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In February 2022, Russian missiles rained on Ukrainian cities and
tanks rolled towards Kyiv to end Ukrainian independent statehood.
President Zelensky declined a western evacuation offer and rallied
the army and citizens to defend Ukraine. What are the roots of this
war which has devastated Ukraine, upended the international legal
order, and brought back the spectre of nuclear escalation? How is
it that these supposedly “brotherly peoples” became each
other’s worst nightmare? In Russia and Ukraine: Entangled
Histories, Divergent States, Maria Popova and Oxana Shevel explain
how over the last thirty years Russia and Ukraine diverged
politically ending up on a catastrophic collision course. Russia
slid back into authoritarianism and imperialism, while Ukraine
consolidated a competitive political system and pro-European
identity. As Ukraine built a democratic nation-state, Russia
refused to accept it and came to see it as an “anti-Russia”
project. After political pressure and economic levers proved
ineffective and even counterproductive, Putin went to war to force
Ukraine back into the fold of the “Russian world.” Ukraine
resisted, determined to pursue European integration as a sovereign
state. These irreconcilable goals, rather than geopolitical
wrangling between Russia and the West over NATO expansion, are –
the authors argue – essential to understanding Russia’s war on
Ukraine.
In Consolations David Whyte unpacks aspects of being human that
many of us spend our lives trying vainly to avoid - loss,
heartbreak, vulnerability, fear - boldly reinterpreting them, fully
embracing their complexity, never shying away from paradox in his
relentless search for meaning. Beginning with 'Alone' and closing
with 'Withdrawal', each piece in this life-affirming book is a
meditation on meaning and context, an invitation to shift and
broaden our perspectives on life: pain and joy, honesty and anger,
confession and vulnerability, the experience of feeling overwhelmed
and the desire to run away from it all. Through this lens,
procrastination may be a necessary ripening; hiding an act of
freedom; and shyness something that accompanies the first stage of
revelation. Consolations invites readers into a poetic and
thoughtful consideration of words whose meaning and interpretation
influence the paths we choose and the way we traverse them
throughout our lives.
In February 2022, Russian missiles rained on Ukrainian cities and
tanks rolled towards Kyiv to end Ukrainian independent statehood.
President Zelensky declined a western evacuation offer and rallied
the army and citizens to defend Ukraine. What are the roots of this
war which has devastated Ukraine, upended the international legal
order, and brought back the spectre of nuclear escalation? How is
it that these supposedly “brotherly peoples” became each
other’s worst nightmare? In Russia and Ukraine: Entangled
Histories, Divergent States, Maria Popova and Oxana Shevel explain
how over the last thirty years Russia and Ukraine diverged
politically ending up on a catastrophic collision course. Russia
slid back into authoritarianism and imperialism, while Ukraine
consolidated a competitive political system and pro-European
identity. As Ukraine built a democratic nation-state, Russia
refused to accept it and came to see it as an “anti-Russia”
project. After political pressure and economic levers proved
ineffective and even counterproductive, Putin went to war to force
Ukraine back into the fold of the “Russian world.” Ukraine
resisted, determined to pursue European integration as a sovereign
state. These irreconcilable goals, rather than geopolitical
wrangling between Russia and the West over NATO expansion, are –
the authors argue – essential to understanding Russia’s war on
Ukraine.
A Kirkus Best Book of 2021: A Best Informational Picture Book A
Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings) Best Children's Book of 2021
A Spirituality & Practice Best Spiritual Book of 2021 Based on
a real scientific event and inspired by a beloved real human in the
author's life, this is a story about science and the poetry of
existence... The Snail with the Right Heart is a story about time
and chance, genetics and gender, love and death, evolution and
infinity-concepts often too abstract for the human mind to fathom,
often more accessible to the young imagination; concepts made
fathomable in the concrete, finite life of one tiny, unusual
creature dwelling in a pile of compost amid an English garden.
Emerging from this singular life is a lyrical universal invitation
not to mistake difference for defect and to welcome, across the
accordion scales of time and space, diversity as the wellspring of
the universe's beauty and resilience. This boldly illustrated book
about evolution for children features a large gatefold that opens
up to immerse readers in the story and will help kids understand
that nature is all about differentiation and that being different
is beautiful.
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Dear Data (Paperback)
Giorgia Lupi, Stefanie Posavec; Foreword by Maria Popova
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R1,182
R955
Discovery Miles 9 550
Save R227 (19%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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Figuring explores the complexities of love and the human search for
truth and meaning through the interconnected lives of several
historical figures across four centuries - beginning with the
astronomer Johannes Kepler, who discovered the laws of planetary
motion, and ending with the marine biologist and author Rachel
Carson, who catalysed the environmental movement. Stretching
between these figures is a cast of artists, writers, and scientists
- mostly women, mostly queer - whose public contribution has risen
out of their unclassifiable and often heartbreaking private
relationships to change the way we understand, experience and
appreciate the universe. Among them are the astronomer Maria
Mitchell, who paved the way for women in science; the sculptor
Harriet Hosmer, who did the same in art; the journalist and
literary critic Margaret Fuller, who sparked the feminist movement;
and the poet Emily Dickinson. Emanating from these lives are larger
questions about the measure of a good life and what it means to
leave a lasting mark of betterment on an imperfect world: Are
achievement and acclaim enough for happiness? Is genius? Is love?
Weaving through the narrative is a set of peripheral figures -
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Darwin, Elizabeth Barrett Browning,
Herman Melville, Frederick Douglass, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Walt
Whitman - and a tapestry of themes spanning music, feminism, the
history of science, the rise and decline of religion, and how the
intersection of astronomy, poetry and Transcendentalist philosophy
fomented the environmental movement.
Thirty years after Bulgaria's democratic breakthrough, this book
provides a "balance sheet" of the country's democratic institutions
through a number of interdisciplinary contributions. The volume is
organized around three themes-democratic institutions, civil
society, and European Union (EU) processes-and examines such topics
such as voting, political parties, populism, media, civil society
organizations, identity, and the rule of law. While the
contributors argue that Bulgaria's democracy is successful in terms
of the procedural norms of democracy, civic participation, and
compliance with EU rules, they also identify serious problem areas.
Bulgaria's democratic institutions struggle with obstacles such as
populist Euroscepticism, political elitism, corruption, and a lack
of political accountability, though this volume fully acknowledges
the historical development of Bulgarian democracy, including its
achievements and continuing setbacks.
Why are independent courts rarely found in emerging democracies?
This book moves beyond familiar obstacles, such as an inhospitable
legal legacy and formal institutions that expose judges to
political pressure. It proposes a strategic pressure theory, which
claims that in emerging democracies, political competition eggs on
rather than restrains power-hungry politicians. Incumbents who are
losing their grip on power try to use the courts to hang on, which
leads to the politicization of justice. The analysis uses four
original datasets, containing 1,000 decisions by Russian and
Ukrainian lower courts from 1998 to 2004. The main finding is that
justice is politicized in both countries, but in the more
competitive regime (Ukraine) incumbents leaned more forcefully on
the courts and obtained more favorable rulings.
Why are independent courts rarely found in emerging democracies?
This book moves beyond familiar obstacles, such as an inhospitable
legal legacy and formal institutions that expose judges to
political pressure. It proposes a strategic pressure theory, which
claims that in emerging democracies, political competition eggs on
rather than restrains power-hungry politicians. Incumbents who are
losing their grip on power try to use the courts to hang on, which
leads to the politicization of justice. The analysis uses four
original datasets, containing 1,000 decisions by Russian and
Ukrainian lower courts from 1998 to 2004 in two politically salient
types of cases electoral registration disputes and defamation
lawsuits against media outlets as well as data from interviews with
judges, lawyers, litigants, and judicial administrators. The main
finding is that justice is politicized in both countries, but in
the more competitive regime (Ukraine) incumbents leaned more
forcefully on the courts and obtained more favorable rulings."
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