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Plato as Critical Theorist
by Jonny ThakkarWhat is the best possible society? How would its rulers govern and its citizens behave? Such questions are sometimes dismissed as distractions from genuine political problems, but in an era when political idealism seems a relic of the past, says Jonny Thakkar, they are more urgent than ever. A daring experiment in using ancient philosophy to breathe life into our political present, Plato as Critical Theorist takes seriously one of Plato’s central claims: that philosophers should rule. What many accounts miss is the intimate connection between Plato’s politics and his metaphysics, Thakkar argues. Philosophy is the activity of articulating how parts and wholes best fit together, while ruling is the activity that shapes the parts of society into a coherent whole conducive to the good life. Plato’s ideal society is thus one in which ideal theory itself plays a leading role. Today’s liberal democracies require not philosopher-kings legislating from above but philosopher-citizens willing to work toward a vision of the best society in their daily lives. Against the claim that such idealism is inherently illiberal, Thakkar shows that it is fully compatible with the liberal theories of both Popper and Rawls while nevertheless pushing beyond them in providing a new vantage point for the Marxian critique of capitalism.
When Police Kill
by Franklin E. ZimringFranklin Zimring compiles data from federal records, crowdsourced research, and investigative journalism to provide a comprehensive, fact-based picture of how, when, where, and why police use deadly force. He offers prescriptions for how federal, state, and local governments could reduce killings at minimum cost without risking officers’ lives.
Zbigniew Brzezinski: America’s Grand Strategist
by Justin VaïsseAs National Security Adviser to President Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski (1928–2017) guided U.S. foreign policy at a critical juncture of the Cold War. But his impact on America’s role in the world extends far beyond his years in the White House, and reverberates to this day. His geopolitical vision, scholarly writings, frequent media appearances, and policy advice to decades of presidents from Lyndon Johnson to Barack Obama made him America’s grand strategist, a mantle only Henry Kissinger could also claim. Both men emigrated from turbulent Europe in 1938 and got their Ph.D.s in the 1950s from Harvard, then the epitome of the Cold War university. With its rise to global responsibilities, the United States needed professionals. Ambitious academics like Brzezinski soon replaced the old establishment figures who had mired the country in Vietnam, and they transformed the way America conducted foreign policy. Justin Vaïsse offers the first biography of the successful immigrant who completed a remarkable journey from his native Poland to the White House, interacting with influential world leaders from Gloria Steinem to Deng Xiaoping to John Paul II. This complex intellectual portrait reveals a man who weighed in on all major foreign policy debates since the 1950s, from his hawkish stance on the USSR to his advocacy for the Middle East peace process and his support for a U.S.-China global partnership. Through its examination of Brzezinski’s statesmanship and comprehensive vision, Zbigniew Brzezinski raises important questions about the respective roles of ideas and identity in foreign policy.
Unequal Colleges in the Age of Disparity
by Charles T. ClotfelterBased on quantitative comparisons of colleges since the 1970s, Charles Clotfelter reveals that despite the civil rights revolution, billions spent on financial aid, and the commitment of colleges to greater equality, stratification in higher education has grown starker. He explains why undergraduate education—unequal in 1970—is even more so today.
Good Government: Democracy beyond Elections
by Pierre RosanvallonFew would disagree that Western democracies are experiencing a crisis of representation. In the United States, gerrymandering and concentrated political geographies have placed the Congress and state legislatures in a stranglehold that is often at odds with public opinion. Campaign financing ensures that only the affluent have voice in legislation. Europeans, meanwhile, increasingly see the European Union as an anti-democratic body whose “diktats” have no basis in popular rule. The response, however, has not been an effective pursuit of better representation. In Good Government, Pierre Rosanvallon examines the long history of the alternative to which the public has gravitated: the empowered executive. Rosanvallon argues that, faced with everyday ineptitude in governance, people become attracted to strong leaders and bold executive action. If these fail, they too often want even stronger personal leadership. Whereas nineteenth-century liberals and reformers longed for parliamentary sovereignty, nowadays few contest the “imperial presidency.” Rosanvallon traces this history from the Weimar Republic to Charles De Gaulle’s “exceptional” presidency to the Bush-Cheney concentration of executive power. Europeans rebelling against the technocratic EU and Americans fed up with the “administrative state” have turned to charismatic figures, from Donald Trump to Viktor Orbán, who tout personal strength as their greatest asset. This is not just a right-wing phenomenon, though, as liberal contentment with Obama’s drone war demonstrates. Rosanvallon makes clear that contemporary “presidentialism” may reflect the particular concerns of the moment, but its many precursors demonstrate that democracy has always struggled with tension between popular government and concentrated authority.
A Short History of European Law: The Last Two and a Half Millennia
by Tamar HerzogTamar Herzog offers a road map to European law across 2,500 years that reveals underlying patterns and unexpected connections. By showing what European law was, where its iterations were found, who made and implemented it, and what the results were, she ties legal norms to their historical circumstances and reveals the law’s fragile malleability.
Indigenous (In)Justice: Human Rights Law and Bedouin Arabs in the Naqab/Negev
by Ahmad AmaraIndigenous (In)Justice explores legal and human rights issues surrounding the Bedouin Arab population in Israel's Naqab/Negev desert. With contributions from international scholars, including United Nations officials, the volume examines the economic and social rights of indigenous peoples within the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Critical Reflections On Security And Change
by Stuart Croft Terry TerrifThe contributors to this overview of the changes in security studies reflect critically on the past decades since the 1980s and consider what the future holds, in a select few areas of security studies.
Critical Reflections On Security And Change (PDF)
by Stuart Croft Terry TerrifThe contributors to this overview of the changes in security studies reflect critically on the past decades since the 1980s and consider what the future holds, in a select few areas of security studies.
Obedience To Authority: Current Perspectives On The Milgram Paradigm
by Thomas BlassStanley Milgram's experiments on obedience to authority are among the most important psychological studies of this century. Perhaps because of the enduring significance of the findings--the surprising ease with which ordinary persons can be commanded to act destructively against an innocent individual by a legitimate authority--it continues to claim the attention of psychologists and other social scientists, as well as the general public. The study continues to inspire valuable research and analysis. The goal of this book is to present current work inspired by the obedience paradigm. This book demonstrates the vibrancy of the obedience paradigm by presenting some of its most important and stimulating contemporary uses and applications. Paralleling Milgram's own eclecticism in the content and style of his research and writing, the contributions comprise a potpourri of styles of research and presentation--ranging from personal narratives, through conceptual analyses, to randomized experiments.
Obedience To Authority: Current Perspectives On The Milgram Paradigm (PDF)
by Thomas BlassStanley Milgram's experiments on obedience to authority are among the most important psychological studies of this century. Perhaps because of the enduring significance of the findings--the surprising ease with which ordinary persons can be commanded to act destructively against an innocent individual by a legitimate authority--it continues to claim the attention of psychologists and other social scientists, as well as the general public. The study continues to inspire valuable research and analysis. The goal of this book is to present current work inspired by the obedience paradigm. This book demonstrates the vibrancy of the obedience paradigm by presenting some of its most important and stimulating contemporary uses and applications. Paralleling Milgram's own eclecticism in the content and style of his research and writing, the contributions comprise a potpourri of styles of research and presentation--ranging from personal narratives, through conceptual analyses, to randomized experiments.
Nationalism and Nationhood in the United Arab Emirates (The Modern Muslim World)
by Martin LedstrupThis book shows how an encounter with everyday nationhood in the northern United Arab Emirates can make us revisit the classics of sociology as continuous analytical world-views. Through the textual universe of Georg Simmel, and in particular his analysis of modern life as the feeling of dualism, the project reflects about how seemingly crucial challenges to the national – the forces of globalization and the wish to be unique – are drawn together with the formation of nationhood in everyday life. It does so not least by attending to the instances of everyday nationhood – like fashion and car-driving – that are at the same time central ways of embodying the modern. This volume appeals to students of nationalism, classical sociology, and the modern Arab Gulf.
Nationalism and Nationhood in the United Arab Emirates (The Modern Muslim World)
by Martin LedstrupThis book shows how an encounter with everyday nationhood in the northern United Arab Emirates can make us revisit the classics of sociology as continuous analytical world-views. Through the textual universe of Georg Simmel, and in particular his analysis of modern life as the feeling of dualism, the project reflects about how seemingly crucial challenges to the national – the forces of globalization and the wish to be unique – are drawn together with the formation of nationhood in everyday life. It does so not least by attending to the instances of everyday nationhood – like fashion and car-driving – that are at the same time central ways of embodying the modern. This volume appeals to students of nationalism, classical sociology, and the modern Arab Gulf.
Among the Powers of the Earth: The American Revolution And The Making Of A New World Empire
by Eliga H. GouldThe Revolution’s aspiration was summed up by the phrase “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Yet the American founding was also a bid for inclusion in the community of nations. According to Eliga Gould, America aspired to diplomatic recognition under international law and the authority to become an Atlantic colonizing power itself.
Righteous Republic: The Political Foundations Of Modern India
by Ananya VajpeyiWhat India’s founders derived from Western political traditions is widely understood. Less well-known is how India’s own rich knowledge traditions of 2,500 years influenced these men. Vajpeyi furnishes this missing account, showing how five founders turned to classical texts to fashion an original sense of Indian selfhood.
Education and the Commercial Mindset
by Samuel E. AbramsThe movement to privatize K–12 education is stronger than ever. Samuel Abrams examines the rise of market forces in public education and reveals how a commercial mindset that sidesteps fundamental challenges has taken over. Nevertheless, public schools should adopt lessons from the business world, such as raising teacher salaries to attract talent.
The Power of Market Fundamentalism: Karl Polanyi's Critique
by Fred BlockWhat is it about free-market ideas that gives them staying power in the face of such failures as persistent unemployment, widening inequality, and financial crises? The Power of Market Fundamentalism extends economist Karl Polanyi's work to explain why these dangerous utopian ideas have become the dominant economic ideology of our time.
Secularism, Identity, and Enchantment
by Akeel BilgramiIn a rigorous exploration of how secularism and identity emerged as conflicting concepts in the modern world, Akeel Bilgrami elaborates a notion of secular enchantment with a view to finding in secular modernity a locus of meaning and value, while addressing squarely the anxiety that all such notions are exercises in nostalgia.
American Umpire
by Elizabeth Cobbs HoffmanCommentators call the United States an empire: occasionally a benign empire, sometimes an empire in denial, often a destructive empire. In American Umpire Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman asserts instead that America has performed the role of umpire since 1776, compelling adherence to rules that gradually earned broad approval, and violating them as well.
Making Sense of Science: Separating Substance from Spin
by Cornelia DeanCornelia Dean draws on her 30 years as a science journalist with the New York Times to expose the flawed reasoning and knowledge gaps that handicap readers when they try to make sense of science. She calls attention to conflicts of interest in research and the price society pays when science journalism declines and funding dries up.
Citizenship and Its Discontents: An Indian History
by Niraja Gopal JayalThis book considers how the civic ideals embodied in India’s constitution are undermined by exclusions based on social and economic inequalities, sometimes even by its own strategies of inclusion. Once seen by Westerners as a political anomaly, India today is the case study that no global discussion of democracy and citizenship can ignore.
The Annals of King T'aejo: Founder Of Korea's Choson Dynasty
by Choi ByonghyonNever before translated into English, this official history of the reign of King T'aejo--founder of Korea's illustrious Chosŏn dynasty (1392-1910 CE)--is a unique resource for reconstructing life in late-fourteenth-century Korea. It includes a wealth of detail not just about politics and war but also religion, astronomy, and the arts.
Redeeming the Great Emancipator (The Nathan I. Huggins lectures #15)
by Allen C. GuelzoAbraham Lincoln projects a larger-than-life image across American history owing to his role as the Great Emancipator. Yet this noble aspect of Lincoln’s identity is the dimension that some historians have cast into doubt. The award-winning historian and Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo offers a vigorous defense of America’s sixteenth president.
Inequality: What Can Be Done?
by Anthony B. AtkinsonInequality and poverty have returned with a vengeance in recent decades. To reduce them, we need fresh ideas that move beyond taxes on the wealthy. Anthony B. Atkinson offers ambitious new policies in technology, employment, social security, sharing of capital, and taxation, and he defends them against the common arguments and excuses for inaction.
The Great Acceleration: An Environmental History Of The Anthropocene Since 1945
by J. R. McNeillThe pace of energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and population growth has thrust the planet into a new age—the Anthropocene. Humans have altered the planet’s biogeochemical systems without consciously managing them. The Great Acceleration explains the causes, consequences, and uncertainties of this massive uncontrolled experiment.