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A Political History of the Civil War in Angola, 1974-1990 (The\east-south Relations Ser.)
by W. Martin James IIIWhen Portugal's colonial rule in Angola ended in 1974, three liberation groups-UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), FNLA (National Front for the Liberation of Angola), and MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola)-agreed to a tripartite movement for the fledgling nation. Conflicts quickly arose and the MPLA, with Cuban and Soviet assistance, drove its rivals from the capital, instigating a civil war, which continues into three periods (1975-1991, 1992-94, and 1998-2002). This volume covers the first period, focusing on the political history of the UNITA movement and its struggles with the MPLA. The Angolan civil war was the product of personal jealousies, contrasting ideologies, and ethnic animosities. From its inception, the conflict between UNITA and Angola's Marxist government was an international affair involving the U. S., the USSR, China, and many African states: W. Martin James III, who wrote his book near the close of the first period of civil war, contends that despite Gorbachev's "new thinking" and talk of peaceful solutions to regional conflicts, Soviet policy toward Angola marked a reversion to the Brezhnev Doctrine. The biggest MPLA-Cuban offenses occurred during Gorbachev's tenure with Soviet advisers at the brigade level directing an MPLA offensive. American policy toward Angola is also examined here. This is the first book to emphasize the dynamic role of UNITA in the Angolan liberation movement. James acknowledges that the importance of foreign powers in guaranteeing a government of national reconciliation. Just as important are strategies of compromise requiring trust in a political context where it is violated and submission for the common good where defiance is a remnant of the colonial past. Foreign policy analysts, African area specialists, and scholars of post-colonial history find this volume indispensible.
A Political History of the International Union of Socialist Youth 1907–1917 (Marx, Engels, and Marxisms)
by Patrizia DoglianiThis book represents a valuable contribution to the history of the Socialist Second International and, more generally, of European socialism between the Great Depression of the 1880s and WWI. It comes to fill a gap in the scholarship, insofar as it investigates the history of the Socialist Youth International. During the first phase of the making of socialist parties, this organization was in charge of the political and cultural education of the proletarian youth. Capitalizing on an approach based on social, quantitative and political history, and on an analysis of mentalities and languages, the book reconstructs the many-sidedness of the “school of recruits” of the social-democratic and revolutionary movements. The working conditions of youth in Europe, its unionization and economic struggles, the fight against militarism, the pedagogical work, the internationalism and the commitment to maintain peace, and the attitude of young militants towards Bolshevik revolution are some of the themes investigated in the book. It also clarifies the role and the engagement with the issue of the new generation shown by prominent figures of Marxism such as Karl Liebknecht, Jean Jaurès, Henri De Man, Willi Münzenberg, Henriette Roland Holst, and Robert Danneberg. Finally, the book constitutes also a page of European social and political history, reconstructed through the history of the various youth socialisms and their relationship with the Marxist tradition.
A Political History of the Texas Republic, 1836-1845
by Stanley SiegelThis book is unique among the histories of the Texas Republic: it is the first to examine the fledgling nation from the point of view of its dynamic political life. Policies with far-reaching results were formulated in the nine years of Texas' independence, and the author clearly presents the many thorny issues that were to plague Texas for generations. <P><P> The political history of the Republic is one of strong figures vying with each other for popular support of their divergent policies. The author details the personal feuds and animosities that resulted and shows the effects of these differences on the governing of the nation. Thoughtful use of diaries, memoirs, and other contemporary sources gives the reader an excellent understanding of the sense of personal concern the citizens of the Republic felt toward the political issues of the day.
A Political History of the World: Three Thousand Years of War and Peace (Pelican Books)
by Jonathan HolslagA three-thousand year history of the world that examines the causes of war and the search for peaceIn three thousand years of history, China has spent at least eleven centuries at war. The Roman Empire was in conflict during at least 50 per cent of its lifetime. Since 1776, the United States has spent over one hundred years at war. The dream of peace has been universal in the history of humanity. So why have we so rarely been able to achieve it? In A Political History of the World, Jonathan Holslag has produced a sweeping history of the world, from the Iron Age to the present, that investigates the causes of conflict between empires, nations and peoples and the attempts at diplomacy and cosmopolitanism. A birds-eye view of three thousand years of history, the book illuminates the forces shaping world politics from Ancient Egypt to the Han Dynasty, the Pax Romana to the rise of Islam, the Peace of Westphalia to the creation of the United Nations.This truly global approach enables Holslag to search for patterns across different eras and regions, and explore larger questions about war, diplomacy, and power. Has trade fostered peace? What are the limits of diplomacy? How does environmental change affect stability? Is war a universal sin of power? At a time when the threat of nuclear war looms again, this is a much-needed history intended for students of international politics, and anyone looking for a background on current events.
A Political Odyssey: The Rise of American Militarism and One Man's Fight to Stop It
by Mike GravelIn this candid portrait, former two-term senator from Alaska and 2008 presidential candidate Gravel expounds on his views of the military-industrial complex, the imperial presidency, postwar US foreign policy, and corporate America; critically assesses figures he worked with, such as Jimmy Carter and Ted Kennedy; and reveals the private life behind the public persona. When he isn't being actively silenced, Senator Gravel's voice is generally acknowledged to be the most refreshing and honest of all the 2008 presidential candidates.
A Political Philosophy in Public Life: Civic Republicanism in Zapatero's Spain
by Philip Pettit José Luis MartíThe story of a Princeton professor's role as the unofficial philosophical adviser to the Spanish governmentThis book examines an unlikely development in modern political philosophy: the adoption by a major national government of the ideas of a living political theorist. When José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero became Spain's opposition leader in 2000, he pledged that if his socialist party won power he would govern Spain in accordance with the principles laid out in Philip Pettit's 1997 book Republicanism, which presented, as an alternative to liberalism and communitarianism, a theory of freedom and government based on the idea of nondomination. When Zapatero was elected President in 2004, he invited Pettit to Spain to give a major speech about his ideas. Zapatero also invited Pettit to monitor Spanish politics and deliver a kind of report card before the next election. Pettit did so, returning to Spain in 2007 to make a presentation in which he gave Zapatero's government a qualified thumbs-up for promoting republican ideals.In this book, Pettit and José Luis Martí provide the historical background to these unusual events, explain the principles of civic republicanism in accessible terms, present Pettit's report and his response to some of its critics, and include an extensive interview with Zapatero himself. In addition, the authors discuss what is required of a political philosophy if it is to play the sort of public role that civic republicanism has been playing in Spain.An important account of a rare and remarkable encounter between contemporary political philosophy and real-world politics, this is also a significant work of political philosophy in its own right.
A Political Romance: Léon Gambetta, Léonie Léon and the Making of the French Republic, 1872–82
by Susan K. Foley Charles SowerwineLéon Gambetta is renowned as a founder of the French Third Republic. This unique study of his correspondence with his lover, Léonie Léon, provides a fascinating insight into their intimate and political partnership. It brings to life Gambetta as lover and politician, the unknown figure of Léon, and the political and cultural world of 1870s Paris.
A Political Science Manifesto for the Age of Populism: Challenging Growth, Markets, Inequality, and Resentment
by David M. RicciPopulism and authoritarian-populist parties have surged in the 21st century. In the United States, Donald Trump appears to have become the poster president for the surge. David M. Ricci, in this call to arms, thinks Trump is symptomatic of the changes that have caused a crisis among Americans - namely, mass economic and creative destruction: automation, outsourcing, deindustrialization, globalization, privatization, financialization, digitalization, and the rise of temporary jobs - all breeding resentment. Rather than dwelling on symptoms, Ricci focuses on the root of our nation's problems. Thus, creative destruction, aiming at perpetual economic growth, encouraged by neoliberalism, creates the economic inequality that fuels resentment and leads to increased populism. Ricci urges political scientists to highlight this destruction meaningfully and substantively, to use empirical realism to put human beings back into politics. Ricci's sensible argument conveys a sense of political urgency, grappling with real-world problems and working to transform abstract speculations into tangible, useful tools. The result is a passionate book, important not only to political scientists, but to anyone who cares about public life.
A Political Sociology of Educational Knowledge: Studies of Exclusions and Difference
by Thomas A. Popkewitz Jennifer Diaz Christopher KirchgaslerBringing together the sociology of knowledge, cultural studies, and post-foundational and historical approaches, this book asks what schooling does, and what are its limits and dangers. The focus is on how the systems of reason that govern schooling embody historically generated rules and standards about what is talked about, thought, and acted on; about the "nature" of children; about the practices and paradoxes of educational reform. These systems of reason are examined to consider issues of power, the political, and social exclusion. The transnational perspectives interrelate historical and ethnographic studies of the modern school to explore how curriculum is translated through social and cognitive psychologies that make up the subjects of schooling, and how educational sciences "act" to order and divide what is deemed possible to think and do. The central argument is that taken-for-granted notions of educational change and research paradoxically produce differences that simultaneously include and exclude.
A Political Sociology of Regionalisms: Perspectives for a Comparison
by Kevin ParthenayThis book provides an alternative approach to regionalism in neglected parts of the world. Taking stock of several decades of conceptualization, the author provides a political sociology approach of regionalisms fed by recent contributions from the sociology of international relations and public policy analysis. It uses a methodological rather than theoretical framework to bring a new perspective on an emerging field of comparative regionalism. The relational dimensions, the social contexts and characteristics of actors and their practices are key to shed a new light on what is considered in this book as a ‘social international phenomenon’.
A Political Sociology of Twenty-First Century Revolutions and Resistances: From the Arab World and Iran to Africa, Ukraine and France
by Kevin AndersonThis book examines the possibilities – and realities – of positive, humanist change and revolution that have burst forth in the first decades of this century.Kevin B. Anderson critically examines the revolutions, uprisings, social movements, and forms of national resistance that have arisen across the Middle East and North Africa, Sudan, South Africa, Ukraine, and France in the past 15 years, providing a salient snapshot of geopolitical and social events in a way that is both timely and in-the-moment. The book represents an effort to analyze world events, especially revolutions and radical movements, in a dialectical manner, combining contemporary analysis of the class, gender, and ethnic dimensions of these upheavals with theoretical and historical reflection that engages Hegel, Marx, Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, CLR James, Raya Dunayevskaya, and other thinkers in the Marxian tradition.A Political Sociology of Twenty-First Century Revolutions and Resistances is an important resource for researchers and current affairs opinion leaders, as well as a key text for courses in social change, political sociology, social movements, and contemporary social theory.
A Political Theology of Climate Change
by Michael S. NorthcottMuch current commentary on climate change, both secular and theological, focuses on the duties of individual citizens to reduce their consumption of fossil fuels. In A Political Theology of Climate Change, however, Michael Northcott discusses nations as key agents in the climate crisis.Against the anti-national trend of contemporary political theology, Northcott renarrates the origins of the nations in the divine ordering of history. In dialogue with Giambattista Vico, Carl Schmitt, Alasdair MacIntyre, and other writers, he argues that nations have legal and moral responsibilities to rule over limited terrains and to guard a just and fair distribution of the fruits of the earth within the ecological limits of those terrains.As part of his study, Northcott brilliantly reveals how the prevalent nature-culture divide in Western culture, including its notion of nature as "private property," has contributed to the global ecological crisis. While addressing real difficulties and global controversies surrounding climate change, Northcott presents substantial and persuasive fare in his Political Theology of Climate Change.
A Political Theory Primer
by Peter C. OrdeshookFirst published in 1992, A Political Theory Primer is designed as an introductory course for students in the application of game theory to modeling political processes. Examining those very phenomena that power political machineries--elections, legislative and committee processes, and international conflict--the book attempts to answer fundamental questions about their nature and function. Included at the end of each chapter is a set of exercises designed to allow students to practice the construction and analysis of political models. Although the text assumes only training at the basic algebra level, the student who completes a course around this text will be equipped to read nearly all the professional literature that makes use of game-theoretic analysis. Each chapter also contains suggestiosn for further reading for those students who want to broaden their learning and expertise.
A Political Theory of Identity in European Integration: Memory and policies (Routledge Advances in European Politics)
by Catherine GuisanThis book provides a theoretical and historical examination of the speech and deeds of European founders. Using a fresh and innovative approach, this monograph connects political theory with concrete political practices based on empirical evidence, and theorizes the internal process of European reconciliations as it has been experienced by those involved. The book draws upon over 100 interviews, memoirs, autobiographies and essays of elite and grassroot actors across the history of the European Union, from the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1950-2 to the 2010 financial crisis. It introduces the reader to major contemporary Western political thinkers, Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor and Paul Ricoeur, and examines how their theories develop the interpretation of political phenomena such as European integration. As one of the first studies of EU memories, this approach opens a unique window of analysis to view the development of the European community, and makes a fascinating contribution to our understanding of the political tradition born of 60 years of European integration. A Political Theory of Identity in European Integration: Memory and Policies will be of strong interest to students and scholars of European politics, contemporary democratic theory and EU studies.
A Political Theory of Post-Truth
by Ignas KalpokasThis book combines political theory with media and communications studies in order to formulate a theory of post-truth, concentrating on the latter’s preconditions, context, and functions in today’s societies. Contrary to the prevalent view of post-truth as primarily manipulative, it is argued that post-truth is, instead, a collusion in which audiences willingly engage with aspirational narratives co-created with the communicators. Meanwhile, the broader meta-framework for post-truth is provided by mediatisation—increasing subjection of a variety of social spheres to media logic and the primacy of media in everyday human activities. Ultimately, post-truth is governed by collective efforts to maximise the pleasure of encountering the world and attempts to set hegemonic benchmarks for such pleasure.
A Political Theory of Territory
by Margaret MooreThe author presents us with a systematic theory of territory and surveys and critiques all the relevant philosophical literature on territory.
A Political and Economic Dictionary of Africa
by David SeddonThis invaluable Dictionary provides an essential guide to the politics and economics of the African continent. Each individual entry provides clear and concise information, and entries are fully cross-referenced to enhance the book's usability. Organizations listed include contact details wherever possible. Key features* Provides authoritative up-to-date information on a region that is changing fast, and for which reliable data is often hard to locate* Each country's recent history and economy are described and analyzed in separate essays. Entries include: Apartheid, Central African Republic, Christianity, Colonialism, Development Aid, Genocide, Great Lakes, International Monetary Fund, Languages, Nelson Mandela, Mining, Tobacco, Uganda. Countries covered in this voume include: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Spanish North Africa (Ceuta and Melilla), Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
A Political and Economic Dictionary of Latin America
by Peter CalvertThis Dictionary provides an impartial and valuable background to the Latin American region, vital for anyone interested in the current affairs, recent history and economy of this vast area. Entries provide definitions of terms, concepts, names and organizations key to discussions of Central and South America. Covering some 48 countries and territories, this volume offers a unique insight to the political and economic dimensions of this diverse region.
A Political and Economic Dictionary of South Asia: An Essential Guide To The Politics And Economics Of South Asia
by Subrata K. Mitra Jivanta Schottli Siegried WolfThanks to its emerging markets, nuclearization and the internet revolution, South Asia is increasingly at the forefront of current affairs. This invaluable reference source seeks to make the region accessible to business travellers as well as to the general reader. The range of subjects to be covered includes major political processes and events of South Asia (elections and electoral politics, political slang, political parties, diplomacy and territorial divisions), domestic and foreign policy, key personalities, political and economic institutions, sub-national groupings and units (regions, cities, provinces and rural entities), ethnicity and identity, and legal systems (laws and court cases). Key features: * Terms, which are frequently misunderstood in the political and economic processes of South Asia, are explained clearly and succinctly * More than 1,000 entries, covering the key debates, issues, concepts and institutions. Entries include: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Caste System, Corruption, dalits, Electoral System, Federalism, Hindu-Muslim relation, India-US Relation, Kashmir, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Nuclearization, Privatization, Reserve Bank of India, Sikh, Untouchability, Urbanization, Atal Behari Vajpayee. Countries covered in this volume include: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
A Political and Economic Dictionary of Western Europe
by Claire AnnesleyA Political and Economic Dictionary of Western Europe is an invaluable guide for those seeking clarification of terms, or a quick reference source. The range of entries is broad and encompasses the recent history and economy of each country of the region as well as political parties, geographical features, prominent individuals, international organizations and key businesses. It provides over 600 key definitions and presents an overview of the changing political dimensions of Western Europe and its relations with the European Union.
A Political and Economic Dictionary of the Middle East
by David SeddonThis reference volume is the definitive guide to the economics and politics of the Middle East. It provides clear definitions detailing terms, concepts, names and organizations used in relation to current economic or political affairs in the Middle East. Entries define, explain and give further relevant information on countries, regions, ethnic groups, political parties, organizations, policies and disputes.
A Politics of Love: A Handbook for a New American Revolution
by Marianne WilliamsonIn this stirring call to arms, the activist, spiritual leader, and New York Times bestselling author of the classic Return to Love confronts the cancerous politics of fear and divisiveness threatening the United States today, urging all spiritually aware Americans to return to—and act out of—our deepest value: love.America’s story is one of great social achievement. From the Abolitionists who fought to outlaw slavery, to the Suffragettes who championed women’s right to vote, to the Civil Rights proponents who battled segregation and institutionalized white supremacy, to the proponents of the women’s movement and gay rights seeking equality for all, citizens for generations have risen up to fulfill the promise of our nation. Over the course of America’s history, these activists have both embodied and enacted the nation’s deepest values.Today, America once again is in turmoil. A spiritual cancer of fear threatens to undo the progress we have achieved. Discord and hatred are dissolving our communal bonds and undermining the spirit of social responsibility—the duty we feel toward one another. In this powerful spiritual manifesto, Marianne Williamson offers a tonic for this cultural malignancy. She urges us to imitate the heroes of our past and live out our deepest spiritual commitment: where some have sown hatred, let us now sow love.Williamson argues that we must do more than respond to external political issues. We must address the deeper, internal causes that have led to this current dysfunction. We need a new, whole-person politics of love that stems not just from the head but from the heart, not just from intellectual understanding but from a genuine affection for one another. By committing to love, we will make a meaningful contribution to the joyful, fierce and disruptive energies that are rising at this critical point in time. In the words of Abraham Lincoln, "we must think anew, and act anew . . . and then we shall save our country."
A Politics of Melancholia: From Plato to Arendt
by George Edmondson Klaus MladekWhy melancholia is a vital form of social critique and a catalyst for political renewalMelancholia is wrongly condemned as a condition of withdrawal and despair that alienates its sufferer from community. Countering that misconception, A Politics of Melancholia reclaims an understanding of melancholia not as an affliction in need of a remedy but as an affirmative stance toward decay and ruination in political life, and restores the melancholic figure—by turns inventive and destructive, outraged and inspired—to their rightful place as the poet of political thought.George Edmondson and Klaus Mladek identify pivotal moments of political melancholia in ancient and modern texts, offering new perspectives on the death of Socrates in Plato&’s dialogues, the fratricide in Hamlet, Woyzeck&’s killing of Marie in Georg Büchner&’s Woyzeck, the murder of Moses in Freud&’s thought, and the betrayal of the revolutionary idea that Hannah Arendt identifies in her critique of eighteenth-century revolutions. Melancholia emerges here as a disposition that is mournful but also jubilant, a mood of unbending disconsolation that remains faithful to a scene of downfall, to events that cannot be forgotten, and to things that cannot be governed.Recovering a tradition of thought that is both affirmative and hopeful, this eloquent book reveals how political melancholia embodies a shared condition of discontent that binds communities together and inspires change.
A Politics of Understanding: The International Thought of Raymond Aron (Political Traditions in Foreign Policy Series)
by Reed M. DavisFrequently hailed as one of the greatest defenders of democratic liberalism in postwar Europe, French philosopher, sociologist, and political commentator Raymond Aron (1905--1983) left behind a staggering amount of published work on a remarkably wide range of topics both scholarly and popular. In A Politics of Understanding, Reed M. Davis assesses the originality and consistency of Aron's body of work, drawing a connection between Aron's philosophy of history and three of his abiding interests: the nature of industrial society, international relations theory, and strategic theory.Davis begins with a brief biography of Aron, known for his skepticism toward political ideologies in the post--World War II era and as an intellectual opponent of Jean-Paul Sartre. After spending three years in Germany in the early 1930s, Aron, a Jew, returned to France in 1933. When war broke out, he fought for a year in the French army and, after the fall of France, escaped to London, where he edited the newspaper of the Free French, La France Libre. He returned to Paris after the war and remained there for the rest of his life, working as a professor and journalist. He wrote an influential political column for Le Figaro for thirty years and authored many books, including The Opium of the Intellectuals (1935), The Algerian Tragedy (1957), and Peace and War (1962).From World War II onward, Davis shows, Aron sought to construct a science of human action that had as its goal charting the way of human progress in light of two fundamental realities, industrialization and the existence of nuclear weapons. Throughout his long career, he continually asked himself whether human life was becoming better as it became more technologically rationalized and more scientifically advanced. In his close analysis of Aron's thought, Davis carefully describes how Aron fused Max Weber's neo-Kantianism with Edmund Husserl's phenomenology to create an original theory of historical knowledge. The central theoretical impulse in all of Aron's works, Davis explains, is that of reconciling freedom and necessity. The ways in which Aron attempted to reconcile these two polarities in his earliest writings had a direct bearing on the manner in which he sought to reconcile realism and idealism in his international thought. By attempting to bring reason and necessity into the same loose orbit, Aron tried to construct a theoretical approach to international relations and statecraft that could hold the middle ground between realism and idealism. Many scholars have simply abandoned efforts to understand the more philosophical dimensions of Aron's thinking because of its technical difficulty. With A Politics of Understanding, Davis provides a concise and clearly written explanation of the basic concepts at work in Aron's philosophy and ties them directly to his later thinking, especially concerning international relations.
A Pope and a President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century
by Paul KengorIn this fascinating new book, acclaimed scholar and bestselling author Paul Kengor tells the untold story of the partnership between Pope John Paul II and President Ronald Reagan, and how together they changed the course of world history. Kengor shows that the bond between the pope and the president ran deeper than anyone suspected, and that this bond drove the two leaders to confront what they knew to be the great evil of the twentieth century: Soviet communism. Reagan and John Paul almost didn’t have the opportunity to forge this relationship: In the spring of 1981, these world leaders took bullets from would-be assassins—within the span of six weeks. Kengor’s unique access to Reagan insiders and his tireless archival research allows him to reveal previously unknown details, including:The story of the 1982 meeting where the president and the pope confided their conviction that God had spared their lives a year earlier for the purpose of defeating the communist empire.Captivating new information on the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, including a heretofore-unreported secret investigation Reagan authorized—was Moscow behind the plot?The many similarities and the spiritual bond between the pope and the president—and how Reagan and a close adviser privately spoke of the “DP”: the Divine Plan to take down communism.New details about how the Protestant Reagan became fascinated by the “secrets of Fatima,” dating to the reported apparition of the Virgin Mary at Fatima, Portugal, starting on May 13, 1917—sixty-four years, to the day, before the attempt on John Paul’s life.An extraordinary insider account of how the Soviet Union may have been preparing to send troops into the pope’s native Poland and impose martial law in March 1981—only to pull back when news broke that Reagan had been shot.Shortly after leaving the White House, Reagan told three men from the Polish Solidarity movement that John Paul II was his “best friend”—a telling indicator of the kinship and supreme objective that united these two towering figures.