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From Rio+20 to a New Development Agenda: Building a Bridge to a Sustainable Future
by Liz Thompson Felix Dodds Jorge Laguna-CelisTwenty years after the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, "The Earth Summit", the Rio+20 conference in 2012 brought life back to sustainable development by putting it at the centre of a new global development partnership, one in which sustainable development is the basis for eradicating poverty, upholding human development and transforming economies. Written by practitioners and participants involved in the multilateral process of negotiations, this book presents a unique insider analysis of not only what happened and why, but also where the outcomes might impact in the future, particularly in the UN development agenda beyond 2015. The book throws light on the changing nature of multilateralism and questions frequent assumptions on how policy is defined within the UN. It shows that Rio+20 was more than an international meeting; it represented a culminating point of decades of successes and failures and a watershed moment for seminal concepts, ideas and partnerships including the Green Economy, zero tolerance on land degradation, the introduction of Sustainable Development Goals, the creation of national measurements of consumption, production and well-being that are intended to go beyond GDP, the introduction of national green accounting and the commitment of billions of dollars for sustainable development partnerships, including Sustainable Energy for All. The authors conclude by mapping out a new agenda for development in 2015, when the current Millennium Development Goals framework is due to expire. An agenda that will restore faith in the UN and inspire a global response to the demographic, economic and environmental challenges that will define our future in the decades to come.
From Rivalry to Partnership?: New Approaches to the Challenges of Africa
by Gordon Cumming'From Rivalry to Partnership' is the first to study a potentially valuable way forward in tackling the challenges of Africa, namely bilateral partnerships. The book evaluates the significance and strength of the emerging Anglo-French partnership and explores how far this and other forms of 'bilateral' and 'bi-multi' cooperation might serve as a valuable alternative or complement to traditional unilateral and multilateral approaches in Africa. Practitioners, established academic experts as well emerging scholars in the field bring to bear a sophisticated synthesis of neoclassical realism and 'discursive institutionalism' and findings from over 100 research interviews to explore how joint approaches and bilateral partnerships have been used to address the challenges of Africa. In developing this argument, the editors explore: * Anglo-French cooperation in Africa * other bilateral partnerships in Africa, notably the Nordic states and the US * the Africa-EU Strategic Partnership * the China-Africa partnership and its implications for the EU-Africa partnership and for leading European states Written in a clear and accessible style, 'From Rivalry to Partnership' offers a much needed fresh insight into whether and how bilateral partnerships make a real difference to people's lives on the African continent.'
From Russia with Blood: The Kremlin's Ruthless Assassination Program and Vladimir Putin's Secret War on the West
by Heidi BlakeThe untold story of how Russia refined the art and science of targeted assassination abroad-while Western spies watched in horror as their governments failed to guard against the threat They thought they had found a safe haven in the green hills of England. They were wrong. One by one, the Russian oligarchs, dissidents, and gangsters who fled to Britain after Vladimir Putin came to power dropped dead in strange or suspicious circumstances. One by one, their British lawyers and fixers met similarly grisly ends. Yet, one by one, the British authorities shut down every investigation-and carried on courting the Kremlin.The spies in the riverside headquarters of MI6 looked on with horror as the scope of the Kremlin's global killing campaign became all too clear. And, across the Atlantic, American intelligence officials watched with mounting alarm as the bodies piled up, concerned that the tide of death could spread to the United States. Those fears intensified when a one-time Kremlin henchman was found bludgeoned to death in a Washington, D.C. penthouse. But it wasn't until Putin's assassins unleashed a deadly chemical weapon on the streets of Britain, endangering hundreds of members of the public in a failed attempt to slay the double agent Sergei Skripal, that Western governments were finally forced to admit that the killing had spun out of control.Unflinchingly documenting the growing web of death on British and American soil, Heidi Blake bravely exposes the Kremlin's assassination campaign as part of Putin's ruthless pursuit of global dominance-and reveals why Western governments have failed to stop the bloodshed. The unforgettable story that emerges whisks us from London's high-end night clubs to Miami's million-dollar hideouts, ultimately rendering a bone-chilling portrait of money, betrayal, and murder, written with the pace and propulsive power of a thriller.Based on a vast trove of unpublished documents, bags of discarded police evidence, and interviews with hundreds of insiders, this heart-stopping international investigation uncovers one of the most important- and terrifying-geopolitical stories of our time.
From Sadat to Saddam: The Decline of American Diplomacy in the Middle East
by David J. DunfordFrom Sadat to Saddam offers a fresh perspective on the politicization of the U.S. diplomatic corps and the militarization of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. This book begins with the 1981 assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, continues through two Gulf wars, and ends with the U.S. withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq in 2011. This firsthand account of thirty years in the diplomatic trenches of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East addresses the basic questions of how and why we find ourselves today in endless military conflict and argues that it is directly related to the decline in reliance on our diplomatic skills. From Sadat to Saddam offers an in-depth look by a career diplomat at how U.S. soft power has been allowed to atrophy. It chronicles three decades of dealing not just with foreign policy challenges and opportunities but also with the frustrations of working with bureaucrats and politicians who don&’t understand the world and are unwilling to listen to those who do. The book makes clear that the decline of our diplomatic capability began well before the election of Donald Trump. It recommends that instead of trying to make soldiers into diplomats and diplomats into soldiers, we invest in a truly professional diplomatic service.
From Sadowa To Sarajevo V6: The Foreign Policy Of Austria-hungary 1866-1914 (Foreign Policies Of The Great Powers Ser. #Vol. 6)
by BridgeFirst Published in 2001. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
From Saviour to Guarantor: EU Member States' Economic Intervention During the Financial Crisis (ROMA TRE Business And Finance Collection)
by Fabio Bassan Carlo D. MotturaFrom Saviour to Guarantor.
From Saviour to Guarantor: EU Member States’ Economic Intervention During the Financial Crisis (Roma Tre Business and Finance Collection)
by Fabio Bassan Carlo D. MotturaState guarantees commonly function as financial panacea, allowing states to consolidate banking systems and create intergovernmental funds. Rules surrounding state guarantees were relaxed during the 2007-2008 financial crisis, allowing states to use them for financing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and workers' severance payments. Despite many multi-level interventions in many areas after the financial crisis, from international treaties to EU regulations, no specific regulation has been put in place to control state guarantees. This book addresses the subject of state guarantees in the Eurozone, and questions the stability of the instruments implemented so far by states and by the European Union. Using a methodology combining law and finance, it examines the tools adopted by European institutions and Member States in the EU's evolving institutional context, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the tools themselves as well as of the new European institutional framework. It also addresses the unconventional measures adopted by the European Central Bank, its role as safeguard for European state guarantees and its interaction with the European Union and national courts. In From Saviour to Guarantor the authors suggest that the absence of specific regulatory interventions and the variety and vagueness of existing rules has resulted in state guarantees further destabilising public international finance.
From Scarcity to Visibility: Gender Differences in the Careers of Doctoral Scientists and Engineers
by Engineering Committee on Women in ScienceAlthough women have made important inroads in science and engineering since the early 1970s, their progress in these fields has stalled over the past several years. This study looks at women in science and engineering careers in the 1970s and 1980s, documenting differences in career outcomes between men and women and between women of different races and ethnic backgrounds.The panel presents what is known about the following questions and explores their policy implications: In what sectors are female Ph.D.s employed? What salary disparities exist between men and women in these fields? How is marital status associated with career attainment? Does it help a career to have a postdoctoral appointment? How well are female scientists and engineers represented in management?Within the broader context of education and the labor market, the book provides detailed comparisons between men and women Ph.D.s in a number of measures: financial support for education, academic rank achieved, salary, and others. The study covers engineering; the mathematical, physical, life, and social and behavioral sciences; medical school faculty; and recipients of National Institutes of Health grants.Findings and recommendations in this volume will be of interest to practitioners, faculty, and students in science and engineering as well as education administrators, employers, and researchers in these fields.
From School Board to Local Authority (Routledge Revivals)
by Eric EagleshamFirst published in 1956, From School Board to Local Authority is a meticulous and exact inquiry into the events which led up to the famous Cockerton v. The School Board for London case. It suggests that the reorganization of the education system in 1902 was not primarily the result of an unexpected legal decision in 'Cockerton Judgement' rather was the outcome of a deliberate policy evolved by Morant and Gorst aimed at ending the administrative confusion which then existed. The book is based mainly on the material found on the files of the Education Department, the Science and Art Department, and the Local Government Board. It further reveals the administrative confusion and jealousies of these Departments, shown as conflicts about Higher Grade Schools, Secondary Schools, Organized Science Schools, and Evening Schools.
From Seatwork to Feetwork: Engaging Students in Their Own Learning
by Ronald J. NashThe essential book on student engagement—now fully updated! Ron Nash’s bestseller has helped thousands of teachers to transform their classroom environments by energizing and engaging their students. In this newly revise edition, Nash offers proven strategies to involve students as active participants in their own learning. Teachers of all levels will benefit from: The latest research on exercise, learning, and brain development New chapters on the value of empathy and the use of feedback versus praise Even more classroom examples at all levels Novel teaching strategies that align with the Speaking and Listening Skills requirements of the Common Core State Standards
From Seatwork to Feetwork: Engaging Students in Their Own Learning
by Ronald J. NashThe essential book on student engagement—now fully updated! Ron Nash’s bestseller has helped thousands of teachers to transform their classroom environments by energizing and engaging their students. In this newly revise edition, Nash offers proven strategies to involve students as active participants in their own learning. Teachers of all levels will benefit from: The latest research on exercise, learning, and brain development New chapters on the value of empathy and the use of feedback versus praise Even more classroom examples at all levels Novel teaching strategies that align with the Speaking and Listening Skills requirements of the Common Core State Standards
From Selma to Moscow: How Human Rights Activists Transformed U.S. Foreign Policy
by Sarah B. SnyderThe 1960s marked a transformation of human rights activism in the United States. At a time of increased concern for the rights of their fellow citizens—civil and political rights, as well as the social and economic rights that Great Society programs sought to secure—many Americans saw inconsistencies between domestic and foreign policy and advocated for a new approach. The activism that arose from the upheavals of the 1960s fundamentally altered U.S. foreign policy—yet previous accounts have often overlooked its crucial role.In From Selma to Moscow, Sarah B. Snyder traces the influence of human rights activists and advances a new interpretation of U.S. foreign policy in the “long 1960s.” She shows how transnational connections and social movements spurred American activism that achieved legislation that curbed military and economic assistance to repressive governments, created institutions to monitor human rights around the world, and enshrined human rights in U.S. foreign policy making for years to come. Snyder analyzes how Americans responded to repression in the Soviet Union, racial discrimination in Southern Rhodesia, authoritarianism in South Korea, and coups in Greece and Chile. By highlighting the importance of nonstate and lower-level actors, Snyder shows how this activism established the networks and tactics critical to the institutionalization of human rights. A major work of international and transnational history, From Selma to Moscow reshapes our understanding of the role of human rights activism in transforming U.S. foreign policy in the 1960s and 1970s and highlights timely lessons for those seeking to promote a policy agenda resisted by the White House.
From She-Wolf to Martyr: The Reign and Disputed Reputation of Johanna I of Naples
by Elizabeth CasteenIn 1343 a seventeen-year-old girl named Johanna (1326–1382) ascended the Neapolitan throne, becoming the ruling monarch of one of medieval Europe's most important polities. For nearly forty years, she held her throne and the avid attention of her contemporaries. Their varied responses to her reign created a reputation that made Johanna the most notorious woman in Europe during her lifetime. In From She-Wolf to Martyr, Elizabeth Casteen examines Johanna's evolving, problematic reputation and uses it as a lens through which to analyze often-contradictory late-medieval conceptions of rulership, authority, and femininity. When Johanna inherited the Neapolitan throne from her grandfather, many questioned both her right to and her suitability for her throne. After the murder of her first husband, Johanna quickly became infamous as a she-wolf—a violent, predatory, sexually licentious woman. Yet, she also eventually gained fame as a wise, pious, and able queen. Contemporaries—including Francesco Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Birgitta of Sweden, and Catherine of Siena—were fascinated by Johanna. Drawing on a wide range of textual and visual sources, Casteen reconstructs the fourteenth-century conversation about Johanna and tracks the role she played in her time’s cultural imaginary. She argues that despite Johanna’s modern reputation for indolence and incompetence, she crafted a new model of female sovereignty that many of her contemporaries accepted and even lauded.
From Silence to Protest: International Perspectives on Weakly Resourced Groups (The\mobilization Series On Social Movements, Protest, And Culture Ser.)
by Frédéric Royall Didier ChabanetThe editors of this book examine social movement scholars’ use of contemporary concepts and paradigms in the study of protest as they analyse the extent to which these tools are valid (or not) in very different regional - and thus political or cultural - contexts. The authors posit that ’weakly resourced groups’ are a particularly useful point of departure to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of three key social movement schools of analysis: resource mobilization, political opportunity structures, and frame analysis. Some of the groups considered in this volume are financially disadvantaged, lacking money and work; others are economically disadvantaged, with members having precarious, part-time, or short-term jobs; some are socially disadvantaged, with fragile networks of solidarity; others are culturally disadvantaged, with members continuously victimized, stigmatized and rejected; finally some are politically disadvantaged when they have little or no access to decision-making structures. These exclusionary factors can be cumulative and give way to different outcomes. The chapters cover a large range of examples including urban riots in France and in Great Britain, the World Social Forums of Dakar and Nairobi, the struggles of precarious workers in Italy and Greece, unemployed mobilization in Germany and Ireland, the mobilization of the Roma and Muslims in Europe, the Brazilian landless movement, the mobilization of small farmers in France, as well as mobilization in authoritarian states such as Morocco and Cuba. This book will be of interest to scholars, students and activists working within social movement studies.
From Silk to Silicon
by Jeffrey E. GartenThe story of globalization, the most powerful force in history, as told through the life and times of ten people who changed the world by their singular, spectacular accomplishments.This is the first book to look at the history of globalization through the lens of individuals who did something transformative, as opposed to describing globalization through trends, policies, or particular industries. From Silk to Silicon tells the story of who these men and women were, what they did, how they did it and how their achievements continue to shape our world today. They include:* Genghis Khan, who united east and west by conquest and by opening new trade routes built on groundbreaking transportation, communications, and management innovations.* Mayer Amschel Rothschild, who arose from an oppressive Jewish ghetto to establish the most powerful bank the world has seen, and ushered in an era of global finance.* Cyrus Field, who became the father of global communications by leading the effort to build the transatlantic telegraph, the forerunner to global radio, TV, and the worldwide Internet.* Margaret Thatcher, whose controversial policies opened the gusher of substantially free markets that linked economies across borders.* Andy Grove, a Hungarian refugee from the Nazis who built the company--Intel--that figured out how to manufacture complex computer chips on a mass, commercial scale and laid the foundation for Silicon Valley's computer revolution.Through these stories Jeffrey E. Garten finds the common links between these figure and probes critical questions including: How much influence can any one person have in fundamentally changing the world? And how have past trends in globalization affected the present and how will they shape the future? From Silk to Silicon is an essential book to understanding the past--and the future--of the most powerful force of our times.y did each leave? What do their stories tell us about globalization today? What do they imply for the future?With the Internet tying the world together in ways that would have been unfathomable just a few years ago, with the economic ups and downs of China and other emerging nations whipsawing international markets, and with terrorism causing the largest flows of refugees since the end of World War II, a fresh way of thinking about globalization could not be more urgent. That is exactly what From Silk to Silicon provides.Praise for From Silk to Silicon"This is a tale of globalization and leadership that is both sweeping and personal. By focusing on ten transformational people, it shows how individuals can affect the flow of history. It's a guide to the future as well as to the past."--Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs, Einstein, and Benjamin Franklin"From Silk to Silicon creatively combines the impersonal forces of globalization with the very personal faces of biography in an engaging and thought-provoking story. Ranging over eight centuries of empires, exploration, and enterprise, Garten's colorful histories portray how willpower and persistence can propel societies to new achievements--and he says the best is yet to come!"--Robert B. Zoellick, former president of the World Bank"Impressive, fascinating, and very creative. Jeffrey Garten draws on decades of experience in the modern world economy to tell the story of globalization and, in so doing, not only brings the creation of our present world into focus but also widens our understanding of how the world may well evolve in the future."--Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Prize"Jeffrey Garten has brilliantly updated Thomas Carlyle's Great Man theory of history in his gallery of transformative figures, notably including a woman, who have spurred globalization. A tour de force--imaginative, informative, and just plain fun to read."--Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution"From Silk to Silicon is a most nifty work, as well as being serious history. Garten persuasively shows how, in the broad unfolding of events that brought us from the Dark Ages to the twenty-first century, ind...
From Silk to Silicon: The Story of Globalization Through Ten Extraordinary Lives
by Jeffrey E. GartenStories of ten historical figures who helped build the long road to globalization, from Genghis Khan to an Intel CEO: “Filled with brilliant vignettes.” —The Washington PostThis is the story of globalization, the most powerful force in history, as told through the lives and times of ten people who established new connections between people and nations—whether that was their primary goal or not. Rather than focusing on trends, policies, or particular industries, From Silk to Silicon views the topic of globalization for the first time through the lens of individuals and their transformative actions. It tells us who these men and women were, what they did, how they did it, and how their achievements continue to shape our world today. You’ll read about Genghis Khan, who united east and west by conquest and by opening new trade routes built on groundbreaking transportation, communications, and management innovations; Mayer Amschel Rothschild, who escaped the ghetto and ushered in an era of global finance; Cyrus Field, who led the effort to build the transatlantic telegraph; Margaret Thatcher, whose controversial policies opened the gusher of substantially free markets that linked economies across borders; Andy Grove, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor who, at Intel, laid the foundation for Silicon Valley’s computer revolution; and more.Economist Jeffrey E. Garten finds the common links between these figures and probes critical questions including: How much influence can any one person have in fundamentally changing the world? How have past trends in globalization affected the present? And how will they shape the future? “Fascinating and illuminating.” —Fareed Zakaria, author of Age of Revolutions“Garten has brilliantly updated Thomas Carlyle’s Great Man theory of history . . . A tour de force, imaginative, informative and just plain fun to read.” —Strobe Talbott, former Deputy Secretary of State“A terrific book on globalization . . . really compelling.” —Thomas L. Friedman, author of The World is Flat
From Slave to Pharaoh: The Black Experience of Ancient Egypt
by Donald B. RedfordIn From Slave to Pharaoh, noted Egyptologist Donald B. Redford examines over two millennia of complex social and cultural interactions between Egypt and the Nubian and Sudanese civilizations that lay to the south of Egypt. These interactions resulted in the expulsion of the black Kushite pharaohs of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty in 671 B. C. by an invading Assyrian army. Redford traces the development of Egyptian perceptions of race as their dominance over the darker-skinned peoples of Nubia and the Sudan grew, exploring the cultural construction of spatial and spiritual boundaries between Egypt and other African peoples. Redford focuses on the role of racial identity in the formulation of imperial power in Egypt and the legitimization of its sphere of influence, and he highlights the dichotomy between the Egyptians' treatment of the black Africans it deemed enemies and of those living within Egyptian society. He also describes the range of responses-from resistance to assimilation-of subjugated Nubians and Sudanese to their loss of self-determination. Indeed, by the time of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, the culture of the Kushite kings who conquered Egypt in the late eighth century B. C. was thoroughly Egyptian itself. Moving beyond recent debates between Afrocentrists and their critics over the racial characteristics of Egyptian civilization, From Slave to Pharaoh reveals the true complexity of race, identity, and power in Egypt as documented through surviving texts and artifacts, while at the same time providing a compelling account of war, conquest, and culture in the ancient world.
From Slavery to Segregation: Reckoning with White Supremacy in the American South
by Keith M. FinleyKeith M. Finley’s From Slavery to Segregation explores the key features shaping southern politics during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as explained in the South’s defense of its racial systems. It treats slavery and segregation as part of the same whole rather than as discrete institutions rooted in different periods. In the process, the book uncovers the deep historical origins of the region’s states’ rights philosophy and the unfortunate persistence of a culture dominated by calls for white supremacy. While highlighting the broad overview of southern racial and political thought, Finley underscores the larger American struggle with racial injustice, which, although most pronounced in the South, afflicted the entire nation. The South’s defense of chattel slavery became a natural model for the region’s defense of segregation during the Jim Crow era. Through a comparative analysis of the rhetoric employed in the justification of both racial institutions, Finley reveals elements of continuity and change in the region’s identity. Ultimately, he shows how the history of the twentieth-century South is irreparably linked to the century before it. For instance, one cannot understand the ferocity of resistance to the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision without being aware of how and why the South emerged as it did after the Civil War. The Old South and the New South shared a similar constellation of ideas that informed arguments advancing their respective race-based social orders, which took the form of a commonality of perception regarding race, a sense of being assailed by outsiders, and a series of appeals to the highest secular authority in the pantheon of regional and American beliefs—the Constitution. Discontinuity, however, marked the long-term strategies of both the prewar and postwar South. Although segregationists sought to preserve the racial status quo as did their forebears, they ultimately relented when confronted with federal power and grudgingly shifted toward a narrative that less often foregrounded race when championing states’ rights.
From Slavery to the Cooperative Commonwealth
by Alex GourevitchThis book reconstructs how a group of nineteenth-century labor reformers appropriated and radicalized the republican tradition. These "labor republicans" derived their definition of freedom from a long tradition of political theory dating back to the classical republics. In this tradition, to be free is to be independent of anyone else's will - to be dependent is to be a slave. Borrowing these ideas, labor republicans argued that wage laborers were unfree because of their abject dependence on their employers. Workers in a cooperative, on the other hand, were considered free because they equally and collectively controlled their work. Although these labor republicans are relatively unknown, this book details their unique, contemporary, and valuable perspective on both American history and the organization of the economy.
From Social Visibility to Political Invisibility: The School in Nationalist Taiwan as Fulcrum for an Evolving World Ethos
by Allen ChunThis book began as a year-long ethnography of a school in Taiwan in 1991 then evolved more into a historical sociology of national formation and its cultural mindset. Cultural nationalism is a widely debated but poorly understood process. Contrary to prevailing perceptions, the Cold War may have given way to a more progressive open society, but the politicization of ethnicity hardened a more deeply entrenched cultural frame of mind. Instead of liberating an indigenous reality, Taiwanese consciousness has ironically polarized the political dead ends of reunification and independence. In the final analysis, the ethnography can serve as a paradigmatic case study for critical cultural studies. There are clear ramifications also for a comparative study of the cultural politics of other Chinese speaking or Asian societies and their histories.
From Soldiers to Citizens: Demilitarization of Conflict and Society (Iss Monograph Ser. #No. 130)
by Chris Alden João Gomes PortoDemilitarization of conflict and society is crucial to building sustainable peace in countries emerging from the scourge of civil war. As longstanding conflicts come to an end, processes which facilitate the potentially volatile transition from formal peace to social peace are critically important. At the heart of the exercise is the necessity of transforming the culture and the instruments of war - demilitarization - including disarming, demobilizing and reintegrating (DDR) former combatants into society. This volume represents the first in-depth and comprehensive discussion of reintegration of former combatants in war to peace transitions. In addition to a systematic reflection and review of existing literature on DDR, the authors devised and applied a field research methodology to studying the reintegration of former combatants in Angola with potentially significant implications on the design and implementation of DDR programmes. The volume is written for academics, students and practitioners focusing on war to peace transitions and post-conflict issues.
From Solidarity to Geopolitics
by Tsveta PetrovaThis book theorizes a mechanism underlying regime-change waves, the deliberate efforts of diffusion entrepreneurs to spread a particular regime and regime-change model across state borders. Why do only certain states and nonstate actors emerge as such entrepreneurs? Why, how, and how effectively do they support regime change abroad? To answer these questions, the book studies the entrepreneurs behind the third wave of democratization, with a focus on the new eastern European democracies - members of the European Union. The study finds that it is not the strongest democracies nor the democracies trying to ensure their survival in a neighborhood of nondemocracies that become the most active diffusion entrepreneurs. It is, instead, the countries where the organizers of the domestic democratic transitions build strong solidarity movements supporting the spread of democracy abroad that do. The book also draws parallels between their activism abroad and their experiences with democratization and democracy assistance at home.
From South Texas to the Nation: The Exploitation of Mexican Labor in the Twentieth Century (The David J. Weber Series in the New Borderlands History)
by John WeberIn the early years of the twentieth century, newcomer farmers and migrant Mexicans forged a new world in South Texas. In just a decade, this vast region, previously considered too isolated and desolate for large-scale agriculture, became one of the United States' most lucrative farming regions and one of its worst places to work. By encouraging mass migration from Mexico, paying low wages, selectively enforcing immigration restrictions, toppling older political arrangements, and periodically immobilizing the workforce, growers created a system of labor controls unique in its levels of exploitation.Ethnic Mexican residents of South Texas fought back by organizing and by leaving, migrating to destinations around the United States where employers eagerly hired them--and continued to exploit them. In From South Texas to the Nation, John Weber reinterprets the United States' record on human and labor rights. This important book illuminates the way in which South Texas pioneered the low-wage, insecure, migration-dependent labor system on which so many industries continue to depend.
From Splendor to Revolution: The Romanov Women 1847–1928
by Julia P. Gelardi“A richly detailed portrait of four women, whom marriage and blood put at the center of European history.” —Richmond Times-DispatchThis sweeping saga recreates the extraordinary opulence and violence of Tsarist Russia as the shadow of revolution fell over the land and destroyed a way of life for these Imperial women.From the early 1850s until the late 1920s Russia underwent a massive transformation, taking it from days of grandeur under the tsars to the chaos of revolution and the beginnings of the Soviet Union.At the center of all this tumult were four Romanov women. Marie Alexandrovna, Tsar Alexander II’s pampered daughter, astonished her mother-in-law, Queen Victoria, with her strength of character. Thrust into the role of queen at sixteen, Olga Constantinovna’s altruistic streak benefited Greeks and Russians alike. Charming and vivacious, Marie Feodorovna, the mother of the ill-fated Tsar Nicholas II, excelled in her role as empress. Formidable and ambitious, Marie Pavlovna emerged as a rival to Tsarina Alexandra, Nicholas II’s embattled consort.From Splendor to Revolution presents the unforgettable political and personal dramas of these extraordinary women. What began for them as a time of splendor ended after World War I, with a Russia destroyed by revolution.“Relating the drama and tragedy of royal life, Gelardi ably weaves in the extended family ties that connected most European rulers, including Queen Victoria.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Simple, straightforward, and engaging. Gelardi is proof that history written from the female perspective can be all business.” —The Roanoke Times
From Stalemate to Settlement: Lessons for Afghanistan from Historical Insurgencies That Have Been Resolved Through Negotiations
by Christopher Paul Colin P. ClarkeA comprehensive review of historical insurgencies that ended in settlement after a military stalemate shows that these negotiations followed a similar path that can be generalized into a "master narrative" of seven steps executed in a common sequence. Such a narrative could help guide and assess the progress of a similar approach to resolving the conflict in Afghanistan as U. S. forces prepare to withdraw.