- Table View
- List View
Political Correctness: A Sociocultural Black Hole (Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought)
by Thomas TsakalakisThis book explores the nature of political correctness as but one of the faces of today’s widespread sociocultural hypocrisy; it is a critique of a phenomenon that constitutes a threat to the Enlightenment hope that humanity might one day achieve maturity. The author identifies political correctness as a drive towards shallowness, anti-intellectualism and self-flagellation – and a culture in which perception is everything. With attention to the emergence and growth of political correctness in a country, Greece, where it can be observed from a bottom-up perspective, this volume demonstrates that although at first glance it appears as a well-intentioned social movement informed by values with which no moral and judicious person could disagree, political correctness actually represents, at best, a distraction from graver concerns; at worst, a manifestation of human foolishness and malevolence. A study of the destruction of honest and rational debate, characterized by trials of intention, often by social media, Political Correctness: A Sociocultural Black Hole will appeal to scholars of sociology and media studies with interests in contemporary political culture.
Political Corruption and Scandals in Japan
by Steven R. Reed Matthew M. CarlsonCombining history with comparative politics, Matthew M. Carlson and Steven R. Reed take on political corruption and scandals, and the reforms designed to counter them, in post–World War II Japan.Political Corruption and Scandals in Japan makes sense of the scandals that have plagued Japanese politics for more than half a century and attempts to show how reforms have evolved to counter the problems. What causes political corruption to become more or less serious over time? they ask. The authors examine major political corruption scandals beginning with the early postwar period until the present day as one way to make sense of how the nature of corruption changes over time. They also consider bureaucratic corruption and scandals, violations of electoral law, sex scandals, and campaign finance regulations and scandals.In the end, Carlson and Reed write, though Japanese politics still experiences periodic scandals, the political reforms of 1994 have significantly reduced the levels of political corruption. The basic message is that reform can reduce corruption. The causes and consequences of political corruption in Japan, they suggest, are much like those in other consolidated democracies.
Political Cultural Developments in East Asia
by P. W. PrestonThis book offers an interpretive and critical comparative politics analysis of the post-1945 development trajectory of the broad East Asian region and its component countries. The discussion considers the region and its countries in terms of their historical legacies (colonialism, war and the preoccupation with development) and argues that each country has constructed their own way of ordering political life, each created its own political logic. Arguing that it is an error to judge these countries' performance against the model of Europe or America, Preston discusses the era of expansionist colonialism, the episode of breakdown in highly destructive regional warfare in the early twentieth century and the subsequent diverse records of China (with its party-state turned towards a nominal state-socialism), Hong Kong (confronting the problems of living with distant masters), Singapore (with its elite directed national building) and Thailand (mired in elite-resistance to popular political reform).
Political Culture and the Making of Modern Nation-States
by Edward Weisband Courtney I ThomasThis book focuses on transformations of political culture from times past to future-present. It defines the meaning of political culture and explores the cultural values and institutions of kinship communities and dynastic intermediaries, including chiefdoms and early states. It systematically examines the rise and gradual universalization of modern sovereign nation-states. Contemporary debates concerning nationality, nationalism, citizenship, and hyphenated identities are engaged. The authors recount the making of political culture in the American nation-state and look at the processes of internal colonialism in the American experience, examining how major ethnic, sectarian, racial, and other distinctions arose and congealed into social and cultural categories. The book concludes with a study of the Holocaust, genocide, crimes against humanity, and the political cultures of violation in post-colonial Rwanda and in racialized ethno-political conflicts in various parts of the world. Struggles over legitimacy in nation-building and state-building are at the heart of this new take on the important role of political culture.Features of this Innovative Text
Political Demography and Urban Governance in French Guyana: Implications for Latin America and the Caribbean
by Romanovski ZéphirinThis book analyzes decades of immigration–population growth and rapid urbanization as political-demography and urban-governance issues in French Guyana. Factors such as immigration, population composition and re-composition have sparked patterns of urban relocation across the entire Cayenne agglomeration, affecting urban and housing policy planning, political district redesigns and jeopardizing influential ethno-social and economic groups. Politics and policy conflicts over shifting demography have transcended Guyana to involve France and various neighboring Latin American and Caribbean countries. As well as discussing the demographic and human settlement aspects, the book blends the specific French Guyanese patterns of urbanization–migration into the wider theoretical literature. As such, it will appeal to students, academics, policymakers, journalists, activists and globalists looking for fresh insights into ethno-socio-cultural diversities and inclusive democratic governance at a time when increasing numbers of migrants are settling in urban areas.
Political Descent: Malthus, Mutualism, and the Politics of Evolution in Victorian England
by Piers J. HaleHistorians of science have long noted the influence of the nineteenth-century political economist Thomas Robert Malthus on Charles Darwin. In a bold move, Piers J. Hale contends that this focus on Malthus and his effect on Darwin’s evolutionary thought neglects a strong anti-Malthusian tradition in English intellectual life, one that not only predated the 1859 publication of the Origin of Species but also persisted throughout the Victorian period until World War I. Political Descent reveals that two evolutionary and political traditions developed in England in the wake of the 1832 Reform Act: one Malthusian, the other decidedly anti-Malthusian and owing much to the ideas of the French naturalist Jean Baptiste Lamarck. These two traditions, Hale shows, developed in a context of mutual hostility, debate, and refutation. Participants disagreed not only about evolutionary processes but also on broader questions regarding the kind of creature our evolution had made us and in what kind of society we ought therefore to live. Significantly, and in spite of Darwin’s acknowledgement that natural selection was "the doctrine of Malthus, applied to the whole animal and vegetable kingdoms,” both sides of the debate claimed to be the more correctly "Darwinian. ” By exploring the full spectrum of scientific and political issues at stake, Political Descent offers a novel approach to the relationship between evolution and political thought in the Victorian and Edwardian eras.
Political Difference and Global Normative Orders (Global Political Sociology)
by Fränze WilhelmOnce considered a question of an international order based on consolidated statehood and homogeneous social communities within national borders, global order has become a question of alternative political articulations, resistance movements, and cultural diversity, among others. This book first critically analyzes the conditions for the struggles of theorizing global normative order in political and IR theory. Second, to make sense of the presence of difference and possibility for global normative order in view of the simultaneous absence of first foundations, the study draws on post-foundational thinking based on the seminal work of German philosopher Martin Heidegger and Argentine political theorist Ernesto Laclau. Finally, the author develops a theoretical framework for a hauntological approach to global normative order that provides an alternative and theoretically coherent explanation for the emergence of global order. This is of interest to scholars as well as practitioners (including activists) concerned with global social relations, global political discourse, and the construction of global identity and normative order(s).
Political Dissent and Democratic Remittances: The Activities of Russian Migrants in Europe (Studies in Migration and Diaspora)
by Joanna FominaWith a focus on the most recent wave of political emigration from Russia unleashed during President Vladimir Putin’s third term, this book explores the activities of those who voice political dissent after leaving their country. Based on rich ethnographic data and interviews gathered among Russian emigrants to the EU member-states, who are engaged in civic and political participation targeted at their home country, it demonstrates that emigration, particularly forced emigration in which political dissidents are squeezed out of their country, no longer functions efficiently as a means of calming political unrest. Drawing on the concept of social remittances, the author analyses the content, structure and the channels of political democratic remittances sent by political dissidents overseas, the factors that shape them and the perceived effects of these endeavours. A study of the latest wave of politically charged emigration from Russia and emigrants’ engagement in ‘homeland politics’, this volume will appeal to scholars across a range of social sciences working on migration, diaspora and democratisation processes, citizenship, EU studies and Russia studies.
Political Ecologies of Landscape: Governing Urban Transformations in Penang
by Creighton ConnollyConnolly uses ongoing urban redevelopment in Penang in Malaysia to provide stimulating new perspectives on urbanisation, governance and political ecology. The book deploys the concept of landscape political ecology to show how Penang residents, activists, planners and other stakeholders mobilize new relationships with the urban environment, to contest controversial development projects and challenge hegemonic visions for the city’s future. Based on six years of local research, this book provides both a dynamic account of region’s rapid reshaping and a fresh theoretical framework in which to consider issues of sustainable development, heritage and governance in urban areas worldwide.
Political Ecology
by Karl Zimmerer Thomas J. BassettThis volume offers a unique, integrative perspective on the political and ecological processes shaping landscapes and resource use across the global North and South. Twelve carefully selected case studies demonstrate how contemporary geographical theories and methods can contribute to understanding key environment-and-development issues and working toward effective policies. Topics addressed include water and biodiversity resources, urban and national resource planning, scientific concepts of resource management, and ideas of nature and conservation in the context of globalization. Giving particular attention to evolving conceptions of nature-society interaction and geographical scale, an introduction and conclusion by the editors provide a clear analytical focus for the volume and summarize important developments and debates in the field.
Political Ecology of Agriculture: Agroecology and Post-Development
by Omar Felipe GiraldoThis study discusses an original proposal aimed at critically analyzing the power relations that exist in contemporary agriculture. The author endeavors herein to clarify some of the strategies that industrial agribusiness, in collusion with the state and multilateral structures, sets in motion in order to functionalize the lives of millions of farmers, so that their bodies, enunciations, and sensibilities can be repurposed in accordance with the dynamics of capital accumulation. The argument is based on the idea that agro-extractivism cannot be thought of exclusively as an economic-political and technological system, but as a complex interweaving of cultural meanings, aesthetics, and affections, which, amalgamated under the abstract name of "development", act as a support for the whole system's scaffolding. The book also explores the other side of the coin, describing how, and under what conditions, social movements are responding to the calamities generated by this model. The central thesis is that many ongoing agroecological processes are providing one of the most interesting guidelines at present for visualizing transitions towards post-development, post-extractivism, and the construction of multiple worlds beyond the sphere of capital. Political ecology of agriculture joins the calls that question the cultural project of modernity and the predatory sense imposed by the globalized food empire, and invites recognition of the importance of agroecology in the context of the end of the fossil-fuel era and the likely collapse of our industry-based civilization.
Political Ecology of Everyday Resistance and State Building: A Case of the Ho of Jharkhand
by Dhiraj KumarResource extraction and conflicts over natural resources are a global phenomenon, including in India. This book explores the process of state formation through developmental intervention in the resource-rich areas of Jharkhand in eastern India which are inhabited by the indigenous Ho community. The cultural practices and livelihoods of Indigenous tribes, like the Ho community in Jharkhand, are deeply linked with the local ecology. The conflict in Jharkhand is intertwined with state development projects and capitalist interventions. This book examines the history of these projects and the issues of territorialisation, dispossession, accumulation, and marginalization which communities have been fighting against for many decades. It examines the process of development policies and projects shaping and restructuring the resource-rich ecology in the region and addresses the interrelated issues of development-induced dispossession, resistance, ecological transformation, governance, illegalities, and state-building. It focuses on the questions: what do development projects bring to the Ho community; what induces them to resist and negotiate; and how state decentralization schemes and local governance in resource conflict areas strengthen State capacities? The book highlights the consequences on the livelihoods and cultural practices of the local people because of ecological transformation and everyday resistance. Comprehensive and important, this book will be of interest to students and researchers of anthropology, sociology, political ecology, social work, development studies, ecology, developmental sociology, indigenous studies, law, and economic anthropology.
Political Ecology: A Critical Engagement with Global Environmental Issues
by Tor A. Benjaminsen Hanne SvarstadThis textbook introduces political ecology as an interdisciplinary approach to critically examine land and environmental issues. Drawing on discourse and narrative analysis, Marxist political economy and insights from natural science, the book points at similarities, differences and inter-connections between environmental governance in the global North and South. A wide range of carefully curated case studies are presented, with a particular focus on Africa and Norway. Key themes of power, justice and environmental sustainability run through all chapters. The authors challenge established views and leading discourses and present research findings that may surprise readers. Chapters cover topics including wildlife conservation, climate change and conflicts, land grabbing, the effects of population growth on the environment, jihadism in the African Sahel, bioprospecting, feminist political ecology, and struggles around carbon mitigation within a fossil fuel-based economy. This introductory text provides tools and examples for both undergraduate and postgraduate students to better understand on-going struggles about some of the world’s most urgent challenges.
Political Ecology: Deconstructing Capital and Territorializing Life
by Enrique LeffThis book offers a conceptual framework for the critical understanding of the present socio-environmental conflicts. It reflects on the evolution of subject and thought, a shift in environmental thinking triggered by the development of eco-territorial conflicts and the social responses given to the environmental question. Bringing together 40 years of the authors writing and research, the book explores the transition from ecological economics and historical materialism to ecological Marxism. It unpacks the forging of political ecology from value theory in political economy, to ecological distribution and ecologies of difference; a transition to an environmental rationality grounded in the ontology of diversity, a politics of difference and an ethics of otherness. This evolution in thinking gives consistency to a theoretical discourse able to respond to the territorial conflicts generated by the radicalization of the environmental question as a key social issue of our times. The book is a call to respond to the urgent challenge of reversing the tendency towards the entropic death of the planet and to building a sustainable world order.
Political Economy of Caste in India
by K S ChalamPolitical Economy of Caste in India presents the caste mode of production as an important analytical tool to understand the socio-economic and political dynamics of India. The book looks at caste from the economic base and also links it with the superstructure that includes judiciary, untouchability practices, caste atrocities against Dalits, social exclusion and so on. It presents empirical studies to show that the social habits of discrimination and crimes against the marginalized communities prevail even in the 21st century to physically alienate them from mainstream opportunities and ensure involuntary supply of labour at lower wages. It articulates that the economic intensity of caste can be discerned through the caste mode of production. The study brings out the limitations of some of the Marxists’ understanding of caste. It also presents a distinct approach for comprehending caste and suggests that the human rights perspective is one of the ways to combat it.
Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions: The Military Origins of Urban Prosperity in Europe (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions)
by Mark Dincecco Massimiliano Gaetano OnoratoThe economic rise of Europe over the past millennium represents a major human breakthrough. To explain this phenomenon, this book highlights a counterintuitive yet central feature of Europe's historical landscape: warfare. Historical warfare inflicted numerous costs on rural populations. Security was a traditional function of the city. To mitigate the high costs of conflict in the countryside, rural populations migrated to urban centers. Over time, the city's historical role as a safe harbor translated into local economic development through several channels, including urban political freedoms and human capital accumulation. To make this argument, the book performs a wide-ranging analysis of a novel quantitative database that spans more than one thousand years, from the fall of the Carolingian Empire to today. The book's study of urban Europe's historical path from warfare to wealth provides a new way to think about the process of long-run economic and political development.
Political Economy of Workplace Injury in Canada
by Bob BarnetsonWorkplace injuries are common, avoidable, and unacceptable. The Political Economy of Workplace Injury in Canada reveals how employers and governments engage in ineffective injury prevention efforts, intervening only when necessary to maintain the standard legitimacy. Dr. Bob Barnetson sheds light on this faulty system, highlighting the way in which employers create dangerous work environments yet pour billions of dollars into compensation and treatment. Examining this dynamic clarifies the way in which production costs are passed on to workers in the form of workplace injuries.
Political Economy, Diversity and Pragmatism: Critical Essays in Planning Theory: Volume 2 (Critical Essays in Planning Theory)
by Patsy HealeyPlanning Theory has a history of common debates about ideas and practices and is rooted in a critical concern for the 'improvement' of human and environmental well-being, particularly as pursued through interventions which seek to shape environmental conditions and place qualities. The second volume in this series covers in detail critical political economy, the turn to diversity and critical pragmatism. It provides an authoritative collection, in an accessible form, of the most important and influential articles and papers along with a detailed introduction by the editors. It offers a unique reference resource for planning scholars, upper-level undergraduate and post-graduate students.
Political Economy, Nationalistic Populism, and Immigration in Today's World: A Primer for the Social Sciences
by Jacqueline Murray BruxPolitical Economy, Nationalistic Populism, and Immigration in Today’s World: A Primer for the Social Sciences is a core text for a multidisciplinary range of courses in economics, political science, sociology, international studies, public policy, and the social sciences.The text weaves together an understanding of the interconnected topics of global nationalistic populism, authoritarianism, immigration, conditions in developing countries, social systems and safety nets, diversity, and ultimately, happiness as measured by global happiness surveys.The text is designed for a global audience through the use of examples and case studies in a manner that is clear to students and provides all prerequisite knowledge for undergraduates. It includes content on countries across the developing world, Europe, Canada, and the United States. There is considerable emphasis on the politics and ideologies of Europe and the United States and how these relate to immigration and impact each other.
Political Education in Times of Populism: Towards a Radical Democratic Education
by Edda Sant"In professional and academic contexts nothing is more important than helping people to understand and engage with democratic society. Sant has written an excellent book which helps greatly towards that end. She has developed incisive new arguments about the nature of contemporary politics and education. Using the most recent as well as classic literature, she explores key ideas and issues. Through wide ranging discussions and by referring to her own valuable empirical work she characterizes and creates thoughtful insights and innovative pedagogical approaches. This book achieves the very difficult task of illuminating complex ideas at the same time as helping to determine practical ways to achieve social justice through education. Political education has been neglected for too long. This book is a bold new step in its achievement."—Ian Davies, Emeritus Professor, University of York, UKThis book examines political education in times of democratic crisis, polarisation and uncertainty. Using populism as a diagnostic tool, the book scrutinises current democratic practices and considers alternatives for future social studies and citizenship education. The author examines contemporary events including Brexit, the Catalan referendum for independence and protests in Chile to ask how democratic educators can respond to times of crisis. Centered on themes of knowledge and ideology, the book draws together political philosophy and educational research to map out, critically analyse and offer alternatives to dominant debates on political education. It will be of interest and value to scholars examining the relationship between democracy and educational theory and practice.Edda Sant is Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. A former social studies teacher, her research interests lie in citizenship, political and democratic education. She has published widely in this field, and in 2016 was recognized with a Children’s Identity & Citizenship European Association Award.
Political Education in a Democracy (Routledge Library Editions: Education)
by Harold EntwistleIn this volume the author analyzes the relationships of concepts such as socialization and political education, explains those aspects of the theory and practice of democracy that are especially relevant for schools, and suggests ways in which teachers can better provide for the political education of their students.
Political Elites and Decentralization Reforms in the Post-Socialist Balkans: Regional Patronage Networks in Serbia and Croatia (New Perspectives on South-East Europe)
by Alexander KleibrinkAcross the globe, more powers are being devolved to local and regional levels of government. This book provides an innovative analysis of such decentralisation in transition states in the Balkans. Using new and rich data, it shows how political elites use decentralisation strategically to ensure their access to state resources.
Political Emotions
by Martha C. NussbaumHow can we achieve and sustain a "decent" liberal society, one that aspires to justice and equal opportunity for all and inspires individuals to sacrifice for the common good? In this book, a continuation of her explorations of emotions and the nature of social justice, Martha Nussbaum makes the case for love. Amid the fears, resentments, and competitive concerns that are endemic even to good societies, public emotions rooted in love--in intense attachments to things outside our control--can foster commitment to shared goals and keep at bay the forces of disgust and envy. Great democratic leaders, including Abraham Lincoln, Mohandas Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. , have understood the importance of cultivating emotions. But people attached to liberalism sometimes assume that a theory of public sentiments would run afoul of commitments to freedom and autonomy. Calling into question this perspective, Nussbaum investigates historical proposals for a public "civil religion" or "religion of humanity" by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Auguste Comte, John Stuart Mill, and Rabindranath Tagore. She offers an account of how a decent society can use resources inherent in human psychology, while limiting the damage done by the darker side of our personalities. And finally she explores the cultivation of emotions that support justice in examples drawn from literature, song, political rhetoric, festivals, memorials, and even the design of public parks. "Love is what gives respect for humanity its life," Nussbaum writes, "making it more than a shell. " Political Emotions is a challenging and ambitious contribution to political philosophy.
Political Entrepreneurs: The Rise of Challenger Parties in Europe
by Catherine E. Vries Sara B. HoboltHow challenger parties, acting as political entrepreneurs, are changing European democraciesChallenger parties are on the rise in Europe, exemplified by the likes of Podemos in Spain, the National Rally in France, the Alternative for Germany, or the Brexit Party in Great Britain. Like disruptive entrepreneurs, these parties offer new policies and defy the dominance of established party brands. In the face of these challenges and a more volatile electorate, mainstream parties are losing their grip on power. In this book, Catherine De Vries and Sara Hobolt explore why some challenger parties are so successful and what mainstream parties can do to confront these political entrepreneurs.Drawing analogies with how firms compete, De Vries and Hobolt demonstrate that political change is as much about the ability of challenger parties to innovate as it is about the inability of dominant parties to respond. Challenger parties employ two types of innovation to break established party dominance: they mobilize new issues, such as immigration, the environment, and Euroscepticism, and they employ antiestablishment rhetoric to undermine mainstream party appeal. Unencumbered by government experience, challenger parties adapt more quickly to shifting voter tastes and harness voter disenchantment. Delving into strategies of dominance versus innovation, the authors explain why European party systems have remained stable for decades, but also why they are now increasingly under strain.As challenger parties continue to seek to disrupt the existing order, Political Entrepreneurs shows that their ascendency fundamentally alters government stability and democratic politics.
Political Epistemics: The Secret Police, the Opposition, and the End of East German Socialism (Chicago Studies in Practices of Meaning)
by Andreas GlaeserWhat does the durability of political institutions have to do with how actors form knowledge about them? Andreas Glaeser investigates this question in the context of a fascinating historical case: socialist East Germany’s unexpected self-dissolution in 1989. His analysis builds on extensive in-depth interviews with former secret police officers and the dissidents they tried to control as well as research into the documents both groups produced. In particular, Glaeser analyzes how these two opposing factions’ understanding of the socialist project came to change in response to countless everyday experiences. These investigations culminate in answers to two questions: why did the officers not defend socialism by force? And how was the formation of dissident understandings possible in a state that monopolized mass communication and group formation? He also explores why the Stasi, although always well informed about dissident activities, never developed a realistic understanding of the phenomenon of dissidence. Out of this ambitious study, Glaeser extracts two distinct lines of thought. On the one hand he offers an epistemic account of socialism’s failure that differs markedly from existing explanations. On the other hand he develops a theory—a sociology of understanding—that shows us how knowledge can appear validated while it is at the same time completely misleading.