Edgar Kellogg has always yearned to be popular. When he leaves his lucrative law career for a foreign correspondent post in a Portuguese backwater with a homegrown terrorist movement, Edgar recognizes Barrington Saddler, the disappeared reporter he's replacing, as the larger-than-life character he longs to emulate. Yet all is not as it appears. Os Soldados Ousados de Barba--"The Daring Soldiers of Barba" --have been blowing up the rest of the world for years in order to win independence for a province so dismal and backward that you couldn't give the rathole away. So why, with Barrington vanished, do incidents claimed by the "SOB" suddenly dry up? A droll, playful novel, The New Republic addresses terrorism with a deft, tongue-in- cheek touch while also pressing a more intimate question: What makes particular people so magnetic, while the rest of us inspire a shrug?

Despite being challenged by authoritarian counter-revolutionary responses, the Coronavirus pandemic, and a complex (geo)political context, the uprisings that started ten years ago in many countries of the Middle East and North Africa are still very much alive. By adopting a comparative approach, this comprehensive volume investigates the ongoing protests on three levels of analysis (local, national, regional) and through seven case studies (Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia). Particular attention is also placed on the role of the European Union and its member states in this historical transformation.

Marc Gopin offers a groundbreaking exploration of Arab/Israeli peace partnerships: unlikely friendships created among people who have long been divided by bitter resentments, deep suspicions, and violent sorrows. In Bridges Across an Impossible Divide, Gopin shows how the careful examination of their inner spiritual lives has enabled Jewish and Arab individuals to form peace partnerships, and that these partnerships may someday lead to peaceful coexistence. The peacemakers in this book have no formal experience in conflict resolution or diplomacy. Instead, through trial and error, they have devised their own methods of reaching out across enemy lines. The obstacles they face are unimaginable, the pressure from both sides to desist is constant, and the guilt-ridden thoughts of betrayal are pervasive and intense. Peace partners have found themselves deserted by their closest friends, family members, and neighbors. Bridges Across an Impossible Divide tells their stories - stories not of saints, but of singular people who overcame seemingly unbeatable odds in their dedication to work toward peace with their estranged neighbors. Gopin provides insightful analysis of the lessons to be learned from these peacebuilders, outlining the characteristics that make them successful. He argues that lasting conflict and misery between enemies is the result of an emotional, cognitive, and ethical failure to self-examine, and that the true transformation of a troubled society is brought about by the spiritual introspection of extraordinary, determined individuals.

COVID-19 pandemic has created the most significant disruption of education systems that history has ever recorded in all continents. Closures of schools and other learning spaces have impacted hugely on the world's student population. The book contributes to the debate on experiences during the pandemics by portraying the virus's continued virulence, education disruption, impact on the social and economic sectors, medical concerns, and local and global responses. The book provides a variety of stimulated innovations within the education sector, approaches in support of education and training continuity, the accelerated changes in modes of delivering quality education, distance learning problems and the promising future of learning. Case Studies from different countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America have examined the massive efforts made in a short time to respond to the shocks to local and global education systems. The COVID-19 crisis and the unparalleled education disruption is far from over. So, what is the way forward? The research chapters provide experiences and new perspectives of stopping a learning crisis from becoming a generational cataclysm.

In "We Learn Nothing," satirical cartoonist Tim Kreider turns his funny, brutally honest eye to the dark truths of the human condition, asking big questions about human-sized problems: What if you survive a brush with death and it doesn't change you? Why do we fall in love with people we don't even like? How do you react when someone you've known for years unexpectedly changes genders?
With a perfect combination of humor and pathos, these essays, peppered with Kreider's signature cartoons, leave us with newfound wisdom and a unique prism through which to examine our own chaotic journeys through life. These are the conversations you have only with best friends or total strangers, late at night over drinks, near closing time.
This edition also includes the sensationally popular essay "The Busy Trap," as seen in the "New York Times."

Between 1922 and 1996, over 10,000 girls and women were imprisoned in Magdalene Laundries, including those considered 'promiscuous', a burden to their families or the state, those who had been sexually abused or raised in the care of the Church and State, and unmarried mothers. These girls and women were subjected to forced labour as well as psychological and physical maltreatment. Using the Irish State's own report into the Magdalene institutions, as well as testimonies from survivors and independent witnesses, this book gives a detailed account of life behind the high walls of Ireland's Magdalene institutions. The book offers an overview of the social, cultural and political contexts of institutional survivor activism, the Irish State's response culminating in the McAleese Report, and the formation of the Justice for Magdalenes campaign, a volunteer-run survivor advocacy group. Ireland and the Magdalene Laundries documents the ongoing work carried out by the Justice for Magdalenes group in advancing public knowledge and research into Magdalene Laundries, and how the Irish State continues to evade its responsibilities not just to survivors of the Magdalenes but also in providing a truthful account of what happened. Drawing from a variety of primary sources, this book reveals the fundamental flaws in the state's investigation and how the treatment of the burials, exhumation and cremation of former Magdalene women remains a deeply troubling issue today, emblematic of the system of torture and studious official neglect in which the Magdalene women lived their lives. The Authors are donating all royalties in the name of the women who were held in the Magdalenes to EPIC (Empowering People in Care).

To counter allegations that the United States is being led down a socialist path to a European-style welfare state, this concise account reviews the varieties of European socialism and the benefits of welfare reform that have characterized Germany, France, Britain, and Sweden. Which future is in store for America is left an open question.

These essays of Mansoor Palloor aim at the sharp and flagrant disclosure of the brutal atrocities committed by imperialistic forces on the human race and the blatant violation of basic human rights. Those who derive boundless sadistic pleasure in the unbearable stench of burnt human flesh and blood and who consider the woeful cries of pain and misery of children with dismembered bodies and their mentally ailing mothers, as sweet music to their ears, are definitely at full liberty to disagree with his views. The articles in this book, which throw light on international trends since the year 2001, impeccably forecast and predict global events like the Middle East conflicts and wars, the rise of the Internet community and its far-reaching impact in shaping the future, the economic collapse of America, the fall of capitalism, and the recent political developments and unrest in the Middle East.

Governments must continuously update policies, laws, and legislation as the world continues to rapidly evolve due to technologies and changing cultural perspectives. To streamline policy creation and implementation, governments seek new and efficient methods to ensure their citizens' and communities' safety while also encouraging citizen participation. Advanced Methodologies and Technologies in Government and Society provides research on emerging methodologies in effective governing including sections on public sector management and socioeconomic development. While highlighting the challenges facing government officials and law enforcement such as crisis response and natural disaster management, this book shows how technology use can make those areas of government more efficient and improve preventative measures. This book is an ideal resource for law enforcement, government officials and agencies, policymakers, public servants, citizen activists, researchers, and political leaders seeking cutting-edge information to strengthen their government's relationship with society and their constituents while also strengthening their policy measures through new technology and methods.

This excellent reference source brings together hard-to-find information on the constituent units of the Russian Federation. The introduction examines the Russian Federation as a whole, followed by a chronology, demographic and economic statistics, and a review of the Federal Government. The second section comprises territorial surveys, each of which includes a current map. This edition includes surveys covering the annexed (and disputed) territories of Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as updated surveys of each of the other 83 federal subjects. The third section comprises a select bibliography of books. The fourth section features a series of indexes, listing the territories alphabetically, by Federal Okrug and Economic Area. Users will also find a gazetteer of selected alternative and historic names, a list of the territories abolished, created or reconstituted in the post-Soviet period, and an index of more than 100 principal cities, detailing the territory in which each is located.

The last decade has seen a major shift in how nations prioritize issues of national and international security, with terrorism coming to the fore as one of the most significant threats with which to contend. Building on prior research in this area, The Political Psychology of Terrorism Fears presents an integrated collection of empirical and theoretical studies that examine how emotional responses to terrorism, and fear specifically, influence political processes. These include not only how people make decisions about specific governmental policies they support, but also who they endorse for political office and why. Given that terrorism and political violence are an international phenomenon, this volume further demonstrates how these dynamics vary as a function of cultural and political context. It highlights how "high trust" societies may in fact buffer against negative emotional responses (e.g., fear), which in turn informs subsequent political processes in ways that are meaningfully different from other societies where baseline trust is not as prevalent. The volume concludes with a series of papers that discuss how western society at large has become a "fear-conditioned" society, which in turn has given rise to a new political and security culture with a vested interest in such fear dynamics. This book also addresses questions regarding how issues of terrorism are operationalized and studied, whether the resulting data are reliable, and the potential effects of this research on the existing political dynamic.

This unique sourcebook explores the Stab-in-the-Back myth that developed in Germany in the wake of World War One, analyzing its role in the end of the Weimar Republic and its impact on the Nazi regime that followed. A critical development in modern German and even European history that has received relatively little coverage until now, the Stab-in-the-Back Myth was an attempt by the German military, nationalists and anti-Semites to explain how the German war effort collapsed in November 1918 along with the German Empire. It purported that the German army did not lose the First World War but were betrayed by the civilians on the home front and the democratic politicians who had surrendered. The myth was one of the foundation myths of National Socialism, at times influencing Nazi behaviour in the 1930s and later their conduct in the Second World War. The Stab-in-the-Back Myth and the Fall of the Weimar Republic draws on German government records, foreign and domestic newspaper accounts, diplomatic reports, diary entries and letters to provide different national and political perspectives on the issue. The sourcebook also includes chapter summaries, study questions, and further reading lists, in addition to numerous visual sources and a range of maps, charts, tables and graphs. This is a vital text for all students looking at the history of the Weimar Republic, the legacy of the First World War and Germany in the 20th century.

From the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and the fight for ratification of the Constitution in the pages of America's newspapers through the digital era of 24/7 information technologies and social media campaigns, this book tells the story of the press as a decisive and defining part of America's elections, parties, and political life. The Press In American Politics, 1787-2012 supplies a far-reaching and fast-moving historical narrative of the decisive and defining moments in U.S. politics as told through the history of America's press, beginning from the emergence of the press in American politics during the 1787 Constitutional Convention through to 21st-century campaigning that utilize "big data" and harness the power of social networking. Suitable for general readers with an interest in the history of American elections and political campaigns and students and academic scholars studying the press and American politics, the book tells the story of "the press"-collectively, some of the most familiar institutions in American news, broadcasting, and technology-as a defining part of America's elections, political parties, and political life. Author Patrick Novotny examines topics such as the expansion of the press into the Western territories and states in the early 19th century, the growing independence of the press after the Civil War, the early history of wireless communication, the emergence of radio and television as powerful media, and the daunting challenges newspapers face in the Internet era. Provides a compelling and unique perspective of American politics through the early adoptions of technology by the press, especially in the era of electronic broadcasting and information technology in the 20th century Thoroughly documents the early emergence of the uses of radio, television, and the Internet across history Offers up-to-date accounts of some of the latest campaigning for elective office in the past decade, up to and including the 2012 presidential election