Special Collections
Benetech’s Global Certified Accessible Titles
Description: Benetech’s GCA program is the first independent third-party EPUB certification to verify ebook accessibility. By creating content that is born accessible, publishers can meet the needs of all readers. Learn more: https://bornaccessible.benetech.org/
- Table View
- List View
Law of the Sea in East Asia
by Keyuan ZouLaw of the Sea in East Asia selects the most prominent maritime legal issues that have emerged since the post-LOS Convention era for a detailed discussion and assessment. The current marine legal order in East Asia is based on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOS Convention) and accordingly coastal states in the region are obliged to cooperate amongst themselves to exercise their rights and perform their duties. Keyuan, a respected expert in the fields of international and Chinese law, explores issues concerning compliance with the law of the sea, territorial disputes and maritime boundary delimitation, fishery management, safety of navigation and maritime security, and neglected issues in the law of the sea. This is the first book to examine maritime laws in East Asia, and as such will appeal to academics of law and Asian studies, lawyers and policy makers.
Religion and Everyday Life
by Stephen HuntThis introductory text explores the historical and contemporary relevance of religion to social life, through an examination of practice and belief. Author Hunt reconsiders how theories and concepts are lived at the level of selfhood and cultural identity, through religious and spiritual belief. At the same time he looks at contemporary changes in religious life and how these are impacted by socialization, institutional belonging, and belief, and at the significance of class, gender, age and ethnicity. Individual chapters cover a range of issues, such as: religion, identity and community secularization and pluralism traditional Christianity: change and continuity globalization and the global context religion and ethnicity. The text challenges much current sociological thought and deals with contemporary Christianity, a range of world faiths and new and developing expressions of religion and spirituality. With tables and diagrams to illustrate key points and trends, it provides an accessible and captivating introduction to the sociology of religion.
Literature in Post-Communist Russia and Eastern Europe
by Rajendra Anand ChitnisThis book considers Russian, Czech and Slovak fiction in the late communist and early post-communist periods. It focuses on the most innovative trend to emerge in this period, on those writers who, during and after the collapse of communism, characterised themselves as 'liberators' of literature. It shows how these writers in their fiction and critical work reacted against the politicisation of literature by Marxist-Leninist and dissident ideologues, rejecting the conventional perception of literature as moral teacher, and redefining the nature and purpose of writing. The book demonstrates how this quest, enacted in the works of these writers, served for many critics and readers as a metaphor for the wider disorientation and crisis precipitated by the collapse of communism.
The British Empiricists
by Stephen PriestThe Empiricists represent the central tradition in British philosophy as well as some of the most important and influential thinkers in human history. Their ideas paved the way for modern thought from politics to science, ethics to religion. The British Empiricists is a wonderfully clear and concise introduction to the lives, careers and views of Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Mill, Russell, and Ayer. Stephen Priest examines each philosopher and their views on a wide range of topics including mind and matter, ethics and emotions, freedom and the physical world, language, truth and logic. The book is usefully arranged so that it can be read by thinker or by topic, or as a history of key philosophical problems and equips the reader to: recognize and practice philosophical thinking understand the methods of solving philosophical problems used by the British Empiricists appreciate the role of empiricism in the history of Western philosophy. For any student new to philosophy, Western philosophy or the British Empiricists, this masterly survey offers an accessible engaging introduction.
A History of Drug Use in Sport
by Paul DimeoThis book offers a new history of drug use in sport. It argues that the idea of taking drugs to enhance performance has not always been the crisis or ‘evil’ we now think it is. Instead, the late nineteenth century was a time of some experimentation and innovation largely unhindered by talk of cheating or health risks. By the interwar period, experiments had been modernised in the new laboratories of exercise physiologists. Still there was very little sense that this was contrary to the ethics or spirit of sport. Sports, drugs and science were closely linked for over half a century. The Second World War provided the impetus for both increased use of drugs and the emergence of an anti-doping response. By the end of the 1950s a new framework of ethics was being imposed on the drugs question that constructed doping in highly emotive terms as an ‘evil’. Alongside this emerged the science and procedural bureaucracy of testing. The years up to 1976 laid the foundations for four decades of anti-doping. This book offers a detailed and critical understanding of who was involved, what they were trying to achieve, why they set about this task and the context in which they worked. By doing so, it reconsiders the classic dichotomy of ‘good anti-doping’ up against ‘evil doping’. Winner of the 2007 Lord Aberdare Literary Prize for the best book in British sports history.
The Lives of Foster Carers
by Linda NuttThe Lives of Foster Carers analyzes the contradictions, conflicts, and ambiguities experienced by foster carers arising from the inter-penetrations of public bureaucracy and private family life. Topics covered include: social policy pertinent to childcare the history of foster care service available literature on the experience of foster carers public versus private domains in foster care motivations and roles of foster carers how foster carers perceive themselves and their foster children. Based on a wide range of literature and in-depth interviews with forty-six foster carers, this book provides a valuable insight into the concerns, processes and experiences of foster carers in the UK. Jargon free and accessible, it will appeal to foster carers, practitioners, students and academics in social care, youth work and childcare as well as policy makers in children’s services.
What Animals Mean in the Fiction of Modernity
by Philip ArmstrongWhat Animals Mean in the Fiction of Modernity argues that nonhuman animals, and stories about them, have always been closely bound up with the conceptual and material work of modernity. In the first half of the book, Philip Armstrong examines the function of animals and animal representations in four classic narratives: Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver’s Travels, Frankenstein and Moby-Dick. He then goes on to explore how these stories have been re-worked, in ways that reflect shifting social and environmental forces, by later novelists, including H.G. Wells, Upton Sinclair, D.H. Lawrence, Ernest Hemingway, Franz Kafka, Brigid Brophy, Bernard Malamud, Timothy Findley, Will Self, Margaret Atwood, Yann Martel and J.M. Coetzee. What Animals Mean in the Fiction of Modernity also introduces readers to new developments in the study of human-animal relations. It does so by attending both to the significance of animals to humans, and to animals’ own purposes or designs; to what animals mean to us, and to what they mean to do, and how they mean to live.
The Politics of Insecurity
by Jef HuysmansThe act of violence of 9/11 changed the global security agenda, catapulting terrorism to the top of the agenda. Weapons of mass destruction grabbed public interest and controlling the free movement of people became a national security priority. In this volume, Jef Huysmans critically engages with theoretical developments in international relations and security studies to develop a conceptual framework for studying security. He argues that security policies and responses do not appear out of the blue, but are part of a continuous and gradual process, pre-structured by previous developments. He examines this process of securitization and explores how an issue, on the basis of the distribution and administration of fear, becomes a security policy. Huysmans then applies this theory to provide a detailed analysis of migration, asylum and refuge in the European Union. This theoretically sophisticated, yet accessible volume, makes an important contribution to the study of security, migration and European politics.
The Twelver Shi'a as a Muslim Minority in India
by Toby HowarthOne of the most important current debates within and about Islam concerns its relation with power. Can Muslims be fundamentally content without power or as a minority? This book considers the voice of an important Muslim minority through its sermons. Indian Shi'i Muslims are a minority within a minority, constituting about ten to fifteen percent of the population as a whole, but comprising of about fifteen million people. Ten sermons are presented entirely and many more are quoted in order to analyze the preaching tradition in full. This book is the first survey to present the Indian mourning gathering and explain the history of this extraordinary phenomenon.
The Romantic Fiction Of Mills & Boon, 1909-1995
by Dixon, Jay and Jay Dixon.This study to analyzes romantic fiction's depiction of women as part of the broader history of ideas about women.; Given the success of the Mills & Boon romance, their portrayal of subjects like sex, love, marriage, class, motherhood and femineity are important cultural barometers and make interesting study.; The author shows how all these themes have an historical trajectory and how these novels have come to reflect feminist concerns.; Based on a study of over 1000 Mills & Boon romances the book provides analysis of plot types and shows how these have changed in response to women's own changing position within society.
Lobbying From Below
by Mick RyanFirst Published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Sufi Commentaries on the Qur'an in Classical Islam
by Kristin SandsMeeting the ever increasing interest in Islam and Sufism, this book is the first comprehensive study of Sufi Qur’anic commentaries and includes translations of many writings previously unavailable in English. It examines the shared hermeneutical assumptions of Sufi writers and the diversity in style of Sufi commentaries. Some of the assumptions analyzed are: * the Qur’an is a multi-layered and ambiguous text open to endless interpretation * the knowledge of deeper meanings of the Qur’an is attainable by means other than transmitted interpretations and rational thought * the self is dynamic, moving through states and stations which result in different interpretations at different times. The styles of Sufi commentaries are explored, which range from philosophical musings to popular preaching to literary narrative and poetry. Other commentaries from the classical period are also investigated to provide context in understanding Sufi approaches and exegetical styles.
The Digital Revolution and the Coming of the Postmodern University
by Carl A. RaschkeIn recent years, the powerful social, cultural and economic changes wrought by digital technology have led many to forecast the end of the university as we know it. This book employs extensive research and case studies to explain why these predictions, even if perhaps somewhat premature, are on solid ground.The Digital Revolution and the Coming of the Postmodern University shows how the internet, high-speed electronic communications and personal computers necessitate a radical rethinking of what is meant by 'higher education'. The book calls into question both the traditionalist's scepticism about the benefits of new technology, and the corporate e-learning advocate's failure to grasp that education is more than what happens on a computer screen. The author provides concrete data and models for more democratic, restructured systems of instruction that not only take advantage of advanced learning technologies, but promote the globalisation of higher education.This is an essential read for anyone concerned about the future of higher education.
Human Relationship Skills
by Richard Nelson-JonesHuman Relationship Skills: Coaching and Self-Coaching presents a practical 'how to' guide to relationship skills, showing how readers can improve and, where necessary, repair relationships. This thoroughly revised and updated fourth edition reflects the increased interest in coaching, showing how it can be applied to everyday life. In this essential book, Richard Nelson-Jones takes a cognitive-behavioural approach to coaching people in relationship skills. These skills are viewed as sequences of choices that people can make well or poorly; covering a range of skill areas the book assists readers to make affirming rather than destructive choices in their relationships. It begins by addressing the questions of "what are relationship skills?" and "what are coaching skills?", and follows with a series of chapters which thoroughly detail and illuminate various relationship skills including: - listening and showing understanding - managing shyness - intimacy and companionship - assertiveness and managing anger - managing relationship problems and ending relationships The book concludes with a chapter on how users can maintain and improve their skills by coaching themselves. Accessibly written and using activities, the book will be appropriate for those involved in 'life coaching' as well as general counselling and therapy. It will be essential reading for lecturers, coaches and trainers as well as students and anyone who wishes to improve their relationship skills.
Subalterns and Social Protest
by Stephanie CroninThe articles in this collection provide an alternative view of Middle Eastern history by focusing on the oppressed and the excluded, offering a challenge to the usual elite narratives. The collection is unique in its historical depth - ranging from the medieval period to the present - and its geographical reach, including Iran, the Ottoman Empire/Turkey, the Balkans, the Arab Middle East and North Africa. The first to focus on the oppressed and the excluded, and their differing strategies of survival, of negotiation, and of protest and resistance, the book covers: both major social classes and sectors the working class the peasantry the urban poor women marginal groups such as gypsies and slaves Based on perspectives drawn from the work of the great European social historians, and particularly inspired by Antonio Gramsci, the collection seeks to restore a sense of historical agency to subaltern classes in the region, and to uncover ‘the politics of the people’.
European Security and Defence Policy
by Michael Merlingen and Rasa OstrauskaiteSecurity and defence is the area in which the EU has advanced most in recent years. A principal element of this process is the proliferating number of military and civilian crisis management missions in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Clearly, Europe has come a long way since the disappointments and frustration in the 1990s, when, in light of the violent disintegration of Yugoslavia, analysts argued that the EU foreign and security policy was ‘neither common, nor foreign, nor dealing with security, nor (could) be called a policy.’ Since then the newly developed European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) has become the necessary framework for the formulation and implementation of effective European security policy. This book is the first-ever in-depth inquiry of the ESDP in action. It analyzes the implementation of military and civilian missions in the Balkans, Southern Caucasus, Africa and Asia and asks what impact they have on the ground. The EUJUST Themis in Georgia, the Aceh Monitoring Mission in Indonesia as well as EUSEC-R.D. Congo and EUPOL Kinshasa are examined in The European Security and Defence Policy will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, security, European studies, foreign policy, peacekeeping and transatlantic relations.
Private Military and Security Companies
by Andrew Alexandra and Deane-Peter Baker and Marina CapariniOver the past twenty years, Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) have become significant elements of national security arrangements, assuming many of the functions that have traditionally been undertaken by state armies. Given the centrality of control over the use of coercive force to the functioning and identity of the modern state, and to international order, these developments clearly are of great practical and conceptual interest. This edited volume provides an interdisciplinary overview of PMSCs: what they are, why they have emerged in their current form, how they operate, their current and likely future military, political, social and economic impact, and the moral and legal constraints that do and should apply to their operation. The book focuses firstly upon normative issues raised by the development of PMSCs, and then upon state regulation and policy towards PMSCs, examining finally the impact of PMSCs on civil-military relations. It takes an innovative approach, bringing theory and empirical research into mutually illuminating contact. Includes contributions from experts in IR, political theory, international and corporate law, and economics, and also breaks important new ground by including philosophical discussions of PMSCs.
The New Environmental Governance
by Clifford Shearing and Cameron Holley and Neil GunninghamA bold and profoundly new way of governing environmental problems is palpable around the globe and aims to overcome the limitations of the interventionist state and its market alternative to offer more effective and legitimate solutions to today's most pressing environmental problems. The 'new environmental governance' (NEG) emphasises a host of novel characteristics including participation, collaboration, deliberation, learning and adaptation and 'new' forms of accountability. While these unique features have generated significant praise from legal and governance scholars, there have been very few systematic evaluations of NEG in practice, and it is still unclear whether NEG will in fact 'work', and if so, when and how. This book offers one of the most rigorous research investigations into cutting edge trends in environmental governance to date. Focusing its inquiry around some of the most central, controversial and/or under researched characteristics of NEG, the book offers fresh insights into the conditions under which we can best achieve successful collaboration, effective learning and adaptation, meaningful participatory and deliberative governance and effective forms of accountability. The book synthesizes its findings to identify seven key pillars of 'good' NEG that are central to its success and will provide useful guidance for policymakers and scholars seeking to apply new governance to a wide range of environmental and non-environmental policy contexts. The book also advances our understanding of State governance and will be a valuable reference for scholars, researchers and students working in law and regulation studies - especially in the field of environmental law.
Sexploitation
by Michèle AlexandreMichèle Alexandre’s innovative study examines how sexual profiling represses, oppresses, and hinders various aspects of life for both genders, and explores the ways in which the law and the community can help eradicate the practice of sexual profiling. Alexandre defines "sexploitation" as the perpetuation of myths and stereotypical notions regarding men and women in order to further an agenda of oppression and subordination in certain spheres of society. The most popular means through which this sexploitation is achieved is through a method Alexandre coins as "sexual profiling." She argues that sexual profiling ultimately stifles the growth of our society by creating inefficient as well as oppressive systems, and that its eradication can help increase the productivity as well as the morale of society. Alexandre opens the book by exploring in detail the various ways in which normative views of gender are constructed and perpetuated through media and societal norms. She then focuses on the ways in which recent legal opinions and developments contribute to perpetuate these restrictive and oppressive norms. Finally, Alexandre outlines a plan to help eliminate the presence of these destructive norms and attitudes from different sectors of society.
The Earthscan Action Handbook for People and Planet
by Miles LitvinoffWe have poisoned the air and water on which our lives depend. Poor countries exhaust their land in the struggle to survive while rich countries demand more and more. The Earthscan Action Handbook spells out why things have gone so terribly wrong and what each of us can do to clean up the mess. Each chapter deals with one of the major problems people and the planet now face: meeting the human needs of health, education and social justice as well as the environmental needs of our dying lakes and forests, polluted seas, threatened habitats and endangered species. Packed with suggestions for positive action, this book also gives details of who to contact, what to read and where to go if you want to do more. Whether you care about buying safe food or feeding the world, The Earthscan Action Handbook is indispensable. Originally published in 1990
The Philosophical Bases of Theism
by George Dawes HicksExcellently organised and written, this is a thorough examination of how philosophy interacts with religion. The chapters were originally presented as the Hibbert Lectures in 1931 at University College London and the University of Manchester. The texts are expanded and elaborated to present a cohesive text, first published in 1937. Exploring free rational thinking, the book encourages reflection on the principals on which religion rests and addresses themes such as knowledge and experience, evolution, positivism, mystical experience, divine immanence, beauty and morality.
Understanding Youth Offending
by Stephen Case and Kevin HainesThis book aims to provide an understanding of youth offending and policy and practice responses, particularly the risk-focused approaches that have underpinned much recent academic research, youth justice policy and interventions designed to reduce and prevent problem behaviour. There has been growing concern, however, on the part of critical criminologists and others, about the theoretical, epistemological, methodological and ethical bases of risk-focused research with young people. They have pointed particularly to the overly-deterministic and prescriptive nature of the risk factor paradigm. This book aims to meet the need for an exploration of youth justice and youth offending which takes account of the origins and contemporary manifestations of risk-focused work with young people. It analyses the influence of concepts of risk upon policy development in both England and Wales as well as internationally, highlighting tensions between the proponents of risk factor research and methodological and ethical criticisms of the risk factor paradigm. It will be essential reading for anybody wishing to understand risk factor explanation of crime, contemporary youth justice policy and responses to offending behaviour.
How Offenders Transform Their Lives
by Bonita Veysey and Johnna Christian and Damian J. MartinezAt a time when the scale of imprisonment in the United States has reached a historic high, researchers estimate that more than 600,000 individuals a year are released from prison to return to their home communities. These individuals have serious needs, such as finding employment and housing, reuniting with family members, and obtaining healthcare and treatment for alcohol and substance abuse problems. While research in this area has stressed these aspects of the transition from prison, a less explored area of research considers the role of internal identity shifts from that of an offender to one of citizen, and how this creates the conditions for desistance from criminal behavior both within the confines of a correctional facility and in the reentry process. This book presents a series of studies (mostly qualitative) that investigate individual identity transformation from offender status to pro-social, non-offending roles. Moreover, the work in this volume highlights the perspectives of the men and women who are current or formerly incarcerated people. Each piece provides an empirical analysis of the interaction between current or former prisoners and innovative pro-social programs and networks, which are grounded in the most current theoretical work about individual transformation and change. This book will be of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates, researchers and lecturers in all fields within the social sciences, but especially criminology and criminal justice and sociology and social work/welfare.
Imaginary Penalities
by Pat CarlenThis book is concerned to explore the idea of imaginary penalities and to understand why the management of criminal justice and criminal justice systems has so often reached crisis point. Its underlying theme is that when political strategies of punitive populism are combined with managerialist techniques of social auditing, a new all-encompassing form of governance has emerged - powerless to deliver what it promises but with a momentum of its own and increasingly removed from proper democratic accountability. A highly distinguished international group of contributors explores this set of themes in a variety of different contexts taken from the UK, N. America, Europe and Australia. It will be essential reading for anybody seeking to understand some of the root causes of increasing prison populations, social harms such as recidivism and domestic violence and the increasingly important role of criminal justice within systems of governance.
In the Shadow of Prison
by Helen CoddThis book provides an up-to-date, accessible introduction to the relationship between families, prisons and penal policies in the United Kingdom. It explores current debates in relation to prisoners and their families, and introduces the reader to relevant theoretical approaches. Interdisciplinary in nature, the book incorporates perspectives drawn from criminology, sociology, social work and law. The book includes: a current exploration of key aspects of the consequences of imprisonment for prisoners and their families an assessment of the role of current prison policies and practices in promoting and maintaining family relationships a summary of the current law in relation to prisoners and their families, with reference to the relevant legislation and recent case law.