- Table View
- List View
Autobiographical Cultures in Post-War Italy: Life-Writing, Communism and Feminism
by Walter S. BaroniAfter the Second World War, two contrasting political movements became increasingly active in Italy - the communist and feminist movements. In this book, Walter Baroni uses autobiographical life-writing from both movements key protagonists to shed new light on the history of these movements and more broadly the similarities and differences between political activists in post-war Italy.
Autobiographical Cultures in Post-War Italy: Life-Writing, Communism and Feminism
by Walter S. BaroniAfter the Second World War, two contrasting political movements became increasingly active in Italy - the communist and feminist movements. In this book, Walter Baroni uses autobiographical life-writing from both movements key protagonists to shed new light on the history of these movements and more broadly the similarities and differences between political activists in post-war Italy.
Autobiographical International Relations: I, IR (Interventions)
by Naeem InayatullahThis volume provides a novel approach to international relations. In the course of fifteen essays, scholars write about how life events brought them to their subject matter. They place their narratives in the larger context of world politics, culture, and history. Autobiographical International Relations believes that the fictive distancing associated with academic prose creates disaffection in both readers and writers. In contrast, these essays demonstrate how to reengage the "I" while simultaneously sustaining theoretical precision and historical awareness. Authors highlight their motives, their desires, and their wounds. By connecting their theoretical and practical engagements with their needs and wounds, and by working within the overlap between theory, history, and autobiography, these essays aim to increase the clarity, urgency, and meaningfulness of academic work. These essays are autobiographical, but focused on the academic aspect of authors’ lives. Specifically, they are set within the domain of international relations/global politics. They are theoretical, but geared to demonstrate that theoretical decisions emerge from theorists’ needs and wounds. Theoretical precision, rather than being explicitly deduced, is instead immanent to the autobiographical and the historical/cultural narrative each author portrays. And, these essays are framed in historical/cultural terms, but seek to bind together theory, history, culture, and the personal into a differentiated and vibrant whole. This book moves the field of International Relations towards greater candidness about how personal narrative influences theoretical articulations. No such volume currently exists in the field of international relations.
Autobiographical International Relations: I, IR (Interventions)
by Naeem InayatullahThis volume provides a novel approach to international relations. In the course of fifteen essays, scholars write about how life events brought them to their subject matter. They place their narratives in the larger context of world politics, culture, and history. Autobiographical International Relations believes that the fictive distancing associated with academic prose creates disaffection in both readers and writers. In contrast, these essays demonstrate how to reengage the "I" while simultaneously sustaining theoretical precision and historical awareness. Authors highlight their motives, their desires, and their wounds. By connecting their theoretical and practical engagements with their needs and wounds, and by working within the overlap between theory, history, and autobiography, these essays aim to increase the clarity, urgency, and meaningfulness of academic work. These essays are autobiographical, but focused on the academic aspect of authors’ lives. Specifically, they are set within the domain of international relations/global politics. They are theoretical, but geared to demonstrate that theoretical decisions emerge from theorists’ needs and wounds. Theoretical precision, rather than being explicitly deduced, is instead immanent to the autobiographical and the historical/cultural narrative each author portrays. And, these essays are framed in historical/cultural terms, but seek to bind together theory, history, culture, and the personal into a differentiated and vibrant whole. This book moves the field of International Relations towards greater candidness about how personal narrative influences theoretical articulations. No such volume currently exists in the field of international relations.
An Autobiography
by Angela Y. Davis'Riveting; as fresh and relevant today as it was almost 50 years ago. The words fire off the page with humour, anger and eloquence' GuardianA powerful and commanding account of the life of trailblazing political activist Angela DavisEdited by Toni Morrison and first published in 1974, An Autobiography is a classic of the Black Liberation era which resonates just as powerfully today. It is reissued now with a new introduction by Davis, for a new audience inspired and galvanised by her ongoing activism and her extraordinary example.In the book, she describes her journey from a childhood on Dynamite Hill in Birmingham, Alabama, to one of the most significant political trials of the century: from her political activity in a New York high school to her work with the U.S. Communist Party, the Black Panther Party, and the Soledad Brothers; and from the faculty of the Philosophy Department at UCLA to the FBI's list of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.Told with warmth, brilliance, humour, and conviction, it is an unforgettable account of a life committed to radical change.
An Autobiography: Or The Story of My Experiments With Truth (Penguin Modern Classics Series)
by M. K Gandhi Mahadev DesaiMohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in Western India in 1869. He was educated in London and later travelled to South Africa, where he experienced racism and took up the rights of Indians, instituting his first campaign of passive resistance. In 1915 he returned to British-controlled India, bringing to a country in the throes of independence his commitment to non-violent change, and his belief always in the power of truth. Under Gandhi’s lead, millions of protesters would engage in mass campaigns of civil disobedience, seeking change through ahimsa, or non-violence. For Gandhi, the long path towards Indian independence would lead to imprisonment and hardship, yet he never once forgot the principles of truth and non-violence so dear to him. Written in the 1920s, Gandhi’s autobiography tells of his struggles and his inspirations; a powerful and enduring statement of an extraordinary life.
An Autobiography: The Story Of My Experiments With Truth (Penguin Modern Classics)
by M. K Gandhi Sunil KhilnaniGandhi's non-violent struggles against racism, violence, and colonialism in South Africa and India had brought him to such a level of notoriety, adulation that when asked to write an autobiography midway through his career, he took it as an opportunity to explain himself. He feared the enthusiasm for his ideas tended to exceed a deeper understanding of his quest for truth rooted in devotion to God. His attempts to get closer to this divine power led him to seek purity through simple living, dietary practices, celibacy, and a life without violence. This is not a straightforward narrative biography, in The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Gandhi offers his life story as a reference for those who would follow in his footsteps.
An Autobiography
by Catherine Helen SpenceSitting down at the age of eighty-four to give an account of my life, I feel that it connects itself naturally with the growth and development of the province of South Australia, to which I came with my family in the year 1839, before it was quite three years old. <P> <P> But there is much truth in Wordsworth's line, "the child is father of the man," and no less is the mother of the woman; and I must go back to Scotland for the roots of my character and Ideals. I account myself well-born, for My father and my mother loved each other. I consider myself well descended, going back for many generations on both sides of intelligent and respectable people. I think I was well brought up, for my father and mother were of one mind regarding the care of the family. I count myself well educated, for the admirable woman at the head of the school which I attended from the age of four and a half till I was thirteen and a half, was a born teacher in advance of her own times. In fact. like my own dear mother, Sarah Phin was a New Woman without knowing it. The phrase was not known in the thirties
Autobiography, Memory and Nationhood in Anglophone Africa (Routledge Studies in African Literature)
by David Ekanem Udoinwang James Tar TsaaiorThis book provides an important critical analysis of the autobiographies of nine major leaders of national liberation movements in Africa. By examining their self-narratives, we can better understand how decolonisation unfolded and how activist-politicians sought to immortalise their roles for posterity. Focusing on the autobiographies of Peter Abrahams, Albert Luthuli, Ruth First and Nelson Mandela (South Africa), Nnamdi Azikiwe (Nigeria), Kenneth Kaunda (Zambia), George Mwase (Malawi), Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana), Maurice Nyagumbo (Zimbabwe), and Oginga Odinga (Kenya), the book uncovers the social and cultural forces which galvanized the anti-colonial resistance movement in African societies. In particular, the book explores the disdain for foreign domination, economic exploitation and cultural imperialism. It delves into themes of African cultural sovereignty before the colonial encounter, the disruptive presence of colonialism, the nationalist ferment against European imperial domination, the achievement of political autonomy by African nation-states and the corpus of contradictions which attended postcolonial becoming. With important insights on how these key historical figures navigated the process of self-determining nationhood in Africa, this book will be of interest to researchers of African literature, history, and politics.
Autobiography, Memory and Nationhood in Anglophone Africa (Routledge Studies in African Literature)
by David Ekanem Udoinwang James Tar TsaaiorThis book provides an important critical analysis of the autobiographies of nine major leaders of national liberation movements in Africa. By examining their self-narratives, we can better understand how decolonisation unfolded and how activist-politicians sought to immortalise their roles for posterity. Focusing on the autobiographies of Peter Abrahams, Albert Luthuli, Ruth First and Nelson Mandela (South Africa), Nnamdi Azikiwe (Nigeria), Kenneth Kaunda (Zambia), George Mwase (Malawi), Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana), Maurice Nyagumbo (Zimbabwe), and Oginga Odinga (Kenya), the book uncovers the social and cultural forces which galvanized the anti-colonial resistance movement in African societies. In particular, the book explores the disdain for foreign domination, economic exploitation and cultural imperialism. It delves into themes of African cultural sovereignty before the colonial encounter, the disruptive presence of colonialism, the nationalist ferment against European imperial domination, the achievement of political autonomy by African nation-states and the corpus of contradictions which attended postcolonial becoming. With important insights on how these key historical figures navigated the process of self-determining nationhood in Africa, this book will be of interest to researchers of African literature, history, and politics.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
by Benjamin FranklinOriginally intended as a guide for his son, Benjamin Franklin details his unique and eventful life as an inventor, writer, athlete, scientist, writer and diplomat.
The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt
by Eleanor RooseveltEleanor Roosevelt stands as one of the world's greatest humanitarians, having dedicated her remarkable life to the liberty and equality of all people. In this sincere and frank self-portrait she recounts her childhood – marked by the death of her mother and separation from the rest of her family at age seven – her marriage to Franklin D. Roosevelt; and the challenges of motherhood, including the tragic death of her second son, all of which occurred before her twenty-fifth birthday.It wasn't till her thirties that Eleanor Roosevelt began the life for which she is known. A committed supporter of women's suffrage, architect of the welfare state, leader of the UN Commission on Human Rights and author of the Declaration of Human Rights, as well as being a prolific writer, diplomat, visionary, pacifist and committed social activist, hers is the story of the twentieth century.At once a heart-wrenching personal narrative and a unique historical document, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt is the ultimate example of the personal as political.
The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt
by Eleanor RooseveltEleanor Roosevelt stands as one of the world's greatest humanitarians, having dedicated her remarkable life to the liberty and equality of all people. In this sincere and frank self-portrait she recounts her childhood – marked by the death of her mother and separation from the rest of her family at age seven – her marriage to Franklin D. Roosevelt; and the challenges of motherhood, including the tragic death of her second son, all of which occurred before her twenty-fifth birthday.It wasn't till her thirties that Eleanor Roosevelt began the life for which she is known. A committed supporter of women's suffrage, architect of the welfare state, leader of the UN Commission on Human Rights and author of the Declaration of Human Rights, as well as being a prolific writer, diplomat, visionary, pacifist and committed social activist, hers is the story of the twentieth century.At once a heart-wrenching personal narrative and a unique historical document, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt is the ultimate example of the personal as political.
Autobiography of Mother Jones
by Clarence Darrow Mary Field Parton Mary Harris JonesAmong the most stirring works of labor history ever written, this autobiography of Mother Jones (née Mary Harris) chronicles the life of a woman who was considered a saint by many, and by others, "the most dangerous woman in America." A forceful and picturesque figure in the American labor movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Mother Jones was a born crusader.Widowed at the age of 30 when her husband and four young children died during a yellow fever epidemic, Mother Jones spoke out tirelessly and effectively for the rights of workers and unionists. She played a significant role in organizing mining strikes in West Virginia and Colorado, as well as the Pittsburgh steel strike of 1919. She was instrumental in the formation of the United Mine Workers union (UMW) in 1890 and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in 1905.
The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson
by Thomas JeffersonDuring his remarkable lifetime, Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) served his country in many capacities, including as the third President of the United States. But ultimately, this gifted individual — an accomplished architect, naturalist, and linguist — wished to be remembered primarily as the writer of the Declaration of Independence.In this autobiography, begun in 1821 when the author was 77, Jefferson touches fleetingly upon his early years before focusing on the period during which he wrote the Declaration. This edition features a fascinating first draft of the document, in addition to Jefferson's comments on the Articles of Confederation. Other highlights include his firsthand observations on the early stages of the French Revolution, obtained while serving as Minister to France, as well as insights from his many other public roles: wartime Governor of Virginia, Washington's Secretary of State, and Vice President during the John Adams administration. This brief memoir provides a rare opportunity to share the reflections of a Founding Father as written in his own words.
Autocracy
by G. TullockMy first serious thought about a scientific approach to politics was in Communist China. When the Communists seized China, the American Department of State, which was planning to recognize them, left its entire diplomatic establishment in place. At the time, I was a Vice Consul in Tientsin, so I found myself living under the Communists. While the Department of State was planning on recognizing the Communists, the Communist plans were obscure. In any event, they weren't going to recognize us in the Consulate General until formal relations were established between the two governments, so I had a great deal of leisure. As a man who then intended to spend his life as a political officer in the Department of State, I decided to fill in this time by reading political science. I rapidly realized, not only that the work was rather unsatisfactory from a scientific standpoint, but also that it didn't seem to have very much relevance to the Communist government under which I was then living. ! I was unable to solve the problem at the time, and after a number of vicissitudes which included service in Hong Kong and South Korea, neither of which was really a model of democracy, I resigned and switched over to an academic career primarily concerned with that mixture of economics and political science which we call Public Choice. Most of my work in Public Choice has dealt with democratic governments.
Autocracy and Health Governance in Russia
by Vlad KravtsovThe book is the first attempt to investigate how and to what extent authoritarian (personalistic) regimes fail to provide fundamental goods and services. For two decades, Russian authorities spent much effort and money to improve health administration, but most success stories are borderline fake. The failure is by design; because personalistic regimes rely on personalized exchanges and bargains instead of impersonal rules and permanent organizations, all actors put self-interest ahead of patients’ needs. It is a severe problem because authoritarian principals proclaim social betterment as their central goal -- and many Russians take such claims at face value -- but incentivize their agents to imitate progress and tolerate slipshod performance. The benefits of this investigation are three-fold. First, the book provides an analytical framework of bad governance rooted in the rational institutionalist tradition and connected to competence-control theory. Second, it gives a general readership interested in how Russia works a sense of the key political players’ mindset and the regime-induced constraints under which elites operate. Third, although the book investigates health governance exclusively, its analytical framework is portable to other issue areas and could be applied to explain how and why Russia evolved into an ineffective, coercive, and predatory state under Putin’s leadership.
Autocracy, Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World
by Anne ApplebaumOne of the world's most celebrated historians and journalists uncovers the networks trying to destroy the democratic worldAll of us have in our minds a cartoon image of what an autocratic state looks like, with a bad man at the top. But in the 21st century, that cartoon bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, autocracies are run not by one bad guy, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, security services and professional propagandists. The members of these networks are connected not only within a given country, but among many countries. The corrupt, state-controlled companies in one dictatorship do business with corrupt, state-controlled companies in another. The police in one country can arm, equip, and train the police in another. The propagandists share resources—the troll farms that promote one dictator’s propaganda can also be used to promote the propaganda of another—and themes, pounding home the same messages about the weakness of democracy and the evil of America.Unlike military or political alliances from other times and places, this group doesn’t operate like a bloc, but rather like an agglomeration of companies: Autocracy, Inc. Their relations are not based on values, but are rather transactional, which is why they operate so easily across ideological, geographical, and cultural lines. In truth, they are in full agreement about only one thing: Their dislike of us, the inhabitants of the democratic world, and their desire to see both our political systems and our values undermine.That shared understanding of the world—where it comes from, why it lasts, how it works, how the democratic world has unwittingly helped to consolidate it, and how we can help bring it down—is the subject of this book.
Autocratic and Democratic External Influences in Post-Soviet Eurasia (Post-Soviet Politics)
by Alexander Libman Anastassia ObydenkovaAs the Ukrainian Crisis shows both political regimes and national borders in Eurasia are still in a state of flux. Bringing together literatures on the external influences of democratization, the post-Soviet space and support for autocracy Autocratic and Democratic External influences in Post-Soviet Eurasia provides a comprehensive overview of the interaction of domestic and international politics during times of regime transition. Demonstrating the interplay of these forces the book explores the rich variation in motives and channels of autocratic and democratic influences. International scholars consider two channels of external influence on regime transition; the role of supranational organizations established by non-democracies and the role of non-governmental organizations and through a set of carefully chosen case studies offer a new theoretical discussion on the phenomenon of multi-level regime transition.
Autocratic and Democratic External Influences in Post-Soviet Eurasia (Post-Soviet Politics)
by Alexander Libman Anastassia ObydenkovaAs the Ukrainian Crisis shows both political regimes and national borders in Eurasia are still in a state of flux. Bringing together literatures on the external influences of democratization, the post-Soviet space and support for autocracy Autocratic and Democratic External influences in Post-Soviet Eurasia provides a comprehensive overview of the interaction of domestic and international politics during times of regime transition. Demonstrating the interplay of these forces the book explores the rich variation in motives and channels of autocratic and democratic influences. International scholars consider two channels of external influence on regime transition; the role of supranational organizations established by non-democracies and the role of non-governmental organizations and through a set of carefully chosen case studies offer a new theoretical discussion on the phenomenon of multi-level regime transition.
The Autocratic Middle Class: How State Dependency Reduces the Demand for Democracy (Princeton Studies in Political Behavior #26)
by Bryn RosenfeldHow middle-class economic dependence on the state impedes democratization and contributes to authoritarian resilienceConventional wisdom holds that the rising middle classes are a force for democracy. Yet in post-Soviet countries like Russia, where the middle class has grown rapidly, authoritarianism is deepening. Challenging a basic tenet of democratization theory, Bryn Rosenfeld shows how the middle classes can actually be a source of support for autocracy and authoritarian resilience, and reveals why development and economic growth do not necessarily lead to greater democracy.In pursuit of development, authoritarian states often employ large swaths of the middle class in state administration, the government budget sector, and state enterprises. Drawing on attitudinal surveys, unique data on protest behavior, and extensive fieldwork in the post-Soviet region, Rosenfeld documents how the failure of the middle class to gain economic autonomy from the state stymies support for political change, and how state economic engagement reduces middle-class demands for democracy and weakens prodemocratic coalitions.The Autocratic Middle Class makes a vital contribution to the study of democratization, showing how dependence on the state weakens the incentives of key societal actors to prefer and pursue democracy.
The Autocratic Middle Class: How State Dependency Reduces the Demand for Democracy (Princeton Studies in Political Behavior #26)
by Bryn RosenfeldHow middle-class economic dependence on the state impedes democratization and contributes to authoritarian resilienceConventional wisdom holds that the rising middle classes are a force for democracy. Yet in post-Soviet countries like Russia, where the middle class has grown rapidly, authoritarianism is deepening. Challenging a basic tenet of democratization theory, Bryn Rosenfeld shows how the middle classes can actually be a source of support for autocracy and authoritarian resilience, and reveals why development and economic growth do not necessarily lead to greater democracy.In pursuit of development, authoritarian states often employ large swaths of the middle class in state administration, the government budget sector, and state enterprises. Drawing on attitudinal surveys, unique data on protest behavior, and extensive fieldwork in the post-Soviet region, Rosenfeld documents how the failure of the middle class to gain economic autonomy from the state stymies support for political change, and how state economic engagement reduces middle-class demands for democracy and weakens prodemocratic coalitions.The Autocratic Middle Class makes a vital contribution to the study of democratization, showing how dependence on the state weakens the incentives of key societal actors to prefer and pursue democracy.
Autocratization in Contemporary Uganda: Clientelism, Coercion and Social Control
by Moses KhisaAutocratization in Contemporary Uganda analyses two interrelated outcomes: autocratisation, manifest in the deepening of personalist rule or Musevenism, and the regime resilience that has made Museveni one of Africa's current-longest surviving rulers. How has this feat been possible, and what has been the trajectory of Museveni's increasingly autocratic rule?Surveying that trajectory since 1986, the book takes as its primary focus the years since 2005; bringing to the fore the 'autocratic turn', placing it within a broader comparative lens, and enriching it with comparative references to cases outside of Uganda. While positing the notion of 'autocratic adaptability' as a defining hallmark of Museveni's rule, the book examines the factors and forces that have made that adaptability possible, analysing the dynamics around three keys themes: institutions, resources, and coalitions. Through empirical research, each chapter seeks to demonstrate how either one or two of these three variables have functioned in propelling autocratization and assuring regime resilience - producing theoretical and and comparative implications that reach beyond Uganda.