Over the last one hundred years, the term "sovereignty" has often been associated with the capacity of leaders to declare emergencies and to unleash harmful, extralegal force against those deemed enemies. Friendly Sovereignty explores the blind spots of this influential perspective. Ted H. Miller challenges the view of sovereignty propounded by Carl Schmitt, the Weimar and Nazi-period jurist and political theorist whose theory undergirds this understanding of sovereignty. Claiming a return to concepts of sovereignty forgotten by his liberal contemporaries, Schmitt was preoccupied with the legal exceptions required, he said, to rescue polities in crisis. Much is missing from what Schmitt harvests from the past. His framework systematically overlooks another extralegal power, one that often caused consternation, even among absolutists like Thomas Hobbes. Sovereigns also made exceptions for friends, allies, and dependents. Friendly Sovereignty plumbs the history of political thought about sovereignty to illustrate this other side of the sovereign's exception-making power. At the core of this extensive study are three thinkers, each of whom stakes out a distinct position on the merits and demerits of a "friendly sovereign": the nineteenth-century historian Jules Michelet, the seventeenth-century political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, and Seneca, the ancient Stoic and teacher of Nero. Analytically rigorous and thorough in its intellectual history, Friendly Sovereignty presents a more comprehensive understanding of sovereignty than the one typically taught today. It will be particularly useful to scholars and students of political theory and philosophy.

Formerly one of the largest and most militant Islamic organizations in the Middle East, Egypt's al-Gama'ah al-Islamiyah is believed to have played an instrumental role in numerous acts of global terrorism, including the assassination of President Anwar Sadat and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. In later years, however, the organization issued a surprising renunciation of violence, repudiating its former ideology and replacing it with a shari'a-based understanding and assessment of the purpose and proper application of jihad.
This key manifesto of modern Islamist thought is now available to an English-speaking audience in an eminently readable translation by noted Islamic scholar Sherman A. Jackson. Unlike other Western and Muslim critiques of violent extremism, this important work emerges from within the movement of Middle Eastern Islamic activism, both challenging and enriching prevailing notions about the role of Islamists in fighting the scourge of extremist politics, blind anti-Westernism and, alas, wayward jihad.

The concept of individualism has gone through a fundamental change, according to distinguished political theorist Nadia Urbinati. In the nineteenth century, individualism was a philosophical and ethical perspective that permitted each person to respect and cooperate with others as equals in rights and dignity for the betterment of the community as a whole. Today, the individualist is a more self-interested entity whose maxim might best be expressed as "I don't give a damn." This contemporary form of individualism is possessive and conformist, litigious and docile, all too prone to manipulate norms and to submit to the tyrannical sway of private interests. As such, Urbinati believes, it represents the most radical risk that modern democracy currently faces. This well-reasoned and thought-provoking polemic is an attempt to detect the "tyranny of the moderns," with the ultimate aim of recovering the role of the individual citizen as a free and equal agent of democratic society. It explores the concept of communitarianism as a form of individualism applied to the group itself, and advances the idea that the rescue of true individualism from the current ideology is a basic condition for the defense of democratic citizenship.

The relationship between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Western World is fraught with challenges and tensions. In order to generate the capacity for greater engagement and dialogue, there is a need for the West to better understand the complex ideological developments that are central to Iran. Majid Mohammadi charts the central concepts and nuances of the ideological map of post-revolutionary Iran, and examines the rise and development of Shi'i Islamism. He recognizes that the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iranian political discourse are the outcome of contesting perspectives and ideologies: identity-oriented, socialist, nationalist, authoritarian, Shari'a, scripturalist, mystical, militarist and fascist. This is a comprehensive, comparative contribution to one of today's most important topics: that of the relationship between Political Islam and the West.

After three hundred years, the Anglo-Scottish Union is in serious difficulty. This is not because of a profound cultural divide between England and Scotland but because recent decades have seen the rebuilding of Scotland as a political community while the ideology and practices of the old unionism have atrophied. Yet while Britishness is in decline, it has not been replaced by a dominant ideology of Scottish independence. Rather Scots are looking to renegotiate union to find a new place in the Isles, in Europe, and in the world.
There are few legal, constitutional or political obstacles to Scottish independence, but an independent Scotland would need to forge a new social and economic project as a small nation in the global market-place, and there has been little serious thinking about the implications of this. Short of independence, there is a range of constitutional options for renegotiating the Union to allow more Scottish self-government on the lines that public opinion seems to favor. The limits are posed not by constitutional principles but by the unwillingness of English opinion to abandon their unitary conception of the state. The end of the United Kingdom may be provoked, not by Scottish nationalism, but by English unionism.

Despite its manifest failures, the narrative of neoliberalism retains its grip on the public mind and the policies of governments all over the world. By this narrative, less regulation and more ‘animal spirits’ capitalism produces not only greater prosperity, but more freedom for individuals in society - and is therefore morally better.

But, in The Road to Freedom Stiglitz asks, whose freedom are we – should we be – thinking about? What happens when one person’s freedom comes at the expense of another’s? Should the freedoms of corporations be allowed to impinge upon those of individuals in the ways they now do? Taking on giants of neoliberalism such as Hayek and Friedman and examining how public opinion is formed, Stiglitz reclaims the language of freedom from the right to show that far from ‘free’ – unregulated – markets promoting growth and enterprise, they in fact reduce it, lessening economic opportunities for majorities and siphoning wealth from the many to the few – both individuals and countries. He shows how neoliberal economics and its implied moral system have impacted our legal and social freedoms in surprising ways, from property and intellectual rights, to education and social media.

Stiglitz’s eye, as always, is on how we might create the true human flourishing which should be the great aim of our economic and social system, and offers an alternative to that prevailing today. The Road to Freedom offers a powerful re-evaluation of democracy, economics and what constitutes a good society—and provides a roadmap of how we might achieve it.

Originally published in 1940, this is an exhaustive biography of the famous socialist philosopher and revolutionary. "The following book represents the first serious attempt to give a full length biography of the most remarkable woman the international socialist movement has ever produced, and at the same time an account of her ideas and an indication of her permanent contribution to socialist thought." Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork. Contents Include: Youth - The Fate of Poland - In Defence of Marxism - The Problem of Political Power - Full Dress Rehearsal - Rosa Luxemberg In Action - A New Weapon - Capitalism Inevitably Doomed? - The Struggle Against Imperialism - The Consuming Flame - The World War - The Russian Revolution - The German Revolution - The Lamp Lies Shattered

Hailed in the Times Literary Supplement as ‘probably the finest piece of non-fiction to come out of South Africa since the end of apartheid’, The Dream Deferred is back in print and updated with a brilliant new epilogue.

The prosperous Mbeki clan lost everything to apartheid. Yet the family saw its favourite son, Thabo, rise to become president of South Africa in 1999. A decade later, Mbeki was ousted by his own party and his legacy is bitterly contested – particularly over his handling of the AIDS epidemic and the crisis in Zimbabwe.

Through the story of the Mbeki family, award-wining journalist Mark Gevisser tells the gripping tale of the last tumultuous century of South Africa life, following the family’s path to make sense of the liberation struggle and the future that South Africa has inherited. At the centre of the story is Mbeki, a visionary yet tragic figure who led South Africa to freedom but was not able to overcome the difficulties of his own dislocated life.

It is 15 years since Mbeki was unceremoniously dumped by the ANC, giving rise to the wasted years under Jacob Zuma. With the benefit of hindsight, and as Mbeki reaches the age of 80, Gevisser examines the legacy of the man who succeeded Mandela.

The Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) is one of the most enigmatic and active political forces in the Middle East. For observers in the West, the SSNP is regarded as a far-right organization, subservient to the Baathist government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which dictates its activities from Damascus. However, the SSNP's complicated history and its ideology of Pan-Syrianism has meant the party has been overlooked and forgotten by the daily output of news, analysis, studies and policy recommendations. Very little academic scholarship has been dedicated to understanding its origins, identity, and influence. Addressing the need for scholarship on the SSNP, this book is a political history from the party's foundation in 1932 to today. A comprehensive and objective study on the little known nationalist group, the author uses interviews from current members to gain insights into its everyday activities, goals, social interstices and nuances. Given the SSNP's history of violence, their own persecution, influence on other secular parties in the region, and their impact in Syria and Lebanon's politics, the book's analysis sheds light on the party's status in Lebanon and its potential role in a future post-war Syria. The SSNP is gaining popularity among regime supporters in Syria and will be one part of understanding the political developments on the ground. This book is essential reading for those wanting to understand the SSNP, its motives, and prospects.

This new volume on Social and Psychological Bases of Ideology and System Justification brings together several of the most prominent social and political psychologists who are responsible for the resurgence of interest in the study of ideology, broadly defined. Leading scientists and scholars from several related disciplines, including psychology, sociology, political science, law, and organizational behavior present their cutting-edge theorizing and research. Topics include the social, personality, cognitive and motivational antecedents and consequences of adopting liberal versus conservative ideologies, the social and psychological functions served by political and religious ideologies, and the myriad ways in which people defend, bolster, and justify the social systems they inhabit. This book is the first of its kind, bringing together formerly independent lines of research on ideology and system justification.

The state of Israel was established in 1948 as a Jewish democracy without a legal separation between religion and the state. This state-religion tension has been a central political, social, and moral issue in Israel, resulting in a theocracy-democracy cultural conflict between secular Jews and the fundamentalist ultra-orthodox-Haredi-counter-cultural community in Israel. And one of the major arenas where such conflicts are played out is the media. An expert on the construction of social and moral problems, Nachman Ben-Yehuda examines more than 50 years of media-reported unconventional and deviant behavior by the Haredi community. He finds that not only have they increased over the years, but their most salient feature is violence. This violence is not random or precipitated by some situational emotional rage-it is planned and aims to achieve political goals. Using verbal and non-verbal violence in the forms of curses, intimidations, threats, setting fires, throwing stones, beatings, staging mass violations and more, Haredi activists try to drive Israel towards a more theocratic society. Most of the struggle is focused on feuds around the state-religion status quo and the public arena. Driven by a theological notion that stipulates that all Jews are mutually responsible and accountable to the Almighty, these activists believe that the sins of the few are paid by the many. Making Israel a theocracy will, they believe, reduce the risk of transcendental penalties. Like other democracies, Israel has had to face significant theocratic and secular pressures. The political structure that accommodates these contradicting pressures is effectively a theocratic democracy. Characterized by chronic negotiations, tensions, and accommodations, it is by nature an unstable structure. However, it allows citizens with different worldviews to live under one umbrella of a nation state without tearing the social fabric apart.

This punchy and provocative book asks a simple but overlooked question: why do we have the political views that we do? Offering a lively and original analysis of five worldviews - conservatism, national populism, liberalism, the new left and social democracy - Thomas Prosser argues that our views tend to satisfy self-interest, albeit indirectly, and that progressive worldviews are not as altruistic as their adherents believe. But What's in it for me? is far from pessimistic. Prosser contends that recognition of self-interest makes us more self-reflective, allowing us to see humanity in adversaries and countering the influence of echo chambers. As populist parties rise and liberalism and social democracy decline, this timely intervention argues that to solve our political differences, we must first realise what we have in common. -- .

Over the last thirty years, the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies has grown from a small group of disaffected conservative law students into an organization with extraordinary influence over American law and politics. Although the organization is unknown to the average citizen, this group of intellectuals has managed to monopolize the selection of federal judges, take over the Department of Justice, and control legal policy in the White House.

Today the Society claims that 45,000 conservative lawyers and law students are involved in its activities. Four Supreme Court Justices--Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito--are current or former members. Every single federal judge appointed in the two Bush presidencies was either a Society member or approved by members. During the Bush years, young Federalist Society lawyers dominated the legal staffs of the Justice Department and other important government agencies.

The Society has lawyer chapters in every major city in the United States and student chapters in every accredited law school. Its membership includes economic conservatives, social conservatives, Christian conservatives, and libertarians, who differ with each other on significant issues, but who cooperate in advancing a broad conservative agenda.

How did this happen? How did this group of conservatives succeed in moving their theories into the mainstream of legal thought?

What is the range of positions of those associated with the Federalist Society in areas of legal and political controversy? The authors survey these stances in separate chapters on

regulation of business and private property;
race and gender discrimination and affirmative action;
personal sexual autonomy, including abortion and gay rights; and
American exceptionalism and international law.

This is the first book to examine the changes that have influenced republican identity since the beginning of the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland.Using a combination of empirical research and literature, the book addresses Northern Irish republican identity from three aspects: Catholicism, paramilitarism, and political transformation. It examines how they have shaped modern republicanism and how identity has shifted and adapted in relation to these specific areas of influence.The personal interviews conducted by the author with many republicans, including senior paramilitary and political figures make clear that Catholicism has helped shape republican paramilitary and political outlooks. This is a factor that is hardly discussed in republican literature, even though it strongly contributed to the development of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). Thus this is the first book of its kind to trace the religious-paramilitary-political linkage, providing a context for rethinking republicanism.A unique work, "From Armed Struggle to Political Struggle "is essential for students and researchers in Irish politics, conflict resolution, and security studies.

America was formed based on a vision of democracy where supreme power is supposed to be vested in the people. In We the Who? author Brett H. Lewis asks if Americans are losing sight of who "we the people" are and, more importantly, who we need to be in order to regain our collective identity and ensure America's continued growth and greatness.We the Who? presents a collection of essays and opinions that probe into the nuts and bolts of current issues facing America today. Lewis tackles the subjects of classism, racism, justice, politics, the military, and the economy. Through these discussions, he encourages the American populace to be alert and aware to ensure that government of the people, by the people, and for the people continues to be at the forefront of today's America.Drawing from history, logic, social inclinations, religious beliefs, and personal experiences, We the Who? seeks to inform the public and to encourage them to ask questions, express opinions, and hold elected leaders accountable. It communicates the necessity to be informed in order to make quality decisions about our lives.

Waiting for the workers is based on the extensive research and interviews conducted by Peter Thwaites over 40 years ago when he was writing his thesis. He was given special access to the Party's papers and introduced to former Party members. Dr Thwaites' book describes in detail how World War II affected the Party's activities and the subsequent impact of the war on the Party itself. In 1932 the Independent Labour Party split from the Labour Party but was badly damaged as a result and by 1938 it was considering rejoining. But the outbreak of the Second World War, which the ILP believed was solely a struggle between rival capitalist powers, made that impossible. As a result the ILP became the only political party with parliamentary representation that consistently opposed Great Britain's participation in the war; and it fought by-election and propaganda campaigns putting forward its revolutionary socialist proposals for ending the war and winning the peace. Post-war defections to the Labour Party, however, removed its parliamentary and local government representation and decimated its membership so that by 1950 it had become a spent force. This book examines this largely forgotten aspect of the history of the war years and details the ILP's political beliefs and policies, and describes both its opposition to the war and the internal disagreements over its relationship to the Labour Party which eventually tore it apart.

An American woman's view of the Chinese war against the Japanese invasion, from her travels with the Red Army, originally published in the 1930s. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork. Contents Include From Yenan to Sian From Sian to the Front With the Roving Headquarters of Chu Teh Battles and Raids with the Forces of Lin Piao Travelling with the Headquarters Staff of the Eighth Route Army Sights, News, Interview and Bombardment A Breathing Spell and a Journey The New Year Begins

The new edition of this classic text provides a comprehensive introduction to the concept of legitimacy as applied to political systems. Now addressing the issue of legitimacy beyond the state, the book also includes a new introduction and two major additional chapters which update the argument in the light of developments and debates.