The potential conflict among economic and ecological goals has formed the central fault line of environmental politics in the United States and most other countries since the 1970s. The accepted view is that efforts to protect the environment will detract from economic growth, jobs, and global competitiveness. Conversely, much advocacy on behalf of the environment focuses on the need to control growth and avoid its more damaging effects. This offers a stark choice between prosperity and growth, on the one hand, and ecological degradation on the other. Stopping or reversing growth in most countries is unrealistic, economically risky, politically difficult, and is likely to harm the very groups that should be protected. At the same time, a strategy of unguided "growth above all" would cause ecological catastrophe. Over the last decade, the concept of green growth - the idea that the right mix of policies, investments, and technologies will lead to beneficial growth within ecological limits - has become central to global and national debates and policy due to the financial crisis and climate change. As Daniel J. Fiorino argues, in order for green growth to occur, ecological goals must be incorporated into the structure of the economic and political systems. In this book, he looks at green growth, a vast topic that has heretofore not been systematically covered in the literature on environmental policy and politics. Fiorino looks at its role in global, national, and local policy making; its relationship to sustainable development; controversies surrounding it (both from the left and right); its potential role in ameliorating inequality; and the policy strategies that are linked with it. The book also examines the political feasibility of green growth as a policy framework. While he focuses on the United States, Fiorino will draw comparisons to green growth policy in other countries, including Germany, China, and Brazil.

Structured around key elements at the regional, political, institutional, and personal levels of analysis, this is a complete and forward-leaning view of Hamas that provides a deep and detailed examination of the history, ideology, political prospects, and regional opportunities of an often poorly understood organization that is redefining 21st-century terrorism. The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has long been an influential player in the tumultuous Middle East, but as the region's instability grows, so does the importance and potential influence of this organization. The fact that the Hamas of today defies most of the traditional categorizations of both terrorist organizations and political parties makes the group an ideal study on how states in the Middle East are likely to continue to change. This book offers a clear picture of how Hamas fits into a dramatically evolving region, enabling readers to see how Hamas itself has evolved ideologically, militarily, and politically as well as how it will continue to shape and be shaped by the broader Middle East region. Author Jennifer Jefferis, PhD, provides the first comprehensive consideration of Hamas in the context of the post-Arab Spring climate, the rise of ISIS, and the consequential emerging politics of the region, presenting information that is highly detailed yet written to be accessible to all audiences whether or not they have previous knowledge of the organization. The book provides coverage of Hamas's current relationship with Israel and its impact on the Palestinian territories while focusing on the significance of the organization's role in the broader region-particularly critical in light of the recent political uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Syria. Provides a detailed and contemporary look at an influential organization that has enormous potential to shape the role that radicalized Islam will play in the Middle East over the next decade Enables a deeper understanding of how Hamas is poised-in light of its ideological, political, and military objectives-to influence the development of the Middle East region in the coming years Offers insightful new analysis about Hamas' approach to violence and political engagement that identifies what their methodologies can tell us about violent non-state actors, political engagement, and regional alliances of the future, and predicts whether policymakers' and strategists' future efforts to engage (or not engage) with radical political parties will likely be effective

This title presents the conservative and liberal arguments related to the current economic issues faced by the Obama administration, including market regulation and green economy. At a time of tea parties and rallies to restore sanity, the political debate in America has become nothing more than a shouting match of various soundbites. This book offers a refreshing change by introducing both conservative arguments and liberal responses in a dispassionate and clear manner. Focusing on the issues that ail the economy under the Obama administration and their possible remedies, the book offers substantiated facts and rational arguments on each side, to promote true debate. Chapters on Obama's response to the financial crisis, regulated market, green economy, need for reform and more offer a true assessment of the problems at hand and propose a progressive alternative to each of the key issues, from foreclosures to entitlement reform. In addition, two appendices provide additional, in-depth information on the roots of the crisis and an economics primer accessible to the lay person. An engaging read, "Making the Progressive Case" will appeal to anyone interested in America's politics and economic future, and will help us move beyond the partisan quagmire to bring forth political change.

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.

Multiculturalism and the Nation in Germany: A Study in Moral Conflict examines the new debates surrounding matters of multiculturalism, immigration, and national identity in Germany in the wake of the 2015 Refugee Crisis. Arguing that contemporary disputes are centered around four moral ideals, or ideal visions of the German community, it draws upon the thought of Emile Durkheim to identify the role of the sacred in political conflict. The book argues that at the heart of each moral ideal is a sacred object that legitimates specific policies and behaviors, and that attempts to realize moral ideals lead to conflicts involving free speech, German Memory Culture, inner-party rivalries, and political violence that go to the very essence of what it means to be German. The book includes a ground-breaking theoretical reworking of Durkheim's sociology, which it applies to the study of power and politics, as well as to debates in political philosophy. This volume will appeal to scholars across disciplines with interests in political sociology, comparative politics, social and political theory, and questions of citizenship, national identity, and belonging.

What role does the concept of political knowledge have in democratic theory? What according to democratic theorists should the ordinary citizen know about politics? What do empirical studies about political knowledge teach us? And why should we care what people know about politics in the first place?
By asking these important questions, this book offers the reader a quick yet comprehensive overview of the steps that have been taken toward understanding the concept of citizen knowledge in democratic theory over the past several decades. The book summarizes and explains the essentials of a vast body of literature while the empirical studies offer data on a number of Western democracies. Furthermore, the reader is taken through the theoretical foundations of political knowledge from Ancient Greece to modern representative democracy. Clear and concise, the book offers a cutting edge insight into our current understanding of citizen knowledge in democratic theory.

Does political inclusion produce ideological moderation? Schwedler argues that examining political behaviour alone provides insufficient evidence of moderation because it leaves open the possibility that political actors might act as if they are moderate while harbouring radical agendas. Through a comparative study of the Islamic Action Front party in Jordan and the Islah party in Yemen, she argues that the IAF in Jordan has become more moderate through participation in pluralist political processes, while the Islah party has not. The variation is explained in part by internal group organization and decision-making processes, but particularly by the ways in which the IAF has been able to justify its new pluralist practices on Islamic terms while the Islah party has not. Based on nearly four years of field research in Jordan and Yemen, Schwedler contributes both an important theory of ideological moderation and detail about these powerful Islamist political parties.

This book examines and explains the Center-Left's political decline since 2008, whilst analyzing the factors that account for its sagging electoral and popular support, losing voters both to the Far-Left, the Far-Right, and abstentions. Focusing on the era since the 2008 financial crisis in particular, while also charting the historical genealogy that led to the current impasse, the book examines how, when and why the collapse of Europe's Center-Left occurred. Moving beyond existing and slightly dated accounts, the contributors explore why Social Democrats lack compelling answers to pressing current policy challenges. Faced with a decline in its core clientele, namely blue-collar workers, the Center-Left is being outflanked and risks permanently jeopardizing its erstwhile status as representing a catch-all party. Exploring one of the more pressing and timely political puzzles of the contemporary political scene in Europe, the book identifies six factors that have driven the decline of the Left and examines them systematically across eight countries: France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, and Denmark. This book will be of particular interest to both scholars and students of social democracy, political parties, and the politics of the Left and more broadly to those interested in European and comparative politics, governance, and contemporary history.

This book examines and explains the Center-Left's political decline since 2008, whilst analyzing the factors that account for its sagging electoral and popular support, losing voters both to the Far-Left, the Far-Right, and abstentions. Focusing on the era since the 2008 financial crisis in particular, while also charting the historical genealogy that led to the current impasse, the book examines how, when and why the collapse of Europe's Center-Left occurred. Moving beyond existing and slightly dated accounts, the contributors explore why Social Democrats lack compelling answers to pressing current policy challenges. Faced with a decline in its core clientele, namely blue-collar workers, the Center-Left is being outflanked and risks permanently jeopardizing its erstwhile status as representing a catch-all party. Exploring one of the more pressing and timely political puzzles of the contemporary political scene in Europe, the book identifies six factors that have driven the decline of the Left and examines them systematically across eight countries: France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, and Denmark. This book will be of particular interest to both scholars and students of social democracy, political parties, and the politics of the Left and more broadly to those interested in European and comparative politics, governance, and contemporary history.

While electronic research has developed in many governments around the world, the majority of its research has focused on the supply and demand aspects of e-government instead of the focus on technology integration for successful e-government design. Technology Development and Platform Enhancements for Successful Global E-Government Design compiles the shared experiences of e-government designers and practitioners with a focus on technological design. By highlighting the different technological nuances that need to be incorporated into successful e-government designs, this book is a useful tool for professionals and researchers concerned with the organisational development in different types of e-government communities and environments.

As the world grapples with issues of religious fanaticism, extremist politics, and rampant violence that seek justification in either "religious" or "secular" discourses, women who claim Islam as a vehicle for individual and social change are often either regarded as pious subjects who subscribe to an ideology that denies them many modern freedoms, or as feminist subjects who seek empowerment only through rejecting religion and adopting secularist discourses. Such assumptions emerge from a common trend in the literature to categorize the 'secular' and the 'religious' as polarizing categories, which in turn mitigates the identities, experiences and actions of women in Islamic societies. Yet in actuality Muslim women whose activism is grounded in Islam draw equally on principles associated with secularism.

In "An Islam of Her Own," Sherine Hafez focuses on women's Islamic activism in Egypt to challenge these binary representations of religious versus secular subjectivities. Drawing on six non-consecutive years of ethnographic fieldwork within a women's Islamic movement in Cairo, Hafez analyzes the ways in which women who participate in Islamic activism narrate their selfhood, articulate their desires, and embody discourses in which the boundaries are blurred between the religious and the secular.

The Political Mel Brooks analyzes both Mel Brooks's more popular films and his lesser known work to explore how his use of parody and satire, his keen sense of the history of Jewish comedic conventions, and his deep awareness of social issues encompasses a political project that, while often implicit, nonetheless speaks to the enduring political and social impact of his films. Brooks's work often employs a nuanced political style that acts as a social commentary against those in power and in favor of oppressed and misunderstood persons. This volume emphasizes Brooks's political legacy and his masterful use of parody and satire to craft sophisticated political critiques of dominant culture. Contributors illustrate in a practical and accessible way how to explore how comedic films and television series can employ parody and satire not just to mock generic conventions, but also dominant political ideologies. Scholars of media, film, pop culture, political science, and communication studies will find this volume especially useful.

The introduction of state planning and party dictatorship dramatically altered the environment for social theory in the German Democratic Republic. But social thought did not disappear. By the mid-1950s, East German social theorists discovered the basic contradictions of state socialism that would eventually lead to its collapse: the inability of the plan to function without markets and its inability to permit markets; the inability of the party-state to guarantee the rule of law and yet also the need for a regular system of rules in a modern industrial society; and the contradictory philosophical claims of a Marxist-Leninist philosophy that rejected idealism, and Marxist-Leninist dogma with its idealistic claim to know the laws of social modernization. Making use of newly-available archival sources, Caldwell examines the articulation of these analyses, their subsequent suppression by party authorities in the late 1950s, and their return under the guise of cybernetics in the 1960s.

Does political inclusion produce ideological moderation? Schwedler argues that examining political behaviour alone provides insufficient evidence of moderation because it leaves open the possibility that political actors might act as if they are moderate while harbouring radical agendas. Through a comparative study of the Islamic Action Front party in Jordan and the Islah party in Yemen, she argues that the IAF in Jordan has become more moderate through participation in pluralist political processes, while the Islah party has not. The variation is explained in part by internal group organization and decision-making processes, but particularly by the ways in which the IAF has been able to justify its new pluralist practices on Islamic terms while the Islah party has not. Based on nearly four years of field research in Jordan and Yemen, Schwedler contributes both an important theory of ideological moderation and detail about these powerful Islamist political parties.

As the Cold War faded into history, it appeared to have been replaced by a new conflict - between Islam and the West. Or so we are told. After the events of 9/11 and the advent of the 'war on terror', this narrative seemed prophetic. But, as Peter Oborne reveals in this masterful new analysis, the concept of an existential clash between the two is a dangerous and destructive fantasy. Based on rigorous historical research and forensic contemporary journalism that leads him frequently into war-torn states and bloody conflict zones, Oborne explains the myths, fabrications and downright lies that have contributed to this pernicious state of affairs. He shows how various falsehoods run deep, reaching back as far as the birth of Islam, and have then been repurposed for the modern day. Many in senior positions in governments across the West have suggested that Islam is trying to overturn our liberal values and even that certain Muslims are conspiring to take over the state, while Douglas Murray claims in his new book that we face a 'War on the West'. But in reality, these fears merely echo past debates, as we continue to repeat the pattern of seemingly wilful ignorance. With murderous attacks on Muslims taking place from Bosnia in 1995 to China today, Oborne dismantles the falsehoods that lie behind them, and he opens the way to a clearer and more truthful mutual understanding that will benefit us all in the long run.

Translating the Crisis discusses the multiple translation practices that shaped the 15M movement, also known as the indignados ('outraged'), a series of mass demonstrations and occupations of squares that took place across Spain in 2011 and which played a central role in the recent global wave of popular protest. Through a study of the movement's cultural and intellectual impact, as well as some of its main political evolutions (namely Podemos and Barcelona en Comu), Fernandez shows how translation has contributed to the dissemination of ideas and the expansion of political debates, produced new intellectual and political figures, and provided support to political projects. Drawing on fieldwork, interviews, and a large repertoire of sources in various languages, this monograph provides an in-depth study of the role of translation in the renewal of activist language, the development of political platforms, and the creation of new social references, while also presenting a critical perspective on its limitations and shortcomings. Combining first-hand experience of the Spanish reality with a keen transnational awareness, Fernandez offers a nuanced, present-day perspective on the political events taking place in Spain and connects them with wider transformations across the world. This book is invaluable for scholars and researchers in Translation Studies, Spanish Studies, Social Movement Studies, and Politics.

This book aims to capture the complicated development of Korea from monoethnic to multicultural society, challenging the narrative of "ethnonational continuity" in Korea through a discursive institutional approach. At a time when immigration is changing the face of South Korea and an increasingly diverse society becomes empirical fact, this doesn't necessarily mean that multiculturalism has been embraced as a normative, policy-based response to that fact. The approach here diverges from existing academic analyses, which tend to conclude that core institutions defining Korea's immigration and nationality regimes-nd which, crucially, also reflect a basic and hitherto unyielding commitment to racial and ethnic homogeneity-ill remain largely unaffected by increasing diversity. Here, this title underscores the critical importance of "discursive agency" as a necessary corrective to still dominant power and interestbased arguments. In addition, "discursive agents" are found to play a central role in communicating, promoting, and helping to instill the ideas that create a basis for change on the road to remaking Korean society. The Road to Multiculturalism in South Korea will be of interest to students and scholars of Asian studies, immigration and migration studies, race and ethnic studies, as well as comparative politics broadly.

The democratic ideal demands that the citizenry think critically about matters of public import. Yet many Democrats and Republicans in the United States have fallen short of that standard because political tribalism motivates them to acquire, perceive and evaluate political information in a biased manner. The result is an electorate that is more extreme, hostile and willing to reject unfavorable democratic outcomes. In this work, the author provides a host of actionable strategies that are designed to reduce the influence of political tribalism in our lives. The text includes instructions for plumbing the depths of political views; evaluating sources of political information; engaging in difficult political conversations; appraising political data; and assessing political arguments. The first of its kind, this how-to guide is a must-read for partisans who want to become more critical political thinkers.

With 30 years having passed since Central Asia and the South Caucasus emerged on the international stage, a new approach to understanding its contemporary dynamics is required. This volume argues for a multidimensional analysis of international, regional, and domestic cooperation and conflicts in the region. The authors analyze foreign policies of great powers such as Russia, China, U.S., EU, Japan, and Iran toward this part of the world. The work looks at regional issues and regionalism, including the Eurasian Union and the Belt and Road Initiative. A series of chapters study domestic processes ranging from clan politics, identity construction, the media, to non-state actors. The publication applies theoretical pluralism and utilizes realism, liberalism, constructivism, and FPA.

"Iuliu-Marius Morariu succeeds in opening the door of our curious gaze on memorialism, letting us get acquainted with the ideas promoted by Virgil Gheorghiu - an interwar diplomat, journalist, poet, novelist and Romanian Orthodox priest, who had to choose the path of exile (moving to France) once with the establishment of the Communist Regime in Romania." (Iulia Medveschi, in Astra Salvensis, X (2022), no. 19). Virgil Gheorghiu, an important but controversial figure in Romanian exile literature, remains one of his country's best-known writers today. Based on his works and their reception, but also on the existing secondary literature, this study examines his reflection on three important ideologies, namely communism, national socialism and capitalism, in order to highlight the specificities of Virgil Gheorghiu's thought and to see what aspects of topicality and contemporary relevance can be found in it.

Social Progress and the Authoritarian Challenge to Democracy examines the authoritarian challenge to present-day democracy through a framing of social progress theory and the idea of the social contract. Building on the author's previous work, this book discusses whether social progress is linear and on a continual upward trajectory to human betterment, or if there are peaks and troughs along the way. More importantly, it questions that, if social progress exists, is it compatible with social and environmental sustainability? At the outset the book introduces the concepts of social contract theory and the idea of human social progress, long considered to be settled conditions, now ripe for further examination. Each chapter carefully analyses the contemporary struggle between democracy and authoritarianism, using examples from the USA as a foundation to discuss and compare democracies from around the world encountering the pressures of rising authoritarianism, including anti-immigration, xenophobia and anti-institutionalism. It argues that if the climate crisis is to be urgently addressed as required, the rise in authoritarian thinking, with its focus on maintaining power and the creation of individual wealth, presents a challenge to both our societal foundations and environmental sustainability. Highlighting and analysing topics of critical importance to today's society, this book will have widespread appeal to academics, researchers and postgraduate students throughout the social sciences including sociology, political science, philosophy, environmental sustainability and development studies.

This provocative book interrogates the ideology of capitalism as the "default" narrative underpinning various mainstream ideologies in the contemporary world. The book explores the genesis, structure and functioning of this ideological narrative, provides its critical assessment and outlines a possible alternative, beyond the logic of capitalism and toward a truly free and democratic society. The book takes a broad view of the major global challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and persuasively argue that, in order to resolve any of the major global problems, from the ongoing ecological crisis to economic and geopolitical issues, we need to confront the capitalist system. To unpack the logic of contemporary capitalist ideology, and the way it structures our inter-personal and political relations, the book gives an analysis of the "end of ideology" narrative and offers a critical assessment of the ideas behind the widely used but fundamentally flawed concept of "Liberal democracy." The book revisits metaphysical foundations behind the ideology of capitalism, exposing their secular-religious dimension, and their immanent oppressiveness. Based on this deconstruction of the metaphysical foundations implicit in (Neo)Liberalism and capitalism, the book offers a way in which alternative metaphysical foundations can be constructed to allow for different socio-political and economic models that would be based on a radical affirmation of freedom and democracy, as well as human responsibility for the natural environment. Beyond Capitalist Dystopia: Reclaiming Freedom and Democracy in the Age of Global Crises will be of great interest to anyone searching for alternatives to the pervasive ideology of capitalism as well as students and researchers active in various fields in the humanities and social sciences.