Politics & Economics

This book is a print on demand title. Orders of this title are expected to be fulfilled within 4 to 6 weeks upon purchase. Click here to find out more about when your print on demand title will ship. How has the concept of democracy been understood, manifested, reimagined and represented through the ages? In a work that spans 2,500 years these fundamental questions are addressed by 66 experts, each contributing their overview of a theme applied to a period in history. With the help of a broad...

We are currently accepting pre-orders for this title. Orders of this title are expected to be fulfilled by late-November 2021. Click here to find out more about when your pre-order will ship. A History Of Money In Singapore covers the history of money in Singapore from pre-colonial times to the present day, narrating the story in its political, economic, technological, political and social context - something that has never been done on such a scale before. Tracing the evolution of money used...

We are currently accepting pre-orders for this title. Orders of this title are expected to be fulfilled by late-December 2021. Click here to find out more about when your pre-order will ship. The People's Action Party (PAP) of Singapore is among the longest-ruling democratically-elected political parties in the world, in power continuously since Singapore gained self-rule in 1959. Such longevity is the product of an institution that is itself dynamic and responsive. But remarkably, the story ...

In 1915, Puerto Rican activist Luisa Capetillo was arrested for wearing men's trousers in public. This act of rebellion was the result of a lifelong devotion to socialist and feminist thought. And this zeal runs throughout her brilliant essays: in the challenges to big business, in her strident campaigning for the legalization of divorce, in the championing of 'free love'. At once a sharp critique and a celebration of world politics, A Nation of Women embraces humanism and envisions a world i...

Once dominated by vast empires, the world is now divided into some 200 independent countries that proclaim human rights—a transformation that suggests that nations and human rights inevitably develop together. But the reality is far more problematic, as Eric Weitz shows in this compelling global history of the fate of human rights in a world of nation-states. Through vivid histories from virtually every continent, A World Divided describes how, since the eighteenth century, nationalists have ...

What do ordinary citizens really want from their governments? Democracy has long been considered an ideal state of governance. What if it's not? Perhaps it is not the end goal but, rather, a transition stage to something better. Drawing on original interviews conducted with citizens of more than thirty countries, Zizi Papacharissi explores what democracy is, what it means to be a citizen, and what can be done to enhance governance. As she probes the ways governments can better serve their cit...

To be born American in the late twentieth century was to take the fact of a particular kind of American exceptionalism as granted - a state of nature arrived at after all else had failed. In the span of just thirty years, this assumption would come crashing down. After the fall, we must determine what it means to be American again. In 2017, as Ben Rhodes was helping Barack Obama begin his next chapter, the legacy they worked to build for eight years was being taken apart. To understand what w...

Christopher Hitchens was an unparalleled, prolific writer, who raised the polemical essay to a new art form, over a lifetime of thinking and debating the defining issues of our times. As an essayist he contributed to the New Statesman, Atlantic Monthly, London Review of Books, TLS and Vanity Fair. Any publication of a volume of Hitchens' essays was a major event on both sides of the Atlantic. Now comes a volume of Hitchens' previously uncollected essays, covering the themes that define Hitche...

Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011) was a matchless writer, debater and humanist. Throughout his life he shone the light of reason and truth into the eyes of charlatans and hucksters, exposing falsehood and decrying hypocrisy wherever he found it. With his passing, the world lost a great soul, the written word one of its finest advocates and those who stand for freedom everywhere have lost one of their clearest voices. Arguably collects Hitchens' writing on politics, literature and religion when...

The 2020 presidential campaign was a defining moment for America. As Donald Trump and his nativist populism cowed the Republican Party into submission, many Democrats--haunted by Hillary Clinton's shocking loss in 2016 and the resulting four-year-long identity crisis--were convinced that he would be unbeatable. Their party and the country, it seemed, might never recover. How, then, did Democrats manage to win the presidency, especially after the longest primary race with the biggest field eve...

The controversial science that claims to have revolutionised economics. For centuries, economics was dominated by the idea that we are rational individuals who optimise our own 'utility'. Then, in the 1970s, psychologists demonstrated that the reality is a lot messier. We don't really know what our utility is, and we care about people other than ourselves. We are susceptible to external nudges. And far from being perfectly rational we are prone to 'cognitive biases' with complex effects on de...

Economic historian Deirdre Nansen McCloskey has distinguished herself through her writing on the Great Enrichment and the betterment of the poor-not just materially but spiritually. In Bettering Humanomics she continues her intellectually playful yet rigorous analysis with a focus on humans rather than the institutions. Going against the grain of contemporary neo-institutional and behavioral economics which privilege observation over understanding, she asserts her vision of "humanomics," whic...

'This work is about our people's struggle, the historical Black struggle' Any struggle must be fought on a people's own terms, argues Cedric Robinson's landmark account of Black radicalism. Marxism is a western construction, and therefore inadequate to describe the significance of Black communities as agents of change against 'racial capitalism'. Tracing the emergence of European radicalism, the history of Black African resistance and the influence of these on such key thinkers as W. E. B. Du...

Among the defining figures of the Age of Revolution, Toussaint Louverture is the most enigmatic. Though the Haitian revolutionary's image has multiplied across the globe--appearing on banknotes and in bronze, on T-shirts and in film--the only definitive portrait executed in his lifetime has been lost. Well versed in the work of everyone from Machiavelli to Rousseau, he was nonetheless dismissed by Thomas Jefferson as a "cannibal." A Caribbean acolyte of the European Enlightenment, Toussaint n...

Since the end of the Cold War so-called experts have been predicting the eclipse of America's "special relationship" with Britain. But as events have shown, especially in the wake of 9/11, the political and cultural ties between America and Britain have grown stronger. Blood, Class and Empire examines the dynamics of this relationship, its many cultural manifestations-the James Bond series, PBS "Brit Kitsch," Rudyard Kipling-and explains why it still persists. Contrarian, essayist and polemic...

Oil. Corrupt? Yes. Unimaginably lucrative? Of course. But, the enemy of democracy? Blowout is the oil and gas industry as we've never seen it before, as told by America's most incisive political journalist, Rachel Maddow. A blackly comic journey from Washington to Siberia, to deep within the earth's crust and the icy Arctic seas, it reveals is not just the greed and incompetence of Big Oil and Gas but why the Russian government hacked the 2016 U.S. election. This is our final wake-up call: to...

Borders are more than geographical lines - they impact all our lives, whether it's the inhumanity of deportations, or a rise in racist attacks in the wake of the EU referendum. Border Nation shows how oppressive borders must be resisted. Laying bare the web of media myths that vilify migrants, Leah Cowan dives into the murky waters of corporate profiteering from borders by companies like G4S, and the ramping up of everyday borders through legislation. She looks at their colonial origins, and ...

Can Donald Trump really build that wall? What does Brexit mean for Ireland's border? And what would happen if Elon Musk declared himself president of the Moon? In Border Wars, Professor Klaus Dodds takes us on a journey into the geopolitical conflict of tomorrow in an eye-opening tour of the world's best-known, most dangerous and most unexpected border conflicts from the Gaza Strip to the space race. Along the way, we'll discover just what border truly mean in the modern world: how are they b...

On 8 February 1971, Marxist revolutionaries attacked the gendarmerie outpost at the village of Siyahkal in Iran's Gilan province. Barely two months later, the Iranian People's Fada'i Guerrillas officially announced their existence and began a long, drawn-out urban guerrilla war against the Shah's regime. In Call to Arms, Ali Rahnema provides a comprehensive history of the Fada'is, beginning by asking why so many of Iran's best and brightest chose revolutionary Marxism in the face of absolutis...

The world is awash in bullshit, and we're drowning in it. Politicians are unconstrained by facts. Science is conducted by press release. Start-up culture elevates hype to high art. These days, calling bullshit is a noble act. Based on a popular course at the University of Washington, Calling Bullshit gives us the tools to see through the obfuscations, deliberate and careless, that dominate every realm of our lives. In this lively guide, biologist Carl Bergstrom and statistician Jevin West sho...

The events of 1949 in China reverberated across the world and throughout the rest of the century. That tumultuous year saw the dramatic collapse of Chiang Kai-shek's 'pro-Western' Nationalist government, overthrown by Mao Zedong and his communist armies, and the foundation of the People's Republic of China. China 1949 follows the huge military forces that tramped across the country, the exile of once-powerful leaders and the alarm of the foreign powers watching on. The well-known figures of t...

In the past two centuries we have experienced wave after wave of overwhelming change. Entire continents have been resettled; there are billions more of us; the jobs done by countless people would be unrecognizable to their predecessors; scientific change has transformed us all in confusing, terrible and miraculous ways. Anatol Lieven's major new book provides the frame that has long been needed to understand how we should react to climate change. This is a vast challenge, but we have often in...

Life expectancy in the United States has recently fallen for three years in a row--a reversal not seen since 1918 or in any other wealthy nation in modern times. In the past two decades, deaths of despair from suicide, drug overdose, and alcoholism have risen dramatically, and now claim hundreds of thousands of American lives each year--and they're still rising. Anne Case and Angus Deaton, known for first sounding the alarm about deaths of despair, explain the overwhelming surge in these deat...

Translated by Stacy Mosher This revelatory account of the ways silver shaped Chinese history shows how an obsession with "white metal" held China back from financial modernization. First used as currency during the Song dynasty in around 900 CE, silver gradually became central to China's economic framework and was officially monetized in the middle of the Ming dynasty during the sixteenth century. However, due to the early adoption of paper money in China, silver was not formed into coins but...

Had enough? Feeling hopeless? Don't give up - join the rebellion. Activist, journalist, founding leader of the Women's Equality Party and 'modern-day suffragette' (Evening Standard) Sophie Walker presents an inspiring, five-step journey to incorporating activism into our lives. Featuring stories of new and seasoned activists - including Amika George and Jack Monroe - campaigning on a range of issues from reproductive rights and poverty to the environment and access to education - the book sho...

The global turmoil of the late 1980s and early 1990s severely tested every analyst and commentator. Few wrote with such insight as Christopher Hitchens about the large events - or with such discernment and wit about the small tell-tale signs of a disordered culture. First published in 1993, the writings in For the Sake of Argument range from the political squalor of Washington to the twilight of Stalinizm in Prague, from the Jewish quarter of Damascus in the aftermath of the Gulf War to the e...

Frantz Fanon was one of the twentieth-century's most influential theorists and activists, whose work fighting against colonialism and imperialism has been an inspiration to today's decolonization and anti-racism movements. As the author of essential texts such as The Wretched of the Earth and Black Skin, White Masks, his impact on today's activists - from Rhodes Must Fall to Black Lives Matter - is indelible. Leo Zeilig here details the fascinating life of Fanon - from his upbringing in Marti...

You are being automated. After decades of hype and sci-fi fantasies, artificial intelligence is leaping out of research labs and into the center of our lives. Automation doesn’t just threaten our jobs. It shapes our entire human experience, with AI and algorithms influencing the TV shows we watch, the music we listen to, the beliefs we hold, and the relationships we form. And while the age-old debate over whether automation will destroy jobs rages on, an even more important question is being ...

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the world's economic health-check, an influential ranking of global prosperity. A rising number is manna for markets and keeps business buzzing; a falling one is a portent of doom for everyone. But, as science writer Ehsan Masood deftly shows, GDP can be unforgiving for those countries that cannot be - or choose not to be - measured by its rules. And it fails to measure much of what is really important to our lives. GDP was created to help Western economies reb...

What is the future of food in light of growing threats from the climate emergency and natural resource depletion, as well as economic and social inequality? This textbook engages with this question, and considers the complex relationships between food, place, and space, providing students with an introduction to the contemporary and future geographies of food and the powerful role that food plays in our everyday lives. Geographies of Food explores contemporary food issues and crises in all th...

The Chinese Communist Party is determined to reshape the world in its image. The party is not interested in democracy. It sees only a bitter ideological struggle with the West, dividing the world into those who can be won over, and enemies. Many political and business elites have already been lured to their corner; others are weighing up a devil's bargain. Through its enormous economic power and covert influence operations, China is now weakening global institutions, aggressively targeting in...

On 27 October 2018 Bari Weiss's childhood synagogue in Pittsburgh became the site of the deadliest attack on Jews in American history. For most of us, the massacre came as a total shock. But to those who have been paying attention, it was only a more violent, extreme expression of the broader trend that has been sweeping Europe and the United States for the past two decades. No longer the exclusive province of the far right and far left, anti-Semitism finds a home in identity politics, in the...

The far right is on the rise across the world. From Modi's India to Bolsonaro's Brazil and Erdogan's Turkey, fascism is not a horror that we have left in the past; it is a recurring nightmare that is happening again - and we need to find a better way to fight it. In How to Stop Fascism, Paul Mason offers a radical, hopeful blueprint for resisting and defeating the new far right. The book is both a chilling portrait of contemporary fascism, and a compelling history of the fascist phenomenon: i...

Politician, feminist, champion for social equality, and the 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern epitomizes the modern leader. With confidence and grace, she talks about her legacy as a politician, a feminist, and a mother. Her humanitarian work and tireless efforts on behalf of her country during uncertain and difficult times make Jacinda Ardern a role model, an inspiration, and a beacon for anyone seeking true leadership. Hardback: 80 PagesProduct Dimensions: 112 x 182 mmISBN:...

The Simulmatics Corporation, founded in 1959, mined data, targeted voters, accelerated news, manipulated consumers, destabilized politics, and disordered knowledge--decades before Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Cambridge Analytica. Silicon Valley likes to imagine it has no past but the scientists of Simulmatics are the long-dead grandfathers of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. Borrowing from psychological warfare, they used computers to predict and direct human behavior, deploying their "People ...

Susan Sontag meets Hanif Abdurraqib in this fascinating exploration of the unexpected connections between how we consume images and the insidious nature of Fascism. Images come at us quickly, often without context. A photograph of Syrian children suffering in the wake of a chemical attack segues into a stranger's pristine Instagram selfie. Before we can react to either, a new meme induces a laugh and a share. While such constant give and take might seem innocent, even entertaining, this barra...

When Iranians overthrew their pro-Western monarchy in favor of an Islamic regime in 1979, many observers predicted that revolutionary turmoil would paralyze the country for years to come. Yet in the decades since, Iran has emerged as a key player in the Middle East and the wider world. In Iran Rising, renowned Iran specialist Amin Saikal describes how the Islamic Republic has managed to survive despite ongoing domestic struggles, Western sanctions, and other serious challenges. Amid heightene...

Jacinda Ardern was swept to office in 2017 on a wave of popular enthusiasm dubbed 'Jacindamania'. In less than three months, she rose from deputy leader of the opposition to New Zealand's highest office. Her victory seemed heroic. Few in politics would have believed it possible; fewer still would have guessed at her resolve and compassionate leadership, which, in the wake of the horrific Christchurch mosque shootings of March 2019, brought her international acclaim. Since then, her decisive h...

Lion City tells the extraordinary story of Singapore - the world's most successful city state. In 1965, Singapore's GDP per capita was on a par with Jordan. Now it has outstripped Japan. After the Second World War and a sudden rupture with newly formed Malaysia, Singapore found itself independent - and facing a crisis. It took the bloody-minded determination and vision of Lee Kuan Yew, its founding premier, to take a small island of diverse ethnic groups with a fragile economy and hostile nei...

Little Kamala used to accompany her parents to civil rights marches in California, strapped into her pushchair so she wouldn't get lost. From an early age, she dreamed of becoming a lawyer to help people in need. At university, Kamala felt like she could do anything and everything. She earned a law degree to make sure the most vulnerable were protected by justice. Kamala's life was full of firsts, including becoming the first woman, Black woman, and South Asian American to be elected vice pre...

'Work hard, get paid.' It's simple. Self-evident. But it's also a lie-at least for most of us. For people today, the old assumptions are crumbling; hard work in school no longer guarantees a secure, well-paying job in the future. Far from a gateway to riches and fulfilment, 'work' means precarity, anxiety and alienation. Amelia Horgan poses three big questions: what is work? How does it harm us? And what can we do about it? While abolishing work altogether is not the answer, Lost in Work show...

Illustrated by Eko Few authors achieve such notoriety that their name becomes an adjective. A "Machiavellian" politician is not simply one who is conniving; the term also refers to a tyrant who is enamored with all the power he (it is usually a "he") can attain. With so many Machiavellian politicians on the world stage today--Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Mohammed bin Salman, Viktor Orbán, Jair Bolsonaro, et alia--Machiavelli's masterpieces The Prince and Discourses on Livy are a...

In 2012, an Oregon mother named Julie Keith opened up a package of Halloween decorations. The cheap foam headstones had been $5 at Kmart, too good a deal to pass up. But when she opened the box, something fell out that she wasn't expecting: an SOS letter, handwritten in broken English by the prisoner who'd made and packaged the items. In Made in China, investigative journalist Amelia Pang pulls back the curtain on the labor camps that create the home goods we buy at Kmart, the fast fashion we...

Although he has dominated Indonesian politics for years, President Joko Widodo remains an enigmatic figure. He has consistently defied both his sternest critics and his strongest supporters. A brilliant instinctive politician, Jokowi was resoundingly re-elected in 2019. However, he has struggled to turn success at the ballot box into the transformational change that Indonesia desperately needs. Jokowi has vowed to turn Indonesia into an Asian powerhouse with a strong economy and the heft to d...

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, capitalism was stuck. It had no answers to a host of problems, including disease, inequality, the digital divide and, perhaps most blatantly, the environmental crisis. Taking her inspiration from the 'moonshot' programmes which successfully co-ordinated public and private sectors on a massive scale, Mariana Mazzucato calls for the same level of boldness and experimentation to be applied to the biggest problems of our time. We must, she argues, rethin...

All of Mumbai's memories and castaway possessions come to die at the Deonar garbage mountains. And among these vast, teetering piles of discarded things - medical waste, rotten food, old clothes, broken glass and twisted metal - a small, forgotten community lives and works. Scouring the dump for whatever can be resold or recycled, waste pickers also mark the familiar milestones of babies born, love found, illnesses suffered and recovered from. Like a mirror image, their stories are shaped by ...

On the tenth anniversary of his rise to power in 1932, Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) seemed to many the "good dictator." He was the first totalitarian and the first fascist in modern Europe. But a year later Hitler's entrance onto the political stage signaled a German takeover of the fascist ideology. In this definitive account, eminent historian R.J.B. Bosworth charts Mussolini's leadership in reaction to Hitler. Bosworth shows how Italy's decline in ideological pre-eminence, as well as in mi...

Millions of Americans work full time, year round, for poverty-level wages. In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. Leaving her home, she took the cheapest lodgings she could find, and accepted whatever jobs she was offered. Nickel and Dimed reveals low-rent America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity, exposing the darker side of American prosperity and the true cost of the American dream. Paperback: 240 PagesProduct Dimensions: 129 x 198 mmISBN: 9781783787548 Pub...