Open Access Books

This book uncovers how women’s movements in the Global South are changing the face of transnational activism in their mobilisations against militarism and conflict-related gender violence. Drawing on the case study of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement established by Nigerian women for the rescue of Nigerian schoolgirls abducted in 2014 by violent extremist group Boko Haram, the book argues that BBOG is one of several emerging forms of transnational resistance in Africa that are breaking old moulds and forging new directions for social movements globally. The book argues that current research on social movements focuses too much on professional advocacy by formal civil society organisations and networks in the Global North. In doing so, it misses the increasingly spontaneous, mass-based protests initiated and led by Global South actors grounded in Global South contexts. Unpacking the workings of the BBOG movement, both internationally and regarding on-the-ground daily struggles in Nigeria, the book highlights their considerable implications for the practice and study of international politics. This book is an important read for researchers of international relations, decolonisation, social movements, and transnational human rights activism. Activists and leaders of social movements will also find the policy implications highlighted by the book useful.

Losing a job has always been understood as one of the most important causes of downward social mobility in modern societies. And it's only gotten worse in recent years, as the weakening position of workers has made re-entering the labour market even tougher. The Impact of Losing Your Job builds on findings from life course sociology to show clearly just what effects job loss has on income, family life, and future prospects. Key to Ehlert's analysis is a comparative look at the United States and Germany that enables him to show how different approaches to welfare state policies can ameliorate the effects of job loss-but can at the same time make labour insecurity more common.

The relation between language and transcendental experiences has been newly defined in a qualitative exploration of paranormal experiences.

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Over 85 billion animals are killed in slaughterhouses yearly to sustain a profit-driven meat production system – devastating animals, workers, and the environment. How did we get here? How has capitalist society reshaped human-animal relations? Elaborating a novel materialist and intersectional framework, Chiara Stefanoni conceptualizes the social form of human-animal relations and its centrality within the interconnected structure of domination in capitalist societies, especially in relation to gender and class. Through a historical analysis of industrial slaughterhouses, the study reveals how the human/animal divide and meat-based diet are not timeless facts, but concrete social solutions crucial for the reproduction of capitalist society.

Towards Sustainable Futures serves as a guide to better understand what roles evaluation can play in sustainability. Rather than proposing a single definition of sustainability or methodological approach, this book gives us the tools to improve the quality and relevance of evaluation of sustainability. Divided into two parts, the first part introduces the reader to key debates and challenges related to evaluation of sustainability. Part Two provides examples of methods and applications. By combining a stellar line up of specialists, theorists, and practitioners in the field of development evaluation with expert, accessible and engaged analysis of key issues, Towards Sustainable Futures is a must-read source for re-tooling and re-focussing evaluation towards the green transition imperative. It should be essential reading for scholars and practitioners of evaluation. Chapters 1, 4, 6 and 15 of this book are 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

A small Kurdish city located in northern Syria, Kobane, became symbolically significant when ISIS laid siege to the city between September 2014 and January 2015. This pivotal moment in the fight against ISIS threw the international spotlight on the Kurds. The Kobane Generation analyses how Kurdish diaspora communities mobilised in France after the breakout of the Syrian civil war and political unrest in Turkey and Iraq in the 2010s. Tens of thousands of people, mostly but not exclusively diaspora Kurds, demonstrated in major European capitals, expressed their solidarity with Kobane, and engaged in transnational political activism towards Kurdistan. In this book, Mari Toivanen discusses a series of critical events that led to different forms of transnational participation towards Kurdistan. The focus of this book is particularly on how diaspora mobilisations became visible among the second generation, the descendants of Kurdish migrants. The book addresses important questions, such as why second-generation members felt the need to mobilise and what kind of transnational participation this led to. How did the transnational participation and political activism of the second generation differ from that of their parents, and is such activism simply diasporic or also related to more global changes in political activism? The Kobane Generation offers important insights on the generational dynamics of political mobilisations and their significance to understanding diaspora contributions. More broadly, it sheds light on second-generation political activism beyond the diaspora context, analysing it in relation to global transformations in political subjectivities.

Human development has made remarkable social and economic progress possible for most of us but has also entailed a range of serious impacts on natural resources, local communities and the economy at multiple scales. Thus, achieving sustainable territorial management that combines healthy and prosperous societies with the long-term maintenance of biodiversity and productive ecosystem services remains the biggest challenge of our modern world. This Special Issue seeks to collect a coherent set of studies on techniques and experiences (case studies) aimed at increasing the environmental, social, economic &/or institutional sustainability of landscapes and seascapes from a range of geographic and socioeconomic contexts. Ten case studies representing urban areas, rural areas (chiefly protected areas) and coastal areas from four countries in Europe and Asia by internationally renowned authors are shown.

Dieser Band untersucht anhand ausgewählter dänischer Prosa im 19. Jahrhundert die Ambivalenz philosemitischer Literatur. Es wird gezeigt, wie bestehende Vorstellungen über Juden und Jüdinnen einerseits literarisch entlarvt und gebrochen werden, und wie andererseits jüdische Figuren weiterhin Projektionsfläche und christliches Phantasma bleiben. Philosemitismus wird als spezifisch literarisches Phänomen betrachtet, indem gefragt wird, welche Erzählmöglichkeiten sich durch die jüdischen Figuren im Text eröffnen und was diese Figuren literarisch so attraktiv macht. Obwohl die untersuchten Texte zumeist um das Thema Religion kreisen, interessieren sie sich kaum für das Judentum ihrer jüdischen Figuren. Vielmehr dienen die Juden und Jüdinnen dazu, das Christentum aufzuwerten und zu erneuern. Dabei spielen Fragen nach Politik und nationalem Selbstverständnis ebenso eine Rolle wie nach Geschlecht, Begehren und der Bedeutung von Kunst.

Une équipe d'historiens européens propose une présentation des élites, plurielles, plastiques et évolutives, en tentant une double contextualisation, régionale et socio-culturelle. Seule une « migration mentale » permet à l'historien du xxie siècle de juger de ce qu'il y a de « meilleur » ou de « plus parfait » – telles sont en effet les définitions que proposent des élites le Dictionnaire de Furetière et l'Encyclopédie de Diderot – en faisant abstraction de ses mentalités et en s'abstenant d'appliquer ses propres normes à des temps révolus. Il découvre ainsi non d'abstraites figures géométriques, mais des êtres humains avec leur sensibilité et leurs réactions. D'où la variété de la galerie de tableaux proposée au lecteur. Aux éminentes figures des gouvernants, diplomates, parlementaires, lettrés, journalistes, s'ajoutent celles, plus modestes, des petits patrons d'industrie, des professeurs de collège, des « coqs de village », des médecins cantonaux: notabilités au petit pied qui partagent parfois la culture populaire et cherchent à se pérenniser en constituant des dynasties. Les fondements de leur prééminence? Le patrimoine, la compétence ou le savoir, eux-mêmes générateurs de pouvoir politique et d'estime sociale.

Während sowohl die funktionale Gewaltenteilung als auch der föderative Staatsaufbau zu den unangefochtenen Grundprinzipien des demokratischen Deutschland zählen, wird die vertikale Kompetenzausstattung der Gebietskörperschaften regelmäßig kritisch diskutiert. Politik nach dem Subsidiaritätsprinzip erfährt insbesondere seit dem (Maastricht-) Vertrag über die Europäische Union eine Renaissance und wird zunehmend auch von ökonomischen Effizienzüberlegungen geleitet. Der Autor zeigt in der vorliegenden Arbeit mit Hilfe eines theoretisch und empirisch unterstützten Ansatzes, daß organisatorischer Fortschritt bei der Umsetzung von Umweltpolitik möglich ist. Es werden Empfehlungen entwickelt, die dazu dienen, Maßnahmen der Agrarumweltpolitik hinsichtlich ihrer Kompetenzallokation zu überprüfen. Empirisch wird gezeigt, daß für lokale und regionale Umweltexternalitäten dezentrale Problemlösungen in abgrenzbaren Territorien formuliert werden können. Für das Boden- und Naturschutzrecht sowie freiwillige Agrarumweltmaßnahmen ist zu empfehlen, horizontale Kooperationen innerhalb solcher Regionen anzuregen, die in Form von Informationsaustausch oder auch gemeinsamen Politikmaßnahmen umgesetzt werden können. Zugleich trägt die Arbeit zur Konkretisierung und Operationalisierung abstrakter Prinzipien der "Ökonomischen Theorie des Föderalismus" bei. Mit dem Agrarsektor wird ein Wirtschaftsbereich analysiert, der wegen seiner überwiegend flächengebundenen Produktion erhebliche und häufig in der (Kultur-)Landschaft sichtbare Raumwirkungen entfaltet. Die Übertragbarkeit der Methodik auf Untersuchungsräume unterschiedlicher Ausdehnung, weitere Umweltprobleme sowie Wirtschaftszweige und Politikbereiche zeichnet eine vielversprechende Perspektive für zukünftige Anwendungsfelder der "empirischen Föderalismusforschung" auf.

Spirituelle Ratgeberliteratur verspricht, Wissen zur Lebensführung zu vermitteln, das auf der Suche nach dem Selbst Orientierung gibt. Die diskursanalytische Studie befasst sich aus einem geschlechter- und körpertheoretischen Zugang mit dem in der Erziehungswissenschaft noch wenig erforschten Genre der Ratgeberliteratur. Die analysierten Ratgeber sind im Kontext von spirituellem Feminismus zu verorten. In der Studie wird herausgearbeitet und aus einer dekonstruktiven Perspektive eingeordnet, wie in Wissenskonstruktionen vergeschlechtlichte Körper figuriert werden. Zentral ist dabei die Frage, welchen »Preis« Subjekte zahlen, wenn sie sich auf solches Wissen zur Lebensführung beziehen.

Esta obra provee un panorama amplio del campo de los estudios de paz y conflictos. Está dirigida a un público tanto académico como profesional. Abarca temas que van desde las teorías sobre el surgimiento y la evolución de los conflictos hasta el mantenimiento de la paz, la negociación y la mediación, la construcción de paz y la acción noviolenta. Aborda tanto el estudio de los conflictos armados o conflictos sociopolíticos que podrían tornarse violentos como las respuestas a estos conflictos, y los procesos de Resistencia noviolenta. Se basa en una profunda revisión de la literatura en el campo, así como en las reflexiones de la autora con base en su experiencia práctica en el campo. El libro intenta reflejar una variedad de perspectivas que dan cuenta de la naturaleza interdisciplinaria del campo y toma en consideración estudios con distintas metodologías. Además, busca vincular la teoría y los conceptos con ejemplos concretos e incorpora estudios de caso que permitan entender cómo las discusiones teóricas se relacionan con la práctica. A esto se agrega el uso de figuras y cuadros que permiten visualizar cómo se aplican las teorías y los conceptos, ilustrarlos con ejemplos y examinar tendencias. Así, se espera que esta obra sea un referente para los estudios de paz y conflictos a nivel teórico y práctico en el mundo hispanohablante.

This open access book examines how childhood social disadvantage influences young-adult demographic decision-making and later-life economic and well-being outcomes. This book in particular focuses on testing whether the consequences of childhood social disadvantage for adult outcomes differ across societies, and whether these differences are shaped by the “context of opportunities” that societies offer to diminish the adverse impact of economic and social deprivation. The book integrates a longitudinal approach and provides new insights in how the experience of childhood disadvantage (e.g. low parental socio-economic status, family disruption) influences demographic decisions in adulthood (e.g. the timing of family-events such as cohabitation, marriage or parenthood; the risk of divorce or having a child outside a partner relationship; the exposure to later-life loneliness, poor health, and economic adversity). Moreover, using a cross-national comparative perspective it investigates whether the relationships of interest differ across nations, and tests the “context of opportunities” hypothesis arguing that the links between childhood disadvantage and adult outcomes are weakened in societal contexts offering good opportunities for people to escape situations of deprivation. To do so, the book analyzes national contexts based on economic prosperity, family values and norms, and welfare-state arrangements.

An unflinching look at the unique challenges posed by complex technologies we cannot afford to let fail—and why the remarkable achievements of civil aviation can help us understand those challenges.Nuclear reactors, deep-sea drilling platforms, deterrence infrastructures—these are all complex and formidable technologies with the potential to fail catastrophically. In Rational Accidents, John Downer outlines a new perspective on technological failure, arguing that undetectable errors can lurk in even the most rigorous and “rational” assessments of these systems due to the inherent limits of engineering tests and models. Downer finds that it should be impossible, from an epistemological viewpoint, to achieve the near-perfect reliability that we require of our most safety-critical technologies. There is, however, one such technology that demonstrably appears to achieve these “impossible” reliabilities: jetliners.Downer looks closely at civil aviation and how it has reckoned with the problem of failure. He finds that the way we conceive of jetliner reliability hides the real practices by which it is achieved. And he shows us why those practices are much less transferrable across technological domains than we are led to believe. Fully understanding why jetliners don't crash, he concludes, should lead us to doubt the safety of other “ultra-reliable” technologies. A unique and sobering exploration of technological reliability from an STS perspective, Rational Accidents is essential reading for understanding why our most safety-critical technologies are even more dangerous than we believe.