This book focuses on the crises facing Al Qaeda and how the mass killing of Muslims is challenging its credibility as a leader among Islamist jihadist organizations. The book argues that these crises are directly related to Al Qaeda's affiliation with the extreme violence employed against Muslims in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the decade since 9/11. Al Qaeda's public and private responses to this violence differ greatly. While in public Al Qaeda has justified those attacks declaring that, for the establishment of a state of 'true believers', they are a necessary evil, in private Al Qaeda has been advising its local affiliates to refrain from killing Muslims. To better understand the crises facing Al Qaeda, the book explores the development of Central Al Qaeda's complex relationship with radical (mis)appropriations and manifestations of takfir, which allows one Muslim to declare another an unbeliever, and its unique relationship with each of its affiliates in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The author then goes on to consider how the prominence of takfir is contributing to the deteriorating security in those countries and how this is affecting Al Qaeda's credibility as an Islamist terror organization. The book concludes by considering the long-term viability of Al Qaeda and how its demise could allow the rise of the even more radical, violent Islamic State and the implications this has for the future security of the Middle East, North Africa and Central/South Asia. This book will be of much interest to students of political violence and terrorism, Islamism, global security and IR.

Q. Who should take the lead in fixing market capitalism? A. Business&#8212not government alone. The spread of capitalism worldwide has made people wealthier than ever before. But capitalism's future is far from assured. Pandemics, income inequality, resource depletion, mass migrations from poor to rich countries, religious fundamentalism, the misuse of social media, and cyberattacks&#8212these are just a few of the threats to continuing prosperity that we see dominating the headlines every day. How can capitalism be sustained? And who should spearhead the effort? Critics turn to government. In their groundbreaking book, Capitalism at Risk, Harvard Business School professors Joseph Bower, Herman Leonard, and Lynn Paine argue that while robust governments must play a role, leadership by business is essential. For enterprising companies&#8212whether large multinationals, established regional players, or small startups&#8212the current threats to market capitalism present important opportunities. In this updated and expanded edition of Capitalism at Risk, Bower, Leonard, and Paine set forth a renewed and more urgent call to action. With three additional chapters and a new preface, the authors explain how the eleven original disruptors of the global market system clash with the digital age, and they provide lessons on how to take action. Presenting examples of companies already making a difference, Bower, Leonard, and Paine show how business must serve both as innovator and activist&#8212developing corporate strategies that effect change at the community, national, and international levels. Filled with rich insights, this new edition of Capitalism at Risk presents a compelling and constructive vision for the future of market capitalism.

Iron Cages addresses the crisis of the African postcolonial state by exploring the interaction between the 'iron cages' of expert knowledge - of which social science paradigms are taken as emblematic - and lived worlds as experienced by 'ordinary' Africans. The book focuses on two paradigms in particular, modernization theory and Marxism-Leninism, and argues that they were designed not so much to chart the mutable and permeable contours of local landscapes as to affirm the immutable, purportedly scientific, reality tracks embedded in each paradigm. A related investigative trajectory targets the interface between social science paradigms and political ideologies, and argues that the frontier between scientific observation and ideological conviction often is honored more in the breach than in the observance. Author Alison Jones concludes that, by relegating lived worlds to shadowy and insubstantial landscapes of non-being, social science paradigms are implicated in the inability of political ideologies to make sufficient sense to African constituencies. A negative consequence is that in a number of cases, 'national unity' either disintegrates altogether or is coercively enforced by incumbent regimes. However, two African leaders - Amilcar Cabral of Guinea-Bissau and Julius Nyerere of Tanzania - broke free from paradigmatic constraints by consciously seeking to bridge the gap between expert knowledge and local worlds. In so doing, they created a third space of humanist enunciation informed by - but not exclusive to - the lived experience of African peoples. By situating local specificities within global contexts, they flagged a way forward for the continent and her many countries.

In Ecuador's "Good Living" : Crises, Discourse, and Law scholar and Ecuadoran official Carlos E. Gallegos Anda presents a critical appraisal of the concept of Buen Vivir-or sumak kawsay by its indigenous name. Buen Vivir was enshrined in Ecuador's 2008 Constitution and purports to map out a community-centric and ecologically sound path for development. Due to its apparent legal novelty, this normative formula received much praise from multiple civil society and academic circles by forging what some argued to be a new development paradigm based on Andean epistemologies. Gallegos Anda theorizes this important phenomenon through an inductive analysis of context and power relations. Through a masterful navigation of epistemological fields, the author offers a critical theory of Buen Vivir that focuses on changing citizenship regimes, a retreating state, politicised ethnic cleavages, discursive democracy, and the emergence of an empty signifier. Gallegos-Anda's book is the first to situate Buen Vivir in a theoretical context grounded in international human rights law.

First published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

A critical assessment of Structuralism and Post-Structuralism and their significance to Marxism and feminism. Assiter challenges commonly held views regarding Althusser's contribution to Marxism and offers an alternative to radical feminism.;The author's books include "Pornography, Feminism and the Individual" and she has edited "Radical Philosophy" for twenty years.

First Published in 1965. This study deals with the history of political thought in Germany from 1789 to 1815. It is the story of a nation awaking from a long sleep, commencing to think for itself, to modernize its institutions, to formulate its ideas of the pattern of society and the duties of the State. Modern German literature begins with Klopstock and Lessing. German political thinking comes even later, for it is the child of the French Revolution.

2284: World Society, Iaian Vernier's Memoir is a fascinating study of mankind. Written as a work of fiction, it looks at the human condition 200 years in the future. Predicting the outcome of today's social policies, 2284 is a cultural anthropology study that adds to Itzkoff's extensive writing on the topic. Iaian Vernier writes in 2284 of the revolutionary internationalism that has been established in Nairobi, Africa. He chronicles the disasters that almost destroyed the twenty-first-century world. He describes in anecdote and philosophical depth the new scientific and secular world that has been established to bring peace, equality, ethnic diversity and democracy to humanity, while scrutinizing the plans for demographic stability that will sustain humanity into the future. In the twenty-third century, the forbidden rationality of the scientific minds of the twenty-first century have been unleashed.

The book is a collection of studies on the war in Ukraine. The considerations focus on different contexts of the first phase of the armed conflict. The authors try to answer questions about the motives and results of Russian disinformation and blaming Ukraine, the US and NATO for the invasion, as well as of the position of third countries towards the Russian aggression. One of the issues addressed is sexual violence in wartime and the image of women in armed conflict. The authors also analyze the aid provided by certain nations and Ukrainian national minorities in selected countries. Some chapters also examined public opinions on various war-related issues. Such a broad approach provides multidimensional view of the war while complementing earlier images of the conflict in Ukraine.

Many feminists have engaged with the man-made concepts and approaches of traditional political analysis to produce an increasingly sophisticated and wide-ranging body of thought. The starting point of this book is the belief that such work is not simply 'something for the girls'; rather, it has profound and complex implications without which our understanding of political processes and ideas would be impoverished. This book provides an accessible overview and assessment of the impact of recent feminism by bringing together leading feminist and pro-feminist political theorists and analysts, to focus on key concepts, such as rationality, citizenship, democracy and democratisation, development and empowerment. Each chapter takes a 'malestream' concept and examines both the critical debates around it and feminist reactions/critiques. It then analyses the significance and implications of feminism for the concept, considers whether it can simply be extended to include women, or whether it should be radically transformed or even abandoned, and assesses whether feminist input has become part of the mainstream debate or remains marginalised. -- .

President Cyril Ramaphosa, Nelson Mandela’s preferred successor, faces new problems and new choices since he won his own electoral mandate in May 2019.

In the next five years, South Africa will be changed radically by the climate crisis, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, economic stagnation and political unrest among some of its southern African neighbours, and the rising African influence of Russia and China while the West is distracted by the insurgent populism of US President Donald Trump and Brexit.

Debates about Basque self-determination were curtailed for decades by political violence, involving both the actions of ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) and the counter-terrorism activities of Spain and France. In 2011, ETA announced a permanent cessation of operations. Since then, stakeholders have become increasingly aware of the need to rethink Basque nationhood and democratic representation in light of the changing nature of nationhood and citizenship within the European Union. These issues are also topical in the French Basque country, which has witnessed a re-emergence of Basque identity politics in recent years. This book describes the contemporary re-imagining of Basque nationhood in both Spain and France. Taking a fresh look at the history of Basque nationalist movements, it explores the new debates that have emerged since the demise of non-state militancy. Alongside analysis of local transformations, it also describes the impact of global changes on ideas about Basque self-determination.

In the current neo-liberal political and economic climate, it is often suggested that a large and strong state stands in opposition to an autonomous and vibrant civil society. However, the simultaneous presence in Sweden of both a famously large public sector and an unusually vital civil society poses an interesting and important theoretical challenge to these views with serious political and policy implications. Studies show that in a comparative context Sweden scores very highly when it comes to the strength and vitality of its civil society as well as social capital, as measured in terms of trust, lack of corruption, and membership of voluntary associations. The "Swedish Model," therefore, offers important insights into the dynamics of state and civil society relations, which go against current trends of undermining the importance of the welfare state, and presents autonomous civic participation as the only way forward.

The main purpose of this book is to explain how (mainly) American, but also British and other Western, policy makers have planned and largely managed to create an international order in their own image, the so-called 'New World Order'. It shows how this seismic shift in international relations has developed through the major global wars of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It uses a wide variety of historical archival material to give the background to the current and historical American obsession with creating the world order, one that both reflects the American national interest but also can be said to have established the major security, economic, organisational and normative pillars of our epoch. In addition it provides excellent background reading for the current debate about American foreign policy and the origins of 'neo-conservatism' in international relations. This edition updates a very successful first edition of the title, with additional material to take into account changes in the global order since 2001 and the beginning of the 'War on Terror'. -- .

The development of new and social networking sites, as well as the growth of transnational Arab television, has triggered a debate about the rise in transnational political and religious identification, as individuals and groups negotiate this new triad of media, religion and culture. This book examines the implications of new media on the rise of political Islam and on Islamic religious identity in the Arab Middle East and North Africa, as well as among Muslim Arab Diasporas. Undoubtedly, the process of globalization, especially in the field of media and ICTs, challenges the cultural and religious systems, particularly in terms of identity formation. Across the world, Arab Muslims have embraced new media not only as a source of information but also as a source of guidance and fatwas, thereby transforming Muslim practices and rituals. This volume brings together chapters from a range of specialists working in the field, presenting a variety of case studies on new media, identity formation and political Islam in Muslim communities both within and beyond the MENA region. Offering new insight into the influence of media exposure on national, political, and cultural boundaries of the Islamic identity, this book is a valuable resource for students and scholars of Middle Eastern politics, specifically political Islam and political communication.

Exam Board: Edexcel Level: AS/A-level Subject: History First Teaching: September 2015 First Exam: June 2016 Endorsed for Edexcel Enable your students to develop high-level skills in their Edexcel A level History breadth and depth studies through expert narrative and extended reading, including bespoke essays from leading academics - Build a strong understanding of the period studied with authoritative, well-researched content written in an accessible and engaging style - Ensure continual improvement in students' essay writing, interpretation and source analysis skills, using practice questions and trusted guidance on successfully answering exam-style questions - Encourage students to undertake rolling revision and self-assessment by referring to end-of-chapter summaries and diagrams across the years - Help students monitor their progress and consolidate their knowledge through note-making activities and peer-support tasks - Provide students with the opportunity to analyse and evaluate works of real history, with specially commissioned historians' essays and extracts from academic works on the historical interpretations

This book argues that sovereignty is the first-order question of political order, and that seventeenth-century England provides an important case study in the roots of its modern iterations. It offers fresh readings of Thomas Hobbes, John Milton, and Andrew Marvell, as well as lesser-known figures and literary texts. In addition to political philosophy and literary studies, it also takes account of the period's legal history, exploring the exercise of the crown's feudal rights in the Court of Wards and Liveries, debates over habeas rights, and contests of various courts over jurisdiction. Theorizing sovereignty in a way that points forward to later modernity, the book also offers a sustained critique of the writings of Carl Schmitt, the twentieth century's most influential, if also most controversial, thinker on this topic.

The governance arrangements put in place for Siberia and Mongolia after the collapse of the Qing and Russian Empires were highly unusual, experimental and extremely interesting. The Buryat-Mongol Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic established within the Soviet Union in 1923 and the independent Mongolian People's Republic established a year later were supposed to represent a new model of transnational, post-national governance, incorporating religious and ethno-national independence, under the leadership of the coming global political party, the Communist International. The model, designed to be suitable for a socialist, decolonised Asia, and for a highly diverse population in a strategic border region, was intended to be globally applicable. This book, based on extensive original research, charts the development of these unusual governance arrangements, discusses how the ideologies of nationalism, socialism and Buddhism were borrowed from, and highlights the relevance of the subject for the present day world, where multiculturality, interconnectedness and interdependency become ever more complicated.

The 21st-century political landscape has been defined by deep ideological polarization, and as a result scientific inquiry into the psychological mechanisms underlying this divide has taken on increased relevance. The topic is by no means new to social psychology. Classic literature on intergroup conflict shows how pervasive and intractable these group conflicts can be, how readily they can emerge from even minimal group identities, and the hedonic rewards reaped from adopting an "us vs. them" perspective. Indeed, this literature paints a bleak picture for the efficacy of any interventions geared toward reducing intergroup discord. But advances in the psychology of moral judgments and behavior, in particular greater understanding of how moral concerns might inform the creation and stability of political identities, offer new ways forward in understanding partisan divides. This volume brings together leading researchers in moral and political psychology, offering new perspectives on the moral roots of political ideology, and exciting new opportunities for the development of more effective applied interventions.

This collection aims to illustrate the variety of different Islamic mediated expressions, both in Muslim-majority and Muslim-minority contexts. The study of the myriad of ways in which Islam is mediated in today's world is important, because the media (both traditional, i.e print and broadcast, and 'new'/social/online) are a battleground for the meaning and nature of Islam. Different discourses about Islam are vying for public attention, because to be in the spotlight means to be influential. From everyday accounts of religious experience, through reformist, conservative, and reactive narratives, it is possible to observe many claims to religious authority as well as different Islamic religious identities. With a full index, together with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Islam and the Media is a crucial work of reference. It is destined to be valued by scholars, students, and researchers as a vital resource.

This collection aims to illustrate the variety of different Islamic mediated expressions, both in Muslim-majority and Muslim-minority contexts. The study of the myriad of ways in which Islam is mediated in today's world is important, because the media (both traditional, i.e print and broadcast, and 'new'/social/online) are a battleground for the meaning and nature of Islam. Different discourses about Islam are vying for public attention, because to be in the spotlight means to be influential. From everyday accounts of religious experience, through reformist, conservative, and reactive narratives, it is possible to observe many claims to religious authority as well as different Islamic religious identities. With a full index, together with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Islam and the Media is a crucial work of reference. It is destined to be valued by scholars, students, and researchers as a vital resource.

The essence of libertarianism is the view that coercive political institutions, such as the state, are justified only insofar as they function to protect each person's liberty to pursue their own goals and well-being in their own way. Libertarians accordingly argue that any attempt to enforce top-down concepts of social justice or economic equality are fundamentally misconceived. In this book, leading expert Eric Mack provides a rigorous and clear account of the philosophical principles of libertarianism. He offers accounts of three distinctive schools of libertarian thought, which he labels the natural rights approach, the cooperation to mutual advantage approach, and the indirect consequentialist approach. After examining the historical roots of these approaches in the thought of figures such as John Locke and David Hume, he provides illuminating accounts of the foundational arguments and the theories of economic justice offered by Robert Nozick and F.A. Hayek. He then examines a range of other debates, such as those surrounding the nature of the minimal state and those between critics and defenders of libertarianism. This book will be essential reading for anyone interested in political philosophy, political ideologies and the nature of liberty and state authority, from students and scholars to general readers.

This volume examines international statebuilding in terms of language and meanings, rather than focusing narrowly on current policy practices. After two decades of evolution towards more 'integrated,' 'multi-faceted' or, simply stated, more intrusive statebuilding and peacebuilding operations, a critical literature has slowly emerged on the economic, social and political impacts of these interventions. Scholars have started to analyse the 'unintended consequences' of peacebuilding missions, analysing all aspects of interventions. Central to the book is the understanding that language is both the most important tool for building anything of social significance, and the primary repository of meanings in any social setting. Hence, this volume exemplifies how the multiple realities of state, state fragility and statebuilding are being conceptualised in mainstream literature, by highlighting the repercussions this conceptualisation has on 'good practices' for statebuilding. Drawing together leading scholars in the field, this project provides a meeting point between constructivism in international relations and the critical perspective on liberal peacebuilding, shedding new light on the commonly accepted meanings and concepts underlying the international (or world) order, as well as the semantics of contemporary statebuilding practices. This book will be of much interest to students of statebuilding and intervention, war and conflict studies, security studies and international relations.

This book presents the raging debate on one of the most brutal political realities that India has confronted in recent years: the rising conflict between Maoist insurgent groups and the Indian State. With some of the finest writings on the subject, it brings together articles and interviews from leading authors, politicians, journalists, intellectuals, filmmakers and legal practitioners. The volume straddles between two apparently irreconcilable perspectives: (a) the view that the Maoist movement threatens the very core of democratic foundations, and should be perceived as a violent law & order situation justifying severe retaliatory measures, and (b) the counterview where Maoists are fiercely defended as revolutionaries and comrades of resistance, and the movement seen as the last-ditch struggle by those who have been abandoned over years by the State in its developmental process. The essays probe whether armed struggle is avoidable, whether the desperate desire for peace has simply been overtaken by political ideologies, and whether an inclusive developmental State policy may help restore faith in its democratic ethos. The book will be of interest to academics and students of politics, sociology, social anthropology and law. It will also be extremely useful to social workers, policymakers, politicians, bureaucrats, as well as the general reader.

Few empirical studies of Arab countries have dealt with political culture and political socialisation or focused on people's beliefs, values, and attitudes towards the government or political leaders, mainly because the regimes have been reluctant to allow opinion to be tested. The significance of this book is that it assesses the influence of state ideology on the new generation of Libyans, and examines their political culture.