In March 2016, Mosilo Mothepu was appointed CEO of Trillian Financial Advisory, a subsidiary of Gupta-linked Trillian Capital Partners. The prospect of being at the helm of a black-owned financial consultancy was electrifying for a black woman whose twin passions were transformation and empowering women. Three months later, suffering from depression and insomnia, she resigned with no other job lined up.

In October 2016, a written statement handed to Public Protector Thuli Madonsela detailing Trillian’s involvement in state capture was leaked to the media. Key to the disclosures were the removals of finance ministers Nhlanhla Nene and Pravin Gordhan from their posts due to the Guptas’ influence. Although she was not identified by name as the source of the affidavit, details of the revelations published in the Sunday Times left no doubt in the minds of Trillian’s executives: Mothepu was the Nenegate whistleblower.

Despite fearing legal consequences, Mothepu had decided that she could not just stand by as the country burnt. Her disclosures resulted in the freezing of Trillian-associated company Regiments Capital’s assets and a High Court order for Trillian to pay back almost R600 million to Eskom. Facing criminal charges and bankruptcy, unemployed and deemed a political risk, Mothepu experienced first-hand the loneliness of whistleblowing. The effect on her mental and physical health was devastating. Now, in Uncaptured, she recounts this troubling yet seminal chapter in her life with honesty, humility and wry humour in the hope that others who find themselves in a similar situation will follow in her footsteps and speak truth to power.

Crime and gentrification are hot button issues that easily polarize racially diverse neighborhoods. How do residents, activists, and politicians navigate the thorny politics of race as they fight crime or resist gentrification? And do conflicts over competing visions of neighborhood change necessarily divide activists into racially homogeneous camps, or can they produce more complex alliances and divisions? In Us versus Them, Jan Doering answers these questions through an in-depth study of two Chicago neighborhoods. Drawing on three and a half years of ethnographic fieldwork, Doering examines how activists and community leaders clashed and collaborated as they launched new initiatives, built coalitions, appeased critics, and discredited opponents. At the heart of these political maneuvers, he uncovers a ceaseless battle over racial meanings that unfolded as residents strove to make local initiatives and urban change appear racially benign or malignant. A thoughtful and clear-eyed contribution to the field, Us versus Them reveals the deep impact that competing racial meanings have on the fabric of community and the direction of neighborhood change.

Access Points develops a new theory about how democratic institutions influence policy outcomes. Access Point Theory argues that the more points of access that institutions provide to interest groups, the cheaper lobbying will be, and, thus, the more lobbying will occur. This will lead to more complex policy, as policymakers insert specific provisions to benefit special interests, and, if one side of the debate has a lobbying advantage, to more biased policy, as the advantaged side is able to better take advantage of the cheaper lobbying. This book then uses Access Point Theory to explain why some countries have more protectionist and more complex trade policies than other; why some countries have stronger environmental and banking regulations than others; and why some countries have more complicated tax codes than others. In policy area after policy area, this book finds that more access points lead to more biased and more complex policy. Access Points provides scholars with a powerful tool to explain how political institutions matter and why countries implement the policies they do.

Caciquismo (roughly translated as "boss politics") has played a major role in Mexican political and social life. Loosely knit interest groups, or "caciques", of diverse character - syndicates, farmers, left- and right-wingers, white-collar workers - have exercised great power within Mexico's distinctive political system. The peculiarities of Mexico's system have greatly depended on this kind of informal politics, which combines repression, patronage, and charismatic leadership. As such, caciquismo fits uncomfortably within the formal analysis of laws, parties, and elections and has been relatively neglected by academics. Though its demise has often been predicted, it has survived, evolved, and adjusted to Mexico's rapid post-revolutionary transformation. Incorporating the research of historians, political scientists, sociologists, and anthropologists, this book reevaluates the crucial role of the cacique in modern Mexico. It suggests that caciquismo has survived decades of change and upheaval and remains an important, if underestimated, feature of recent Mexican politics. Contributors include Christopher Boyer (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA), Keith Brewster (University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK), Matthew Butler (Queen's University, Belfast, UK), Marco Calderon (El Colegio de Michoacan, Mexico), Maria Teresa Fernandez Aceves (Centro de Investigaciones en Estudios Superiores en Antropologia Social [CIESAS], Mexico), Rogelio Hernandez Rodriuez (El Colegio de Mexico), Stephen Lewis (California State University, Chico, USA), Salvador Maldonado Aranda (El Colegio de Michoacan, Mexico), Jennie Purnell (Boston College, USA), Jan Rus (Tzotzil Instituto de Asesoria Antropologica para la Region Maya, and Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, University of California, San Diego, USA), Pieter de Vries (Wageningen University, Netherlands), and J. Eduardo Zarate H (El Colegio de Mexico, Michoacan, Mexico).

A critical look at how Bill Gates uses his wealth and power through the Gates Foundation to advance his own agenda and erode democratic institutions in the process.

From greedy to generous, from cold to kind-hearted, from rogue to hero, Bill Gates is an extraordinarily complex public figure. Yet over the last decade, we've reduced him to a flat caricature - a sweater-wearing, avuncular, well-meaning billionaire, who is adamantly giving away all of his money through the Gates Foundation in order to improve the lives of others.

This simplistic portrait perilously ignores the political influence that Gates has acquired through his charitable work, and the controversial ways through which he utilises it. The charity internally sets a policy agenda for how to fix the world - based on one man's worldview - then imposes this vision onto the developing world by funding groups that align with it.

Combining rich storytelling and ground-breaking reporting, The Bill Gates Problem offers readers a provocative and timely counter-narrative about one of the world's most famous figures. But more than that, this book speaks to a vital political question around economic inequality and the erosion of democratic institutions - why should the super-rich be able to transform their wealth into political power, and just how far can they go?

"Annex One is an Interesting, Well-Researched and Well-Argued Book. It Deals with Pressing Matters of Great Public Interest." A.W. September 2018. Observations of In Defence of Justice - Israel And The Palestinians: The Identification Of Truth O.H. 3-9-2013. "An amazing and excellent book. Simply written producing a clear overall picture..." P.R. 3-9-2013. "Fascinating book. I thought I was well informed but the book clearly showed up my lack of knowledge..." M.S. 3-9-2013. "At long last a book which properly identifies and uses the truth against the propaganda machines of the West that seek to undermine the nation of Israel." M.A. 15-9-2013. "Only a barrister could write such a remarkable work...... The answer (to the) obvious question as Malcolm Sinclair has made clear..." W.G. 19-10-2014. "I found your book riveting, and I am sorry that it does not have a wider advertised publication, as it should. If I were in a position to do so financially, I would make sure it did. This book deserves far greater publicity."

Born in Gering, Nebraska on May 2, 1920, Dale Cannady has witnessed a dramatically changing world. Using the GI Bill to gain his college education at the University of Washington in Seattle, Dale rose to be Assistant City Planning Director in Portland, Oregon. My Thoughts is the culmination of 92 years of experience and observation.

Presidential Puppetry documents what many millions have long suspected: secretive elites guide our government leaders. The first book to analyze the Obama second term is also one of the first to examine the 2012 elections. Puppetry reveals scandals and shows why Congress, courts, and other watchdog institutions fail to report key facts about even the biggest news makers. Puppetry unfolds like a mystery extending over decades to the present. By the end, this compelling narrative documented with 1,200 endnotes shows hidden links between puppet masters, political leaders, spy agencies, and the economic austerity now being imposed on a hapless public. By exposing key secrets, it provides a roadmap for reform.

You know him as the founder of Microsoft; the philanthropic, kind-hearted billionaire who has donated endless funds to good causes around the world. But there’s another side to Bill Gates.

In this fearless, groundbreaking investigation, Tim Schwab offers readers a counter-narrative, one where Gates has used his monopolistic approach in business to amass a stunning level of control over public policy, scientific research and the news media. Whether he is pushing new educational standards in America, health reforms in India or industrialized agriculture in Africa, Gates’s unbridled social experimentation has shown itself to be not only undemocratic, but also ineffective.

All of which begs the question: why should the super rich be able to transform their wealth into political power, and just how far can they go?

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.