A critical cultural materialist introduction to the study of global entertainment media. In Global Entertainment Media, Tanner Mirrlees undertakes an analysis of the ownership, production, distribution, marketing, exhibition and consumption of global films and television shows, with an eye to political economy and cultural studies. Among other topics, Mirrlees examines: Paradigms of global entertainment media such as cultural imperialism and cultural globalization. The business of entertainment media: the structure of capitalist culture/creative industries (financers, producers, distributors and exhibitors) and trends in the global political economy of entertainment media. The "governance" of global entertainment media: state and inter-state media and cultural policies and regulations that govern the production, distribution and exhibition of entertainment media and enable or impede its cross-border flow. The new international division of cultural labor (NICL): the cross-border production of entertainment by cultural workers in asymmetrically interdependent media capitals, and economic and cultural concerns surrounding runaway productions and co-productions. The economic motivations and textual design features of globally popular entertainment forms such as blockbuster event films, TV formats, glocalized lifestyle brands and synergistic media. The cross-cultural reception and effects of TV shows and films. The World Wide Web, digitization and convergence culture.

In 1990, Nicaragua's Sandinista government was toppled in an election that every major American news organization and pollster predicted they would win in a landslide. Why the Nicaraguan upset and why did the U.S. media get it so wrong? Through an examination of American coverage of Nicaragua since the Cuban Revolution, Why Nicaragua Vanished provides intriguing answers to these questions, and for the first time tests media coverage of a major foreign policy crisis against an independent analysis of the events covered. Robert S. Leiken offers valuable insights into how the media shapes Americans' opinions about the world, and in the process he challenges American cultural stereotypes. Beautifully written, Why Nicaragua Vanished is perfect for all interested in the media, foreign policy, Latin America, or U.S. intellectual life.

This book, first published in 1981, examines the issues inspiring working-class movements after 1848 in France, Germany and Britain, with some consideration also of Austria, Italy, Spain and Russia. It concentrates on the attitudes of the ordinary working men, rather than the ideologies and the leaders, and considers the many different forms and manifestations of their grievances and means of expression. What emerges is the complexity of the connection between economic circumstances and protest, and the existence of wide divergences of behaviour amongst the European working class.

This book, first published in 1976, re-examines many aspects of the German Peasant War of 1525, important as the first national peasant revolt in Germany and because of the influence of Engels' work on the subject. With one contributor noting the similarities between the organisation, demands and action of the Swabian peasants and those of the Zapatas of Mexico four centuries later, these essays provide remarkable insights and analyses into the enduring importance of the German Peasant War.

This book, first published in 1977, looks at the two peasant revolts that occurred in 1549, in the troubled period following the death of Henry VIII. The uprisings reveal a harsh background of economic and social injustice, intensified at the time by inflation. Peasants in North Devon rose against the imposition of the English Prayer Book, and with the local authorities paralysed and the government wavering between conciliation and repression, a general rebellion broke out. Reinforced by Cornishmen, rallying to the defence of their national identity, the peasants assembled a formidable army and laid siege to Exeter itself. Only after three major battles was the revolt suppressed. The Norfolk peasants rose against agrarian abuses, routing a small royal force and occupying Norwich. Ably led by Robert Kett, they expelled the gentry and governed the county on a programme of social justice until they were crushed by the forces released by the collapse of the other risings. These revolts display the deep-seated resentments and injustices felt by the peasantry of the sixteenth century.

The contributors to this book, first published in 1971, analyse as International Socialists the economic and social issues of modern society. Their findings were controversial, as was the alternative they proposed - the overthrow of the British system and its replacement by a society based on workers' control. A central theme of the book is the need for socialists to have a scientific view of the modern world - a socialist theory.

This book, first published in 1984, examines France's independent nuclear weapons programme of the 1980s alongside the French peace movement, which was almost totally absent - in contrast to the peace protests of the US and the rest of Europe. This book analyses this unusual pattern of defence and dissent, and assesses its likely development. It looks at the evolvement of French post-war defence policy, and discusses the French peace movement, attempting to explain why it was so weak.

No Miracle examines the role of institutions in bridging the 'digital divide' between rich and poor nations and what that means for the country's integration into a global economy. Shifting the debate from whether institutions are important to economic development to which institutions are important and how to build them, Mitchell Wigdor expertly addresses fundamental shortcomings in the existing development literature by identifying specific institutions that mediate the relationship between Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and economic growth. In doing so he challenges those concerned with development to shift their gaze from whether institutions are important to economic development to which institutions might be the focus of government efforts and how to build them. Detailed case studies of the economic development strategies of Singapore and Malaysia from 1960 demonstrate that institution-building and economic development may be as much about process as the specific policies governments pursue. Written in accessible, non-technical, language this book should be read by everyone concerned with economic growth both in less economically developed countries and the more prosperous including those in government, international organizations, NGOs, universities, policy makers and the private sector.

How did the EU, US, and Canada decide and implement their electoral assistance in the Palestinian Territories (PT)? Why did the EU, the US, and Canada embark on assisting the elections in the PT, and what factors influenced their electoral assistance? What lessons can be learned for other countries approaching elections after a long period of conflict? This book answers these questions and charts the process of electoral assistance with an in-depth analysis of each transatlantic actor's electoral assistance in the PT. It shows that, despite the many institutional and operational differences between the EU, the US, and Canada, the three actors do share common interests and influencing factors which often unify their response. The book also reveals the limitations facing electoral assistance and the implications of this on the sustainability, clarity, consistency, and responsiveness of the policy. In this systematic, comparative analysis of European, American and Canadian efforts to assist elections and transform governance in conflict zones Rouba Al-Fattal greatly advances the empirical knowledge of electoral assistance and provides the first steps needed to reform electoral assistance policy to cope with the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Political marketing coalesced as a subfield in the mid-1990s, and in 2002 the Journal of Political Marketing began publication. This anniversary collection reviews the existing theory, empirical evidence and practice of political marketing and explores emerging topics and lines of inquiry within the field. While political candidates and their campaigns are a major focus, it also considers the broader range of issue advocacy and lobbying. The selections expand beyond the U.S. context to offer a much needed comparative perspective. The volume includes material on the effects of new media and technology, posing questions about their direction and consequences for political actors and institutions, citizens and governmental systems. Collectively, the chapters illustrate the breadth and depth of a maturing field of inquiry, taking the reader through a retrospective and prospective examination of the intellectual grounding and scholarship that comprise political marketing. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Political Marketing.

This unique book explores the problems of the national crisis management system in Russia, a country undergoing political, social and economic transition and one which is also prone to natural and man-made disasters. In detailing policy, institutional and legal issues and illustrating a number of case studies, the authors offer new ways of resolving the effects of disasters as well as increasing resilience by improving our understanding of the risks and vulnerabilities. In the book six chapters offer case studies of various types of disaster written in a unique collaboration between Russian scientists, Russian policy makers and Swedish scholars. Other chapters relate the role of mass media in Russian society and policy development. Taken together the book details changes in a crisis management system, policy and approach in a country that has undergone rapid fundamental political economic and social change.

This book, first published in 1978, examines the independent political action by the thousands of working people in the town of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. After a mass rally on the hills above the town, thousands of workers under a reg flag broke into insurrection - a detachment of Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders marched into the town to restore order. The rebels repulsed the soldiers and held the town, with at least two dozen workers killed. Within weeks of the Rising, trade unions began to appear in South Wales, and this book argues that these events were central to the emergence of a Welsh working class.

This book, first published in 1984, brings together three essays written by specialists in German history of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries whose important work is little known to English-speaking historians. Peter Blickle argues for a strong connection between the theology of the Reformation and the ideologies of the social protest movements of the period. Hans-Christoph Rublack takes a wider theme of the political and social norms in urban communities in the Holy Roman Empire and emphasises the ideas of justice, peace and unity held within the community despite the upheavals of revolution and protest. Winfried Schulze provides a comparative assessment of early modern peasant resistance within the Holy Roman Empire.

Developed countries throughout the world are experiencing population ageing and the new challenges that arise from this change in the national demographic. The phenomenon of an ageing population has necessitated policy reform regarding the role of the state in providing income in retirement and the whole wider social meaning of later life. The politics of ageing have become a key issue for young and old voters alike as well as those who seek to represent them. Politicians carefully consider strategies for developing relationships with older voters in the context of both policy decisions and campaigns as issues that directly affect an ageing population often prove crucial in local and national election campaigns. 'Going Grey' provides insight into how ageing and the increased proportion of older voters is being framed by the media. It investigates emerging discourses on the topic founded on economic pessimism and predictions of inter-generational conflict. By bringing together political communication and media discourses and placing them within the wider context of an ageist society this unique contribution demands us to re-think how the media portray and frame later life and examines the strategic electoral dilemmas facing political parties today. It provides an original and timely resource for scholars, students and general readers interested in understanding more about the mediation of, and the strategic campaign responses to, rapidly ageing populations.

Blending concepts from 'dramatism' such as 'victimage ritual' with Foucault's approach to modern power and knowledge regimes, this book presents a novel and illuminating perspective on political power and domination resulting from the global war on terrorism. With attention to media sources and political discourse within the context of the global war on terror, the author draws attention to the manner in which power elites construct scapegoats by way of a victimage ritual, thus providing themselves with a political pretext for extending their power and authority over new territories and populations, as well as legitimating an intensification of domestic surveillance and social control. A compelling analysis of ritual rhetoric and political violence, Power, Discourse and Victimage Ritual in the War on Terror will be of interest to sociologists, political theorists and scholars of media and communication concerned with questions of surveillance and social control, political communication, hegemony, foreign policy and the war on terror.

How do precarious workers employed in call-centres, universities, the fashion industry and many other labour markets organise, struggle and communicate to become recognised, influential political subjects? "Media Practices and Protest Politics; How Precarious Workers Mobilise" reveals the process by which individuals at the margins of the labour market and excluded from the welfare state communicate and struggle outside the realm of institutional politics to gain recognition in the political sphere. In this important and thought provoking work Alice Mattoni suggests an all-encompassing approach to understanding grassroots political communication in contemporary societies. Using original examples from precarious workers mobilizations in Italy she explores a range of activist media practices and compares different categories of media technologies, organizations and outlets from the printed press to web application and from mainstream to alternative media. Explaining how activists perceive and understand the media environment in which they are embedded the book discusses how they must interact with a diverse range of media professionals and technologies and considers how mainstream, radical left-wing and alternative media represent protests. Media Practices and Protest Politics offers important insights for understanding mechanisms and patterns of visibility in struggles for recognition and redistribution in post-democratic societies and provides a valuable contribution to the field of political communication and social movement studies.

The problems and debates surrounding climate change possess closely intertwined social and scientific aspects. This book highlights the importance of researching climate change through a multi-disciplinary approach; namely through cultural studies, communication studies, and clean-technology studies. These three dimensions taken together have the ability to constitute a positive agenda for climate change science in its broader understanding. To cope with the climate change challenge, not only do we need new energy efficient technologies, other ways of living, and new ways to communicate but we especially need new ways to start thinking about climate change across disciplines and backgrounds. We need to begin thinking across engineering, cultural science and communication in order to create innovative solutions, as well as to generate optimistic and progressive narratives about the future. Accentuating these 'softer' scientific disciplines, their overlaps, and the positive discourses they can create, this book provides some more profoundly researched themes pertaining to climate change and by that, strengthening the analytical as well as the integrative approaches toward the fundamental questions at stake.

Fallgirls provides an analysis of the abuses that took place at Abu Ghraib in terms of social theory, gender and power, based on first-hand participant-observations of the courts - martials of Lynndie England and Sabrina Harman. This book examines the trials themselves, including interactions with soldiers and defense teams, documents pertaining to the courts-martials, US government reports and photographs from Abu Ghraib, in order to challenge the view that the abuses were carried out at the hands of a few rogue soldiers. With a keen focus on gender and sexuality as prominent aspects of the abuses themselves, as well as the ways in which they were portrayed and tried, Fallgirls engages with modern feminist thought and contemporary social theory in order to analyse the manner in which the abuses were framed, whilst also exploring the various lived realities of Abu Ghraib by both prisoners and soldiers alike. Providing a unique perspective and a thorough theoretical examination of the events, their framing and depiction, this book will be of interest to sociologists, feminists, and social and political theorists concerned with cultural studies, political communication and gender and sexuality.

This book offers a critical re-thinking of the way in which traditional market logic - derived from mainstream economics and managerial marketing - has for decades commonly been applied in the theoretical understanding of democratic politics within influential quarters of political science and in later years also the relatively new but rapidly expanding field of political marketing. Such approaches are founded on the assumption that all markets are driven exclusively by exchange dynamics and this has in turn rendered the most basic workings of co-production and participation-oriented party-centred political systems theoretically invisible. The author starts by providing a thorough and wide-ranging critical assessment of the theoretical underpinnings of the contemporary political marketing literature and its market-based political science antecedents. Using a relationship marketing perspective the author goes on to offer a re-conceptualisation of these political spheres in terms of 'markets' which addresses the theoretical inadequacies of prior research. She closes by examining some of the most important practical implications that this alternative approach to party-centred politics may have for the marketing efforts of contemporary membership parties. This book is essential reading to all those interested in party-centred politics and political marketing, as well as democratic theorists and students of political theory in general.

Responding to Heidegger's stark warnings concerning the essence of technology, this book demonstrates art's capacity to emancipate the life-world from globalized technological enframing. Louise Carrie Wales presents the work of five contemporary artists - Martha Rosler, Christian Boltanski, Krzysztof Wodiczko, and collaborators Noorafshan Mirza and Brad Butler - who challenge our thinking and compel a dramatic re-positioning of social norms and hidden beliefs. The through-line is rooted in Heidegger's question posed at the conclusion of his technology essay as understood through artworks that provides a counter to enframing while using increasingly sophisticated technological methods. The themes are political in nature and continue to have profound resonance in today's geopolitical climate. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, aesthetics, philosophy, and visual culture.

'Threat Talk' exposes how US and Chinese scientists and policy-makers have understood and responded to the problem of internet addiction in their societies. Is the internet good or bad for society? American analysts like Lessig and Zittrain suggest that the internet is inherently liberating and positive for society, while Morozov and Sageman warn that the internet poses risks to citizens and societies. Using a comparative framework to illustrate how the two states differ in their assessments of the risks to citizens posed by the introduction of new technology, Mary Manjikian compellingly argues that both 'risk' and 'disease' are ideas which are understood differently at different historic periods and in different cultures. Her culturalist approach claims that the internet is neither inherently helpful, nor inherently threatening. Rather, its role and the dangers it poses may be understood differently by different societies. Is the internet good or bad for society? The answer, it appears, is 'it depends'.

Appearing more than twenty years after the revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe, this book could not have come at a more appropriate time; a time to take stock not only of the changes but also the continuities in media systems of the region since 1989. To what extent are media institutions still controlled by political forces? To what extent are media markets operating in Central and Eastern Europe? Do media systems in Central and Eastern Europe resemble media systems in other parts of Europe? The answers to these questions are not the same for each country in the region. Their experience is not homogeneous. An international line up of distinguished experts and emerging scholars methodically examine the different economic, political, cultural, and transnational factors affecting developments in media systems across Central and Eastern Europe. Whereas earlier works in the media system tradition have, in the main, adopted the political framework of comparative politics, the authors argue that media systems are also cultural and economic institutions and there are other critical variables that might explain certain outcomes better. Topics discussed range from political economy to gender inequality to the study of ethno-cultural diversity. This unmatched volume gives you the unique opportunity to study the growing field of comparative media analysis across Eastern and Western Europe. A valuable resource that goes beyond the field of media and cultural analysis which media scholars as well as to area specialists should not go without!

Surveillance and Identity analyses the discourse of surveillance in the contemporary United Kingdom, drawing upon public language from central government, governmental agencies, activist movements, and from finance and banking. Examining the logics of these discourses and revealing the manner in which they construct problems of governance in the light of the insecurity of identity, this book shows how identity is fundamentally linked to surveillance, as governmental discourses privilege surveillance as a response to social problems. In drawing links between new technologies and national surveillance projects or concerns surrounding phenomena such as identity fraud, Surveillance and Identity presents a new understanding of identity - the model of 'surveillance identity' - demonstrating that this is often applied to individuals by powerful organisations at the same time as the concept is being actively contested in public language. The first comprehensive study of the discursive politics of surveillance in the UK, this book makes significant contributions to surveillance theory, governmentality theory, and to political and social identity theories. As such, it will be of interest to social scientists of all kinds working on questions of public discourse and political communication, identity, surveillance and the relationship between the individual and the state.

With extraordinary access to the Trump White House, Michael Wolff tells the inside story of the most controversial presidency of our time.

The first nine months of Donald Trump’s term were stormy, outrageous―and absolutely mesmerizing. Now, thanks to his deep access to the West Wing, bestselling author Michael Wolff tells the riveting story of how Trump launched a tenure as volatile and fiery as the man himself. In this explosive book, Wolff provides a wealth of new details about the chaos in the Oval Office.

Among the revelations:

• What President Trump’s staff really thinks of him
• What inspired Trump to claim he was wire-tapped by President Obama
• Why FBI director James Comey was really fired
• Why chief strategist Steve Bannon and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner couldn’t be in the same room
• Who is really directing the Trump administration’s strategy in the wake of Bannon’s firing
• What the secret to communicating with Trump is
• What the Trump administration has in common with the movie The Producers

Never before has a presidency so divided the American people. Brilliantly reported and astoundingly fresh, Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury shows us how and why Donald Trump has become the king of discord and disunion.

Operation Just Cause, the United States' incursion into Panama, was the culmination of a gradually escalating confrontation between the United States and the Noriega dominated government of Panama that extended from June, 1987 until early January, 1990. Applying diverse methodological approaches, this volume examines the various ways representative examples of the global media covered the developing crisis and the eventual US incursion into Panama. The volume: - sets the stage for this analysis by delineating the chronological development of the escalating confrontation, as well as by examining the confrontation from the perspective of the US government - analyzes the crisis from the perspective of the US, Soviet, Canadian, French, Portuguese, Arab, and the People's Republic of China media - exposes the challenges for public affairs officers operating within the context of the global media response to international crises, and provides an assessment of the implications of the crisis for inter-American and international relations. This analysis and evaluation of a variety of global media perspectives on the escalating US-Panamanian confrontation will serve to better illuminate and further enrich our understanding of a major international event - indeed, one of the final events of the Cold War era.