- Table View
- List View
The Vatican in the Family of Nations: Diplomatic Actions of the Holy See at the UN and other International Organizations in Geneva
by Robert J. Ghanem Antoine Abi Vincenzo Buonomo Richard Gyhra Marenghi Carlo Maria Stefano Saldi Tomasi Silvano M. Vitillo Silvano M. VitilloBased on a collection of statements delivered between 2003 and 2015, The Vatican in the Family of Nations provides a new understanding of the social doctrine and actions of the Catholic Church in international law and relations. These statements address contemporary issues that stir deep emotional responses, from disarmament, migrations, trade, and intellectual property to discrimination and freedom of conscience. This volume disputes irrational fears of newcomers, offers reasonable adaptations to allow for peaceful coexistence, and insists on investigating the root causes of today's conflicts and displacements. As an independent voice, the Holy See offers these reflections with the view of prioritizing the common good before confessional interests, even when their aims and ends converge. In this sense, this book is a unique collection in international literature on the intersection of theology, human rights and social issues, which opens courageous new paths for the future.
The Vegetal Turn: History, Concepts, Applications (The International Library of Environmental, Agricultural and Food Ethics #38)
by Marcello Di PaolaThis book charts the multidimensional course of what has come to be known as the “Vegetal Turn” in environmental humanities - a wave of theoretical and practical interest in the complexities and peculiarities of plant life and plant-human relations. The vegetal turn consists of increasingly sophisticated, inter- and trans-disciplinary, inter- and trans-cultural explorations of the multiple systems and networks of communication, intelligence, technical-operational capabilities, and relations articulated by and via plants - as well as the ethical, economic, cultural, and political dimensions of plant-human interactions and practices. The volume includes contributions from philosophy and the humanities more generally that explore and reflect on the history, prospects, and applications of four main themes that the Vegetal Turn has brought to general attention: the mind of plants, and what their peculiar mentality can tell us about mind more generally; plant personhood and/or moral standing, and the justifications and implications of attributions thereof; plant relationships with humans, plant-based human relationships, and the ethics of human practices with or regarding plants - from agriculture to the arts, from forest management to urban design ; as well as the rights and/or political representation of plant life and the other life-forms that depend on it, human as well as non-human, present and future.
The Veil of Participation: Citizens and Political Parties in Constitution-Making Processes (Comparative Constitutional Law and Policy)
by Alexander HudsonPublic participation is a vital part of constitution-making processes around the world, but we know very little about the extent to which participation affects constitutional texts. In this book, Alexander Hudson offers a systematic measurement of the impact of public participation in three much-cited cases - Brazil, South Africa, and Iceland - and introduces a theory of party-mediated public participation. He argues that public participation has limited potential to affect the constitutional text but that the effectiveness of participation varies with the political context. Party strength is the key factor, as strong political parties are unlikely to incorporate public input, while weaker parties are comparatively more responsive to public input. This party-mediation thesis fundamentally challenges the contemporary consensus on the design of constitution-making processes and places new emphasis on the role of political parties.
The Veiled Sceptre: Reserve Powers Of Heads Of State In Westminster Systems (Cambridge Studies In Constitutional Law #20)
by Anne TwomeyThis book is a comprehensive review and analysis of the reserve powers and their exercise by heads of state in countries that have Westminster systems. It addresses the powers of the Queen in the United Kingdom, those of her vice-regal representatives, and those of heads of state in the less studied realms and former colonies that are now republics.<P><P> Drawing on a vast range of previously unpublished archival and primary material, The Veiled Sceptre contains fresh perspectives on old controversies. It also reveals constitutional crises in small countries, which have escaped the notice of most scholars. This book places the exercises of reserve powers within the context of constitutional principle and analyses how heads of state should act when constitutional principles conflict. <P>Providing an unrivalled contemporary analysis of reserve powers, this book will appeal to constitutional scholars worldwide and others involved in the administration of systems of responsible government.
The Vendetta: Special Agent Melvin Purvis, John Dillinger, and Hoover's FBI in the Age of Gangsters
by Alston PurvisIn "The Vendetta," author Alston Purvis recounts the story of his father, Melvin Purvis, the iconic G-man and public hero made famous by his remarkable sweep of the great Public Enemies of the American DepressionOCoJohn Dillinger; Pretty Boy Floyd, and Baby Face Nelson. PurvisOCOs successes led FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover to grow increasingly jealous, to the point where he vowed to bring down Purvis. Hoover smeared PurvisOCOs reputation, and tried to erase his name from all records of the FBI's greatest triumphs. This book sets the record straight, and provides a grippingly authentic new telling of the gangster era, seen from the perspective of the pursuers. "
The Venerable Bead
by Richard CondonIn the early 70s, Leila Aluja, an Iraqi-American lawyer, becomes a film star as part of her job with the government's counter-espionage unit.
The Venture Alchemists: How Big Tech Turned Profits Into Power
by Rob LalkaWe once idolized tech entrepreneurs for creating innovations that seemed like modern miracles. Yet our faith has been shattered. We now blame them for spreading lies, breaking laws, and causing chaos. Yesterday’s Silicon Valley darlings have become today’s Big Tech villains. Which is it? Are they superheroes or scoundrels? Or is it more complicated, some blend of both?In The Venture Alchemists, Rob Lalka demystifies how tech entrepreneurs built empires that made trillions. Meta started as a cruel Halloween prank, Alphabet began as a master’s thesis that warned against corporate deception, and Palantir came from a campus controversy over hateful speech. These largely forgotten origin stories show how ordinary fears and youthful ambitions shaped their ventures—making each tech tale relatable, both wonderfully and tragically human. Readers learn about the adversities tech entrepreneurs overcame, the troubling tradeoffs they made, and the tremendous power they now wield. Using leaked documents and previously unpublished archival material, Lalka takes readers inside Big Tech’s worst exploitations and abuses, alongside many good intentions and moral compromises.But this story remains unfinished, and The Venture Alchemists ultimately offers hope from the people who, decades ago, warned about the risks of the emerging Internet. Their insights illuminate a path toward more responsible innovations, so that technologies aren’t dangerous weapons but valuable tools that ensure progress, improve society, and enhance our daily lives.
The Verdict
by Nick StoneTerry Flynt is a struggling legal clerk, desperately trying to get promoted. And then he is given the biggest opportunity of his career: to help defend a millionaire accused of murdering a woman in his hotel suite.The only problem is that the accused man, Vernon James, turns out to be not only someone he knows, but someone he loathes. This case could potentially make Terry's career, but how can he defend a former friend who betrayed him so badly?With the trial date looming, Terry delves deeper into Vernon's life and is forced to confront secrets from their shared past that could have devastating consequences for them both. For years he has wanted to witness Vernon's downfall, but with so much at stake, how can Terry be sure that he is guilty? And what choices must he make to ensure that justice is done?Packed with twists, turns and an unforgettable trial scene, The Verdict is the most page-turning British legal thriller in many years.
The Verdict of Battle: The Law Of Victory And The Making Of Modern War
by James Q. WhitmanToday, war is considered a last resort for resolving disagreements. But a day of staged slaughter on the battlefield was once seen as a legitimate means of settling political disputes. James Whitman argues that pitched battle was essentially a trial with a lawful verdict. And when this contained form of battle ceased to exist, the law of victory gave way to the rule of unbridled force. The Verdict of Battle explains why the ritualized violence of the past was more effective than modern warfare in bringing carnage to an end, and why humanitarian laws that cling to a notion of war as evil have led to longer, more barbaric conflicts. Belief that sovereigns could, by rights, wage war for profit made the eighteenth century battle’s golden age. A pitched battle was understood as a kind of legal proceeding in which both sides agreed to be bound by the result. To the victor went the spoils, including the fate of kingdoms. But with the nineteenth-century decline of monarchical legitimacy and the rise of republican sentiment, the public no longer accepted the verdict of pitched battles. Ideology rather than politics became war’s just cause. And because modern humanitarian law provided no means for declaring a victor or dispensing spoils at the end of battle, the violence of war dragged on. The most dangerous wars, Whitman asserts in this iconoclastic tour de force, are the lawless wars we wage today to remake the world in the name of higher moral imperatives.
The Verdict: A Novel
by Nick StoneWhen Terry Flynt gets the chance to defend a millionaire accused of murder he knows that the case could make his career, but the accused man is Flynt’s greatest enemy—can he defend a man who ruined his life? Terry Flynt is a struggling legal clerk, desperately trying to get promoted. And then he is given the biggest opportunity of his career: to help defend a millionaire accused of murdering a woman in his hotel suite. The only problem is that the accused man, Vernon James, turns out to be not only someone he knows, but someone he loathes. This case could potentially make Terry's career, but how can he defend a former friend who betrayed him so badly? With the trial date looming, Terry delves deeper into Vernon's life and is forced to confront secrets from their shared past that could have devastating consequences for them both. For years he has wanted to witness Vernon's downfall, but with so much at stake, how can Terry be sure that he is guilty? And what choices must he make to ensure that justice is done?
The Verdict: A Novel
by Nick StoneTerry Flynt is a struggling legal clerk, desperately trying to get promoted. And then he is given the biggest opportunity of his career: to help defend a millionaire accused of murdering a woman in his hotel suite.The only problem is that the accused man, Vernon James, turns out to be not only someone he knows, but someone he loathes. This case could potentially make Terry's career, but how can he defend a former friend who betrayed him so badly?With the trial date looming, Terry delves deeper into Vernon's life and is forced to confront secrets from their shared past that could have devastating consequences for them both. For years he has wanted to witness Vernon's downfall, but with so much at stake, how can Terry be sure that he is guilty? And what choices must he make to ensure that justice is done?Packed with twists, turns and an unforgettable trial scene, The Verdict is the most page-turning British legal thriller in many years.
The Vice-Admiralty Courts and the American Revolution (Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the University of North Carolina Press)
by Carl UbbelohdeThis study describes the courts of vice-admiralty as they existed in the American colonies at the beginning of the revolutionary struggles, analyzes the changes in the courts and their jurisdiction from 1763 to the outbreak of the war, and examines the American objections to the vice-admiralty system.Originally published in 1960.A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.
The Victimology of a Wrongful Conviction: Innocent Inmates and Indirect Victims
by Nicky Jackson Kathryn M. Campbell Margaret PateThis book exposes the myriad of victims of wrongful conviction by going beyond the innocent person who has been wrongfully incarcerated to include the numerous indirect victims who suffer collaterally. In no way overlooking the egregious effects on the wrongfully convicted, this book widens the net to also examine consequences for family, friends, co-workers, witnesses, the initial victims of the crime, and society in general—all indirect victims who are often forgotten in treatments of wrongful conviction. Utilizing interviews of exonerees and indirect victims, the authors capture the tangible and intangible costs of victimization across the board. The prison experience is examined through the lens of an innocent person, and the psychological impact of incarceration for the exoneree is explored. Special attention is given to the often-ignored experience of female exonerees and to the impact of race as a compounding factor in a vast number of miscarriages of justice. The book concludes with an overview of the victimization experiences that follow exonerees upon release. Unique to this book is its interdisciplinary approach to the troubling subject of wrongful conviction, combining perspectives from a number of fields, including criminal justice, criminology, victimology, psychology, sociology, social justice, history, political science, and law. Undergraduate and graduate students in these disciplines will find this book helpful in their respective areas of study, and professionals in the legal system will benefit from appreciation of the far-reaching costs of wrongful convictions.
The Victims of Terrorism: An Assessment of Their Influence and Growing Role in Policy, Legislation, and the Private Sector
by Bruce Hoffman Anna-Britt KasupskiOrganized groups of victims' families and friends have emerged since September 11, 2001, to become a powerful voice in U.S. counter-terrorist policy and legislation. These groups were remarkably successful in getting the 9/11 Commission established and in getting the commission's most important recommendations enacted. This report documents these groups and compares them to groups formed in response to other terrorist attacks.
The Victims’ Rights Movement: What It Gets Right, What It Gets Wrong
by Michael VitielloOutlines the successes and failures of the movement to support survivors of violenceThe Victims’ Rights Movement (VRM) has been one of the most meaningful criminal justice reforms in the United States. Every state and the federal government has adopted major VRM laws to enact protections for victims and increase criminal sanctions, and the movement has received support from politicians of all backgrounds. Despite recognition of its excesses, the movement remains an important force in the criminal justice arena.The Victims' Rights Movement offers a measured overview of the successes and the failures of the VRM. Among its widely acknowledged accomplishments are expanded resources to help victims deal with trauma, greater sensitivity to sexual assault victims in many jurisdictions, and increased chances of victims receiving restitution from perpetrators of harm. Conversely, the movement has led to excessive punishment for many defendants and destruction of defendants’ families. It has exacerbated racial inequality in the imposition of the death penalty and criminal sentencing generally, and falsely promises “closure” to crime victims and their families.Michael Vitiello considers whether the VRM serves those injured by crime well by focusing on “victimhood.” He urges a reframing of the movement to fight for universal health care and limits on access to weapons—two policies that would reduce the number of victims and help those who do become victims of crime.
The Vietnam War: Revised 2nd Edition (Seminar Studies)
by Mitchell HallThe Vietnam War examines this conflict from its origins up until North Vietnam’s victory in 1975. Historian Mitchell K. Hall’s lucid account is an ideal introduction to the key debates surrounding a war that remains controversial and disputed in American scholarship and collective memory. The new edition has been fully updated and expanded to include additional material on the preceding French Indochina War, the American antiwar movement, North Vietnamese perspectives and motivations, and the postwar scholarly debate. The text is supported by a documents section and a wide range of study tools, including a timeline of events, glossaries of key figures and terms, and a rich "further reading" section accompanied by a new bibliographical essay. Concise yet comprehensive, The Vietnam War remains the most accessible and stimulating introduction to this crucial 20th-century conflict.
The View From Nowhere
by Thomas NagelHuman beings have the unique ability to view the world in a detached way: We can think about the world in terms that transcend our own experience or interest, and consider the world from a vantage point that is, in Nagel's words, "nowhere in particular". At the same time, each of us is aparticular person in a particular place, each with his own "personal" view of the world, a view that we can recognize as just one aspect of the whole. How do we reconcile these two standpoints--intellectually, morally, and practically? To what extent are they irreconcilable and to what extent canthey be integrated? Thomas Nagel's ambitious and lively book tackles this fundamental issue, arguing that our divided nature is the root of a whole range of philosophical problems, touching, as it does, every aspect of human life. He deals with its manifestations in such fields of philosophy as:the mind-body problem, personal identity, knowledge and skepticism, thought and reality, free will, ethics, the relation between moral and other values, the meaning of life, and death. Excessive objectification has been a malady of recent analytic philosophy, claims Nagel, it has led to implausibleforms of reductionism in the philosophy of mind and elsewhere. The solution is not to inhibit the objectifying impulse, but to insist that it learn to live alongside the internal perspectives that cannot be either discarded or objectified. Reconciliation between the two standpoints, in the end, isnot always possible.
The Vig: A gripping crime thriller full of twists (Dismas Hardy)
by John LescroartThe later you pay, the steeper the price... Dismas Hardy returns in The Vig, the second instalment in John Lescroart's stirring series. Perfect for fans of Michael Connelly and Scott Turow.'The plot twists and turns...Hardy is one of the more real and engaging characters in... crime solving' - Los Angeles Times Payback is murder.A beautiful woman paid it with her body. A seedy lawyer used somebody else's money. It's the vig - the exorbitant interest mob loan sharks take on their money. Now everyone has to pay... Down-and-out lawyer Rusty Ingraham left behind a murdered woman and a houseboat splattered with blood. All the evidence said Ingraham was in San Francisco Bay. Dead. But a friend of Ingraham's, former cop and prosecutor Dismas Hardy, isn't so sure. And Hardy has to find out, because a stone-cold killer, now paroled, once threatened to kill Ingraham and Dismas Hardy both. To save his own skin, Hardy must face down liars and killers on both sides of the law. From mob foot soldiers to broken-hearted lovers to renegade cops, a dozen lives are tied to the fate of Rusty Ingraham - and the payback has only just begun.What readers are saying about John Lescroart:'[John Lescroart] develops characters and storylines like no other author I have read''Lescroart is a very talented and imaginative crime writer''I am never disappointed by any books from John Lescroart'
The Vigilant Citizen: Everyday Policing and Insecurity in Miami
by Thijs JeursenHow the problematic behavior of private citizens—and not just the police force itself—contributes to the perpetuation of police brutality and institutional racism“Warning: Neighborhood Watch Program in Force. If I don’t call the police, my neighbor will!”Signs like this can be found affixed to telephone poles on streets throughout the US, warning trespassers that the community is an active participant in its own policing efforts. Thijs Jeursen calls this phenomenon, in which individuals take on the responsibility of defending themselves and share with the police the duty to mitigate everyday insecurity, “vigilant citizenship.”Drawing on eleven months of fieldwork in Miami and sharing the stories and experiences of police officers, private security guards, neighborhood watch groups, civil society organizations, and a broad range of residents and activists, Jeursen uses the lens of vigilant citizenship to extend the analysis of police brutality beyond police encounters, focusing on the often blurred boundaries between policing actors and policed citizens and highlighting the many ways in which policing produces and perpetuates inequality and injustice. As a central premise in everyday policing, vigilant citizenship frames racist and violent policing as matters of personal blame and individual guilt, ultimately downplaying the realities of how systemically race operates in policing and US society more broadly. The Vigilant Citizen illustrates how a focus on individualized responsibility for security exacerbates and legitimizes existing inequalities, a situation that must be addressed to end institutionalized racism in politics and the justice system.
The Vigilant Investor: A Former SEC Enforcer Reveals How to Fraud-Proof Your Investments
by Pat HuddlestonMaking sound investments is tough enough without having to worry about unscrupulous financial advisers and outright frauds. But recently strengthened laws aren't enough to stop the "professionals" intent on profiting from - or just plain stealing - your money. As an Enforcement Branch Chief at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Pat Huddleston witnessed countless people lose their life savings to reckless stockbrokers and fraudulent schemes. Now an SEC-recommended Receiver and CEO of a securities and investment fraud investigation agency, Huddleston has intimate knowledge of how scam artists and bad brokers operate. In The Vigilant Investor, he explains WHY we fall for investment scams, HOW con artists play on our emotions, and WHAT we can do to protect ourselves from predators. With its unique look into the science of financial decision making, the book blows up the popular myths and simplistic "do's and don'ts" of investing while sharing techniques anyone can use to perform due diligence even better than the "experts. " With gripping stories of actual cases, Huddleston sheds light on the dark corners of the investment industry and teaches investors and professionals alike how to spot fraud and guard themselves against financial catastrophe.
The Viola da Gamba
by Bettina HoffmannThe viola da gamba was a central instrument in European music from the late 15th century well into the late 18th. In this comprehensive study, Bettina Hoffmann offers both an introduction to the instrument -- its construction, technique and history -- for the non-specialist, interweaving this information with a wealth of original archival scholarship that experts will relish. The book begins with a description of the instrument, and here Hoffmann grapples with the complexity of various names applied to this and related instruments. Following two chapters on the instrument's construction and ancestry, the core of the book is given to a historical and geographical survey of the instrument from its origins into the classical period. The book closes with a look at the revival of interest in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Violence of Peace: America's Wars in the Age of Obama
by Stephen Carter"The man who many considered the peace candidate in the last election was transformed into a war president," writes bestselling author and leading academic Stephen l. Carter in The Violence of Peace, his new book decoding what President Barack Obama's views on war mean for America and its role in military conflict, now and going forward. As America winds down a war in Iraq, ratchets up another in Afghanistan, and continues a global war on terrorism, Carter delves into the implications of the military philosophy Obama has adopted through his first two years in office. Responding to the invitation that Obama himself issued in his Nobel address, Carter uses the tools of the Western tradition of just and unjust war to evaluate Obama's actions and words about military conflict, offering insight into how the president will handle existing and future wars, and into how his judgment will shape America's fate. Carter also explores war as a way to defend others from tyrannical regimes, which Obama has endorsed but not yet tested, and reveals the surprising ways in which some of the tactics Obama has used or authorized are more extreme than those of his predecessor, George W. Bush. "Keeping the nation at peace," Carter writes, "often requires battle," and this book lays bare exactly how America's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are shaping the way Obama views the country's role in conflict and peace, ultimately determining the fate of the nation.
The Violence of the Biblical God: Canonical Narrative And Christian Faith
by John Goldingay L. Daniel HawkHow can we make sense of violence in the Bible? Joshua commands the people of Israel to wipe out everyone in the promised land of Canaan, while Jesus commands God’s people to love their enemies. How are we to interpret biblical passages on violence when it is sanctioned at one point and condemned at another?The Violence of the Biblical God by L. Daniel Hawk presents a new framework, solidly rooted in the authority of Scripture, for understanding the paradox of God’s participation in violence. Hawk shows how the historical narrative of the Bible offers multiple canonical pictures for faithful Christian engagement with the violent systems of the world.
The Violence of the Biblical God: Canonical Narrative And Christian Faith
by L. Daniel HawkHow can we make sense of violence in the Bible? Joshua commands the people of Israel to wipe out everyone in the promised land of Canaan, while Jesus commands God&’s people to love their enemies. How are we to interpret biblical passages on violence when it is sanctioned at one point and condemned at another?The Violence of the Biblical God by L. Daniel Hawk presents a new framework, solidly rooted in the authority of Scripture, for understanding the paradox of God&’s participation in violence. Hawk shows how the historical narrative of the Bible offers multiple canonical pictures for faithful Christian engagement with the violent systems of the world.
The Viral Politics of Covid-19: Nature, Home, and Planetary Health (Biolegalities)
by Vanessa Lemm Miguel VatterThis book critically examines the COVID-19 pandemic and its legal and biological governance using a multidisciplinary approach. The perspectives reflected in this volume investigate the imbrications between technosphere and biosphere at social, economic, and political levels. The biolegal dimensions of our evolving understanding of “home” are analysed as the common thread linking the problem of zoonotic diseases and planetary health with that of geopolitics, biosecurity, bioeconomics and biophilosophies of the plant-animal-human interface. In doing so, the contributions collectively highlight the complexities, challenges, and opportunities for humanity, opening new perspectives on how to inhabit our shared planet. This volume will broadly appeal to scholars and students in anthropology, cultural and media studies, history, philosophy, political science and public health, sociology and science and technology studies.