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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political structure & processes
Malalai Joya was named one of "Time "magazine's 100 Most
Influential People of 2010. An extraordinary young woman raised in
the refugee camps of Iran and Pakistan, Joya became a teacher in
secret girls' schools, hiding her books under her burqa so the
Taliban couldn't find them; she helped establish a free medical
clinic and orphanage in her impoverished home province of Farah;
and at a constitutional assembly in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2003,
she stood up and denounced her country's powerful NATO-backed
warlords. She was twenty-five years old. Two years later, she
became the youngest person elected to Afghanistan's new Parliament.
In 2007, she was suspended from Parliament for her persistent
criticism of the warlords and drug barons and their cronies. She
has survived four assassination attempts to date, is accompanied at
all times by armed guards, and sleeps only in safe houses.
Joya takes us inside this massively important and insufficiently
understood country, shows us the desperate day-to-day situations
its remarkable people face at every turn, and recounts some of the
many acts of rebellion that are helping to change it. A
controversial political figure in one of the most dangerous places
on earth, Malalai Joya is a hero for our times.
This book examines the Brazilian political process in the period of
2003-2020: the governments led by the Workers' Party and their
reformist policies, the deep political crisis that led to the
impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff and the rise of Bolsonaro
neofascism. The author maintains that the Party and ideological
conflicts present in the Brazilian politics are linked to the class
distributive conflicts present in the Brazilian society. Defeated
for the fourth consecutive time in the presidential election, the
political parties representing the international capital and
segments of the bourgeoisie and of the middle class, abandoned the
rules of the democratic game to end the Workers' Party government
cycle. They paved the way for the rise of neofascism.
The Mohammadan Anglo-Oriental College (MAO), that became the
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in 1920 drew the Muslim elite into
its orbit and was a key site of a distinctively Muslim nationalism.
Located in New Dehli, the historic centre of Muslim rule, it was
home to many leading intellectuals and reformers in the years
leading up to Indian independence. During partition it was a hub of
pro-Pakistan activism. The graduates who came of age during the
anti-colonial struggle in India settled throughout the subcontinent
after the Partition. They carried with them the particular
experiences, values and histories that had defined their lives as
Aligarh students in a self-consciously Muslim environment,
surrounded by a non-Muslim majority. This new archive of oral
history narratives from seventy former AMU students reveals
histories of partition as yet unheard. In contrast to existing
studies, these stories lead across the boundaries of India,
Pakistan and Bangladesh. Partition in AMU is not defined by
international borders and migrations but by alienation from the
safety of familiar places. The book reframes Partition to draw
attention to the ways individuals experienced ongoing changes
associated with "partitioning"-the process through which familiar
spaces and places became strange and sometimes threatening-and they
highlight specific, never-before-studied sites of disturbance
distant from the borders.
On January 6, 2021, white supremacists, Christian nationalists, and
other supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol
in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential
election. The insurrection was widely denounced as an attack on the
Constitution, and the subsequent impeachment trial was framed as a
defense of constitutional government. What received little
attention is that the January 6 insurrectionists themselves
justified the violence they perpetrated as a defense of the
Constitution; after battling the Capitol police and breaking doors
and windows, the mob marched inside, chanting “Defend your
liberty, defend the Constitution.” In Real Americans: National
Identity, Violence, and the Constitution Jared A. Goldstein boldly
challenges the conventional wisdom that a shared devotion to the
Constitution is the essence of what it means to be American. In his
careful analysis of US history, Goldstein demonstrates the
well-established pattern of movements devoted to defending the
power of dominant racial, ethnic, and religious groups, which
deploy the rhetoric of constitutional devotion to express their
national visions and justify their violence. Goldstein describes
this as constitutional nationalism, an ideology that defines being
an American as standing with, and by, the Constitution. This
history includes the Ku Klux Klan’s self-declared mission to
“protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,”
which served to justify its campaign of violence in the 1860s and
1870s to prevent Black people from exercising the right to vote;
Protestant Americans who felt threatened by the growing population
of Catholics and Jews and organized mass movements to defend their
status and power by declaring that the Constitution was made for a
Protestant nation; native-born Americans who resisted the rising
population of immigrants and who mobilized to exclude the newcomers
and their alien ideas; corporate leaders arguing that regulation is
unconstitutional and un-American; and Timothy McVeigh, who believed
he was defending the Constitution by killing 168 people with a
truck bomb. Real Americans: National Identity, Violence, and the
Constitution reveals how the Constitution as the central embodiment
and common ground of American identity has long been used to
promote conflicting versions of American identity and to justify
hatred, violence, and exclusion.
WINNER OF THE LINCOLN FORUM BOOK PRIZE "A Lincoln
classic...superb." -The Washington Post "A book for our
time."-Doris Kearns Goodwin Lincoln on the Verge tells the dramatic
story of America's greatest president discovering his own strength
to save the Republic. As a divided nation plunges into the deepest
crisis in its history, Abraham Lincoln boards a train for
Washington and his inauguration-an inauguration Southerners have
vowed to prevent. Lincoln on the Verge charts these pivotal
thirteen days of travel, as Lincoln discovers his power, speaks
directly to the public, and sees his country up close. Drawing on
new research, this riveting account reveals the president-elect as
a work in progress, showing him on the verge of greatness, as he
foils an assassination attempt, forges an unbreakable bond with the
American people, and overcomes formidable obstacles in order to
take his oath of office.
Texas is a solid red state. Or trending purple. Or soon to be blue.
One thing is certain: as Texas looms ever larger in national
politics, the makeup of its electorate increasingly matters. At a
critical moment, as migration, immigration, and a maturing populace
alter the state's political landscape, this book presents a deeply
researched, data-rich look at who Texas voters are, what they want,
and what it might mean for the future of the Republican and
Democratic parties, the state, and the nation. Battle for the Heart
of Texas goes beyond the pronouncements of leaders and pundits to
reveal voters' nuanced opinions-about the 2020 Democratic primary
candidates, state and national Republicans' responses to the
Covid-19 pandemic, and issues such as immigration and gun policy.
Working with an unprecedented cache of polling figures and
qualitative data from surveys and focus groups-the product of a
cooperative effort between the Dallas Morning News and The
University of Texas at Tyler-Mark Owens, Kenneth A. Wink, and
Kenneth Bryant Jr. provide an in-depth examination of what is
reshaping voter preferences across Texas, including the partisan
impact of the urbanization and nationalization of state politics.
Their analyses pinpoint the influence of race, media exposure,
ideological diversity within the parties, and geographic variation
across the state, detailing how Texas politics has changed over
time. Race may not have typically defined Texas politics, for
instance, but the authors find that rhetoric on policies related to
race are now shaping the electorate. The diversity in civic
engagement among the Latino community also emerges from the data,
compounded and complicated by the growth of the Latino population
of voting age. The largest red state in the country, with the
second-largest population, Texas is crucial to the way we think
about political change in America-and this book amply and precisely
equips us to understand the bellwether state's changing politics.
'Clear-eyed and illuminating.' Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of
State and National Security Advisor 'A rich, superbly researched,
balanced history of the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.' General
David Petraeus, former Commander U.S. Central Command and Director
of the Central Intelligence Agency 'Destined to be the best single
volume on the Kingdom.' Ambassador Chas Freeman, former U.S.
Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Assistant Secretary of Defense
'Should be prescribed reading for a new generation of political
leaders.' Sir Richard Dearlove, former Chief of H.M. Secret
Intelligence Service (MI6) and Master of Pembroke College,
Cambridge. Something extraordinary is happening in Saudi Arabia. A
traditional, tribal society once known for its lack of tolerance is
rapidly implementing significant economic and social reforms. An
army of foreign consultants is rewriting the social contract, King
Salman has cracked down hard on corruption, and his dynamic though
inexperienced son, the Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, is
promoting a more tolerant Islam. But is all this a new vision for
Saudi Arabia or merely a mirage likely to dissolve into
Iranian-style revolution? David Rundell - one of America's foremost
experts on Saudi Arabia - explains how the country has been stable
for so long, why it is less so today, and what is most likely to
happen in the future. The book is based on the author's close
contacts and intimate knowledge of the country where he spent 15
years living and working as a diplomat. Vision or Mirage
demystifies one of the most powerful, but least understood, states
in the Middle East and is essential reading for anyone interested
in the power dynamics and politics of the Arab World.
"Now with an updated epilogue about the 2010 elections."
This is the inside story of one of the most stunning reversals
of political fortune in American history. Four years ago, the GOP
dominated politics at every level in Colorado. Republicans held
both Senate seats, five of seven congressional seats, the
governor's mansion, the offices of secretary of state and
treasurer, and both houses of the state legislature. After the 2008
election, the exact opposite was true: replace the word Republicans
with Democrats in the previous sentence, and you have of one the
most stunning reversals of political fortune in American
history.This is also the story of how it will happen--indeed, is
happening--in other states across the country. In Colorado,
progressives believe they have found a blueprint for creating
permanent Democratic majorities across the nation. With discipline
and focus, they have pioneered a legal architecture designed to
take advantage of new campaign finance laws and an emerging breed
of progressive donors who are willing to commit unprecedented
resources to local races. It's simple, brilliant, and very
effective.Rob Witwer is a former member of the Colorado House of
Representatives and practices law in Denver.Emmy award-winning
journalist Adam Schrager covers politics for KUSA-TV, the NBC
affiliate in Denver. Schrager and his family live in the Denver
area. He is the author of "The Principled Politician: Governor
Ralph Carr and the Fight against Japanese Internment"
This accessible new textbook situates the European Union in a
dramatically changed world order. Resisting a more traditional and
abstract introduction to the institutions, structures and policy
making processes of the EU, this innovative new text cuts through
the jargon to demonstrate how hard the EU must work to retain its
international influence. Taking into account the latest empirical
developments, including the spread of war and violence in the East
with Ukraine and the ongoing turbulent politics of North Africa and
the Middle East, Richard Youngs - an expert in the field -
introduces us to how the EU has been forced to act differently. The
book is unique in offering an outside-in conceptual framework that
inverts the way that the EU external action is studied and
understood. It unpacks the different international challenges the
EU has faced in recent years, including the weakening of global
order, the need for more protective security, geo-economic
competition, climate change and conflicts to its east and south. In
each case the book examines how the EU has responded and how its
core international identity has changed as a result, assessing
whether the Union still retains strong global influence. This book
is the ideal companion for students taking modules on the European
Union's foreign policy, global politics, and for students of
European Union Politics more broadly at both undergraduate and
postgraduate levels.
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