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Disruption: Why Things Change

How do things change? The question is critical to the historical study of any era but it is also a profoundly important issue today as western democracies find the fundamental tenets of their implicit social contract facing extreme challenges from forces espousing ideas that once flourished only on the outskirts of society. This books argues that radical change always begins with ideas that took shape on the fringes. Throughout time the "mainstream" has been inherently conservative, allowing for incremental change but essentially dedicated to preserving its own power structures as the dominant ideology justifies existing relationships. In this tour of radical change across Western history, David Potter will show how ideologies that develop in opposition or reaction to those supporting the status quo are employed to effect profound changes in political structures that will in turn alter the way that social relations are constructed. Not all radical groups are the same, and all the groups that the book will explore take advantage of challenges that have already shaken the social order. They take advantage of mistakes that have challenged belief in the competence of existing institutions to be effective. It is the particular combination of an alternative ideological system and a period of community distress that are necessary conditions for radical changes in direction. The historical disruptions chronicled in this book-the rise of Christianity, rise of Islam, Protestant reformations, Age of Revolution (American and French), and Bolshevism and Nazism--will help readers understand when the preconditions exist for radical changes in the social and political order. As Disruption demonstrates, not all radical change follows paths that its original proponents might have predicted. An epilogue helps situate contemporary disruptions, from the rise of Trump and Brexit to the social and political consequences of technological change, in the wider historical forces surveyed by the book.

Disruption: Why Things Change

How do things change? The question is critical to the historical study of any era but it is also a profoundly important issue today as western democracies find the fundamental tenets of their implicit social contract facing extreme challenges from forces espousing ideas that once flourished only on the outskirts of society. This books argues that radical change always begins with ideas that took shape on the fringes. Throughout time the "mainstream" has been inherently conservative, allowing for incremental change but essentially dedicated to preserving its own power structures as the dominant ideology justifies existing relationships. In this tour of radical change across Western history, David Potter will show how ideologies that develop in opposition or reaction to those supporting the status quo are employed to effect profound changes in political structures that will in turn alter the way that social relations are constructed. Not all radical groups are the same, and all the groups that the book will explore take advantage of challenges that have already shaken the social order. They take advantage of mistakes that have challenged belief in the competence of existing institutions to be effective. It is the particular combination of an alternative ideological system and a period of community distress that are necessary conditions for radical changes in direction. The historical disruptions chronicled in this book-the rise of Christianity, rise of Islam, Protestant reformations, Age of Revolution (American and French), and Bolshevism and Nazism--will help readers understand when the preconditions exist for radical changes in the social and political order. As Disruption demonstrates, not all radical change follows paths that its original proponents might have predicted. An epilogue helps situate contemporary disruptions, from the rise of Trump and Brexit to the social and political consequences of technological change, in the wider historical forces surveyed by the book.

Disruption?: The Senate During the Trump Era

What happens when a tradition-bound institution encounters an iconoclastic president intent on changing how the government operates? In Disruption?, Sean M. Theriault has gathered nineteen leading authors from a range of subfields to provide a compelling understanding for if, how, and to what extent Trump disrupted the Senate. As the authors argue, Trump became trapped in the norms and rules of the Senate on some dimensions, while he became the story to which all senators needed to respond on others. This book shows how multiple facets of the Senate changed during Trump's presidency, including the legislative process, party leadership, roll-call voting, and communications. Comprehensive in its coverage of the period and embedding it in a deep historical context, this book highlights how these changes reflected back on to not only the Trump administration, but also the very legitimacy of the Senate itself.

Disruption?: The Senate During the Trump Era

What happens when a tradition-bound institution encounters an iconoclastic president intent on changing how the government operates? In Disruption?, Sean M. Theriault has gathered nineteen leading authors from a range of subfields to provide a compelling understanding for if, how, and to what extent Trump disrupted the Senate. As the authors argue, Trump became trapped in the norms and rules of the Senate on some dimensions, while he became the story to which all senators needed to respond on others. This book shows how multiple facets of the Senate changed during Trump's presidency, including the legislative process, party leadership, roll-call voting, and communications. Comprehensive in its coverage of the period and embedding it in a deep historical context, this book highlights how these changes reflected back on to not only the Trump administration, but also the very legitimacy of the Senate itself.

Disruption, Ideation and Innovation for Defence and Security (Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications)

This book explores types of disruptions in defence and security, ways to assess disruptions triggered by technological advancements or the lack of legal frameworks; the consequent delays or disruptions to making decisions, creative idea generation and finally the innovative pathways to counter such disruptions. What do disruption, ideation and innovation have in common? How do disruptions, ideas and innovation coexist within defence and security? They all influence and impact decision-making. Disruptions drive decision-making. Ideation raises solutions to resolve the disruptions and innovation brings ideas into life. While disruptions may be common place in the business world, where disruptive technologies displace pre-existing ones; they are less prevalent in defence, even less so within the realm of security. For the last 10 years, there has been talk of disruptive technologies and even adoption of terms such as emerging and disruptive technologies by the largest military alliance—NATO, yet the means to assess these remain elusive. It offers researchers opportunities to assess different types of disruptions, ideate and innovate on scientific grounds to counter disruptions, thereby bolstering the defence and security community’s ability to make decisions better.

Disruptions and Rhetoric in African Development Policy (New Regionalisms Series)

The book examines the failures and some of the successes of Africa in its efforts to transform into a society where human security or development in the broadest sense is achieved. It is argued the African continent had, and will continue, to content with disruptions or change on its path to development. Development policy making in this regard, is an art of setting out strategies to build resilience and take advantage of disruptions or change in whatever format: political, economic, health, diplomatic, demographic or even environmental and climatic. The book discusses nine major disruptions in Africa’s socio-economic life and the limits imposed by the rhetoric in development policy: exclusion and social inequality, environmental degradation and climate change, natural resources and poor beneficiation, trade and aid, food insecurity, demography and migration, pandemics and disease burden, conflict and criminality and technology and innovation. The book is intended for intermediate students in African studies, Area Studies, Development Economics, Development Studies, Public Policy and Comparative Politics. In addition will be development practitioners working in developing countries, the UN system, multilateral development banks, donor agencies and regional economic communities in Africa.

Disruptions and Rhetoric in African Development Policy (New Regionalisms Series)

The book examines the failures and some of the successes of Africa in its efforts to transform into a society where human security or development in the broadest sense is achieved. It is argued the African continent had, and will continue, to content with disruptions or change on its path to development. Development policy making in this regard, is an art of setting out strategies to build resilience and take advantage of disruptions or change in whatever format: political, economic, health, diplomatic, demographic or even environmental and climatic. The book discusses nine major disruptions in Africa’s socio-economic life and the limits imposed by the rhetoric in development policy: exclusion and social inequality, environmental degradation and climate change, natural resources and poor beneficiation, trade and aid, food insecurity, demography and migration, pandemics and disease burden, conflict and criminality and technology and innovation. The book is intended for intermediate students in African studies, Area Studies, Development Economics, Development Studies, Public Policy and Comparative Politics. In addition will be development practitioners working in developing countries, the UN system, multilateral development banks, donor agencies and regional economic communities in Africa.

Disruptive and Game Changing Technologies in Modern Warfare: Development, Use, and Proliferation (Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications)

This book explores and analyzes emerging innovations within today’s most cutting-edge science and technology (S&T) areas, which are cited as carrying the potential to revolutionize governmental structures, economies, and international security. Some have argued that such technologies will yield doomsday scenarios and that military applications of such technologies have even greater potential than nuclear weapons to radically change the balance of power. As the United States looks to the future – whether dominated by extremist groups co-opting advanced weapons in the world of globalized non-state actors or states engaged in persistent regional conflicts in areas of strategic interest – new adversaries and new science and technology will emerge. Choices made today that affect science and technology will impact how ably the US can and will respond. Chapters within the book look at the changing strategic environment in which security operations are planned and conducted; how these impact science and technology policy choices made today; and predictions of how science and technology may play a beneficial or deleterious role in the future. Some game changing technologies have received global attention, while others may be less well known; the new technologies discussed within this proposal, as well as future discoveries, may significantly alter military capabilities and may generate new threats against military and civilian sectors.

Disruptive Fixation: School Reform and the Pitfalls of Techno-Idealism

In New York City in 2009, a new kind of public school opened its doors to its inaugural class of middle schoolers. Conceived by a team of game designers and progressive educational reformers and backed by prominent philanthropic foundations, it promised to reinvent the classroom for the digital age. Ethnographer Christo Sims documented the life of the school from its planning stages to the graduation of its first eighth-grade class. Disruptive Fixation is his account of how this "school for digital kids," heralded as a model of tech-driven educational reform, reverted to a more conventional type of schooling with rote learning, an emphasis on discipline, and traditional hierarchies of authority. Troubling gender and racialized class divisions also emerged.Sims shows how the philanthropic possibilities of new media technologies are repeatedly idealized even though actual interventions routinely fall short of the desired outcomes—often dramatically so. He traces the complex processes by which idealistic tech-reform perennially takes root, unsettles the worlds into which it intervenes, and eventually stabilizes in ways that remake and extend many of the social predicaments reformers hope to fix. Sims offers a nuanced look at the roles that powerful elites, experts, the media, and the intended beneficiaries of reform—in this case, the students and their parents—play in perpetuating the cycle.Disruptive Fixation offers a timely examination of techno-philanthropism and the yearnings and dilemmas it seeks to address, revealing what failed interventions do manage to accomplish—and for whom.

Disruptive Fixation: School Reform and the Pitfalls of Techno-Idealism (PDF)

In New York City in 2009, a new kind of public school opened its doors to its inaugural class of middle schoolers. Conceived by a team of game designers and progressive educational reformers and backed by prominent philanthropic foundations, it promised to reinvent the classroom for the digital age. Ethnographer Christo Sims documented the life of the school from its planning stages to the graduation of its first eighth-grade class. Disruptive Fixation is his account of how this "school for digital kids," heralded as a model of tech-driven educational reform, reverted to a more conventional type of schooling with rote learning, an emphasis on discipline, and traditional hierarchies of authority. Troubling gender and racialized class divisions also emerged.Sims shows how the philanthropic possibilities of new media technologies are repeatedly idealized even though actual interventions routinely fall short of the desired outcomes—often dramatically so. He traces the complex processes by which idealistic tech-reform perennially takes root, unsettles the worlds into which it intervenes, and eventually stabilizes in ways that remake and extend many of the social predicaments reformers hope to fix. Sims offers a nuanced look at the roles that powerful elites, experts, the media, and the intended beneficiaries of reform—in this case, the students and their parents—play in perpetuating the cycle.Disruptive Fixation offers a timely examination of techno-philanthropism and the yearnings and dilemmas it seeks to address, revealing what failed interventions do manage to accomplish—and for whom.

The Disruptive Impact of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems Diffusion: Modern Melians and the Dawn of Robotic Warriors (Emerging Technologies, Ethics and International Affairs)

Challenging the focus on great powers in the international debate, this book explores how rising middle power states are engaging with emerging major military innovations and analyses how this will affect the stability and security of the Indo Pacific. Presenting a data-based analysis of how middle power actors in the Indo-Pacific are responding to the emergence of military Artificial Intelligence and Killer Robots, the book asserts that continuing to exclude non-great power actors from our thinking in this field enables the dangerous diffusion of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS) to smaller states and terrorist groups, and demonstrates the disruptive effects of these military innovations on the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific. Offering a detailed analysis of the resource capacities of China, United States, Singapore and Indonesia, it shows how major military innovation acts as a circuit breaker between competitor states disrupting the conventional superiority of the dominant hegemonic state and giving a successful adopter a distinct advantage over their opponent. This book will appeal to researchers, end-users in the military and law enforcement communities, and policymakers. It will also be a valuable resource for researchers interested in strategic stability for the broader Asia-Pacific and the role of middle power states in hegemonic power transition and conflict.

The Disruptive Impact of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems Diffusion: Modern Melians and the Dawn of Robotic Warriors (Emerging Technologies, Ethics and International Affairs)

Challenging the focus on great powers in the international debate, this book explores how rising middle power states are engaging with emerging major military innovations and analyses how this will affect the stability and security of the Indo Pacific. Presenting a data-based analysis of how middle power actors in the Indo-Pacific are responding to the emergence of military Artificial Intelligence and Killer Robots, the book asserts that continuing to exclude non-great power actors from our thinking in this field enables the dangerous diffusion of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS) to smaller states and terrorist groups, and demonstrates the disruptive effects of these military innovations on the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific. Offering a detailed analysis of the resource capacities of China, United States, Singapore and Indonesia, it shows how major military innovation acts as a circuit breaker between competitor states disrupting the conventional superiority of the dominant hegemonic state and giving a successful adopter a distinct advantage over their opponent. This book will appeal to researchers, end-users in the military and law enforcement communities, and policymakers. It will also be a valuable resource for researchers interested in strategic stability for the broader Asia-Pacific and the role of middle power states in hegemonic power transition and conflict.

Disruptive Power: The Crisis of the State in the Digital Age (Oxford Studies in Digital Politics)

Anonymous. WikiLeaks. The Syrian Electronic Army. Edward Snowden. Bitcoin. The Arab Spring. Digital communication technologies have thrust the calculus of global political power into a period of unprecedented complexity. In every aspect of international affairs, digitally enabled actors are changing the way the world works and disrupting the institutions that once held a monopoly on power. No area is immune: humanitarianism, war, diplomacy, finance, activism, or journalism. In each, the government departments, international organizations and corporations who for a century were in charge, are being challenged by a new breed of international actor. Online, networked and decentralized, these new actors are innovating, for both good and ill, in the austere world of foreign policy. They are representative of a wide range of 21st century global actors and a new form of 21st century power: disruptive power. In Disruptive Power, Taylor Owen provides a sweeping look at the way that digital technologies are shaking up the workings of the institutions that have traditionally controlled international affairs. The nation state system and the subsequent multinational system were founded on and have long functioned through a concentration of power in the state. Owen looks at the tools that a wide range of new actors are using to increasingly control international affairs, and how their rise changes the way we understand and act in the world. He considers the bar for success in international digital action and the negative consequences of a radically decentralized international system. What new institutions will be needed to moderate the new power structures and ensure accountability? And how can governments and corporations act to promote positive behavior in a world of disruptive innovation? Owen takes on these questions and more in this probing and sober look at the frontier of international affairs, in a world enabled by information technology and increasingly led by disruptive innovators. With cutting edge analysis of the fast-changing relationship between the declining state and increasingly powerful non-state actors, Disruptive Power is the essential road map for navigating a networked world.

Disruptive Power: The Crisis of the State in the Digital Age (Oxford Studies in Digital Politics)

Anonymous. WikiLeaks. The Syrian Electronic Army. Edward Snowden. Bitcoin. The Arab Spring. Digital communication technologies have thrust the calculus of global political power into a period of unprecedented complexity. In every aspect of international affairs, digitally enabled actors are changing the way the world works and disrupting the institutions that once held a monopoly on power. No area is immune: humanitarianism, war, diplomacy, finance, activism, or journalism. In each, the government departments, international organizations and corporations who for a century were in charge, are being challenged by a new breed of international actor. Online, networked and decentralized, these new actors are innovating, for both good and ill, in the austere world of foreign policy. They are representative of a wide range of 21st century global actors and a new form of 21st century power: disruptive power. In Disruptive Power, Taylor Owen provides a sweeping look at the way that digital technologies are shaking up the workings of the institutions that have traditionally controlled international affairs. The nation state system and the subsequent multinational system were founded on and have long functioned through a concentration of power in the state. Owen looks at the tools that a wide range of new actors are using to increasingly control international affairs, and how their rise changes the way we understand and act in the world. He considers the bar for success in international digital action and the negative consequences of a radically decentralized international system. What new institutions will be needed to moderate the new power structures and ensure accountability? And how can governments and corporations act to promote positive behavior in a world of disruptive innovation? Owen takes on these questions and more in this probing and sober look at the frontier of international affairs, in a world enabled by information technology and increasingly led by disruptive innovators. With cutting edge analysis of the fast-changing relationship between the declining state and increasingly powerful non-state actors, Disruptive Power is the essential road map for navigating a networked world.

Disruptive Technologies for the Militaries and Security (Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies #132)

This book debates and discusses the present and future of Disruptive Technologies in general and military Disruptive Technologies in particular. Its primary goal is to discuss various critical and advanced elucidations on strategic technologies. The focus is less on extrapolating the future of technology in a strict sense, and more on understanding the Disruptive Technology paradigm. It is widely accepted that technology alone cannot win any military campaign or war. However, technological superiority always offers militaries an advantage. More importantly, technology also has a great deterrent value. Hence, on occasion, technology can help to avoid wars. Accordingly, it is important to effectively manage new technologies by identifying their strategic utility and role in existing military architectures and the possible contributions they could make towards improving overall military capabilities. This can also entail doctrinal changes, so as to translate these new technologies into concrete advantages.

Disruptive Technologies, Innovation and Development in Africa (International Political Economy Series)

This book examines how disruptive technologies and innovation underpin the attainment of a broader development agenda in Africa. Contributors show how distinctive forms of technological innovation can impact critical development processes. For example, disruptive technologies can deepen the ongoing democratic and governance waves in Africa, specifically in the area of contested elections. Similarly, innovations in agriculture, the environment and energy promote changes in value chain agriculture, and the use of sensors to manage e-waste and sustainable energy conservation are also transforming established practices. Furthermore, the role of disruptive technologies and innovation in education, health, financial services and the nature of paid work cannot be ignored. Individually and collectively, the authors discuss and highlight the mechanisms and initiatives that can contribute to the realization of the development goals of African countries, especially in a period where disruptive technologies are rapidly changing how things are done. As a result, this book, which represents one of the most recent systematic efforts to bring together dialogue on disruptive technologies in Africa, will be of particular use and benefit to a wide and an eclectic audience.

Disruptive Tourism and its Untidy Guests: Alternative Ontologies for Future Hospitalities (Leisure Studies in a Global Era)

This book invokes the radical potentialities of 'untidiness' to envision alternative arrangements of social life and hospitality. Instead of trying to manage sustainability or tidy up tourist situations, the authors embrace the messiness of human relations and argue for more creative, embodied and ethical ontologies of tourism and mobility.

Disruptive Transport: Driverless Cars, Transport Innovation and the Sustainable City of Tomorrow (Routledge Equity, Justice and the Sustainable City series)

With the rise of shared and networked vehicles, autonomous vehicles, and other transportation technologies, technological change is outpacing urban planning and policy. Whether urban planners and policy makers like it or not, these transformations will in turn result in profound changes to streets, land use, and cities. But smarter transportation may not necessarily translate into greater sustainability or equity. There are clear opportunities to shape advances in transportation, and to harness them to reshape cities and improve the socio-economic health of cities and residents. There are opportunities to reduce collisions and improve access to healthcare for those who need it most—particularly high-cost, high-need individuals at the younger and older ends of the age spectrum. There is also potential to connect individuals to jobs and change the way cities organize space and optimize trips. To date, very little discussion has centered around the job and social implications of this technology. Further, policy dialogue on future transport has lagged—particularly in the arenas of sustainability and social justice. Little work has been done on decision-making in this high uncertainty environment–a deficiency that is concerning given that land use and transportation actions have long and lagging timelines. This is one of the first books to explore the impact that emerging transport technology is having on cities and their residents, and how policy is needed to shape the cities that we want to have in the future. The book contains a selection of contributions based on the most advanced empirical research, and case studies for how future transport can be harnessed to improve urban sustainability and justice.

Disruptive Transport: Driverless Cars, Transport Innovation and the Sustainable City of Tomorrow (Routledge Equity, Justice and the Sustainable City series)

With the rise of shared and networked vehicles, autonomous vehicles, and other transportation technologies, technological change is outpacing urban planning and policy. Whether urban planners and policy makers like it or not, these transformations will in turn result in profound changes to streets, land use, and cities. But smarter transportation may not necessarily translate into greater sustainability or equity. There are clear opportunities to shape advances in transportation, and to harness them to reshape cities and improve the socio-economic health of cities and residents. There are opportunities to reduce collisions and improve access to healthcare for those who need it most—particularly high-cost, high-need individuals at the younger and older ends of the age spectrum. There is also potential to connect individuals to jobs and change the way cities organize space and optimize trips. To date, very little discussion has centered around the job and social implications of this technology. Further, policy dialogue on future transport has lagged—particularly in the arenas of sustainability and social justice. Little work has been done on decision-making in this high uncertainty environment–a deficiency that is concerning given that land use and transportation actions have long and lagging timelines. This is one of the first books to explore the impact that emerging transport technology is having on cities and their residents, and how policy is needed to shape the cities that we want to have in the future. The book contains a selection of contributions based on the most advanced empirical research, and case studies for how future transport can be harnessed to improve urban sustainability and justice.

Disruptive Women: A WomenEd Guide to Equitable Action in Education

Disruptive Women is your guide to changing the status quo in the education system. Drawing from rich, varied perspectives from across the global WomenEd community it offers guidance, solidarity and real-life examples of how to make change happen in four vital areas: Increasing the representation of women in educational leadership Breaking down barriers that exclude diverse women from leadership roles Disrupting the gender pay gap for women leaders Championing flexible working for more equitable working cultures This is unmissable reading for anyone working in schools, universities and other educational organisations who recognises the need to disrupt, innovate and to change education to be more inclusive, equitable and diverse.

Disruptive Women: A WomenEd Guide to Equitable Action in Education

Disruptive Women is your guide to changing the status quo in the education system. Drawing from rich, varied perspectives from across the global WomenEd community it offers guidance, solidarity and real-life examples of how to make change happen in four vital areas: Increasing the representation of women in educational leadership Breaking down barriers that exclude diverse women from leadership roles Disrupting the gender pay gap for women leaders Championing flexible working for more equitable working cultures This is unmissable reading for anyone working in schools, universities and other educational organisations who recognises the need to disrupt, innovate and to change education to be more inclusive, equitable and diverse.

Disruptive Women: A WomenEd Guide to Equitable Action in Education

Disruptive Women is your guide to changing the status quo in the education system. Drawing from rich, varied perspectives from across the global WomenEd community it offers guidance, solidarity and real-life examples of how to make change happen in four vital areas: Increasing the representation of women in educational leadership Breaking down barriers that exclude diverse women from leadership roles Disrupting the gender pay gap for women leaders Championing flexible working for more equitable working cultures This is unmissable reading for anyone working in schools, universities and other educational organisations who recognises the need to disrupt, innovate and to change education to be more inclusive, equitable and diverse.

Dissecting the Danchi: Inside Japan’s Largest Postwar Housing Experiment

The book is the first to explore the history and political significance of the Japanese public housing program. In the 1960s, as Japan's postwar economy boomed, architects and urban planners inspired equally by Western modernism and Soviet ideas of housing as a basic right created new cityscapes to house populations turned into refugees by the war. Over time, as Japan's society aged and the economy began to stagnate, these structures have become a burden on society. In this closely researched monograph on the conditions of Japanese housing, Tatiana Knoroz sheds unexpected light on the rise and fall of the idea of social democracy in Japan which will be of interest to historians, architects, and scholars of Asian economic modernization.

Dissension in the House of Commons: Intra-Party Dissent in the House of Commons’ Division Lobbies 1945–1974 (pdf)

Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics

Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics brings together some of Jacques Rancière's most recent writings on art and politics to show the critical potential of two of his most important concepts: the aesthetics of politics and the politics of aesthetics. In this fascinating collection, Rancière engages in a radical critique of some of his major contemporaries on questions of art and politics: Gilles Deleuze, Antonio Negri, Giorgio Agamben, Alain Badiou and Jacques Derrida. The essays show how Rancière's ideas can be used to analyse contemporary trends in both art and politics, including the events surrounding 9/11, war in the contemporary consensual age, and the ethical turn of aesthetics and politics. Rancière elaborates new directions for the concepts of politics and communism, as well as the notion of what a 'politics of art' might be. This important collection includes several essays that have never previously been published in English, as well as a brand new afterword. Together these essays serve as a superb introduction to the work of one of the world's most influential contemporary thinkers.