Political Science and International Studies

This book argues that Canada and its international policies are at a crossroads as US hegemony is increasingly challenged and a new international order is emerging. The contributors look at how Canada has been adjusting to this new environment and resetting priorities to meet its international policy objectives in a number of different fields: from the alignment of domestic politics along new foreign policies, to reshaping its international identity in a post-Anglo order, its relationship with international organizations such as the UN and NATO, place among middle powers, management of peace operations and defense, role in G7 and G20, climate change and Arctic policy, development, and relations with the Global South. Embracing multilateralism has been and will continue to be key to Canada’s repositioning and its ability to maintain its position in this new world order. This book takes a comprehensive look at Canada’s role in the world and the various political and policy variables that will impact Canada’s foreign policy decisions into the future.

This book examines the nexus between City Networks, multilevel governance and migration policy. Examining several City Networks operating in the European Union and the United States of America’s multilevel political settings, it brings migration research into conversation with both policy studies and political science. One of the first comparative studies of City Networks and migration, the book argues that multilevel governance is the result of a contingent process of converging interests and views between leaders in network organisations and national governments, the latter continuing to play a key gatekeeping role on this topical issue even in the supranational EU system.

From the erosion of state legitimacy in Lebanon to the use of smartphones in Kyrgyzstan, from a Polish suburb to the music scene in Azerbaijan, this volume attempts to explain why, in a variety of world regions, a substantial number of people tend to ignore or act against state rules. We propose to look at informality beyond simplistic associations of the phenomenon with a single category such as "informal labour" or "corruption". By doing this, we propose to look for a correlation between the emergence, and persistence, of some informal practices and the quality of governance in a given area. We also suggest that a better understanding of the variety of informal practices present in a region can help conceptualising more adequate interventions and eventually improve the socio-economic conditions of its inhabitants.  

This book adopts a regional approach to understanding 2020 presidential election outcomes, taking into account the tribalism that has come to define contemporary US politics and building a path to 270 Electoral College votes. The authors employ qualitative and quantitative methods to examine electoral outcomes in the Midwest, Southwest, Southeast, and Northeast, enriching contextual understandings of the national results and illuminating nuances in public opinion, voter behavior, and party politics. From this foundation, the book offers a comprehensive assessment of prominent issues in the 2020 campaign, which fundamentally shaped and reshaped the nature of the election. Scholars examine seven key issues, including multiple crises that unfolded during the campaign, to understand how these issues affected public opinion and the 2020 campaign.

This open access book is about mismanagement of public agencies as a threat to life and limb. Collapsing bridges and buildings kill people and often leave many more injured. Such disasters do not happen out of the blue nor are they purely technical in nature since construction and maintenance are subject to safety regulation and enforcement by governmental agencies. This book analyses four relevant cases from Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Germany. Arguing that, while preventing disaster through public oversight is essentially easy, the difficult part for public officials and private contractors and consultants alike is to resist incentives that threaten professional skills and standards. Rather than stressing well-known pathologies of bureaucracy as a potential source of disaster, this book argues, learning for the sake of prevention should aim at neutralizing threats to integrity and strengthening a sense of responsibility among public officials.

This book combines theoretical and practical knowledge about key actors and driving forces that help to initiate and advance open data governance. Using Finland and Sweden as case studies, it sheds light on the roles of key actors in the open data movement, enabling researchers to understand the key operational elements of data-driven governance. Examining the most salient manifestations of related networking activities, the motivations of stakeholders, and the political and socioeconomic readiness of the public, private and civic sectors to advance such policies, it will appeal to e-government experts, policymakers and political scientists, as well as academics and students of public administration, public policy, and open data governance.

This book examines the progress of institutionalisation of evaluation in American countries from various perspectives. It presents prior developments and current states of evaluation in 11 American countries and three transnational organisations, focusing on three dimensions, namely the political, social and professional systems. These detailed country reports, which have been written by selected researchers and authors of the respective countries, lead to a concluding comparison and synthesis. This is the second of four volumes of the compendium The Institutionalisation of Evaluation. The first volume on Europe was published in 2020. It will be followed by two more volumes on Asia Pacific, and Africa. The overall aim is to provide an interdisciplinary audience with cross-country learning to enable them to better understand the institutionalisation of evaluation in different nations, world regions and sectors. 

This open access book gives insights into feminist methodologies in theory and practice. By foregrounding the experiential and embodied nature of doing feminist research, this book offers valuable tools for feminist research as a continuous praxis. Emerging from a rich collective learning process, the collection offers in-depth reflections on how feminists shape research questions, understand positionality, share research results beyond academe and produce feminist intersectional knowledges. This book reveals how the authors navigate theory and practice, candidly exploring the difficulty of producing knowledge on the edge of academia and activism. From different points of view, places and disciplinary positions, artistic and creative experiments and collaborations, the book provides a multi-layered analysis. This book will be a valuable resource and asset to early career researchers and interdisciplinary feminist students who can learn more about the doing of feminist researchfrom realistic, accessible, and practical methodological tools and knowledge.

This book aspires to face the challenge of analyzing with due academic rigor, always in the paradigm of security and advanced sciences, but without forgetting the ethical questions that our world raises every day. The work is divided into two main sections: the first section is focused on the cyber world, with not only technical but also legal derivations given the expansion of vulnerabilities and our technological dependence. The second section, with a more interdisciplinary nature, runs through undeniably topical issues such as territorial problems and the potential decline of the traditional States, the communicational impact of information management and false news, or the commitment to essential freedoms for the West.

This book connects advanced technologies and ethical issues and includes discussions on recent crises such as COVID-19. It also provides an interdisciplinary view on the ethical issues for security technologies.

This book presents a comprehensive analysis of regional integration in East Africa in the last century, reflecting the general trends of integration processes in the East Africa sub-region with a focus on the East African Community. Particular attention is paid to the cyclicality of integration dynamics, as well as the analysis of the interconnection and competition between different regional organizations in East Africa. In this context, the specificity of the so-called overlapping membership of African states in regional organizations with similar roles but conflicting treaties and mandates is explored. This situation to a certain extent affects the relations of states in the region with external actors specifically trade negotiations with EU that the book comprehensively analyses. This book therefore offers a deeper understanding of the processes of regional integration in East Africa that had been missed before, which reflects the general integration dynamics on the African continent.

This book brings together recent research on the sociopolitical history of Latin American statistics from the nineteenth to the first half of the twentieth century. Reflecting the influence of social constructivism in the social sciences, it sheds new light on the historical emergence and development of both statistical reasoning and practices within a region traditionally seen as a passive consumer of foreign-produced theories and methods. By analysing the processes of institutionalisation of statistics in different national spaces, from Mexico to the Southern Cone, these studies show the unique ways in which Latin America adapted and used this modern tool of government and social classification to build political regimes and scientific arenas. The early enthusiasm for enumerating reality, the regular production of statistics and censuses, and the role of the region in the global transformation of this knowledge are some of the aspects reviewed to grasp the contingent dynamic of these dialogues and appropriations. Thus, Socio-political Histories of Latin American Statistics seeks to offer new insights into the divergent regional trajectories of this discipline, advancing towards an understanding of statistics and its past from a truly global perspective.

Strategic Narratives, Ontological Security and Global Policy provides a pathbreaking account of why some states successfully convince others to join their policy initiatives, and why others fail. Examining China’s Belt and Road Initiative and COVID-19, Thomas Colley and Carolijn van Noort argue that strategic narratives can help persuade states to join global policy initiatives if they convincingly promise audiences material gain while avoiding undermining their ontological security. They make their case by analysing eight diverse countries: India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Mexico, the Maldives, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA. 

Theoretically novel and global in scope, this book provides a compelling explanation of how strategic narratives can help achieve the global policy coordination needed to confront vital challenges in contemporary international relations. The proposed strategic narrative buy-in framework is applicable to many global policy issues, be itpromoting trade and infrastructure projects, mitigating climate change or managing pandemics.

The 21^st century has witnessed a considerable and increasing number of political revolutions around the world. This contradicts the popular belief of many experts in the 1970s that revolutions occurred mainly in monarchies and empires. Instead, the revolutions of this century have several new characteristics, which call for a renewed analysis of the subject.

This handbook offers a comparative perspective on the new wave of revolutions of the last decade. Presenting case studies on the color revolutions, the Arab revolutions of 2010–2011, and the global wave of revolutions in 2013–2018 that spanned regions ranging from Africa to the Caucasus, it offers a better understanding of the varied forms, features, and historical backgrounds of revolutions, as well as their causes. Accordingly, it highlights recent revolutions in their historical and world-systems contexts.

"Once again, this volume demonstrates the kind of open-minded, systematic analysis that the field of revolutionary studies requires." (Prof. George Lawson, Department of International Relations, Australian National University Canberra)

This open access book provides the first ever authoritative collection of scholarly insights, based upon original research, into the political groups of the EP tackling the fundamental changes since the Lisbon Treaty and the upsurge of radical right parties.  It analyses political groups and their importance from multiple perspectives critically assessing their role and significance in EU politics. Each chapter is authored by leading scholars in the field, working on key topics in relation to political groups: political group formation and function, their role in parliamentary and EU policy-making, the way that Eurosceptic MEPs influence (or not) the Parliament, and the nature and form of interactions with external actors. In doing so, each chapter opens hitherto unexplored ‘black boxes’ in the political work of the EP, such as the internal practices of, and power relations within the political groups, and informal arenas of intra-group decision-making.

This book argues that the unresolved stateness in the republics of the former Yugoslavia played a key role in determining the course and dynamics of their turbulent democratic transition. To support this claim, the authors develop a series of causal mechanisms. Subsequently, they analyze to what extent these causal mechanisms could be applied to other cases, like the one of Ukraine’s democratization. 

The book presents a theoretical framework, as well as conclusions and arguments that are instrumental for the better understanding of the democratization process in general, which could be useful for other countries to avoid the mistakes that were made in the cases of former Yugoslav republics. It, therefore, is a must-read for researchers and scholars of political science, as well as practitioners and policy-makers, interested in a better understanding of democratization, transformation processes, nation-building, and stateness. 

This book aims to provide an overview of crucial aspects related to the interconnection between the political economy of energy security and national security, which is of great importance globally due to high volatility and complexity. In this book, contemporary energy issues in relation to the energy security are examined, along with main vulnerabilities and challenges that have appeared lately with an impact beyond country borders and with a particular focus on the Eastern Mediterranean region. Energy security is studied on both International and European level and finally the Eastern Mediterranean region with special reference to the countries of the State of Israel and the Republic of Cyprus. The rapidly changing geopolitical environment makes energy security one of the critical areas of immediate interest that need a holistic approach. The importance of energy security in the Eastern Mediterranean region is constantly growing and requires the proper vision to enhance securityin the region. Energy is now linked to the issues of sustainable development and tackling climate change, which is also taken into account. Finally, this book is expected to contribute to the existing literature and provide an in-depth study that gives a fresh approach to the academic and political community.

This book deals with the contemporary history of the imprisonment of Palestinians in Israeli prisons since 1967, and, since the 2000s, in Palestinian facilities. The prison experience is widely shared in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It endurably marks personal and collective stories. Since the Occupation of the Palestinian Territories in 1967, mass incarceration has spun a prison web, a kind of suspended detention. Approximately, 40 percent of the male population has been to prison. It shows how the judicial and prison practices applied to Palestinian residents of the OPT are major fractal devices of control contributing to the management of Israeli borders, and shape a specific bordering system based on a mobility regime: such borders are mobile, networked, and endless. This history of confinement is that of the prison web, and of the in-between political, social, and personal spaces people weave between Inside and Outside prison. Based on in-depth ethnographic fieldwork, oral and written sources, archives, and extensive institutional documentation, this political anthropology book deals with carceral citizenships and subjectivities. Over time, imprisonment has had profound effects on personal experiences: on masculinities, femininities, gender relations, parentality, and intimacy. Woven like a web, this story is built around places, moments, people, and their testimonies.

This book examines non-traditional forms of security and expands the notion of security to include non-state actors and non-human actors. With a wide-ranging look into some of the ‘new’ security threats facing state and non-state actors today, this book is designed to specifically offer new angles on tackling these threats in the Caribbean region. It explores issues relating to viruses, war and conflict, migration, geopolitics, climate change and terrorism through multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives on global (in-)securities. Each chapter clearly elucidates the connectedness of these non-traditional threats, drawing on a remarkable number of the most recent reports and scholarly works. Most importantly, there is a lack of Caribbean studies in the security themes that are studied. This book is a much-needed and timely addition to intellectual thought on Caribbean security in an increasingly fragmented world. It will be of great interest to students of international security studies, human security, global politics, and international relations.

Will China–U.S. relations come back to the normal track? Does the confrontational approach work for China–US relations? This book argues that it is an unrealistic hope to bring China–US relations back to the so-called normal track because the great power competition will be a new normal of China–US relations and the USA will gain more from strategic competition than cooperation in the long run. This book shows that the strategy of “great power cooperation through competition” is more positive and constructive than the approaches of “peaceful coexist” and “maximum pressure.” This book does not intend to provide policy recommendations for governments to consider, but mainly to explain why the great power competition is inevitable and why it is necessary to continuously work with China in some areas through strategic competition. This book alarms the importance of understanding the nature of the Chinese Communist Party during the great power competition and aims to motivate both sides to revisit their foreign policy practice and come up with a better foreign policy strategy of handling China–US relations.

This book is divided into three sections comprised of pairs of chapters. First, a section examining how Confucianism interacts with democratic resilience in South Korea, compared with the societal role and challenge of Islam in Indonesian democracy. The second section will conduct brief historical surveys of the role of civil society role in Korean and Indonesian democratization, and debates about the appropriate role for civil society after democratization. In particular, the various roles of civil society non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and popular movements will be highlighted in both countries. The final section looks at socio-economic conditions and distributive justice in relation to democracy in the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Indonesia.

For millennia, humans waged war on land and sea. The 20th century opened the skies and the stars, introducing air and space as warfare domains. Now, the 21st century has revealed perhaps the most insidious domain of all: cyberspace, the fifth domain. A realm free of physical boundaries, cyberspace lies at the intersection of technology and psychology, where one cannot see one’s enemy, and the most potent weapon is information.

The third book in the Great Power Competition series, Cyberspace: The Fifth Domain, explores the emergence of cyberspace as a vector for espionage, sabotage, crime, and war. It examines how cyberspace rapidly evolved from a novelty to a weapon capable of influencing global economics and overthrowing regimes, wielded by nation-states and religious ideologies to stunning effect.

Cyberspace: The Fifth Domain offers a candid look at the United States’ role in cyberspace, offering realistic prescriptions for responding to international cyber threats on the tactical, strategic, and doctrinal levels, answering the questions of how can we respond to these threats versus how should we respond? What are the obstacles to and consequences of strategic and tactical response options? What technological solutions are on the horizon? Should the U.S. adopt a more multi-domain offensive posture that eschews the dominant “cyber vs. cyber” paradigm? To answer these questions, experts examine the technological threats to critical infrastructure; cyber operations strategy, tactics, and doctrine; information influence operations; the weaponization of social media; and much more.

This book analyzes the transformations and consistencies of American leadership during the past few years and situates recent American foreign policy in a longer time frame, following the 2020 presidential election and after a full year of the Biden Administration. This longer and broader view by European and American academics and experts considers both shifting American policies, notably during Trump’s presidency, and underlying trends that have often gone ignored compared to the more dramatic antics of the 45th president. It helps decode recent American policy and permits us to consider possible new directions and likely continuities under Democratic leadership.

This volume offers systematic research on regionalism in Africa and explores the role and impact of external partners on the dynamics, institutional design, and performance of regional integration projects. It acknowledges and elaborates the multilevel and multidimensional nature of regionalism, with its variety of cooperative institutions and policy areas, while closely considering uneven relationships to external actors in African regional organizations. The book’s two comprehensive mapping studies examine patterns of asymmetric inter-dependence between regionalism in Africa and external partners in Europe, with a focus on trade and donor funding, and highlight structural imbalances and (un)intended consequences. Five additional case studies provide in-depth analyses of a variety of African regional organizations, mainly with a focus on security regionalism, and elaborate how external partners influence and affect integration processes and projects. Although regionalism in Africabenefitted from external relations and partnerships with Europe, contributions in this volume question this positive impression, highlighting some of the major undermining factors and actors.

This book explores controversies surrounding free speech and open inquiry (FSOI) in various regions of the Anglophone world. The authors argue that the past decade has seen a noticeable erosion of FSOI across the globe, aided and abetted by university clerisies and state apparatuses. These groups’ policing of language and pandering to cancel culture, the authors argue, have narrowed the Overton window to the point of reinvigorating the push for blasphemy law within liberal democracies themselves and impeding certain avenues scientific research. While most books on the subject discuss the American constitutional context of the First Amendment, this book considers free speech in the wider context of other Anglo countries. It also includes scholars from a variety of disciplines whose approaches will not only be ideologically distinct, but demonstrate a diversity of disciplinary approaches and concerns.

This book offers the first realist reconstruction of Marx’s critique of capitalism. Reading Marx through a realist lens enables us to make sense of the connections between (1) Marx’s positive concept of freedom, rooted in a theory of human development, (2) his understanding of alienation as diagnosing capitalist unfreedom, and (3) his conceptions of democracy and socialism, respectively, as the cures for this unfreedom. Along the way, it discusses and responds to some of Marx’s most insightful critics, such as Max Weber and Friedrich Hayek. This clarifies Marx’s ideas for a new generation of political thinkers; explains the challenge they pose to contemporary debates about freedom, democracy, and future economic institutions; and demonstrates that these ideas remain both defensible and compelling.

This book is based on unprecedented interviews with active and former jihadists, even IS fighters. It focuses on the changing nature of jihad as a social phenomenon and how jihad changes jihadists. It argues that there are fascinating generational differences between jihadists’ ideas and behaviors. Moreover, it argues that jihad changes jihadists through socialization in jihadists groups. Indeed, radicalization continues in new forms after entering the conflict zone. Recognizing that jihadism is a complex social phenomenon and a discourse on religiously legitimized violence with deep roots in the history of Islam and Muslim societies, the book asks two simple questions. Why have some Muslims residing in the West taken up arms to enter the global battlefields of jihad? Have the motivations and experiences of different jihadists all been the same? To create a more coherent analysis than the article format allows, and to offer new insights, the author summarizes and further develops several years of research into jihadism. As gaining access to and conducting interviews—especially with active jihadists—often differs from standard interviews, much of the data were collected in a gray zone between more formal interviewing and ethnographic research. The empirical material, which is based on interviews with active and former jihadists, is unique. Moreover, the methodological reflections are unprecedented, and the project offers new analytical insights into jihadism with a focus on how jihadism and jihadists change.

This book argues that Donald Trump’s election and Presidency represent the triumph of marketing, branding and segmentation in American politics. An early emphasis on political marketing helped Trump secure the presidency, but his use of marketing sharply limited his presidency. President Trump’s political marketing strategy privileged emotion—particularly anger—over policy, constraining his ability to represent all Americans or engage in bipartisan negotiation in Congress. Rather than pushing forward realistic legislation and rallying for bipartisan support, Trump’s campaign and presidency focused on providing emotional gratification to his target audience, leading those outside this audience to ultimately feel unrepresented and unsettled, further fracturing the already divided electorate. Donald Trump and the Branding of the American Presidency considers the impact of this new age of political marketing through an extensive analysis of the Trump phenomenon and its implications for future elections.   

This book identifies the main factors shaping the fortunes of democracy globally. Why do some democracies in the same region and presumably subject to similar global influences remain stable while others regress? This is the question guiding all the authors of this edited book. In the search for answers, they examine 16 democracies in paired and tripled comparisons in sub-Saharan Africa, North and Latin America, East Asia, Western and Central Europe, along with two polar cases. Insights from the perspectives of history, political science, economics and international relations are offered along with a sketch of possible future scenarios. Combining approaches anchored in the analytical tradition with empirical case studies and given the broad range of topics, this book is bound to be of interest not only to students and practitioners of democracy but also to the broader academic and general readership.

This volume sheds new light on the interaction between Turkey and the Western Balkans. Written from a multidisciplinary perspective, the contributions decode the essence of bilateral relations by analyzing various aspects of regional diplomacy, including official initiatives for cooperation and the impact of different interstate exchanges. In addition to the political aspect, the book highlights the economic dimensions of Turkey’s involvement in the Western Balkans, by exploring trade linkages and prospects for future partnership arrangements. Finally, socio-cultural components of bilateral relations are examined, with some contributors focusing on the role of art, religion, and cultural heritage in Turkish foreign policy toward the Western Balkans. While providing detailed analysis and reflections on Turkey’s direction and policy preferences, this unique collection appeals to scholars of international relations, Balkan and Turkish studies, and other neighboring disciplines, as wellas to policymakers and general readership interested in the region and international collaboration.

This book will be useful for and appeal to scholars and researchers in political science, public administration, and the social sciences in general, as well as policy-makers interested in a better understanding of democratic practice and processes, governance, public policy, and the African Peer Review Mechanism.

This book explores the political economy of governance in Palestine. It makes a unique contribution to studies of governance and political economy using the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a case study, introducing and developing the concept of ‘dual rentierism’. The author uses primary research to chart the evolution of the fiscal sociology of the PA and explore how it has shaped the PA’s economic policies and the state–society relationship in the Palestinian Territories. The book adopts a critical political economy approach, making the case that external sources of PA income represent political rents that need to be disaggregated and studied concurrently. It further focuses on the drivers and constraints that have shaped the PA’s policy development and state-building associated with its dependence on external revenues. Ultimately, the book elaborates on how the need for fiscal survivability has thwarted the Palestinian quest for statehood. 

This book analyses the rapidly unfolding events that have impacted on the European energy dynamics, in the light of the way in Ukraine and the energy crisis that have reconfigured, since 2022, the European and the global geopolitical scene, dislocating not only crucial natural resources but also the pace of the energy transition and the continent’s existential security, its basic trust and sense of continuity. It introduces an innovative interpretation of the conflict and cooperation dynamics in Europe, by challenging the reader to look beyond the material aspects of energy security, related to supply and demand, consumption, production and prices dynamics, which I nonetheless explain in detail. Thus, it invites the audience to explore the deeper layer of motivations that underpin the actors’ decision to engage in conflict and cooperation, by exploring their cognitive and psychological considerations, in addition to the material ones. For this purpose, it presents a new conceptual tool, the conflict-cooperation perpetuum, in order to explain why the same players, in this case the EU, Russia and Turkey, may choose to simultaneously perceive each other as security threats and trade partners, engaging in both conflict and cooperation simultaneously with the same ‘Other’. In addition, it proposes to apply the framework of ontological security, in order to understand the responses of the EU, Russia and Turkey to the major existential crises that have affected them in past years, culminating with the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis of 2022.

This book explores how revolutionary developments and convergence of the chemical, life and associated sciences are impacting contemporary toxin and bioregulator research, and examines the risks of such research being misused for malign purposes. Investigating illustrative cases of dual use research of potential concern in China, India, Iran, Russia, Syria and the USA, the authors discuss how states can ensure such research and related activities are not utilised in weapons development. Although toxins and bioregulators are, in theory, covered by both the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and Chemical Weapons Convention, this apparent overlap in reality masks a dangerous regulatory gap – with neither Convention implemented effectively to address threats of weaponisation. This book highlights the potentially damaging consequences for international peace and security, and proposes realistic routes for action by states and the scientific community.  

As global warming progresses and efforts to mitigate and adapt intensify, living under a changing climate—or in a ‘new climate regime’ (Latour 2015)—increasingly appears as a central feature of ‘our’ new, and highly unequal, human condition in the Anthropocene. In other words, we firmly believe that climatization is here to stay. It is thus crucial to better understand this process, recognizing its problems and ambiguities, but also examining its transformative potential and identifying the conditions under which such potentials can be harnessed with a view to building a more effective and equitable climate politics. We think that the chapters in this book contribute to this endeavour.

This book focuses on Post-Soviet ethnic conflicts and Russia's involvement in them. In light of its significant importance for general ethnic conflict, specifically the post-Soviet Caucasus, along with the most recent war just fought over the area from September-November 2020, this book appropriately argues that it is time to reconsider Karabakh.

This project deals with the historical, social and political aspects of the Karabakh issue regarding its origins, development and the current status of the conflict subsequent to the war in the autumn of 2020.  Thus, the main themes will stress these points, as well as the importance of the Karabakh issue for the future, by considering its precedents and implications for other secessionist wars. This book also explores how such wars begin and end, the international legal precedents of self-determination versus territorial integrity, its implications for post-Soviet developments and conflicts, and the latest successful weaponsdevelopments lessons from the recent war involving drones, among others such as Azerbaijan’s rich oil reserves.

Recent elections in Japan have been dramatic, and the 2021 general election was no exception. Worldwide turmoil caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as well as domestic uncertainty following the resignation of long-serving Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Prime Minister Abe Shinzō, left many voters and political observers wondering whether his successors were up to the task of leading the country through the crisis. In the end, the LDP and coalition partner Kōmeitō eked out an electoral victory—but one that masks important changes in the party system and nuanced changes in voter behavior and preferences. This fourth volume in the Japan Decides series features a comprehensive collection of analyses from leading experts, covering the legacy of Abe’s tenure in office, the state of the LDP and other parties, the impact of COVID-19 and the postponed 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, and many other important topics in contemporary party politics and domestic and foreignpolicy.

This book examines similarities and differences in 31 European governments’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic hit Europe in early 2020. It spread across the continent during the Spring while anxious electorates were treated to news reports about health systems under duress and frustrated attempts by public procurement officials to obtain adequate supplies of medical and protective equipment. Over the next 15–18 months considered by this book, national responses exhibited both similarities and profound variations as the different endeavours to regulate social interactions constituted a stress test for political systems across Europe.

This book studies neoliberalism's features in the UK and USA in the 1980s in relation to the philosophical, historical, political, legal, and economic concepts. It analyses the model's legacy in the "Anglosphere," its acceptance, rejection, proliferation in France and Europe - the EU often emulating and disseminating neoliberal processes and techniques via hard and soft law -, its scope, its spread throughout EU countries characterised by "illiberalism," highlighting the model's need to adapt. It fills a historiographical gap regarding a concept which remains acutely topical.

This book comparatively assesses the China and India’s soft power strategy in Iran. By employing Joseph S. Nye’s “Soft Power” theory and forming the new concept of “Power of Bonding”, this book formulated China and India’s soft power narratives and applied it through the empirical analysis in Iran. Based on this theory, this book seeks explanations for the question of “How China and India respectively, strategically and comparatively use the soft power strategy in Iran?”. To reach the find-out, this book compares the understanding, resources, strategies, influences and uses of China and India’s soft power in Iran under three thematic areas, including “power of bonding through cultural attractions, and attributions”; “political and diplomatic engagement” and “economic partnerships”. By analysing China and India’s soft power strategy in Iran, this book seeks to contribute to the soft power literature through a theoretical replication based on non-Western soft power strategy, the concept and its empirical application in China and India.

This book is about risk conceptions, experiences and reflections. It applies the concept of the risk triangle, with its societal, organisational and personal angles, to two areas of inquiry: financial markets and the military, seeking to demonstrate the challenges, dilemmas and, in many ways, also the impossibilities of risk analysis and risk management. Drawing on empirical and micro- and macro-level analysis, this innovative work will appeal to students of political science, economics and business as well as to risk professionals and risk-takers. 

This book investigates the connection between tightening mobilization constraints and the use of PMSCs in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy. Drawing on neoclassical realism and institutionalist theory, it conceptualizes democracies’ use of private military and security companies (PMSCs) as an attempt to circumvent the tightening constraints on the mobilization of military power. The use of private military contractors is less subjected to parliamentary restrictions and less visible to public opinion than the deployment of soldiers. Rather than cheaper in financial terms, PMSCs are therefore politically cost-effective, as they enable decision-makers to minimize the institutional obstacles on conducting military operations and the electoral costs attached thereto. The need to reduce the ex ante hurdles and the ex post costs of military deployments fills the blind spots of alternative explanations for the use of PMSCs based on effectiveness, ideology, and organizational interests.

This open access book explores the organization and evolution of Finland’s Cold War cultural diplomacy (1945-1975) as the basis for a reflection on the country’s foreign relations, the link between culture and politics, small states’ autonomy during the Cold War, and the porosity of the East-West divide.

The book offers a historical survey of the development of Finland’s cultural diplomacy as part of the Finnish state’s foreign activities. In its empirical parts, it focuses on archives drawn from the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education in order to explain Finland’s cultural diplomacy as the result of the country’s foreign policy orientations, interactions between domestic and foreign policy, and the expansion of state activities in the artistic, educational, and cultural sectors. Various reflections and reports on foreign cultural relations highlight the role of identity concerns, cultural relations, geopolitics and economic imperatives in the development of a specifically Finnish cultural diplomacy. Furthermore, the book focuses on specific aspects and events, considering for instance the organization and evolutions of Finland’s cultural relations with the USSR, the role of cultural treaties, academic exchanges and scientific cooperation, “cultural exports” and the marketization of culture, overlaps between cultural relations and high politics.

This textbook presents a detailed insight into the structures and processes of preparing students for Model United Nations (MUN) conferences and for attending Model United Nations conferences, subsequently. It serves as a handbook and practical guide for the implementation of MUN into courses and classes in educational institutions.

Written by a Faculty Advisor, and offering additional insights from an experienced award-winning MUN delegate, the book provides a particularly exceptional insightful, and well-rounded approach. The author explains how a MUN course can be taught, presents exercises to prepare students for the conference, and discusses how the MUN delegation and trip to the conference can be organized. This comprehensive guide offers insights into a broad range of topics, including debates with peers, diplomacy to solve international crises, and learning about the system of the United Nations (UN) organization through simulation. Further, it covers the development of soft skills and communication at the conferences and building international friendships, while it additionally allows learning more about the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the process.

With tips, tricks, and bonus material this book will serve as an anchor throughout the students' first MUN experience, as well as provide valuable help for more advanced participants. The book, therefore, is a must-read for both academic staff teaching MUN, as well as students attending MUN courses and planning to attend MUN conferences.

Rising inequality, the advance of far-right populism, ecological and climatic catastrophe and the scourge of global pandemic disease – these are among the defining crises of our time. Addressing the governing challenges posed by each requires a more expansive vision of the scope and possibilities of state action than political scientists and economists have furnished to date. In Statecraft and the Political Economy of Capitalism political economists Scott G. Nelson and Joel T. Shelton examine several key social and political dynamics of advanced capitalism for insights into the fate of equality, community and solidarity. In chapters addressing divergent problems and spanning several centuries, statecraft is presented as a conceptual lens through which the art and practice of public action is continually rearticulated in response to the shifting economic, social and political conditions of a given epoch. The authors examine several consequential moments in the long tradition of political economy in relation to the governing predicaments of the present day, highlighting those predicaments that bear upon the well-being of all people, especially society’s most vulnerable. The book thus reintroduces the creative and purposive aspects of governing to the study and practice of Political Economy, a field that has been too preoccupied with technical, institutional and procedural aspects of economic management. Framing problems of governing national and global economies in relation to the craft of the state means searching out continuities between capitalism's early promise and present peril.

This open access edited book brings together a closer examination of European and Asian responses to the escalating rivalry between the US and China. As the new Cold War has surfaced as a perceivable reality in the post-COVID era, the topic itself is of great importance to policymakers, academic researchers, and the interested public. Furthermore, this manuscript makes a valuable contribution to an under-studied and increasingly important phenomenon in international relations: the impact of the growing strategic competition between the United States and China on third parties, such as small and middle powers in the two arguably most affected regions of the world: Europe and East Asia. The European side has been under-studied and explicitly comparative work on Europe and East Asia is extremely rare. Given that the manuscript focuses heavily on recent developments—and because many of these developments have been quite dramatic—there are very few publications that cover the same topics.

This book focuses on Arab youth marginalization along intersectional lines of gender, ethnicity and social class in four cities: Jerusalem, Amman, Cairo, and Tunis. The author explores how the political and economic climates in each city influence the life prospects of youth and uncovers their narratives around their aspirations, disappointments and life choices. Providing an interdisciplinary approach, the project will interest a wide range of audiences including graduate students, scholars, and policy makers in the fields of the Middle Eastern studies, political science, urban studies, and education. 

This open access book explores the relevance of the concept of technology assessment (TA) on an international and global level. Technologies play a key role in addressing global challenges such as climate change, population aging, digitization, and health. At the same time, their use increases the need for coordinated action and governance at the global level in the field of science, technology and innovation (STI). 

Featuring case studies on STI fields such as energy, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and health technology, as well as TA activities at the national and international levels, this book reflects on the challenges and opportunities of global technology governance. It also provides an in-depth discussion of current governmental STI cultures and systems, societal expectations, and the policy priorities needed to achieve coordinated and effective STI intervention in policymaking and public debate at the global level. Lastly, the book promotes the establishment of a forum for a truly global dialogue of TA practitioners, fostering the articulation of their needs, knowledge and perspectives.

This volume provides a methodological toolbox for conducting policy research. Recognizing that policy research spans various academic disciplines, each of which takes a different view on causality, the volume introduces a methodologically pluralistic approach to policy studies. Each chapter clarifies the research question that each technique can answer, the research design and data treatment that each technique requires for its results to be sound, the validity domain of its results, and the actual deployment of the technique through a replicable example. Techniques covered include quasi-experimental designs, approaches to account for selection bias and observed imbalances, directed acyclic graphs and structural equation models, Qualitative Comparative Analysis, Bayesian case study and process tracing, and Agent-Based Modelling. By working through the volume, readers will understand how to learn from different techniques, apply them consciously, and triangulate them to make better sense of findings. This volume is intended for advanced academic courses, as well as scholars and practitioners in policy-related fields, such as political science, economics, sociology, and public administration.

This is an open access book.

This book advances North Atlantic Treaty Organization (henceforth, NATO) burden analysis through a decomposition of the political, financial, social, and defense burdens members take on for the institution. The overemphasis of committing a minimum of 2% of member state Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to defense spending, as a proxy indicator of alliance commitment does not properly reflect how commitments reduce risks should Article V be invoked through attack (i.e., 2% is a political & symbolic target adopted by Defense Ministers in 2006 at Riga). Considering defense burdens multi-dimensionally explains why some members overcontribute, as well as, why burden sharing negotiations cause friction among 30 diverse members with differing threats and risks. In creating a comprehensive institutional burden management model and focusing on risks to members, the book explores the weaknesses of major theories on the study and division of collective burdens andinstitutional assets. It argues that member risks and threats are essential to understanding how burdens are distributed across a set of overlapping institutions within NATO’s structure providing its central goods. The importance of the USA, as a defense underwriter for some, affects negotiations despite its absence from research empirically; new data permit testing the argument (Kavanaugh 2014). This book contributes conceptual innovation and theoretical analysis to advance student, researcher, and policymaker understanding of burden management, strategic bargaining, and defense cooperation. The contribution is a generalizable risk management model of IO burden sharing using NATO as the case for scientific study due to its prominence.

Using Marxist and Polanyian frameworks, this book examines the structural and discursive transformation that can explain the polarization of migration debates and within the rise of nationalist anti-migrant discourses in Europe with a special attention to Eastern Europe and Hungary. It goes beyond the mainstream explanations of these phenomena that uses nationalist propaganda as causal factors and instead argues that the rise of anti-immigration currents cannot be understood without a dialectical and historical analysis of the material and discursive transformations, most importantly marketization and related reification. Drawing from thinkers such as Lukács, Polanyi, and Gramsci as well as diverse empirical sources including demographic studies, historical modelling, and discourse analyses, Migration Turn and Eastern Europe is a unique and rigorous study of one of the most pressing and puzzling political and sociological questions of ourtime.

This second edition explores the relationship between politics and media, with a particular emphasis on the significant disruptive changes to media and technology that have faced journalists, campaigners, and the public in recent years. The first edition, in 2014, described the earliest elements of social and online media: Web 2.0, the ‘information economy,’ and the changes from traditional broadcast media to the early online world. With the rise of TikTok, the ‘fake news’ claims of Donald Trump, the decline of local news, and the anti-democratic impulses that drove the January 6, 2021 coup attempts, the last decade has provided a rich and sometimes confounding set of disruptions to political communication that deserve attention. Technology has disrupted political communication in the online environment exceptionally quickly over the last decade, and this book provides a framework for understanding the intersections of these disruptions and their effect on an already-fragile democratic circumstance in the United States.

The book is devoted to the subject of Venezuela's politics and the different dimensions of its longstanding crisis, with various researchers exchanging ideas on the current problems affecting the country. It is the first comprehensive overview on the dimensions of Venezuela’s current crisis written in English, thus filling an important research gap. Especially the participation of international, well-known scholars make it a global enterprise.

The book covers historical and theoretical facts surrounding the case of Venezuela and also focuses on the parties and actors that play decisive roles in the conflict. Subjects include the military, public administration, ideology, the opposition, the party landscape along with its crisis and Venezuela's oil policy. Furthermore the book touches upon international and regional aspects: Venezuela's diplomatic relations with the EU, the USA, Cuba and Colombia, respectively. 

This open access book brings into dialogue emerging and seasoned migration and religion scholars with spiritual leaders and representatives of faith-based organizations assisting refugees. Violent conflicts, social unrest, and other humanitarian crises around the world have led to growing numbers of people seeking refuge both in the North and in the South. Migrating and seeking refuge have always been part and parcel of spiritual development. However, the current 'refugee crisis' in Europe and elsewhere in the world has brought to the fore fervent discussions regarding the role of religion in defining difference, linking the ‘refugee crisis’ with Islam, and fear of the ‘Other.’ Many religious institutions, spiritual leaders, and politicians invoke religious values and call for strict border controls to resolve the ‘refugee crisis.’ However, equally many humanitarian organizations and refugee advocates use religious values to inform their call to action to welcome refugees and migrants, provide them with assistance, and facilitate integration processes. This book includes three distinct but inter-related parts focusing, respectively, on politics, values, and discourses mobilized by religious beliefs; lived experiences of religion, with a particular emphasis on identity and belonging among various refugee groups; and faith and faith actors and their responses to forced migration.

While the ambitious objectives outlined in the EU’s Green Deal aim at making Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, national implementation greatly varies depending on local geographies, history, culture, economics, and politics. This book analyses Member States’ and EU neighbours’ national efforts to combat climate change. It subsequently draws on these factors to highlight local challenges, tensions, and opportunities on the road towards climate neutrality. In the context of inter-country dependencies following Russia’s war against Ukraine, it addresses strategic questions regarding EU integration, the transformation of our economies, the reduction of energy dependencies, and public perception of the above. The book also makes concrete recommendations, in various policy areas, on how individual countries and the EU as a whole should deal with the climate crisis.

US Environmental Policy in Action provides a comprehensive look at the creation, implementation, and evaluation of environmental policy, which is of particular importance in our current era of congressional gridlock, partisanship and polarization, and escalating debates about federal/state relations. With a continued focus on the front lines of environmental policy, Rinfret and Pautz take into account the major changes in the practice of US environmental policy during the Trump and Biden administrations. Providing real-life examples of how environmental policy works rather than solely discussing how congressional action produces environmental laws, this third edition of US Environmental Policy in Action offers a practical approach to understanding contemporary American environmental policy.

This open access book provides an historical account of the ways in which community nursing services in England have been shaped by policy changes, from the inception of the NHS in 1948 to the present day. Focusing on policies regarding the organisation and provision of community nursing services, it offers an important assessment of how community nursing has evolved under successive governments. The book also provides reflections on how historic policies have influenced the service of today, and how lessons learnt from the past can inform organisation and delivery of current and future community nursing services. It is an important resource for those researching community nursing and health services, as well as practitioners and policy makers.

This book argues that American democracy is in crisis. The economic system is slowly subjecting Americans of nearly all income levels and backgrounds to enormous amounts of stress. The United States lacks the state capacity required to alleviate this stress, and politicians increasingly find that if they promise to solve economic problems, they are likely to disappoint voters. Instead, they encourage voters to blame each other. The crisis cannot be solved, the economy cannot be set right, and democracy cannot be saved. But American democracy cannot be killed, either. Americans can’t imagine any compelling alternative political systems. And so, American democracy continues on, in a deeply unsatisfying way. Americans invent ever-more elaborate coping mechanisms in a desperate bid to go on. But it becomes increasingly clear that the way is shut. The American political system was made by those who are dead, and the dead keep it.

This book provides a critical account of federal asymmetry in India - its origins, context, forms and functioning - by taking into account the institutional effectiveness of asymmetric institutions in the regions for identity fulfillment, development and governance. It argues that while some asymmetry, de jure/ or de facto, is part of all federations for meeting some special circumstances, in India, which has followed a different path of federation building, asymmetric institutional solutions especially in the border areas have played a crucially important role in accommodating ethno-cultural diversity, ensuring law and order, a level of development and governance in a process that has turned the ‘rebels into stakeholders’. India’s federal asymmetric designs and their working has been a key to holding the peripheries within the Union of India. The book utilizes both archival research and empirical survey data, as well as elite interviews.

This book addresses the ‘crisis of critique’ of Frankfurt School Critical Theory in International Relations and puts forward a proposal for how it can be overcome. It starts from the premise that the present conjuncture, marked by capitalist crisis and a fracturing international order, urgently calls for critical perspectives capable of clarifying the state of global affairs and the emancipatory struggles within it. Critical Theory in International Relations should be well placed to provide answers to this demand, yet it finds itself today in a state of decline. Its prevailing form – that of a universalist cosmopolitan project – reflects a narrow Eurocentric perspective and the concerns of a time now past, while the Frankfurt School tradition as a whole struggles to develop new modes of analysis and new political imaginaries that are appropriate to the current historical situation. The book diagnosesthis situation of intellectual and political crisis and seeks to trace a way out. It does so by providing a comprehensive account of the development of Critical Theory in International Relations and the ways in which it has applied Frankfurt School thought to the study of international politics. It then makes a provocative case as to the exhaustion of the cosmopolitan and Habermasian paradigm of critique that has guided Frankfurt School research on international politics for the past thirty years. Finally, it puts forward a proposal for the revitalisation of Critical Theory in IR through a renewed emphasis on the critique of political economy and sketches a research agenda which can make the tradition relevant again to contemporary political questions.

This book takes the transnational history of southern Africa’s liberation struggles in an innovative direction. It provides one of the first targeted studies of the manner in which the wider process of African decolonisation shaped the political struggle for control of Southern Rhodesia (colonial Zimbabwe). It offers an in-depth survey of the repercussions of pan-African developments on national-level political thought amidst one of the most seminal moments of the continent’s history.

The book draws on over a year of fieldwork in southern Africa as well as archival collections in the USA and UK to explore the seismic re-alignments that occurred in the white settler dominated territory in southern Africa as self-determination became a widely accepted international principle virtually overnight. In particular, it focuses on the impact of decolonisation struggles and/or independence in Ghana, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Malawi on Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle.  In so doing, it also offers new context on the roots of contemporary repression in Zimbabwe.

Includes a foreword contributed by noted Zimbabwean activist and author Judith Todd.

This open access book responds to the urgent need to improve how we prevent and resolve conflict. It introduces Adaptive Peacebuilding through evidence-based research from eight case studies across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. It also considers how China and Japan view and practice peacebuilding. The book focuses on how peacebuilders design, implement and evaluate programs to sustain peace, how interactions between external and local actors have facilitated or hindered peacemaking, and how adaptation to complexity and uncertainty occurred in each case study.

The monograph examines the sources of Polish social divisions. It explains their emergence and discusses the mechanisms behind their evolution from 1945-2022. The findings corroborate the idea that divisions were formed irrespective of the current state of social hierarchy, or the accepted interpretation of justice, and that they existed both in totalitarian and democratic systems alike. The book distinguishes the category of divisions from the practices of repartition, and demonstrates that the repartitions discussed in a political discourse do not generate divisions, but constitute the politicization of the latter. Repartitions are understood as discursive, dichotomic juxtapositions that result from the existence of divisions and can be used as political tools. It has been demonstrated that they can also function as analytical categories used with a view to determining the state of social inequalities. The notions of divisions and repartitions discussed in this volume confirm theexistence of the continuity of changes and describe the evolution of Polish society has a consequence.

This book analyzes the ideological roots, structures and operational methods of Jihadi intelligence and counterintelligence activities. Based on a substantive collection of data on terrorist attacks, communication channels, recruitment methods, manuals and statements released by various Jihadi groups, it examines and compares the nature, ideology and realities of Jihadi intelligence operations. The author, an expert on Jihadist ideology and paramilitary intelligence, compares the modus operandi of terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and the IS with those of governmental intelligence agencies, and subsequently analyzes the role of historical and religious narratives that help Jihadist groups justify their actions and military management. Further topics covered include encryption, counterfeiting, covert operations and Jihadi intelligence activities in the digital realm. The insights shared here will allow readers to gain a comprehensive understanding of Jihadist groups and their intelligence operations, while helping practitioners and policymakers develop better counterterrorism activities and counternarratives.

This volume is the continuation of our research on economic and developmental policy-making in the global semi-periphery in the post-crisis cycle (see our two recently published volumes titled ‘Market-Liberalism and Economic Patriotism in Capitalist Systems’ edited by Gerőcs and Szanyi, 2019, Palgrave Macmillan and ‘The Post-Crisis Developmental State – Perspectives from the Global Periphery’ edited by Gerőcs and Ricz, 2021). Our new volume aims to be a contribution to the analysis of emerging market economies’ alternative development trajectories, as we explore the new perspectives on semi-peripheral dependent development since the Global Financial Crisis and especially amidst the new global pandemic, the COVID-19.

The scope of comparative capitalism research has also been altered accordingly to include the analysis of emerging economies outside the core of the world system, and to make intertemporal comparisons possible (such as to define and characterise historical wavesof state capitalism). Still, we are convinced that to better understand the current wave of state capitalism and to explore its national varieties there is a need to critically reconsider existing theoretical approaches and methodologies, and to search for new ones, if necessary.

This book aims to be a contribution to the analysis of emerging market economies' alternative development trajectories and explores new perspectives on semi-peripheral dependent development, especially amidst COVID-19.

The empirical analysis sheds new light on how populists’ distinctive conception of a world divided antagonistically between “the people” and “the elites” influences behaviour towards multilateral organizations such as the United Nations and the European Union, and regional or global hegemonic powers like the United States, Germany, Russia, and China. The book also shows how ideas related to identity, ideology, status and emotions, impinge on populists’ conduct vis-à-vis other international actors, and how national and international structures affect the implementation of populist foreign policies in the regional, interregional, and global arenas. The wide geographical diversity and regional representation are also valuable in identifying cultural similarities and differences. Hence, the findings contribute to lively debates on whether there is a unified and coherent foreign policy among populist leaderships, and whether populism leads to a gradual “corrective” of transnational trends in contemporary politics or, conversely, to a more radical, structural shift in the liberal international order.

This book examines law and governance implications in relation to maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS). Adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, it focuses on a wide array of timely, topical and thorny issues, including naval warfare and security, seaworthiness and techno-regulatory assessments, global environmental change, autonomous passenger transportation, as well as liability and insurance. It also considers selected national and regional developments. The book provides an insight into the role of innovation-diplomacy as the driving force that could expedite the transition from automation to autonomy. After navigating through the complex law and governance landscape, it concludes by assessing critical findings for further consideration. The book will appeal to scholars and students of maritime technology, law and governance.

Chapter 11 and Chapter 18 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book covers critical issues in Nigeria’s external relations since 1960. As an independent nation, Nigeria has stood out as the most populous black country in the world and contributed immensely to the search for solutions to pressing international issues, notably in Africa affairs. Nigeria has also participated actively in global affairs and used the platform of international organisation to advance her national interests, cognisant also of its regional and global obligations and responsibilities. Contributors to this thought-provoking book make a strong case for Nigeria to press for a foreign policy that puts Nigerian people at the centre. One of the strong points also emanating from the contributors of this book is the imperative for Nigeria to address domestic challenges that continue to impinge on the country’s external image.

Chapter 1 is the most important chapter in Capital, as well as the most difficult and the most controversial. An influential interpretation of Chapter 1 in recent decades has been the so-called “value-form interpretation” of Marx’s theory in general and Chapter 1 in particular. The most important proponent of the value-form interpretation today, both in Germany and in the English-speaking world, is Michael Heinrich, and Heinrich’s work has emphasized the first chapter. Heinrich’s latest book in English is a detailed commentary of the first seven chapters of Volume 1 of Capital. The publication of an English translation of Heinrich’s book is an important event in Marxian scholarship and it is important to critically engage with this important book in order to advance our understanding of this critical foundational chapter. This book emphasizes the quantitative issue of whether the magnitude of value and socially necessary labour-timeare determined in production or also depend on exchange and demand, which has been the main issue in the controversy over the value-form interpretation.

This open access book compares the experiences of large-scale military procurement in Canada and Australia. Focusing on the recent frigate and jet-fighter programmes, it demonstrates how delays suffered in delivering weapons systems and platforms in these countries have been caused by misalignments between the strategic requirements set out by the armed forces and government defence policies. By bringing the insights of public management and administration to those of defence studies, the book presents policy options that will help improve the nature of future large-project military procurement. It will appeal to scholars and students of public administration, public management, and defence studies, as well as practitioners and policymakers.

This book focusses on the interaction between different kinds of violence and radicalization. Current research criticizes linear models of radicalization and assumes that individuals are involved in radical actions even without extremist preferences. In recent years, the research on radicalization and the use of violence has increasingly been focused on this phenomenon of individual radicalization. However, radicalization is a manifold phenomenon on various levels and exists in miscellaneous variations.

The book provides an impetus for analysing social situations that contain the potential for the emergence of conflict. This is done through new outlooks on the role of emotions, the influence of narratives and representations, the connection between (non)violence and emancipation and, lastly, new approaches and perspectives on deradicalization.

Spoilers and tactical blockages to peace have connected across local, national, regional and international scales, highlighting ideological divisions. Drawing on counter-revolutionary theory, the concept of counter-peace is used as a tool to critically interrogate a systemic array of blockages to peace. Distinct counter-peace patterns are now entangled in peace and reform processes, including  the stalemate pattern, the limited counter-peace, and the unmitigated counter-peace patterns. Across cases, once tactical blockages begin to form these patterns, they become systemic and ultimately enable conflict escalation. Consequently, the intimate entanglement of the existing international peace architecture with counter-peace processes points to ideological divisions in international order, as well as the growing gulf between diminished practices of peace and reform with critical scholarship on peace, justice, and sustainability.

This volume examines the origins, ideology, organisation, leadership, political alliances, electoral performance and institutional role of the right-wing party Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia, Fdl). FdI’s meteoric rise is only the latest in a series of shocks that have hit Italy’s unstable political system in recent years. However, it would be a mistake to brand FdI as yet another Italian anomaly. Indeed, the party stands at the crossroads between an established political tradition, that of the post-fascist and conservative right, and the more recent populist waves that have affected many mature democracies. By placing Giorgia Meloni’s party in a comparative analytical framework, the author shows that its success stems from a mix of past legacies and current developments seen in much of Europe (and beyond): the growing role of right-wing female leaders and their reliance on new media; the mainstreaming of the far right mixed with populist repertoires; the de-alignment and (partial) re-alignment of voters; the reconfiguration of electoral geographies; and ultimately the emergence of an illiberal model of democracy. In short, rather than being an exception, FdI can be seen as one of the most recent and advanced manifestations of a broader process of political change sweeping the West.

This open access book focuses on the importance that EU politicization has gained in European democracies and the consequences for voting behaviour in six countries of the EU: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain. Most of the studies which research the way the EU is being legitimised focus on the European Parliament elections. In this book we argue that to understand how EU accountability works, it is necessary to focus instead on national elections and the national political environment. Through a detailed, multimethod analysis this book establishes rigorously the paths of European accountability at the national level, its propitious contexts in the media and parliamentary debates, and whether the paths are similar from Greece to Germany. The findings have implications for both national and European Union democracy, underlining the importance that national institutions have in enabling citizens to hold the EU accountable.

This book offers a reassessment politics against the predominating economicist approach to historical materialism within contemporary Marxism. Boito draws on the structural interpretation of Marxism inspired by Althusser’s works of the mid-1960s and, especially, by Poulantzas’ Political Power and Social Classes. The volume aims to demonstrate the role of the political dimension (together with the economy) and, to a further extent, to contribute to renew contemporary Marxist political theory. The chapters cover topics such as: the nature of political power; the structure and functions of the state; the role of politics in historical change; political crises; and the political formation of the working class. The book highlights the role of political structures and practices in the reproduction of economic and social relations and also in the process of historical change. The aim of the book is to contribute to the renewal of Marxist thought, breaking with the economicist conception that dominated it throughout the last century, and finally meeting the demands of the socialist struggle in the 21st century.

This book explores the leadership of state and federal environmental agencies and local environmental groups in restoring the degraded rivers that flow into North America’s Great Lakes and other sites in the northeastern industrial corridor of the US. Robinson examines twenty of the forty-eight sites included in the Areas of Concern Program of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between Canada and the US. These twenty include heavily urbanized locales such as those along the River Rouge and Detroit River, but also more pristine locales such as the St. Louis River that flows through Duluth. Additionally, Robinson examines challenging river restorations within the northeastern industrial corridor which are led by effective local environmental advocacy organizations: the Penobscot Nation of Indigenous People, the Mystic River Watershed Association, and the Housatonic River Valley Association. All of these river restorations are led and managed by the environmental experts of (i) state and federal agencies, (ii) academia, and (iii) environmental NGOs. Local restorations of industrially degraded water bodies now compose a significant segment of the environmental movement and, ultimately, Robinson demonstrates that local environmental advocacy organizations can help marshal state and local funding for those efforts.

This comprehensively revised and updated edition offers an introduction to international organizations (IO) theory in the field of IR. It looks at the different ways in which IOs are studied and then applies these different modes to a variety of specific case studies.

This book offers a fresh take on the dynamics of the 2021 Canadian federal election by focusing on elements pertinent to political marketing and branding rather than just the horse race and campaign dynamics. Chapters by leading and emerging political marketing academics from different disciplines, including communications, political science and political management, are included as well as contributions from practitioners in different fields related to political marketing such as pollsters. Some chapters are collaborations between leading academics and practitioners, which provide new insights into the dynamics of political marketing that enrich this edited volume. The book’s content takes our current understandings of Canadian political marketing in new directions.

This Open Access textbook is a result of the work of ENTAN – the European Non-Territorial Autonomy Network. It provides students with a comprehensive analysis of the different aspects and issues around the concept of non-territorial autonomy (NTA). The themes of each chapter have been selected to ensure a multi- and interdisciplinary overview of an emerging research field and show both in theory and in practice the possibilities of NTA in addressing cultural, ethnic, religious and language differences in contemporary societies.

This is an open access book.

This book engages with the diverse traditions within non-Western Marxisms, as they emerge across the Global South, positioning itself against calls for a “pure” Marxism. The author views Marxism as a conceptual “field,” similar to electromagnetic or gravitational fields, where bodies and objects impact other bodies and objects without necessarily coming in contact with them. So too, in the “field” of Marxism, people behave in specific ways and deploy languages and concepts with their own specific inflections and accents. While rejecting the view of Marxism as an inherently European and fully-formed doctrine that is corrupted by contact with alien contexts, Nigam simultaneously acknowledges the residual force of certain elements of the theory and the gravitational pull that the authoritative figures continue to have on the evolution of the field in non-Western contexts. He argues that since a large part of Marxism’s earthly journey was undertaken in the Global South, it is that experience that needs to be rendered legible, by setting aside the conceptual lens of Western Marxism that repeatedly misreads such experience. Ultimately, the book invites a fruitful and challenging re-examination of a variety of phenomena arising from the contemporaneous co-existence of pre-capitalist and capitalist social relations that have been an inextricable part of the majority of the world—what the author terms “untimely encounters.”

This open access book examines security and protection within Israel and Palestine, analyzing national and international security strategies that apply to the protection of civilians. The author examines the principles, practices and the perception of protection.  Focusing on protection strategies and practices in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this book reveals some of the myths and enigmas of national and international protection of civilians. The book moves beyond the current lack of protection strategies to discuss more effective human security focused on prioritizing protection of civilians, use of alternative tools such as community policing and inclusive protection.

This book analyses the historical sociology of state formation in the Horn of Africa. It examines the genesis, trajectories, processes, routes and consequences of the evolution of state formation. Three analytical and explanatory models explain the process of state formation in the HOA: proto-state, colonial and national liberation. The models, heuristically and innovatively, provide understanding, interpretation and analysis of state formation. While the proto-state model explicates an indigenous historical process of state formation, the colonial model refers to an externally designed and imposed process of state formation. The national liberation model concern state formation conducted under liberation movement and ideology. The distinct significance of these models is that collectively they generate sufficient analysis of state formation. They are also unique in that they have never been employed as aggregate analytical and explicative instruments to address the predicament of state formation in the Horn of Africa.

This book investigates the phenomenon of overbalancing through an analysis of Japan’s foreign policy during the interbellum. In the mid-1930s, Japan withdrew from a naval arms control framework that had restrained military buildup on both sides of the Pacific Ocean since the early 1920s. By doing so, Japan not only triggered a naval arms race with the United States that exhausted its economy, it also destroyed the last institutionalized structure regulating the relationship between the two Pacific powers. Japan and the United States became caught in a spiral of tensions that culminated with the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Puzzling is the fact that the international environment in the Asia-Pacific was relatively stable in the mid-1930s, while Washington was pursuing a policy of accommodation toward Tokyo. By rejecting arms control and engaging in unfettered naval expansion, Japan overbalanced against the United States and began its rush to the Pacific War.

This book uses comparative case study methodology and extensive field work to examine and compare outcomes of four East African nations (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda) that implemented formal Information and Communications Technology policies in the 1990s. Based on extensive fieldwork, the book assesses the emergence of a new policy and technological arena from the turn of the millennium to the present. In addition to tracing the implementation and reception of these policies, Bowman considers to what extent the politics of infrastructure in four connected but distinct African nations have resulted in global participation and equitable distribution and access of infrastructure to all citizens, as well as the impact a recent history of war or peace have on the technological outcomes in these communities. The book provides us with invaluable new data on how policy and politics function in emerging democracies, and illuminates long-overlooked opportunities and conditions necessary for the distribution of new and potentially beneficial technologies in other developing countries. 

This book develops Marcuse’s critique of advanced industrial society and deploys it as a lens to critically analyze contemporary neoliberalism and its structural failures. In the chapters, Marcuse scholars explore three related topics: First, Marcuse’s theory as it applies to the relationship between neoliberalism and authoritarianism, including both the historical relationship between the two and the modern re-emergence of authoritarianism and nationalism in neoliberal states today. Second, a re-examination of the relationship between neoliberal subjectivity and technological rationality that seeks to understand the stabilizing forces of neoliberal society and the way these forces register at the level of thought. Third and finally, Marcuse’s conception of socialism in conversation with contemporary neoliberal rationality, and ways in which alternatives to the status quo remain possible. Together, this volume contributes to recent discussions of neoliberalism and contribute to thedevelopment of Marcuse scholarship.

This book represents a valuable contribution to the history of the Socialist Second International and, more generally, of European socialism between the Great Depression of the 1880s and WWI. It comes to fill a gap in the scholarship, insofar as it investigates the history of the Socialist Youth International. During the first phase of the making of socialist parties, this organization was in charge of the political and cultural education of the proletarian youth. Capitalizing on an approach based on social, quantitative and political history, and on an analysis of mentalities and languages, the book reconstructs the many-sidedness of the “school of recruits” of the social-democratic and revolutionary movements. The working conditions of youth in Europe, its unionization and economic struggles, the fight against militarism, the pedagogical work, the internationalism and the commitment to maintain peace, and the attitude of young militants towards Bolshevik revolution are some of thethemes investigated in the book. It also clarifies the role and the engagement with the issue of the new generation shown by prominent figures of Marxism such as Karl Liebknecht, Jean Jaurès, Henri De Man, Willi Münzenberg, Henriette Roland Holst, and Robert Danneberg. Finally, the book constitutes also a page of European social and political history, reconstructed through the history of the various youth socialisms and their relationship with the Marxist tradition.

This book provides a critical insight into China's evolving socio-cultural relations with Islamic countries in the face of growing geopolitical uncertainty. It considers both the historical and socioeconomic aspects of China-Islamic countries relations to present a balanced analysis of the effectiveness of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) plan and the current and future evolution of cooperation. The book also sheds new light of the impact on individual economic sectors, considering both the micro- and macro-effects on various stakeholders as the global community navigates an increasingly precarious power struggle between dominant world powers. The book presents contributions from a variety of fields to provide a multi-faceted breakdown of the challenges that remain for the myriad of relationships in the years to come. 

Adopting a systemic perspective, this book explores media-based communication and reason-giving as a linkage process that transcends time and space. Arguments, reasoning perspectives and emotional concerns link elites’ and citizens’ political judgement within and across a set of interrelated arenas in the political system.

This book seeks to identify the reasons why some countries were more efficient and effective than others in responding to the COVID 19 pandemic, and why the global community failed to coalesce. What are the political determinants of the different state responses to the pandemic? Why was scientific advice rejected or ignored in many countries? What has been the role, respectively, of neoliberalism, populism, and authoritarianism in the making of Covid-19 policy? What role have each of these factors played in the uneven and clearly inadequate global response to the pandemic?

In an effort to understand why some states failed to handle the pandemic properly, some of the literature suggests that populism is at the root of the current failure of international co-operation. The global financial crisis of 2008-10 triggered significant cooperation within the G-20, led by the combined efforts of the United States and China. These forms of cooperation have clearly disappeared in the context of the pandemic, not only with respect to economic policy but also in public health and management. The authors of this volume link the different state responses to the pandemic-- from its inception to the start of the vaccination campaign, and to the political regimes prevailing in each. In particular, the present volume focuses on a distinction between the responses of neo-liberal regimes, populist regimes and authoritarian ones.

This open access book offers a systematic survey of the attitudes and values of European political scientists. It builds a structural interpretation based on empirical data, as well as offering reflections on the future structure of the discipline. In the middle of a delicate phase of changes marked by the effects of pandemic and the war in Ukraine, we need to pay attention to the factors that are affecting not only the ‘objects’ of Political Science as a discipline but also its interactions with the world around it.

This research monograph examines presidential constitutional conventions and the role they play in the political systems of four Central European countries – the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland. As primarily unwritten rules of constitutional practice, constitutional conventions represent political arrangements and as such are political in origin. Not only this, constitutional conventions, in general, and presidential constitutional conventions, in particular, have significant political implications. They shape both the everyday operation and character of regimes. Central Europe represents a particularly useful example on which this role of constitutional conventions can be studied and assessed.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of smart ports and remote technologies in the maritime industry. It demonstrates how modern advances in artificial intelligence and robotics have transformed the shipping industry, and assesses the impact of this technology from a law and governance standpoint. The book covers a range of topics including port autonomous operations systems, cybersecurity, big data analytics, digitalization and blockchain to throw light on the opportunities and benefits of these new technologies in improving security and safety. It also considers the challenges and threats of their application. It concludes by examining the trajectory of national and international regulatory developments. The book will appeal to scholars and students of maritime technology, law and governance, as well as practitioners and policymakers.

Chapters 8, 19 and 20 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book is the first comprehensive, book-length analysis of Israel and securitization processes. It develops an original analytical framework to ameliorate the theoretical understanding of the audience component during the securitization process, drawing upon insights from both securitization theory, political psychology, and IR theory. This gives us significant new insights into why some audiences are essential to be persuaded for securitization to occur, while others are not. This book also examines the role of the United States in defining what matters in Israeli National Security. In essence, since the United States is Israel's most significant ally, it is essential for the Israeli leadership to gain the American government's support (or its lack of resistance) for almost any securitization acts. The book analyses a highly original set of interviews with prominent figures in Israel who were at the top level of the Israeli decision-making process, including members of the political and military echelons.

"Through unparalleled access to Israel's political and security echelons, Israel: National Security and Securitization provides a unique overview of Israel’s decision-maker's political perception over the years".
Ehud Olmert- Prime Minister of Israel 2006-2009

"Israel: National Security and Securitization provides a powerful analysis of how the State of Israel confronted security threats, and what was the American involvement in the Israeli decision-making process". 
Amos Yadlin, IDF Military Intelligence Directorate Chief 2006-2010

"This book makes us understand securitization in a novel and enlightening way, thus making a substantial contribution to our understanding of national security in general and Israeli security in particular".
Gabriel Ben-Dor, University of Haifa

"Wertman and Kaunert's book makes an important and unique contribution to the existing and developing literature on securitization".
Kobi Michael, Institute for National Security Studies

This book provides an in-depth analysis of the social democratic parties in the four member states of the so-called “Visegrád Group”- Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The timeline spans the last two decades, which saw the parties in question come to power, govern and collapse. The case studies of all four countries are structured in the same way, offering: explanation of the historical background (including electoral results), analyses of the context, structures, membership and voters; evaluation of the programmes and hypotheses for potential future trajectories. Given the European relevance of the topic, the fifth chapter provides a comparative analysis, with a handful of explanations as to why Visegrád Group countries have proved to be tough partners in European integration processes.

This edited volume examines the cases of four African military leaders who had enormous impact on the continent and beyond. These military officers, and later heads of state -- Jerry Rawlings of Ghana; Moammar Gaddafi of Libya; Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso; and Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt – were provocative and polarizing figures, beloved domestically but mostly viewed with suspicion and hostility by foreign governments. This volume studies these leaders as a group, engaging in a critical but systematic examination of their personalities, leadership styles, official performance, legacies, and their continuing impact on the future and political destiny of the continent. Providing a survey of controversial but important African political figures, this volume will be of use to scholars and students in the social sciences, especially those interested in African history, African studies, military science, Black studies, political science, leadership studies, and the politics of developing nations.

This book analyzes China's transformative political power in today's world while simultaneously addressing global issues and the reformation of world institutions. China has become known as the world's first factory and trading power, but more knowledge on China's rise is necessary to understand the world of today and the future. The main question is where China's rise is headed and how this affects the increasingly connected world that faces problems that no state can effectively address on its own.

This book analyzes both sides of the coin, that is, the problems of a world scale and the change of the world political order. China is among the major actors for global issues such as mitigating climate warming, controlling weapons of mass destruction, combating economic inequality and underdevelopment, and improving health for all. In the current setting of the new world order, all countries and especially world powers develop a general blueprint for the future, as cultural andmaterial conditions of the present world are very different from the past. Under such conditions, China faces a review of its bilateral and regional strategies, as well as its position and actions in world institutions that have the mission of forming policy responses to issues of a global scale.

This book, therefore, provides insight into China's view of world problems and the future world order. It is a must-read for everybody interested in a better understanding of China's role in today's world and the global power shift.

The American gun control debate is best understood as a battle in a war over the influence of individualism on American culture, politics, and policy. This book demonstrates that the gun debate is fundamentally about values. Specifically, it is about what we value most: private rights, or the public good. This helps explain why the technical, empirical, or legalistic arguments we hear aren’t persuasive. A review of scholarly literature on both the politics of gun control and American political culture finds an American bias toward an individualism that embraces personal rights. We argue that this bias stacks the deck against gun control. Interviews we conducted with activists show that support for, or opposition to, gun control is linked to concern for the public, or private, good. Finally, we trace the federal gun control debate in Washington from the 1960s to 2010s to show the ebbs and flows of individualism’s influence.

This book discusses the emerging threats to European stability in different borderland regions, from the Greater Middle East to the Eastern Mediterranean, the Balkans and the Black Sea. It highlights the specific geopolitical risks that could, left unchecked, have global repercussions. The book shows how recent events have exasperated underlying problems that have been slowly destabilizing each of these regions for years. It also looks at the geopolitical constraints and objectives of the countries within these regions to build a basis for understanding their current and future security challenges. 

While doing so, the book discusses the European borderlands in a non-traditional way, proposing a specific framework to study them, going beyond historical analysis and employing a heuristic process and in-depth socio-economic analysis to understand regional power relations and trends. It develops the key concepts of "core borderland" and "geopolitical node" to understand the future challenges that Europe in particular and Eurasia, in general, will face, discussing specific features shaping current affairs and identifying the main drivers - countries and specific regional elements - for the future stability of the borderlands.

This book will appeal to students and scholars of international relations, as well as policy-makers, practitioners, and international organizations interested in a better understanding of current and future challenges at Europe's borderlands and the security risks the European continent faces.

This book explores the origins and significance of the corporate climate action phenomenon, which has attracted increased attention in recent years. It examines how and why, during the 2010s, American, German, and Indian corporations spanning finance, technology, automotive, and energy-intensive industries adopted certain climate practices and converged around the idea that the private sector has a vital role to play in addressing climate change and advancing a low-carbon future. It also considers how policy developments that states widely understood as watersheds, including the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, simply confirmed what the private sector had long believed: that states lacked answers about how to achieve concerted, ambitious, and effective climate action. It was in this context, amid diminishing expectations for robust state climate action, that select corporations sought to fill a perceived leadership vacuum in an issue area poised to shape future global trends. Providing a novel assessment of the corporate sector as a climate actor, this book evaluates how the shift in the center of gravity in the climate change issue area away from national governments and toward other players may influence world order and impact an international security landscape increasingly defined by non-military challenges.   

This book presents a theoretical and empirical investigation of sustainable economic growth in Russia. The ill-planned transition in the 1990s from planned economy to market economy resulted in a sharp decline in national production; however, Russian economic growth was evident in the 2000s and 2010s. Osipian here analyses whether Russia has potential to achieve sustainable economic growth, filling a gap between the continuous presence of volatile economic growth in Russia and the lack of scholarly literature in the field. This book considers Russia’s economic transition within the set of early, modern, classical, exogenous, and endogenous theories of economic growth. At the same time, this book considers the phenomenon of sustainable economic growth in the context of the post-Soviet transition. Such a contextualization allows for finding and highlighting certain features and processes within economic transition that were earlier neglected by the scholars, including primarily the possibility of not only recovering after economic and financial crises, but also initiating sustainable economic growth. It identifies the place and role of human capital in economic growth within the market-type post-transitional Russian economy and concludes that human capital accumulation is key for sustainable economic growth.

The Western and Political Thought: A Fistful of Politics offers a variety of engaging and entertaining answers to the question: What do Westerns have to do with politics? This collection features contributions from scholars in a variety of fields—political science, English, communication studies, and others—that explore the connections between Westerns (prose fiction, films, television series, and more) and politics.

This book is a timely examination of congressional oversight in the United States, serving as a definitive guide for scholars and political, legal, and media observers seeking to navigate contemporary conflicts between Congress and the White House. Author Daniel Epstein has spent his professional career as a lawyer serving all sides of the regulatory process: he ran investigations for Congress, defended the White House from congressional oversight, and represented individuals, nonprofit news organizations, and entrepreneurs in federal court to fight for regulatory transparency and fairness. Epstein uses historical and observational data to argue that the modern federal bureaucracy did not begin as a regulatory state but as an investigative state. The contemporary picture of Congress having empowered the bureaucracy to set policy through rules is a relatively recent development in the political development of administrative law.  The book’s novel econometric models and historical analyses force a shift in how legal scholars and judges understand delegation, congressional oversight, and agency investigations.

This edited book will examine the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean from multidimensional geo-strategic, political-economic, socio-cultural/religious and demographic perspectives. It analyzes the conflicting geopolitical interests of the major and regional powers, as well as those of NATO and the European Union, with a focus on energy, democracy and corruption, shifts in population, as well as religious political influence. The authors argue that the US, NATO and EU leaderships can no longer afford to ignore the two regions — if the increasing potential for conflict is to be averted. The Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean are returning to a major position in the contemporary geostrategic nexus since NATO began a new expansion into the Balkans by bringing Montenegro in 2017 and North Macedonia in March 2020 into membership, after its previous expansion to Slovenia in NATO’s “Big Bang” in 2004 and to both Albania and Croatia in 2009.

Volume one of Electoral Politics in Zimbabwe pays special attention to the overarching view that the 2023 harmonized elections define the fate of the major presidential contenders and their parties as well as (re) shaping the political and economic trajectories of the nation. Cognizant of the complex nature of the Zimbabwean political realm and nuanced dynamics at play, the chapters in this volume cover three interrelated themes: the electoral environment in Zimbabwean politics; language, politics, and elections in Zimbabwe; and lastly, electoral institutions and human rights in Zimbabwean politics. The chapters foreground the ongoing tensions and politicking between the two main rivals, the ruling party, ZANU PF and the main opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC). The contributors also highlight the impact of internal tensions and factionalism within the contending parties, the apparent voter apathy, disconcerting voices due to claims about lack of transparency and a toxic political space as factors impacting on the outcome of the 2023 presidential elections. The volume will appeal to academics and practitioners in politics, human rights, religion, gender, media, languages, linguistics, and development studies.