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Narrative Politics in Public Policy: Legalizing Cannabis
by Hugh T. MillerThis book draws on examples from cannabis policy discourse and elsewhere to illustrate how individuals come to subscribe to a particular policy narrative; how policy narratives evolve; how narratives are employed in public policy discourse to compete with other narratives; and how, on implementation, the winning narrative is performed and subsequently institutionalized. Further, it explores how uncertainty and ambiguity are constants in public policy discourse, and how different factions and groups pursue different goals and aspirations. In the current climate of political reality, disputable facts and contestable goals, this book shows how different coalitions and ideologies use narratives to compete for policy dominance.
Narrative Traditions in International Politics: Representing Turkey (The Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication)
by Johanna VuorelmaThis book introduces the concept of narrative tradition to study representation in international politics. Focusing specifically on the case of Turkey, the book shows how narrative traditions are constructed, maintained, and passed on by a loose epistemic community that involves practitioners and experts including scholars, journalists, diplomats, and political representatives. Employing an interpretative approach, the book distinguishes between four narrative traditions in the study of Turkey: Turkey as a state that is (1) getting lost, (2) standing at a decisive crossroad, (3) led by strongmen, and (4) struggling with a creeping Islamisation.These narrative traditions carry enduring beliefs that not only describe, moralise, judge, and stigmatise Turkey, but also contribute to the idea of the West. The book focuses on knowledge that is produced from a Western perspective, showing that Turkey provides a channel through which the Western self can be debated, challenged, celebrated, and judged.
Narratives of Arab Secularism: Politics, Feminism and Religion (Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Democratization and Government)
by Youssef M. ChoueiriThis book offers a new interpretation of the rich narratives of Arab secularism, contending that secularism as a set of ideas and a social movement is destined to loom large on the political and legal horizon of most Arab states.Youssef M. Choueiri provides a study of three moments in the development of secularism in the Arab World, the Machiavellian, the Alfierian and the Gramscian. It is within such a scope that secularism in its interaction with state-building projects, women’s emancipation and religion is treated as an intellectual current and a discursive entity embedded in the political process of its diverse societies. Through the chapters, Choueiri demonstrates how secularism occupies a pivotal presence in the religious and political life of the Arab world, exploring such interrelated configurations as indigenous contributions, diverse reforms and the impact of Western states. He concludes that secularism has become a moral prerequisite and a required vehicle in creating the necessary conditions for the success of democracy in the Middle East.Narratives of Arab Secularism tackles the complexity and contemporary ramifications of the subject in a way that no previous single study has been able to. It will be relevant to both students and academics dealing with topics related to the Middle East including religion, politics, anthropology and history.Chapter 6 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
Narratives of Arab Secularism: Politics, Feminism and Religion (Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Democratization and Government)
by Youssef M. ChoueiriThis book offers a new interpretation of the rich narratives of Arab secularism, contending that secularism as a set of ideas and a social movement is destined to loom large on the political and legal horizon of most Arab states.Youssef M. Choueiri provides a study of three moments in the development of secularism in the Arab World, the Machiavellian, the Alfierian and the Gramscian. It is within such a scope that secularism in its interaction with state-building projects, women’s emancipation and religion is treated as an intellectual current and a discursive entity embedded in the political process of its diverse societies. Through the chapters, Choueiri demonstrates how secularism occupies a pivotal presence in the religious and political life of the Arab world, exploring such interrelated configurations as indigenous contributions, diverse reforms and the impact of Western states. He concludes that secularism has become a moral prerequisite and a required vehicle in creating the necessary conditions for the success of democracy in the Middle East.Narratives of Arab Secularism tackles the complexity and contemporary ramifications of the subject in a way that no previous single study has been able to. It will be relevant to both students and academics dealing with topics related to the Middle East including religion, politics, anthropology and history.Chapter 6 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
Narratives of British Socialism
by S. IngleWhat can the study of narratives bring to our understanding of political ideas that other forms of analysis cannot? In Narratives of British Socialism , Stephen Ingle shows how imaginative literature can be used to give definition to political thought. The origins, development and eventual decline of British socialism are analyzed in the writings of Morris, Shaw, Wells, Huxley, Koestler, Orwell and others. Ingle concludes that narratives can give us an experiential understanding of political ideas.
Narratives of Civic Duty: How National Stories Shape Democracy in Asia (Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University)
by Aram HurIn Narratives of Civic Duty, Aram Hur investigates the impulse behind a sense of civic duty in democracies. Why do some citizens feel a responsibility to vote, pay taxes, or take up arms in defense of one's country? Through comparing democratic societies in East Asia and elsewhere, Hur shows that the sense of obligation to be a good citizen—upon which the resilience of a democracy depends—emerges from a force long thought to be detrimental to democracy itself: national attachments.Nationalism's illiberal and exclusive tendencies are typically viewed as disruptive to democratic processes, but Hur argues that there is nothing inherently antidemocratic about nationalism. Rather, whether nationalism helps or hinders democracy is shaped by the historicized relationship between a national people and their democratic state. When national stories portray that relationship as one of mutual commitment, nationalism strengthens democracies by motivating widespread civic duty among citizens. Drawing on personal narratives, statistical surveys, and experiments, Narratives of Civic Duty offers a provocative national theory of civic duty that cuts to the heart of what makes democracies thrive.
Narratives of Difference in an Age of Austerity (Thinking Gender in Transnational Times)
by Irene GedalofThis book traces the narrative strategies framing austerity policies through an illuminating analysis of policy documents and political discourses, exposing the political consequences for women, racialized minorities and disabled people. While many have critiqued the ways in which austerity has captured the contemporary political narrative, this is the first book to systematically examine how these narratives work to shift the terms within which policy debates about inequality and difference play out. Gedalof’s exceptional readings of these texts pay close attention to the formal qualities of these narratives: the chronologies they impose, their articulation of crisis and resolution, the points of view they construct and the affective registers they deploy. In this manner she argues persuasively that the differences of gender, race, ethnicity and disability have been stitched into the fabric of austerity as excesses that must be disavowed, as reproductive burdens that are too great for the austere state to bear. This innovative, intersectional analysis will appeal to students and scholars of social policy, gender studies, politics and public policy.
Narratives of Faith from the Haiti Earthquake: Religion, Natural Hazards and Disaster Response (Routledge Focus on Religion)
by Roger Philip Abbott Robert S. WhiteThis book presents an in-depth ethnographic case study carried out in the years following the 2010 Haiti earthquake to present the role of faith beliefs in disaster response. The earthquake is one of the most destructive on record, and the aftermath, including a cholera epidemic and ongoing humanitarian aid, has continued for years following the catastrophe. Based on dozens of interviews, this book gives primacy to survivors’ narratives. It begins by laying out the Haitian context, before presenting an account of the earthquake from survivors’ perspectives. It then explores in detail how the earthquake affected the religious, mainly Christian, faith of survivors and how religious faith influenced how they responded to, and are recovering from, the experience. The account is also informed by geoscience and the accompanying "complicating factors." Finally, the Haitian experience highlights the significant role that religious faith can play alongside other learned coping strategies in disaster response and recovery globally. This book contributes an important case study to an emerging literature in which the influence of both religion and narrative is being recognised. It will be of interest to scholars of any discipline concerned with disaster response, including practical theology, anthropology, psychology, geography, Caribbean studies and earth science. It will also provide a resource for non-governmental organisations.
Narratives of Faith from the Haiti Earthquake: Religion, Natural Hazards and Disaster Response (Routledge Focus on Religion)
by Roger Philip Abbott Robert S. WhiteThis book presents an in-depth ethnographic case study carried out in the years following the 2010 Haiti earthquake to present the role of faith beliefs in disaster response. The earthquake is one of the most destructive on record, and the aftermath, including a cholera epidemic and ongoing humanitarian aid, has continued for years following the catastrophe. Based on dozens of interviews, this book gives primacy to survivors’ narratives. It begins by laying out the Haitian context, before presenting an account of the earthquake from survivors’ perspectives. It then explores in detail how the earthquake affected the religious, mainly Christian, faith of survivors and how religious faith influenced how they responded to, and are recovering from, the experience. The account is also informed by geoscience and the accompanying "complicating factors." Finally, the Haitian experience highlights the significant role that religious faith can play alongside other learned coping strategies in disaster response and recovery globally. This book contributes an important case study to an emerging literature in which the influence of both religion and narrative is being recognised. It will be of interest to scholars of any discipline concerned with disaster response, including practical theology, anthropology, psychology, geography, Caribbean studies and earth science. It will also provide a resource for non-governmental organisations.
Narratives of Justice: Legislators' Beliefs about Distributive Fairness
by Grant ReeherNarratives of Justice offers a provocative, contemporary look at the timeless questions of justice and fairness. Using face-to-face interviews, Grant Reeher plumbs the minds of legislators for their beliefs about distributive justice and attempts to discover the ways in which those beliefs influence their behavior. The book calls into question many notions of American political ideology and, in particular, the idea of an "American exceptionalism" regarding views from the political left, and the dominance in the United States of a "liberal tradition." Political philosophers have amassed a large body of work on justice and fairness from a theoretical perspective, but there is comparatively little empirical work on the subject. The work that does exist concentrates on the beliefs of the public. We know very little concerning the beliefs about justice held by political elites. This work offers a window into the beliefs of legislators, a group for which such an inquiry is rarely undertaken. The book is based on a set of extended, in-depth interviews with the members of the Connecticut State Senate as well as a year of close observation of the Senate in action. The interviews averaged four hours in length and covered a variety of topics related to fairness. Through this material, Reeher employs a narrative-based framework to understand the patterns in the senators' interview responses, and develops a typology of the senator's narratives. These narratives vary in both content and form, and as a whole present a surprising range of views. Narratives of Justice will be of interest to those concerned with justice, political ideologies, and political beliefs, as well as state and local politics and, more generally, American politics. Its wide research and thorough documentation make it a useful guide to the literature within and beyond political science concerning beliefs, ideologies, legislative behavior, and qualitative research methods.
Narratives of Justice In and Out of the Courtroom: Former Yugoslavia and Beyond (Springer Series in Transitional Justice #8)
by Dubravka Zarkov Marlies GlasiusThis volume considers the dynamic relations between the contemporary practices of international criminal tribunals and the ways in which competing histories, politics and discourses are re-imagined and re-constructed in the former Yugoslavia and beyond. There are two innovative aspects of the book - one is the focus on narratives of justice and their production, another is in its comparative perspective. While legal scholars have tended to analyze transitional justice and the international war tribunals in terms of their success or failure in establishing the facts of war crimes, this volume goes beyond mere facts and investigates how the courts create a symbolic space within which competing narratives of crimes, perpetrators and victims are produced, circulated and contested. It analyzes how international criminal law and the courts gather, and in turn produce, knowledge about societies in war, their histories and identities, and their relations to the wider world.Moreover, the volume situates narratives of transitional justice in former Yugoslavia both within specific national spaces - such as Serbia, and Bosnia - and beyond the Yugoslav. In this way it also considers experiences from other countries and other times (post-World War II) to offer a sounding board for re-thinking the meanings of transitional justice and institutions within former Yugoslavia. Included in the volume's coverage is a look at the Rwandan tribunals, the trials of Charles Taylor, Radovan Karadzic, the Srebrenica genocide, and other war crimes and criminals in the Yugoslav. Finally, it frames all of those narratives and experiences within the global dynamics of legal, social and geo-political transformations, making it an excellent resource for social science researchers, human rights activists, those interested in the former Yugoslavia and international relations, and legal scholars.
Narratives of Low-Carbon Transitions: Understanding Risks and Uncertainties (Routledge Studies in Energy Transitions)
by Susanne Hanger-Kopp Jenny Lieu Alexandros Nikas"The Open Access version of this book, available at https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429458781, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license." This book examines the uncertainties underlying various strategies for a low-carbon future. Most prominently, such strategies relate to transitions in the energy sector, on both the supply and the demand side. At the same time they interact with other sectors, such as industrial production, transport, and building, and ultimately require new behaviour patterns at household and individual levels. Currently, much research is available on the effectiveness of these strategies but, in order to successfully implement comprehensive transition pathways, it is crucial not only to understand the benefits but also the risks. Filling this gap, this volume provides an interdisciplinary, conceptual framework to assess risks and uncertainties associated with low-carbon policies and applies this consistently across 11 country cases from around the world, illustrating alternative transition pathways in various contexts. The cases are presented as narratives, drawing on stakeholder-driven research efforts. They showcase diverse empirical evidence reflecting the complex challenges to and potential negative consequences of such pathways. Together, they enable the reader to draw valuable lessons on the risks and uncertainties associated with choosing the envisaged transition pathways, as well as ways to manage the implementation of these pathways and ultimately enable sustainable and lasting social and environmental effects. This book will be of great interest to students, scholars, and practitioners of environmental and energy policy, low-carbon transitions, renewable energy technologies, climate change action, and sustainability in general.
Narratives of Low-Carbon Transitions: Understanding Risks and Uncertainties (Routledge Studies in Energy Transitions)
by Susanne Hanger-Kopp Jenny Lieu Alexandros Nikas"The Open Access version of this book, available at https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429458781, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license." This book examines the uncertainties underlying various strategies for a low-carbon future. Most prominently, such strategies relate to transitions in the energy sector, on both the supply and the demand side. At the same time they interact with other sectors, such as industrial production, transport, and building, and ultimately require new behaviour patterns at household and individual levels. Currently, much research is available on the effectiveness of these strategies but, in order to successfully implement comprehensive transition pathways, it is crucial not only to understand the benefits but also the risks. Filling this gap, this volume provides an interdisciplinary, conceptual framework to assess risks and uncertainties associated with low-carbon policies and applies this consistently across 11 country cases from around the world, illustrating alternative transition pathways in various contexts. The cases are presented as narratives, drawing on stakeholder-driven research efforts. They showcase diverse empirical evidence reflecting the complex challenges to and potential negative consequences of such pathways. Together, they enable the reader to draw valuable lessons on the risks and uncertainties associated with choosing the envisaged transition pathways, as well as ways to manage the implementation of these pathways and ultimately enable sustainable and lasting social and environmental effects. This book will be of great interest to students, scholars, and practitioners of environmental and energy policy, low-carbon transitions, renewable energy technologies, climate change action, and sustainability in general.
Narratives of Migration, Relocation and Belonging: Latin Americans in London (Studies of the Americas)
by Patria Román-Velázquez Jessica RetisThis book gives voice to the diverse diasporic Latin American communities living in the UK by exploring first and onward migration of Latin Americans to Europe, with a specific reference to London. The authors discuss how networks of solidarity and local struggles are played out, enacted, negotiated and experienced in different spatial spheres, whether this be migration routes into London, work spaces, diasporic media and urban places. Each of these spaces are explored in separate chapters to argue that transnational networks of solidarity and local struggles are facilitating renewed sense of belongingness and claims to the city. In this context we witness manifestations of British Latinidad that invoke new forms of belongingness beyond and against old colonial powers.
Narratives of Nostalgia, Gender and Nationalism
by Suzanne Kehde Jean PickeringUsing texts ranging from the writings of Schlegel to the speeches of the fiftieth-anniversary commemoration of D-Day, these essays explore the ways in which nostalgia brokers the relations between the master narratives of gender and the master narratives of nationalism. Although such narratives seem to present nation as an unchanging essence, these essays all deal with texts that on analysis show nationalism in an evolving response to developments, both political and cultural, that destabilize the idea of nation.
Narratives of Parental Death, Dying and Bereavement: A Kind of Haunting
by Caroline Pearce Carol KomaromyThis collection shows what happens when facing the inevitable and sometimes expected death of a parent, and how such an ordinary part of life as parental death might connect with the children left behind. In many ways, individual deaths are extraordinary and leave a unique legacy – a kind of haunting.The authors' accounts seek to make sense of death through witnessing its enactment and recording its detail. All the authors are experienced researchers in the field of death studies, and their collective expertise encompasses ethnography, psychology, sociology and anthropology. The individual descriptions of death and grief capture the everyday practicalities of managing death and dying, including, for example, the difficulties of caring responsibilities and the realities of dealing with strained family relationships. These accounts show the raw detail of death; they are deeply personal observations framed within critical theories. As established scholars and practitioners that have researched and worked in end-of-life and bereavement care, the authors in this anthology offer a unique perspective on how identity is shaped by a close bereavement. The book employs a strong editorial narrative that blends memoir with theoretical engagement, and will be of interest to death studies scholars, as well as practitioners involved in end-of-life care and bereavement care and anyone who has experienced the death of a parent.
Narratives of Political Violence: Life Stories of Former Militants (Routledge Critical Terrorism Studies)
by Raquel da SilvaAn exploration of how political violence is constructed, this book presents the life stories of individuals once committed to political transformation through violent means in Portugal. Challenging simplistic conceptualisations about the actors of violence, this book examines issues of temporality, gender and interpersonal dynamics in the study of political violence. It is the first comprehensive case study of political violence in Portugal, based on the perspectives of former militants. These are individuals from different political spheres who became convinced that they could not be mere spectators of the circumstances of their times. For them, the only viable way of making a difference was through violent acts. Applying the Dialogical Self Theory to trace the identity positions underpinning their narratives, this book not only sheds light on radicalisation and deradicalisation processes at the individual level, but also on the meso- and macro-level contexts that instigate engagement with and encourage disengagement from armed organisations. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of critical terrorism studies, political violence, European history and security studies more generally.
Narratives of Political Violence: Life Stories of Former Militants (Routledge Critical Terrorism Studies)
by Raquel da SilvaAn exploration of how political violence is constructed, this book presents the life stories of individuals once committed to political transformation through violent means in Portugal. Challenging simplistic conceptualisations about the actors of violence, this book examines issues of temporality, gender and interpersonal dynamics in the study of political violence. It is the first comprehensive case study of political violence in Portugal, based on the perspectives of former militants. These are individuals from different political spheres who became convinced that they could not be mere spectators of the circumstances of their times. For them, the only viable way of making a difference was through violent acts. Applying the Dialogical Self Theory to trace the identity positions underpinning their narratives, this book not only sheds light on radicalisation and deradicalisation processes at the individual level, but also on the meso- and macro-level contexts that instigate engagement with and encourage disengagement from armed organisations. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of critical terrorism studies, political violence, European history and security studies more generally.
Narratives of Social Justice Educators: Standing Firm (SpringerBriefs in Education)
by Shirley Mthethwa-SommersThis book presents narratives of eminent social justice educators, which provide a window into why these educators have made it their mission to educate for attainment of social justice; it succinctly defines what social justice education is and what it is not. Eleven nationally and internationally eminent narratives of social justice educators, namely, Beverly Daniel Tatum, Sonia Nieto, Kevin Kumashiro, Valerie Ooka Pang, Teresita Aguilar, Gaille Canella, Christine Sleeter, Julie Andrzejewski, Norma Bailey, Kent Koppelman, and Cathy Pohan, are featured. Racial, gender, socio-economic class, and sexuality diversity of the social justice educators enriches the book by providing multidimensional perspectives on the impact of social positioning in choosing to educate for social justice. Chapter One, “Introduction to Social Justice Educators,” provides an in-depth introduction to the social justice educators who are featured in the book. It delineates reasons they were selected to participate in the study of narratives for social justice educators. This chapter highlights diverse paths that contributed to the participants engaging in social justice education and outlines all their contributions to social justice education. Chapter Two, “Personal Influence,” describes the participants’ personal influences and how formative years of interacting with family members and peers contributed in shaping their identities as social justice educators. In addition, this chapter examines how their varied racial, gender, and sexuality identities served to prepare them for their profession. Chapter Three, “Professional Influence,” offers a window into the participants’ professional life influences on their choice to work toward social justice education. The educators discuss the impact of individual teachers and professors, the field in which they work and exposure to specific curriculum and readings that served to ignite their interest in educating for social justice. Chapter Four, “ Impact of Social and Historical Events,” explores the influence of social and historical events had in the evolution of social justice educators. Such events compelled social justice educators to critically reflect on their roles in society and the importance of engaging in social justice activism through their work. Chapter Five, “ Reasons for Standing Firm,” focuses on reasons that keep social justice educators holding firm to their convictions of social justice education and teaching for social change. It explores the role of spirituality and their sense of commitment. Chapter Six , “Epilogue,” offers a synthesis of the experiences of social justice educators, implications for teacher education programs, and lessons that can be gleaned from their narratives. Stories from the social justice educators provide theoretical and pedagogical frameworks for teaching about social justice issues in education. Each chapter concludes with lessons that can be gleaned from the narratives and applied when working with students.
Narratives of Social Work Practice and Education in Sweden
by Linda Lane Michael Wallengren-LynchThis book brings a novel approach to issues of connecting social work practice to theory and the personal life narrative. The authors each find their own unique way of integrating the self, theory, and practice, in different social work practice and education settings. Contributors use the methodology of narrative to tell their story about their social work journey, be that in research, teaching, or practice. The backdrop for this book is Sweden. The country’s rich heritage of welfare provision but also recent cultural diversity offers a unique Nordic context to the subject matter. The contributors engage with these new conditions for Swedish social work through an intersectional lens. Topics explored include: Digging in the present: A day in the life of a school counsellorWe live in a political world: Between needs and moneyThe problematic labour market situation of immigrants to Sweden: Consequences and causesTackling the contradictory nature of social workUsing anti-oppressive practice to promote social inclusion in social work education The result is a book that is personal and reflexive, and positions the contributors' narratives as a window to understand and address social problems.Narratives of Social Work Practice and Education in Sweden should engage those interested in the Swedish welfare state, and who want to learn about how social work is taught and practised in this country. Intended to be a general introduction, the book provides guidance to those considering working in the field and for those newly qualified. It also provides examples for students of social work to connect personal narratives to social work settings.
Narratives of Statelessness and Political Otherness: Kurdish and Palestinian Experiences (Minorities in West Asia and North Africa)
by Barzoo EliassiThis book argues that citizenship is an inadequate solution to the problem of statelessness based on a critical investigation of the lived experiences of Kurdish and Palestinian diasporas in western Europe. It examines how statelessness affects identity formations, homelessness, belonging, non-belonging, otherness, voices, status, (non)recognition, (dis)respect, (in)visibility and presence in the uneven world of nation-states. It also demonstrates that the undoing of non-sovereign identities’ subjection to structural subalternization and everyday inferiorization requires rights in excess of the mere acquisition of juridical citizenship, which tends to assume national sameness. That assumption in turn involves sovereign practices of denial and assimilation of ethnic alterity. The book therefore highlights the necessity of de-ethnicizing and decolonizing unitary nation-states that are based on the politico-cultural supremacy of a single, “core” ethnicity as the sovereign legislator of the rules and regimes of national belonging and un-belonging. It therefore broaches questions of “majority” and “minority,” mobility, nationalism, home-making, equality, difference and universalism in the context of the nation-state and illustrates how stateless peoples such as Kurds and Palestinians endure and challenge their subordinate position in a hierarchical (geo-)political order and how in so doing remain bound by political otherness.
Narratives of Vulnerability in Mexico's War on Drugs
by Raúl Diego Rivera HernándezThis book explores the current human rights crisis created by the War on Drugs in Mexico. It focuses on three vulnerable communities that have felt the impacts of this war firsthand: undocumented Central American migrants in transit to the United States, journalists who report on violence in highly dangerous regions, and the mourning relatives of victims of severe crimes, who take collective action by participating in human rights investigations and searching for their missing loved ones. Analyzing contemporary novels, journalistic chronicles, testimonial works, and documentaries, the book reveals the political potential of these communities’ vulnerability and victimization portrayed in these fictional and non-fictional representations. Violence against migrants, journalists, and activists reveals an array of human rights violations affecting the right to safe transit across borders, freedom of expression, the right to information, and the right to truth and justice.
Narratives on Teaching and Teacher Education: An International Perspective
by A. MattosThis book brings in an international perspective on a much debated area, namely teacher education. Through narrative research, the chapters in this collection provide a wide variety of stories of discovery, transformation and hope in teaching and learning to teach.
The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty
by Daron Acemoglu James A. Robinson'A must-read. Acemoglu and Robinson are intellectual heavyweights of the first rank . . . erudite and fascinating' Paul Collier, Guardian, on Why Nations FailBy the authors of the international bestseller Why Nations Fail, based on decades of research, this powerful new big-picture framework explains how some countries develop towards and provide liberty while others fall to despotism, anarchy or asphyxiating norms- and explains how liberty can thrive despite new threats.Liberty is hardly the 'natural' order of things; usually states have been either too weak to protect individuals or too strong for people to protect themselves from despotism. There is also a happy Western myth that where liberty exists, it's a steady state, arrived at by 'enlightenment'. But liberty emerges only when a delicate and incessant balance is struck between state and society - between elites and citizens. This struggle becomes self-reinforcing, inducing both state and society to develop a richer array of capacities, thus affecting the peacefulness of societies, the success of economies and how people experience their daily lives.Explaining this new framework through compelling stories from around the world, in history and from today - and through a single diagram on which the development of any state can be plotted - this masterpiece helps us understand the past and present, and analyse the future.'An intellectually rich book that develops an important thesis with verve' Martin Wolf, Financial Times, on Why Nations Fail
Narrow Fairways: Getting By & Falling Behind in the New India (Global and Comparative Ethnography)
by Patrick InglisIndia remains a country mired in poverty, with two-thirds of its 1.3 billion people living on little more than a few dollars a day. Just as telling, the country's informal working population numbers nearly 500 million, or approximately eighty percent of the entire labor force. Despite these figures and the related structural disadvantages that imperil the lives of so many, the Indian elite maintain that the poor need only work harder and they, too, can become rich. The results of this ambitious ten-year ethnography at exclusive golf clubs in Bangalore shatter such self-serving illusions. In Narrow Fairways, Patrick Inglis combines participant observation, interviews, and archival research to show how social mobility among the poor lower-caste golf caddies who carry the golf sets of wealthy upper-caste members at these clubs is ultimately constrained and narrowed. The book highlights how elites secure and extend class and caste privileges, while also delivering a necessary rebuke to India's present development strategy, which pays far too little attention to promoting quality healthcare, education, and other basic social services that would deliver real opportunities to the poor.