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Xenocitizens: Illiberal Ontologies in Nineteenth-Century America
by Jason BergerIn Xenocitizens, Jason Berger returns to the antebellum United States in order to challenge a scholarly tradition based on liberal–humanist perspectives. Through the concept of the xenocitizen, a synthesis of the terms “xeno,” which connotes alien or stranger, and “citizen,” which signals a naturalized subject of a state, Berger uncovers realities and possibilities that have been foreclosed by dominant paradigms. Innovatively re-orienting our thinking about traditional nineteenth-century figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau as well as formative writers such as William Wells Brown, Martin R. Delany, Margaret Fuller, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, Xenocitizens glimpses how antebellum thinkers formulated, in response to varying forms of oppression and crisis, startlingly unique ontological and social models as well as unfamiliar ways to exist and to leverage change. In doing so, Berger offers us a different nineteenth century—pushing our imaginative and critical thinking toward new terrain.
Xenocracy: State, Class, and Colonialism in the Ionian Islands, 1815-1864
by Sakis GekasOf the many European territorial reconfigurations that followed the wars of the early nineteenth century, the Ionian State remains among the least understood. Xenocracy offers a much-needed account of the region during its half-century as a Protectorate of Great Britain—a period that embodied all of the contradictions of British colonialism. A middle class of merchants, lawyers and state officials embraced and promoted a liberal modernization project. Yet despite the improvements experienced by many Ionians, the deterioration of state finances led to divisions along class lines and presented a significant threat to social stability. As author Sakis Gekas shows, the ordeal engendered dependency upon and ambivalence toward Western Europe, anticipating the “neocolonial” condition with which the Greek nation struggles even today.
Xenophobia in the Media: Critical Global Perspectives (Routledge Studies in Media, Communication, and Politics)
by Senthan Selvarajah Nesrin Kenar Ibrahim Seaga Shaw Pradeep DhakalThrough its global and critical perspectives, this book brings together knowledge, ideas, and tools to understand the problems and identify effective solutions, best practices and alternative approaches to combat xenophobia in the media and build tolerance and social cohesion. Although various studies have been conducted on the extent to which the media construct xenophobic discourse against immigrants and refugees and how they represent immigrants, there exists a research lacuna as to the dynamics of the xenophobia construction in the media, the effect of xenophobic discourse of the media and its function, the nexus between xenophobia construction of the media and the social, economic and political conditions, and the impact of the xenophobic discourse of the media on immigrants and host communities. This book adds knowledge and empirical evidence to fill this research gap. This book will be an important resource for journalists, scholars and students of media and communication studies, journalism, political science, sociology, and anyone covering issues of race and racism, human rights, immigration and refugees.
Xenophobia, Nativism and Pan-Africanism in 21st Century Africa: History, Concepts, Practice and Case Study
by Sabella Ogbobode Abidde Emmanuel Kasonde MatamboThis edited volume systematically analyzes the connection between xenophobia, nativism, and Pan-Africanism. It situates attacks on black Africans by fellow black Africans within the context of ideals such as Pan-Africanism and Ubuntu, which emphasize unity. The book straddles a range of social science perspectives to explain why attacks on foreign nationals in Africa usually entail attacks on black foreign nationals. Written by an international and interdisciplinary team of scholars, the book is divided into four sections that each explain a different facet of this complicated relationship. Section One discusses the history of colonialism and apartheid and their relationship to xenophobia. Section Two critically evaluates Pan-Africanism as a concept and as a practice in 21st century Africa. Section Three presents case studies on xenophobia in contemporary Africa. Section Four similarly discusses cases of nativism. Addressing a complex issue in contemporary African politics, this volume will be of use to students and scholars interested in African studies, African politics, human rights, migration, history, law, and development economics.
Xenophon's Prince: Republic and Empire in the Cyropaedia
by Christopher NadonFor over two millennia, the Cyropaedia, an imaginative biography of the Persian king Cyrus the Great, was Xenophon's most popular work and considered his masterpiece. This study contributes to the recent rediscovery of the Cyropaedia and Xenophon, making intelligible the high esteem in which writers of the stature of Machiavelli held Xenophon's works and the importance of his place among classical authors. The ending of the Cyropaedia has presented a notoriously difficult puzzle for scholars. The bulk of the work seems to idealize the career of Cyrus, but the final chapter documents the swift and disastrous degeneration of the empire he founded. This conclusion seems to call his achievements into question. Nadon resolves this long-standing interpretive difficulty and demonstrates for the first time the overall coherence and unity of the Cyropaedia. He elucidates the Xenophontic critique of Cyrus contained within the whole of the work and unearths its analysis of the limitations of both republican and imperial politics.This provocative and original treatment of the Cyropaedia will be a definitive step in restoring the status of this important work. Nadon's lively, insightful study draws upon his deep knowledge and understanding of classical political theory and reveals in the Cyropaedia a subtlety and sophistication overlooked until now.
Xenophon's Socratic Education: Reason, Religion, and the Limits of Politics
by Dustin SebellIt is well known that Socrates was executed by the city of Athens for not believing in the gods and for corrupting the youth. Despite this, it is not widely known what he really thought, or taught the youth to think, about philosophy, the gods, and political affairs. Of the few authors we rely on for firsthand knowledge of Socrates—Aristophanes, Xenophon, Plato, and Aristotle—only Xenophon, the least read of the four, lays out the whole Socratic education in systematic order.In Xenophon's Socratic Education, through a careful reading of Book IV of Xenophon's Memorabilia, Dustin Sebell shows how Socrates ascended, with his students in tow, from opinions about morality or politics and religion to knowledge of such things. Besides revealing what it was that Socrates really thought—about everything from self-knowledge to happiness, natural theology to natural law, and rhetoric to dialectic—Sebell demonstrates how Socrates taught promising youths, like Xenophon or Plato, only indirectly: by jokingly teaching unpromising youths in their presence. Sebell ultimately shows how Socrates, the founder of moral and political philosophy, sought and found an answer to the all-important question: should we take our bearings in life from human reason, or revealed religion?
Xi Jinping: The Most Powerful Man in the World
by Stefan Aust Adrian GeigesIf China seems unstoppable, so too does its leader Xi Jinping. As General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and President of China, he commands over 1.4 billion people, in a vast country that spans the prosperous megacities of Beijing and Shanghai and desperately poor rural regions where families still struggle with malnutrition. Today, Xi Jinping faces a series of monumental challenges that would make other global leaders tremble: a trade war with the USA, political unrest in Hong Kong, accusations of genocide in Xinjiang, stuttering economic growth and a devastating global pandemic that originated inside China. But who is Xi Jinping and what does he really want? To rejuvenate China and bring economic prosperity to all its people? To challenge American supremacy and turn China into the world&’s dominant power? Avoiding both sycophantic flattery and outright condemnation, this new biography by Stefan Aust and Adrian Geiges gets inside the head of one of the world&’s most mysterious leaders. Skilfully unravelling the hidden story of Xi Jinping&’s life and career, from his early childhood to his rise to the pinnacles of the Party and the State, they flesh out his views and uncover how he became the most powerful man in the world. This biography of China&’s leader will be indispensable for anyone interested in China and where it is heading.
Xi Jinping: The Hidden Agendas of China's Ruler for Life
by Willy LamThis book examines the policy, ideology and politics of Xi Jinping, State President and General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and China’s “ruler for life.” Through comparisons with former CCP leaders, including Deng Xiaoping, it assesses whether, having abandoned many of the key precepts of the Era of Reform and the Open Door, the conservative supreme leader’s restitution of Maoist standards might enable China to sustain economic growth and project hard and soft power worldwide. The book also examines whether the Communist Party will succeed in retaining the support of 1.4 billion Chinese in the face of unprecedented challenges in the economic and geopolitical arenas. It also provides a comprehensive picture of Xi’s rise to power; his AI-assisted and “legalistic” surveillance and control mechanisms; China’s evolving economic system; Xi’s foreign and national-security policies and the implications of the 20th Party Congress of October 2022 from both domestic and foreign perspectives. Being among the first books in English on the ambitious and multi-faceted agendas that Xi has laid out taking China up to the early 2040s, this will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of Chinese studies, China-US relations, East Asian politics and Contemporary Asian history.
Xi Jinping: China's Third New Era
by Jayadeva RanadeAs its title ‘Xi Jinping: China’s Third New Era’ suggests, the book covers the period mid-June 2017 till the end of 2020—a period when, Xi Jinping’s acolytes claim, China had already embarked on a third thirty-year era under his leadership, like those of Mao and Deng before him. This period also saw an outpouring of criticism against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese President not witnessed since the Tiananmen Square events in 1989. The resentment was sparked by Xi Jinping abolishing tenure limits that govern the cadres’ terms in office as well as the mishandling of the initial stages of the Covid pandemic. It is also the period when Xi Jinping began using the country’s security apparatus to further consolidate his position and impose progressively restrictive controls on society. He followed through on his slogan: "party, government, military, civilian and academic; east, west, south, north and centre, the Party leads everything"! The essays explore the modernisation of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA); Xi Jinping tightening his grip on members of the Politburo and the higher echelons of the Party; China’s policy on Tibet and Beijing’s efforts to negate the Dalai Lama’s influence inside China as well as abroad. China’s attitude and posture towards India, which have undergone definite change since Xi Jinping adopted an aggressive foreign policy to achieve the "rejuvenation of the Chinese nation", have been covered at length. This includes the ongoing incursions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh since May 2020. Print edition not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan)
Xi Jinping's Anticorruption Campaign: The Politics of Revenge (Routledge Research on the Politics and Sociology of China)
by Steven P. FeldmanThrough empirical analysis and conceptual development, this book analyzes the political psychology of Xi Jinping's Anticorruption Campaign and its role in the Chinese political system. Using Nietzsche’s concept of ressentiment and data collected from direct fieldwork, the book analyzes the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) dictatorship, revealing that it is prone to extremes, through ideology or corruption, and highlights how the Party’s attempts to address one extreme only leads to the rise of another. In turn, it examines the Anticorruption Campaign in multiple ways including its use to increase the role of ideology in Chinese society, how it functions to concentrate Xi's power, its cultural form as a status reversal ritual, and its continuity with previous communist campaigns and ancient Chinese political traditions. Through each of these analyses, the book identifies crucial mechanisms through which the CCP maintains power through interrelated policies, actions, and their emotional effects. Providing a vital understanding of the CCP, this book will be an invaluable resource to students and scholars of Chinese politics, as well as diplomats and policymakers on China.
Xi Jinping’s ‘Chinese Dream’: China’s Renewed Foreign and Security Policy (Routledge Studies on Asia in the World)
by Prashant Kumar SinghSingh analyses the influence of Xi’s 'Chinese Dream' on China’s foreign relations and security postures. Xi Jinping’s rise has led to a paradigm shift in many aspects of China’s domestic and international politics. A key element of this has been the ideological vision shorthanded as the 'Chinese Dream', combining elements of nationalism, Confucian ideology, and economic expansionism. Singh evaluates the various changes in China’s nominally communist ideology in the post-Mao era, with an emphasis on the implications for China’s economic and security relations with other countries. He particularly focusses on China’s approach to South Asia and the Indian Ocean Region, key elements of China’s strategy. An insightful guide to understanding the direction of China’s foreign and security policy, and especially its impact on India–China relations.
Xi Jinping's Governance and the Future of China
by Zhou XinminOver the past few years, growing changes have quietly begun to reshape China under the governance of Xi Jinping. President Xi has developed his philosophical thinking on governing into a system to address the pressing issues of China, to develop and improve Chinese socialism, and to achieve modernization in all areas. Zhou Xinmin’s new book, Xi Jinping’s Governance and the Future of China, explains the characteristics and patterns of President Xi’s governing philosophy from the perspective of the core capabilities required of the Chinese leadership.The book unpacks the core tenets of President Xi’s governance philosophy to provide a road map to convert his philosophical systems into actionable policies. Xinmin explains the achievements, the strategies, and the development of the president’s governing theories, and showcases the vision and capacities of the new generation of the Communist Party of China’s leadership. The book also serves as a useful guide to global leaders who benefit from understanding the perspective that President Xi brings to international conversation. Xinmin’s essential work gives a simple analysis of the theoretical aspects of President Xi’s administrative approach and demonstrates how those theories are applied to the practical policies of the current Chinese leadership. Xi Jinping’s Governance and the Future of China is a must-read for anyone looking to gain a deeper understanding of the modern People’s Republic of China from a Chinese perspective.
Xi Jinping's New Development Philosophy
by Angang Hu Yilong Yan Xiao TangIdentifies theoretical sources of the New Development Concept of China.<P><P> Illustrates the practical innovation of the New Development Concept of China.<P> Provides a comprehensive contents of the New Development Concept of China.<P> This book is devoted to the analysis of the Six Development Concepts of China titled “Xi Jinping's New Development Philosophy”, namely Innovative Development, Coordinated Development, Green Development, Open Development, Sharing Development, and Security Development. The book pursues three major objectives: firstly, to accurately portray the theoretical sources, practical innovation and major contents of these development ideas; secondly, to analyze what are the major relationships among these development ideas and their main common point is “people centered”, which is the largest theoretical innovation of this book. Thirdly, through analyzing China’s development idea, this book provides development paths, strategy, theories, and practical experiences for other developing countries.
Xinjiang: China's Muslim Far Northwest (Durham East Asia)
by Michael DillonXinjiang, the nominally autonomous region in China's far northwest, is of increasing international strategic and economic importance. With a population which is mainly non-Chinese and Muslim, there are powerful forces for autonomy, and independence, in Xinjiang. This book provides a comprehensive overview of Xinjiang. It introduces Xinjiang's history, economy and society, and above all outlines the political and religious opposition by the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples of Xinjiang to Chinese Communist rule.
Xinjiang and China's Rise in Central Asia - A History: A History (Routledge Contemporary China Series)
by Michael E. ClarkeThe recent conflict between indigenous Uyghurs and Han Chinese demonstrates that Xinjiang is a major trouble spot for China, with Uyghur demands for increased autonomy, and where Beijing’s policy is to more firmly integrate the province within China. This book provides an account of how China’s evolving integrationist policies in Xinjiang have influenced its foreign policy in Central Asia since the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949, and how the policy of integration is related to China’s concern for security and its pursuit of increased power and influence in Central Asia. The book traces the development of Xinjiang - from the collapse of the Qing empire in the early twentieth century to the present – and argues that there is a largely complementary relationship between China’s Xinjiang, Central Asia and grand strategy-derived interests. This pattern of interests informs and shapes China’s diplomacy in Central Asia and its approach to the governance of Xinjiang. Michael E. Clarke shows how China’s concerns and policies, although pursued with vigour in recent decades, are of long-standing, and how domestic problems and policies in Xinjiang have for a long time been closely bound up with wider international relations issues.
Xinjiang and the Chinese State: Violence in the Reform Era
by Debasish ChaudhuriThis book focuses on the nature of ethno-national conflicts and impacts of ideological orientation of the Communist Party of China (CPC) towards the national question in the context of Han nationalism and political, economic and security policies towards Xinjiang. Violence in Xinjiang since the mid-1990s is projected as one of the major national security challenges for China, along with issues pertaining to Tibet and Taiwan. The author argues that the post-Mao reformist model may have been a beneficial economic and political innovation, but failed in dealing with regional conflicts and unrests arising out of the demands for independence, freedom, greater autonomy and assertion of democratic and civic rights. The book discusses Chinese nationalism and the construction of Uyghur national identity, consequences of economic modernisation in the region, ethnic conflicts and coercive measures, the security and social stability situation in Xinjiang, intensification of violence in Xinjiang under the new leadership, vision of the ‘Chinese dream’, key policies and programmes, post-riot fallouts and social contradictions manifest in discourses surrounding development, separatist violence, religious fundamentalism and international terrorism. With its in-depth, accessible and comprehensive analyses, this book will be a valuable addition to scholars and researchers of Chinese studies, politics and international relations, security and strategic studies, sociology, social anthropology and ethnic studies.
Xinjiang and the Expansion of Chinese Communist Power: Kashgar in the Early Twentieth Century (Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia)
by Michael DillonXinjiang, China's far northwestern province where the majority of the population are Muslim Uyghurs, was for most of its history contested territory. On the Silk Road, a region of overlapping cultures, the province was virtually independent until the late nineteenth century, nominally part of the Qing Empire, with considerable interest taken in it by the British and the Russians as part of their Great Game rivalry in Asia. Ruled by warlords in the early twentieth century, it was occupied in 1949-50 by the People's Liberation Army, since when attempts have been made to integrate the province more fully into China. This book outlines the history of Xinjiang. It focuses on the key city of Kashgar, the symbolic heart of Uighur society, drawing on a large body of records in which ordinary people provided information on the period around the communist takeover. These records provide an exceptionally rich source, showing how ordinary Uyghurs lived their everyday lives before 1949 and how those lives were affected by the arrival of the Chinese Communist Party and its army. Subjects covered by the book include Eastern Turkestan independence, regional politics, local government, the military, taxation, education and the press.
Xinjiang - China's Northwest Frontier: China's Northwest Frontier (Central Asia Research Forum)
by K. WarikooXinjiang is the ‘pivot of Asia’, where the frontiers of China, Tibet, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia approach each other. The growing Uyghur demand for a separate homeland and continuing violence in Xinjiang have brought this region into the focus of national and international attention. With Xinjiang becoming the hub of trans-Asian trade and traffic , and also due to its rich energy resources, Uyghur Muslims of Xinjiang are poised to assert their ethno-political position, thereby posing serious challenge to China’s authority in the region. This book offers a new perspective on the region, with a focus on social, economic and political developments in Xinjiang in modern and contemporary times. Drawing on detailed analyses by experts on Xinjiang from India, Central Asia, Russia, Taiwan and China, this book presents a coherent, concise and rich analysis of ethnic relations, Uyghur resistance, China’s policy in Xinjiang and its economic relations with its Central Asian neighbours. It is of interest to those studying in Chinese and Central Asian politics and society, International Relations and Security Studies.
Xuanzang: A Buddhist Pilgrim On The Silk Road
by Sally WrigginsThe saga of the seventh-century Chinese monk Xuanzang, who completed an epic sixteen-year journey to discover the heart of Buddhism at its source in India, is a splendid story of human struggle and triumph. One of China's great heroes, Xuanzang is introduced here for the first time to Western readers in this richly illustrated book. Sally Hovey Wriggins, who journeyed in Xuanzang's footsteps, brings to life a man who transcended common experience. Eight centuries before Columbus, this intrepid pilgrim against the wishes of his emperor travelled on the Silk Road through Central Asia on his way to India. Before his journey ended, he had met most of Asia's important leaders and traversed 10,000 miles in search of Buddhist scriptures. He was both a mountain climber who scaled three of Asia's highest mountain ranges and a desert survivor who nearly died of thirst on the brutal flats; a philosopher and metaphysician; a diplomat who established China's ties to Central Asian and Indian kings; and above all a devout and courageous Buddhist who personally nurtured the growth of Buddhism in China by disseminating the nearly 600 scriptures he carried back from India. Wriggins gives us vivid descriptions of the perils Xuanzang faced, the monasteries he visited (many still standing today), and the eight places of Buddhist pilgrimage in India. Detailed maps and color photographs provide striking evidence of the vast distances involved and the appalling dangers Xuanzang endured; reproductions of Buddhist art from museums around the world capture the glories of this world religion while revealing a cosmopolitan era in which pilgrims were both adventurers and ambassadors of goodwill. An engaging introduction to Buddhism and Buddhist art, this unique book takes the reader on a rousing adventure that also gives a compelling view of Asian history and civilization.
Xunzi: The Complete Text
by XunziThis is the first complete, one-volume English translation of the ancient Chinese text Xunzi, one of the most extensive, sophisticated, and elegant works in the tradition of Confucian thought. Through essays, poetry, dialogues, and anecdotes, the Xunzi articulates a Confucian perspective on ethics, politics, warfare, language, psychology, human nature, ritual, and music, among other topics. Aimed at general readers and students of Chinese thought, Eric Hutton’s translation makes the full text of this important work more accessible in English than ever before.Named for its purported author, the Xunzi (literally, “Master Xun”) has long been neglected compared to works such as the Analects of Confucius and the Mencius. Yet interest in the Xunzi has grown in recent decades, and the text presents a much more systematic vision of the Confucian ideal than the fragmented sayings of Confucius and Mencius. In one famous, explicit contrast to them, the Xunzi argues that human nature is bad. However, it also allows that people can become good through rituals and institutions established by earlier sages. Indeed, the main purpose of the Xunzi is to urge people to become as good as possible, both for their own sakes and for the sake of peace and order in the world.In this edition, key terms are consistently translated to aid understanding and line numbers are provided for easy reference. Other features include a concise introduction, a timeline of early Chinese history, a list of important names and terms, cross-references, brief explanatory notes, a bibliography, and an index.
XXL
by Patrick Luciani Neil SeemanObese individuals are twice as likely to experience heart failure as non-obese people. More than eighty-five per cent of type 2 diabetes sufferers are overweight. And in the United States, obese and overweight individuals make up more than two-thirds of the adult population. Public health organizations and governments have traditionally tried to combat obesity through shame-inducing policies, which assure people that they can easily lose weight by eating right and exercising. This generic approach has failed, as it does little to address the personal, genetic, and cultural challenges faced by obese individuals.XXL directly confronts the global public health sector by proposing an innovative, alternative policy - the 'healthy living voucher' - for decreasing high calorie consumption and its related health problems. Neil Seeman and Patrick Luciani argue that many public health campaigns have made the problem of obesity worse by minimizing how difficult it is for individuals to lose weight. XXL challenges governments to abandon top-down planning solutions in favour of bottom-up innovations to confront the obesity crisis.
XYZT (Urbanomic / K-Pulp #2)
by Kristen AlvansonGenre-defying fiction that accelerates "cross-cultural dialogue" into a kaleidoscopic rush of sensory estrangements, fairy tales, and alien encounters."There's really no difference between us and them, so we're told…."Based on the author's experiences of living as an American in Iran, Kristen Alvanson's XYZT is a wildly imaginative dramatization of the idea of a "dialogue of civilizations" and its potentially outlandish ramifications.As part of an advanced technological test program, volunteers are shuttled back and forth between the US and Iran, hidden from the watchful eyes of immigration police and state bureaucracies. Each is given a single opportunity to be received by a local host and to have a brief authentic experience of what it means to live as “them” before being transported back home.But far from heralding the bliss of mutual recognition, the experiment unleashes a series of displacements so disorienting that the fabric of reality begins to fray. Ordinary people become entangled in extraordinary situations, and everyday life bleeds into mythological encounters, alternate universes and dark psychedelic journeys in alien lands where the real and the imaginary are indistinguishable.A treasury of tales told from multiple perspectives and in a multiplicity of styles, XYZT is an audacious cross-genre experiment, a firsthand memoir of what it means to see what "they" see, and a science-fictional, nonstandard engagement with anthropology in which cross-cultural encounters take on all the unpredictable features of a contemporary fairy tale.
¿Y ahora qué? México ante el 2018
by NEXOS UNIVERSIDAD DE GUADALAJARAMéxico enfrenta grandes problemas, y la mayoría de difícil arreglo. ¿Pero cuáles son? ¿Qué riesgos implican? ¿Y qué vías existen para combatirlos? En esta obra, 34 académicos e intelectuales de primer orden realizan un diagnóstico sistemático de las fallas y carencias de este país. Mediante análisis accesibles pero rigurosos, demuestran que hay muchas opciones por explorar, más allá dequejarse y repetir clichés. Las cien formas de la corrupción y la impunidad. Las incompetencias del Estado. Las elecciones amañadas. El narcotráfico y los errores al combatirlo. El abandono de la juventud. Las policías raquíticas. Las cárceles como veneros del crimen. La desigualdad. La desconexión entre el mundo educativo y el productivo. Las fracturas del sistema de salud. El desorden federativo. La debilidad de la política exterior. La ineficiencia administrativa. Ésas son las arrugas sobre el rostro del país. Sin embargo, entre las sombras más oscuras del entramado social y las estructuras que exigen apuntalamiento, aparecen, finalmente, oportunidades que no pueden soslayarse y algunos caminos hacia un México menos roto.
¿Y dónde está la gente?: Campañas y encuestas en la sociedad del presente extremo
by Jaime Durán Barba Santiago NietoJaime Durán Barba y Santiago Nieto tienen una capacidad especial para salirse de los lugares convencionales y comprender este fenómeno de forma rigurosa y desprejuiciada. Con huellas de diversos ámbitos como la psicología o la historia, ¿Y dónde está la gente? es un libro de lectura imprescindible para entender cómo circula hoy la opinión pública en materia política. Vivimos el cambio más descomunal de la historia y, sin embargo, algunos políticos permanecen atados a ideas del pasado. Las conductas de las sociedades hoy son inestables y más libres. Los electores no son de nadie y las opiniones que más pesan son las del entorno físico y virtual. En muchos países hay más celulares que habitantes y esos dispositivos están democratizando el conocimiento, ponen el mundo al alcance de la mano. Entonces, cuando los analistas políticos enfocan su estudio en porcentajes de encuestas y datos duros, olvidan preguntarse: "¿Y dónde está la gente?" "¿De qué conversa?" "¿Qué escucha con sus auriculares caminando por la calle?" "¿Qué elige mirar?". Cualquier youtuber famoso tiene más seguidores que cualquier político latinoamericano y en muy poco tiempo afloran líderes impensados, como Bolsonaro o Trump.
¿Y dónde quedó la bolita?: Cómo el gobierno hace lo que quiere con nuestro dinero
by Leonardo Nuñez¿Sabes qué hace realmente el gobierno con nuestro dinero? ¿Por qué el gobierno nos dice que gasta de una manera y lo hace de otra? ¿Por qué el gasolinazo es una pésima decisión del gobierno? ¿En qué se gasta realmente el dinero de los mexicanos? Este libro pretende dar respuesta a estas y otras preguntas y, más importante aún, ofrece a los ciudadanos las herramientas necesarias para conocer la situación real del gasto en cualquier tema. Para la mayoría de los ciudadanos esto es un misterio. Cuando alguien quiere conocer cómo se gasta, de manera lógica acude a las cifras del Presupuesto de Egresos de la Federación (PEF), eso que cada año aprueban los diputados y debería indicar cuánto y cómo se gastará. Sin embargo, aquí sólo hay verdades a medias. El 30 de abril de cada año aparece otro documento que revela historias muy diferentes y recibe muy poca atención: la Cuenta Pública. Al revisarla encontraremos, por ejemplo, que en 16 años de vida "democrática" nuestro gobierno ha gastado 4.1 billones de pesos más de lo que nos había dicho (casi 20% del PIB o 100 veces el presupuesto de la UNAM); que en 2016 ¡se usaron 613 mil millones de pesos más de los presupuestados!, que una cuarta parte de todo lo que se gasta termina en lugares diferentes a los que creeríamos, o que debimos saber de los desfalcos de Javier Duarte en Veracruz, al menos, desde 2013. Así las cosas, el uso de nuestros recursos es como el juego popular: en dónde quedó la bolita. ¡Urge detener los casos de corrupción y uso inadecuado del dinero público! ¡Es tiempo de cambiar las cosas!