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      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        October 2014

        The search for democratic renewal

        The politics of consultation in Britain and Australia

        by Rob Manwaring

        Why is the search for democratic renewal so elusive? This book examines both the political and policy implications of efforts by the centre-left to transform democracy. This is a story not only about democratic change, but also the identity crisis of centre-left political parties. The book offers a fresh critique of the Big Society agenda, and analyses why both left and right are searching for democratic renewal. Drawing on high-profile interviews and examining an in-depth series of comparative cases, the book argues that the centre-left's search for democratic renewal contains a range of policy and political aims, contradictions and tensions. It will be of interest to students, academics, researchers, interest groups and policy analysts interested in consultation, democratic renewal, labour politics, and Australian and British politics. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        Business, Economics & Law
        October 2008

        Terrorism and democratic stability revisited

        by Jennifer S. Holmes

        Can terrorism and state violence cause democratic breakdown? Although the origins of violence have been studied, only rarely are its consequences examined. In this detailed comparative study of Uruguay, Spain, and Peru, Holmes claims that to understand the consequences of violence on democratic stability, terrorism and state responses to terrorism must be studied together. This extensively revised and expanded second edition takes advantage of new historical sources, an extended time span, and new theories that have emerged since the original publication. In addition to adding new data sources in the Peruvian and Spanish cases, the time period covered has been expanded from the late 1990s to early 2007, allowing a more comprehensive treatment of the consequences of state and non-state violence on democratic stability and the prospects for stability. The literature reviews have been significantly revised and updated and an entirely new chapter covers the special case of Spain, which faces both a domestic and an international threat. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        May 2013

        Conservatism for the democratic age

        Conservative cultures and the challenge of mass politics in early twentieth century England

        by David Thackeray

        This book offers a new interpretation of the Conservative party's revival and adaptation to democratic politics in the early twentieth century. We cannot appreciate the Conservatives' unique success in British politics without exploring the dramatic cultural transformation which occurred within the party during the early decades of the century. This was a seminal period in which key features of the modern Conservative party emerged: a mass women's organisation, a focus on addressing the voter as a consumer, targeted electioneering strategies, and the use of modern media to speak to a mass audience. This book provides the first substantial attempt to assess the Conservatives' adaptation to democracy across the early twentieth century from a cultural perspective and will appeal to academics and students with an interest in the history of political communication, gender and class in modern Britain. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        June 2011

        Democratic Participation and Civil Society in the European Union

        by Dawid Friedrich, Emil Kirchner, Thomas Christiansen

        Can the participation of civil society organisations democratise policy making in the European Union? This book challenges the widespread optimism about civil society participation in European governance and offers a nuanced and realistic evaluation of its democratic potential. Friedrich argues that the participation of these groups is only of democratic value if participatory patterns are democratised through appropriate institutional means. This book systematically brings together insights from normative democratic theory with an empirical evaluation of concrete policy-processes. It demonstrates that the participation of civil society organisation cannot be conceived as a panacea for the European Union's democratic deficit, because the participatory pattern of EU policy-making violates the key democratic value of political equality. This book will be of interest to all of those concerned about the future of European democracy, those studying and teaching European politics, the European Union, international relations and democratic theory. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        July 2023

        Democracy Into Children's Minds

        Why our future will be decided in schools

        by Julian Nida-Rümelin/Klaus Zierer

        — By two renowned authors from the fields of philosophy and education — Julian Nida-Rümelin – a popular talk show guest The debate about the correct school policy has been going on for many years. And there's no end to the bad news regarding the shortage of teachers, poor performance by students at PISA or the lack of suitable equipment in schools. What is being neglected in the discussions about the education policy but is, in fact, a central momentum in its development, is the school's task of conveying democratic values and patterns of action. This is the only way our society's supporting pillars can be strengthened in future generations. In the light of the complex situation, from the authors' point of view it is important to formulate a wake-up call: Democracy education – now!

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        January 2019

        Popular cinema in Brazil, 1930–2001

        by Stephanie Dennison, Lisa Shaw

        Brazil has one of the most significant and productive film industries in Latin America. This ground-breaking study provides an entertaining insight into the Brazilian films that have most captured the imagination of domestic audiences over the years. The recent international success of films such as Central Station and City of God, has stimulated widespread interest in Brazilian film, but studies written in English focus on the 'auteur' cinema of the 1960s. This book focuses on individual films in their socio-historical context, drawing on extensive fieldwork in Brazil and Latin America. It argues that Brazilian cinema has almost always been grounded in intrinsically home-grown cultural forms, dating back to the nineteenth century, such as the Brazilian music-hall, the travelling circus, radio shows, carnival, and, later, comedy television. Combining a chronological structure with groundbreaking research and a lively approach, Popular cinema in Brazil is the ideal introduction to Brazilian cinema.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        February 2023

        Politics, performance and popular culture

        Theatre and society in nineteenth-century Britain

        by Peter Yeandle, Katherine Newey, Jeffrey Richards

        This collection brings together studies of popular performance and politics across the nineteenth century, offering a fresh perspective from an archivally grounded research base. It works with the concept that politics is performative and performance is political. The book is organised into three parts in dialogue regarding specific approaches to popular performance and politics. Part I offers a series of conceptual studies using popular culture as an analytical category for social and political history. Part II explores the ways that performance represents and constructs contemporary ideologies of race, nation and empire. Part III investigates the performance techniques of specific politicians - including Robert Peel, Keir Hardie and Henry Hyndman - and analyses the performative elements of collective movements.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        September 2019

        Making social democrats

        by Hans Schattle, Jeremy Nuttall

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        May 2024

        Democratic passions

        by Matthew Roberts

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        February 2006

        Democratic citizenship and the European Union

        by Albert Weale, Emil Kirchner, Thomas Christiansen

        This book analyses the political legitimacy of the European Union, taking democratic citizenship seriously. Developing a distinctive normative theory of political association, it evaluates the project of European integration in terms of democratic values. It argues that the goods of democratic citizenship have been advanced by European integration in many respects, including environmental policy. In other respects, including social policy, democratic citizenship is best advanced by keeping primary political authority at the level of the nation-state. Weale develops these arguments through an original interplay of political science and political theory. The contents combine original normative political theory, drawing on the concept of practical reason, with applications to the fields of social policy, environmental policy, security policy and enlargement. The book is primarily an original work of political theory, but it will be of interest to all those concerned about the future of the European Union. It is written in a style that makes it accessible to students on advanced courses as well as specialists. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        October 2023

        The penny politics of Victorian popular fiction

        by Rob Breton

        Penny politics offers a new way to read early Victorian popular fiction such as Jack Sheppard, Sweeney Todd, and The Mysteries of London. It locates forms of radical discourse in the popular literature that emerged simultaneously with Brittan's longest and most significant people's movement. It listens for echoes of Chartist fiction in popular fiction. The book rethinks the relationship between the popular and political, understanding that radical politics had popular appeal and that the lines separating a genuine radicalism from commercial success are complicated and never absolute. With archival work into Newgate calendars and Chartist periodicals, as well as media history and culture, it brings together histories of the popular and political so as to rewrite the radical canon.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        December 2018

        Democratic inclusion

        by Rainer Bauböck, David Owen

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        January 2013

        Popular protest in late-medieval Europe

        Italy, France and Flanders

        by Samuel Kline Cohn

        The documents in this stimulating volume span from 1245 to 1424 but focus on the 'contagion of rebellion' from 1355 to 1382 that followed in the wake of the plague. They comprise a diversity of sources and cover a variety of forms of popular protest in different social, political and economic settings. Their authors range across a wide political and intellectual horizon and include revolutionaries, the artistocracy, merchants and representatives from the church. They tell gripping and often gruesome stories of personal and collective violence, anguish, anger, terror, bravery, and foolishness. Of over 200 documents presented here, most have been translated into English for the first time, providing students and scholars with a new opportunity to compare social movements across Europe over two centuries, allowing a re-evaluation of pre-industrial revolts, the Black Death and its consequences for political culture and action. This book will be essential reading for those seeking to better understand popular attitudes and protest in medieval Europe.

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        June 2018

        Temperament of Public Opinion

        by Zhao Qiang

        What is public opinion? What does public opinion do with you? Does public opinion have a temper? The author joined hands with "public opinion" for more than two decades, and integrated many years of observation experience into the hotspots of public opinion, and wrote "How much is a catty for" false public opinion "," Who sacrificed for public opinion "," You liar "," Wu Hezhong ", etc. Twenty notes, using smooth texts to tell people: Public opinion is everywhere, no one can hide. These twenty notes are both academic and readable, and strive to be targeted and systematic. They will comment on public opinion events, popular science phenomena, analyze public opinion strategies, and discuss public opinion safety in as easy-to-understand manner as possible. These 20 notes, from shallow to deep, from the surface to the inside, can be ordinary readers to understand the phenomenon of public opinion, can also be used by public opinion workers to take stock of public opinion work, or experts and scholars to discuss the safety of public information.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        December 2024

        The construction of public opinion in a digital age

        by Catherine Happer

        This book presents a new conceptual model for understanding the role of the media in the construction of public knowledge, belief and opinion in the context of a radically changed communications infrastructure. Drawing on a series of empirical studies conducted over nearly a decade, Happer deploys evidence of a 'disconnect' between neoliberal media and the public which is rooted in a disaffection with a mainstream political culture which has failed to deliver the societal outcomes promised. As people are pushed towards alternative digital sources, new communities of opinion are produced in ways which polarise publics and ultimately limit the potential for social change. Offering an innovative and urgently needed new sociological analysis, this book is required reading for an inter-disciplinary field of media, journalism, and politics/IR which has largely abandoned questions of media power and public opinion management, as well as policymakers, science communicators and journalists. Key points of the book: 1) public opinion formation and why people may come to different positions through the development of a new model 2) the societal outcomes produced when a widespread disconnect between journalism and public opinion emerges 3) the atomisation of opinion and its relations to newly constructed opinion communities (with consideration of the role of class) 4) the turn to digitally available alternatives which enable new, less visible power agents to exert control.

      • Trusted Partner
        October 2019

        Impassive Rivers

        by Akram El Kebir

        “In any case, when you decide to try harga, it's because you no longer expect anything from life. Or that you expect a lot!” (Akram El Kebir) The summer of 2018 was particularly deadly in Oran, as the discovery of harraga corpses being fished out of the Mediterranean was commonplace. That same summer saw the commissioning of a water cab, the Rossinante II, which made the daily shuttle between Oran and the small seaside town of Aïn El Turk. A cafe owner in a small estaminet in Sidi El Houari, Zaki, at the age of 24, led a dull, boring life, with no prospects for the future other than to cherish the hope of one day attempting the harga. It was only the fear of ending up eaten by fish that dissuaded him. That said, as soon as he heard about the water cab, an absurd idea occurred to him: what if he hijacked the boat and headed for the Iberian coast? He won't be alone in this crazy adventure, as his neighborhood friends Okacha and Anis, and other outcasts, are sure to follow him. But these modern-day Don Quixotes shouldn't claim victory too soon! They'll learn the hard way that hijacking an entire ship is no picnic. They'll have to face up to the Italian crew, as well as the rest of the passengers. Passionate debates ensue, in a sort of impromptu Citizens' Assembly, where all issues affecting society are discussed. On the eve of the February 22nd Revolution, Zaki has eyes only for one of his hostages, the impetuous Nafissa...

      • Trusted Partner
        February 2021

        The Wind has Said its Name

        by Mohamed Abdallah

        “A wise malice radiated from his features, and one always had the impression that he knew more than he was willing to say, that a shrewd reflection lurked behind his smiles. His quick wit and good humor were the delight of La Mauresque and its surroundings; a reminder through his quiet charm that the world could still harbor delicacy.” Mohamed Abdallah Oran, autumn 1954. At La Mauresque, a space symbolizing a whole country in turmoil, in the heart of the indigenous city of Oran, the doubts of its occupants multiply and questions abound. Journalists, politicians, novelists, poets and artists grapple with a pivotal moment in their countries' history. The old world is dying, while the new one is slow to emerge for them. Hesitations and initiatives abound. They are trying to navigate by sight in an ocean so vast that it merges with the horizon; a horizon they sometimes seem to forget, but which the author has tried to give readers a constant view of through his novel: Le Vent a dit son Nom (The Wind Has Said Its Name). Multiplying references to emblematic figures in the awakening of consciences to freedom, Mohamed Abdallah attempts to offer a fresh look at the role that men of letters, intellectuals and, more generally, people of culture can play, at a time when a Nation is preparing to face new trials. These are themes that still resonate today.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        September 2019

        Inequality and democratic egalitarianism

        by Mark Harvey, Norman Geras

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