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The Price of Empire: American Entrepreneurs and the Origins of America's First Pacific Empire
by null Miles M. Evers null Eric GrynaviskiThe United States was an upside-down British Empire. It had an agrarian economy, few large investors, and no territorial holdings outside of North America. However, decades before the Spanish-American War, the United States quietly began to establish an empire across thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean. While conventional wisdom suggests that large interests – the military and major business interests – drove American imperialism, The Price of Empire argues that early American imperialism was driven by small entrepreneurs. When commodity prices boomed, these small entrepreneurs took risks, racing ahead of the American state. Yet when profits were threatened, they clamoured for the US government to follow them into the Pacific. Through novel, intriguing stories of American small businessmen, this book shows how American entrepreneurs manipulated the United States into pursuing imperial projects in the Pacific. It explores their travels abroad and highlights the consequences of contemporary struggles for justice in the Pacific.
The Price of Everything: A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity
by Russell RobertsStanford University student and Cuban American tennis prodigy Ramon Fernandez is outraged when a nearby mega-store hikes its prices the night of an earthquake. He crosses paths with provost and economics professor Ruth Lieber when he plans a campus protest against the price-gouging retailer--which is also a major donor to the university. Ruth begins a dialogue with Ramon about prices, prosperity, and innovation and their role in our daily lives. Is Ruth trying to limit the damage from Ramon's protest? Or does she have something altogether different in mind? As Ramon is thrust into the national spotlight by events beyond the Stanford campus, he learns there's more to price hikes than meets the eye, and he is forced to reconsider everything he thought he knew. What is the source of America's high standard of living? What drives entrepreneurs and innovation? What upholds the hidden order that allows us to choose our careers and pursue our passions with so little conflict? How does economic order emerge without anyone being in charge? Ruth gives Ramon and the reader a new appreciation for how our economy works and the wondrous role that the price of everything plays in everyday life. The Price of Everything is a captivating story about economic growth and the unseen forces that create and sustain economic harmony all around us.
Price of Fame
by Sylvia Jukes Morris"I hope I shall have ambition until the day I die," Clare Boothe Luce told her biographer Sylvia Jukes Morris. Price of Fame, the concluding volume of the life of an exceptionally brilliant polymath, chronicles Luce's progress from the early months of World War II, when, as an eye-catching Congresswoman and the only female member of the House Military Affairs Committee, she toured the Western Front, captivating generals and GIs. She even visited Buchenwald and other concentration camps within days of their liberation. After a shattering personal tragedy, she converted to Roman Catholicism, and became the first American woman to be appointed ambassador to a major foreign power. "La Luce," as the Italians called her, was also a prolific journalist and magnetic public speaker, as well as a playwright, screenwriter, pioneer scuba diver, early experimenter in psychedelic drugs, and grande dame of the GOP in the Reagan era. Tempestuously married to Henry Luce, the powerful publisher of Time Inc., she endured his infidelities while pursuing her own, and remained a practiced vamp well into old age. Price of Fame begins in January 1943 with Clare's arrival on Capitol Hill as a newly elected Republican from Connecticut. The thirty-nine-year-old beauty attracted nationwide attention in a sensational maiden speech, attacking Vice President Henry Wallace's civil aviation proposals as "globaloney." Although she irked President Franklin D. Roosevelt by slanging his New Deal as "a dictatorial Bumbledom," she impressed his wife Eleanor. Revealing liberal propensities, she lobbied for relaxed immigration policies for Chinese, Indians, and displaced European Jews, as well as equal rights for women and blacks. Following Hiroshima, the legislator whom J. William Fulbright described as "the smartest colleague I ever served with" became a passionate advocate of nuclear arms control. But in 1946, she gave up her House seat, convinced that politics was "the refuge of second-class minds." After a few seasons of proselytizing on the Catholic lecture circuit, Clare emerged as a formidable television personality, campaigning so spectacularly for the victorious Republican presidential candidate, Dwight D. Eisenhower, that he rewarded her with the Rome embassy. Ambassador Luce took an uncompromising attitude toward Italy's Communist Party, the world's second largest, and skillfully helped settle the fraught Trieste crisis between Italy and Yugoslavia. She was then stricken by a mysterious case of poisoning that the CIA kept secret, suspecting a Communist plot to assassinate her. The full story, told here for the first time, reads like a detective novel. Price of Fame goes on to record the crowded later years of the Honorable Clare Boothe Luce, during which she strengthened her friendships with Winston Churchill, Somerset Maugham, John F. Kennedy, Evelyn Waugh, Lyndon Johnson, Salvador Dalí, Richard Nixon, William F. Buckley, the composer Carlos Chávez, Ronald Reagan, and countless other celebrities who, after Henry Luce's death, visited her lavish Honolulu retreat. In 1973, she was appointed by Nixon to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, a position she continued to hold in the Ford and Reagan administrations. Sylvia Jukes Morris is the only writer to have had complete access to Mrs. Luce's prodigious collection of public and private papers. In addition, she had unique access to her subject, whose death at eighty-four ended a life that for variety of accomplishment qualifies Clare Boothe Luce for the title of "Woman of the Century."From the Hardcover edition.
The Price of Fire
by Benjamin DanglNew social movements have emerged in Bolivia over the "price of fire"--access to basic elements of survival like water, gas, land, coca, employment, and other resources. Though these movements helped pave the way to the presidency for indigenous coca-grower Evo Morales in 2005, they have made it clear that their fight for self-determination doesn't end at the ballot box. From the first moments of Spanish colonization to today's headlines, The Price of Fire offers a gripping account of clashes in Bolivia between corporate and people's power, contextualizing them regionally, culturally, and historically. Benjamin Dangl has worked as an independent journalist throughout Latin America, writing for publications such as Z Magazine, The Nation, and The Progressive. He is the editor of TowardFreedom.com, a progressive perspective on world events, and UpsideDownWorld.org, an online magazine covering activism and politics in Latin America. Benjamin won a 2007 Project Censored Award for his coverage of US military operations in Paraguay. "Price of Fire is not yet another bleak 'tell-all' account of globalization, its pages are filled with stories of resistance, struggle and, above all, hope."--Teo Ballvé, editor of the NACLA Report on the Americas and co-editor of Dispatches from Latin America "Ben Dangl takes the reader on an unforgettable and inspiring journey through Bolivia and neighboring countries, providing a window on the revolutionary struggles of the poor and dispossessed, and particularly on the resurgence of indigenous resistance and leadership."--Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of Blood on the Border: A Memoir of the Contra War "Most Americans know nothing of Bolivia, an ignorance that only plays into the hands of empire. Ben Dangl's book is both informative and inspiring, a cure for the apathy that grows from that ignorance. A must-read for those already interested in solidarity with Latin America and indigenous people."--Tom Hayden, author of The Zapatista Reader and Street Wars "Ben Dangl has found himself under the skin of the Bolivian freedom struggle: he accurately represents its constraints, its opportunities, and its hopes."--Vijay Prashad, author of The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World "With great empathy and lucid prose, Dangl captures the exemplary courage that has put Latin America in the vanguard of the new internationalism and has made it one of the few bright spots on an otherwise dismal global landscape."--Greg Grandin, author of Empire's Workshop "Price of Fire by Ben Dangl informs, outrages, and builds hope. People's movements for societal betterment in South America are an inspiration for human rights activists worldwide and Dangl gives us a full serving of encouragement and hope. He documents how historical imperialism, dominated my US corporate/government capital interests, is being successfully challenged by indigenous activists. Price of Fire is the story of cultural resistance from the street to international geo-political alliances. I highly recommend this book for working people, students, and radical democrats to hear the voices of South American people and their chronicle of grassroots democratic empowerment."--Peter Phillips, Professor Sociology, Sonoma State University, Director Project Censored, and co-editor with Dennis Loo of Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney
The Price of Fish
by Michael Mainelli Ian HarrisWinner of the 2012 Gold Medal IPPY Award for Finance/Investment/Economics. "Mainelli and Harris offer an original and insightful look at the big and important long-term issues facing society today. . . . Policy makers need to read this book."-Donald J. Smith, Boston University, author of BOND MATH: The Theory Behind the Formulas"In this thought-provoking and enlightening book, Mainelli and Harris highlight a point that economists too often forget: that economics is, at its heart, the study of human behavior, and that both commerce and its wicked sister, finance, mean nothing unless they are connected to people and society."-Bill Emmott, former editor of The Economist The price of fish cannot be right when we have over-fishing, hunger, and ruined seas. More than at any other time in our history, the world is faced with a series of vicious and apparently insurmountable difficulties, chief among them unstable financial markets, rapidly diminishing resources, and an ecosystem that is becoming dangerously volatile. In The Price of Fish, Michael Mainelli and Ian Harris examine in a unique way these intractable and wicked problems-sustainability, global warming, over-fishing, overpopulation, the pensions crisis-and suggest that it is not that these problems are too complex to solve, but that our way of reading them is too simple. Too simple and often wrong. Using models developed by quantum physicists, the authors show a way to making better decisions, which in turn, point to answers to our most pernicious problems. Now in paperback.Michael Mainelli and Ian Harris are co-founders of Z/Yen, a commercial think-tank in London, England.
The Price of Freedom Denied
by Brian J. Grim Roger FinkeThe Price of Freedom Denied shows that, contrary to popular opinion, ensuring religious freedom for all reduces violent religious persecution and conflict. Others have suggested that restrictions on religion are necessary to maintain order or preserve a peaceful religious homogeneity. Brian J. Grim and Roger Finke show that restricting religious freedoms is associated with higher levels of violent persecution. Relying on a new source of coded data for nearly 200 countries and case studies of six countries, the book offers a global profile of religious freedom and religious persecution. Grim and Finke report that persecution is evident in all regions and is standard fare for many. They also find that religious freedoms are routinely denied and that government and the society at large serve to restrict these freedoms. They conclude that the price of freedom denied is high indeed.
The Price of Gender Equality: Member States and Governance in the European Union (Gender in a Global/Local World)
by Anna van VleutenThis thoroughly researched, well-documented book presents a theoretically guided empirical analysis of developing and implementing gender equality policies in the European Union (EU). In spite of a wealth of research, many questions have long remained unanswered and these are addressed here. The author developed an international relations theoretical framework in order to explain the changing fortunes of women's activism, the changing attitudes of European institutions and the behaviour of member states in a multi-level setting. The book traces the history and development of EU gender policy to the present day and will be inspirational reading for those interested in European governance and the European Union, as well as gender issues and political sociology.
The Price of Greatness: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and the Creation of American Oligarchy
by Jay CostAn incisive account of the tumultuous relationship between Alexander Hamilton and James Madison and of the origins of our wealthy yet highly unequal nationIn the history of American politics there are few stories as enigmatic as that of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison's bitterly personal falling out. Together they helped bring the Constitution into being, yet soon after the new republic was born they broke over the meaning of its founding document. Hamilton emphasized economic growth, Madison the importance of republican principles.Jay Cost is the first to argue that both men were right--and that their quarrel reveals a fundamental paradox at the heart of the American experiment. He shows that each man in his own way came to accept corruption as a necessary cost of growth. The Price of Greatness reveals the trade-off that made the United States the richest nation in human history, and that continues to fracture our politics to this day.
Price of Honor
by Jan GoodwinMuslim women, symbols of honour for their men, speakout and take us into the volatile heartland of Islam, theworld's fastest growing religion. Price of Honour recounts awide range of telling, often horrific stories about the ways in whichMuslim women are abused and oppressed by their menfolk, and shows howrestrictions on women act as a barometer for measuring both the growthof fundamentalism and the Muslim regimes' willingness to appeaseextremists.
The Price of Humanity: How Philanthropy Went Wrong—And How to Fix It
by Amy SchillerAn attempt to rescue philanthropy from its progressive decline into vanity projects that drive wealth inequality, so that it may support human flourishing as originally intended.The word &“philanthropy&” today makes people think big money—Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffet, and Andrew Carnegie come to mind. The scope of suffering in the world seems to demand an industry of giving, and yet for all the billions that are dispensed, the wealthy never seem to lose any of their money and nothing seems to change.Journalist, academic and consultant Amy Schiller shows how we get out of this stalemate by evaluating the history of philanthropy from the ideas of St. Augustine to the work of Lebron James. She argues philanthropy&’s contemporary tendency to maintain obscene inequality and reduce every cause to dehumanizing technocratic terms is unacceptable, while maintaining an optimism about the soul and potential of philanthropy in principle.For philanthropy to get back to its literal roots—the love of humanity—Schiller argues that philanthropy can no longer be premised around basic survival. Public institutions must assume that burden so that philanthropy can shift its focus to initiatives that allow us to flourish into happier, more fulfilled human beings. Philanthropy has to get out of the business of saving lives if we are to save humanity.
The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill
by Ron SuskindA Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter's explosive account of the inner workings of the George W. Bush administration, the most secretive White House of modern times. This vivid, unfolding narrative is like no other book that has been written about the Bush presidency -- or any that is likely to be written soon. At its core are the candid assessments of former U. S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, for two years the administration's top economic official, a principal of the National Security Council, and a tutor to the new President. He is the only member of Bush's innermost circle to leave and then to agree to speak frankly about what has really been happening inside the White House. O'Neill's account is supported by Suskind's interviews with many participants in the administration, by transcripts of meetings, and by voluminous documents that cover most areas of domestic and foreign policy. The result is a disclosure of breadth and depth unparalleled for an ongoing presidency. As readers are taken to the very epicenter of government, this news-making volume offers a definitive view of the characters and conduct of Bush and his closest advisers as they manage crucial domestic policies and global strategies at a time of life-and-death crises. Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, Christine Todd Whitman, and many of their aides are seen in an intimate, "unmanaged" way -- as is Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, O'Neill's close friend and ally. Along the way, the central conflicts of this administration's governance -- between politics and policy, ideology and analysis -- are starkly visible through the lens of recent events and the revelation of the often unseen intentions that underlie actions. In this book Suskind draws on unique access to present an astonishing account of a President so carefully managed in his public posture that he is unknown to most Americans. Now, he will be known.
The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World Is Still the Least Valued
by Ann CrittendenTHE 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER THAT CHANGED AMERICA'S VIEW OF MOTHERHOOD In the pathbreaking tradition of Backlash and The Second Shift, this provocative book shows how mothers are systematically disadvantaged and made dependent by a society that exploits those who perform its most critical work. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and research in economics, history, child development, and law, Ann Crittenden proves definitively that although women have been liberated, mothers have not. Bold, galvanizing, and full of innovative solutions, The Price of Motherhood was listed by the Chicago Tribune as one of the Top Ten Feminist Literary Works since the publication of Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique. This "bracing call to arms" (Elle) offers a much-needed accounting of the price that mothers pay for performing the most important job in the world.
The Price of Panic: How the Tyranny of Experts Turned a Pandemic into a Catastrophe
by Jay W. Richards William M. Briggs Douglas AxeFor the first time in history, the world shut itself down—by choice—all for fear of a virus, COVID-19, that wasn&’t well understood. The government, with the support of most Americans, ordered the closure of tens of thousands of small businesses—many never to return. Almost every school and college in the country sent its students home to finish the school year in front of a computer. Churches cancelled worship services. &“Social distancing&” went from a non-word to a moral obligation overnight. Moral preening on social media achieved ever new heights. The world will reopen and life will go on, but what kind of world will it be when it does? It can&’t be what it was, because of what&’s just happened. Professors Jay Richards, William Briggs, and Douglas Axe take a deep dive into the crucial questions on the minds of millions of Americans during one of the most jarring and unprecedented global events in a generation. What will be the total cost in dollars, lives, and livelihoods of this response from governments, on advice from Science? What role have national and global health organizations such as WHO played in this? To whom are they accountable? What evidence do they rely on in sounding the alarm? How did science bureaucrats, relying on murky data and speculative computer models, gain the power to shut down the global economy? How did politicians, who know nothing of the science, decide whom to trust? We need to know what and how it happened, to keep it from ever happening again.
The Price of Paradise
by Iain OvertonWe live in the age of the suicide bomber. The suicide bomb itself takes more lives than any other type of explosive weapon. Moreover, in the last 5 years more people have been killed by suicide attacks than at any other time in history.How has this descent deep into the heart of terror escalated in such a way? What drives people to blow themselves up and what are the consequences? More importantly perhaps, what can be done to combat the rising spread of this form of violence?Investigative journalist Iain Overton addresses the fundamental drivers of modern day suicide attacks in this fascinating and important book, showing how the suicide bomber has played a pivotal role in the evolution of some of the most defining forces of the modern age - from Communism and the Cold War, to the modern day War on Terror.Interviewing Russian anarchists, Japanese kamikazes, Hezbollah militants, survivors of suicide bombings and countless other sources of valuable information, while travelling to places such as Iran, Irak and Pakistan, Overton skilfully combines historical narrative, travelogue, interviews and testimonies, and brings his research alive thanks to potent facts and visceral storytelling. The result is a powerful and unforgettable read, the first non-academic attempt to chart the rise and rise of this weapon.
The Price of Perfection: Individualism and Society in the Era of Biomedical Enhancement (Bioethics)
by Maxwell J. MehlmanFew would question the necessity of artificial limbs for amputees. But what of surgery to lengthen the legs of children who are merely shorter than average? Hardly anyone would challenge the decision to prescribe Aricept to people with dementia. But is it acceptable to give the same medication to airline pilots seeking sharper mental focus on long-haul flights? Humans have engaged in biological self-improvement since long before recorded history, from the impotence-curing wild lotus brew of the ancient Egyptians to the herbal energy drink favored by early Olympians. Now biomedical enhancements are pushing the boundaries of possibility and acceptability. Where do we draw the line? How do we know the true ramifications of pioneering medicine? What price are we willing to pay for perfection? Maxwell J. Mehlman’s provocative examination of these issues speaks to fundamental questions of what it means to be human. He finds public officials ill-equipped to handle the ethical, scientific, and public policy quandaries of biomedical enhancement. Instead of engaging difficult questions of morality, access, fairness, and freedom, elected officials have crafted toothless and counterproductive laws and regulations. Mehlman outlines policy options to boost the societal benefits and minimize the risks from these technologies. In the process, he urges the public to face the ethical issues surrounding biomedical enhancement, lest our quest for perfection compromise our very humanity.
The Price of Politics
by Bob WoodwardSee how and why Washington is not functioning in Bob Woodward's freshly reported, thirty-five-page Afterword to his national bestseller, The Price of Politics, which provides a detailed, often verbatim account of what happened in the dramatic "fiscal cliff" face-off at the end of 2012 between President Obama and the Republicans.Now it's happening again. In fall 2013, Washington faces a new round of budget and fiscal wars that could derail the American and global economies. "We are primarily a blocking majority," said Michael Sommers, Speaker John Boehner's chief of staff, summarizing the House Republican position. It was the land of no-compromise: On health care cuts over ten years, Boehner suggested to Obama, you are $400 billion, I'm at $600 billion. "Can we split the difference here? Can we land at $500 billion?" "Four hundred billion is it," Obama replied. "I just can't see how we go any further on that." After making $120 billion in other concessions, Obama pleaded with Boehner, "What is it about the politics?" "My guys just aren't there," Boehner replied. "We are $150 billion off, man. I don't get it. There's something I don't get." The Price of Politics chronicles the inside story of how President Obama and the US Congress tried, and failed, to restore the American economy and set it on a course to fiscal stability. Woodward pierces the secretive world of Washington policymaking once again, with a close-up story crafted from meeting notes, documents, working papers, and interviews with key players, including President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner. Woodward lays bare the broken relationship between President Obama and the Congress.
The Price of Power: America since 1945
by Herbert AgarThe author reviews the events and crises that have marked postwar history--the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, the Berlin airlift, the Eightieth Congress and Truman's election, the Hiss case, the collapse of Nationalist China, the McCarthy hearings, the atom and hydrogen bombs, McCarthy's "retirement," and Eisenhower's first election.
The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House
by Seymour M. HershFrom the introduction: "This book is an account of the foreign policy of the United States, presided over by Henry Kissinger, during Richard Nixon's first term in the White House. It is also an account of the relationship between two men who collaborated on what seemed to be a remarkable series of diplomatic triumphs. These were the years when China was reclaimed by American diplomacy; when a much-praised agreement on strategic arms limitation (SALT) was negotiated with the soviet Union; when a complex dispute in West Berlin was settled; and when American participation in the war in Vietnam, the most crucial issue facing the American presidency, was brought to a dramatic end with the signing of the Paris peace accords in January 1973, three days after Nixon was inaugurated for a second term."
The Price of Power: Inside Ireland's Crisis Coalition
by Pat Leahy'The go-to political chronicler of our times' Sunday Times'Vivid and compelling ... excellent' Fintan O'Toole, Irish Times'A tremendous read. I'll be recommending it' Sean O'Rourke, RTÉ'Absorbing ... fascinating ... impressive amount of detail ... Leahy vividly sketches a picture of a mercurial political marriage' Lise Hand, Irish Independent'Explosive revelations' The Herald'Fascinating & believable' Cathal Mac Coille'Great read, great insights, highly recommended' David McCullagh'Very well written and a good pacy read ... excellent ... thoroughly readable and understandable .... Compelling' The Phoenix'Forensic and compelling ... Leahy transforms politics into a page-turner ... He writes with style, substance (some of the detail is astonishing) and no little wit' RTÉ Guide'Gripping' Irish Mail on Sunday'Pat Leahy's book is a page-turner' Gavin Duffy'A fantastic read. A really good narrative.' Noreen Hegarty'Excellent' James Downey, Irish Independent'Can't wait to read The Price of Power by Pat Leahy. His last [book], Showtime was the best book about Irish politics in years.' Dara O BriainWhen Fine Gael and Labour swept into government, in February 2011 they knew they were facing the greatest crisis in the history of the state. What confronted them was beyond their direst imaginings. Pat Leahy's The Price of Power is the riveting inside story of how they have led - and misled - Ireland.The Price of Power tells the story of trying to govern a country on the verge of ruin - the favours, the deals, the policy compromises and previously unthinkable choices that had to be made. It is a gripping tale of high drama (and high dudgeon), of betrayal, backstabbing and disillusionment, of those who rose to the challenge and those who withered under the strain.If there's one writer who can get the inside story on what's really going on at the higest levels in Irish poltiics, it's leading political journalist Pat Leahy. His account of Fianna Fáil in government, Showtime, is the considered the go-to book for anyone who wants to understand the disastrous politics led Ireland into economic meltdown. Now, with the same mix of unrivalled inside information, astute analysis and exciting writing, he lifts the lid on the coalition that is supposed to get us out of the fix.
The Price of Power: How Mitch McConnell Mastered the Senate, Changed America, and Lost His Party
by Michael TackettThe first definitive biography of Mitch McConnell, revealing an intimate look at the personal and political life of one of the most powerful senators in American history.In the long history of American government, few senators have wielded as much power as Kentucky&’s Mitch McConnell. That&’s no accident; he worked his entire life to cultivate his dominance. In The Price of Power, award-winning journalist Michael Tackett pulls back the curtain on one of the most influential figures to ever set foot in the American Senate, offering you an intimate, personal view of his life and career. Drawing on thousands of pages of archival materials, letters, and more than 100 interviews with associates, colleagues, and McConnell himself, Tackett pieces together the story of McConnell&’s early life, his formative battle with polio as a young child, and details his forty-plus-year career as one of the Senate&’s most impactful leaders. A lifelong Republican, McConnell was known as a pragmatic moderate legislator when he joined the Senate in 1985. Tackett traces his steady rightward drift, as McConnell&’s politics evolved with his masterful ability to consolidate and wield power. But such success comes at a cost. The Trump years brought with them the rise of an almost unrecognizable Republican party, suffused with a reactive populism that even McConnell himself would struggle to control. Featuring expert reporting, unprecedented access, and never-before-published revelations, The Price of Power is an inside portrait of exactly that—what it takes to achieve power, maintain it, deploy it, and, finally, watch it slip out of your hands.
The Price of Precaution and the Ethics of Risk
by Christian MuntheChristian Munthe undertakes an innovative, in-depth philosophical analysis of what the idea of a precautionary principle is and should be about. A novel theory of the ethics of imposing risks is developed and used as a foundation for defending the idea of precaution in environmental and technological policy making against its critics, while at the same time avoiding a number of identified flaws. The theory is shown to have far-reaching practical conclusions for areas such as bio-, information- and nuclear technology, and global environmental policy in areas such as climate change. The author argues that, while the price we pay for precaution must not be too high, we have to be prepared to pay it in order to act ethically defensible. A number of practical suggestions for precautionary regulation and policy making are made on the basis of this, and some challenges to basic ethical theory as well as consumerist societies, the global political order and liberal democracy are identified. Munthe's book is a well-argued contribution to the PP debate, putting neglected justificatory and methodological questions at the forefront. His many discussions of alternative accounts as well as his drawing out the consequences of his own suggestion in practical cases give the reader a thorough, holistic sense of what justification of PP amounts to. /..../ Munthe's main case, his argumentation for the requirement of precaution as a moral norm, is convincing and puts a strong pressure on too narrow alternative suggestions on how it should be perceived and justified, and he launches a plausible defence of its practical usability.
The Price of Prestige: Conspicuous Consumption in International Relations
by Lilach GiladyIf wars are costly and risky to both sides, why do they occur? Why engage in an arms race when it’s clear that increasing one’s own defense expenditures will only trigger a similar reaction by the other side, leaving both countries just as insecure—and considerably poorer? Just as people buy expensive things precisely because they are more expensive, because they offer the possibility of improved social status or prestige, so too do countries, argues Lilach Gilady. In The Price of Prestige, Gilady shows how many seemingly wasteful government expenditures that appear to contradict the laws of demand actually follow the pattern for what are known as Veblen goods, or positional goods for which demand increases alongside price, even when cheaper substitutes are readily available. From flashy space programs to costly weapons systems a country does not need and cannot maintain to foreign aid programs that offer little benefit to recipients, these conspicuous and strategically timed expenditures are intended to instill awe in the observer through their wasteful might. And underestimating the important social role of excess has serious policy implications. Increasing the cost of war, for example, may not always be an effective tool for preventing it, Gilady argues, nor does decreasing the cost of weapons and other technologies of war necessarily increase the potential for conflict, as shown by the case of a cheap fighter plane whose price tag drove consumers away. In today’s changing world, where there are high levels of uncertainty about the distribution of power, Gilady also offers a valuable way to predict which countries are most likely to be concerned about their position and therefore adopt costly, excessive policies.
The Price of Principle: Why Integrity Is Worth the Consequences
by Alan DershowitzIn his fiftieth book, The Price of Principle: Why Integrity Is Worth the Consequences, Alan Dershowitz—#1 New York Times bestselling author and one of America&’s most influential legal scholars—explores the implications of the increasing tendency in politics, academia, media, and even the courts of law to punish principle and reward partisan hypocrisy. Alan Dershowitz has been called &“one of the most prominent and consistent defenders of civil liberties in America&” by Politico, and &“the nation&’s most peripatetic civil liberties lawyer and one of its most distinguished defenders of individual rights&” by Newsweek. Yet, he has come under intense criticism for living by his principles and applying his famed &“shoe on the other foot test.&” Price of Principle is about efforts to cancel Alan Dershowitz and his career because he has insisted on sticking to his principles instead of choosing sides in the current culture and political war dividing our country. He explains that principled people are actively punished for not being sufficiently partisan. Principle has become the vice and partisanship the virtue in an age when partisan ends justify unprincipled means, such as denial of due process and free speech in the interest of achieving partisan or ideological goals. Throughout his narrative, Dershowitz focuses on three sets of principles that have guided his life: 1) freedom of expression and conscience; 2) due process, fundamental fairness, and the adversary system of seeking justice; and 3) basic equality and meritocracy. He documents the attacks on him and others like him for being &“guilty&” of refusing to compromise important principles to promote partisanship. He names names and points fingers of accusation at those who have led us down this dangerous road. In the end, Price of Principle represents an icon in the defense of free speech and due process reckoning with the challenges of unprincipled attacks—a new brand of McCarthyism—and insisting that we ask hard questions about our own moral principles.
The Price of Progress: Public Services, Taxation, and the American Corporate State, 1877 to 1929 (Reconfiguring American Political History)
by R. Rudy Higgens-EvensonBetween the Civil War and the Great Depression, twin revolutions swept through American business and government. In business, large corporations came to dominate entire sectors and markets. In government, new services and agencies, especially at the city and state levels, sprang up to ameliorate a broad spectrum of social problems. In The Price of Progress, R. Rudy Higgens-Evenson offers a fresh analysis of therelationship between those two revolutions. Using previously unexploited data from the annual reports of state treasurers and comptrollers, he provides a detailed, empirical assessment of the goods and services provided to citizens, as well as the resources extracted from them, by state governments during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.Focusing on New York, Massachusetts, California, and Kansas, but including data on 13 other states, his comparative study suggests that the "corporate state" originated in tax policies designed to finance new and innovative government services.Business and government grew together in a surprising and complex fashion. In the late nineteenth century, services such as mental health care for the needy and free elementary education for all children created new strains on the states' old property tax systems. In order to pay for newly constructed state asylums and schools, states experimented for the first time with corporate taxation as a source of revenue, linking state revenues to the profitability of industries such as railroads and utilities. To control their tax bills, big businessesintensified lobbying efforts in state legislatures, captured important positions in state tax bureaus, and sponsored a variety of government-efficiency reform organizations. The unintended result of corporate taxation—imposed to allow states to fulfill their responsibilities to their citizens—was the creation of increasingly intimate ties between politicians, bureaucrats, corporate leaders, and progressive citizens. By the 1920s, a variety of "corporate states" had proliferated across the nation, each shaped by a particular mix of taxation and public services, each offering a case study in how the business of America, as President Calvin Coolidge put it, became business.
The Price of Progressive Politics: The Welfare Rights Movement in an Era of Colorblind Racism
by null Rose ErnstThrough the voices of women activists in the welfare rightsmovement across the United States, The Price of ProgressivePolitics exposes the contemporary reality of welfare rightspolitics, revealing how the language of colorblind racism underminesthis multiracial movement. Through in-depth interviewswith activists in eight organizations across the UnitedStates, Rose Ernst presents an intersectional analysis of howthese activists understand the complexities of race, classand gender and how such understandings have affectedtheir approach to their grassroots work. Engaging and accessible,The Price of Progressive Politics offers a refreshingexamination of how those working for change grapple withshifting racial dynamics in the United States, arguing thatorganizations that fail to develop a consciousness that reflectsthe reality of multiple marginalized identities ultimatelyreproduce the societal dynamics they seek to change.