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Democratic Participation in Armed Conflict: Military Involvement in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq (Palgrave Studies in International Relations)
by Patrick A. MelloUnder which conditions do democracies participate in war, and when do they abstain? Providing a unique theoretical framework, Mello identifies pathways of war involvement and abstention across thirty democracies, investigating the wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Digital Activism and Cyberconflicts in Nigeria: Occupy Nigeria, Boko Haram and MEND (Digital Activism and Society: Politics, Economy and Culture in Network Communication)
by Shola A. OlabodeThis book offers an innovative contribution to the literature on digital activism and cyberconflicts. Analysing sociopolitical and ethnoreligious conflicts within an African-centred context, the author uses Nigeria as a lens to understand the digital and organisational aspects of digital media uses in the Occupy Nigeria movement protest, the Boko Haram conflict and The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) conflict. Timely, in a period of intense conflict across the globe, the author employs an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on the Cyberconflict Framework to examine conflicts emerging in computer-mediated environments. Examining the implications for socio-political and economic reform and change, the cases explored provide a snapshot of the emerging digital culture of conflict. The book contributes to existing knowledge by bridging the gap in the literature on digital activism and conflict as a field of study.
Digital Activism and Cyberconflicts in Nigeria: Occupy Nigeria, Boko Haram and MEND (Digital Activism and Society: Politics, Economy and Culture in Network Communication)
by Shola A. OlabodeThis book offers an innovative contribution to the literature on digital activism and cyberconflicts. Analysing sociopolitical and ethnoreligious conflicts within an African-centred context, the author uses Nigeria as a lens to understand the digital and organisational aspects of digital media uses in the Occupy Nigeria movement protest, the Boko Haram conflict and The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) conflict. Timely, in a period of intense conflict across the globe, the author employs an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on the Cyberconflict Framework to examine conflicts emerging in computer-mediated environments. Examining the implications for socio-political and economic reform and change, the cases explored provide a snapshot of the emerging digital culture of conflict. The book contributes to existing knowledge by bridging the gap in the literature on digital activism and conflict as a field of study.
Non-Wood Forest Products of Asia: Knowledge, Conservation and Livelihood (World Forests #25)
by A. Z. M. Manzoor Rashid Niaz Ahmed Khan Mahmood HossainThis book highlights the importance of non-wood forest products (NWFPs) and their crucial role in sustaining the livelihood of rural and indigenous communities in Asia. The authors depict how the preservation of forests and the associated major non-wood resources may provide an important avenue to reduce poverty. The local practices and knowledge on harvesting NWFPs are often rooted in tradition, and vary from one region to the other. This made it difficult to develop and establish research focus on a greater scale in the past. Readers of this volume will gain an often-missed, broader perspective from these new studies. The authors put a special emphasis on the nexus between conservation and livelihood from an Asian point of view. This addresses a knowledge gap in the current literature and offers important clues on conducting similar research around the world. The volume provides a useful reference guide for the relevant researchers, practitioners and policy makers.
Subprime Cities: The Political Economy of Mortgage Markets (IJURR Studies in Urban and Social Change Book Series #72)
by Manuel B. AalbersSubprime Cities: The Political Economy of Mortgage Markets presents a collection of works from social scientists that offer insights into mortgage markets and the causes, effects, and aftermath of the recent 'subprime' mortgage crisis. Provides an even-handed and detailed analysis of mortgage markets and the recent housing crisis Features contributions from various social scientists with expertise in critical social theories who have assembled and analyzed detailed empirical information Offers a unique and powerful rebuttal to many of the misleading popular explanations of the crisis and its aftermath Reveals how racial minorities and the neighbourhoods inhabited by them are more likely to be targeted by subprime and predatory lenders
Subprime Cities: The Political Economy of Mortgage Markets (IJURR Studies in Urban and Social Change Book Series #71)
by Manuel B. AalbersSubprime Cities: The Political Economy of Mortgage Markets presents a collection of works from social scientists that offer insights into mortgage markets and the causes, effects, and aftermath of the recent 'subprime' mortgage crisis. Provides an even-handed and detailed analysis of mortgage markets and the recent housing crisis Features contributions from various social scientists with expertise in critical social theories who have assembled and analyzed detailed empirical information Offers a unique and powerful rebuttal to many of the misleading popular explanations of the crisis and its aftermath Reveals how racial minorities and the neighbourhoods inhabited by them are more likely to be targeted by subprime and predatory lenders
Manipulating Political Decentralisation: Africa's Inclusive Autocrats (Conceptualising Comparative Politics)
by Lovise Aalen Ragnhild L. MuriaasCan autocrats establish representative subnational governments? And which strategies of manipulation are available if they would like to reduce the uncertainty caused by introducing political decentralisation? In the wake of local government reforms, several states across the world have introduced legislation that provides for subnational elections. This does not mean that representative subnational governments in these countries are all of a certain standard. Political decentralisation should not be confused with democratisation, as the process is likely to be manipulated in ways that do not produce meaningful avenues for political participation and contestation locally. Using examples from Africa, Lovise Aalen and Ragnhild L. Muriaas propose five requirements for representative subnational governments and four strategies that national governments might use to manipulate the outcome of political decentralisation. The case studies of Ethiopia, Malawi, South Africa, and Uganda illustrate why autocrats sometimes are more open to competition at the subnational level than democrats. Manipulating Political Decentralisation provides a new conceptual tool to assess representative subnational governments' quality, aiding us in building theories on the consequences of political decentralisation on democratisation.
Manipulating Political Decentralisation: Africa's Inclusive Autocrats (Conceptualising Comparative Politics)
by Lovise Aalen Ragnhild L. MuriaasCan autocrats establish representative subnational governments? And which strategies of manipulation are available if they would like to reduce the uncertainty caused by introducing political decentralisation? In the wake of local government reforms, several states across the world have introduced legislation that provides for subnational elections. This does not mean that representative subnational governments in these countries are all of a certain standard. Political decentralisation should not be confused with democratisation, as the process is likely to be manipulated in ways that do not produce meaningful avenues for political participation and contestation locally. Using examples from Africa, Lovise Aalen and Ragnhild L. Muriaas propose five requirements for representative subnational governments and four strategies that national governments might use to manipulate the outcome of political decentralisation. The case studies of Ethiopia, Malawi, South Africa, and Uganda illustrate why autocrats sometimes are more open to competition at the subnational level than democrats. Manipulating Political Decentralisation provides a new conceptual tool to assess representative subnational governments' quality, aiding us in building theories on the consequences of political decentralisation on democratisation.
Responding to Violent Conflicts and Humanitarian Crises: A Guide to Participants
by Pamela Aall Dan SnodderlyThis book introduces the four principal sets of institutions that engage in bringing peace and relief to societies mired in violent conflicts and humanitarian crises—the United Nations and other international bodies; non-governmental organizations; civilian government agencies; and militaries. Because these institutions have distinct goals as well as overlapping mandates and activities on the ground, they do not always collaborate effectively, due in part to a lack of familiarity with how the other institutions are organized, make decisions or act on the ground. Despite declining public support for large-scale, state-building missions recently, more complex interagency efforts have evolved in partnership with host country governments. Numerous third parties continue to undertake peacebuilding, stabilization, and humanitarian relief measures around the globe. This book is intended primarily for those serving in the field, but it is also helpful to headquarters personnel and policymakers, as well as military and agency trainees and university students.
The EU-Russian Energy Dialogue: Europe's Future Energy Security (The International Political Economy of New Regionalisms Series)
by Pami AaltoEU-Russian energy dialogue represents a policy issue that forces us to take a serious look at several crucial questions related to the present and future of Europe such as: how can the EU area ensure its future energy security when it is running out of its own energy resources and at the same time incorporating new members who are also dependent on energy imports? This book not only outlines the overall characteristics of the energy dialogue, but also illustrates the involved policy implementation challenges by paying special attention to the regional context of northern Europe. The study contributes to diverse fields such as international relations and political science, European studies, studies on energy politics, international political economy, post-Soviet politics, and literature on regionalization and regionalisms, with a special reference to northern Europe.
The EU-Russian Energy Dialogue: Europe's Future Energy Security (The International Political Economy of New Regionalisms Series)
by Pami AaltoEU-Russian energy dialogue represents a policy issue that forces us to take a serious look at several crucial questions related to the present and future of Europe such as: how can the EU area ensure its future energy security when it is running out of its own energy resources and at the same time incorporating new members who are also dependent on energy imports? This book not only outlines the overall characteristics of the energy dialogue, but also illustrates the involved policy implementation challenges by paying special attention to the regional context of northern Europe. The study contributes to diverse fields such as international relations and political science, European studies, studies on energy politics, international political economy, post-Soviet politics, and literature on regionalization and regionalisms, with a special reference to northern Europe.
International Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches (Palgrave Studies in International Relations)
by Pami Aalto Vilho Harle Sami MoisioPresenting International Studies as a wide, plural and inherently interdisciplinary field of research, this book shows its links with philosophy, peace research, history, geography, globalization studies, international political economy, political psychology, sociology and social theory, linguistics, strategic or war studies and anthropology.
Western Spectacle of Governance and the Emergence of Humanitarian World Politics
by M. AaltolaThe book examines the patterns of co-option and collaboration between the ethical and political traditions of the humanitarianism in various world political spectacles: September 11th, Iraq and Afganistan, Darfur, SARS and Avian Flu, and US transformational HIV/AIDS diplomacy.
Democratic Vulnerability and Autocratic Meddling: The "Thucydidean Brink" in Regressive Geopolitical Competition
by Mika AaltolaThis book investigates complex regressive dynamics in contemporary Western democracies. They include not only severe polarization in domestic politics, but also efforts by external autocratic powers to co-opt the increasingly digitalized political processes in the West. The discussion on democratic vulnerability and regression has rarely been historically and theoretically reflective. The aim is to fill this relative void by drawing on classical sources to inform about the political anxieties and agitations of our present time as the Western world moves towards new critical elections. The key concept of the analysis, a Thucydidean brink, refers to a critical point where the attraction felt towards an outside geopolitical competitor becomes stronger than the political affinity felt towards one’s domestic political opponent. As political polarization, societal decomposition and the collusive tendencies grow in strength, political factions and political candidates in western societies can be(come) drawn to autocratic actors. Perhaps most alarmingly, the resulting nexus between democracies and autocracies can further intensify mutual regression and form downwards-sloping spirals that are not ultimately under any strategic control. This book draws from the experiences of recent elections in major Western democracies to illustrate the widening and deepening underlying regressive tendency.
Understanding the Politics of Pandemic Emergencies in the time of COVID-19: An Introduction to Global Politosomatics (The Politics of Pandemics)
by Mika AaltolaThis book reviews the political significance of COVID-19 in the context of earlier pandemic encounters and scares to understand the ways in which it challenges the existing individual health, domestic order, international health governance actors, and, more fundamentally, the circulation-based modus operandi of the present world order. It argues that contagious diseases should be regarded as complex open-ended phenomena with various features and are not reducible merely to biology and epidemiology. They are, as such, fundamentally politosomatic, namely that they disrupt, agitate, and trigger large-scale processes because individual somatic-level anxieties stem from individuals’ sensing immediate danger through the networks of their local and global connectedness. The author further argues that pandemics have somatic effects in political expressions that transform the epidemic into national security dramas which should not, for the sake of efficient health governance, be treated as aspects extraneous to the disease itself. The book highlights that when a serious infectious disease spreads, a 'threat' is very often externalized into a culturally meaningful 'foreign' entity. Pandemics tend to be territorialized, nationalized, ethnicized, and racialized. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of global health and governance, pandemic security, epidemics, history of medicine, geopolitics, international relations, and general readers interested in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Understanding the Politics of Pandemic Emergencies in the time of COVID-19: An Introduction to Global Politosomatics (The Politics of Pandemics)
by Mika AaltolaThis book reviews the political significance of COVID-19 in the context of earlier pandemic encounters and scares to understand the ways in which it challenges the existing individual health, domestic order, international health governance actors, and, more fundamentally, the circulation-based modus operandi of the present world order. It argues that contagious diseases should be regarded as complex open-ended phenomena with various features and are not reducible merely to biology and epidemiology. They are, as such, fundamentally politosomatic, namely that they disrupt, agitate, and trigger large-scale processes because individual somatic-level anxieties stem from individuals’ sensing immediate danger through the networks of their local and global connectedness. The author further argues that pandemics have somatic effects in political expressions that transform the epidemic into national security dramas which should not, for the sake of efficient health governance, be treated as aspects extraneous to the disease itself. The book highlights that when a serious infectious disease spreads, a 'threat' is very often externalized into a culturally meaningful 'foreign' entity. Pandemics tend to be territorialized, nationalized, ethnicized, and racialized. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of global health and governance, pandemic security, epidemics, history of medicine, geopolitics, international relations, and general readers interested in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Challenge of Global Commons and Flows for US Power: The Perils of Missing the Human Domain
by Mika Aaltola Juha KäpyläGlobal commons are domains that fall outside the direct jurisdiction of sovereign states - the high seas, air, space, and most recently man-made cyberspace - and thus should be usable by anyone. These domains, even if outside the direct responsibility and governance of sovereign entities, are of crucial interest for the contemporary world order. This book elaborates a practice-based approach to the global commons and flows to examine critically the evolving geopolitical strategy and vision of United States. The study starts with the observation that the nature of US power is evolving increasingly towards the recognition that command over the flows of global interdependence is a central dimension of national power. The study then highlights the emerging security and governance of these flows. In this context, the flows and the underlying global critical infrastructure are emerging as objects of high-level strategic importance. The book pays special attention to one of the least recognized but perhaps most fundamental challenges related to the global commons, namely the conceptual and practical challenge of inter-domain relationships-between maritime, air, space, and cyber-flows that bring about not only opportunities but also new vulnerabilities. These complexities cannot be understood through technological means alone but rather the issues need to be clarified by bringing in the human domain of security.
The Challenge of Global Commons and Flows for US Power: The Perils of Missing the Human Domain
by Mika Aaltola Juha KäpyläGlobal commons are domains that fall outside the direct jurisdiction of sovereign states - the high seas, air, space, and most recently man-made cyberspace - and thus should be usable by anyone. These domains, even if outside the direct responsibility and governance of sovereign entities, are of crucial interest for the contemporary world order. This book elaborates a practice-based approach to the global commons and flows to examine critically the evolving geopolitical strategy and vision of United States. The study starts with the observation that the nature of US power is evolving increasingly towards the recognition that command over the flows of global interdependence is a central dimension of national power. The study then highlights the emerging security and governance of these flows. In this context, the flows and the underlying global critical infrastructure are emerging as objects of high-level strategic importance. The book pays special attention to one of the least recognized but perhaps most fundamental challenges related to the global commons, namely the conceptual and practical challenge of inter-domain relationships-between maritime, air, space, and cyber-flows that bring about not only opportunities but also new vulnerabilities. These complexities cannot be understood through technological means alone but rather the issues need to be clarified by bringing in the human domain of security.
Changing Trends in Antarctic Research (Environment & Assessment #3)
by AantElzingaThe core of this volume is a report from a symposium held at the University of Goteborg in the Fall of 1991. It deals with the interplay of science and politics and how^ such interplay affects research agendas. The focus is on polar research in Antarctica, a continent that has been much in the news during the past couple of years. It gives me particular pleasure to thank all the speakers who took part in the program. All of them have many commitments and involvements in international polar research and the protection of Antarctica for its scientific and aesthetic values. The fact that such a distinguished group has been willing to come to Goteborg, to my mind attests to the importance and timeliness of our topic and the relevance of epistemological and policy issues in this field. A presentation of each speaker and author is made within the relevant chapters in the text. My interest in the Antarctic has its origins in discussions with Anders Karlqvist, the Director of the Swedish Polar Research Secretariate at the Royal Academy of Science in Stockholm. Anders and I had worked together in the early 80's in a program on Technology and Culture, among other at the Research Policy Institute in Lund. At the time he was with the Swedish Council for Planning and Coordination of Research (FRN), its Committee for Future Oriented Research headed by Torsten Hagerstrand.
Economic Spillovers, Structural Reforms and Policy Coordination in the Euro Area (Contributions to Economics)
by Bas Van Aarle Klaus WeyerstrassThis book analyzes economic interdependence in the Euro Area. It offers expert estimates of the sign and size of economic spillovers. Moreover, the authors explore the impact of economic policy coordination on economic performance in the Euro Area. Among the many topics explored are the link between fiscal and monetary policies in the Euro Area and the coordination of fiscal policies and of structural reforms.
Essays on the Doctrinal Study of Law (Law and Philosophy Library #96)
by Aulis AarnioEssays on the Doctrinal Study of Law is a summary of the author’s 40 years of research in the fields of civil law and the philosophy of law. The main focus is on the two main tasks in the doctrinal study of law: the interpretation and systematisation of legal norms. In this regard, Professor Aarnio deals with the theory of argumentation as well as with its foundations - i.e., with the ontology, epistemology and methodology of legal thinking - and develops the ideas that were first presented in The Rational as Reasonable (Kluwer 1987) in all of these dimensions. The work includes an updated discussion on the writings of Robert Alexy, Jûrgen Habermas, Ronald Dworkin and Alf Ross. A focal point of view concerns the distinction between positivism and non-positivism, in which the core of the criticism focuses on Scandinavian realism.
The Political Economy of Japanese Foreign Direct Investment in the US and the UK: Multinationals, Subnational Regions and the Investment Location Decision (St Antony's Series)
by C. AaronInward investment by Japanese manufacturing multinationals has come to have a profound influence on the UK and US economies. Focusing on the 1970s and 1980s, this study looks at the political economy of the investment location decision using an original analytical framework and four detailed case studies. In addition to the larger issues of protectionism, globalization and inter-firm competition, it investigates whether and how subnational factors can influence the specific subnational locational decision - an issue of great interest to any subnational region attempting to adapt to structural shifts in the global economy.
Sounds, Ecologies, Musics
by Aaron S. Allen and Jeff Todd TitonSounds, Ecologies, Musics poses exciting challenges and provides fresh opportunities for scholars, scientists, environmental activists, musicians, and listeners to consider music and sound from ecological standpoints. Authors in Part I examine the natural and built environment and how music and sound are woven into it, how the environment enables music and sound, and how the natural and cultural production of music and sound in turn impact the environment. In Part II, contributors consider music and sound in relation to ecological knowledges that appear to conflict with, yet may be viewed as complementary to, Western science: traditional and Indigenous ecological and environmental knowledges. Part III features multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches by scholars, scientists, and practitioners who probe the ecological imaginary regarding the complex ideas and contested keywords that characterize ecomusicology: sound, music, culture, society, environment, and nature. A common theme across the book is the idea of diverse ecologies. Once confined to the natural sciences, the word "ecology" is common today in the social sciences, humanities, and arts - yet its diverse uses have become imprecise and confusing. Engaging the conflicting and complementary meanings of "ecology" requires embracing a both/and approach. Diverse ecologies are illustrated in the methodological, terminological, and topical variety of the chapters as well as the contributors' choice of sources and their disciplinary backgrounds. In times of mounting human and planetary crises, Sounds, Ecologies, Musics challenges disciplinarity and broadens the interdisciplinary field of ecomusicologies. These theoretical and practical studies expand sonic, scholarly, and political activism from the diversity-equity-inclusion agenda of social justice to embrace the more diverse and inclusive agenda of ecocentric ecojustice.
Party Animals: My Family and Other Communists
by David AaronovitchSHORTLISTED FOR THE SLIGHTLY FOXED BEST FIRST BIOGRAPHY AWARDDavid Aaronovitch grew up in Communist Great Britain – a Britain hidden from view for most, but for those on the inside it was a life filled with picket lines, militant trade unions, solidarity rallies for foreign Communists, the Red Army Choir, copies of the Daily Worker, all underpinned by a quiet love of the Soviet Union.In this idiosyncratic blend of memoir, history and biography, David Aaronovitch uncovers the story of his family’s life by picking through letters, diaries and secret service files, which in turn unleash vivid childhood memories of a lost and idealistic world. Party Animals is about personal life and political life becoming tragically intertwined, and one family’s search for meaning in the twentieth century.
Archiving Caribbean Identity: Records, Community, and Memory (Routledge Studies in Archives)
by John A. Aarons Jeannette A. Bastian Stanley H. GriffinArchiving Caribbean Identity highlights the "Caribbeanization" of archives in the region, considering what those archives could include in the future and exploring the potential for new records in new formats. Interpreting records in the broadest sense, the 15 chapters in this volume explore a wide variety of records that represent new archival interpretations. The book is split into two parts, with the first part focusing on record forms that are not generally considered "archival" in traditional Western practice. The second part explores more "traditional" archival collections and demonstrates how these collections are analysed and presented from the perspective of Caribbean peoples. As a whole, the volume suggests how colonial records can be repurposed to surface Caribbean narratives. Reflecting on the unique challenges faced by developing countries as they approach their archives, the volume considers how to identify and archive records in the forms and formats that reflect the postcolonial and decolonized Caribbean, how to build an archive of the people that documents contemporary society and reflects Caribbean memory, and how to repurpose the colonial archives so that they assist the Caribbean in reclaiming its history. Archiving Caribbean Identity demonstrates how non-textual cultural traces function as archival records and how folk-centred perspectives disrupt conventional understandings of records. The book should thus be of interest to academics and students engaged in the study of archives, memory, culture, history, sociology, and the colonial and postcolonial experience.