Bücher veröffentlicht von Anthem Press

The ascetic, devotional sect known as the Mahanubhavs Those of the Great Experience arose in 13th century Maharashtra. The Mahanubhavs initially experienced a fairly rapid expansion, particularly across the northern and eastern regions of Maharashtra. However, by the end of the 14th century their movement went underground as they sought a defensive isolation from the larger Hindu context, and they withdrew to remote areas and villages. Although the prominent leaders of the early Mahanubhavs were Brahmans (often converts from the prevailing advaita vaisnavism), their followers were and are mostly non-Brahmans, i.e. low caste people and even untouchables. Thus the Mahanubhavs were met with prejudice and distrust outside their own closed circles, and this isolation continued until the beginning of the 20th century. This volume offers an overview of the origins and main religious and doctrinal characteristics of the Mahanubhavs, with a particular focus on the aspects that reveal their difference and nonconformity.

'The Security-Development Nexus: Peace, Conflict and Development' explores the concept of the security-development nexus from a variety of perspectives. Its collected essays investigate conceptual issues via case studies from Africa, Asia and Europe.

'Iron Lazar' is the first English-language biography of Lazar Kaganovich, one of Stalinist Russia's leading deputies. With its focus on the political and personal relations of the Stalin group, this groundbreaking text offers a previously inaccessible insight into Kaganovich's role in shaping policy during the Stalinist era.The study begins by examining Kaganovich's early political career and his ascent to power - a feat achieved via a distinguished role in the Civil War, which led to his elevation into the party Secretariat in Moscow. By 1930 he, Stalin and Molotov effectively constituted Russia's ruling triumvirate, and for a period Kaganovich appeared to be the heir apparent to the Soviet Union. He played a crucial role in enforcing agricultural collectivization, in the reconstruction of Moscow, in railway and industrial administration and in carrying out the Great Terror. A very close associate of Stalin, and a major figure in promoting his cult of celebrity and establishing his dictatorship, Kaganovich subsequently fell out of favour.Rees's work strives to examine the personal and political dynamics shaping the Stalinist system. He notes that Kaganovich was a colourful figure - an orator as well as a forceful administrator - and that he was the most prominent Jewish figure in Soviet political life in this era. This unique biography charts the way in which these personal characteristics contributed to the development of the Stalinist system throughout Kaganovich's career, how he was himself transformed by this experience, and the way in which he subsequently sought to rationalize his role.

The pursuit of collective happiness was considered a utopian ideal that structured many aspects of Soviet culture, a fact recognized by numerous scholars in various disciplines ranging from cultural and literary studies to sociology and political science. Several groundbreaking studies in the literary and cultural history of the former Soviet Union have changed our understanding of the Soviet past. However, none of these studies has paid attention to an important theme in the cultural history of Soviet society - the pursuit of happiness. Although specialists in Soviet culture repeatedly invoke various manifestations of happiness in works of literature and film in their research, it has yet to be investigated as the subject of a full-fledged independent study. 'Petrified Utopia' redresses this inexplicable omission. This collection of essays introduces the Western reader to the most representative ideas of happiness, and the common practices of its pursuit that shaped Soviet everyday life and cultural discourse from the early post-revolutionary years to the later period of Stalinist and post-Stalinist culture. The collection presents different manifestations of happiness in literature and visual culture - from children's literature to the official and high literary cannon, from architecture to fine arts, from postcards to cookbooks, and from the culture of consumerism to product-paradise in Soviet posters. 'Petrified Utopia' features articles by the leading specialists in the study of Soviet culture from the UK, the US, Germany and Italy, and addresses the perplexing lack of scholarship on this important issue.

''Institutional Provisions and Care for the Aged'' provides a detailed comparative study of social and economic issues facing the elderly in India, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands. All three countries offer interesting insights, and this book addresses a wide spectrum of issues faced by the elderly, and an understanding of the processes at work in the broader social and economic context.

This volume collates the classic works of the preeminent Indian scholar of Chinese history and Buddhism, Professor Prabodh Chandra Bagchi (1898?1956).

'Applied Ethics and Human Rights: Conceptual Analysis and Contextual Applications' offers a philosophical perspective to ethical problems by providing an understanding of the concepts of human rights and responsibilities.

''Techno-Economic Paradigms'' presents a series of essays by the leading academics in the field discussing one of the most interesting and talked-about socio-economic theories of our times, ''techno-economic paradigm shifts'', and its role in explaining processes of innovation and development. This festschrift honours Carlota Perez, founder of the theory of ''techno-economic paradigm shifts''.

''South Asian Media Cultures'' examines a wide range of media cultures and practices from across South Asia, using a common set of historical, political and theoretical engagements. In the context of such pressing issues as peace, conflict, democracy, politics, religion, class, ethnicity and gender, these essays explore the ways different groups of South Asians produce, understand and critique the media available to them.

The contemporary importance of A. N. Whitehead (18611947) lies in his direct yet productive challenge to the culture of thought inherent in modernity, a challenge that suffuses science, social theory and philosophy alike. Unlike some of the more destructive aspects of postmodernism and poststructuralism, Whiteheads diagnosis of the conceptual fault lines of the modern era does not entail a passive relativism. Instead, he calls for a renewal of our concepts, offering a positive, philosophical approach based on becoming, relativity, and a reconception of subjectivity and the social. This book outlines Whiteheads philosophy, using it to reorient a range of specific questions and topics within contemporary social theory.

''Travellers to the Middle East from Burkhardt to Thesiger'' is a compendious anthology of travellers'' writings produced during the high tide of Britain''s involvement in the Middle East. The anthology contains extracts from many of the canonical travel texts of the period, including passages by T. E. Lawrence, Gertrude Bell and Robert Byron, as well as many more extracts from both female and male writers. The anthology is also enlivened by the broad geographical span covered, including descriptions of territories in the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, Arabia and Persia.

This remarkable anthology features 101 modern Japanese poems by 55 poets, including Shuntaro Tanikawa, Minoru Yoshioka and Taeko Tomioka, carefully selected from the postwar period by the renowned poet and literary critic Makoto Ooka.

In today's liberal democracies, does the political process focus on the people, or on the political leaders representing them? In 'Toward Leader Democracy', Jan Pakulski and Andras Korosenyi argue that there is a trend toward an increasingly pronounced focus on political leaders, or 'leader democracy', which is reinforced by the prominence of electronic media, the decline of major parties, the centrality of electoral competitions, and the frequently aggressive actions taken by our political elites. This trend is compatible with predictions made by elite theorists such as Max Weber and Joseph Schumpeter, and contradicts the notion of a change towards a democracy that is more 'direct', 'participatory' and 'deliberative'. In spite of the concerns voiced by some critics, the model of 'leader democracy' is fulfilling the key normative criteria and expectations of democratic rule.'Toward Leader Democracy' explains the shape and the workings of this new form of political action - that is, how it is motivated by the political will, determination and commitment of top politicians, and how it is exercised through mass elite persuasion that actively shapes the preferences of voters so as to give meaning to political processes. Competitive mass-mediated elections are the key elements of this process, providing voters with a sense of dignity by giving them the status of 'final arbiter' in leadership contests. As the text reveals, this marks a definite evolution within the world's 'advanced democracies': democratic representation is today realized increasingly through active political leadership, as opposed to the former practices of statistically 'mirroring' constituencies, or the deliberative self-adjustment of the executive in accordance with citizen preferences.

Inspired by Max Weber's thesis on the Protestant ethic, 'Overseas Chinese Christian Entrepreneurs in Modern China' sets out to understand the role and influence of Christianity on Overseas Chinese businesspeople working in contemporary China. Through its in-depth interviews and participant observations (involving 60 Overseas Chinese entrepreneurs from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and the United States), the text discusses how Christianity has come to fulfill an increasingly visible and dynamic function in the country, most notably as a new source of business morality.Recognizing that China's economic transition toward a market-oriented economy was not initiated by Christians (or indeed any other religious group), this volume demonstrates the importance of exploring the impact of religious ethics on economics at micro and organizational levels, via the subjective understandings of individuals and small businesses. Significant but often neglected facets of Weber's thesis arise as a result. Of key importance is the issue of gender differences within the Christian ethos - a crucial aspect of the Protestant ethic that has yet to be systematically studied, but which offers great potential to enhance our understanding of Weber's work. As a result, the text's novel application of Weberian sociology to the context of contemporary China can be seen to offer a double return, elucidating both the theory and its subject.

This volume critically unpacks the concept of 'political society', formulated as a response to the idea of civil society in a postcolonial context.

This volume offers a collection of lucid, theoretically stimulating articles that explore and analyse the institutions and values which are salient in understanding political practices in South Asia. Combining a wide range of theoretical and empirical approaches, and blending the work of experts long established in their respective fields with refreshing and innovative approaches by younger scholars, this collaborative and cross-disciplinary endeavour facilitates a deeper understanding of the subcontinent's diverse and complex political and democratic practices in the 21st century.

Democratization is a field where unexpected and sudden events have repeatedly challenged conventional wisdom. For example, who in the mid-1970s would have foreseen the democratization of Cambodia, Albania, South Africa or East Timor? Our current ''wave'' of democratization is complex and diverse and understanding it requires a variety of theoretical approaches. Most of the literature on democracy assumes that it is the best form of government. Theoretical works on democratic transition and democratization have also emphasized the internal conflict resolution capacity of democracy. It has been reasoned that democracy reduces the likelihood of discrimination, especially of ethno-political minorities, and thus the possibility of political repression. However, the democratic peace theory has not been explicitly tested with reference to third world post-colonial states, where most internal violent conflicts take place. Certainly, there is a dearth of practical advice for policy makers on how to design and implement democratic levers that can make internal peace and stability endure in the South. This volume, drawing on the work of a variety of scholars, will contribute to identifying and understanding the challenges and opportunities of this ''democratization project'' to the peace and development of the world both at the domestic level in selected countries, trends in regions of the world, and in the global system of the post-Cold War Era.

Commercial cinema has always been one of the biggest indigenous industries in India, and remains so in the post-globalization era, when Indian economy has entered a new phase of global participation, liberalization and expansion. Issues of community, gender, society, social and economic justice, bourgeois-liberal individualism, secular nationhood and ethnic identity are nowhere more explored in the Indian cultural mainstream than in commercial cinema. As Indian economy and policy have gone through a sea-change after the end of the Cold War and the commencement of the Global Capital, the largest cultural industry has followed suit. For example, the global Indian community (known in Indian official terms as the Non-Resident Indian or the NRI) has become an integral part of the cultural representation of India.The politics and ideology of Indian commercial cinema have become extremely complex, offering a fascinating case-study to scholars of Global Culture. Of particular interest is the re-positioning of individual identity vis-à-vis nation, religion, class, and gender. On one hand, the definition of ''nationhood'' and/or community has become much more fluid, keeping in tune with the sweeping universal claims of globalization; the films have consequently revised the scope of their narratives to match India''s emerging global business ambitions. On the other hand, the political realities of India''s long-standig enmity with Pakistan and the international rise of ''Hindutva'' has also contributed to a new strain of jingoism in Indian cinema. ''Bollywood and Globalization'' is a significant scholarly contribution to the current debate on Indian cinema, nationhood and Global Culture. The articles represent a variety of theoretical and pedagogical approaches, and the collection will be appreciated by students and scholars alike.

Ragnar Nurkse (1907-1959) was one of the most important pioneers of development economics, and although his writings have been neglected in recent decades, leading development economists and international organizations such as the United Nations are now turning to Nurkse in search for new inspiration, due to the failure of neoclassical economics to adequately explain the experience of poor and developing countries. Yet Nurkse''s contribution to the field has never before been analysed before at book length.The present volume, ''Ragnar Nurkse (1907-2007): Classical Development Economics and its Relevance for Today'', contains a selection of papers that cast new insight on Nurkse''s thought, and discuss his relevance for today. The volume also celebrates the 100th anniversary of this profoundly important thinker''s birth.

''Ragnar Nurkse, Trade and Development'' is a timely reprint of Nurkse''s most important works, given the renewed interest in his writings amongst development economists, who are turning to this pioneering thinker in search for new inspiration. This volume aims to make his rarely published works available for an audience of economists, policy makers, researchers and students.

Festivals, Affect and Identity offers an outline of areas of continental philosophy and critical theory, which involve high levels of abstractions, yet become more accessible when related to specific events and their detailed analysis. The case study material enables theories to become more understandable in relation to application, triangulation and comparison with different theoretical frameworks. It puts flesh on the hard to get hold of nature of continental philosophy.Maintaining continuity in the face of problems and ruptures and the interplay of fluidity and structure are central aspects explored and illustrated by ethnography focused on the affective dynamics of four festivals: the Palio in Siena and the Bravio in Montepulciano, both based on competitive territorial divisions; the Bruscello in Montepulciano and the Teatro Povero in Monticchiello, both theatres with links to sharecropping, a long established agrarian practice vanquished by modernity. The detailed analysis applied to this selection of case studies offers a grounding of theoretical concepts and an example of how these may be applied to analyse different phenomena. This approach sees the imprint of environmental and historical conditions as generative of a dynamic process of ever evolving community identities for which festivals provide expression, while also providing a way of living with them.

There is growing interest in urbanization as currently a third of the worlds urban population live in slums, and by 2030 there may be two billion slum dwellers across the globe (Davies 2004, 17). During economic crises, slum dwellers are involved in increasing feats of self-exploitation. The literature on slums and informal settlements tends to focus on economic survival strategies, particularly those of men. But how do women, as the most marginalized and excluded slum-dwellers, survive in the face of poverty and gender oppression? What are the emotional rather than material costs of poverty? This book conveys the rich fabric of life in the slum.Body Parts on Planet Slum discusses the importance of Christianity and telenovelas, and explores what it is about womens lives in particular that makes these stories so central. Yet it is also increasingly clear that for the poorest women, church attendance has become a rare luxury whereas telenovelas are piped into their homes on a daily basis. The unemployed women watch up to six hours of telenovelas a day in the midst of arduous physical labour in the home. The women suffer in relation to their bodies, but invest in a masochistic glorification of suffering. It is this glorification of suffering that links the womens lives to the telenovelas in crucial ways. It reveals disturbing valuations of womens bodies that traverse reality and fiction, and connect to a central feminist question, What is a woman?

The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947 by a group of atomic scientists to symbolise the perils facing humanity from nuclear weapons. In 2007 it was set at five minutes before the final bell, including for the first time the threat of climate change as well as new developments in the life sciences and nanotechnology. This book aims at an analysis of the evolution of our present predicament throughout the Anthropocene Era beginning in 1763, making special reference to the history of the period, the study of the subject and major advances in the natural sciences.Adam Smith and Adam Ferguson set out the basis for a scientific approach to the pre-industrial stages of historical development in the Enlightenment of the late eighteenth century, when the American and French Revolutions created a vocabulary of modernity. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as the industrial revolution unfolded in several stages, nationalism, imperialism and totalitarianism were among the phenomena impeding the update of the Enlightenment programme as well as the fulfilment of the aspirations of 1776 and 1789. Our present predicament demands a rigorous examination of its origins and an assertion of a scientific pandisciplinary approach involving history and other academic specialisations.

This collection of eleven essays deals with Lenins life in western European emigration in the years before the First World War. The first five essays explore Lenins efforts to build a purely Bolshevik Party through the creation of a unique school for underground workers outside of Paris, his schismatic machinations in calling the 1912 Prague Conference, his problematic relations with the new Bolshevik daily Pravda, his unsuccessful attempt to call a party congress in 1914, and his defeat at the Brussels Unity Conference summoned by the International Socialist Bureau on the eve of the war. These essays are based on a detailed reading of Western and Soviet sources, and they question the common assumption that Lenin was unquestioned inside his own faction and that pre-war Bolshevism was a monolithic entity well-prepared to seize power.The latter essays discuss Lenins curious friendship during the pre-war period with Roman Malinovsky, who turned out to be a police spy, and Inessa Armand, a Bolshevik feminist with whom he had a romantic relationship. They also investigate such mundane but little-studied topics as what he liked to eat in emigration, his annual habit of taking bourgeois vacations and his obsession with athletic pursuits. The picture which emerges from these studies is not of a single-minded, perfect leader solely devoted to carrying out revolution, but rather of a non-geometric Lenin with very human foibles and weaknesses.

This book is a collection of articles focusing on comparative analysis of the development trajectories in the semi-periphery countries of South America and Central and Eastern Europe.