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Understanding the Humanitarian World (Global Institutions)
by Daniel G Maxwell Kirsten GelsdorfConflict and disaster have been part of human history for as long as it has been recorded. Over time, more mechanisms for responding to crises have developed and become more systematized. Today a large and complex ‘global humanitarian response system’ made up of a multitude of local, national and international actors carries out a wide variety of responses. Understanding this intricate system, and the forces that shape it, are the core focus of this book. Daniel G Maxwell and Kirsten Gelsdorf highlight the origins, growth, and specific challenges to, humanitarian action and examine why the contemporary system functions as it does. They outline the main actors, explore how they are organised and look at the ways they plan and carry out their operations. Interrogating major contemporary debates and controversies in the humanitarian system, and the reasons why actions undertaken in its name remain the subject of so much controversy, they provide an important overview of the contemporary humanitarian system and the ways it may develop in the future. This book offers a nuanced understanding of the way humanitarian action operates in the 21st century. It will be essential reading for anyone with an interest in international human rights law, disaster management and international relations.
Understanding the Impact of Emotional Stress on Crisis Decision Making
by Noel Allan SawatzkyMotivational models are critical to understanding crisis decision making because leaders and their advisors are emotionally involved, intent on reducing stress, and motivated to find ways of advancing their interests while minimizing the risk of war. The principal theoretical work on the subject is Irving Janis and Leon Mann’s classic study of decision making, published in 1977. While useful, the book has a significant flaw: Janis and Mann theorize that policy maker stress during crisis is derived from decision deliberation, leading to a circular approach. This book solves the identified problem by addressing circularity between the rise of psychological stress, decision deliberation, and dysfunctional behavior with an independent measure of decision conditions using cognitive complexity. With an effective independent measure of stress, the key contribution of this volume is a reformulation of Janis and Mann’s model to render the construct more rigorous and empirically useful to the present-day study of crisis decision making.
Understanding the Impact of Social Research on the Military: Reflections and Critiques (Cass Military Studies)
by Eyal Ben-AriThis book seeks to chart and evaluate the impact of social research on the military itself. By ‘impact’, the authors in this volume simply mean that which has a marked effect or influence on changing military policy, practices, knowledge, skills, behaviour, or living conditions. The book comprises a series of reflective contributions from scholars who have conducted research on the military as external scholars with no formal ties to the armed forces, as 'native' researchers formally linked to them, as well as various kinds of contracted social scientists enabled by the military to carry out their investigations. The authors were asked to make the question of the impact of social scientific research on the armed forces an object of study in itself and to situate their reflections in terms of wider analytical questions. As a result, the chapters can be divided, broadly speaking, into two types of orientation: some are centered on theoretical and analytical issues, while others focus on the researchers’ lived experiences. This book will be of interest to students of military studies, sociology, organisational studies, psychology and political science.
Understanding the Impacts of Deregulation in Planning: Turning Offices into Homes?
by Jessica Ferm Nicola Livingstone Ben Clifford Patricia CanelasIn England, it has been possible since 2013 to convert an office building into residential use without needing planning permission (as has been required since 1948). This book explores the consequences of this central government driven deregulation on local communities. The policy decision was primarily about boosting the supply of housing, but reflects a broader neoliberal ideology which seeks to reform public planning in many countries to reduce perceived interference in free markets. Drawing on original research in the English local authorities of Camden, Croydon, Leeds, Leicester and Reading, the book provides a case study of the implementation of planning deregulation which demonstrates the lowering of standards in housing quality, the reduced ability of the local state to proactively steer development and plan for their places, and the transfer of wealth from the public to private spheres that has resulted. Comparative case studies from Glasgow and Rotterdam call into question the very need for the deregulation in the first place.
Understanding the Intelligence Cycle (Studies in Intelligence)
by Mark PhythianThis book critically analyses the concept of the intelligence cycle, highlighting the nature and extent of its limitations and proposing alternative ways of conceptualising the intelligence process. The concept of the intelligence cycle has been central to the study of intelligence. As Intelligence Studies has established itself as a distinctive branch of Political Science, it has generated its own foundational literature, within which the intelligence cycle has constituted a vital thread - one running through all social-science approaches to the study of intelligence and constituting a staple of professional training courses. However, there is a growing acceptance that the concept neither accurately reflects the intelligence process nor accommodates important elements of it, such as covert action, counter-intelligence and oversight. Bringing together key authors in the field, the book considers these questions across a number of contexts: in relation to intelligence as a general concept, military intelligence, corporate/private sector intelligence and policing and criminal intelligence. A number of the contributions also go beyond discussion of the limitations of the cycle concept to propose alternative conceptualisations of the intelligence process. What emerges is a plurality of approaches that seek to advance the debate and, as a consequence, Intelligence Studies itself. This book will be of great interest to students of intelligence studies, strategic studies, criminology and policing, security studies and IR in general, as well as to practitioners in the field.
Understanding the Manitoba Election 2016: Campaigns, Participation, Issues, Place
by Andrew Taylor Daniel Heidt Whitney LackenbauerIn "Two Years Below the Horn," engineer Andrew Taylor vividly recounts his experiences and accomplishments during Operation Tabarin, a landmark British expedition to Antarctica to establish sovereignty and conduct science during the Second World War. When mental strain led the operation’s first commander to resign, Taylor—a military engineer with extensive prewar surveying experience—became the first and only Canadian to lead an Antarctic expedition. As commander of the operation, Taylor oversaw construction of the first permanent base on the Antarctic continent at Hope Bay. From there, he led four-man teams on two epic sledging journeys around James Ross Island,overcoming arduous conditions and correcting cartographic mistakes made by previous explorers. The editors’ detailed afterword draws on Taylor’s extensive personal papers to highlight Taylor’s achievements and document his significant contributions to polar science. This book will appeal to readers interested in the history of polar exploration, science, and sovereignty. It also sheds light on the little known contribution of a Canadian to a distant theatre of the Second World War. The wartime service of Major Taylor reveals important new details about a groundbreaking operation that laid the foundation for the British Antarctic Survey and marked a critical moment in the transition from the heroic to the modern scientific era in polar exploration.
Understanding the Middle East Peace Process: Israeli Academia and the Struggle for Identity (Routledge Studies on the Arab-Israeli Conflict)
by Asima Ghazi-BouillonTracing the evolution of the Israeli academic debate over history, politics, and collective identity, Understanding the Middle East Peace Process examines the Middle East peace process since Oslo and follows the discursive struggle over Israeli collective identity. Based on interviews with key protagonists, this book gives a detailed analysis of the interrelatedness of academic debate, societal discourse, and collective identity against the background of major political events in Israel. It charts the ascendancy and expansion of post-Zionism, outlines the emergence of neo-Zionism from the political right, and the re-appropriation of Zionism in light of the new political climate of peace-making. Ghazi-Bouillon provides a new perspective on the failure of the New Historians to revolutionize Israeli intellectual life and the failure of post-Zionism to revolutionize Israeli political life, whilst assessing neo-Zionism’s potential to do both.
Understanding the Military Design Movement: War, Change and Innovation (Routledge Studies in Conflict, Security and Technology)
by Ben ZweibelsonThis book explains the history and development of the military design movement, featuring case studies from key modern militaries. Written by a practitioner, the work shows how modern militaries think and arrange actions in time and space for security affairs, and why designers are disrupting, challenging, and reconceptualizing everything previously upheld as sacred on the battlefield. It is the first book to thoroughly explain what military design is, where it came from, and how it works at deep, philosophically grounded levels, and why it is potentially the most controversial development in generations of war fighters. The work explains the tangled origins of commercial design and that of designing modern warfare, the rise of various design movements, and how today’s military forces largely hold to a Newtonian stylization built upon mimicry of natural science infused with earlier medieval and religious inspirations. Why does our species conceptualize war as such, and how do military institutions erect barriers that become so powerful that efforts to design further innovation require entirely novel constructs outside the orthodoxy? The book explains design stories from the Israel Defense Force, the US Army, the US Marine Corps, the Canadian Armed Forces, and the Australian Defence Force for the first time, and includes the theory, doctrine, organizational culture, and key actors involved. Ultimately, this book is about how small communities of practice are challenging the foundations of modern defence thinking. This book will be of much interest to students of military and strategic studies, defence studies, and security studies, as well as design educators and military professionals.
Understanding the Mixed Economy of Welfare (second edition)
by Martin PowellAs the state withdraws from welfare provision, the mixed economy of welfare – involving private, voluntary and informal sectors – has become ever more important. This second edition of Powell’s acclaimed textbook on the subject brings together a wealth of respected contributors. New features of this revised edition include: • An updated perspective on the mixed economy of welfare (MEW) and social division of welfare (SDW) in the context of UK Coalition and Conservative governments • A conceptual framework that links the MEW and SDW with debates on topics of major current interest such as ‘Open Public Services’, ‘Big Society’, Any Qualified Provider’, Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and ‘Public Private Partnerships’ (PPP) Containing helpful features such as summaries, questions for discussion, further reading suggestions and electronic resources, this will be a valuable introductory resource for students of social policy, social welfare and social work at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Understanding the Modern Russian Police
by Olga B. Semukhina Kenneth Michael ReynoldsUnderstanding the Modern Russian Police represents the culmination of ten years of research and an ongoing partnership between the Volgograd Academy of Russian Internal Affairs Ministry (VA MVD) and the Volgograd branch of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (VAPA). The book provides a timely and comprehen
Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer
by Phyllis Bennis"Why is there so much violence in the Middle East?" "Who are the Palestinians?" "What are the occupied territories?" "What does Israel want?" With straightforward language, Phyllis Bennis, longtime analyst of the region, answers basic questions about Israel and Israelis, Palestine and Palestinians, the US and the Middle East, Zionism and anti-Semitism; about complex issues ranging from the Oslo peace process to the election of Hamas. Her answers point the way toward a comprehensive understanding of the longstanding Palestinian--Israeli conflict.
Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer
by Phyllis BennisIf you have ever wondered "Why is there so much violence in the Middle East?", "Who are the Palestinians?", "What are the occupied territories?" or "What does Israel want?", then this is the book for you. With straightforward language, Phyllis Bennis, longtime analyst of the region, answers basic questions about Israel and Israelis, Palestine and Palestinians, the US and the Middle East, Zionism and anti-Semitism; about complex issues ranging from the Oslo peace process to the election of Hamas to the Goldstone Report and the Palestinians' UN initiative. Together her answers provide a comprehensive understanding of the longstanding Palestinian-Israeli conflict.Sections include: The Crisis; The Other Players: The Role of the US, the UN, the Arab States, and Europe; Recent History: Rising Violence; Looking Backward (1900-1991); The Future.
Understanding the Persistence of Competitive Authoritarianism in Algeria (Middle East Today)
by Dalia GhanemThis book unravels the secrets behind the Algerian regime’s survival and the pillars of its longevity. How did authoritarian consolidation happen, and why is it likely to continue despite Bouteflika’s departure and the emergence of a new actor: the popular movement, Hirak. The author sheds light on the pillars behind the durability of Algeria’s regime. The latter has demonstrated an extraordinary capacity to perpetuate itself through an array of mechanisms. It identifies Algeria’s authoritarianism as a distinctly competitive and adaptable kind, which has better allowed the regime to persist in the face of all manner of change. The book analyzes Algeria’s situation and the regime persistence far from the premise of a trend towards democratization. The project also contributes to a broader area of study concerned with “competitive authoritarianism,” regimes that face domestic resistance, the question of what and how compels such regimes to change, the nature of their political institutions, and more.
Understanding the Political Philosophers: From Ancient to Modern Times
by Alan HaworthUnderstanding the Political Philosophers is an absorbing and accessible introduction to the major philosophers and core texts of western political philosophy. Organised historically - beginning with Socrates and Plato, and concluding with post-Rawlsian theory - Alan Haworth presents the key ideas and developments with clarity and depth. Each chapter provides a concentrated study of a given thinker or group of thinkers and together they constitute a broad account of the main arguments in political philosophy. There are chapters on Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, the Utilitarians, Marx, and Rawls’s early work. This revised second edition has been brought fully up-to-date, and includes expanded coverage of the period from the death of Aristotle to the sixteenth century, as well as a new chapter on Rawls’s later philosophy and the direction of post-Rawlsian philosophy. Including a chronology and suggestions for further reading, Understanding the Political Philosophers is an ideal introductory text for students taking courses in political philosophy or political theory.
Understanding the Political World: A Comparative Introduction to Political Science (Twelfth Edition)
by Charles Anthony Smith James N. DanzigerPresenting key concepts, relevant research findings, and detailed explanations, the Twelfth Edition offers readers a path to understanding the challenges of politics and political differences. The text explores the subject matter from a comprehensive and comparative standpoint, using real examples from different international political systems to demonstrate how politics are understood throughout the world.
Understanding the Politics of Pandemic Emergencies in the time of COVID-19: An Introduction to Global Politosomatics (The Politics of Pandemics)
by Mika AaltolaThis book reviews the political significance of COVID-19 in the context of earlier pandemic encounters and scares to understand the ways in which it challenges the existing individual health, domestic order, international health governance actors, and, more fundamentally, the circulation-based modus operandi of the present world order. It argues that contagious diseases should be regarded as complex open-ended phenomena with various features and are not reducible merely to biology and epidemiology. They are, as such, fundamentally politosomatic, namely that they disrupt, agitate, and trigger large-scale processes because individual somatic-level anxieties stem from individuals’ sensing immediate danger through the networks of their local and global connectedness. The author further argues that pandemics have somatic effects in political expressions that transform the epidemic into national security dramas which should not, for the sake of efficient health governance, be treated as aspects extraneous to the disease itself. The book highlights that when a serious infectious disease spreads, a 'threat' is very often externalized into a culturally meaningful 'foreign' entity. Pandemics tend to be territorialized, nationalized, ethnicized, and racialized. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of global health and governance, pandemic security, epidemics, history of medicine, geopolitics, international relations, and general readers interested in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Understanding the Politics of Pandemic Scares: An Introduction to Global Politosomatics (Routledge Studies in Governance and Public Policy)
by Mika AaltolaReactions to pandemics are unlike any other global emergency; with an emphasis on withdrawal and containment of the sight of the infected. Dealing with the historical and conceptual background of diseases in politics and international relations, this volume investigates the global political reaction to pandemic scares. By evaluating anxiety and the political response to pandemics as a legitimisation of the modern state and its ability to protect its citizens from infectious disease, Understanding the Politics of Pandemic Scares examines the connection between international health governance and the emerging Western liberal world order. The case studies, including SARS, Bird Flu and Swine Flu, provide an understanding of how the world order, global health governance and people’s bodies interact to produce scares and panics. Aaltola introduces an innovative new concept of ‘politosomatics’ based on the relationship that links individual stress, strain, and fear with global circulations of power to evaluate increasingly global bio-political environments in which pandemics exist. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of International Relations, Global Health, International Public Health and Global Health governance.
Understanding the Populist Shift: Othering in a Europe in Crisis (Routledge Studies in Extremism and Democracy)
by Gabriella Lazaridis Giovanna. CampaniDuring the European elections of 2014, one of the main issues raised by the media was the electoral performance of so called ‘populist parties’. The electorate confirmed its deep dissatisfaction with mainstream political parties, voting for far right parties in parliamentary elections in Northern Europe (Austria, Denmark, Sweden), Eastern Europe (Hungary, where the deeply anti-Semitic Jobbik party gained votes) and in France (where the French National Front won about a quarter of the vote), while in the Southern European countries, battered by austerity policies, it was the radical right and left in Greece (Golden Dawn and Syriza) and the radical left in Spain (Podemos) that obtained excellent scores. This book examines the growing trend towards far and extreme right populism that has emerged prominently in Northern (Finland), Western (Austria, Denmark, France, the UK), Southern (Greece, Italy) and Central/Eastern Europe (Slovenia, Bulgaria) since the 1990s. Providing a critical understanding of current European trends and analysing the complex phenomena covered by the notion of populism, this book will be of interest to students and scholars researching right-wing politics, as well as European politics more generally.
Understanding the Quality Use of Research Evidence in Education: What It Means to Use Research Well
by Mark Rickinson Lucas Walsh Joanne Gleeson Blake Cutler Connie Cirkony Mandy SalisburyThis book focuses on the question of how to understand quality use of research evidence in education, or what it means to use research evidence well. Internationally there are widespread efforts to increase the use of research evidence within educational policy and practice. Such efforts raise important questions about how we understand not just the quality of evidence, but also the quality of its use. To date, there has been wide-ranging debate about the former, but very little dialogue about the latter. Based on a five-year study with schools and school systems in Australia, this book sheds new light on: why clarity about quality of use is critical to educational improvement; how quality use of research evidence can be framed in education; what using research well involves and looks like in practice; what quality research use means for individuals, organisations and systems; and what aspects of using research well still need to be better understood. This book will be an invaluable resource for professionals within and beyond education who want to better understand what using research evidence well means and involves and how it can be supported.
Understanding the Rohingya Displacement: Security, Media, and Humanitarian Perspectives (International Perspectives on Migration)
by Kawser Ahmed Md. Rafiqul IslamThis book provides a focused and comprehensive understanding of the conflict surrounding the Rohingya displacement, using a unique peace and conflict transformation viewpoint. Divided into four sections and nineteen chapters, it covers significant themes related to the conflict. It provides an in-depth examination of its security implications, media impact, and the need for a long-term transformation strategy. The authors offer a sharp perspective on the crisis, covering a wide range of topics, including human rights abuses, geopolitics, media influence, and repatriation of the Rohingya. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of the conflict, providing readers with a thorough understanding of the Rohingya displacement-related conflict. The authors advocate for a peaceful end to the conflict through repatriation, offering valuable conflict transformation tools for decision-makers in Bangladesh and around the world. This book is essential for anyone seeking a deeper understandingof the conflict's security implications and highlights original research from academics on the role of the media. It is relevant for scholars, politicians, decision-makers in the security and refugee management fields, academics studying the media, and humanitarian actors.
Understanding the Role of Deterrence in Counterterrorism Security
by Brian A. Jackson Andrew R. MorralDeterrence--a central feature of counterterrorism security systems and a major factor in the cost-effectiveness of many security programs--is not well understood or measured. This paper offers a framework for understanding how security systems may deter or displace attacks and how to measure the relative deterrent value of alternative systems. This framework may aid in attempts to achieve increased security benefits with limited resources.
Understanding the Social Economy: A Canadian Perspective, Second Edition
by Jack Quarter Laurie Mook Ann ArmstrongSuitable for courses addressing community economic development, non-profit organizations, co-operatives and the social economy more broadly, the second edition of Understanding the Social Economy expands on the authors’ ground-breaking examination of organizations founded on a social mission – social enterprises, non-profits, co-operatives, credit unions, and community development organizations. While the role of the private and public sectors are very much in the public light, the social economy is often taken for granted. However, try to imagine a society without the many forms of organizations that form the social economy: social service organizations, arts and recreation organizations, ethno-cultural associations, social clubs, self-help groups, universities and colleges, hospitals and other healthcare providers, foundations, housing co-operatives, or credit unions. Not only do these organizations provide valuable services, but they employ many people, and purchase goods and services. They are both social and economic entities. Understanding the Social Economy illustrates how organizations in the social economy interact with the other sectors of the economy and highlights the important social infrastructure that these organizations create. The second edition contains six new case studies as well three new chapters addressing leadership and strategic management, and human resources management. A much-needed work on an important but neglected facet of organizational studies, Understanding the Social Economy continues to be an invaluable resource for the classroom and for participants working in the social sector.
Understanding the Tea Party Movement (The Mobilization Series on Social Movements, Protest, and Culture)
by Nella Van DykeHailing themselves as heirs to the American Revolution, the Tea Party movement staged tax day protests in over 750 US cities in April 2009, quickly establishing a large and volatile social movement. Tea Partiers protested at town hall meetings about health care across the country in August, leading to a large national demonstration in Washington on September 12, 2009. The movement spurred the formation (or redefinition) of several national organizations and many more local groups, and emerged as a strong force within the Republican Party. Self-described Tea Party candidates won victories in the November 2010 elections. Even as activists demonstrated their strength and entered government, the future of the movement's influence, and even its ultimate goals, are very much in doubt. In 2012, Barack Obama, the movement’s prime target, decisively won re-election, Congressional Republicans were unable to govern, and the Republican Party publicly wrestled with how to manage the insurgency within. Although there is a long history of conservative movements in America, the library of social movement studies leans heavily to the left. The Tea Party movement, its sudden emergence and its uncertain fate, provides a challenge to mainstream American politics. It also challenges scholars of social movements to reconcile this new movement with existing knowledge about social movements in America. Understanding the Tea Party Movement addresses these challenges by explaining why and how the movement emerged when it did, how it relates to earlier eruptions of conservative populism, and by raising critical questions about the movement's ultimate fate.
Understanding the Times: The Collision of Today's Competing Worldviews (Revised 2nd edition)
by David NoebelComparison of Christianity vs. Islam, Secular Humanism, Marxism, Cosmic Humanism, and Postmodernism in the areas of theology, philosophy, ethics, biology, psychology, sociology, law, politics, economics, and history.
Understanding the U.S. Military
by Katherine Carroll William B. HickmanThis book offers an accessible introduction to the U.S. military as an institution and provides insights into the military’s structure and norms. Designed for undergraduate students, the book offers an interdisciplinary overview of America’s armed forces through three critical lenses. First, it introduces the military’s constitutional and historical context. Second, it presents concise factual information chosen for its relevance to the military’s structures, procedures, norms, and varied activities. Finally, it intersperses these facts with debates, theories, and questions to spark student interest, class discussion, and further research. The text is written for the beginner but covers complex topics such as force structure and the defense budget. With contributions informed by both scholarly approaches and long military careers, the book will prepare students for further studies in international relations, civil-military relations, or U.S. foreign policy. It also encourages critical thinking, elucidating an institution that undergraduates and other civilians too often perceive as both baffling and above reproach. This book will be of much interest to students of the U.S. military, civil-military relations, U.S. politics, and public policy.