Politik

Die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika gelten als das Land der unbegrenzten Möglichkeiten und nehmen zugleich im Global Peace Index einen der hinteren Ränge ein. Wie ist das möglich? Gert Hellerich beleuchtet die von Gewalt im Inneren sowie nach außen hin geprägte Realität des Landes. Er zeichnet ein düsteres Panorama von weithin präsenter Kriminalität und Alltagsgewalt, der Beteiligung der USA an internationalen kriegerischen Konflikten und einer damit einhergehenden ausgeprägten Militarisierung von Staat und Gesellschaft. In einem Plädoyer gegen die zerstörerische Macht der Gewalt stellt Hellerich Wege vor, die in eine Zukunft gewaltfreier Konfliktlösungen weisen. Vielversprechende Ansatzpunkte dafür sieht er in der religiösen und kulturellen Verwurzelung der US-amerikanischen Gesellschaft im Christentum und in der Friedfertigkeit Jesu.

Dieses Buch widerlegt das Grundgesetz. "Eine Zensur findet nicht statt", steht dort nach wie vor in Artikel 5, obwohl es längst nicht mehr möglich ist, alles zu verbreiten oder wenigstens zu sehen, was für die Meinungs- und Willensbildung nötig wäre. Im Internet wird gelöscht,was das Zeug hält. Und im wirklichen Leben? Fragen Sie Menschen, die gegen den Strom schwimmen. Die Antwort heißt immer - Cancel Culture. Diese Form der Zensur geht von den Leitmedien aus sowie vom Digitalkonzernstaat. Sie stützt sich auf ein intellektuelles Prekariat, das um Posten in Redaktionen, Unis und NGOs buhlt, sowie auf Parteiunternehmen, die sich über Propaganda ihre Pfründe sichern.Cancel Culture ist kein Zufall, der aus den Tiefen des Netzes kommt und hier einen "Rechten" trifft oder dort einen Forscher auf Abwegen. Cancel Culture ist ein Programm, das Deutungshoheit sichert und damit Macht.

Wenn das Autoritäre um sich greift und Freiheit und Demokratie existenziell bedroht sind, wie gegensteuern? Und: warum überhaupt? Karl Loewensteins 1932 verfasste "Apologie des liberalen Staatsdenkens" ist mehr als nur Wissenschafts- und Ideengeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts, und auch mehr als ein Beitrag zur Geschichte und Interpretation des Liberalismus. Der Vordenker des Konzepts der wehrhaften Demokratie streitet in seinem mit Herz und Verstand vorgetragenen Plädoyer für die Grundlagen unseres heutigen Gemeinwesens. Wider ihre Verächter kämpft er für Freiheitsrechte und Rechtsstaatlichkeit, für Deliberation, Pluralismus und Parlamentarismus, kurzum: für die Demokratie - und nicht für irgendeine, sondern für die liberale Demokratie. "Wer Inspiration für die Verteidigung unserer Freiheit und Demokratie sucht, wird sie in dieser aufschlussreichen Edition finden." Gerhart BaumWhen authoritarianism takes hold and freedom and democracy are existentially threatened, how can we counteract this? And why at all? Karl Loewenstein's "Apology of Liberal State Thought", written in 1932, is more than just a history of science and ideas of the 20th century, and also more than a contribution to the history and interpretation of liberalism. The mastermind of the concept of defensive democracy argues with heart and mind for the foundations of our present-day community. Against those who despise it, he fights for liberties and the rule of law, for deliberation, pluralism and parliamentarianism, in short: for democracy - and not just any democracy, but liberal democracy. "Anyone looking for inspiration for the defense of our freedom and democracy will find it in this insightful edition." Gerhart Baum

In Is Biden Really Too Old? -The Politics of Age and Ageism in America, political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson takes a laser look at the great debate over Biden's age. He assesses how much of a liability age poses for Biden. He examines how Reagan and 2008 GOP presidential candidate John McCain dealt with the age issue. He presents the varying views of medical professionals about Biden's age as a factor. He details research and studies on aging and the performance of older Americans. He examines the negative stereotypes, views, and typecasting of older Americans depicted in advertising, films, and much of the media and voiced by many Americans. He details what the Constitution and the Founding Fathers wrote and said about age and politics. Hutchinson contends that aging has had a profound effect on American politics. Finally, he asks whether age would be the deal breaker for Biden in his bid to stay in the Oval Office in 2024.

American democracy is at risk unless we change the way we teach civic education in K-12 schools. This book will inspire educators and communities to transform schools by teaching democratic principles, systems thinking, and civic values, with opportunities for community problem-solvng. It describes 53 years of experience with many examples of youth civic engagement. We lack shared values and the political will to cooperate on implementing changes. We lack "civic intelligence," which will guide us to transform schools and create a new path for America and humanity.

Professor Drew's latest work makes the case that even great public policy needs to be deliberately and strategically sold in order for it to ultimately be considered a success. However, it seems that most people charged with the task of selling public policy simply do not have the requisite skills to do so.Selling public policy is an art that draws on disparate strands of scholarship spanning the political sciences, economics, sociology, ethics and the classics. To perform the art of selling public policy one must first master the lessons from the greats in the field. Following this, it is necessary to learn how to apply the knowledge to real-world complex scenarios in such a way that the policy is indeed sold and stays sold over the implied returns period.This book is unique in the corpus of scholarly literature because it provides both the knowledge and real-world case studies required for students, scholars, and policy practitioners to master the art of selling public policy.

"The murder of Joseph Gatto captivated Los Angeles. Many veteran journalists still wonder how and why it happened. The details of this horrible crime and those affected by it continue to fascinate." -Robert Kovacik, Anchor and Reporter, NBC Los AngelesMike Gatto was an up-and-coming young lawmaker when his father was brutally murdered.The act sucked him into the world of noir: wild theories, intransigent detectives, and unimaginable violence.This true crime story reads like a thriller, offering insight into the world of politics and the seedy underbelly of crime investigation in modern Los Angeles.Gatto shares his experiences with incredible candor and raw emotion, detailing every clue, and how he came to learn every tragic detail of his father's murder. With the case still unsolved, see if you can piece together the clues to solve the mystery.

Americans have lost confidence in their leaders and institutions. The entire world is watching and wondering what has happened to the leader of the free world. Younger generations no longer believe in the greatness of our country ... and who can blame them? It is time to abandon historical leadership strategies that rely on accumulating self-serving power. It is time to place helping others be successful over grabbing self-serving power. One way to do this is that whenever someone is arrested for any crime, they should not be locked up. Instead, they should be sent to planet infrastructure sites and trained to heal the planet. We can also unlock the value of fallow government-owned real estate, close the ship-building gap with China, find truth and spirituality, and more. This book was written to show political, business, financial, academic, health, media, sports, entertainment, and climate elites a better path forward - one that turns angst to excitement and confidence. This new path will help hundreds of millions if not billions of people live a better life, leading to a renewed sense of national pride. Moreover, those who follow this new path will enjoy more success, attain more fulfillment, and receive more respect from others.

The underlying structure, incentives and costs shaping international relations, state behaviour and the nature of power are profoundly different today to how they were in the past, in ways that are scarcely recognised and widely misunderstood. For much of history, world politics was marked by profound scarcity in resources, information and security. A series of historical revolutions has largely tamed this scarcity in ways few could have imagined. These revolutions, however, have generated new, potentially catastrophic challenges for the world - the problems of plenty.In this Adelphi book, Francis J. Gavin argues that the institutions, practices, theories and policies that helped explain and largely tamed scarcity by generating massive prosperity, and which were sometimes used to justify punishing conquest, are often unsuitable for addressing the problems of plenty. Successful grand strategy in this new age of abundance requires new thinking. New conceptual lenses, innovative policies and processes, and transformed institutions will be essential for confronting and solving the problems of plenty, without undermining the expanding efforts against scarcity.

This book provides a broad, interdisciplinary analysis of events impacting on North Macedonia since its independence, particularly during the last decade. In the past thirty years, the country has gone through deep political, social and economic transition, along with a name change from 'Macedonia' to the 'Republic of North Macedonia' following the Prespa Agreement signed with Greece. The contributors consider Macedonia's challenges, its multi-ethnic make-up and its ambition to enter the European mainstream through the auspices of the European Union and NATO. The volume includes chapters on international politics and North Macedonia's place in the region's security architecture as well as the difficulties of the privatisation of socially owned enterprises, political corruption, state capture and backsliding. The book also covers the controversial 'Skopje 2014' project in addition to the impact of migration along the 'Balkan Route' and the current wranglings with Bulgaria over identitypolitics.

This book draws upon diverse approaches and understandings of sustainability transformations, social transitions and environmental accountabilities. It presents case studies that highlight real-world consequences of changing ideas about how best to achieve effective and durable sustainability transformations and examines how environmental accountabilities and social transitions influence sustainability transformations. Each chapter provides insights regarding how new knowledge and perspectives matter for whether, when, and how people, governments, corporations and international organisations seek and pursue solutions to social-ecological challenges and sustainability dilemmas. It pays sustained attention to whether and how understandings and applications of accountability can improve international sustainability transformations. The chapters presented in this book consider some pressing questions concerning social transitions and environmental accountabilities: how can they contribute to sustainability transformations, how do they influence the scalability of sustainability transformations, and, how can such sustainability transformations become durable?

The monograph examines the sources of Polish social divisions. It explains their emergence and discusses the mechanisms behind their evolution from 1945-2022. The findings corroborate the idea that divisions were formed irrespective of the current state of social hierarchy, or the accepted interpretation of justice, and that they existed both in totalitarian and democratic systems alike. The book distinguishes the category of divisions from the practices of repartition, and demonstrates that the repartitions discussed in a political discourse do not generate divisions, but constitute the politicization of the latter. Repartitions are understood as discursive, dichotomic juxtapositions that result from the existence of divisions and can be used as political tools. It has been demonstrated that they can also function as analytical categories used with a view to determining the state of social inequalities. The notions of divisions and repartitions discussed in this volume confirm theexistence of the continuity of changes and describe the evolution of Polish society has a consequence.

Mobilizing an interdisciplinary group of scholars and practitioners, this book reviews the history and consequences of NATO's post-Cold War enlargement into Central and Eastern Europe. It offers a nuanced discussion of the merits and drawbacks of NATO enlargement across the different actors involved and compares the results of the policy against potential alternatives that were not chosen. Particular attention is given to NATO enlargement's influence on the course of U.S. foreign policy, democracy and security in Central and Eastern Europe, NATO's own development as a political and military institution, and relations with China and Russia (including the 2022 Russia-Ukraine War). Written for an engaged audience, the book is designed to appeal to students, researchers, and policymakers alike while offering both policy insights and avenues for future scholarship.

This book examines the Europeanisation of party politics in Malta. It evaluates the influence of Europeanisation on the political system, which is based on two party-system, polarisation, and clientelism. Malta is the smallest European Union (EU) member state, which joined the EU in 2004. The road toward membership was fraught with contentious and emotionally charged debates. This book explores the relationship between Maltese political parties and the EU, the politicisation and framing of the European Union by political parties, and the impact of the European Union on Malta's political system. The book further discusses more contentious recent events which made headlines at the EU level, including the Panama Papers scandals, the Individual Investment Programme, and the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The book will appeal to students, scholars, and researchers of political science and international relations interested in a better understanding ofelectoral studies, Europeanisation, European integration, as well as the Maltese political system, and party politics.

Provides a detailed comprehensive approach to the environmental policy processAnalyzes the efficacy of real-life case studies updated in this new editionOffers two brand new chapters on energy and natural resources as well as food politics and policy

Using Marxist and Polanyian frameworks, this book examines the structural and discursive transformation that can explain the polarization of migration debates and within the rise of nationalist anti-migrant discourses in Europe with a special attention to Eastern Europe and Hungary. It goes beyond the mainstream explanations of these phenomena that uses nationalist propaganda as causal factors and instead argues that the rise of anti-immigration currents cannot be understood without a dialectical and historical analysis of the material and discursive transformations, most importantly marketization and related reification. Drawing from thinkers such as Lukács, Polanyi, and Gramsci as well as diverse empirical sources including demographic studies, historical modelling, and discourse analyses, Migration Turn and Eastern Europe is a unique and rigorous study of one of the most pressing and puzzling political and sociological questions of ourtime.

This book, which is aimed at scholars, practitioners, advanced under-graduate and post-graduate students, seeks to contribute to the understanding of the EU as an international negotiator by analysing a number of external policy areas where the EU to a great extent engages internationally through negotiations, including development, trade, enlargement, and withdrawal.

The book develops a novel framework for the analysis of global crises. It differentiates crises on three dimensions: permanent, recurring and ephemeral crises. This conceptualization allows us to analyze global crises not only in their immediate environment, but makes it possible to understand them in the broader context of social instability. The approach revolves around the terminology of discursive dislocation which provides fundamental insights into diverse forms of social instability. A multidimensional conceptualization of dislocation is advanced which informs the differentiation of global crises. Furthermore, a methodological toolkit is developed and tailored to the theoretical framework, which makes it possible to utilize the book both theoretically and methodologically for the analysis of manifold forms of global crises. The book also provides a comprehensive analysis of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States under Donald Trump. Making use of the aforementioned methodology, it presents a hands-on illustration of how the multidimensional framework can be utilized for practical analyses. The analysis reveals how the construction of the Covid-19 pandemic is embedded in the historically ingrained self-portrayal of the United States, and how crisis responses are invoked to serve particular socio-political purposes in retaining an established vision of the United States.

This volume is the continuation of our research on economic and developmental policy-making in the global semi-periphery in the post-crisis cycle (see our two recently published volumes titled 'Market-Liberalism and Economic Patriotism in Capitalist Systems' edited by Gerőcs and Szanyi, 2019, Palgrave Macmillan and 'The Post-Crisis Developmental State - Perspectives from the Global Periphery' edited by Gerőcs and Ricz, 2021). Our new volume aims to be a contribution to the analysis of emerging market economies' alternative development trajectories, as we explore the new perspectives on semi-peripheral dependent development since the Global Financial Crisis and especially amidst the new global pandemic, the COVID-19. The scope of comparative capitalism research has also been altered accordingly to include the analysis of emerging economies outside the core of the world system, and to make intertemporal comparisons possible (such as to define and characterise historical wavesof state capitalism). Still, we are convinced that to better understand the current wave of state capitalism and to explore its national varieties there is a need to critically reconsider existing theoretical approaches and methodologies, and to search for new ones, if necessary. This book aims to be a contribution to the analysis of emerging market economies' alternative development trajectories and explores new perspectives on semi-peripheral dependent development, especially amidst COVID-19.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has shown the world the critical importance of whether and how to punish heads of state, heads of government, and sundry strong men when accused of crimes of aggression, genocide, war crimes, and other crimes against humanity. In The End of Immunity, former President of the International Criminal Court, Chile Eboe-Osuji, probes the history and theory of the concept of immunity for heads of state, underscoring tribunal achievements, pointing out gaps in the existing framework of accountability and the hypocrisies that produced them, and offering workable solutions to the loopholes that government leaders still use to escape consequences today.Eboe-Osuji traces the development of international law from the pre-World War I era that left wars of aggression as the prerogative of sovereigns able to wage them through the peacetime conferences of the Hauge at the turn of the 20th century, the momentous Article 227 of the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919, which communicated the resolve of the Allies and Associated Powers to prosecute German Emperor and King of Prussia Kaiser Wilhelm II before an international tribunal, how the legal norms applied in the post-WWII Nuremberg trial transformed the norms of modern international law, how 1990's Africa breathed new life into arguments against immunity for heads of state, and how modern-day Russia flouts those laws with Putin's war of aggression on Ukraine. Going as far back as the Middle Ages and the ancient doctrine of the divine right of kings, and concluding with a fresh new proposal for the ways in which international law can be shored up to prosecute those leaders who wage wars of aggression, Eboe-Osuji investigates the journey of international law's rejection of immunity for anyone - including heads of state in particular - when they are suspected or accused of atrocities that international law has proscribed as crimes. The result is the definitive account of a profoundly vital principle for international relations and global humanity.

This book offers a contemporary, cutting-edge, and advanced critical analysis of the first twenty months of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Following a realist approach and with a focus on political discord, economic sanctions, and media limitations, the book sheds light onto the deadlock between the conflicting parties. It dissects the diplomatic endeavors and missteps, varying political perspectives, Western support strategies, and the intricate global dynamics that triggered this existential crisis.The critical assessment of political antecedents, including the Budapest Memorandum, the Bucharest Summit Declaration, and the Minsk Agreements 1 and 2, uncovers hidden political motives aimed at setting the stage for a proxy war. Additionally, the book scrutinizes the financial dimensions of the conflict, strategies for post-conflict reconstruction, and the emerging Zeitenwende phenomenon reshaping the geopolitical landscape of the Global North.This book's insights suggest a potential shift towards a new multipolar global order, representing a significant realignment in the distribution of geopolitical and geo-economic influence. A must-read for scholars and academics seeking a profound understanding of this pivotal conflict and its far-reaching implications.

This book reflects on the centennial of women's suffrage in the Nordic region and beyond, by exploring its relevance to political gender equality today and the conditions for feminist institutional change. The book brings together historians and political scientists to provide a long-term historical perspective that lays the groundwork for theoretical development. In this regard, the book makes two key contributions: it furthers our understanding of different types of gendered institutional constraints on women's political inclusion and elaborates feminist institutional strategies to counter these constraints.

International Studies: Introductory Readings presents students with carefully curated readings that familiarize them with foundational ideas within the discipline and frame international studies as an interdisciplinary science.The opening readings presents a panorama of international studies as a field with focus on history, geography, political science, anthropology, economics, and regional studies. Through an interdisciplinary lens, additional readings explain key terms in international studies, examine the various forms of international organizations, and introduce ideas necessary to understand global health issues. Students learn key scientific facts and read about the political, social, and economic ramifications of global climate change, as well as how patriarchy and the global oppression of women is embedded in the very structures of our thinking. Closing chapters provide an overview of different regions of the world, including Latin America, East Asia, South and Central Asia, and Africa.Designed to help studies confidently confront issues, problems, and decisions in the modern world, International Studies is an ideal supplementary resource for courses in political science and international studies.

This book analyzes the goals of Western sanctions imposed on Russia from 2014 to 2023. It explores the effects of sanctions on the Russian economy and its political course, as well as the repercussions of the sanctions to the senders and third parties, including spillover effects on neighboring countries and boomerang effects on the senders. While sanctions can be considered relatively effective in terms of economic damage, the Russian economy is far from being crushed. Importantly, sanctions proved to be ineffective as an instrument of foreign policy. They have failed to alter Moscow's resolve to continue its military operation and are unlikely to change it in the near future. The effects of the sanctions extend well beyond their anticipated impact on Russia itself, primarily due to the Western nations' limited experience and knowledge in implementing sanctions against a major power with extensive global connections, such as Russia.

This book provides a picture of recent developments in social policy and social work in Central and Southeast Europe, especially trends after the COVID-19 pandemic, which necessitated significant welfare modifications. Through a comparative method, the book draws analytical conclusions about the interdependence between welfare state reforms and social work practices in Central and Southeast Europe and provides an overview of future perspectives regarding social policy and social service provision in this region. The book covers four EU member states (Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Croatia) and three EU candidate countries (North Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina). By critically contextualising existing welfare state categorisations, the book aims to examine the link between the welfare state reforms and implications for social work in Central and Southeast Europe. The country-based chapters of this contributed volume: outline the context in which social policy and social work have developed and map the main changes in the welfare state since the transition from socialism; elaborate the country-specific welfare state discourse and discussions, which through literature review depict the conceptual debates about the welfare state, social justice, equality, poverty, entitlements for cash transfer and services, privatization, and accessibility; indicate the key challenges in social policy and social work; and provide indications about the future perspectives of social policy and social service provision. Social Work and Social Policy Transformations in Central and Southeast Europe addresses the scarcity of literature on social policy and social work in this region. The book is primarily intended for social policy researchers and scholars, and students in social work, social policy, political science, and sociology. It is an invaluable resource for researchers from all fields of social sciences and should provoke wider academic and professional interest."The common themes of transformation, restructuring and crises, synthesized in excellent Introductory and Concluding chapters, make the book an essential source for an understanding of contemporary policies and practices, the complex role played by historical legacies, and offer a model of what a comparative policy approach should look like".--Paul Stubbs, Senior Research Fellow, The Institute of Economics, Zagreb, Croatia

This book traces the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) from its inception in 2013 to its re-election to the Bundestag in 2021, emphasising the party's nature as a "populist issue entrepreneur" and covering the three major crises that have shaken European party politics - the Eurozone crisis, the so-called refugee crisis and the COVID pandemic. Currently, books on the AfD are largely limited to historical accounts and surface-level analyses of the party. This volume is both empirically rigorous and conceptually nuanced: it seeks to understand the party's political trajectory and its appeal to its supporters by using advanced quantitative methodologies to analyse voter behaviour, as well as by interpreting the party's communication strategies through mixed empirical methods. It embeds this account within a well-grounded theoretical argument. The argument emphasises three important explanatory conditions - a favourable political opportunity structure, issue entrepreneurship, and the party's stages of political development.

This study traces the welfare regimes of Mauritius and South Africa from the early 20th century focusing on the historical circumstances that gave rise to the dominance of state-funded old-age pensions within their respective welfare frameworks. It highlights intersections between powerful business interests, the state, and social forces that sowed the seeds of social entitlements. Due to different mobilisation efforts of these social actors, both countries have spawned welfare regimes of different persuasions. Mauritius has maintained its long-standing traditions as a social democracy stretching back to the late 1950s, while South Africa continues relentlessly in pursuit of a liberal welfare state, a journey it has treaded since 1928 when the old-age pension laws first came into effect. While unravelling the innermost workings of welfare state development in Mauritius and South Africa, it also probes the present political and economic circumstances that have kept these two welfare regimes resolutely unchanged. Against this backdrop, it draws parallels between current welfare outcomes and those of old as they continue to chart their way into the future.