Trousson, Raymond / Vercruysse, Jeroom (dir.), Dictionnaire general de Voltaire. (Champion classiques, references et dictionnaires 18) 1272 p. 2020:10 (Champion, FR) <670-9>
ISBN 978-2-38096-016-7 paper ¥7,064.- (税込) EUR 38.00

Buturoiu, Raluca / Corbu, Nicoleta / Botan, Madalina, Patterns of News Consumption in a High-Choice Media Environment: A Romanian Perspective. (Springer Studies in Media and Political Communication) 212 pp. 2023:11 (Springer, GW) <710-671>
ISBN 978-3-031-41953-9 hard ¥30,169.- (税込) EUR 129.99

Based on a Romanian case study, this book sheds light on the supply and demand of news and information in the current digital era, dominated by unprecedented dramatic changes. In addition to identifying patterns of journalistic reporting and news consumption, the book offers a thorough approach to how the classic theories in media and communication studies can be reinterpreted in the current attention economy and media abundance paradigm. The research data included in this book provide a snapshot of media consumption patterns and encompass experts' views and predictions about how media habits and diets might evolve.The book will appeal to students, researchers, and scholars of media and communication studies, political communication, and journalism, as well as practitioners interested in a better understanding of news consumption patterns in a high-choice media environment.

Kukovic, Simona / Hacek, Miro, The Peculiar Evolution of Slovenian Local Government. 118 pp. 2023:9 (Lexington Books, US) <710-690>
ISBN 978-1-66693-161-7 hard ¥18,232.- (税込) US$ 85.00 *

After Slovenia's independence in 1991 from Yugoslavia, the introduction of local government was one of the most challenging tasks in the new country, as it meant a radical change from the socialist municipal system to the classical European type of local government. Simona Kukovic and Miro Hacek offer a comprehensive analysis of the functioning of local government from historical, normative, systemic, and dynamic perspectives. The authors analyze the historical-normative foundations of the existence of local government and, building on this, examine the functional dynamics of the central organs of local government. In particular, they analyze the position of local mayors in terms of role and the powers assigned to the mayor by law, leadership characteristics, the evolution of eligibility, and relations with other local actors. This is followed by an analysis of the municipal council, in which Kukovic and Hacek outline the function and responsibilities and highlight some features of the inner workings of this collective decision-making body. The authors devote special attention and a wealth of empirical data to local democracy, which is particularly vibrant, somewhat peculiar, and undoubtedly one of the strongest elements of Slovenia's still relatively fragile democracy. The book thus provides a holistic and thorough overview of local government, which in three decades has become an important part of the political system and, in practice, an important vehicle of local development within Slovenia.

Farhadi, Adib / Grzegorzewski, Mark / Masys, A. J. (eds.), The Great Power Competition. Volume 5: The Russian Invasion of Ukraine and Implications for the Central Region. 413 pp. 2023:11 (Springer, GW) <710-724>
ISBN 978-3-031-40450-4 hard ¥32,490.- (税込) EUR 139.99 *

The Russian Invasion of Ukraine and Implications for the Central Region addresses national security threats and strategic opportunities for the United States and its allies in the Middle East and Central Asia following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Recognizing that integrated deterrence is not constrained by geography or domain, this book focuses on the complex threats and challenges confronting U.S. national security and foreign policy in a post-Ukraine invasion environment. That is to say, what happens in Ukraine does not stay in Ukraine. It affects everyone from the region to the cyberspace domain to people on the other side of the world, due to changes in commodity prices.Specifically, this volume explores how revised analyses of Russia may alter U.S. and allied strategies in a shifting international system and within the framing of strategic competition. Experts in this volume examine how the war in Ukraine will influence Russian strategy and foreign policy in the Middle East, Central Asia, and globally; what effect the Ukraine invasion could have on global and regional geopolitics and geoeconomics; and the United States' ability to protect national interests in the Central Region. The reasons for this are multiple and complex. In this volume, we explore many issues that have confounded security experts by asking questions such as: What happens after the Russian invasion? What lessons did the U.S., Ukraine, NATO, and the European Union learn about Russia? What lessons did Russia learn about itself and its military after the Ukraine invasion? What lessons did the U.S. learn in Afghanistan that apply to Ukraine? Why was the initial analysis of the Russian invasion so wrong? How has power shifted in the international system since the Ukraine invasion? How has the security environment shifted since the Ukraine invasion? For the U.S. to continue supporting its partners in the Middle East and Central Asia, it must anticipate what new opportunities will arise from Russia's missteps in Ukraine. The Russian Invasion of Ukraine and Implications for the Central Region addresses these challenges and opportunities and informs policymakers on the changing contours of the Great Power Competition.

M.ラリュエル他著　ロシア　第2版
Laruelle, Marlene / Radvanyi, Jean, Russia: Great Power, Weakened State. 2nd ed. 264 pp. 2023:7 (Rowman & Littlefield, US) <710-726>
ISBN 978-1-5381-7478-4 hard ¥23,595.- (税込) US$ 110.00 *
ISBN 978-1-5381-7477-7 paper ¥8,794.- (税込) US$ 41.00 *

Russia inspires fear. For decades, American presidents viewed the Soviet Union as an "evil empire," and now, the Ukrainian crisis has added a new chapter to this narrative inherited from the Cold War. Russia's behavior is regarded with distrust and its "nuisance power" arouses frustration. The country's image has not been so negative since the collapse of the Soviet Union.But at the same time-and this is a key point of this book-Russia is fearful, too. Thirty years after the end of the Soviet Union, multiple ghosts haunt the country, its elites, and its society, from concern over demographic and economic decline to worry about the country's vulnerability to external intervention, reviving the old notion of Russia as a "besieged fortress." Opened up practically overnight under President Boris Yeltsin, the country had to deal with a rapid and violent globalization. Faced with both a West that emerged victorious from the Cold War and a shockingly dynamic China, Russia constantly questions its identity and the notion that its fate is to bridge East and West. Vacillating between reformist aspirations and a fear of liberal society, which is often portrayed as amoral and perverse, the country, and certainly its leader Vladamir Putin, sometimes seems tempted to take refuge in a new isolation.This book is more than timely: no other book offers a comprehensive overview of Russia's fears and challenges that could help the American public to understand how the country deals with its own issues and how this influences Russia's foreign policy, including the ongoing war in Ukraine. This in-out aspect is critical to understand the country's international stance and therefore directly US policy and security.

Saetre, Ann-Mari / Gradskova, Y. / Vladimirova, V. (eds.), Post-Soviet Women: New Challenges and Ways to Empowerment. (Sustainable Development Goals Series) 324 pp. 2023:11 (Palgrave Macmillan, UK) <710-727>
ISBN 978-3-031-38065-5 hard ¥30,169.- (税込) EUR 129.99

This volume explores how different post-Soviet countries have reinterpreted and diverged from the Soviet gender roles and values. It synthesizes results from multiple empirical studies that attend to increasingly conservative features of political governance in the region, particularly the authoritarian regime in Russia. The authors consider diverse enactments of ideologies, policies and practices of gender equality and women's rights in crucial areas, such as legislative institutions, media, and social activism. The volume contributes to understanding post-Soviet societal dynamics relevant to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5, which emphasizes gender equality as part of fundamental human rights.

Voicu, Malina / Kizilova, Kseniya / Zulean, Marian (eds.), Social Values and Identities in the Black Sea Region. 352 pp. 2023:7 (Lexington Books, US) <710-728>
ISBN 978-1-66691-825-0 hard ¥25,740.- (税込) US$ 120.00 *

Social Values and Identities in the Black Sea Region focuses on the nexus between geopolitical challenges and cultural framework in the Black Sea region. Building on the path-dependency approach, the volume goes beyond the classical cultural blocks' paradigm, showing how the common inheritance interferes with different religious and political institutional backgrounds, fostering the formation of a particular cultural area. The interdisciplinary approach combines contributions from the domains of sociology, political science, international relations, and security studies and employs qualitative and quantitative analyses, the last ones relying on large-scale survey evidence coming from the World Values Survey, the European Values Study, and the European Social Survey. The analysis of the empirical data allows contributors to examine the change of social values and identities over the past three decades. Although there is no declared common social identity, the comprehensive investigation of social, political, moral, and religious values, identities, and beliefs concludes the presence of shared domains and trends that provide reasoning to consider the Black Sea region a cultural area. The matter is of great importance, especially in the context of the open military conflict in Ukraine and other frozen conflicts in the region. Common culture, relying not only on the shared values or strong identities, but also in customs, material objects, or daily life practices and strategies may help in finding peaceful solutions to the existing conflicts.