RACE, POWER & POLITICS is the only book about ACORN ever written by authentic ACORN insiders-National Board Members. It is a must read for all concerned citizens, journalists and advocates, whether Tea Party, conservatives, civil libertarians or fairminded liberals; anyone interested in-and not afraid of learning the unvarnished truth about the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. RACE, POWER & POLITICS is a cautionary tale of corruption and deceit within ACORN. Learn the unsettling truth from true believers who refused to be brainwashed by the "Jones Town" cult-like association or drink the Rathke family "Kool-Aid" and who challenged the entire ACORN establishment, including Wade Rathke a "Jim Jones" like figure, Senator Barack Obama an ACORN man seeking the White House and a Democrat controlled Congress; all while fighting management corruption within ACORN before its inevitable collapse. RACE, POWER & POLITICS is an inspirational journey and a cautionary tale for all non-profits, community organizations and public charities dedicated to supporting human rights and social justice. This powerful first person narrative gives an insiders perspective on ACORN, its senior management and exposes their corrupt practices. A compelling story about the courageous true believers who once loved ACORN and its mission to empower the underserved and marginalized members of American society, but soon discovered the unsettling truth about fraud and deceit within ACORN, and how they battled against insurmountable odds to reform the once venerable association.

Are social movement organizations euro-sceptical, euro-pragmatic, or euro-opportunist? Or do they accept the EU as a new level of governance to place pressure on? Do they provide a critical capital, necessary for the political structuring of the EU, or do they disrupt the process of EU integration? Social Movements and Europeanization includes surveys of activists at international protest events targeting the European Union (for a total of about 5000 interviews); a discourse analysis of documents and transcripts of debates on European politics and policies conducted during the four European social forums held between 2002 and 2006 and involving hundreds of social movement organizations and tens of thousands of activists from all European countries; about 320 interviews with representatives of civil society organizations in six EU countries (France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy) and one non-member state (Switzerland), and a systematic claims analysis of the daily press in selected years between 1990 and 2003. The empirical research shows the different paths of Europeanization taken by social movements and civil society organizations.

This history of the Ku Klux Klan traces the evolution of the organization from its 1865 founding to the present, drawing extensively on contemporaneous media reports. The Ku Klux Klan tells the story of America's oldest and largest homegrown terrorist organization. It is a revealing look at the philosophies and methods of a secret society that used religious symbols, secret codes, and the cloak of anonymity to bind its members together in the cause of violent racial warfare. The Ku Klux Klan encompasses the organization's entire history, from its post-Civil War founding by Nathan Bedford Forrest, to its high watermark in the early 20th century, with membership swelling to four million and its founders portrayed as heroes in the film, Birth of a Nation to its resurgence in the Civil Rights era, to more recent attempts by David Duke and others to put a benign face on the Klan in order to gain elective office.

This insightful book provides a unified repository of information on jihadist terrorism. Offering an integrated treatment of terrorist groups, zones of armed conflict and counter-terrorism responses from liberal democratic states, it presents fresh empirical perspectives on the origins and progression of conflict, and contemporary global measures to combat terrorist activity. Bringing together a multi-disciplinary team of scholars and professionals, the book examines the growth and activities of four key terrorist organizations: Al Qaeda, Islamic State, Hamas and Lashkar-e-Taiba. It discusses their theologies, motivations and the threat that they pose to liberal democracies through terrorist attacks. Chapters contain perspectives and case studies on zones of armed conflict in which terrorist organizations are being fought directly in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Israel/Palestine, evaluating the historic roots of these conflicts and their evolution over time. It also examines national efforts in the US, the UK, France, India and Israel in combating terrorism, considering the preventative measures and activities of intelligence and security agencies through personal interviews conducted with service and retired professionals. Based on crucial empirical investigations conducted by intelligence professionals, scholars, research specialists and journalists, this is critical reading for researchers and advanced students in terrorism studies, international studies and conflict resolution, as well as those studying political science more broadly. It will also benefit policymakers and intelligence and law enforcement specialists in need of a comparative study of contemporary counter-terrorism responses.

The American Revolution gave birth to a new world republic and a philosophy based on freedom, liberty, and equality. The philosophical concepts articulated by the revolutionary leaders have become a model of positive change for people around the world. This concise reference guide includes an overview essay that traces the course of the Revolution and five essays on various aspects of the conflict. Also included are biographical sketches of 19 important historical figures and a selection of primary documents with introductions by the author. A timeline and annotated bibliography compliment the text, making this the perfect starting point for student and general-reader research, and a fresh survey of the events that brought about the birth of the American republic. The essays in this book focus on the events and conditions that led the American colonies to revolt, the war itself, life on the home front, revolutionary diplomacy, and a concluding, interpretive essay on the lasting impact of the American Revolution. The biographical sketches include a wide array of important actors on the stage, including Abigail Adams, John Adams, George III, George Washington, Mercy Otis Warren, among others. Primary documents include excerpts from Thomas Paine's Common Sense, "The Proclamation of Lord Dunmore offering Freedom to Slaves Belonging to the Rebels in Virginia" of 1775, The Articles of Federation, and the Treaty of Paris, among others. Every generation needs to reinterpret its history to reflect its own needs and ideals. This book offers a new look at this pivotal time in world history.

How have states in the Middle East and North Africa responded to the War on Terror? While much scholarship has focused on terrorism in the region, there is need for critical studies of Middle Eastern states' counter-terrorism policies. This book addresses that need by investigating Morocco's unique approach to counter-terrorism: the bureaucratization of religion. Morocco's strategy is unique in the degree to which it relies on reforms that seek to make the country's religious institutions into tools for rewarding loyalty and discouraging dissent from religious elites. Through these measures they have limited opposition through an enduring form of institutional control, accommodating some of the country's most virulent critics. This book will be of great use to researchers and scholars of Middle Eastern politics, and it will also appeal to those policymakers interested in security studies and counter-terrorism policies.

Alexander examines interest group involvement in direct democracy. The tools of direct democracy--initiative, referendum, and recall--were initially created to delimit the power of economic interest groups and curb the power of political machines. Today, however, many believe that direct democracy has become a tool dominated by economic interests and that ballot contests have emboldened moneyed interests, rather than stemming their power. This unanticipated consequence of direct democracy has been coined the Populist Paradox.

Through two case studies, Alexander examines how debilitating the Populist Paradox truly is. The issue of gambling was selected due to the large number of affected interests and the degree of conflict enveloping the issue. Current research suggests that economic interest groups are best able to mobilize monetary resoures, while citizen groups are best able to mobilize personnel resources. The question then turns to whether the differential ability to mobilize resources translates to success or failure for groups with different bases of support. Populist and Progressive reformers obviously did not foresee the advent of campaign consultants, focus groups, direct mail, and paid petitioners. These changes in political campaigning have made the ability to mobilize personnel resources much less important. Alexander provides a valuable extension to current knowledge of group involvement in ballot campaigns that will be of particular interest to scholars, students, and other researchers involved with state and local public policy.

In the wake of the First World War and Russian Revolutions, Central Europeans in 1919 faced a world of possibilities, threats, and extreme contrasts. Dramatic events since the end of the world war seemed poised to transform the world, but the form of that transformation was unclear and violently contested in the streets and societies of Munich and Budapest in 1919. The political perceptions of contemporaries, framed by gender stereotypes and antisemitism, reveal the sense of living history, of 'fighting the world revolution', which was shared by residents of the two cities. In 1919, both revolutionaries and counterrevolutionaries were focused on shaping the emerging new order according to their own worldview. By examining the narratives of these Central European revolutions in their transnational context, Eliza Ablovatski helps answer the question of why so many Germans and Hungarians chose to use their new political power for violence and repression.

To learn about the ""Age of Revolutions"" in Europe and the Americas is to engage with the emergence of the modern world. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, nations were founded, old empires collapsed, and new ones arose. Struggles for emancipation-whether from royal authority, colonial rule, slavery, or patriarchy-inspired both hopes and fears. This book, designed for university and secondary school teachers, provides up-to-date content and perspectives, classroom-tested techniques, innovative ideas, and an exciting variety of pathways to introduce students to this complex era of history. The volume includes chapters on sources and methods for stimulating student debate and learning, including Tom Paine's Common Sense, the Haitian Declaration of Independence, and other key documents; role-playing games; visual arts and culture; and music, including opera and popular songs. Other chapters delve into specific themes, including revolution and riot, revolutionary terror, enlightenment, gender, slavery, nationalism, environment and climate, and the roles of politically excluded groups. Collectively, the contributions ensure a broad Atlantic scope, discussing the revolutions in Britain's North American colonies, Haiti, and Latin America, and European revolutions including France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

This book explores the challenges of combating terrorism from a policing perspective using the example of the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC (RUC) in Northern Ireland. The RUC was in the frontline of counter-terrorism work for thirty years of conflict during which time it also provided a normal policing service to the public. However, combating a protracted and vicious terrorist campaign exacted a heaving price on the force. Importantly, the book addresses a seriously under-researched theme in terrorism studies, namely, the impact of terrorism on members of the security forces. Accordingly, the book examines how officers have been affected by the conflict as terrorists adopted a strategy which targeted them both on and off duty. This resulted in a high percentage of officers being killed whilst off duty - sometimes in the company of their wives and children. The experience of officers' wives is also documented thus highlighting the familial impact of terrorism. Generally speaking, the victims of terrorist attacks have received scant scholarly attention which has resulted in victims' experiences being little understood. This piece of work casts a specific and unique light on the nature of victimhood as it has been experienced by members of this branch of the security forces in Northern Ireland.

In sixteenth-century England Robert Devereux, 2nd earl of Essex, enjoyed great domestic and international renown as a favourite of Elizabeth I. He was a soldier and a statesman of exceptionally powerful ambition. After his disastrous uprising in 1601 Essex fell from the heights of fame and favour, and ended his life as a traitor on the scaffold. This interdisciplinary account of the political culture of late Elizabethan England explores the ideological contexts of Essex's extraordinary career and fall from grace, and the intricate relationship between thought and action in Elizabethan England. By the late sixteenth century, fundamental political models and vocabularies that were employed to legitimise the Elizabethan polity were undermined by the strains of war, the ambivalence that many felt towards the church, continued uncertainty over the succession, and the perceived weaknesses of the rule of the aging Elizabeth. Essex's career and revolt threw all of these strains into relief. Alexandra Gajda examines the attitude of the earl and his followers to war, religion, the structures of the Elizabethan polity, and Essex's role within it. She also explores the classical and historical scholarship prized by Essex and his associates that gave shape and meaning to the earl's increasingly fractured relationship with the Queen and regime. She addresses contemporary responses to the earl, both positive and negative, and the earl's wider impact on political culture. Political and religious ideas in late sixteenth-century England had an important impact on political events in early modern England, and played a vital role in shaping the rise and fall of Essex's career.

Honduras in Dangerous Times: Resistance and Resilience explores how the people of Honduras use cultural resources to resist and to change the conditions of their society, to critique those conditions, and to create the pieces of a better future in the midst of a dangerous present. The book explores ideas and practices which support systems of dominance and submission in Honduras and the ways in which people have slowly developed a broad culture of resistance and resilience. This culture includes struggling for land and environmental preservation against extractive industries, promoting natural local food and sustainable technology to replace foreign agribusiness, bringing a corrupt legal and political system to account by invoking concepts of human rights and laws routinely ignored, bending institutional religion to issues of social justice, and expressing protest and visions of a better society through popular culture. The book highlights the special contribution of the country's indigenous peoples in resistance; it also discusses the powerful role of the United States in shaping Honduran economic, political, and military life, and what people-to-people solidarity with Hondurans means for citizens of the United States. The book concludes by presenting Honduran popular resistance in a context of late neoliberalism in Honduras and in relation to other Latin American social movements. Honduras in Dangerous Times shows that Hondurans resist in the face of violence and oppression not only because they are resilient, but also that they are resilient because they resist. Resistance keeps hope alive and change possible.

The evolving field of the economics of terrorism has been and continues to be the subject of much research. Professor Enders, in this authoritative research review, charts the development of this topic over the past century. The areas discussed include incentive regulation, competition in generation, market power, transmission and system operation as well as retail competition and future developments.

Technological advancements have always influenced politics in society, but never in as strong and direct a manner as in the Internet Age. E-Politics and Organizational Implications of the Internet: Power, Influence, and Social Change charts this influence and describes the unique effect electronic communication has on organizations, communities, nations, and cultures. This book presents the most current research on both the history of these powerful new tools and their preliminary impact both in across the world and in daily life. A thorough understanding of these technologies is necessary to properly navigate this new millennium and this reference is the beginning of that knowledge.

This book develops an informational theory to account for the coexistence of China's exceptionally resilient authoritarianism and its high decentralization. The nuanced information contained in citizens' complaints, which are filed through the petition system, helps to sustain China's decentralized authoritarianism in three important ways. First, petitions help to alleviate the information asymmetry problem that arises when the central government has less information than lower level governments do. When studying citizens' petitions, higher level governments can obtain valuable and accurate information about local officials' performance in policy implementation, public goods provision, and corruption. Higher level governments need this information in order to effectively utilize the cadre management system to reward good performance and punish malpractice. The result of this interaction is the PRC's relatively high quality of governance and effective control of local officials. There is also a second way in which citizens' petitions help the government to overcome the dictator's dilemma that arises when an authoritarian regime is uncertain about how much support it really enjoys among its citizens. Citizens' specific grievances are revealed in these petitions and are mostly addressed in their beginning stages. When citizens' complaints are rooted in central policy, they set the agenda for policy change in order to maintain social order. There is yet a third benefit conferred upon the PRC by the petition system. Thanks to the petition system, the central government can present itself as the ally of citizens when it addresses the matters raised by their petitions. As a result, the petition system grants the central government an opportunity to hold local officials accountable, scapegoat local authorities, divide citizens and local officials, and justly claim all the credit when its policies succeed. This helps to build citizens' trust in their central government and reinforces its legitimacy in their eyes. In Huntington's terms, the Chinese Communist Party institutionalizes mass support by addressing citizens' grievances expressed through the channel of communication provided by the petition system. In this sense, the complaints of citizens can be very useful tools for regime maintenance. The author substantiates these points with case studies and statistical analysis.

At the start of the 1960s, revolution challenged the established world order. In every corner of the underdeveloped world, discontent with the status quo fueled attempts to revoke colonialism and the strangleholds on power maintained by entrenched local oligarchies. This book examines the causes of revolution in the sixties and the various responses crafted to stop it, in particular, the Alliance for Progress, a program which represented the best products of American developmental and counterinsurgency theory. Equally important, however, is an examination of the independent policies implemented by Latin Americans themselves, often in direct opposition to those pursued by the U.S. For the United States the period represented a challenge to both its sovereignty and its leadership in the so-called "Free World." Perhaps more importantly, the disruptions blanketing the globe also pointed out the dramatic weaknesses of an American policy dominated by preparations for thermonuclear war with the Soviet Union. For Latin America, revolution challenged national stability and, in the cases of the regimes it was directed against, their very survival.

'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.

"Korean-American Youth Identity and 9/11: An Examination of Korean-American Ethnic Identity in Post-9/11 America" by Professor Heerak Christian Kim of Asia Evangelical College and Seminary is a very important book in the area of ethnic studies in post-9/11 America. Although many books have been written on 9/11, there has not been adequate examination of its impact for particular ethnic groups. Even scholars of ethnic studies seem to ignore 9/11 as an event that is incidental to self-understanding and group identity of America's ethnic groups. This book is a step in the right direction in computing 9/11 into the study of ethnic identity and experience in America. This book specifically focuses on Korean-American identity, particularly in regards to Korean-American youth. However, this scholarly examination is further significant in its sensitivity to the ethnic experience of other Asian-Americans and in its examination of Korean-American identity as negotiated in the context of the larger dominant culture of America. And this book contributes further to the understanding of ethnic identity in the United States by devoting an important chapter to the dynamics of inter-ethnic relations between Korean-Americans and African-Americans. Besides being a monumental contribution to the understanding of ethnic identity in comparative terms, this book represents an important contribution to Korean-American studies. This book is the most up-to-date book on Korean-American youth identity and provides the scholarly community with valuable information regarding which direction to take future research regarding Korean-American identity and the Asian-American experience in the United States. As Asian-Americans are rising in terms of number and influence, the need for understanding their identity becomes important on academic, social, political, economic, and intellectual levels. This book is a very important book to meet the rising need that has been largely neglected in academia and in the publishing industry thus far. This book is an essential addition to all serious university libraries, public libraries, and private personal libraries of educated individuals.

Michael Snodgrass explores how workers and industrialists perceived, responded to and helped determine the outcome of Mexico's revolution over a sixty-year period. His study begins with Monterrey's emergence as one of Latin-America's preeminent industrial cities and home to Mexico's most powerful business group. Snodgrass explores the roots of two distinct and enduring systems of industrial relations that were historical outcomes of the revolution: company paternalism and militant unionism. This book offers an urban and industrial perspective to a history of revolutionary Mexico overshadowed by studies of the countryside.

This book provides up-to-date coverage of the policies, strategies, and effects of suicide in war, examining this subject from societal and military perspectives to shed light on the justifications for using human beings as expendable weapons. Suicide warfare has expanded over the years and become a global phenomenon. In some parts of the world, it has become rooted in the fabric of society. Westerners often find it difficult to grasp why someone would be willing to sacrifice their life in order to take the lives of others. Suicide Warfare: Culture, the Military, and the Individual as a Weapon provides a thorough examination of the topic that enables readers to understand the justification for suicide warfare and better appreciate how the ideology of the individuals and organizations that resort to suicide warfare greatly complicates security issues in the 21st century. The book covers the policies, strategies, and effects of suicide in war, examining suicide warfare in its entirety from a theoretical standpoint, and then applying those theories to the actual manifestations of and politico-military responses to suicide warfare. The author discusses specific organizations such as Al Qaeda and the Chechen rebels, analyzing each within its societal context, military justification, individual motivation, and outcomes, and addresses principles of sociological and conflict theory to place suicide warfare in a clearer conceptual framework. The book presents case studies that allow readers to better understand abstract theories and make distinctions between individual cases of suicide warfare. Includes primary documents and statistical data Provides resources for further study

This book offers a ten-year perspective on ongoing and evolving digital activism practices across the Middle East and North Africa, drawing on interviews and ethnographic evidence collected between 2012 and 2020. It addresses the shifting narratives around digital activism and cultures in the region in the wake of the 2011 uprisings and the subsequent so-called second wave by considering the media environments in which local activists operate. Including in-depth analysis of three different political contexts - the 2011 Tunisian and Egyptian context and the 2019 political context in Lebanon - and focussing on case studies of the Tunisian blogosphere, online campaigning in the Egyptian presidential elections and interviews with social media activists, the book offers a critique of the increasing prevalence of a security perspective through which online activism has been viewed and its deleterious effect on digital political engagement in the region.