In the Biden multipolar era, Western Democracies face a dilemma: Should they keep marching behind the free market band, or should they engage the Asia new powers in a collegial governance of the common goods? This book looks for precedents that may guide deliberation. When the first age of globalization collapsed into WWI, Carl Polanyi wrote: "While the various shades of anti-democrats each have their own story of the world catastrophe, the democrat has yet to produce his own" (Polanyi 2018, 177). The interwar period is described through the eyes of five witnesses: J.M. Keynes recalls the surreal Versailles conference; E. Canetti, K. Polanyi, and G. Ferrero reflect on the relationship among power, markets, and the people. In the opposite field, F. von Hayek argues for a supranational agency which may ensure global free trade, bypassing the distortions national democracies procure to global markets. For a few years in the 1990s the WTO embodied von Hayek's utopia. This book contends that globalization is an intermittent event. To support that position, two main episodes of globalization are compared: the English textile revolution and the Silicon Valley information age. Each moved through four similar phases: Industry cluster; global infrastructure; regional monopolies; transfer of global leadership. To prevent a repeat of the WWI collapse, Western democracies should promote a concerted governance of environmental issues and other common goods, rather than relying on the free market mechanism.

Offering a thorough assessment of recent developments in the economic literature on happiness and quality of life, this major research handbook astutely considers both methods of estimation and policy application. Luigino Bruni and Pier Luigi Porta's refreshing, and constructively critical, approach emphasizes the subject's integral impact on latter-day capitalism.Expert contributors critically present in-depth research on a wide range of topics including: - the history of the idea of quality of life and the impact of globalization - links between happiness and health - comparisons between hedonic and eudaimonic well-being - the relational and emotional side of human life, including subjective indicators of well-being - genetic and environmental contributions to life satisfaction - the impact of culture, fine arts and new media. Accessible and far-reaching, the Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Happiness and Quality of Life will prove an invaluable resource for students and scholars of welfare and economics as well as practicing psychologists and researchers. Contributors: M. Bianchi, L. Bruni, L. Crivelli, S. Della Bella, A. Delle Fave, E. Diener, E. Granata, M. Guerini, P. Krause, B. Lopez Noval, M. Lucchini, F. Maggino, H.A. Marujo, N. Matteucci, C. Miller, J. Morozink Boylan, L.M. Neto, G. Nuvolati, A. Pelloni, P.L. Porta, M. Rojas, C.D. Ryff, A. Sen, M.J. Sirgy, L. Stanca, L. Tay, R. Veenhoven, S. Vieira Lima

This book is a welcome consolidation and extension of the recent expanding debates on happiness and economics. Happiness and economics, as a new field for research, is now of pivotal interest particularly to welfare economists and psychologists. This Handbook provides an unprecedented forum for discussion of the economic issues relating to happiness. It reviews the more recent literature and offers the interested reader an insight into the vast scope of the field in terms of the theory, its applications and also experimental design. The Handbook also gives substantial indications as to the future direction of research in the field, with particular regard to policy applications and developing an economics of interpersonal relations which includes reciprocity and social interaction theory. Reflecting the contribution of a major research activity on the study of happiness, economics and interpersonal relations, this book will be of great interest to economists and psychologists in general, as well as welfare economists and postgraduate scholars of cooperation, welfare, social planning, non-profit, corporate social responsibility and related fields.

This book explores the role of exaptation in diverse areas of life, with examples ranging from biology to economics, social sciences and architecture. The concept of exaptation, introduced in evolutionary biology by Gould and Vrba in 1982, describes the possibility that already existing traits can be exploited for new purposes throughout the evolutionary process. Edited by three active scholars in the fields of biology, physics and economics, the book presents an interdisciplinary collection of expert viewpoints illustrating the importance of exaptation for interpreting current reality in various fields of investigation. Using the lenses of exaptation, the contributing authors show how to view the overall macroscopic landscape as comprising many disciplines, all working in unity within a single complex system. This book is the first to discuss exaptation in both hard and soft disciplines and highlights the role of this concept in understanding the birth of innovation by identifying key elements and ideas. It also offers a comprehensive guide to the emerging interdisciplinary field of exaptation, provides didactic explanations of the basic concepts, and avoids excessive jargon and heavy formalism. Its target audience includes graduate students in physics, biology, mathematics, economics, psychology and architecture; it will also appeal to established researchers in the humanities who wish to explore or enter this new science-driven interdisciplinary field.

This edited collection introduces conceptual innovations that critically engage with understanding refugee movements as part of the broader category of 'poor people's movements'. The empirical focus of the work lies on the protest events related to the so-called 'long summer of migration' of 2015. It traces the route followed by the migrants from the places of first arrival to the places of passage and on to the places of destination. Through qualitative and quantitative data, the authors map, within a cross-national comparative perspective, the wide set of actions and initiatives that are being created in solidarity with refugees who have made their journey seeking asylum to the European Union, either travelling across the Mediterranean Sea or through South Eastern Europe. It explores these cases from the perspective of social movement studies alongside critical studies on migration and citizenship.

This book shows how a small toolbox of experimental techniques, physical chemistry concepts as well as quantum/classical mechanics and statistical methods can be used to understand, explain and even predict extraordinary applications of these advanced engineering materials and biomolecules. It highlights how improving the material foresight by design, including the fundamental understanding of their physical and chemical properties, can provide new technological levels in the future.

This collection explores conceptions and practices of democracy of social movement organizations involved in global protest. Focusing on the global justice movement this book shows how they adopt radical new democratic approaches and thus provide a fundamental critique of conventional politics.

A new, fully-revised and updated edition of the leading introduction to social movements and collective action - covers a broad range of approaches in the social sciences. Now in its third edition, Social Movements is the market-leading introductory text on collective action in contemporary society. The text draws from theory-driven, systematic empirical research from across the social sciences to address central questions and concepts in the field. Sophisticated yet reader-friendly chapters offer critical analyses of relevant literature whilst exploring important issues and debates. The global political landscape has undergone significant changes in the years since this book's initial publication, such as the spread of online protests, the resurgence of nationalist and right-wing activity, global revolts, and increased social and economic polarization. This thoroughly updated edition offers fresh discussions of recent social movements against austerity from around the world, new empirical examples, references to recent episodes of contention, an expanded comparative approach to social movement theory in the scientific literature, and more. Positioned at the intersection of sociology and political science, this book: Presents an empirical and engaging exploration of contemporary social movements Discusses topics such as organizing within social movements, eventful protests, political opportunities, symbolism and identity in collective action, and social change Highlights how core mechanisms of collective action operate in different movements, past and present Provides a conceptual methodology useful for social science students and researchers alike Highlights how core mechanisms of collective action operate in different movements in the past and present Written by two internationally recognized experts in sociology and political science, the third edition of Social Movements: An Introduction is an essential course text and a must-read for students and scholars of sociology, political sociology, political science, and social movement studies.

Knowledge, Social Institutions and the Division of Labour gives rise to a new and richer institutional analysis of the economy centred around the analysis of language, the division of labour and social knowledge. It is in this perspective that the economic analysis of institutions comes to be associated with the study of civil society, or with the broad framework of communication and coordination behind the interaction of individuals in economic and non-economic spheres. This fascinating book is divided into three parts beginning with the issue of the development of science as an aspect of the division of labour, starting from methodological problems on the communication of scientific knowledge. The volume goes on to explore issues on the moral bases of social interaction and, more particularly, of commercial society before ending with in depth analyses of questions on the division of labour, social institutions and the diffusion of knowledge in society.

This volume addresses issues of precariousness in a broad, interdisciplinary perspective, looking at socio-economic transformations as well as the identity formation and political organizing of precarious people. The collection bridges empirical research with social theory to problematize and analyse the precariat.

What if the most joyful act was not to transgress a norm but to erect it? What if creativity consisted in enunciating a law under the pretext of violating it? And what if it turned out that you, who claim to prefer exceptions, only talk about them because they allow you to imagine the rules? This book proposes a provocative interpretation of the dynamic relationship between the normative and the transgressive. Combining sociology, biopolitics and satire, it offers a surprising theory of normative imagination as a cognitive mode characteristic of the era of emotional capitalism. Gender, fashion, artistic creation and surveillance are analyzed from the perspective of a regulatory drive, a continuously renovated and imperative push for normalcy that no longer comes from factual powers but from citizens themselves. These, united in a spontaneous popular court, armed with smartphones and driven by juridical compulsion, become the axis of societies of control. In this way the affective ways of constructing subjectivity are replaced by the distinctive pathology of our times, the name of the globalized game: normopathy for all.

This book responds to the growing need to secure critical infrastructure by creating a starting place for new researchers in secure telecommunications networks. It is the first book to discuss securing current and next generation telecommunications networks by the security community. The book not only discusses emerging threats and systems vulnerability, but also presents the open questions posed by network evolution and defense mechanisms. It is designed for professionals and researchers in telecommunications. The book is also recommended as a secondary text for graduate-level students in computer science and electrical engineering.

Given the recent focus on the challenges to representative democracy, and the search for new institutions and procedures that can help to channel increasing participation, this book offers empirical insights on alternative conceptions of democracy and the actors that promote them.

With a focus on the conceptions and practices of democracy within contemporary social movements in Europe, this volume contributes to the debate on the different dimensions of democracy, especially in its participative and deliberative forms. On the basis of an in-depth analysis of European Social Forums, gathering thousands of social movement organizations and tens of thousands of activists from all Europe, the book explores the transnational dimension of democracy and addresses a relevant, and little analyzed aspect of Europeanization: the Europeanization of social movements. From a methodological point of view, the research innovates by covering a group of individuals traditionally neglected in previous studies: social movement activists. Qualitative and quantitative methods are employed to research individual motivations as well as environmental dynamics. The various chapters combine analysis of the individuals attitudes and behavior with that of the organizational characteristics, procedures and practices of democracy.

Providing a cross-national comparison on the global justice movement, the theoretical challenges of the new wave of protest and offering rich empirical data on contemporary activism, this book will appeal to students and scholars of comparative politics, sociology, political sociology, social movement studies, as well as transnational relations.

The growing interdependence on a global scale which characterizes the human condition at the turn of the century constitutes a challenge for both the mobilization of social movements and social movement theory. This volume makes an attempt to adjust the perspective of the "political process" approach to a world in which political opportunities, mobilizing structures, framing processes and collective action of social movements are no longer confined to national political contexts.

Political corruption has traditionally been presented as a phenomenon characteristic of developing countries, authoritarian regimes, or societies in which the value system favored tacit patrimony and clientelism. Recently, however, the thesis of an inverse correlation between corruption and economic and political development (and therefore democratic "maturity") has been frequently and convincingly challenged. Countries with a long democratic tradition, such as the United States, Belgium, Britain, and Italy, have all experienced a combination of headline-grabbing scandals and smaller-scale cases of misappropriation.

In "Corrupt Exchanges," primary research on Italian cases (judicial proceedings, in-depth interviews, parliamentary documents, and press databases), combined with a cross-national comparison based on a secondary analysis of corruption in democratic systems, is used to develop a model to analyze corruption as a network of illegal exchanges. The authors explore in great detail the structure of that network, by examining both the characteristics of the actors who directly engage in the corruption and the resources they exchange. These processes of degeneration have caused a crisis in the dominant paradigm in both academic and political considerations of corruption.

The book is organized around the analysis of the resources that are exchanged and of the different actors who take part. Politicians in business, illegal brokers, Mafia members, protected entrepreneurs, and party-appointed bureaucrats exchange resources on the illegal market, altering the institutional system of interactions between the state and the market. In this complex web of exchanges, bonds of trust are established that allow the corrupt exchange to thrive. The book will serve both as a theoretical approach to a political problem of large bearing on democratic institutions and a descriptive warning of a system in peril.

This book explores how political, economic and social crises in Europe have led to electoral realignments, territorial forms of politics and new nationalisms. Since the 2008 financial crisis, European countries have faced economic stagnation, rising inequalities, worsening social conditions and strains on public services. These developments had major consequences on the political landscape, challenging the ability of political institutions to ensure integration and cohesion. Changes in the scale of politics have emerged; local and regional governments have engaged in redistributive politics in opposition to ‘austerity’ at state and European levels. The chapters in this book investigate these interactions with an interdisciplinary perspective. This edited volume explores the political framing, economic drivers and social dynamics of recent transformations in the territorial bases of politics. Inequalities, Territorial Politics, Nationalism will be of great relevance to advanced students and researchers in the fields of comparative politics, international relations, comparative federalism, and public policy. This book was originally published as a special issue of Territory, Politics, Governance.