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Learning versus the Common Core (Forerunners: Ideas First #55)
by Nicholas TampioAn open challenge to Common Core’s drive for uniformity Nicholas Tampio watched as his kindergartner’s class shifted from one where teachers, aides, parents, and students worked hard to create a rewarding educational experience to one in which teachers delivered hours-long lectures using packaged lesson plans. Learning versus the Common Core explains how standards-based education reform is transforming nearly every aspect of public education by looking closely at the standards, the agenda of people pushing standards-based reform, and how these fit within a global pattern of education reform. With a nod to the philosophy of John Dewey, Tampio concludes with a vision of what democratic education can look like today—and how people can form rhizomatic alliances across different political and ethical backgrounds to fight the Common Core.Forerunners: Ideas First Short books of thought-in-process scholarship, where intense analysis, questioning, and speculation take the lead
Learning While Governing: Expertise and Accountability in the Executive Branch (Chicago Studies in American Politics)
by Sean Gailmard John W. PattyAlthough their leaders and staff are not elected, bureaucratic agencies have the power to make policy decisions that carry the full force of the law. In this groundbreaking book, Sean Gailmard and John W. Patty explore an issue central to political science and public administration: How do Congress and the president ensure that bureaucratic agencies implement their preferred policies? The assumption has long been that bureaucrats bring to their positions expertise, which must then be marshaled to serve the interests of a particular policy. In Learning While Governing, Gailmard and Patty overturn this conventional wisdom, showing instead that much of what bureaucrats need to know to perform effectively is learned on the job. Bureaucratic expertise, they argue, is a function of administrative institutions and interactions with political authorities that collectively create an incentive for bureaucrats to develop expertise. The challenge for elected officials is therefore to provide agencies with the autonomy to do so while making sure they do not stray significantly from the administration's course. To support this claim, the authors analyze several types of information-management processes. Learning While Governing speaks to an issue with direct bearing on power relations between Congress, the president, and the executive agencies, and it will be a welcome addition to the literature on bureaucratic development.
The Least Among Us: Waging the Battle for the Vulnerable
by Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauroThe outspoken Connecticut congresswoman provides &“a powerful case for protecting and expanding America&’s safety net&” (Elizabeth Warren). Cynical politicians like Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump argue that the people of the United States would be better off without food stamps, Obamacare, and workplace protections. Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro knows these folks are just plain wrong. Growing up in New Haven, Connecticut, DeLauro saw firsthand how vulnerable hard-working people are in the face of corporate indifference and government neglect. From fatal industrial fires to devastating childhood poverty, DeLauro witnessed it all—and emerged convinced that social programs are worth going to the mat for, again and again. Worker protections, Social Security, unemployment insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and housing assistance lift up all Americans; they fulfill this country&’s promise of opportunity for everyone and are essential for our country&’s health. For twenty-five years, DeLauro has been fighting for everyday Americans, earning a reputation as the most impassioned defender of our social safety net. The Least Among Us tells the story of a quarter-century of deal-making on behalf of people too often overlooked, told by a woman as fearless as she is opinionated. Part House of Cards, part progressive manifesto, The Least Among Us shares lessons about power—how it&’s gained and how to wield it for everyone&’s benefit. &“Can you imagine how cool the world would be if we had Rosa DeLauro getting s*** done instead of Congress being held hostage by terrible people!&” —Wonkette &“An impassioned, urgent defense of democratic values and the role of government to serve and benefit all citizens.&” —Kirkus Reviews
Least Developed Countries and the WTO
by Helen HawthorneA norm of special treatment for LDCs, created by the UN, has spread to various international organisations including the WTO. Within the WTO evidence of the institutionalization of the norm can be found both in the agreements and legal documents and the way in which the LDCs have been treated by other states. Helen Hawthorne investigates how norms impact on negotiations in international organisations. She shows that few studies of international organisations focus on the role of the weaker states in the organization, the majority focus either on the major states or the emerging economies. By ignoring the role of the poorer, weaker states in the GATT/WTO we are ignoring the history of these states in the organisation and do not get a true picture of the organization, how it operates in relation to them and their impact on the organisation.
The Least of All Possible Evils
by Eyal WeizmanThe principle of the "lesser evil," which asserts that it is acceptable to pursue an undesirable course of action in order to prevent a greater injustice, exercises a powerful influence on Western ethical philosophy and modern politics. In The Least of All Possible Evils, Eyal Weizman examines the dark side of this pragmatism, arguing that too often the end becomes a mechanism for perpetuating the means. Weizman traces a genealogy of the "lesser evil," from classical ethics and Christian theology, through the political theory of Hannah Arendt to contemporary debates on humanitarianism.He examines the application of this principle through his signature forensic-architectural investigation of sites of contemporary conflict: the relief centres set up by Médecins Sans Frontières during its intervention in Ethiopia in the 1980s; the legal debates around the building of the separation wall in Israel-Palestine; and developments in the application of international human rights law in Bosnia, Palestine and Iraq.But it is in relation to Israel's domination of the Gaza Strip that the theoretical and political reflections of the book converge. Gaza, where the principle of the lesser evil is invoked to justify a new type of humanitarian violence, is the proper noun for the horrors of our humanitarian present.
The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl And Meth
by Sam QuinonesFrom the New York Times bestselling author of DREAMLAND, a searing follow-up that explores the terrifying next stages of the opioid epidemic and the quiet yet ardent stories of community repair. Sam Quinones traveled from Mexico to main streets across the United States to create Dreamland, a groundbreaking portrait of the opioid epidemic that awakened the nation. As we struggled to put back the pieces, Quinones was among the first to see the dangers that lay ahead: synthetic drugs and a new generation of kingpins whose product could be made in Magic Bullet blenders. In fentanyl, traffickers landed a painkiller a hundred times more powerful than morphine. They laced it into cocaine, meth, and counterfeit pills to cause tens of thousands of deaths--at the same time as Mexican traffickers made methamphetamine cheaper and more potent than ever, creating, Sam argues, swaths of mental illness and a surge in homelessness across the United States. Quinones hit the road to investigate these new threats, discovering how addiction is exacerbated by consumer-product corporations. "In a time when drug traffickers act like corporations and corporations like traffickers," he writes, "our best defense, perhaps our only defense, lies in bolstering community." Amid a landscape of despair, Quinones found hope in those embracing the forgotten and ignored, illuminating the striking truth that we are only as strong as our most vulnerable. Weaving analysis of the drug trade into stories of humble communities, The Least of Us delivers an unexpected and awe-inspiring response to the call that shocked the nation in Sam Quinones's award-winning Dreamland. SAM QUINONES is a journalist, storyteller, former Los Angeles Times reporter, and author of three acclaimed books of narrative nonfiction, including New York Times bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award winner Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic. "The most original writer on Mexico and the border" (San Francisco Chronicle), he lives with his family in Southern California.
The Least Possible Fuss and Publicity: The Politics of Immigration in Postwar Canada, 1945-1967 (McGill-Queen's Studies in Ethnic History)
by Paul A. EvansOver the two decades following the Second World War, the policy that would create "a nation of immigrants," as Canadian multiculturalism is now widely understood, was debated, drafted, and implemented. The established narrative of postwar immigration policy as a tepid mixture of altruism and national self-interest does not fully explain the complex process of policy transformation during that period. In The Least Possible Fuss and Publicity Paul Evans recounts changes to Canada's postwar immigration policy and the events, ideas, and individuals that propelled that change.Through extensive primary research in the archives of federal departments and the parliamentary record, together with contemporary media coverage, the correspondence of politicians and policy-makers, and the statutes that set immigration policy, Evans reconstructs the formation of a modern immigration bureaucracy, the resistance to reform from within, and the influence of racism and international events. He shows that political concerns remained uppermost in the minds of policy-makers, and those concerns – more than economic or social factors – provided the major impetus to change. In stark contrast to today, legislators and politicians strove to keep the evolution of the national immigration strategy out of the public eye: University of Toronto law professor W.G. Friedmann remarked in a 1952 edition of Saturday Night, "In Canada, both the government and the people have so far preferred to let this immigration business develop with the least possible fuss and publicity."This is the story, told largely in their own words, of politicians and policy-makers who resisted change and others who saw the future and seized upon it. The Least Possible Fuss and Publicity is a clear account of how postwar immigration policy transformed, gradually opening the border to groups who sought to make Canada home.
Leave it in the Ground: The Politics of Coal and Climate
by John C. BergEmploying scientific explanations and hard data, this book shows why coal is such a problem, how the pro-coal forces got to be so powerful, and how those forces might be defeated through political activism. <P><P>Coal provided the energy to build modern civilization. This energy source raised standards of living, multiplied the earth's population, and enabled people in developed countries to enjoy leisure time. Today, we know that if we burn all the coal available, climate change will continue to increase. But the use of coal isn't purely an environmental issue; there are also political and economic forces at play. This book examines the politics and environmental impact of coal production and distribution, presenting a clear point of view―that we must shift away from coal use―backed by hard data and supplying specific prescriptions for opposing and regulating the coal industry. <P><P>Author John C. Berg explains how ending the burning of coal (and of oil and natural gas) is a political problem rather than a technical one; explodes the "clean coal" myth, providing scientific documentation of how burning coal emits more greenhouse gases per unit of energy than any other fuel; and describes how controlling coal use in the United States will also serve to restore the possibility of a meaningful international climate agreement. Additionally, readers will understand the critical importance of activism―from local to international―in spurring government regulation to control the coal industry, which can only be defeated politically. <P><P>Examines scientific data to provide a clear explanation―in layman's terms―of the relation of coal to climate change <P><P>Illustrates how activism can lead to meaningful government policy change <P><P>Provides non-expert readers with a clear understanding of the political issues surrounding coal mining and coal burning as well as the domestic and international politics of coal and climate <P><P>Shows the interconnection of coal's role in labor exploitation, the environmental destruction of Appalachia and other coal areas, and the acceleration of climate change
Leave It to Abigail!: The Revolutionary Life of Abigail Adams
by Barb RosenstockIn this inspiring tribute, award-winning author Barb Rosenstock and New York Times bestselling artist Elizabeth Baddeley tell the true story of one of America's greatest founding mothers: Abigail Adams.Everyone knew Abigail was different.Instead of keeping quiet, she blurted out questions. Instead of settling down with a wealthy minister, she married a poor country lawyer named John Adams. Instead of running from the Revolutionary War, she managed a farm and fed hungry soldiers. Instead of leaving the governing to men, she insisted they "Remember the Ladies." Instead of fearing Europe's kings and queens, she boldly crossed the sea to represent her new country. And when John become President of the United States, Abigail became First Lady, and a powerful advisor.Leave it to Abigail--an extraordinary woman who surprised the world.
Leave Me Alone and I'll Make You Rich: How the Bourgeois Deal Enriched the World
by Deirdre Nansen McCloskey Art CardenThe economist and historian Deirdre Nansen McCloskey has been best known recently for her Bourgeois Era trilogy, a vigorous defense, unrivaled in scope, of commercially tested betterment. Its massive volumes, The Bourgeois Virtues, Bourgeois Dignity, and Bourgeois Equality, solve Adam Smith’s puzzle of the nature and causes of the wealth of nations, and of the moral sentiments of modernity. The world got rich, she argues, not chiefly by material causes but by an idea and a sentiment, a new admiration for the middle class and its egalitarian liberalism. For readers looking for a distillation of McCloskey’s magisterial work, Leave Me Alone and I’ll Make You Rich is what you’ve been waiting for. In this lively volume, McCloskey and the economist and journalist Carden bring together the trilogy’s key ideas and its most provocative arguments. The rise of the west, and now the rest, is the story of the rise of ordinary people to a dignity and liberty inspiring them to have a go. The outcome was an explosion of innovation after 1800, and a rise of real income by an astounding 3,000 percent. The Great Enrichment, well beyond the conventional Industrial Revolution, did not, McCloskey and Carden show, come from the usual suspects, capital accumulation or class struggle. It came from the idea of economic liberty in Holland and the Anglosphere, then Sweden and Japan, then Italy and Israel and China and India, an idea that bids fair in the next few generations to raise up the wretched of the earth. The original shift to liberalism arose from 1517 to 1789 from theological and political revolutions in northwest Europe, upending ancient hierarchies. McCloskey and Carden contend further that liberalism and “innovism” made us better humans as well as richer ones. Not matter but ideas. Not corruption but improvement. Leave Me Alone and I’ll Make You Rich draws in entertaining fashion on history, economics, literature, philosophy, and popular culture, from growth theory to the Simpsons. It is the perfect introduction for a broad audience to McCloskey’s influential explanation of how we got rich. At a time when confidence in the economic system is under challenge, the book mounts an optimistic and persuasive defense of liberal innovism, and of the modern world it has wrought.
Leave No Child Behind: Preparing Today's Youth for Tomorrow's World
by James ComerThe call-to-arms to "leave no child behind" in America has become popularly associated with the Bush administration's education plan--a plan that actually diverges greatly from the ideals of the Children's Defense Fund, which originated the concept. Here, in a bold and engaging new book, Dr. James Comer reclaims this now-famous exhortation as a tool for positive and substantive change. Far removed from the federal government's focus on standardized testing as the panacea for our educational ills, Dr. Comer's argument--drawn from his own experiences as the creator of the School Development Program--urges teachers, policymakers, and parents alike to work toward creating a new kind of school environment. In so doing, Dr. Comer reignites a crucial debate as he details the evolution and many successes of his School Development Program since its inception thirty-five years ago, and he illustrates how his model for change has proven effective in public schools throughout the country. Most important, he offers proof that students from all backgrounds can learn at a high level, adopt positive behavioral attitudes, and prepare for a fulfilling adult life, if they learn in schools that provide adequate support for their complete development--schools that know that leaving no child behind should be much more than just a convenient political slogan.
Leave Us Alone: Getting the Government's Hands Off Our Money, Our Guns, Our Lives
by Grover G. NorquistThe new political movement that now controls much of the Republican party is a coalition of Americans who simply wish to be left alone by the government. They want to be free to run a business, keep the money they earn, own a gun, practice their faith, and perhaps homeschool their children—in short, to control their own destinies. Directly opposed is the descriptively titled Takings Coalition, which is at the heart of the tax-and-spend left. These forces will battle for control of America's future over the next fifty years.In this compelling and powerful narrative, Grover Norquist describes the two competing coalitions in American politics, what they can achieve and what they cannot do, and how you may fit into the contest. Required reading for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of politics in America today, Leave Us Alone outlines the order of battle for the next generation.
Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out
by Ibn WarraqIn the West abandoning one's religion (apostasy) can be a difficult, emotional decision, which sometimes has social repercussions. However, in culturally diverse societies where there is a mixture of ethnic groups and various philosophies of life, most people look upon such shifts in intellectual allegiance as a matter of personal choice and individual right. By contrast, in Islam apostasy is still viewed as an almost unthinkable act, and in orthodox circles it is considered a crime punishable by death. Renowned scholar of Islamic Studies Bernard Lewis described the seriousness of leaving the Islamic faith in the following dire terms: "Apostasy was a crime as well as a sin, and the apostate was damned both in this world and the next. His crime was treason ù desertion and betrayal of the community to which he belonged, and to which he owed loyalty; his life and property were forfeit. He was a dead limb to be excised." <p><p> Defying the death penalty applicable to all apostates in Islam, the ex-Muslims who are here represented feel it is their duty to speak up against their former faith, to tell the truth about the fastest growing religion in the world. These former Muslims, from all parts of the Islamic world, recount how they slowly came to realize that the religion into which they were born was in many respects unbelievable and sometimes even dangerous. <p> These memoirs of personal journeys to enlightenment and intellectual freedom make for moving reading and are a courageous signal to other ex-Muslims to come out of the closet.
Leaving Terrorism Behind: Individual and Collective Disengagement (Political Violence)
by John Horgan Tore BjorgoThis new edited volume expands our understanding of the processes by which individuals and groups disengage from terrorism. While there has been a growing awareness of the need to understand and prevent processes of radicalization into terrorism, disengagement and deradicalization from terrorism have long been neglected areas in research on terrorism. This book uses empirical data to explore how and why individuals and groups disengage from terrorism, and what can be done to facilitate it. The work also presents a series of case studies of disengagement programmes, from Colombia, northern Europe, Italy, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, comparing and assessing their various strengths and weaknesses. In light of the lessons learned from these cases, this book describes and explains the potential for new developments in counter-terrorism. This book will be of great interest to all students of terrorism studies, war and conflict studies, international security and politics in general, as well as professionals in the field of counter-terrorism.
Leaving the 20th Century: The Incomplete Work of the Situationist International
by Christopher GrayThe first Situationist text to be published in the UK in 1974, 'Leaving the 20th Century' was Chris Gray and the English situationists' attempt to capture and distil the vibrant anti-art, anti-capitalist energy of the original International Situationist texts (1957-74). With its loose translations and irreverent commentary, Gray and co. attempted to capture the "terrorism, wit and general megalomania" of the original publications, whilst faithfully reprinting the "photographs of girls, soldiers, bombings, comic-strip frames, maps of cities and diagrams of labyrinths, cathedrals and gardens." From the art/anti-art beginnings, to the role of the Situationists in the worker-student insurrection of May 68', 'Leaving the 20th Century' remains the definitive English pro-situ text.
Leaving the Muslim Brotherhood: Self, Society and the State (Middle East Today)
by Mustafa MenshawyThe book offers a processual and discursive perspective on how individuals exit the Muslim Brotherhood. The framework is based on an interaction of ‘micro’ psychological and emotional factors, ‘meso’ organizational factors and ‘macro’ political developments linked to the specific case of the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt during the Arab Spring. Based on interviews conducted in Egypt, Turkey, Qatar and the United Kingdom, the author traces in-depth narratives of exiters while they return to their private life or resort to political activism of another stripe. This work examines thought-provoking patterns pertaining to elements long under-explored in the scholarship and stands out as it systematically identifies this unexamined subset of Brotherhood members: peaceful leavers.
Leaving The Twentieth Century: Situationist Revolutions
by McKenzie WarkThe acclaimed history of the groundbreaking Situationist movementThe Situationist International, which leaped to the fore during the Paris tumult of 1968, has extended its revolutionary influence right up to the present day. In Leaving the Twentieth Century, the movement is captured for the first time in its full range and diversity.McKenzie Wark traces the group&’s development from the bohemian Paris of the &’50s to the explosive days of May &’68. She introduces the group as an ensemble, revealing the work and activities of thinkers previously obscured by the reputation of founding member Guy Debord. Roaming through Europe and exploring the vital lives its members—including Constant, Asger Jorn, Michèle Bernstein, Alexander Trocchi, and Jacqueline de Jong—Wark uncovers a group riven with conflicting passions. She follows the narrative beyond 1968, to the Situationists International&’s disintegration and beyond: the ideas of T. J. Clark, the Fourierist utopia of Raoul Vaneigem, René Vienet&’s earthy situationist cinema, Gianfranco Sanguinetti&’s pranking of the Italian ruling class, Alice Becker-Ho&’s account of the anonymous language of the Romany, and Debord&’s late films and his surprising work as a game designer.
Leaving without Losing: The War on Terror after Iraq and Afghanistan
by Mark N. KatzAs the United States withdraws its combat troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, politicians, foreign policy specialists, and the public are worrying about the consequences of leaving these two countries. Neither nation can be considered stable, and progress toward democracy in them—a principal aim of America and the West—is fragile at best. But, international relations scholar Mark N. Katz asks: Could ending both wars actually help the United States and its allies to overcome radical Islam in the long term?Drawing lessons from the Cold War, Katz makes the case that rather than signaling the decline of American power and influence, removing military forces from Afghanistan and Iraq puts the U.S. in a better position to counter the forces of radical Islam and ultimately win the war on terror. He explains that since both wars will likely remain intractable, for Washington to remain heavily involved in either is counter-productive. Katz argues that looking to its Cold War experience would help the U.S. find better strategies for employing America’s scarce resources to deal with its adversaries now. This means that, although leaving Afghanistan and Iraq may well appear to be a victory for America’s opponents in the short term—as was the case when the U.S. withdrew from Indochina—the larger battle with militant Islam can be won only by refocusing foreign and military policy away from these two quagmires.This sober, objective assessment of what went wrong in the U.S.–led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the ways the West can disentangle itself and still move forward draws striking parallels with the Cold War. Anyone concerned with the future of the War on Terror will find Katz’s argument highly thought provoking.
Leaving World War II Behind
by David SwansonThis book documents the case that World War II happened in such a different world that it has little relevance to today's foreign policy, as well as the case that U.S. participation in WWII was not justifiable. Specifically, WWII was not fought to rescue anyone from persecution, was not necessary for defense, was the most damaging and destructive event yet to occur, and would not have happened had any one of these factors been missing: World War I, the manner in which WWI was ended, U.S. funding and arming of Nazis, a U.S. arms race with Japan, U.S. development of racial segregation, U.S. development of eugenics, U.S. development of genocide and ethnic cleansing, or the U.S. and British prioritization of opposing the Soviet Union at all costs. The author corrects numerous misconceptions about the most popular and misunderstood war in western culture, in order to build a case for moving to a world beyond war.
Lebanese Political Parties: Dream of a Republic (Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Politics)
by Christian ThuseltThis book examines Lebanese political parties and their encounters with modernity. Taking three, mainly Christian parties as an example, the book refutes the idea of Middle Eastern parties being backwards or antiquated. By combining historical and anthropological perspectives, it is shown that these parties stand for normativities of modernity. Lebanese, as well as Middle Eastern parties in general, have a rather poor reputation: they are considered family-based, ideologically meaningless, tailored solely to their leadership, and non-modern. Contrastingly, this book claims that the concept of the "real party" corresponds to an encounter with modernity and that these parties, although dysfunctional in parts, are better than their reputation. Most importantly, Lebanese parties are taking the nation-state as their central reference point, as they recognise it as the legitimate form of societal organization. The volume claims that important constituents of modernity, such as the individual, the nation, secularity, progress, and representing the people (demos), serve for the parties in question as resources of utopian elements informing much of these parties’ identities. Bringing Lebanese political parties into a global debate on modernity, the book tackles the notion of parties of the Middle East being non-modern. It will be of interest to scholars researching political science, political history and the Middle East.
Lebanese Shi‘ite Leadership, 1920–1970s
by Omri NirThis book examines the coalitions and relationships within the power centers of Shi'ite politics during the era of political feudalism in Lebanon. The author maps the Shi'ite leadership and its inter-connections, including the alliances and rivalry between prominent Zu'ama, clans, and Ulama' from the formation of Lebanon in 1920 to the decline of old Shi'ite politics and the emergence of popular movements in the 1970s. The work also explains the role of prominent intellectuals within these power centers.
Lebanon: A Country in Fragments
by Andrew ArsanLebanon seems a country in the grip of permanent crisis. In recent years it has suffered blow after blow, from Rafiq Hariri's assassination in 2005, to the 2006 July War, to the current Syrian conflict, which has brought a million refugees streaming into the country. <p><p> This is an account not just of Lebanon's high politics, with its endless rows, walk-outs, machinations and foreign alliances, but also of the politics of everyday life: all the stresses and strains the country's inhabitants face, from electricity black-outs and uncollected rubbish to stagnating wages and property bubbles. Andrew Arsan moves between parliament and the public squares where protesters gather, between luxury high-rises and refugee camps, and between expensive nightclubs and seafront promenades, providing a comprehensive view of Lebanon in the twenty-first century. <p><p> Where others have treated Lebanon's woes as exceptional, a by-product of its sectarianism and particular vulnerability to regional crises, Arsan argues that there is nothing particular about Lebanon's predicament. Rather, it is a country of the age--one of neoliberal economics, populist fervor, forced displacement, rising xenophobia, and public disillusion. Lebanon, in short, offers us a lens through which to look on our times.
Lebanon: The Politics of Frustration - The Failed Coup of 1961 (History and Society in the Islamic World)
by Adel BesharaLebanon examines the ideological, political and social underpinnings of the attempted coup against General Chihab's government in Lebanon in 1961. The author analyzes the role of the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party, the history of the army in Lebanon and it role in Lebanese politics and the impact of the coup on Lebanese political life. This book provides an extraordinary insight into the mechanisms of military coups in the Arab world and will be of interest to students and researchers of the history and politics of the Middle East.
Lebanon: The Rise and Fall of a Secular State under Siege
by Mark FarhaWhy has secularism faced such challenges in the Middle East and in Lebanon in particular? In light of dominating headlines about the spread of sectarianism and the so-called death of Arab secularism, Mark Farha addresses the need for a thorough examination of the history of secular thought and practice in the region. By offering a comprehensive, systematic account of the underlying ideological, socio-economic, and political factors involved, Farha provides a new understanding of the historical roots of secularism as well as the potential causes for the continued resistance a fully deconfessionalized state faces both in Lebanon and in the region at large. Drawing on a vast corpus of primary and secondary sources to examine the varying political parties and ideologies involved, this book provides a fresh approach to the study of religion and politics in the Arab world and beyond.
Lebanon: The Politics of a Penetrated Society (The Contemporary Middle East #Vol. 6)
by Tom NajemIn a time of great political change and unrest in the Middle East, this highly topical text offers a succinct account of the contemporary political environment in Lebanon. Tom Najem provides both a developed understanding of the pre-civil war system and an analysis of how circumstances resulting from the civil war combined with essential pre-war elements to define politics in Lebanon. Systematically exploring Lebanon’s history, society and politics, the author stresses the importance of the crucial role of external actors in the Lebanese system. The analysis encompasses: the formation of the state weaknesses and dynamics of the Lebanese state the civil war post-war government and change the Lebanese economy foreign policy. Written in a clear and accessible manner, this book fills a conspicuous gap in the existing academic literature on Lebanon. It will be of interest not only to students of international politics and Middle East studies, but also to anyone travelling in or wanting to learn more about the region.