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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > International relations > Geopolitics

A Pipeline Runs Through It - The Story of Oil from Ancient Times to the First World War (Paperback): Keith Fisher A Pipeline Runs Through It - The Story of Oil from Ancient Times to the First World War (Paperback)
Keith Fisher
R574 R479 Discovery Miles 4 790 Save R95 (17%) Ships in 9 - 15 working days

'Fascinating revelations' Max Hastings, Sunday Times 'An immensely valuable guide to a great and terrible industry' The Economist 'The book I have long been waiting for... Essential reading' Michael Klare Petroleum has always been used by humans: as an adhesive by Neanderthals, as a waterproofing agent in Noah's Ark and as a weapon during the Crusades. Its eventual extraction from the earth in vast quantities transformed light, heat and power. A Pipeline Runs Through It is a fresh, in-depth look at the social, economic, and geopolitical forces involved in our transition to the modern oil age. It tells an extraordinary origin story, from the pre-industrial history of petroleum through to large-scale production in the mid-nineteenth century and the development of a dominant, fully-fledged oil industry by the early twentieth century. This was always a story of imperialist violence, economic exploitation and environmental destruction. The near total eradication of the Native Americans of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio has barely been mentioned as a precondition for the emergence of the first oil region in the United States. The growth of Royal Dutch-Shell involved the genocidal subjugation of people of the Dutch East Indies and the exploitation of oil in the Middle East arose seamlessly out of Britain's prior political and military interventions in the region. Finally, in an entirely new analysis, the book shows how the British navy's increasingly desperate dependence on vulnerable foreign sources of oil may have been a catalytic ingredient in the outbreak of the First World War. The rise of oil has shaped the modern world, and this is the book to understand it.

Blood Money - Why The Powerful Turn A Blind Eye While China Kills Americans (Hardcover): Peter Schweizer Blood Money - Why The Powerful Turn A Blind Eye While China Kills Americans (Hardcover)
Peter Schweizer
R710 R580 Discovery Miles 5 800 Save R130 (18%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

It’s often said that China is in a cold war with America. The reality is far worse: the war is hot, and the body count is one-sided.

China is killing Americans and working aggressively to maximize the carnage while our leaders remain passive and, in some cases, compliant. Why?

If anyone could crack the code, it’s the renowned nonpartisan investigator Peter Schweizer. Schweizer’s previous three number one New York Times bestsellers sent shock waves through official Washington, sparking FBI investigations and congressional probes that continue to this day.

For Blood Money, Schweizer and his team of forensic investigators spent more than two years scouring a trove of restricted Chinese military documents, data-mining a mountain of American financial records, and tracking US political leaders’ investments and family businesses. Schweizer unloads bombshell after bombshell, exposing the Chinese Communist Party’s covert operations in the American drug trade, social justice movement, and medical establishment to sow chaos and decadence in the United States.

A towering achievement of investigative journalism, Blood Money is one of those rare books that makes you clearly see the world anew.

Impossible Victory - How Iraq Defeated ISIS (Hardcover): Haider al-Abadi Impossible Victory - How Iraq Defeated ISIS (Hardcover)
Haider al-Abadi
R749 R624 Discovery Miles 6 240 Save R125 (17%) Ships in 9 - 15 working days

By 2014, the world had grown weary of Iraq and its troubles. The Americans had all but gone and the media had turned its gaze towards Syria, but Iraq's problems were far from over. That same year, ISIS put Iraq back on the map as they crossed the border from Syria and rampaged through the country, kidnapping, raping and killing, all in the name of enforcing their murderous interpretation of Sharia law. Terror had arrived and was taking the region in its grip. Saddam Hussein, the occupation, sectarian war, corruption and political instability had collectively laid the groundwork for further violence, and Iraqis were about to see the worst of it. It was against this backdrop that Haider al-Abadi became Prime Minister. What would likely be the most formidable task of his life lay ahead of him: to help unify his homeland's fractured military and politics and, slowly, to turn the tide on ISIS, ultimately achieving what once seemed an impossible victory. This is the definitive and fascinating true story of how the people of Iraq took on and eventually defeated ISIS, told by the country's former Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi.

Southeast Asia’s Multipolar Future - Averting a New Cold War (Hardcover): Thomas Parks Southeast Asia’s Multipolar Future - Averting a New Cold War (Hardcover)
Thomas Parks
R2,952 Discovery Miles 29 520 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Southeast Asia is rapidly becoming a competitive space for geopolitical rivalries. The growth in China-U.S. strategic competition is creating deep anxiety among Southeast Asia leaders, China's rising power is felt across every corner of Southeast Asia, and many leaders are worried about the long-term implications of rising Chinese influence in the region. The United States' increasingly assertive approach towards China is welcomed by some governments, but the growth in tensions is creating deep anxiety about a possible new Cold War. How can the region prevent a repeat of the divisions and bitter rivalries of the previous Cold War? This book argues that Southeast Asia is emerging as an open, autonomous region, where small and middle powers can maintain their sovereignty and shape the regional order. Despite new superpower pressures, the region is moving towards a multi-polar order, with greater agency for Southeast Asian countries. The key to Southeast Asia's future may be other external powers – particularly Japan, Australia, India, and Europe – who can provide ASEAN governments with more diverse partnerships, enabling them to avoid the bipolar blocs of superpower rivalries. The book argues that external partners are helping to shape the geopolitical order by supporting ASEAN leadership and diluting the influence of great powers. Southeast Asian countries also have remarkable capacity to manage asymmetrical relations and balance external powers. The book describes the region’s history of managing great power relations, drawing on historical and contemporary cases. By examining the dynamics between Southeast Asia and external powers, the book predicts that the region’s future will look entirely different from its Cold War past.

China vs America 2021 (Hardcover): Oliver Letwin China vs America 2021 (Hardcover)
Oliver Letwin
R485 Discovery Miles 4 850 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

China's rise as a global superpower has completely reshaped the landscape of international politics. As the country's authoritarian regime becomes increasingly assertive on the world stage, the United States grows ever more hostile to its Asian rival. Repressive moves by China in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, military activities in the South China Sea and Western measures against Chinese companies have only exacerbated tensions. While the great powers of East and West battle over hegemony, the world is being led inexorably towards a new Cold War. During his time as a Cabinet minister attending National Security Council meetings, Oliver Letwin realised that there was no agreement among Western politicians and academics on how to conduct a peaceful long-term relationship with China. China vs America traces the contours of history, both ancient and modern, to explain how China has emerged as a challenger to American power in the twenty-first century and why this has created such uneasiness in the West. In this robust and controversial assessment, Letwin argues that the international rules-based order is completely ill equipped to foster a positive relationship between China and the United States and that the global community must act now to correct the collision course these two behemoths are currently on before it's too late.

The Uses and Abuses of Weaponized Interdependence (Paperback): Daniel W. Drezner, Henry Farrell, Abraham L. Newman The Uses and Abuses of Weaponized Interdependence (Paperback)
Daniel W. Drezner, Henry Farrell, Abraham L. Newman
R1,025 Discovery Miles 10 250 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

How globalized information networks can be used for strategic advantage.Until recently, globalization was viewed, on balance, as an inherently good thing that would benefit people and societies nearly everywhere. Now there is growing concern that some countries will use their position in globalized networks to gain undue influence over other societies through their dominance of information and financial networks, a concept known as 'weaponized interdependence'. In exploring the conditions under which China, Russia, and the United States might be expected to weaponize control of information and manipulate the global economy, the contributors to this volume challenge scholars and practitioners to think differently about foreign economic policy, national security, and statecraft for the twenty-first century. The book addresses such questions as: What areas of the global economy are most vulnerable to unilateral control of information and financial networks? How sustainable is the use of weaponized interdependence? What are the possible responses from targeted actors? And how sustainable is the open global economy if weaponized interdependence becomes a default tool for managing international relations?

The Lion And The Dragon - Britain And China: A History Of Conflict (Paperback): Lawrence James The Lion And The Dragon - Britain And China: A History Of Conflict (Paperback)
Lawrence James
R415 R340 Discovery Miles 3 400 Save R75 (18%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

Britain and China share a rich, complex history. From the dramatic events of the First Opium War to the modern-day implications of the handover of Hong Kong, The Lion and the Dragon delves into the turbulent relationship between these two global powers.

Charting the rise and fall of the British empire alongside the growth of China's powers, acclaimed historian Lawrence James unravels the intricate threads of British colonialism, China's struggle for sovereignty, and the impact of global events on their complex interplay. He follows the parallel trajectories of four competitive empires - the British, the Chinese, the Russian and the Japanese - during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and then the fortunes of a fifth imperial power, the United States. In doing so, he paints a vivid picture of the interactions, alliances and conflicts between the two nations over almost two centuries, from imperial ambitions and cultural clashes to economic interests and political manoeuvrings.

Deeply researched and compellingly told, The Lion and the Dragon is an exploration of the tumultuous history between two powerful nations, providing crucial insights into a relationship that continues to shape the world today.

Thanks for Your Service - The Causes and Consequences of Public Confidence in the US Military (Paperback): Peter D. Feaver Thanks for Your Service - The Causes and Consequences of Public Confidence in the US Military (Paperback)
Peter D. Feaver
R678 R636 Discovery Miles 6 360 Save R42 (6%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

A definitive study on the decades-long run of high public confidence in the military and why it may rest on some shaky foundations. What explains the high levels of public confidence in the US military and does high confidence matter? In Thanks for Your Service, the eminent civil-military relations scholar Peter D. Feaver addresses this question and focuses on what it means for the military. Proprietary survey data show that confidence is partly based on public beliefs about the military's high competence, adherence to high professional ethics, and a determination to stand apart from the bitter divisions of partisan politics. However, as Feaver argues, confidence is also shaped by a partisan gap and by social desirability bias, the idea that some individuals express confidence in the military because they believe that is the socially approved attitude to hold. Not only does Feaver help us understand how and why the public has confidence in the military, but he also exposes problems that policymakers need to be aware of. Specifically, this book traces how confidence in the institution shapes public attitudes on the use of force and may not always reinforce best practices in democratic civil-military relations.

Dark Shadows - Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan (Paperback, 2nd edition): Joanna Lillis Dark Shadows - Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan (Paperback, 2nd edition)
Joanna Lillis
R369 Discovery Miles 3 690 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Dark Shadows is a compelling portrait of Kazakhstan, a country that is little known in the West. Strategically located in the heart of Central Asia, sandwiched between Vladimir Putin’s Russia, its former colonial ruler, and Xi Jinping’s China, this vast oil-rich state is carving out its place in the world as it contends with its own complex past and present. Journalist Joanna Lillis paints a vibrant picture of this emerging nation through vivid reportage based on 17 years of on-the-ground coverage, and travels across the length and breadth of this enigmatic country that lies along the ancient Silk Road and at the geopolitical and cultural crossroads where East meets West. Featuring tales of murder and abduction, intrigue and betrayal, extortion and corruption, this book explores how a president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, transformed himself into a potentate and the economically-struggling state he inherited at the fall of the USSR into a swaggering 21st-century monocracy. A colourful cast of characters brings the politics to life: from strutting oligarchs to sleeping villagers, from principled politicians to striking oilmen, from crusading journalists to courageous campaigners. This new edition features two additional chapters covering the aftermath of Nazarbayev's fall from power in 2019; the Chinese government's repressions against the Kazakhs of Xinjiang as part of its crackdown on Muslim minorities; and an Afterword reflecting on the tumultuous events of January 2022 in Almaty. Traversing dust-blown deserts and majestic mountains, taking in glitzy cities and dystopian landscapes, Dark Shadows conjures up Kazakhstan as a living, breathing place, full of extraordinary people living extraordinary lives.

The Russia Conundrum - One man’s fight to save his country’s soul (Paperback): Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Martin Sixsmith The Russia Conundrum - One man’s fight to save his country’s soul (Paperback)
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Martin Sixsmith
R295 R231 Discovery Miles 2 310 Save R64 (22%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

'I'm a fairly calm fellow; I don't usually get het up about things. But I was, let's say, concerned when I tuned into the Moscow Echo radio station and heard that the Kremlin had put a price on my head. The announcement didn't quite say 'dead or alive'. But it came close...' Mikhail Khodorkovsky, March 2021 Mikhail Khodorkovsky has seen behind the mask of Vladimir Putin. Once an oil tycoon and the richest man in Russia, Khodorkovsky spoke out against the corruption of Putin's regime - and was punished by the Kremlin, stripped of his entire wealth and jailed for over ten years. Now freed, working as a pro-democracy campaigner in enforced exile, Khodorkovsky brings us the insider's battle to save his country's soul. Offering an urgent analysis of what has gone wrong with Putin, The Russia Conundrum maps the country's rise and fall against Khodorkovsky's own journey, from Soviet youth to international oil executive, powerful insider to political dissident, and now a high-profile voice seeking to reconcile East and West. With unparalleled insight, written with Sunday Times bestselling author Martin Sixsmith, The Russia Conundrum exposes the desires and damning truths of Putin's Russia, and provides an answer to the West on how it must challenge the Kremlin - in order to pave the way for a better future.

India's China Challenge - A Journey through China's Rise and What It Means for India (Hardcover): Ananth Krishnan India's China Challenge - A Journey through China's Rise and What It Means for India (Hardcover)
Ananth Krishnan
R666 Discovery Miles 6 660 Ships in 12 - 17 working days
Great Power Politics in the Fourth Industrial Revolution - The Geoeconomics of Technological Sovereignty (Hardcover): Glenn... Great Power Politics in the Fourth Industrial Revolution - The Geoeconomics of Technological Sovereignty (Hardcover)
Glenn Diesen
R3,297 Discovery Miles 32 970 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Why and how will the fourth industrial revolution impact great power politics? Here, Glenn Diesen utilizes a neoclassical, global approach to great power politics to assess how far the development of AI, national and localized technological ecosystems and cyber-warfare will affect great power politics in the next century. The reliance of modern economies on technological advances, Diesen argues, also compels states to intervene radically in economics and the lives of citizens, as automation radically alters the economies of tomorrow.

Land of Many Truths - Three Lives in Afghanistan (Paperback): Ã…sne Seierstad Land of Many Truths - Three Lives in Afghanistan (Paperback)
Åsne Seierstad; Translated by Seán Kinsella
R470 R384 Discovery Miles 3 840 Save R86 (18%) Ships in 5 - 10 working days

In her international bestseller The Bookseller of Kabul, Ã…sne Seierstad studied life in Afghanistan during the final days and after the fall of the Taliban regime. Now twenty years later, the Taliban is back in power, and Seierstad returns with a book to help us understand the present and future of Afghanistan. The fall of the western-backed government mirroring the Taliban's own swift fall two decades earlier. The West promoted ideals of democracy, gender equality and human rights. Why did these ideas not take root? How did the lives of ordinary people change across these two decades? What do the Afghan people think about their country now. Following on from The Bookseller of Kabul, Land of Many Truths tells the story of Afghanistan now. To do so, Seierstad takes us inside the live of her three main protagonists - Jamila, Bashir and Ariana - and their families, friends, foes and co-fighters. Jamila is a prominent women's rights activist; Bashi is a Taliban commander; Ariana is a law student who had one semester left when the Taliban came to power. Through their stories, we experience what has happened on the ground since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, how the first year of Taliban rule unfolded, and where this leaves Afghans such as Jamila and Bashir today, and tomorrow. 'Seierstad is masterful ... her book is world class' Aftonbladet 'Gripping ... Seierstad succeeds in transforming the demonised stereotype - a Taliban terrorist - into a living, comprehensible human being' Expressen 'Enthralling and heart-breaking' Dagens Noeringsliv

Aung San Suu Kyi - Politician, Prisoner, Parent (Hardcover): Wendy Law-Yone Aung San Suu Kyi - Politician, Prisoner, Parent (Hardcover)
Wendy Law-Yone
R227 Discovery Miles 2 270 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

POLITICIAN • PRISONER • PARENT A portrait of one of the most charismatic, but unknown, world leaders Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and crusader for democracy in Myanmar, is once again behind bars. Her resounding victory at the polls, and re-election to office as civilian head of state, were overturned by the February 2021 military coup – a move with ruinous consequences. Aung San Suu Kyi has been here before. The first half of her political career was spent under house arrest. But this time she has been disappeared into prison in Naypyidaw, following an array of charges clearly calculated to keep her out of politics and out of sight for the rest of her life. This time she is caught in a zero-sum game. Once deified by the international community for her advocacy of democracy and human rights, yet later vilified for her denial of the Burmese military’s genocidal campaign against the Rohingya, Aung San Suu Kyi’s image survives largely untarnished within Myanmar. Her supporters refer to her as ‘Amay Suu’ (Mother Suu). Heir to the political and spiritual legacy of her father, General Aung San, independence hero and martyr, she remains the lodestar of nationalist aspirations, and matriarch for a nation in distress. This book tracks Aung San Suu Kyi’s transformation from daughter of a national hero to materfamilias of Myanmar, placing her firmly within the context of the Burmese Buddhist notions of nationhood and motherhood and explaining her continuing role as the figurehead of the nation’s struggles. The result is a unique portrait of a living legend, rendered by a compatriot and contemporary, the novelist Wendy Law-Yone. POLITICIAN Decades spent spearheading the fight for democracy in Myanmar – following her father Aung San’s legacy as founder of the modern Burmese nation. PRISONER Having already spent half her political career under house arrest, in December 2022, Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to 33 years in prison. PARENT To her exiled family and a nation.

Corporate Coup - The Failed Attempt to Overthrow Venezuela Democracy (Paperback): Anya Parampil Corporate Coup - The Failed Attempt to Overthrow Venezuela Democracy (Paperback)
Anya Parampil
R507 Discovery Miles 5 070 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Corporate Coup looks at the attempted overthrow of the elected government of Venezuela, an intervention which, despite open backing by the United States, failed spectacularly. In January of 2019, the Trump Administration recognized a little-known opposition lawmaker named Juan Guaidó as President of Venezuela. While Washington’s history of coups in Latin America is well-documented, this step was unprecedented: Never before had the United States offered legal recognition to a new government before an actual change in leadership had taken place. Within months it became clear that the attempt at regime change had fallen flat: all Venezuelan territory, government ministries, and the country’s military remained under the control of President Nicolás Maduro. While US officials, notably Trump’s Venezuela Envoy Elliott Abrams, boasted that roughly 54 countries had followed Washington’s lead in recognizing Guaidó’s authority, the vast majority of United Nations member states rejected the attempted coup. Four years on, Venezuela’s government is firmly in place and Guaidó is nowhere to be seen. In this fast-paced story, investigative reporter Anya Parampil provides a narrative history of the Chavista revolution and offers character sketches of the figures who took over its leadership after Hugo Chávez’s death in 2014. She shows how Guaidó’s shadow regime consisted of individuals with deep connections to transnational corporations that sought to overturn the revolution and exploit Venezuela’s resources. In particular she uncovers their plot to steal Citgo Petroleum, the country’s most valuable international asset. Corporate Coup exposes the hidden personalities and interests driving US policy on Venezuela, revealing that while the recognition of Guaidó failed at changing reality on the ground in Caracas, it succeeded in facilitating the unprecedented looting of the country’s extensive foreign reserves. This gripping story from Venezuela shines light on the grim, shadowy character of a US foreign policy that tramples on democratic norms around the globe. And it points to a dramatic consequence of such policy: the rise of a new, multipolar world heralding the end of US empire.

After Engagement - Dilemmas in U.S.-China Security Relations (Paperback): Jacques Delisle, Avery Goldstein After Engagement - Dilemmas in U.S.-China Security Relations (Paperback)
Jacques Delisle, Avery Goldstein
R1,021 Discovery Miles 10 210 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

From cooperation to a new cold war: is this the future for today's two great powers?. U.S. policy toward China is at an inflection point. For more than a generation, since the 1970s, a near-consensus view in the United States supported engagement with China, with the aim of integrating China into the U.S.-led international order. By the latter part of the 2010s, that consensus had collapsed as a much more powerful and increasingly assertive China was seen as a strategic rival to theUnited States. How the two countries tackle issues affecting the most important bilateral relationship in the world will significantly shape overall international relations for years to come.In this timely book, leading scholars of U.S.-China relations and China's foreign policy address recent changes in American assessments of China's capabilities and intentions and consider potential risks to international security, the significance of a shifting international distribution of power, problems of misperception, and the risk of conflicts. China's military modernization, its advancing technology, and its Belt and Road Initiative, as well as regional concerns, such as the South China Sea disputes, relations with Japan, and tensions on the Korean Peninsula, receive special focus.

Sectarianism, De-Sectarianization and Regional Politics in the Middle East - Protest and Proxies across States and Borders... Sectarianism, De-Sectarianization and Regional Politics in the Middle East - Protest and Proxies across States and Borders (Hardcover)
Samira Nasirzadeh, Elias Ghazal, Ana Maria Kumarasamy, Eyad Alrefai, Simon Mabon
R2,951 Discovery Miles 29 510 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Following the Arab Uprisings, new ways of understanding sectarianism and sect-based differences emerged. But these perspectives, while useful, reduced sectarian identities to a consequence of either primordial tensions or instrumentalised identities. While more recently ‘third way’ approaches addressed the problems with these two positions, the complexity of secatarian identities within and across states remains unexplored. This book fills the gap in the literature to offer a more nuanced reading of both sectarian identities and also de-sectarianization across the Middle East. To do so, the volume provides a comparative account, looking at Iraq, Bahrain, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon. It examines the ways in which sect-based difference shapes regional politics and vice versa. The book also contributes to burgeoning debates on the role of protest movements in sectarianism. Chapters are split across three main sections: the first looks at sects and states; the second traces the relationship between sects and regional dynamics; and the third examines de-sectarianization, that is, the contestation and destablization of sectarian identities in socio-political life. Each section provides a more holistic understanding of the role of sectarian identities in the contemporary Middle East and shows how sectarian groups operate within and across state borders, and why this has serious implications for the ordering of life across the Middle East.

China Incorporated - The Politics of a World Where China is Number One (Hardcover): Kerry Brown China Incorporated - The Politics of a World Where China is Number One (Hardcover)
Kerry Brown
R510 Discovery Miles 5 100 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Is the West prepared for a world where power is shared with China? A world in which China asserts the same level of global leadership that the USA currently assumes? And can we learn to embrace Chinese political culture, as China learned to embrace ours? Here, one of the world's leading voices on China, Kerry Brown, takes us past the tired cliches and inside the Chinese leadership - as they lay out a roadmap for working in a world in which China shares dominance with the West. From how, and why, China as a dominant superpower has been inevitable for many years, to how the attempts to fight the old battles are over, Brown digs deeper into the problematic nature of China’s current situation - its treatment of dissent, of Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and the severe limitations on its management of relations with other cultures and values. These issues impact the way the West sees China, China sees the West, and how both see themselves. There are obstacles to the West accepting a more prominent place for China in the world – but just because this will be a difficult process does not mean that it should not happen. As Kerry Brown writes: history is indeed ending, but not how the West thought it would.

Wreckonomics - Why It's Time to End the War on Everything (Hardcover): Ruben Andersson, David Keen Wreckonomics - Why It's Time to End the War on Everything (Hardcover)
Ruben Andersson, David Keen
R738 Discovery Miles 7 380 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

The United States' ignominious exit from Afghanistan in 2021 topped two decades of failure and devastation wrought by the war on terror. A long-running "fight against migration" has stoked chaos and rights abuses while pushing migrants onto more dangerous routes. For its part, the war on drugs has failed to dampen narcotics demand while fueling atrocities from Mexico to the Philippines. Why do such "failing" policies persist for so long? And why do politicians keep feeding the very crises they say they are combating? In Wreckonomics, Ruben Andersson and David Keen analyze why disastrous policies live on even when it has become apparent that they do not work. The perverse outcomes of the fights against terror, migration, and drugs are more than a blip or an anomaly. Rather, the proliferation of pseudo-wars has become a dangerous political habit and an endless source of political advantage and profit. From combating crime to the war on drugs, from civil wars to global wars and even "covid wars," chronic failure has been harnessed to the appearance of success. Over a wide variety of spheres, problems have persisted and worsened not so much despite the "wars" and "fights" waged against them as thanks to these floundering endeavors. Covering a range of cases around the world, Wreckonomics exposes and interrogates the incentive systems that allow destructive policies to flourish in the face of systemic failure - while offering strategies for dismantling the addiction to waging war on everything.

Confronting Saddam Hussein - George W. Bush and the Invasion of Iraq (Hardcover): Melvyn P. Leffler Confronting Saddam Hussein - George W. Bush and the Invasion of Iraq (Hardcover)
Melvyn P. Leffler
R697 Discovery Miles 6 970 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

A vivid portrayal of what drove George W. Bush to invade Iraq in 2003—an outcome that was in no way predetermined. America's decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003 is arguably the most important foreign policy choice of the entire post-Cold War era. Nearly two decades after the event, it remains central to understanding current international politics and US foreign relations. In Confronting Saddam Hussein, the eminent historian of US foreign policy Melvyn P. Leffler analyzes why the US chose war and who was most responsible for the decision. Employing a unique set of personal interviews with dozens of top officials and declassified American and British documents, Leffler vividly portrays the emotions and anxieties that shaped the thinking of the president after the shocking events of 9/11. He shows how fear, hubris, and power influenced Bush's approach to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. At the core of Leffler's account is his compelling portrait of Saddam Hussein. Rather than stressing Bush's preoccupation with promoting freedom or democracy, Leffler emphasizes Hussein's brutality, opportunism, and unpredictability and illuminates how the Iraqi dictator's record of aggression and intransigence haunted the president and influenced his calculations. Bush was not eager for war, and the decision to invade Iraq was not a fait accompli. Yet the president was convinced that only by practicing coercive diplomacy and threatening force could he alter Hussein's defiance, a view shared by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other leaders around the world, including Hans Blix, the chief UN inspector. Throughout, Leffler highlights the harrowing anxieties surrounding the decision-making process after the devastating attack on 9/11 and explains the roles of contingency, agency, rationality, and emotion. As the book unfolds, Bush's centrality becomes more and more evident, as does the bureaucratic dysfunctionality that contributed to the disastrous occupation of Iraq. A compelling reassessment of George W. Bush's intervention in Iraq, Confronting Saddam Hussein provides a provocative reinterpretation of the most important international event of the 21st century.

Politicizing Islam in Central Asia - From the Russian Revolution to the Afghan and Syrian Jihads (Paperback): Kathleen Collins Politicizing Islam in Central Asia - From the Russian Revolution to the Afghan and Syrian Jihads (Paperback)
Kathleen Collins
R1,307 R770 Discovery Miles 7 700 Save R537 (41%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

A sweeping history of Islamism in Central Asia from the Russian Revolution to the present through Soviet-era archival documents, oral histories, and a trove of interviews and focus groups. Few observers anticipated a surge of Islamism in Central Asia, after seventy years of forced communist atheism. Muslims do not inevitably support Islamism, a modern political ideology of Islam. Yet, Islamism became the dominant form of political opposition in post-Soviet Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. In Politicizing Islam in Central Asia, Kathleen Collins explores the causes, dynamics, and variation in Islamist movements-first within the USSR, and then in the post-Soviet states of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Drawing upon extensive ethnographic and historical research on Islamist mobilization, she explains the strategies and relative success of each Central Asian Islamist movement. Collins argues that in each case, state repression of Islam, by Soviet and post-Soviet regimes, together with the diffusion of religious ideologies, motivated Islamist mobilization. Sweeping in scope, this book traces the dynamics of Central Asian Islamist movements from the Soviet era through the Tajik civil war, the Afghan jihad against the US, and the foreign fighter movement joining the Syrian jihad.

Belt And Road Initiative: Chinese Version Of "Marshall Plan"? (Hardcover): Da Hsuan Feng, Hai Ming Liang Belt And Road Initiative: Chinese Version Of "Marshall Plan"? (Hardcover)
Da Hsuan Feng, Hai Ming Liang
R1,865 Discovery Miles 18 650 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

This book views the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a bold and all-encompassing 21st century global effort by China, with unprecedented perspectives. The BRI could be summarised as a 'revitalization' of China's ancient land-based and maritime silk roads, but it should be noted that its impact on China and the world stands on the foundation of omnipresent economics and how China transforms its mindset in the 21st century.Though initiated by China, the BRI's implementation has been a many-to-many effort from the start. This multi-regional and multi-national effort is distinctly different from the one-to-many effort of the Marshall Plan. The two meaning-defining chapters of this book, 'Omnipresent Economics: The Belt and Road Initiative Underpinning' and 'Supercontinent, Neo-Renaissance and Cultural Communications: The Millennium Mindset Transformations Induced by the Belt and Road Initiative', have made it abundantly clear that the BRI discussions presented are unique.The discussions of this book could shed new light on the BRI, a long-term and profound initiative by China, which in today's global discussions and debates, are entirely confined to geopolitical and economics arenas.

Security Strategies of Middle Powers in the Asia Pacific (Paperback): Ralf Emmers, Sarah Teo Security Strategies of Middle Powers in the Asia Pacific (Paperback)
Ralf Emmers, Sarah Teo
R912 R801 Discovery Miles 8 010 Save R111 (12%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Security Strategies of Middle Powers in the Asia Pacific examines what drives the different regional security strategies of four middle powers in the Asia Pacific: Australia, Indonesia, South Korea and Malaysia. Drawing on the extant middle power literature, the authors argue that the regional security strategies of middle powers could take two forms, namely, functional or normative. A functional strategy means that the middle power targets its resources to address a specific problem that it has a high level of interest in, while a normative strategy refers to a focus on promoting general behavioural standards and confidence building at the multilateral level. This book argues that whether a middle power ultimately employs a more functional or normative regional security strategy depends on its resource availability and strategic environment.

Oil and Geopolitics in the Caspian Sea Region (Hardcover, New): Bulent Aras, Michael P. Croissant Oil and Geopolitics in the Caspian Sea Region (Hardcover, New)
Bulent Aras, Michael P. Croissant
R2,844 Discovery Miles 28 440 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

The opening of the Caspian Sea basin to Western investment following the breakup of the Soviet Union produced a major contest for access to the region's vast energy reserves on the part of powers as close as Russia, Turkey, and Iran, and as far away as Japan and the United States. Indeed, the struggle to exploit Caspian oil has been one of the most monumental geopolitical developments of the post-Cold War era as external powers vie for political, economic, and military influence in a region brimming not only with oil, but also with ethnic conflicts and historical animosities.

The coming decade of rapidly increasing demand for energy will ensure the continued interest and engagement of external powers with often competing geopolitical agendas. Thus the geopolitical developments spawned by the opening of the Caspian Sea are likely to continue to far outweigh the actual impact of Caspian oil on world energy markets. This collection of essays by prominent scholars and international experts offers several important and often conflicting interpretations of the events unfolding along the shores of the world's oldest oil-producing region.

Abolition. Feminism. Now. (Paperback): Angela Y. Davis, Gina Dent, Erica Meiners, Beth Richie Abolition. Feminism. Now. (Paperback)
Angela Y. Davis, Gina Dent, Erica Meiners, Beth Richie
R325 R270 Discovery Miles 2 700 Save R55 (17%) Ships in 9 - 15 working days

In this landmark work, four of the world's leading scholar-activists issue an urgent call for a truly intersectional, internationalist, abolitionist feminism. As a politics and as a practice, abolitionism has increasingly shaped our political moment, amplified through the worldwide protests following the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a uniformed police officer. It is at the heart of the Black Lives Matter movement, in its demands for police defunding and demilitarisation, and a halt to prison construction. As this book shows, abolitionism and feminism stand shoulder-to-shoulder in fighting a common cause: the end of the carceral state, with its key role in perpetuating violence, both public and private, in prisons, in police forces, and in people's homes. Abolitionist theories and practices are at their most compelling when they are feminist; and a feminism that is also abolitionist is the most inclusive and persuasive version of feminism for these times. ABOLITION. FEMINISM. NOW. 'This extraordinary book makes the most compelling case I've ever seen for the indivisibility of feminism and abolition' Robin D. G. Kelley 'This book is as capacious and demanding as the abolitionist feminism it calls for' Sara Ahmed

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