This work provides an introduction to the major issues that face Ukraine today and explains how they were shaped. Contrasting the generally bleak picture that international media reports present, it suggests that Ukraine has actually accomplished a great deal in a short time. In seven years, from 1991 to 1998, Ukraine went from being a little-known nation within a non-democratic state to an internationally recognized independent country. It established a political identity for itself separate from Russia and made steps towards creating a democratic political system including adopting a new Constitution. All this was done without the shedding of blood. The book looks at these and other issues. The first chapter provides a broad historical background and explains why history is important in the region today. Chapter 2 describes Ukraine's starting point in 1991. It explains the legacies left behind by the Soviet Union: what Ukraine had and what it lacked when it declared independence. The remaining chapters provide an overview of the main political, economic, social, cultural and foreign policy issues in Ukraine. A separate chapter is devoted to Ukrainian-Russian relations.

Flash and Crash Days deals with the theatre produced in Brazil during the 1980s and 1990s, especially its postmodernist directors, women playwrights and theatre companies. It attempts to answer the following questions: Did the thriving stage of the 1950s and 1960s wither during the reign of terror in the early 1970s, unleashed in the wake of the 1968 state of siege declared by the generals? Did the return to civilian government fail to create conditions for a new theatre? This book examines how the absence of censorship, on the one hand, and the exigencies of protest and ideological purity on the other have given rise to a variety of theatrical modes which Brazil has never experienced in the past, allowing all voices the opportunity to be heard.

A Feminist Critique of Police Stops examines the parallels between stop-and-frisk policing and sexual harassment. An expert whose writing, teaching and community outreach centers on the Constitution's limits on police power, Howard Law Professor Josephine Ross, argues that our constitutional rights are a mirage. In reality, we can't say no when police seek to question or search us. Building on feminist principles, Ross demonstrates why the Supreme Court got it wrong when it allowed police to stop, search, and sometimes strip-search people and call it consent. Using a wide range of sources - including her law students' experiences with police, news stories about Eric Garner, and Sandra Bland, social science and the work of James Baldwin - Ross sheds new light on policing. This book should be read by everyone interested in how Court-approved police stops sap everyone's constitutional rights and how this form of policing can be eliminated.

Reclaiming Participatory Governance offers empirical and theoretical perspectives on how the relationship between social movements and state institutions is emerging and developing through new modes of participatory governance. One of the most interesting political developments of the past decade has been the adoption by social movements of strategies seeking to change political institutions through participatory governance. These strategies have flourished in a variety of contexts, from anti-austerity and pro-social justice protests in Spain, to movements demanding climate transition and race equality in the UK and the USA, to constitutional reforms in Belgium and Iceland. The chief ambition and challenge of these new forms of participatory governance is to institutionalise the prefigurative politics and social justice values that inspired them in the first place, by mobilising the bureaucracy to respond to their claims for reforms and rights. The authors of this volume assess how participatory governance is being transformed and explore the impact of such changes, providing timely critical reflections on: the constraints imposed by cultural, economic and political power relations on these new empowered participatory spaces; the potential of this new "wave" of participatory democracy to reimagine the relationship between citizens and traditional institutions towards more radical democratic renewal; where and how these new democratisation efforts sit within the representative state; and how tensions between the different demands of lay citizens, organised civil society and public officials are being managed. This book will be an important resource for students and academics in political science, public administration and social policy, as well as activists, practitioners and policymakers interested in supporting innovative engagement for deeper social transformation.

In their exploration of more than one thousand years of institutional development, the chapters analyse and assess the development of political arrangements and governance, and economic institutions, from pre-Russian colonization through to the Soviet experiment, and then take a magnifying glass to developments in a post-Soviet, independent Kazakhstan. Using a broad range of sources and data across disciplines, this book is the first explicitly to survey Kazakhstan's transition as a function of its history, its people and its institutions. Breaking new ground in institutional economics, it provides readers with a comprehensive examination of the history and development of Kazakhstan, and points to where it may be heading in the 21st century.

This volume, largely the work of Spanish scholars, looks at the functioning of Spain since the introduction of democracy and more particularly since the Constitution of 1978.
Contents: The Franco Legacy in Perspective: Juan Carlos and the Emergence of Democracy Paul Preston. Collective memory and the transition to democracy: on the peculiarity of the Basque Country in Spanish context Paloma Aguilar Fernandez. Reflections on the Struggle Against Franco Elias Diaz. Decentralisation in Spain: weakly institutionalized pluralism Joseph M. Colomer. Elections, parties and democratic consolidation in Spain Jose Ramon Montero. Political Scandals in Democratic Spain Fernando Jimenez Sanchez. Power Diffusion or concentration: in search of the Policy Process Paul Heywood. Pressure Groups and the Articulation of Interests Joaquim M Molins and Alex Casademunt. Judicial Review and Political Empowerment: Abortion in Spain Belen Barreiro Perez-Pardo.

Violence and Social Injustice Against Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual People helps you look past the stereotypical picture of violence against sexual minorities--the public physical assaults on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered youth by hypermasculine male thugs--and directs you toward the many daily acts of quiet violence that go on, unhindered, in the workaday settings of our legal, social, educational, and law-enforcement institutions. You ll learn about the frightening prevelance of complacency, homophobic ignorance, and apathy that pervades our police departments, courts, high schools, and churches. Also, armed with this critical insight and statistical research, you ll be better equipped to wage a non-violent war of fairness and mutual respect against the daily, senseless violence of policy and practice that threatens to render gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people unwelcome and battered citizens in their own communities.You ll find that Violence and Social Injustice Against Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual People is ideal for aiding social workers, counselors, teachers, and criminal justice officials in removing the unseen acts of violence from the policies and practices of the public sector. These and other specific areas will give you the information and the fortitude necessary to evoke positive change in your community: legal issues relating to same-sex marriage the connection between social injustice and violence violence against sexual minority youth sexual identity and ethnic minorities practice and policy recommendationsAs this book shows, violence against sexual minorities can be subtly woven into the very fabric of some of our most long-standing, respected social institutions. For too long, the sexual minorities of color, for example, and the lesbian who suffers physical assault at the hands of a partner, have had little or no help from social workers, law enforcement, or education for fear of receiving either complete negligence or increased antagonism. But now, in Violence and Social Injustice Against Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual People, you ll find the facts and tools necessary for turning the ugliness of communal violence into social justice for people of all sexual orientations.

The Struggle for Aboriginal Rights is the first book of its kind. Not only does it tell the history of the political struggle for Aboriginal rights in all parts of Australia; it does so almost entirely through a selection of historical documents created by the Aboriginal campaigners themselves, many of which have never been published. It presents Aboriginal perspectives of their dispossession and their long and continuing fight to overcome this. In charting the story of Aboriginal political activity from its beginnings on Flinders Island in the 1830s to the fight over native title today, this book aims to help Australians better understand both the continuities and the changes in Aboriginal politics over the last 150 years: in the leadership of the Aboriginal political struggle, the objectives of these campaigners for rights for Aborigines, their aspirations, the sources of their programmes for change, their methods of protest, and the outcomes of their protest. Through the words of Aboriginal activists, across 150 years, The Struggle for Aboriginal Rights charts the relationship between political involvement and Aboriginal identity.

15 April 2016 marked 20 years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings began. The TRC was set up to give an opportunity for perpetrators of human rights transgressions to come clean about the atrocities that happened during those evil days of apartheid. Sadly, only half of the truth came to the fore. Many families still do not know what happened to their loved ones.

There are few people better placed than Mary Burton to write about the TRC, having been one of its Commissioners. Burton’s pocket book provides an informed account from the inside of the process and workings of the TRC and a measured and balanced assessment of its outcomes and significance.

Even at the time of its existence, the TRC came in for criticism from a variety of quarters: both the African National Congress and ex-President FW de Klerk took legal action to challenge or prevent the publication of the Commission’s report; however, the Commission also fulfilled a vital and important role in the transition from apartheid to democracy, and it has become a model for other countries wishing to undertake similar journeys to deal with past atrocities and come to some kind of national resolution, reconciliation or closure.

"Sustainable development" quickly became the universal goal for environmentalists in the 1990s, motivated by the 1988 Brundtland Report and the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. When the time came to bring theory into reality, sustainable development revealed far more complexity than first anticipated. To attain sustainable development in the full sense of the phrase"meeting present needs without compromising the resources needed for future societies"environmental and social concerns would need a constant presence in all major economic decisions. The Cornerstone of Development: Balancing Environmental, Social, and Economic Imperatives profiles many of the first attempts to implement sustainable development initiatives worldwide. The model: Canada's experience with "multistakeholder" decision-making. Under the guidance of Canada's National Task Force on Environment and Economy, nationwide and provincial round tables brought government officials together with corporate officers to formulate sustainable development guidelines. Authorized by the Canadian government to serve as an "Agenda 21 organization," the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) subsequently researched the feasibility of adapting the multistakeholder approach to the needs and practices of developing countries. The results are in these pages: valuable case histories from Africa, Latin America, Asia and Canada, each recounting the risks and benefits from integrating environmental, social and economic policies. When IDRC members were asked for ways to address environmental sustainability, they had few examples to follow"and little evidence that such endeavors could be fulfilled. The research and problem-solving effortsthey produced are now collected here, for the guidance of other environment/development balance programs worldwide.

1. It is a comprehensive book outlining the theories of Injustice in South Asian context. 2. It has contributions from globally well-known scholars like Sundar Sarukkai. Gopal Guru, Partha Chatterjee, Gurpreet Mahajan. 3. The book will be of interest to departments of South Asian Studies and Political Theory across UK and USA.

Analyses evolving doctrines and new and disruptive technologies (including nuclear deterrence), and how these impact the conflict dynamics between India and Pakistan. Evaluates the ways and means by which crisis and deterrence stability is achieved between India and Pakistan. Will help to predict future course of conflicts and offer a future policy framework for arms race / deterrence stability.

As President Suharto approaches the end of his sixth term in office in 1998, a fierce debate about the future of the political order in Indonesia is under way. Douglas E. Ramage argues that questions about the legitimacy of Suharto's New Order government, the crucial relationship between Islam and the state, the role of the armed forced in politics and the potential for democracy now dominate a dynamic national political debate. Based on interviews with important political figures, his book describes the key players in the current political scene and analyses relations to the national ideology, the Pancasila. It also accesses the political possibilities for the future.

This book takes stock of Belgium's exceptional and - for some foreign observers -schizophrenic position in the political world and explains its idiosyncrasy to a non-Belgian audience. Offering a broad and comprehensive analysis of Belgian politics, the guiding questions throughout each of the chapters of this book are: Is Belgium a political enigma, and why? Along which axes is Belgium "exceptional" compared to other countries? And what insights does a comparative study of Belgian politics have to offer? The book therefore provides a critical assessment of how Belgian politics "stands out" internationally, both in good and bad ways - including consociationalism, federalism, democratic innovations, Euroscepticism, government formation, gender equality, among others - and which factors can explain Belgium's exceptional position. Based on cutting-edge research findings, the book will be of wide interest to scholars and students of Belgian politics, European Politics and Comparative politics. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Michael Porter has argued that a sustainable economic base can be created in the inner city only if it has been created elsewhere: through private, for-profit, initiatives and investment based on economic self-interest and genuine competitive advantage-not through artificial inducements, charity, or government. Porter's ideas have prompted endorsement as well as criticism. More importantly, they have inspired a search for new solutions to inner city distress as well as a reassessment of current approaches. "The Inner City" defines a core debate in the United States over the future of a racially divided urban America. It is of inestimable importance to policy analysts, government officials, African American studies scholars, urban studies specialists, sociologists, and all those concerned with inner city revitalization.

Part of a series that offers mainly linguistic and anthropological research and teaching/learning material on a region of great cultural and strategic interest and importance in the post-Soviet era.

In one of the first English-language studies of Grupo Prisa, this book delivers a comprehensive and concise approach to the political, economic and social-cultural profile of one of the leading cross-media conglomerates in Europe, tracing its development from a single newspaper publisher in 1972. Prisa is now the world's leading Spanish and Portuguese-language media group in the creation and distribution of content in the fields of culture, education, and information, producing content for more than twenty countries with global brands like El Pais (newspaper), Los 40 (radio), or Santillana (education). Using a critical political economy approach, the authors track Prisa's journey to becoming a cross-media conglomerate, and examine how it mirrors the recent history of the economic and political developments in Spain. This concise and highly contemporary volume is ideal for students, scholars and researchers looking to further their understanding of a growing Spanish-language media power, or more generally interested in international communication and media industries.

The 1990s have seen intense debates about the role of regions in European integration. Changes in EU structural funding rules, the innovations of the Maastricht treaty, and the growing importance of federal and regional government within EU member states have all boosted the significance of regional tiers of government in EU politics. Taken together their effect has been to shift the balance of decision-making responsibility within the EU to a third (regional) level of government emerging in the EU policy process alongside the first (union) and second (nation-state) levels. As a result, a system of multi-level governance can increasingly be identified, in which different levels of government adopt different roles in different fields or phases of the European policy process.

The 1990s have seen intense debates about the role of regions in European integration. Changes in EU structural funding rules, the innovations of the Maastricht treaty, and the growing importance of federal and regional government within EU member states have all boosted the significance of regional tiers of government in EU politics. Taken together their effect has been to shift the balance of decision-making responsibility within the EU to a third (regional) level of government emerging in the EU policy process alongside the first (union) and second (nation-state) levels. As a result, a system of multi-level governance can increasingly be identified, in which different levels of government adopt different roles in different fields or phases of the European policy process.

Islamic cultures in the Middle East have inherited and developed a legacy of urbanism spanning millennia to the ancient civilizations of the region. In contrast to well-organized states like China in history, Muslim peoples formed loose states based on intricate social networks. As a consequence, most studies of urban history in the Middle East have focused their gaze exclusively on urban social organization, often neglecting the extension of political power to rural areas. Covering Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Iran and Brunei, this volume explores the relationship between political power and social networks in medieval and modern Middle Eastern history. The authors examine social, religious and administrative networks that governed rural and urban areas and led to state formation, providing a more inclusive view of the mechanisms of power and control in the Islamic world.

An international and interdisciplinary perspective on the adoption and governance of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in defence and military innovation by major and middle powers. Advancements in AI and ML pose pressing questions related to evolving conceptions of military power, compliance with international humanitarian law, peace promotion, strategic stability, arms control, future operational environments, and technology races. To navigate the breadth of this AI and international security agenda, the contributors to this book include experts on AI, technology governance, and defence innovation to assess military AI strategic perspectives from major and middle AI powers alike. These include views of how the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, the European Union, and Russia see AI/ML as a technology with the potential to reshape military affairs and power structures in the broader international system. This diverse set of views aims to help elucidate key similarities and differences between AI powers in the evolving strategic context. A valuable read for scholars of security studies, public policy, and STS studies with an interest in the impacts of AI and ML technologies.

1. It is a comprehensive book outlining the theories of Injustice in South Asian context. 2. It has contributions from globally well-known scholars like Sundar Sarukkai. Gopal Guru, Partha Chatterjee, Gurpreet Mahajan. 3. The book will be of interest to departments of South Asian Studies and Political Theory across UK and USA.

Ten years after the land invasions of 2000, this book provides the first full account of the consequences of these dramatic events. This land reform overturned a century-old pattern of land use, one dominated by a small group of large-scale commercial farmers, many of whom were white. But what replaced it? This book challenges five myths through the examination of the field data from Masvingo province: Myth 1 Zimbabwean land reform has been a total failure Myth 2 The beneficiaries of Zimbabwean land reform have been largely political 'cronies' Myth 3 There is no investment in the new resettlements Myth 4 Agriculture is in complete ruins creating chronic food insecurity Myth 5 The rural economy has collapsed By challenging these myths, and suggesting alternative policy narratives, this book presents the story as it has been observed on the ground: warts and all. What comes through very strongly is the complexity, the differences, almost farm by farm: there is no single, simple story of the Zimbabwe land reform as sometimes assumed by press reports, political commentators, or indeed much academic study. Ian Scoones, Professorial Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, with co-authors Nelson Marongwe, Blasio Mavedzenge, Jacob Mahenehene, Felix Murimbarimba and Chrispen Sukume. Zimbabwe: Weaver Press Southern Africa: Jacana

This book focuses on what is arguably the most devastating phenomenon in the history of modern civilization, the COVID-19 pandemic. It shows how, on the one hand, the pandemic has exposed governments the world over to deal with a major health crisis; and, on the other, efforts by the ruling forces to enforce surveillance on people and disciplining them by maneuvering cutting-edge digital technology in the name of security and safety. Second, it explores how the mainstream versions of crisis communication and risk communication face huge challenges during a pandemic. Finally, it analyses how the pandemic propels an extraordinary expansion of infodemic - rapid spread of excessive quantities of misinformation and disinformation of the fake and false variety - and how social media in particular becomes its main tool in causing subversion of the prevalent information order. Engaging, comprehensive and accessible, this book will be of immense importance to scholars and researchers of politics, especially governance and political communication, communication studies, and public health management. It will be vital for public policy professionals, experts in thinktanks, career bureaucrats, and non-governmental organizations.