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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political control & freedoms
Political theorists often see deliberation-understood as
communication and debate among citizens-as a fundamental act of
democratic citizenship. In other words, the legitimacy of a
decision is not simply a function of the number of votes received,
but the quality of the deliberation that precedes voting. Efforts
to enhance the quality of deliberation have focused on designing
more inclusive deliberative procedures or encouraging citizens to
be more internally reflective or empathetic. But the adequacy of
such efforts remains questionable. Beyond Empathy and Inclusion
aims to better understand the prospects of democracy in a world
where citizens are often uninterested or unwilling to engage across
social distance and disagreement. Specifically, the book considers
how our practices of listening affect the quality and democratic
potential of deliberation. Mary F. Scudder offers a systematic
theory of listening acts to explain the democratic force of
listening. Modeled after speech act theory, Scudder's listening act
theory shows how we do something in the act of listening,
independent of the outcomes of this act. In listening to our fellow
citizens, we recognize their moral equality of voice. Being heard
by our fellow citizens is what ensures we have a say in the laws to
which we are held. The book also tackles timely questions regarding
the limits of toleration and listening in a democratic society. Do
we owe listening even to democracy's enemies? After all, a virtue
of democratic citizenship is the ability to resist political
movements that seek to destroy democracy. Despite these challenges
and risks, Scudder shows that listening is a key responsibility of
democratic citizenship, and examines how listening can be used
defensively to protect against threats to democracy. While
listening is admittedly difficult, especially in pluralist
societies, this book investigates how to motivate citizens to
listen seriously, attentively, and humbly, even to those with whom
they disagree.
The Aporia of Rights is an exploration of the perplexities of human
rights, and their inevitable and important intersection with the
idea of citizenship. Written by political theorists and
philosophers, essays canvass the complexities involved in any
consideration of rights at this time. Yeatman and Birmingham show
through this collection of works a space fora vital engagement with
the politics of human rights.
What virtues are necessary for democracy to succeed? This book
turns to John Dewey and Reinhold Niebuhr, two of America's most
influential theorists of democracy, to answer this question. Dewey
and Niebuhr both implied-although for very different reasons-that
humility and mutuality are important virtues for the success of
people rule. Not only do these virtues allow people to participate
well in their own governance, they also equip us to meet challenges
to democracy generated by free-market economic policy and
practices. Ironically, though, Dewey and Niebuhr quarreled with
each other for twenty years and missed the opportunity to achieve
political consensus. In their discourse with each other they failed
to become "one out of many," a task that is distilled in the
democratic rallying cry "e pluribus unum." This failure itself
reflects a deficiency in democratic virtue. Thus, exploring the
Dewey/Niebuhr debate with attention to their discursive failures
reveals the importance of a third virtue: democratic tolerance. If
democracy is to succeed, we must cultivate a deeper hospitality
toward difference than Dewey and Niebuhr were able to extend to
each other.
This comprehensive and clear volume reveals the numerous ways
demographic trends such as age structure, composition, and
migration influence national security. Population size, structure,
distribution, and composition affect security in numerous ways,
including national power, civil conflict, and development. The
Future Faces of War: Population and National Security offers a
comprehensive overview of how demographic trends can function as
components, indicators, and multipliers of a state's national
security. Each chapter focuses on a particular demographic trend
and describes its national security implications in three
realms—military, regime, and structural. Illustrating the
mechanisms by which demography and security are connected, the book
pushes the conversation forward by challenging common conceptions
about demographic trends and national security. Key for
policymakers and general readers alike, it goes on to suggest ways
trends can provide opportunities for building partnerships and
strengthening states. Focusing on multiple scenarios and the
theoretical links between population and security, the insights
gathered here will remain relevant for years to come.
This book investigates various public aspects of the management,
use, and control of social media by police agencies in Canada. This
book aims to illustrate the process by which new information
technology-namely, social media-and related changes in
communication formats have affected the public face of policing and
police work.Schneider argues that police use of social media has
altered institutional public police practices in a manner that is
consistent with the logic of social media platforms. Policing is
changing to include new ways of conditioning the public,
cultivating self-promotion, and expanding social control. While
each case study presented here focuses on a different social media
platform or format, his concern is less with the particular format
per se, as these will undoubtedly change, and more with developing
suitable analytical and methodological approaches to understanding
contemporary policing practices on social media sites.
More than the story of one man's case, this book tells the story of
entire generations of people marked as "mixed race" in America amid
slavery and its aftermath, and being officially denied their
multicultural identity and personal rights as a result. Contrary to
popular misconceptions, Plessy v. Ferguson was not a simple case of
black vs. white separation, but rather a challenging and complex
protest for U.S. law to fully accept mixed ancestry and
multiculturalism. This book focuses on the long struggle for
individual identity and multicultural recognition amid the
dehumanizing and depersonalizing forces of American Negro
slavery-and the Anglo-American white supremacy that drove it. The
book takes students and general readers through the extended
gestation period that gave birth to one of the most oft-mentioned
but widely misunderstood landmark law will cases in U.S. history.
It provides a chronology, brief biographies of key figures, primary
documents, an annotated bibliography, and an index all of which
provide easy reading and quick reference. Modern readers will find
the direct connections between Plessy's story and contemporary
racial currents in America intriguing.
This book seeks to go beyond existing public polls regarding Barack
Obama, and instead offers a comprehensive treatment of public
perceptions that resist mass generalizations based on race, gender,
age, political affiliation, or geographical location. Drawing from
a large national qualitative data set generated by 333 diverse
participants from twelve different states across six U.S. regions,
Mark P. Orbe offers a comprehensive look into public perceptions of
Barack Obama's communication style, race matters, and the role of
the media in 21st century politics. Communication Realities in a
"Post-Racial" Society: What the U.S. Public Really Thinks about
Barack Obama is the first of its kind in that it uses the voices of
everyday U.S. Americans to advance our understanding of how
identity politics influence public perceptions. The strength of a
book such as this one lies within the power of the diverse
perspectives of hundreds of participants. Each chapter features
extended comments from rural volunteer fire fighters in southern
Ohio, African American men in Oakland, CA, religious communities in
Alabama; New England senior citizens; military families from
southern Virginia; Tea Party members from Nebraska; business and
community leaders from North Carolina; individuals currently
unemployed and/or underemployed in Connecticut; college students
from predominately White, Black, and Hispanic-serving institutions
of higher learning; and others. As such, it is the first book that
is based on comments from multiple perspectives - something that
allows a deeper understanding that hasn't been possible with public
polls, media sound bites, and political commentary. It is a must
read for scholars interested in contemporary communication in a
time when "post-racial" declarations are met with resistance and
political junkies who seek an advanced understanding of the
peculiarities of rapidly changing political realities.
The challenge of life and literary narrative is the central and
perennial mystery of how people encounter, manage, and inhabit a
self and a world of their own - and others' - creations. With a nod
to the eminent scholar and psychologist Jerome Bruner, Life and
Narrative: The Risks and Responsibilities of Storying Experience
explores the circulation of meaning between experience and the
recounting of that experience to others. A variety of arguments
center around the kind of relationship life and narrative share
with one another. In this volume, rather than choosing to argue
that this relationship is either continuous or discontinuous,
editors Brian Schiff, A. Elizabeth McKim, and Sylvie Patron and
their contributing authors reject the simple binary and masterfully
incorporate a more nuanced approach that has more descriptive
appeal and theoretical traction for readers. Exploring such diverse
and fascinating topics as 'Narrative and the Law,' 'Narrative
Fiction, the Short Story, and Life,' 'The Body as Biography,' and
'The Politics of Memory,' Life and Narrative features important
research and perspectives from both up-and-coming researchers and
prominent scholars in the field - many of which who are widely
acknowledged for moving the needle forward on the study of
narrative in their respective disciplines and beyond.
Stephen Castles provides a deeper understanding of recent
'migration crises' in this fascinating and highly topical work. The
book links theory and methodology to real-world migration
experiences, with a truly global perspective and in-depth analysis
of the links between economics, migration and asylum and refugee
issues. Key features surrounding this complex and often
controversial field are examined through five thematic sections:
the sociological theories and methodologies most appropriate for
understanding the migratory process, including the changing nature
of international migration in an era of globalization analysis of
contemporary types of migration and the cruciality of understanding
migration as a dynamic social process - inability to do so may lead
to policy failure and unintended consequences the relationship
between migration and development asylum and refugees the effects
of international migration on citizenship and identity, providing a
critical perspective on the emergence of transnationalism.
Migration, Citizenship and Identity will appeal to graduate
students, senior undergraduates and lecturers in international
migration, globalization, sociology, political science, demography
and geography. Government officials, civil society activists,
social workers, medical personnel, lawyers and other professional
groups whose work is concerned with migrants and refugees will also
find much to engage them.
This interdisciplinary volume critically explores how the
ever-increasing use of automated systems is changing policing,
criminal justice systems, and military operations at the national
and international level. The book examines the ways in which
automated systems are beneficial to society, while addressing the
risks they represent for human rights. This book starts with a
historical overview of how different types of knowledge have
transformed crime control and the security domain, comparing those
epistemological shifts with the current shift caused by knowledge
produced with high-tech information technology tools such as big
data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. The
first part explores the use of automated systems, such as
predictive policing and platform policing, in law enforcement. The
second part analyzes the use of automated systems, such as
algorithms used in sentencing and parole decisions, in courts of
law. The third part examines the use and misuse of automated
systems for surveillance and social control. The fourth part
discusses the use of lethal (semi)autonomous weapons systems in
armed conflicts. An essential read for researchers, politicians,
and advocates interested in the use and potential misuse of
automated systems in crime control, this diverse volume draws
expertise from such fields as criminology, law, sociology,
philosophy, and anthropology.
Reprint of sole edition. Originally published: New York: Harper
Brothers Publishers, 1948]. "Dr. Meiklejohn, in a book which
greatly needed writing, has thought through anew the foundations
and structure of our theory of free speech . . . he rejects all
compromise. He reexamines the fundamental principles of Justice
Holmes' theory of free speech and finds it wanting because, as he
views it, under the Holmes doctrine speech is not free enough. In
these few pages, Holmes meets an adversary worthy of him . . .
Meiklejohn in his own way writes a prose as piercing as Holmes, and
as a foremost American philosopher, the reach of his culture is as
great . . . this is the most dangerous assault which the Holmes
position has ever borne." --JOHN P. FRANK, Texas Law Review
27:405-412. ALEXANDER MEIKLEJOHN 1872-1964] was dean of Brown
University from 1901-1913, when he became president of Amherst
College. In 1923 Meiklejohn moved to the University of Wisconsin-
Madison, where he set up an experimental college. He was a longtime
member of the National Committee of the American Civil Liberties
Union. In 1945 he was a United States delegate to the charter
meeting of UNESCO in London. Lectureships have been named for him
at Brown University and at the University of Wisconsin. He was
awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963.
Who are "The Legal Warriors" in this book? Some might think these
are lawyers. But that is wrong. The real Legal Warriors in this
book are the poor individuals and families who daily struggle to
gain their rights. The real Legal Warriors are their community
groups fighting for justice and improvements in society. These
fighters include families struggling to save their homes from
foreclosure. They are the neighborhood organizations combatting the
industrial polluters who poison our water and air. They are the
soldiers who skirmish to keep their gas and lights on. They are
newcomers who come to our region to seek a "fresh start in life."
These are only some of the legal warriors that I have been
privileged to serve in my fifty years of legal work. To all of them
I say thank you for sharing your battles with me. This book is
dedicated to you. I pray and hope that the Good Lord blesses you
and your communities with many well-deserved legal victories in all
of your struggles.
Cuba had the largest slave society of the Spanish colonial empire
and thus the most plantations. The lack of archaeological data for
interpreting these sites is a glaring void in slavery and
plantation studies. Theresa Singleton helps to fill this gap with
the presentation of the first archaeological investigation of a
Cuban plantation written by an English speaker. At Santa Ana de
Biajacas, where the plantation owner sequestered slaves behind a
massive masonry wall, Singleton explores how elite Cuban planters
used the built environment to impose a hierarchical social order
upon slave laborers. Behind the wall, slaves reclaimed the space as
their own, forming communities, building their own houses,
celebrating, gambling, and even harboring slave runaways. What
emerged there is not just an identity distinct from other
NorthAmerican and Caribbean plantations, but a unique slave culture
that thrived despite a spartan lifestyle. Singleton's study
provides insight into the larger historical context of the African
diaspora, global patterns of enslavement, and the development of
Cuba as an integral member of the larger Atlantic World.
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Faith of a People
(Hardcover)
Pablo Galdamez; Foreword by Jon Sobrino; Translated by Robert R Sj Barr
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The Syrian war has been an example of the abuse and insufficient
delivery of humanitarian assistance. According to international
practice, humanitarian aid should be channelled through a state
government that bears a particular responsibility for its
population. Yet in Syria, the bulk of relief went through Damascus
while the regime caused the vast majority of civilian deaths.
Should the UN have severed its cooperation with the government and
neglected its humanitarian duty to help all people in need?
Decision-makers face these tough policy dilemmas, and often the
"neutrality trap" snaps shut. This book discusses the political and
moral considerations of how to respond to a brutal and complex
crisis while adhering to international law and practice. The
author, a scholar and senior diplomat involved in the UN peace
talks in Geneva, draws from first-hand diplomatic, practitioner and
UN sources. He sheds light on the UN's credibility crisis and the
wider implications for the development of international
humanitarian and human rights law. This includes covering the key
questions asked by Western diplomats, NGOs and international
organizations, such as: Why did the UN not confront the Syrian
government more boldly? Was it not only legally correct but also
morally justifiable to deliver humanitarian aid to regime areas
where rockets were launched and warplanes started? Why was it so
difficult to render cross-border aid possible where it was badly
needed? The meticulous account of current international practice is
both insightful and disturbing. It tackles the painful lessons
learnt and provides recommendations for future challenges where
politics fails and humanitarians fill the moral void.
Under what conditions do citizens most effectively connect to the
democratic process? We tend to think that factors like education,
income, and workforce participation are most important, but
research has shown that they exert less influence than expected
when it comes to women's attitudes and engagement. Scholars have
begun to look more closely at how political context affects
engagement. This book asks how contexts promote women's interest
and connection to democracy, and it looks to Latin America for
answers. The region provides a good test case as the institution of
gender quotas has led to more recent and dramatic increases in
women's political representation. Specifically, Magda Hinojosa and
Miki Caul Kittilson argue that the election of women to political
office-particularly where women's presence is highly visible to the
public-strengthens the connections between women and the democratic
process. For women, seeing more "people like me" in politics
changes attitudes and orientations toward government and politics.
The authors untangle the effects of gender quotas and the
subsequent rise in women's share of elected positions, finding that
the latter exerts greater impact on women's connections to the
democratic process. Women citizens are more knowledgeable,
interested, and efficacious when they see women holding elected
office. They also express more trust in government and in political
institutions and greater satisfaction with democracy when they see
more women in politics. The authors look at comparative data from
across Latin America, but focus on an in-depth case study of
Uruguay. Here, the authors find that gender gaps in political
engagement declined significantly after a doubling of women's
representation in the Senate. The authors therefore argue that
far-reaching gender gaps can be overcome by more equitable
representation in our political institutions.
This book explores and discusses emerging perspectives of Ubuntu
from the vantage point of "ordinary" people and connects it to
human rights and decolonizing discourses. It engages a decolonizing
perspective in writing about Ubuntu as an indigenous concept. The
fore grounding argument is that one's positionality speaks to
particular interests that may continue to sustain oppressions
instead of confronting and dismantling them. Therefore, a
decolonial approach to writing indigenous experiences begins with
transparency about the researcher's own positionality. The emerging
perspectives of this volume are contextual, highlighting the need
for a critical reading for emerging, transformative and alternative
visions in human relations and social structures.
This book explores a new way of doing diplomacy through the
engagement with non-governmental organizations, here referred to as
hybrid diplomacy. Today's global politics is played out most
successfully by the combined actions of different actors. A
specific type of partnership is that between governments (namely
Ministries of Foreign Affairs) and civil society organizations.
While not the only type of global partnership at work, this is
particularly effective in advancing new issues and promoting the
norm changes that have been discussed at length in international
relations and sociological literature. The author has chosen Italy
as a case study because of the country's prolonged deployment of
such policy. Being a middle power, with a strong non-profit sector,
and hosting the central node of catholic global network, Italy is
well positioned to take advantage of this new diplomatic mode.
Through presenting a new reading of the Italian contribution to
international affairs, this book contributes to broadening the
scholarship in foreign policy analysis and transnational activism.
Marian Alexander Spencer was born in 1920 in the Ohio River town of
Gallipolis, Ohio, one year after the "Red Summer" of 1919 that saw
an upsurge in race riots and lynchings. Following the example of
her grandfather, an ex-slave and community leader, Marian joined
the NAACP at thirteen and grew up to achieve not only a number of
civic leadership firsts in her adopted home city of Cincinnati, but
a legacy of lasting civil rights victories. Of these, the best
known is the desegregation of Cincinnati's Coney Island amusement
park. She also fought to desegregate Cincinnati schools and to stop
the introduction of observers in black voting precincts in Ohio.
Her campaign to raise awareness of industrial toxic-waste practices
in minority neighborhoods was later adapted into national Superfund
legislation. In 2012, Marian's friend and colleague Dot Christenson
sat down with her to record her memories. The resulting biography
not only gives us the life story of remarkable leader but
encapsulates many of the twentieth century's greatest struggles and
advances. Spencer's story will prove inspirational and instructive
to citizens and students alike.
Gone is the era of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, when news
programs fought to gain the trust and respect of a wide spectrum of
American viewers. Today, the fastest-growing news programs and
media platforms are fighting hard for increasingly narrow segments
of the public and playing on old prejudices and deep-rooted fears,
coloring the conversation in the blogosphere and the cable news
chatter to distract from the true issues at stake. Using the same
tactics once used to mobilize political parties and committed
voters, they send their fans coded messages and demonize opposing
groups, in the process securing valuable audience share and website
traffic. Race-baiter is a term born out of this tumultuous climate,
coined by the conservative media to describe a person who uses
racial tensions to arouse the passion and ire of a particular
demographic. Even as the election of the first black president
forces us all to reevaluate how we think about race, gender,
culture, and class lines, some areas of modern media are working
hard to push the same old buttons of conflict and division for new
purposes. In Race-Baiter, veteran journalist and media critic Eric
Deggans dissects the powerful ways modern media feeds fears,
prejudices, and hate, while also tracing the history of the word
and its consequences, intended or otherwise.
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