization and modernization. In her examination, governance and civil society issues are integrated with the political and psychological dimensions of mobilization processes and violence at micro-, meso- and macro- levels. This book injects a critical and innovative voice into the ongoing debates about the nature and meaning of radicalization and violence, as well as the specific implications it has for similar, contemporary conflicts in Pakistan and the developing world.
This book explores varieties of spiritual movements and alternative experiments for generation of beauty, dignity and dialogues, in a world where the rise of the religious in politics and the public sphere is often accompanied by violence. It examines how spirituality can contribute to human development, social transformations and planetary realizations, urging us to treat each other, and our planet, with evolutionary care and respect. Trans-disciplinary and trans-paradigmatic to its very core, this text opens new pathways of practical spirituality and humanistic action for both scholarship and discourse and offers an invaluable companion for scholars across religious studies, cultural studies and development studies.
Forensic science has become increasingly important within contemporary criminal justice, from criminal investigation through to courtroom deliberations, and an increasing number of agencies and individuals are having to engage with its contribution to contemporary justice. This Handbook aims to provide an authoritative map of the landscape of forensic science within the criminal justice system of the UK. It sets out the essential features of the subject, covering the disciplinary, technological, organizational and legislative resources that are brought together to make up contemporary forensic science practice. It is the first full-length publication which reviews forensic science in a wider political, economic, social, technological and legal context, identifying emerging themes on the current status and potential future of forensic science as part of the criminal justice system. With contributions from many of the leading authorities in the field it will be essential reading for both students and practitioners.
'The internet is made of cats' is a half-jokingly made claim. Today, animals of all shapes and sizes inhabit our digital spaces, from the monitoring of wildlife and feral animals to wearable devices and RFID chips for livestock. In this book, Deborah Lupton explores how digital technologies and datafication are changing our relationships with other animals. Playfully building on the concept of 'The Internet of Things', it discusses the complex relationships and feelings that have developed between people and animals online and through the use of digital devices, from the rapid dissemination of images and information about animals on social media to employing animal-like robots as companions and care devices. It brings together a range of perspectives including sociology, cultural geography, environmental humanities, critical animal studies and internet studies to consider how these new digital technologies are contributing to major changes in human-animal relationships at both the micropolitical and macropolitical levels. As the book shows, while digital devices and media have strengthened people's relationships to other animals, these technologies can also objectify animals as things for human entertainment, therapy or economic exploitation. This original and engaging book will be of interest to scholars and students across the social sciences and humanities.
The aim of this monograph is to outline the physics of image formation, electron-specimen interactions, and image interpretation in transmission el- tron microscopy. Since the last edition, transmission electron microscopy has undergone a rapid evolution. The introduction of monochromators and - proved energy ?lters has allowed electron energy-loss spectra with an energy resolution down to about 0.1 eV to be obtained, and aberration correctors are now available that push the point-to-point resolution limit down below 0.1 nm. After the untimely death of Ludwig Reimer, Dr. Koelsch from Springer- Verlag asked me if I would be willing to prepare a new edition of the book. As it had served me as a reference for more than 20 years, I agreed without hesitation. Distinct from more specialized books on speci?c topics and from books intended for classroom teaching, the Reimer book starts with the basic principles and gives a broad survey of the state-of-the-art methods, comp- mented by a list of references to allow the reader to ?nd further details in the literature. The main objective of this revised edition was therefore to include the new developments but leave the character of the book intact. The presentation of the material follows the format of the previous e- tion as outlined in the preface to that volume, which immediately follows. A few derivations have been modi?ed to correspond more closely to modern textbooks on quantum mechanics, scattering theory, or solid state physics.
The articles in this collection indicate the still powerful role of queer theory in questioning the political, social, cultural, institutional hegemony of heterosexuality in culture and society at large as well as in academic research institutions. Written from the perspective of the northern European periphery, Queering Norway specifically reflects the challenges queer theory poses for ways of thinking about sexuality and identity in Norway. At the same time, the questions raised in the articles have wide relevance. From within their various fields (sociology, anthropology, ethnology, archeology, linguistics, psychology, media studies and religious studies) the writers attempt to develop a language enabling them to recognize the multiple social relations possible in contemporary societies, a language in which neither "queer" nor "homosexual" ousts the other, but in which the goal is to work, read, and write in the in-between spaces where no single difference is elevated above any other. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Homosexuality.
This comprehensive study of local politics in Russia shows that the key reforms of local government, and the struggle to forge viable grassroots democracies have been inextricably linked to the wider struggle for power between the regions and the Kremlin, and to the specific nature of Russia's highly politicized and negotiated form of asymmetrical federalism. During the Yeltsin era all attempts to create a universal and uniform system of local-self-government in the federation were a failure. Under the protection of their constitutions and charters, and the extra-constitutional rights and powers granted to them in special bilateral treaties, regional leaders, particularly in Russia's 21 ethnic republics were able to instigate highly authoritarian regimes and to thwart the implementation key local government reforms. Thus, by the end of the Yeltsin era the number of municipalities, their type, status and powers, varied tremendously from region to region. Putin's local government reforms also need to be viewed as an integral component of his wider centralizing political agenda, and his assault on the principles and practices of federalism. With the instigation of his 'dictatorship of law' and 'power vertical', Putin has thwarted the development of grassroots democracy and overseen the creation of local 'electoral authoritarian' regimes. Putin's new system of local self-government marks a victory for the proponents of the 'statist concept' of local self-government over those who championed the 'societal concept', codified in Article 12 of the Russian Constitution. Overall, this book is an important resource for anyone seeking to understand politics in Putin's Russia.
Identity, Culture, and the Science Performance, Volume 1: From the Lab to the Streets is the first of two volumes dedicated to the diverse sociocultural work of science-oriented performance. A dynamic volume of scholarly essays, interviews with scientists and artists, and creative entries, it examines explicitly public-facing science performances that operate within and for specialist and non-specialist populations. The book's chapters trace the theatrical and ethical contours of live science events, re-enact historical stagings of scientific expertise, and demonstrate the pedagogical and activist potentials in performing science in community settings. Alongside the scholarly chapters, From the Lab to the Streets features creative work by contemporary science-integrative artists and interviews with popular science communicators Sahana Srinivasan (host of Netflix's Brainchild) and Raven Baxter ("Raven the Science Maven") and artists from performance ensembles The Olimpias and Superhero Clubhouse. In exploring the science performance as a vital but flawed method of public engagement, it offers a critique of the racist, ableist, sexist, and heteronormative ideologies prevalent across the history of science, as well as highlighting science performances that challenge and redress these ideologies. Along with its complementary volume From the Curious to the Quantum, this book documents the varied ways in which identity categories and cultural constructs are formed and reformed through science performances.
This book provides an original contribution to the planning and design literature. Not only does it provide a fresh and finely grained examination of the daily challenges and opportunities of design review practice, but it does so in an ethnographically compelling way-through extensive references that convey and show what a distanced researcher could never adequately summarize and paraphrase. Architects, urban designers, and developers will learn about how they might work with design reviewers on the basis of the four significant roles that a design review staff plays frequently in the design review process. Faculty and students in architecture, urban design, and urban planning will learn about design governance, design regulations, design culture, participants, processes, and micropolitics in design and design reviews. There are possibly tens of thousands of design review boards in the United States that review proposals for building designs and site designs submitted by practitioners in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, urban planning, and urban development. Given this considerable professional context, the target audience of this book includes design reviewers, practitioners, scholars, educators, and students in the fields of architecture, urban design, landscape architecture, urban planning, and urban development.
This is an introduction to the best available scholarship within Irish politics, featuring the most influential and significant articles which have been published on Irish politics during the past twenty years. Each article is accompanied by a new commentary by another leading scholar which addresses the impact and contribution of the article and discusses how its themes remain crucial today. The book covers all the most important topics within Irish politics including political culture and traditions, political institutions and parties and the peace process. The combination of the best original scholarship and contemporary commentaries on the core political issues makes Irish Political Studies Reader an invaluable resource for all students and scholars of Irish politics.
Iran is an ancient country, an oil-exporting economy and an Islamic Republic. It experienced two full-scale revolutions in the twentieth century, the latter of which had large and important regional and international consequences, including an eight-year war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. And now in the twenty-first century, it confronts issues and experiences problems which have important implications for its future development and external relations. Featuring outstanding contributions from leading sociologists, social anthropologists, political scientists and economists in the field of Iranian studies, this book is the first to examine Iran and its position in the contemporary world. In developing this argument, topics examined include: social developments in the country including gender relations contemporary politics international relations relations with the US and Israel nuclear weapons and energy programmes oil and the development of the economy.
The Korean Developmental State is a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of processes of state and economic restructuring in South Korea since the 1997 crisis. The book distinguishes itself from previous studies by consistently arguing that structural changes in the global political economy have played a crucial role in reshaping the Korean state's own economic project. More precisely, Iain Pirie seeks to demonstrate how the Korean state increasingly adopted neo-liberal policies from the 1980s onwards as a rational response to the evolution of global economic structures; an evolution which has been driven by the continuous attempts of major global firms and leading capitalist states to overcome the chronic profitability problems that have dogged the core capitalist area since the late 1960s. The radical restructuring programme the Korean state initiated after the 1997 crisis must be understood as a logical conclusion to these earlier, more incremental, processes of reform it initiated almost two decades earlier. This book seeks to establish the neo-liberal character of the Korean state through a close analysis of key institutional and policy reforms, and serious engagement with more theoretical debates concerning the nature of the neo-liberal state itself. The Korean Developmental State offers a new perspective on the economic experience of Korea as a development model, one that emphasizes global trends and contradictions for Korea's economic crisis and resulting transformation, and as such will be of significant interest to scholars of Korean studies and the Asian economy. |
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