Download or read book The Primacy of Politics written by Sheri Berman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-08-07 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political history in the industrial world has indeed ended, argues this pioneering study, but the winner has been social democracy - an ideology and political movement that has been as influential as it has been misunderstood. Berman looks at the history of social democracy from its origins in the late nineteenth century to today and shows how it beat out competitors such as classical liberalism, orthodox Marxism, and its cousins, Fascism and National Socialism by solving the central challenge of modern politics - reconciling the competing needs of capitalism and democracy. Bursting on to the scene in the interwar years, the social democratic model spread across Europe after the Second World War and formed the basis of the postwar settlement. This is a study of European social democracy that rewrites the intellectual and political history of the modern era while putting contemporary debates about globalization in their proper intellectual and historical context.

Download or read book The Primacy of the Political written by Dick Howard and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2010-09-30 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The conflict between politics and antipolitics has replayed throughout Western history and philosophical thought. From the beginning, Plato's quest for absolute certainty led him to denounce democracy, an anti-political position challenged by Aristotle. In his wide-ranging narrative, Dick Howard puts this dilemma into fresh perspective, proving our contemporary political problems are not as unique as we think. Howard begins with democracy in ancient Greece and the rise and fall of republican politics in Rome. In the wake of Rome's collapse, political thought searched for a new medium, and the conflict between politics and antipolitics reemerged through the contrasting theories of Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas. During the Renaissance and Reformation, the emergence of the modern individual again transformed the terrain of the political. Even so, politics vs. antipolitics dominated the period, frustrating even Machiavelli, who sought to reconceptualize the nature of political thought. Hobbes and Locke, theorists of the social contract, then reenacted the conflict, which Rousseau sought (in vain) to overcome. Adam Smith and the growth of modern economic liberalism, the radicalism of the French revolution, and the conservative reaction of Edmund Burke subsequently marked the triumph of antipolitics, while the American Revolution momentarily offered the potential for a renewal of politics. Taken together, these historical examples, viewed through the prism of philosophy, reveal the roots of today's political climate and the trajectory of battles yet to come.

Download or read book War and the Engineers written by Keir A. Lieber and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-05 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do some technologies provoke war? Do others promote peace? Offense-defense theory contends that technological change is an important cause of conflict: leaders will be tempted to launch wars when they believe innovation favors attackers over defenders. Offense-defense theory is perhaps best known from the passionate and intricate debates about first-strike capability and deterrence stability during the cold war, but it has deeper historical roots, remains a staple in international relations theorizing, and drives modern arms control policymaking. In War and the Engineers, the first book systematically to test the logical and empirical validity of offense-defense theory, Keir A. Lieber examines the relationships among politics, technology, and the causes of war. Lieber's cases explore the military and political implications of the spread of railroads, the emergence of rifled small arms and artillery, the introduction of battle tanks, and the nuclear revolution. Lieber incorporates the new historiography of World War I, which draws on archival materials that only recently became available, to challenge many common beliefs about the conflict. The author's central conclusion is that technology is neither a cause of international conflict nor a panacea; instead, power politics remains paramount.

Download or read book Institution Building in Weak States written by Andrew Radin and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 2020-07-01 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The effort to improve state institutions in post-conflict societies is a complicated business. Even when foreign intervention is carried out with the best of intentions and the greatest resources, it often fails. What can account for this failure? In Institution Building in Weak States, Andrew Radin argues that the international community’s approach to building state institutions needs its own reform. This innovative book proposes a new strategy, rooted in a rigorous analysis of recent missions. In contrast to the common strategy of foreign interveners—imposing models drawn from Western countries—Radin shows how pursuing incremental change that accommodates local political interests is more likely to produce effective, accountable, and law-abiding institutions. Drawing on extensive field research and original interviews, Radin examines efforts to reform the central government, military, and police in post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Iraq, and Timor-Leste. Based on his own experience in defense reform in Ukraine after 2014, Radin also draws parallels with efforts to improve state institutions outside of post-conflict societies. Institution Building in Weak States introduces a domestic opposition theory that better explains why institution building fails and what is required to make it work. With actionable recommendations for smarter policy, the book offers an important corrective for scholars and practitioners of post-conflict missions, international development, peacebuilding, and security cooperation.

Download or read book Nazism Fascism and the Working Class written by Timothy W. Mason and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1995-03-09 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays, four of which are published in English for the first time, represents the life's work of the historian Tim Mason, one of the most original and perceptive scholars of National Socialism, who pioneered its social and labour history. His provocative articles and essays, written between 1964 and 1990, exhibit a combination of empirical rigour and theoretical astuteness which made them landmarks in the definition and elaboration of major debates in the historiography of National Socialism. These ten essays collect together Mason's most significant writings, including discussions of the domestic origins of the Second World War, the role of Hitler, and the character of working-class resistance, as well as his pathbreaking study of women under National Socialism, and examples of comparative work on fascism and Nazism. A complete bibliography of his publications is also appended.

Download or read book Political Communication in Postmodern Democracy written by K. Brants and published by Springer. This book was released on 2011-01-05 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited collection examines the changing faces of political communication in contemporary democracy. Based on comparative investigations of recent trends in the Netherlands and Great Britain, the essays provide fresh insights and new empirical evidence into the public representation of media-centred politics.

Download or read book Transparency and American Primacy in World Politics written by James J. Marquardt and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-02-24 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a time when greater transparency is needed, this book advances a novel explanation of America's efforts to advance greater transparency in international relations. Marquardt argues that American statesmen have long sought to secure an American-dominated international system to encourage states to be more open and forthcoming about their internal affairs. Yet the United States routinely uses its calls for military transparency in particular as a policy instrument to discipline its rivals and therefore paradoxically contributes to greater tension in international relations. In contrast to conventional thinking about transparency in relation to overcoming power politics and promoting international cooperation, this book explores the relationship between America's power and international security competition. Though analytically distinct, openness and transparency have served the same strategic goal; ensuring America's position of preponderance in the international system.

Download or read book Currency Politics written by Jeffry A. Frieden and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-06 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The politics surrounding exchange rate policies in the global economy The exchange rate is the most important price in any economy, since it affects all other prices. Exchange rates are set, either directly or indirectly, by government policy. Exchange rates are also central to the global economy, for they profoundly influence all international economic activity. Despite the critical role of exchange rate policy, there are few definitive explanations of why governments choose the currency policies they do. Filled with in-depth cases and examples, Currency Politics presents a comprehensive analysis of the politics surrounding exchange rates. Identifying the motivations for currency policy preferences on the part of industries seeking to influence politicians, Jeffry Frieden shows how each industry's characteristics—including its exposure to currency risk and the price effects of exchange rate movements—determine those preferences. Frieden evaluates the accuracy of his theoretical arguments in a variety of historical and geographical settings: he looks at the politics of the gold standard, particularly in the United States, and he examines the political economy of European monetary integration. He also analyzes the politics of Latin American currency policy over the past forty years, and focuses on the daunting currency crises that have frequently debilitated Latin American nations, including Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil. With an ambitious mix of narrative and statistical investigation, Currency Politics clarifies the political and economic determinants of exchange rate policies.

Download or read book The Politics of Survival written by Marc Abélès and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this provocative analysis of global politics, the anthropologist Marc Abélès argues that the meaning and aims of political action have radically changed in the era of globalization. As dangers such as terrorism and global warming have moved to the fore of global consciousness, foreboding has replaced the belief that tomorrow will be better than today. Survival, outlasting the uncertainties and threats of a precarious future, has supplanted harmonious coexistence as the primary goal of politics. Abélès contends that this political reorientation has changed our priorities and modes of political action, and generated new debates and initiatives. The proliferation of supranational and transnational organizations—from the European Union to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to Oxfam—is the visible effect of this radical transformation in our relationship to the political realm. Areas of governance as diverse as the economy, the environment, and human rights have been partially taken over by such agencies. Non-governmental organizations in particular have become linked with the mindset of risk and uncertainty; they both reflect and help produce the politics of survival. Abélès examines the new global politics, which assumes many forms and is enacted by diverse figures with varied sympathies: the officials at meetings of the WTO and the demonstrators outside them, celebrity activists, and online contributors to international charities. He makes an impassioned case that our accounts of globalization need to reckon with the preoccupations and affiliations now driving global politics. The Politics of Survival was first published in France in 2006. This English-language edition has been revised and includes a new preface.

Download or read book The Death of Social Democracy written by Ashley Lavelle and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-03-09 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whereas many writers and scholars interested in the field of social democracy have focused on factors such as the role of economic globalization and electoral pressures, Ashley Lavelle explores the importance of the collapse of the post-war economic boom and lower growth rates since then. He examines how these pressures have led social democrats to embrace neo-liberal policies and become threatened by minor parties and independent politicians. Providing an original argument about the decline of social democracy, the author investigates how its decline has increased the popularity of minor parties and independents, along with the reasons for social democratic membership and electoral decline. This is an important book for scholars of social democracy and the broader themes of world politics, political parties, social movements and globalization.

Download or read book States of Development written by Adrian Leftwich and published by Polity. This book was released on 2001-03-05 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The spectre of poverty, disease and ignorance still haunts much of the developing world today. But not everywhere. Some societies, such as Botswana, Mauritius, Malaysia and Korea, are successfully transforming the material life of the majority of their citizens, though not always without costs in terms of human rights. Others, such as Peru, Zaire, India and the Philippines, appear incapable of doing so. In this widely comparative study, Adrian Leftwich examines why this has happened. Focusing on the politics and states of a wide range of developing societies, Leftwich generates a model of the 'developmental state' as a particular sub-type of state in the modern world, and argues the case for the primacy of politics in development. He challenges a number of contemporary orthodoxies in western overseas development policy, especially the current insistence that democracy is a necessary condition for development. States of Development will be essential reading for students and scholars in development studies and politics.

Download or read book Governing by Design written by Aggregate and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 2012-04-29 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Governing by Design offers a unique perspective on twentieth-century architectural history. It disputes the primacy placed on individuals in the design and planning process and instead looks to the larger influences of politics, culture, economics, and globalization to uncover the roots of how our built environment evolves. In these chapters, historians offer their analysis on design as a vehicle for power and as a mediator of social currents. Power is defined through a variety of forms: modernization, obsolescence, technology, capital, ergonomics, biopolitics, and others. The chapters explore the diffusion of power through the establishment of norms and networks that frame human conduct, action, identity, and design. They follow design as it functions through the body, in the home, and at the state and international level. Overall, Aggregate views the intersection of architecture with the human need for what Foucault termed “governmentality”—societal rules, structures, repetition, and protocols—as a way to provide security and tame risk. Here, the conjunction of power and the power of design reinforces governmentality and infuses a sense of social permanence despite the exceedingly fluid nature of societies and the disintegration of cultural memory in the modern era.

Download or read book Phenomenology and the Primacy of the Political written by Véronique M. Fóti and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-05-11 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is a Festschrift in honor of Jacques Taminiaux and examines the primacy of the political within phenomenology. These objectives support each other, in that Taminiaux's own intellectual itinerary brought him increasingly to an affirmation of the importance of the political. Divided into four sections, the essays contained in this volume engage with different aspects of the political dimension of phenomenology: its dialogue with classic texts of political philosophy, the political facets of phenomenological praxis, phenomenology’s contribution to actual political debates, and the impact of Taminiaux’s work in the shaping of phenomenology’s notion of politics. The phrase “the primacy of the political” echoes the “primacy of perception” as it was famously defined by Merleau-Ponty. This book emphasizes, however, the inescapability of the political rather than its “foundational” character, i.e. the fact that various itineraries of thought, explored in different fields of phenomenological research, give rise to politically relevant reflections. It points out and elucidates political connotations that haunt phenomenological concepts, such as ‘world’, ‘self’, ‘nature’, ‘intersubjectivity, or ‘language’, and traces them to a broad range of approaches, concepts, and methods. In its explorations, the book discusses a broad range of thinkers, including, but not limited to, Aristotle and Kant, Bergson, Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Gadamer, Ricoeur, and Arendt.

Download or read book The Hell of Good Intentions written by Stephen M. Walt and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2018-10-16 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times–bestselling author Stephen M. Walt, The Hell of Good Intentions dissects the faults and foibles of recent American foreign policy—explaining why it has been plagued by disasters like the “forever wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan and outlining what can be done to fix it. In 1992, the United States stood at the pinnacle of world power and Americans were confident that a new era of peace and prosperity was at hand. Twenty-five years later, those hopes have been dashed. Relations with Russia and China have soured, the European Union is wobbling, nationalism and populism are on the rise, and the United States is stuck in costly and pointless wars that have squandered trillions of dollars and undermined its influence around the world. The root of this dismal record, Walt argues, is the American foreign policy establishment’s stubborn commitment to a strategy of “liberal hegemony.” Since the end of the Cold War, Republicans and Democrats alike have tried to use U.S. power to spread democracy, open markets, and other liberal values into every nook and cranny of the planet. This strategy was doomed to fail, but its proponents in the foreign policy elite were never held accountable and kept repeating the same mistakes. Donald Trump won the presidency promising to end the misguided policies of the foreign policy “Blob” and to pursue a wiser approach. But his erratic and impulsive style of governing, combined with a deeply flawed understanding of world politics, are making a bad situation worse. The best alternative, Walt argues, is a return to the realist strategy of “offshore balancing,” which eschews regime change, nation-building, and other forms of global social engineering. The American people would surely welcome a more restrained foreign policy, one that allowed greater attention to problems here at home. This long-overdue shift will require abandoning the futile quest for liberal hegemony and building a foreign policy establishment with a more realistic view of American power. Clear-eyed, candid, and elegantly written, Stephen M. Walt’s The Hell of Good Intentions offers both a compelling diagnosis of America’s recent foreign policy follies and a proven formula for renewed success.

Download or read book The Primacy of Movement written by Maxine Sheets-Johnstone and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2011-07-06 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This expanded second edition carries forward the initial insights into the biological and existential significances of animation by taking contemporary research findings in cognitive science and philosophy and in neuroscience into critical and constructive account. It first takes affectivity as its focal point, elucidating it within both an enactive and qualitative affective-kinetic dynamic. It follows through with a thoroughgoing interdisciplinary inquiry into movement from three perspectives: mind, brain, and the conceptually reciprocal realities of receptivity and responsivity as set forth in phenomenology and evolutionary biology, respectively. It ends with a substantive afterword on kinesthesia, pointing up the incontrovertible significance of the faculty to cognition and affectivity. Series A

Download or read book Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe written by Sheri Berman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-04 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the end of the twentieth century, many believed the story of European political development had come to an end. Modern democracy began in Europe, but for hundreds of years it competed with various forms of dictatorship. Now, though, the entire continent was in the democratic camp for the first time in history. But within a decade, this story had already begun to unravel. Some of the continent's newer democracies slid back towards dictatorship, while citizens in many of its older democracies began questioning democracy's functioning and even its legitimacy. And of course it is not merely in Europe where democracy is under siege. Across the globe the immense optimism accompanying the post-Cold War democratic wave has been replaced by pessimism. Many new democracies in Latin America, Africa, and Asia began "backsliding," while the Arab Spring quickly turned into the Arab winter. The victory of Donald Trump led many to wonder if it represented a threat to the future of liberal democracy in the United States. Indeed, it is increasingly common today for leaders, intellectuals, commentators and others to claim that rather than democracy, some form dictatorship or illiberal democracy is the wave of the future. In Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe, Sheri Berman traces the long history of democracy in its cradle, Europe. She explains that in fact, just about every democratic wave in Europe initially failed, either collapsing in upon itself or succumbing to the forces of reaction. Yet even when democratic waves failed, there were always some achievements that lasted. Even the most virulently reactionary regimes could not suppress every element of democratic progress. Panoramic in scope, Berman takes readers through two centuries of turmoil: revolution, fascism, civil war, and - -finally -- the emergence of liberal democratic Europe in the postwar era. A magisterial retelling of modern European political history, Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe not explains how democracy actually develops, but how we should interpret the current wave of illiberalism sweeping Europe and the rest of the world.

Download or read book Eagle Rules written by Robert J. Lieber and published by Pearson. This book was released on 2002 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Preface p. xi About the Editor p. xvii Chapter 1 Foreign Policy and American Primacy Robert J. Lieber p. 1 Three Propositions about America's World Role p. 3 Reversible Assumptions? p. 12 Implications for Foreign Policy p. 14 Part I The Eagle at Home Chapter 2 Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Ole R. Holsti p. 16 Internationalism or Isolationism p. 18 Threats to Vital U.S. Interests p. 20 Foreign Policy Goals p. 22 Globalization, Trade, and Protectionism p. 25 Foreign Economic Assistance p. 28 Deployment of U.S. Troops Abroad p. 29 Partisanship: Persistence or Abatement? p. 34 Conclusion p. 40 Election Postscript p. 44 Chapter 3 Who Rules the Roost? Congressional-Executive Relations on Foreign Policy After the Cold War Andrew Bennett p. 47 Introduction p. 47 Presidential versus Congressional Perspectives on Foreign Policy p. 50 Historical and Post-Cold War Influences on Foreign Policy Roles p. 52 The Post-Cold War Interbranch Balance on Foreign Policy p. 56 Interbranch Relations on Trade and Finance p. 57 Foreign Policy Appointments and the Senate Confirmation Process p. 58 War Powers p. 61 The Treaty Ratification Process p. 65 Conclusions p. 67 Part II Regional Relations Chapter 4 The United States and Europe: From Primacy to Partnership? Ivo H. Daalder p. 70 The Indispensable Power p. 72 Growing Resentment of American Power p. 81 Europe's Capacity for Partnership p. 89 Europe's Outlook for Partnership p. 92 Sharing Power and Responsibility for Decisions p. 93 Towards Strategic Partnership p. 95 Chapter 5 Transforming Russia: American Policy in the 1990s Gail W. Lapidus p. 97 The Promise and the Critique p. 97 The Policy Framework p. 102 American Policy and Russia's Evolution in the 1990s p. 109 Conclusion: The Limits of Influence p. 129 Chapter 6 The United States and the Americas: Unfilled Promise at the Century's Turn Robert A. Pastor p. 133 The Bush-Clinton Agenda p. 135 The Summit and Other Pieces of the Hemispheric Agenda p. 138 A Divided U.S. Government p. 140 The Postwar Political Template and the Clinton Paradox p. 148 Chapter 7 A Cautionary Tale: The U.S. and the Arab-Israeli Conflict Harvey Sicherman p. 152 Global Conflict to Regional Disturbance p. 154 Madrid: Ratifying U.S. Supremacy p. 156 The Parties Act, and the U.S. Rejoices p. 157 Limits of Influence p. 158 Trouble in the Gulf p. 160 Salvaging the Peace p. 161 Crisis of the End Game p. 162 Camp David II: The Three-Bluff Summit p. 164 Jerusalem Redux p. 166 Fingers in the Dike: From Paris to Sharm p. 167 Clinton's Last Hurrah--and Barak's p. 169 A Clarifying Act of Violence p. 169 The Limits of Influence p. 170 Chapter 8 Iraq and Iran: From Dual to Differentiated Containment Robert S. Litwak p. 173 Historical Background p. 175 Dual Containment of Two "Rogue States" p. 176 Iraq: Containment or Rollback? p. 180 Iran: A Revolutionary or an Ordinary State? p. 184 Implementing "Differentiated Containment": Prospects and Dilemmas p. 188 Chapter 9 Lone Eagle, Lone Dragon? How the Cold War Did Not End for China Edward Friedman p. 194 Human Rights p. 195 Economics p. 199 National Security p. 205 Taiwan p. 207 Conclusion p. 210 Chapter 10 The United States and Africa: Power with Limited Influence Donald Rothchild p. 214 American National Interests in Africa p. 216 Conclusion p. 238 Part III Security Issues Chapter 11 Defense Policy for the Twenty-First Century Cindy Williams p. 241 America's Strategic Choices p. 242 The U.S. Margin of Military Superiority Is Vast p. 244 Military Primacy and Effective Influence p. 246 Pressures on the Defense Budget p. 248 Setting New Military Priorities p. 251 Recalibrating the MTW Measuring Stick p. 254 Finding Nonmilitary Solutions to International Problems p. 260 Conventional Force Structure for the New Century p. 261 Summary p. 264 Chapter 12 Use of Force Dilemmas: Policy and Politics Bruce W. Jentleson p. 266 The National Interest Debate Redux p. 268 Policy Challenges: Ethnic Conflict Deterrence and Humanitarian Intervention Strategies p. 269 U.S. Domestic Political Constraints: How Fixed, How Flexible? p. 276 Conclusion: Difficult, but Doable p. 280 Chapter 13 Weapons Proliferation and Missile Defense: New Patterns, Tough Choices Michael Nacht p. 282 A Brief Historical Review p. 284 Further Challenges at the Century's End p. 289 Tough Policy Choices Ahead p. 291 Initial Perspectives on the Bush Administration p. 297 Part IV Globalization and Its Discontents Chapter 14 Containing Backlash: Foreign Economic Policy in an Age of Globalization Benjamin J. Cohen p. 299 Is Globalization Irreversible? p. 301 Will U.S. Primacy Endure? p. 305 Can U.S. Policy-makers Be Counted On? p. 307 International Trade p. 309 International Finance p. 317 Conclusion p. 321 Chapter 15 The Eagle and the Global Environment: The Burden of Being Essential Robert Paarlberg p. 324 A Model for Success: The 1987 Montreal Protocol p. 325 A Model for Paralysis: The Stillborn Kyoto Climate Change Agreement p. 327 Biodiversity Protection Policy: Failing to Ratify the CBD p. 333 The Price of Disengagement: National Interests Compromised in the 2000 Biosafety Protocol p. 337 Conclusion p. 340 Chapter 16 The United States and International Organizations Stanley Hoffmann p. 342 The Uses of Multilateralism p. 343 The Clinton Years p. 347 The Causes of U.S. Behavior p. 349 Index