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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political activism
How does the Taliban wage war? How has its war changed over time? Firstly, the movement's extraordinary military operation relies on financial backing. This volume analyses such funding. The Taliban's external sources of support include foreign governments and non-state groups, both of which have affected the Taliban's military campaigns and internal politics. Secondly, this is the first full-length study of the Taliban to acknowledge and discuss in detail the movement's polycentric character. Here not only the Quetta Shura, but also the Haqqani Network and the Taliban's other centres of power, are afforded the attention they deserve. The Taliban at War is based on extensive field research, including hundreds of interviews with Taliban members at all levels of the organisation, community elders in Taliban-controlled areas, and other sources. It covers the Taliban insurgency from its first manifestations in 2002 up to the end of 2015. The five-month Battle of Kunduz epitomised the ongoing transition of the Taliban from an insurgent group to a more conventional military force, intent on fighting a protracted civil war. In this latest book, renowned Afghanistan expert Antonio Giustozzi rounds off his twenty years of studying the Taliban with an authoritative study detailing the evolution of its formidable military machine.
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'When one of the world's leading scholars of civil war tells us that a country is on the brink of violent conflict, we should pay attention. This is an important book' Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, authors of How Democracies Die Civil wars are the biggest danger to world peace today - this book shows us why they happen, and how to avoid them. We are now living in the world's greatest era of civil wars. While violence has declined worldwide, major civil wars are now being fought in countries including Iraq, Syria and Libya, and smaller civil wars are being fought in India and Malaysia. Even countries we thought could never experience another civil war - such as the USA, Sweden and Ireland - are showing signs of unrest. So how can we stop them? In How Civil Wars Start, acclaimed expert Professor Barbara F. Walter, who has advised on political violence everywhere from the CIA to the U.S. Senate to the United Nations, explains the rise of civil wars and the conditions that create them - not least when countries are not quite democratic. As democracies across the world backslide and citizens become more polarised, civil wars will become even more widespread and last longer than they have in the past - but this urgent and important book shows us a path back toward peace.
The Arab revolutions of 2011 were a transformative moment in the modern history of the Middle East, as people rose up against long-standing autocrats throughout the region to call for 'bread, freedom and dignity'. With the passage of time, results have been decidedly mixed, with initial success stories like Tunisia contrasting with the emergence of even more repressive dictatorships in places like Egypt, with the backing of several Gulf states. Focusing primarily on Egypt, this book considers a relatively understudied dimension of these revolutions: the role of prominent religious scholars. While pro-revolutionary ulama have justified activism against authoritarian regimes, counter-revolutionary scholars have provided religious backing for repression, and in some cases the mass murder of unarmed protestors. Usaama al-Azami traces the public engagements and religious pronouncements of several prominent ulama in the region, including Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Ali Gomaa and Abdullah bin Bayyah, to explore their role in either championing the Arab revolutions or supporting their repression. He concludes that while a minority of noted scholars have enthusiastically endorsed the counter-revolutions, their approach is attributable less to premodern theology and more to their distinctly modern commitment to the authoritarian state.
Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. A Research Agenda for Military Geographies explores how military activities and phenomena are shaped by geography, and how geographies are in turn shaped by military practices. A variety of future research agendas are mapped out, examining the questions faced by geographers when studying the military and its effects. Bringing together chapters from leading contributors, this Research Agenda explores a range of geographical places, spaces, environments and landscapes, examining peoples' experiences of the military in a variety of contexts. Chapters investigate key topics from armed conflict to its aftermath, as well as the study of the economic, social, political and cultural practices that make war possible. Providing interdisciplinary insights to military geography issues in European, North American, African and Asian contexts, this timely book sets out key areas of scholarship for discussion. Advanced students of critical geography and geopolitics studies as well as military studies, will greatly appreciate the suggestions for future research that sits at the heart of the book. Human geographers more broadly will find this a useful read in analysing the interdependent relationships between the military and place and space.
In AN ABOLITIONIST'S HANDBOOK, Cullors charts a framework for how everyday activists can effectively fight for an abolitionist present and future. Filled with relatable pedagogy on the history of abolition, a reimagining of what reparations look like for Black lives and real-life anecdotes from Cullors AN ABOLITIONIST'S HANDBOOK offers a bold, innovative, and humanistic approach to how to be a modern-day abolitionist. Cullors asks us to lead with love, fierce compassion, and precision. In AN ABOLITIONIST'S HANDBOOK readers will learn how to: - have courageous conversations - move away from reaction and towards response - take care of oneself while fighting for others - turn inter-community conflict into a transformative action - expand one's imagination, think creatively, and find the courage to experiment - make justice joyful - practice active forgiveness - make space for difficult feelings and honor mental health - practice non-harm and cultivate compassion - organize local and national governments to work towards abolition - move away from cancel culture AN ABOLITIONIST'S HANDBOOK is for those who are looking to reimagine a world where communities are treated with dignity, care and respect. It gives us permission to move away from cancel culture and into visioning change and healing.
'A must-read for anyone genuinely committed to racial equity and representation.' Dr Muna Abdi, CEO, MA Consultancy Ltd. Representation Matters is the essential book for teachers looking to promote diversity and inclusion in their school and create positive, lasting change for staff and pupils. In this crucial book, former assistant principal, campaigner and TEDxBristol speaker Aisha Thomas demonstrates how race shapes the experiences of Black, Asian and racially minoritised teachers and pupils in the UK education system, and why representation is fundamental in every school. With a particular focus on the experiences of Black educators, parents and pupils, Aisha shares her own lived experience and features over 20 stories from those who have been affected by the racism that is endemic in the education system today. Through reflective questions, activities and discussion points, Representation Matters coaches educators to create an action plan for their classroom or school. It offers practical strategies to drive change and promote an anti-racist approach to education. Covering a range of important topics, including: - diversifying the curriculum - challenging overt and covert racism - using tutor time and PSHE to explore identity and culture - interpreting the Equality Act 2010. Representation Matters equips all teachers and school leaders with everything they need to understand the impact of race in education.
Ruth was four years old when her father was arrested for high treason and her world was turned upside-down. She grew up in constant fear of Special Branch policemen knocking on the door to arrest her mother or father, prominent South African communist. Ruth learned how to keep her mouth shut, to look out for microphones in the walls and to beware of friends who could betray her trust. At fourteen, Ruth left South Africa, clutching her teddy bear in one hand and her drawings in the other. A plan to England carried her into exile, a new world where she struggled to reconstruct a life fractured by fear. With an artist’s eye for detail and colour, Ruth recalls her life with unflinching honesty: the Treason Trial; her struggle to conform; Friern Barnet Asylum for the ‘hopeless insane’; LSD, protests, and free love in London, art school and motherhood; communes and camping- all steps in a journey that finally brought her home to South Africa on the brink of change. Heart- wrenchingly sad one minute, bursting with life and vigour the next, seamed throughout by strength and courage, girl on the edge allows us to look deep into one woman’s life and travel with her to the brink and back again.
This history of the anarcho-syndicalist trade union, the Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo, analyses a period much neglected in historical research: from the end of the civil war in 1939 to the period of democratic change from 1976 to 1979, when the organisation was reconstructed after Francos death. The Franco years were characterised by extraordinary division within the CNT and by the bureaucratisation and ossification of the organisation now part in exile in France. The decimation of the Spanish CNT in 1947 by draconian repression enhanced the role of the exiled CNT, which was now the sole representative of the historic Anarchist movement in Spain. The moribund notion of Anarchism held by the exiled organisation could not attract recruits, and thus new forces drawn to Anarchism in 1960s Spain came through different routes, related, in large part, to the crisis within Marxism. Some of these local activists became convinced of the possibility for a reconstructed CNT, but only if the organisation were renewed. However, the exiled CNT opposed such ideas and used all possible means to undermine the movement for a new CNT. Although the reconstruction of the CNT from 1976 was characterised by the struggle between these two principal forces, the Spanish CNT captured the feelings and enthusiasm of Spanish youth, after the long dark night of Francoism. The libertarian boom was short-lived however, and by 1978 the CNT was in deep crisis, calling for the dissolution of the exiled organisation. The latter, and its allies in Spain, could not allow such a development and organised the Congress of 1979 to prevent this happening. The subsequent irrevocable division of the CNT sheds lights on the political, social and economic fractures that Spain still experiences today. Published in association with the Canada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies, LSE
From the bestselling author of Saddam comes the definitive biography of Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic revolution and how his fundamentalist legacy has forever influenced the course of Iran's relationship with the West. In February 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Tehran after nearly fifteen years in exile and received a hero's welcome. Just as the new world order sought to purge the communist ideologies of the Cold War, the religious doctrine of Islamic fundamentalism emerged to pose an even greater threat to post-Iron Curtain stability--and Khomeini would mastermind it into a revolution. Khomeini's Ghost is the account of how an impoverished young student from a remote area of southern Iran became the leader of one of the most dramatic upheavals of the modern age, and how his radical Islamic philosophy now lies at the heart of the modern-day conflict between Iran and the West. Con Coughlin draws on a wide variety of Iranian sources, including religious figures who knew and worked with Khomeini both in exile and in power. Both compelling and timely, Khomeini's Ghost is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand what lies at the center of many of the world's most intractable conflicts.
There are one hundred and forty-three other passengers onboard. What you don't know is that thirty minutes before the flight your pilot's family was kidnapped. For his family to live, everyone on your plane must die. The only way the family will survive is if the pilot follows his orders and crashes the plane. Enjoy the flight.
In post-Cold War international relations, strategic partnerships are an emerging and distinct analytical and political category critical in understanding the dynamics of contemporary strategic cooperation between states and International Organizations. However, the idea of strategic partnerships has remained under-theorized and overshadowed by the alliance theory. Addressing this clear-cut gap in the International Relations/Foreign Policy Analysis literature, this book originally endeavors to theorize and empirically test the analytical model of strategic partnerships as a new form of sustainable international cooperation in times of globalized interdependence and turbulence. Framed by the mixed-methods research strategy as well as essentially drawing on software-supported content analysis and statistical hypothesis testing, this book empirically explores fourteen of the most-diverse case studies of strategic partnerships forged by the European Union, NATO, ASEAN and the Andean Community. It challenges and tests a number of advanced scholarly propositions on the notion of these partnerships and succeeds in confirming the allegedly most salient assumptions -strategic partnerships are innately goal-driven and trust-based frameworks of sustainable bilateral alignment and structured international engagement in twenty-first century world politics. This edited volume addresses topical issues for both theory and practice of international relations, for it will enjoy a broad appeal among three major audiences and markets: academics and policy analysts, policy professionals and graduate and postgraduate students. 'An outstanding comparative tour de force on strategic partnerships across the world. It differs from previous research due to a thorough, well thought out, innovative theoretical framework used consistently throughout the 14 case studies. It includes well-documented studies on the major countries of the world and their relationships with the European Union, Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Andean Community (CAN) and the North Atlantic Trade Organization (NATO). The innovative, quantitative and qualitative methodology used is extensively explained and based on a database on strategic partnerships. An indispensable tool and deserving a special place in any library.' - Jose M. Magone, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Germany
The ideals of the French Revolution inflamed a longing for liberty and equality within courageous, freethinking women of the era--women who played vital roles in the momentous events that reshaped their nation and the world. In "Liberty," Lucy Moore paints a vivid portrait of six extraordinary Frenchwomen from vastly different social and economic backgrounds who helped stoke the fervor and idealism of those years, and who risked everything to make their mark on history. Germaine de Stael was a wealthy, passionate Parisian intellectual--as consumed by love affairs as she was by politics--who helped write the 1791 Constitution. Theroigne de Mericourt was an unhappy courtesan who fell in love with revolutionary ideals. Exuberant, decadent Theresia Tallien was a ruthless manipulator instrumental in engineering Robespierre's downfall. Their stories and others provide a fascinating new perspective on one of history's most turbulent epochs.
The most sinister terrorists won't be sneaking through our borders from the Middle East. They're already here. This is the untold story about the silent, yet extremely dangerous threat from the Muslim establishment in America―an alarming expose of how Muslims have for years been secretly infiltrating American society, government, and culture, pretending to be peace-loving and patriotic, while supporting violent jihad and working to turn America into an Islamic state. In this powder keg of a book, you'll learn:
In a time when religious and political leaders are scrambling to smooth over differences in faith and beliefs, this book gives the terrifying truth abaout the very real, very deadly agenda of Islam and how it has already infiltrated key American institutions with agents, spies, and subversives.
In the final decade of the eighteenth century, theatre was amongst the most important sites for redefining France's national identity. In this study, Annelle Curulla uses a range of archival material to show that, more than any other subject matter which was once forbidden from the French stage, Roman Catholic religious life provided a crucial trope for expressing theatre's patriotic mission after 1789. Even as old rules and customs fell with the walls of the Bastille, dramatic works by Gouges, Chenier, La Harpe, and others depicted the cloister as a space for reimagining forms of familial, individual, and civic belonging and exclusion. By relating the dramatic trope of religious life to shifting concepts of gender, family, religiosity, and nation, Curulla sheds light on how the process of secularization played out in the cultural space of French theatre.
A SPECTATOR and PROSPECT Book of the Year 'Ceaselessly interesting, knowledgeable and evocative' Spectator 'A fresh way to write history' Alan Johnson 'A quirky, amused, erudite homage to France . . . ambitious and original' The Times _____ France: An Adventure History is a profoundly original and endlessly entertaining history of France, from the first century BC to the present day, based on countless new discoveries and thirty years of exploring France on foot, by bicycle and in the library. Beginning with the Roman army's first recorded encounter with the Gauls and ending with the Gilets Jaunes protests in the era of Emmanuel Macron, each chapter is an adventure in its own right. Along the way, readers will find the usual faces, events and themes of French history - Louis XIV, the French Revolution, the French Resistance, the Tour de France - but all presented in a shining new light. Graham Robb does not offer a standard dry list of facts and dates, but instead a panorama of France, teeming with characters, full of stories, journeys and coincidences, giving readers a thrilling sense of discovery and enlightenment. France: An Adventure History is a vivid, living history of one of the world's most fascinating nations by a ceaselessly entertaining writer in complete command of subject and style. _____ 'A rich and vibrant narrative . . . clear-eyed but imaginative storytelling' Financial Times 'Full of life' Prospect
'Through her courageous resistance, she has, for a moment, drawn global attention to the ongoing struggle of Saudi women. The striking image of a young woman, wielding nothing but a cellphone, facing down the force of an oppressive government is an apt metaphor for this fraught moment in Saudi Arabia's history.' THE WASHINGTON POST A gripping true story of bravery and sacrifice by a young woman whose escape from Saudi Arabia captivated the world. In early 2019, after more than a year of careful planning, Rahaf Mohammed boarded a plane and finally escaped from Saudi Arabia. If caught, she was sure she would be killed, like other rebel women who had tried to flee her country's oppressive regime. But the eighteen-year-old only made it as far as Bangkok before her passport was taken away. It was a trick, and soon she found herself trapped, barricaded in a hotel room. As men pounded on her door, the teenager decided to reach out to the world on Twitter - and the world answered. Her account gained forty-five thousand followers overnight and offered her a vital lifeline. This was Rahaf's chance at a new life, the one she had dreamed of. Now Rahaf tells her remarkable story for the first time and reveals the dystopian reality of what life is like for women within Saudi Arabia. From the guardianship system, which places unmarried women under the full control of their male relatives, to the secretive online underground network of Saudi runaways plotting their escape, Rebel is a gripping memoir of resistance and bravery by a woman determined to tell the truth about life in the closed kingdom.
After 20 years of freedom in South Africa we have to ask ourselves difficult questions: are we willing to perpetuate a lie, search for facts or think wishfully? Freedom has been enabled by apartheid's end, but at the same time some of apartheid's key institutions and social relations are reproduced under the guise of 'democracy'. This collection of essays acknowledges the enormous expectations placed on the shoulders of the South African revolution to produce an alternative political regime in response to apartheid and global neo-liberalism. It does not lament the inability of South Africa's democracy to provide deeper freedoms, or suggest that since it hasn't this is some form of betrayal. Freedom is made possible and/or limited by local political choices, contemporary global conditions and the complexities of social change. This book explores the multiplicity of spaces within which the dynamics of social change unfold, and the complex ways in which power is produced and reproduced. In this way, it seeks to understand the often non-linear practices through which alternative possibilities emerge, the lengthy and often indirect ways in which new communities are imagined and new solidarities are built. In this sense, this book is not a collection of hope or despair. Nor is it a book that seeks to situate itself between these two poles. Instead it aims to read the present historically, critically and politically, and to offer insights into the ongoing, iterative and often messy struggles for freedom.
Security in the European Union (EU) is an increasingly complex problem, with the spectre of disintegration looming over the Eurozone, and the threat of terrorism, insecurity and the long-term sustainability of food supply and fresh water reaching levels of crisis. This interdisciplinary book provides a unique insight into the multiple security threats that the EU is facing, and gives readers invaluable information about the challenges these pose to the Union. With contributions from scholars of economics, law and political science, The European Union: Facing the Challenge of Multiple Security Threats provides a comprehensive analysis of contemporary security problems for the EU. Focussing on the latter end of the 2010s, this book examines in great detail the impact that developments in the rest of the world has had on the Union?s vulnerable state. Among the key contemporary issues examined are the migration crisis exacerbated by the conflicts in Syria and Libya, the increasingly strained relationship between the EU and Russia as well as the changing circumstances in the EU-US relationship brought on by Donald Trump?s presidency. Tapping into the internal and external causes and impacts of security problems in the EU, this book offers important policy ideas for the future of the Union. It constitutes a vital read for policy makers and advisors in the EU, as well as for scholars of European political science, economics, and law. Contributors include: A. Bakardjieva Engelbrekt, N. Bremberg, M. Eriksson, J. Gullstrand, C. Joergensen, C. Magnusson Sjoeberg, A. Michalski, N. Nilsson, G. Noll,I. OEsterdahl, L. Oxelheim, C. Parker, T. Persson, R. Svensson, C. Wagnsson, S. Widmalm
Top Secret/Majic is the result of nuclear physicist and renowned UFO investigator Stanton T. Friedman's twenty-one year search for the truth about the mysterious Operation Majestic 12, President Truman's top-secret UFO investigation team. In this updated edition of his landmark book, he tells the incredible tale of the July, 1947 recovery of a crashed flying saucer near Roswell, New Mexico, and the establishment by President Truman of a truly all-star cast to deal with the saucer and its non-human inhabitants. The first four Directors of Central Intelligence, the first Secretary of Defense, and several outstanding scientists and military leaders were part of the team. Through painstaking research and startling evidence--including documents that have never before been published--Friedman effectively exposes the U.S. government's biggest-kept secret: a fifty-eight year UFO cover-up.
A Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2022 A Financial Times Politics Book of the Year 2021 A fascinating account of Russia's famous dissident and the politics he embodies. Who is Alexei Navalny? Poisoned in August 2020 and transported to Germany for treatment, the politician returned to Russia in January 2021 in the full glare of the world media. His immediate detention at passport control set the stage for an explosive showdown with Vladimir Putin. But Navalny means very different things to different people. To some, he is a democratic hero. To others, he is betraying the Motherland. To others still, he is a dangerous nationalist. This book explores the many dimensions of Navalny's political life, from his pioneering anti-corruption investigations to his ideas and leadership of a political movement. It also looks at how his activities and the Kremlin's strategies have shaped one another. Navalny makes sense of this divisive character, revealing the contradictions of a man who is the second most important political figure in Russia-even when behind bars. In order to understand modern Russia, you need to understand Alexei Navalny. This updated version includes new material following Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Considering how political identity intertwines with craft,
ethnicity, gender, and class, this study explores the development
and decline of Chartism between 1830 and 1860 through the
perspective of plebeian intellectuals and activists in
Ashton-under-Lyne and other militant localities of Greater
Manchester and Lancashire. Challenging the approach of Patrick
Joyce, Gareth Stedman-Jones, and James Vernon, this account
questions myths and memories and provides a cultural and
sociological view of the period.
This is study of six Chartist Leaders. It portrays movements for democracy and social progress, and explores the role of the uneasy middle classes, in movements for working class rights. The comparative analysis provides insights in to the development of dissent, the nature of class and of radicalism in the nineteenth century. An introduction sketches the historical context. - Dr. Peter M McDouall, fiery orator and Scottish surgeon, who built his practise and his political reputation at Ramsbottom, near Bury in Lancashire. - the Rev. Henry Solly, Chartist pamphleteer and Unitarian Minister who lived and worked in Yeovil and Cheltenham Spa and became a nationally-known campaigner for co-operatives, anti-slavery, the vote, and rational recreation, - Rev. James Scholefield, a chaplain from Manchester who campaigned for the ten hour week: a teacher, apothecary, surgeon and vegetarian, - Richard Bagnall Reed, a blacksmith, who became the manager of the Newcastle Chronicle, he also ran guns to Garibaldi for Italian unification, - William Villiers Sankey, an aristocrat, son of an Irish Volunteer and Member of Parliament, who resided among the political elite of London, he represented Edinburgh at the Chartist Convention, - The Rev. Benjamin Parsons. a radical and political preacher who used the Bible to justify campaigns for social justice, from the Gloucestershire. |
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