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Gender and Austerity in Popular Culture: Femininity, Masculinity and Recession in Film and Television (Library of Gender and Popular Culture)
by Helen Davies Claire O'CallaghanFrom the gritty landscapes of The Hunger Games and The Walking Dead, to the portrayal of the twenty-first-century precariat in Girls, this book explores how transatlantic visual culture has represented and reconstructed ideas of gender in times of financial crisis. Drawing on social, cultural and feminist theory, these writers explore how men and women experience austerity differently and illuminate the problematic ways in which economic policy can shape how gender is presented in popular culture. Written from the perspective that the popular is indeed political, this book considers film, literature and television's ideological attitudes towards race, sex and disability. It also takes into account how mass culture has responded to austerity in the past and the present, whilst examining the impact that feminism will have in the future.
Marxist Theories of Imperialism: A History (International Library of Historical Studies)
by Murray NoonanFor Marxists, imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism. Critical analysis of imperialism has been a feature of Marxist throughout the twentieth century. The conceptualising and theorising of imperialism by Marxists has evolved over time in response to developments in the global capitalist economy and in international politics. Murray Noonan here provides the first complete analysis of Marxist theories of imperialism in over two decades. Presenting three phases of imperialist theories, he analyses and compares 'Classical', 'Neo' and 'Globalisation-era' Marxist theories of imperialism. The book moves chronologically, tracking the origins of imperialism theorised by J.A. Hobson at the beginning of the twentieth century up to the present day. He critically identifies and engages with a new 'Globalisation-era' phase of Marxist imperialism theory. Through a detailed scholarly analysis of the history and evolution of these theories, Noonan offers vital new perspectives on imperialist theory and its relevance and application in the twenty-first century.
Palestine Ltd.: Neoliberalism and Nationalism in the Occupied Territory (SOAS Palestine Studies)
by Toufic Haddadince the 1993 Oslo Accords, the Occupied Palestinian Territory has been the subject of extensive international peacebuilding and statebuilding efforts coordinated by Western donor states and international finance institutions. Despite their failure to yield peace or Palestinian statehood, the role of these organisations in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is generally overlooked owing to their depiction as tertiary actors engaged in technical missions.
British Imperialism in Qajar Iran: Consuls, Agents and Influence in the Middle East (International Library of Iranian Studies)
by H. StebbinsSpurred by a Russian threat to India and the weakness of the Qajar dynasty (1796-1925), Britain established an extensive consular network to further its interests in southern Iran in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1888, there were just four British consulates in the country; by 1921 there were twenty-three. H. Lyman Stebbins investigates the development and consequences of British imperialism in Iran in a time of international rivalry, revolution and world war. While previous narratives of Anglo-Iranian relations have focused on the highest diplomatic circles in Tehran, London, Calcutta and St. Petersburg, this book argues that British consuls and political agents made the vast southern borderlands of Iran the real centre of British power and influence during this period. Based on British consular archives from Bushehr, Shiraz, Sistan and Muhammarah, this book reveals that Britain, India and Iran were linked together by discourses of colonial knowledge and patterns of political, military and economic control. It also contextualizes the emergence of Iranian nationalism as well as the failure and collapse of the Qajar state during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution and the First World War.
Churchill on Europe: The Untold Story of Churchill's European Project
by Felix Klos'When the Nazi power was broken, I asked myself what was the best advice I could give to my fellow citizens here in this island and across the channel in our ravaged continent. There was no difficulty in answering the question. My counsel to Europe can be given in a single word: Unite!'Sir Winston Churchill in 1947After the Second World War, with Europe in ruins, the victorious Winston Churchill swore to build a peace that would last.Together with a group of thinkers and politicians, Churchill began to build the institutions and the political will that would eventually lead to what we now know as the European Union.He believed in a united Europe, and wanted Britain to play a leading role. This book, based in part on new evidence, reveals his vision: Britain as a leading member of the European family. On the 23rd June this book asks us all to think carefully: what would Churchill have done?
Urban Muslim Migrants in Istanbul: Identity and Trauma Among Balkan Immigrants (Library of Modern Turkey)
by Frances TrixSince the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-8, approximately two and a half million Muslims living in the Balkans have been forced from their homes. Some fled following World War II, and travelled east by train to Istanbul with no more than a suitcase. And yet 50 years later, one of their migrant associations was second only to the Red Crescent in providing aid to the urban poor of Istanbul. Frances Trix analyses the development of the oldest such association, originally founded to welcome new migrants as they arrived from Skopje after World War II, and shows how Islam is central to its structure and practices. Her wide-ranging study variously focuses on its leadership, the growing role of women in the organisation, and the importance of music and poetry in coping with exile. In so doing, she raises wider questions concerning the preservation and articulation of identity amongst migrant communities. Urban Muslim Migrants in Istanbul is a rare ethnography of an Islamic urban group based on extensive archival research and interviews in various languages across Istanbul, Skopje and Kosovo. Trix's unique approach brings a human element to the study of forced migration, conflict and trauma and it is an important book for academics and policymakers interested in the Balkans, the Middle East, Turkey and migration studies.
The Kurds of Turkey: National, Religious and Economic Identities (Library of Modern Middle East Studies)
by Cuma ÇiçekThe Kurds of Turkey are not a homogenous group. This is something that is often overlooked. In fact, Kurds in Turkey have many diverse political and ideological orientations. Focusing on the elites of these informal groups – national, religious and economic – Cuma Çiçek analyses the consequences of the divisions and subsequent prospects of consensus building. Using an innovative theoretical framework founded on constructivism, the 'three 'I's' model and various strands of sociology, Çiçek considers the dynamics that affect the Kurds in Turkey across issues as diverse as the central state, geopolitics, nationalism, Europeanisation and globalisation. In so doing, he examines the consensus-building process of 1999–2015 and presents the possible route to a unified Kurdish political state.
What Next?: Britain's Future in Europe
by Peter Wilding2016 is a historic year for Britain as 40 years of uncertainty over Europe ends. After the referendum, what will be Britain's role in Europe and, indeed, the world? What next, indeed? Peter Wilding offers an arresting answer, plotting out a new course for Britain's troubled relationship with Europe. He channels the pride Britain draws from its heritage through the prejudice Britain has historically had against Europe, and proposes a new popular-based platform for British influence in Europe: 'smart power'. Wilding identifies how British leaders from Pitt to Cameron have attempted to use exactly this 'smart power' in their approach to Europe. He tells the story of their shared experiences in forging Churchill's strategy - a long-term plan which put Britain at the heart of Europe and the Commonwealth and alongside the United States - and applies it to Britain today. Outlining a new approach for Britain's leaders, Wilding proposes a new, positive vision to position Britain in a fast-changing and fractured world. His book will provide valuable new perspectives on the debate about what Britain does next after the EU referendum.
Power Struggles in the Middle East: The Islamist Politics of Hizbullah and the Muslim Brotherhood (Library of Modern Middle East Studies)
by Eva DingelWho are the Muslim Brotherhood and Hizbullah? What do the two movements – one Sunni and one Shi'a – have in common?
The Politics of Development in Morocco: Local Governance and Participation in North Africa (Library of Development Studies)
by Sylvia BerghSince the mid-1990s, Morocco has sought to present itself as a model of genuine and gradual reform, with decentralisation as a key tenet of this. Here, Sylvia Bergh investigates the dynamics of popular participation and local governance, testing the extent to which the current structure builds local capacity, or whether it is, in fact, a tool for 'soft' state control. She narrates the realities of local administration and civil society to shed critical light on questions of democratic transition in North Africa. Her assessment of decentralisation and participatory development projects in rural Morocco, and the legal and policy frameworks in which they operate, leads to the conclusion that they have generally not yet led to an expansion of a civil society able to build local capacity or enhance bottom-up empowerment. Grounded in an approach of the 'anthropology of policy', this book makes an important contribution to literature on the democratisation, development and governance in North Africa.
The Foreign Policy of Modern Turkey: Power and the Ideology of Eurasianism (Library of Modern Turkey)
by Ozgur TufekciIn the last three decades, Turkey has attempted to build close relationships with Russia, Iran and the Turkic World. As a result, there has been ongoing debate about the extent to which Turkey's international relations axis is shifting eastwards. Ozgur Tufekci argues that Eurasianist ideology has been fundamental to Turkish foreign policy and continues to have influence today. The author first explores the historical roots of Eurasianism in the 19th century, comparing this to Neo-Eurasianism and Pan-Slavism. The Özal era (1983-1993), the Cem era (1997-2002) and Davuto?lu era (since 2003) are then examined to reveal how foreign policy making has been informed by discourses of Eurasianism, and how Eurasianist ideas were implemented through internal and external socio-economic and political factors.
Palestinian Citizens of Israel: Power, Resistance and the Struggle for Space (SOAS Palestine Studies)
by Sharri PlonskiAt the heart of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a dispute over territory. Yet, the Palestinian predicament is about more than the loss of land. The contest to maintain and reclaim space is firmly tied to the identity and culture of a displaced population.
The British Empire and the Armenian Genocide: Humanitarianism and Imperial Politics from Gladstone to Churchill (International Library of Twentieth Century History)
by Michelle TusanAn estimated one million Armenians were killed in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire in 1915. Against the backdrop of World War I, reports of massacre, atrocity, genocide and exile sparked the largest global humanitarian response up to that date. Britain and its empire - the most powerful internationalist institutional force at the time - played a key role in determining the global response to these events. This book considers the first attempt to intervene on behalf of the victims of the massacres and to prosecute those responsible for 'crimes against humanity' using newly uncovered archival material. It looks at those who attempted to stop the violence and to prosecute the Ottoman perpetrators of the atrocities. In the process it explores why the Armenian question emerged as one of the most popular humanitarian causes in British society, capturing the imagination of philanthropists, politicians and the press. For liberals, it was seen as the embodiment of the humanitarian ideals espoused by their former leader (and four-time Prime Minister), W.E. Gladstone. For conservatives, as articulated most clearly by Winston Churchill, it proved a test case for British imperial power. In looking at the British response to the events in Anatolia, Michelle Tusan provides a new perspective on the genocide and sheds light on one of the first ever international humanitarian campaigns.
China's Borderlands: The Faultline of Central Asia (International Library Of Central Asian Studies)
by Steven ParhamThis region - which marks the meeting of China and post-Soviet Central Asia - is increasingly important militarily, economically and geographically. Yet we know little of the people that live there, beyond a romanticised 'Silk Road' sense of fraternity. In fact, relations between the people of this region are tense, and border violence is escalating - even as the identity and nationality of the people on the ground shifts to meet their new geopolitical realities. As Steven Parham shows, many of the world's Soviet borders have proved to be deeply unstable and, in the end, impermanent. Meanwhile, the looming presence of Modern China and Russia, who are funneling money and military resources into the region - partly to fight what they see as a growing Islamic activism - are adding fuel to the fire. This lyrical, intelligent book functions as part travelogue, part sociological exploration, and is based on a unique body of research - five months trekking through the checkpoints of the border regions.As China continues to grow and become more assertive, as it has been recently in Africa and in the South China Seas - as well as in Xinjiang - China's borderlands have become a battleground between the Soviet past and the Chinese future.
Islam under the Palestine Mandate: Colonialism and the Supreme Muslim Council (Library of Middle East History)
by Nicholas RobertsConcerns about the place of Islam in Palestinian politics are familiar to those studying the history of the modern Middle East. A vital part of this history is the rise of Islamic opposition to the British in Mandate Palestine during the 1920s and 1930s. Colonial officials had wrestled with the question of how to rule over a Muslim-majority country and considered traditional Islamic institutions essential for maintaining order. Islam under the Palestine Mandate tells the story of the search for a viable Islamic institution in Palestine and the subsequent invention of the Supreme Muslim Council.
South Asia and the Great Powers: International Relations and Regional Security (Library of International Relations)
by Sten RynningIn the wake of the international combat mission in Afghanistan, South Asia's security is becoming a factor of increasing importance both to local and more distant great powers: Pakistan, India, Iran, China and the US. Where the implications of war and peace are open to question, the possibility of change depends more on politics than economics. This book asks whether the region's great powers can overcome opposing interests and commit to political restraint.
Secret War in Shanghai: Treachery, Subversion and Collaboration in the Second World War
by Bernard WassersteinThe paradise of adventurers, Shanghai during World War II was suffused with dangerous glamour. Racketeers, cutthroats and con-men jostled for advantage as secret agents of the great powers waged a complex and sinister struggle for power. In this classic account, Bernard Wasserstein draws on the files of the Shanghai Police as well as the intelligence archives of the many countries involved, to provide the definitive story of Shanghai's secret war. Bernard Wasserstein introduces the British, American and Australian individuals who collaborated with the Axis powers as well as subversive warfare operatives battling the Japanese – and one another. At times both shocking and amusing, this book lifts the lid on the bizarre underworld of the 'sin city of the Orient' during its most enthralling period in history.
Statecraft in the Middle East: Foreign Policy, Domestic Politics and Security (Library of International Relations)
by Imad MansourWhat role do ideas play in state-building and state behaviour? This book argues that government policies in both foreign relations and domestic politics must always be situated within a broader ideological and societal context. Imad Mansour analyses how governments in the contemporary Middle East have governed internally and acted externally based on societal narratives, narratives which bring together a variety of ideas about a society's history and place in the world. He argues that there is a dominant societal narrative that acts as a primary building block of statecraft, where statecraft is understood as an ongoing set of local, regional and global state-building processes. Mansour investigates the ways in which statecraft in the Middle East has been guided by narratives through a close historical reading and comparative discussion of the political behaviors of six states – Egypt, Israel, Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran – in the second half of the twentieth century and the early twenty-first century. His book demonstrates the analytical purchase of narratives in understanding statecraft and explains why governing governments' decisions need to be understood in complex ways.
Gaza Under Hamas: From Islamic Democracy to Islamist Governance (Library of Modern Middle East Studies)
by Bjorn BrennerThe landslide victory of Hamas to the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006 saw the ascent of a new actor on the parliamentary scene. The elections also constituted the first time Islamists had ascended to power in the Arab world by democratic means. But did Hamas proceed to govern in the same democratic manner it had displayed during these elections? Gaza Under Hamas scrutinizes the workings of the Hamas government, tracing how its governance in the domestic arena unfolded. Particular focus is placed on the ways in which the new government reacted to three key challenges to its power: the competitive political system and main opposition party; violent radicalisation and local splinter groups; the need to re-establish societal order and reform the judicial system. The analysis as it unfolds tells the story of an inexperienced but self-confident Hamas in government, that perceived itself to be working under the constant threat of a possible coup d'état. In addition to the author's first-hand observations, analysis is based on interviews with a wide range of Palestinian political personalities in the Hamas government, as well as interviews with military commanders, internal security personnel and members of the Qassam Brigades. Interviewees also included those whom Hamas leaders identified as local troublemakers and critics, notably, Salafi-Jihadis, youth dissidents and members of the Fatah party. Existing work on Islamist governance has been based on predictions and analysis of Islamist ideals, while Gaza Under Hamas uses empirical evidence to reveal exactly what happens when theoretical ideals are translated into political action.
Battles for Freedom: The Use and Abuse of American History
by Eric FonerFor almost four decades, Eric Foner, one of America's most distinguished historians, has introduced readers of his journalism to unknown or forgotten characters in American history, methodically unearthing the hidden history of American radicalism. In this collection of polemical pieces, Foner expounds on the relevance of Abraham Lincoln's legacy in the age of Obama and on the need for another era of Reconstruction. In addition to articles in which Foner calls out politicians and the powerful for their abuse and misuse of American history. Foner assesses some of his fellow leading historians of the late 20th century, including Richard Hofstadter, Howard Zinn and Eric Hobsbawm. Foner ends with an open leter to Bernie Sanders analysing the great tradition of radicalism that he has spent his career studing and which, he argues, Americans of progressive disposition should seek to celebrate and retrieve.
The Origins of ISIS: The Collapse of Nations and Revolution in the Middle East
by Simon Mabon Stephen RoyleThe rapid expansion of ISIS and its swathe of territorial gains across the Middle East have been headline news since 2013. Yet much media attention and analysis has been focussed upon the military exploits, brutal tactics and radicalisation methods employed by the group. While ISIS remains a relatively new phenomenon, it is important to consider the historical and local dynamics that have shaped the emergence of the group in the past decade. In this book Simon Mabon and Stephen Royle provide the reader with a comprehensive overview of the roots, tactics and ideology of the group, exploring the interactions of the various participants involved in the formative stages of ISIS. Based on original scholarly sources and first-hand research in the region, this book provides an authoritative and closely-analysed look at the emergence of one of the defining forces of the early twenty-first century.
Talleyrand in London: The Master Diplomat's Last Mission
by Linda KellyThe arrival of Charles-Maurice, Prince de Talleyrand-Périgord, as French ambassador in London in September 1830, was regarded as a great event by the British government. Two months earlier the July Revolution in Paris, overthrowing the reactionary rule of Charles X, had brought the liberal Louis-Philippe to the throne. Talleyrand, the best-known diplomat in Europe, had emerged from retirement at the age of 76 to lend his support to the new monarchy and to confirm its acceptance by the other European powers.
Alice in Westminster: The Political Life of Alice Bacon
by Rachel ReevesAlice Bacon was one of the twentieth-century's most remarkable female politicians. Born and raised in the Yorkshire town of Normanton, she defied the odds to be elected Labour MP for Leeds North East in the 1945 General Election. Famed in her home town for her unlikely love of sports cars, she was a much-respected, no-nonsense, hard-working representative for her beloved Yorkshire home in Westminster. Mentored by Herbert Morrison and Hugh Gaitskell, she rose through the party becoming a Home Office minister under Roy Jenkins and latterly an Education Minister with responsibility for the introduction of comprehensive schools. In the Home Office in the 1960s she oversaw the introduction of substantial societal changes, including the abolition of the death penalty, the decriminalisation of homosexuality and the legalisation of abortion. Her political career spanned some of the most momentous decades in Britain's postwar history and she played an integral part in some of the most significant social, educational and political changes which the country has ever witnessed. Labour MP Rachel Reeves here tells Alice Bacon's story, narrating one woman's extraordinary progression from the coalfields to the Commons.
Japan: An Environmental History (Environmental History and Global Change)
by Conrad TotmanFrom the outset, society in Japan has been shaped by its environmental context. The lush green mountainous archipelago of today supports a population of over 127 million people and one of the most advanced economies in the world. How has this come about? At what environmental cost? Conrad Totman, one of the world's foremost scholars on Japan, here provides a comprehensive and detailed account of the country's environmental history, from its beginnings to the present day. What makes the Japanese story particularly instructive is that the country's boundaries are uncommonly clear and the nature, timing, and extent of external influences on its history are unusually identifiable. The Japanese experience, therefore, not only yields important insights into the processes of environmental history, it offers important lessons for the wider environmental history of the planet.
The Berlin-Baghdad Railway and the Ottoman Empire: Industrialization, Imperial Germany and the Middle East (Library of Ottoman Studies)
by Murat ÖzyükselRailway expansion was the great industrial project of the late 19th century, and the Great Powers built railways at speed and reaped great commercial benefits. The greatest imperial dream of all was to connect the might of Europe to the potential riches of the Middle East and the Ottoman Empire. In 1903 Imperial Germany, under Kaiser Wilhelm II, began to construct a railway which would connect Berlin to the Ottoman city of Baghdad, and project German power all the way to the Persian Gulf. The Ottoman Emperor, Abdul Hamid II, meanwhile, saw the railway as a means to bolster crumbling Ottoman control of Arabia. Using new Ottoman Turkish sources, Murat Özyüksel shows how the Berlin-Baghdad railway became a symbol of both rising European power and declining Ottoman fortunes. It marks a new and important contribution to our understanding of the geopolitics of the Middle East before World War I, and will be essential reading for students of empire, Industrial History and Ottoman Studies.