Society & Social Sciences Books

This book explores contemporary transformations of identities in a digitizing society across a range of domains of modern life. As digital technology and ICTs have come to pervade virtually all aspects of modern societies, the routine registration of...

This book brings together researchers from the fields of international human rights law, EU law and constitutional law to reflect on the tug-of-war over the positioning of the centre of gravity of human rights protection in Europe. It addresses both the...

The complex trajectory of Europe after the 2008 global financial crisis, has led to the catastrophic failure of deep austerity measures that swept across the Union, and is reflected in the rise of some radical left parties such as SYRIZA as well as an...

Migration represents one of the key issues in both Italian and European politics, and it has triggered EU-wide debates and negotiations, alongside alarmist and often sensationalist news reporting on the activities of government, party and social movement...

This book analyzes in detail the main social, economic and special transformation of the city of São Paulo. In the last 30 years, São Paulo has become a more heterogeneous and less unequal city. Contrary to some expectations, the recent economic...

This book discusses right-wing extremism by analysing Germanophone research on this topic for the first time in English, including unique survey data from Germany and Austria. Highlighting how questions of terminology can become complicated when country...

The purpose of this volume is to explore the medieval inheritance of modern international relations. Recent years have seen a flourishing of work on the history of international political thought, but the bulk of this has focused on the early...

The liberal representative model of democracy is in a crisis. In protest camps, neighbourhood assemblies and through other non-hierarchical initiatives, the Occupy movement as well as other recent anti-austerity movements are redefining democracy as a...

This edited volume offers a systematic evaluation of how knowledge is produced by scholarly research into International Relations. The contributors explore three key questions: To what extent is scientific progress and accumulation of knowledge possible?...

What is it like to make television comedy? How do writers get their ideas made, and how do commissioners and producers decide what to make? How do members of the comedy industry work with large broadcasters and production companies, and what does it mean...

During the European elections of 2014, one of the main issues raised by the media was the electoral performance of so called 'populist parties'. The electorate confirmed its deep dissatisfaction with mainstream political parties, voting for far right...

Light Touches: Cultural Practices of Illumination, 1800-1900 explores how urban lives in the nineteenth century were increasingly touched by innovations in the technologies and aesthetics of illumination. Dramatic changes in qualities of light - and...

Contrary to what is suggested in media and popular discourses, Europe is neither a monolithic entity nor simply a collection of nation states. It is, rather, a union of millions of individuals who differ from one another in a variety of ways while also...

This book focuses on food culture and politics in three Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In popular and scholarly writings, the Baltic states are often seen as a meat-and-potatoes kind of place, inferior to sophisticated cuisines of...

This edited volume explains the importance of regional public goods (RPGs) for sustainable development and shows why they are particularly important in the context of 21st-century international relations. By presenting a new and original data set and by...

This book examines the concept of peace leadership, bringing together scholars and practitioners from both peace and conflict studies and leadership studies.The volume assesses the activities of six peace leaders, the place and role of women and...

The neo-Weberian state constitutes an attempt to combine the Weberian model of administration with the principles laid down during the retreat from the bureaucratic management paradigm (new public management and public governance). The concept of...

At the end of the 1970s, Chinese merchandise moved to Brazil via Paraguay, forming an on-the-margins-of-the-law trade chain involving the production, distribution, and consumption of cheap goods. Economic changes in the twenty-first century, including...

How has Russia increased its strength and power over the last 15 years? By what means did the Kremlin bring Armenia back into its orbit? Why did Azerbaijan and Georgia try to avoid antagonizing Moscow? Can we conclude that Russia has restored its sphere...

This volume critiques contemporary power trends by examining key bilateral dynamics between five putative 'poles' of the multipolar order in the twenty-first century.Written by emerging scholars and established academics, this work provides a timely and...

Great-power conflict and great-power war are still the most dangerous risks the international community is facing today. This edited volume investigates the feasibility of a modern day concert of powers as a way for managing the risk of great power...

This book aims to unpack the core message of the Labour Church and question the accepted views of the movement by pursuing an alternative way of analysing its history, significance and meaning. The religious influences on...

China's increasing involvement in Africa is a controversial and hotly debated issue. On the one hand, China has brought significant economic and political opportunities to the continent with large amounts of investment and infrastructure. On the other...

This book provides a comprehensive account and analysis of the Rwenzururu movement in Western Uganda. The movement began in the 1960s in the Rwenzori region of Toro District, and was a protest by the minority Bakonzo and Baamba ethnic groups...

This volume brings together new anthropological research on the Greek crisis. With a number of contributions from academics based in Greece, the book addresses a number of key issues such as the refugee crisis, far-right extremism and the psychological...

Love, Sex and Teenage Sexual Cultures in South Africa interrupts the relative silence around teenage constructions of love in South Africa. Against the backdrop of gender inequalities, HIV and violence, the book situates teenage constructions of love and...

State-sponsored torture and peacebuilding encapsulate the essence of many of the current conflicts in Indonesia. Papua in particular provides a thought-provoking example of the intricacy and complexity of building peace amidst enduring conflict and...

This is the authoritative textbook on family mediation. As well as mediators, this work will be indispensable for practitioners and scholars across a wide range of fields, including social work and law. It draws on a wide cross-disciplinary theoretical...

Human rights and conflict resolution have been traditionally perceived as two separate fields, sometimes in competition or in tension and occasionally with contradictory approaches towards achieving a lasting peace. Although human rights norms have been...

This book analyses social movements and radical political parties' strategies in Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italy from 2008 to today. Events in 2011 such as the Arab Spring and the indignados movement in Spain initiated a new cycle of social protest...

This book is a critical exploration of the war on terror from the prism of armed drones and globalization. It is particularly focused on the United States' use of the drones, and the systemic dysfunctions that globalization has caused to international...

Jokes have always been part of African culture, but never have they been so blended with the strains and gains of the contemporary African world as today. Joke-Performance in Africa describes and analyses the diverse aesthetics, forms, and media of jokes...

Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1814, an event that signalled an end to nearly fourteen years of French domination, Florence seemed to enter a new cultural 'golden age' and by 1824 was described as 'an Earthly Paradise' by the political and liberal...

Why do some individuals from the imagined "non-West" view the "West" favorably and others do not?　Grounded in psychological authoritarianism and the psychological reactions to experiences of rejection, Björn Goldstein provides a theoretical model to...

Since the introduction of the fast track land reform programme in 2000, Zimbabwe has undergone major economic and political shifts and these have had a profound impact on both urban and rural livelihoods. This book provides rich empirical studies that...

In the years since the 2011 revolutions, Egypt and the Arab countries in general have moved from a profound moment of hope and democratic potential to deepened authoritarianism and outright war. Among the many political actors who have seen their...

Post/Colonialism and the Pursuit of Freedom in the Black Atlantic is an interdisciplinary collection of essays of wide historical and geographic scope which engages the legacy of diaspora, colonialism and slavery. The contributors explore the...

In recent years, Israel has deeply and quickly transformed itself from a self-perceived social-democratic regime into a privatized and liberalized "Start-Up Nation" and a highly divided society. This transition to neoliberalism has been coupled with the...

Collective Trauma and the Psychology of Secrets in Transnational Film advances a methodological line of inquiry based on a fresh insight into the ways in which cinematic meaning is generated and can be ascertained. Premised on a critical reading strategy...

Tamás Nyirkos provides a timely and essential reassessment of the concept of the "tyranny of the majority" for the study of democracy today. The analysis is divided into three parts: the first discusses the "prehistory" of majority tyranny; the second...

Since the 2008 financial crisis, politics of austerity in Europe have engendered far-reaching socioeconomic and political transformations. The recent refugee 'crisis' has also deeply affected the sociopolitical terrain. Contrary to past arguments about...

This volume extends the knowledge base supporting research-informed child care for infants and toddlers, while simultaneously highlighting areas of study ripe for future research. The authors demonstrate from a systems perspective, that the experiences...

This book examines information and public opinion control by the authoritarian state in response to popular access to information and upgraded political communication channels among the citizens in contemporary China. Empowered by mass media,...

Global economic recovery in the aftermath of the Great Recession has not been experienced equally: while the share of wealth owned by the richest 3% has grown, the share owned by the poorest 90% continues to decline, as reported by Oxfam in 2016...

Following the subprime lending crisis and the financial market crash of 2008-9, governments throughout Europe implemented a series of debt reduction measures collectively known as austerity. Across the continent, citizens and social movements mobilized...

The world continues to be threatened by non-state, religiously-rationalized violence. While some fail to the see the connections between the United States' intervention in the Middle East and this ongoing threat, the non-state perpetrators of terror...

This book examines the underexplored notion of epistemic marginalization of women in the African intellectual place. Women's issues are still very much neglected by governments, corporate bodies and academics in sub-Saharan Africa. The entrenched...

Noted for their haunting melodies and enigmatic lyrics, Bauls have been portrayed as spiritually enlightened troubadours traveling around the countryside in West Bengal in India and in Bangladesh.As emblems of Bengali culture, Bauls have long been a...