Updated with a new preface by Gilbert Achar, covering events since 2007 including the late-2023 renewal of military conflict between Israel and Hamas, this new edition provides readers with an essential critical perspective on the US role in the Middle East.

The volatile Middle East is the site of vast resources, profound passions, frequent crises, and long-standing conflicts, as well as a major source of international tensions and a key site of direct US intervention. Two of the most astute analysts of this part of the world are Noam Chomsky, the preeminent critic of U.S. foreign policy, and Gilbert Achcar, a leading specialist of the Middle East who has lived in that region for many years. In this book, Chomsky and Achcar bring a keen understanding of the internal dynamics of the Middle East and of the role of the United States, taking up all the key questions of interest to concerned citizens, including such topics as terrorism, fundamentalism, conspiracies, oil, democracy, self-determination, anti-Semitism, and anti-Arab racism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the sources of U.S. foreign policy.

This book provides the best readable introduction for all who wish to understand the complex issues related to the Middle East from a perspective dedicated to peace and justice.

This book reiterates pluralism as the basic feature of the Indian social sphere. It highlights challenges to the continuity of the plural fabric of India's society and culture. Acknowledging that socio-political concerns on women's issues do not always find adequate representation in social science texts, the book explores issues and policies related to gender. It locates the roots of feminist fundamentalism, studies the reactions to it, and brings forth the demands relating to new agendas and strategies for feminism. The authors also present empirical studies on issues faced by minority communities in India.

An important contribution, this book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of sociology, political sociology, gender studies, exclusion studies, South Asian studies, Affirmative action, and political science.

Jose Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955) was a Spanish philosopher and essayist best known for The Revolt of the Masses, first translated into English in 1932. In it, Ortega critiques a populist deformation of democracy by the rise of a "mass mentality" characterized by selfishness, a lack of curiosity, and a general indifference to the opinions and attitudes of others. However, as Brendon Westler makes clear, we need to look beyond Ortega's arguments about populism and democracy in his most famous work to recover the philosopher's expansive political outlook and to identify his valuable contributions to the history and advancement of liberalism.
Westler's book reconstructs Ortega's political theory, underscoring its distinctive historical origins as well as the ways in which it might be instructive to us today. Through an exploration of works less familiar to an English-speaking audience, such as Concord and Liberty, "Vieja y nueva politica," "De Europa meditatio Quaedam," and "Democracia morbosa," combined with a sensitivity to larger social and political ideas circulating within Spain, The Revolting Masses traces the contours of Ortega's approach to politics. Westler argues that reading texts written over the course of the philosopher's entire career, in combination with The Revolt of the Masses, offers a more complete picture of Ortega's political thought-one that advocates for a liberal ethos as an answer to populism and promotes both individual freedom and the preservation of community bonds.
As The Revolting Masses shows, Ortega was, above all, a philosopher who reflected on what it would take for people of differing beliefs to live together. His unique conception of liberalism, grounded in the Spanish tradition, not only emphasizes pluralism and diversity of thought and institutions but also serves as a potential antidote to the populism of our present moment.

Atmospheric Violence grapples with the afterlife of environmental disasters and armed conflict and examines how people attempt to flourish despite and alongside continuing violence. Departing from conventional approaches to the study of disaster and conflict that have dominated academic studies of Kashmir, Omer Aijazi's ethnography of life in the borderlands instead explores possibilities for imagining life otherwise, in an environment where violence is everywhere, or atmospheric.
Drawing on extensive fieldwork in the portion of Kashmir under Pakistan's control and its surrounding mountainscapes, the book takes us to two remote mountainous valleys that have been shaped by recurring environmental disasters, as well as by the landscape of no-go zones, army barracks, and security checkpoints of the contested India/Pakistan border. Through a series of interconnected scenes from the lives of five protagonists, all of whom are precariously situated within their families or societies and rarely enjoy the expected protections of state or community, Aijazi reveals the movements, flows, and intimacies sustained by a landscape that enables alternative modes of life. Blurring the distinctions between story, theory, and activism, he explores what emerges when theory becomes a project of seeing and feeling from the non-normative standpoint of those who, like the book's protagonists, do not subscribe to the rules by which most others have come to know the world.
Bringing the critical study of disaster into conversation with a radical humanist anthropology and the capaciousness of affect theory, held accountable to Black studies and Indigenous studies, Aijazi offers a decolonial approach to disaster studies centering not on trauma and rupture but rather on repair-the social labor through which communities living with disaster refuse the conditions of death imposed upon them and create viable lives for themselves, even amidst constant diminishment and world-annihilation.

In The End of Peacekeeping, Marsha Henry makes use of feminist, postcolonial, and anti-militarist frameworks to expose peacekeeping as an epistemic power project in need of abolition. Drawing on critical concepts from Black feminist thought, and from postcolonial and critical race theories, Henry shows how contemporary peacekeeping produces gender and racial inequalities through increasingly militarized strategies.
The book's intersectional analysis of peacekeeping is based on data amassed through more than fifteen years of ethnographic fieldwork on peacekeeping missions and training centers around the world, including interviews with UN peacekeepers, humanitarian aid personnel, and local populations. Henry demonstrates how focus on the policy and practice of peacekeeping has obscured the geopolitical knowledge project at peacekeeping's root, allowing its harms to persist unquestioned by mainstream scholarship. Arguing that we must recover critical theoretical contributions that have been sidelined within the field, she brings the insights of feminist and postcolonial scholarship to bear on peacekeeping studies, whose production of empirical data and evidence continues to provide the justification and foundation for policy and global governance actions.
Revealing that peacekeeping is not the benign, apolitical project it is often purported to be, this book encourages readers to imagine and enact alternative futures to peacekeeping.

In 2019, Solomon Islands made international headlines when the country severed its decades-old alliance with Taiwan in exchange for a partnership with Beijing. The decision prompted international condemnation and terrified security experts, who feared Australia's historical Pacific advantage would come unstuck.

This development was framed as another example of China's inevitable capture of the region - but this misrepresents how and why the decision was made, and how Solomon Islanders have skilfully leveraged global angst over China to achieve extraordinary gains. Despite Solomon Islands' strategic importance, most outsiders know little about the country, a fragile island-nation stretching over a thousand islands and speaking seventy indigenous languages.

In Divided Isles, Edward Cavanough explains how the switch played out on the ground and considers its extraordinary potential consequences. He speaks with the dissidents and politicians who shape Solomon Islands' politics, and to the ordinary people whose lives have been upended by a decision that has changed the country - and the region - forever.

Nishihira Tadashi, one of Japan's leading philosophers, introduces the deeply experiential philosophy of no-mind (mushin). In everyday Japanese, mushin is when one loses oneself in the reality of the present and becomes one with it, resulting in one's best performance. However, behind this everyday use is a concept that touches the core of Japanese spirituality.

This book explores no-mind in its dynamic complexity. It is both the letting go of the calculations of mind and at the same time the arising of a vibrant consciousness in unity with reality. This gives rise to various tensions: Is it about negating or affirming self? Is stillness or activity? How does it relate with social ethics, or religious transcendence? And what is stopping no-mind from descending into mere mindlessness?

These tensional facets are explored through philosophy and history of thought in Japan, from pre-Buddhist Japanese thought, to Zen Buddhism in D.T. Suzuki and Toshihiko Izutsu, to swordsmanship and Noh theater. These historical approaches are brought to the here-and-now, dialoguing with psychology, ethics, and the experiences of everyday life, and ending with two preliminary practical explorations-What does it mean to care for another and to educate from the point of view of no-mind?

In this thoroughly revised edition of The European Union and the United States, authors Smith, Guay, and Morgenstern-Pomorski delve deep into the complexities of the EU-US relationship amidst pivotal shifts on the global stage.

By examining the relationship through the lens of competition, convergence, and crises, this textbook goes beyond narrow focuses on the EU-US relationship, offering a nuanced analysis of changing dynamics. It stands as the definitive and all-encompassing guide to transatlantic relations, considering recent developments in business, trade, political economy, and foreign policy, while carefully navigating the commonalities and differences that exist between the EU and the US.

This updated edition also reflects on contemporary changes such as cyber security, climate change, the rise of populism, and the emergence of global powerhouses like China, India, and Brazil, successfully situating the EU-US relationship within a broader international context. Throughout, the authors' diverse academic backgrounds enable an interdisciplinary approach to the material, rebalancing content to include international relations, comparative politics, and management. In doing so, this textbook provides a holistic view of transatlantic affairs.

With additional features including focused case studies, summary tables, and speech extracts, this text serves as the ideal companion for higher-level undergraduate students and postgraduate students studying EU politics, or anyone seeking to deepen their knowledge of the broader subject area.

This fresh examination of Carter's presidency (1977-1981), the first in over twenty years, sheds new light on his time in office, reflecting on his domestic record, his key policies on the economy, civil rights, and energy, and challenging misconceptions about his character and leadership.

The success of Jimmy Carter's post-presidential career and the scandals of his successors, have begun to generate a nostalgic view of Carter's time in the White House. This book looks at his presidency during a time of ideological conflict in the US political landscape, between liberalism and rising conservatism, embodied respectively by Kennedy and Reagan, Carter's efforts to hold the centre or non-ideological, moral position, and the impact of his character, particularly his faith, on how he exercised power in Washington. In doing so, it reveals new interpretations of his leadership style, and its impact on his time in office.

In Democratic Failures and the Ethics of Democracy, political philosopher Adam Lovett argues that when it comes to democratic ideals, the United States is a failed democracy. Specifically, he contends that American democracy has failed to advance equality and self-rule for its citizens-qualities he identifies as essential components of democracy's intrinsic value. Drawing on rich empirical research, Lovett applies original philosophical analysis to reveal real-world democratic failures and evaluate their philosophical and ethical consequences.
His research locates democratic failures at both the level of political elites and at the level of the masses. At the elite level, elected officials shape policy to prioritize the interests of their supporters, where wealthy individuals and corporations are the most influential. At the mass level, ordinary citizens are motivated to vote not to introduce specific policies but by party identification. By mapping how these failures erode equality and self-rule, he demonstrates that they in fact undermine the ethics of democracy itself. After all, Lovett argues, when a state fails to represent ordinary citizens, those ordinary citizens are not morally obligated to follow the laws of the state.
Because the state fails to achieve democratic values in any meaningful way, its claim to political authority and legitimacy is diminished. However, Lovett does not conclude that American democracy is doomed-he instead proposes solutions from voting only on referendums to delegating aspects of public policy to unelected experts without partisan obligation. These reforms are vital for compelling the state to act on behalf of all citizens, not just the partisan or the powerful. Of interest to political scientists and political philosophers alike, Democratic Failures and the Ethics of Democracy sheds light on an increasingly troubled democratic ethos and proposes solutions for how ordinary citizens can work to save it.

Woke social justice warriors lurk around every corner, ready to cancel free speakers and police common sense. Muslims love nothing better than abolishing Christmas. FemiNazi's throw false accusations at the pillars of our society. Decried by right-wing pundits and politicians alike, the idea of 'political correctness' is often painted as a form of left-wing totalitarianism but in this pithy, clear-headed account, Tony McKenna explains how the concept itself is in fact one of the great conspiracy theories of our times.

From the fear of 'cancel culture' to the demonization of grassroots social movements, this is a searing dissection of how the exclusionary agendas for so long played out in our media and party politics have been successfully dressed up as campaigns for freedom and common sense. Tackling some of the favourite bogeymen of tabloids and scaremongers, McKenna dissects the language, rhetoric and ideology that turns refugees into insects, social justice into 'wokery', and makes predators out of anyone from dark skinned men to trans women. He provides a full analysis of historically important social liberation movements like BLM and #MeToo, giving the historical and cultural contexts for their emergence. As the tried-and-tested politics of stigmatization and exclusion shift from old targets to new, this an explanation of one of society's most insidious narratives, and how it allows dominant orthodox culture to cast the subjects of its oppressive tactics as the dreaded 'global liberal elite'.

At a time when far, radical, and extreme-right politics are becoming increasingly mainstream globally - sometimes with deadly consequences - research in these fields is essential to understand the most effective ways to combat these dangerous ideologies. Yet engaging with texts and movements that do physical and verbal violence raises a number of urgent ethical issues. Until recently, this has remained understudied, as scholarship on the far right rarely delves explicitly and critically into the ethics of research.

This book seeks to remedy this significant gap in an otherwise extensive and growing literature. Originating from a workshop series in 2020, in which an international group of academics at various career stages shared the ethical challenges and best practices they had developed in their research, this edited collection draws together insights from these ongoing conversations, offering urgent critical reflections on key ethical issues.

Dissecting the radical impact of Walter Benjamin on contemporary cultural, postcolonial and translation theory, this open access book investigates the translation and reception of Benjamin's most famous text about translation, "The Task of the Translator," in English language debates around 'cultural translation'.

For years now, there has been a pronounced interest in translation throughout the Humanities, which has come with an increasing detachment of translation from linguistic-textual parameters. It has generated a broad spectrum of discussions subsumed under the heading of 'cultural translation', a concept that is constantly re-invented and manifests in often heavily diverging expressions. However, there seems to be a distinct constant: In their own (re-)formulations of this concept, a remarkable number of scholars-Bhabha, Chow, Niranjana, to name but a few-explicitly refer to Walter Benjamin's "The Task of the Translator."

In its first part, this book considers Benjamin and the way in which he thought about, theorized and practiced translation throughout his writings. In a second part, Walter Benjamin meets 'cultural translation': tracing various paths of translation and reception, this part also tackles the issues and debates that result from the omnipresence of Walter Benjamin in contemporary theories and discussions of 'cultural translation'. The result is a clearer picture of the translation and reception processes that have generated the immense impact of Benjamin on contemporary cultural theory, as well as new perspectives for a way of reading that re-shapes the canonized texts themselves and holds the potential of disturbing, shifting and enriching their more 'traditional' readings.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Author.

This book aims to revolutionize information research by introducing a receptive relation understanding of information, which systematically unveils its fundamental characteristics: created ex nihilo, emergence, reciprocity and shareability.

Through a thorough exploration of organismic and sensory receptivity, the book establishes a mechanistic foundation for understanding the nature of information. It navigates the origins of biological information and leads readers into a new era of information studies. Offering a fresh perspective on the nature of information, it delves into its physical, digital, and ideational encodings, as well as the ideational system built upon them. The book sheds light on critical issues such as quantum manifestation of information and the fundamental laws governing the relationship between information and matter/energy. It also dispels common misconceptions about information and its role in the evolution of information civilization.

The book provides valuable insights into understanding artificial general intelligence and the mysteries of consciousness and life. It will be of interest to researchers and students of information philosophy, information science, and artificial intelligence.

This book helps explain how and why there are such diverging outcomes of UN peace negotiations and treaties through a detailed examination of peace processes in the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Does it really matter what's written on page 36, protocol V, section III, point 5 of a UN-endorsed peace treaty? Dr. Miranda Ruwart Melcher shows that seemingly small details - such as who wears suits, who has toothbrushes, and how specific words are translated between French and English - can and have delayed peace or contributed to restarting wars.

Dr. Melcher uses unique primary source data, including interviews with key actors who have participated in peace treaty negotiations, as well as thousands of previously newly opened UN documents. She argues that treaty specificity is an undervalued - but important - factor in researching the success or failure of peace processes. The book offers new insights and policy recommendations for key details whose presence or absence can have a significant impact on how peace processes unfold.

Russian Westernizers and Change in International Relations summarizes the Westernizing trend in Russian thought from the early nineteenth century to the present day.

This book looks at Russian thinkers and politicians who have considered Western/European civilization to be superior to others and who have drawn the conclusion that Russia consequently ought to align itself with the West, rather than preserving certain traditional Russian values - and that not doing so is an impediment to political, social, and economic evolution. Within this trend of thought, the author identifies four schools - Christian Westernizers, Economic Liberals, Political Liberals, and Social State Supporters - and explores examples of each. The author compares Russian thinkers from different periods, finding contrasts and similarities within their political and historical settings and assessing their responses to their unique circumstances. He analyzes Russian Westernizers' self-definition and ideas of national freedom relative to those of Western nations, exploring how the West's definition of values and institutions has changed over time. He shows how Western historical developments affected waves of Westernization and pro-Western thinking inside Russia, arguing the importance of this being grounded in national state-building priorities. The growing complexity of global relations, the declining global influence of the West, and the war in Ukraine present Russian Westernizers with new questions and challenges, and this book assesses the resulting implications.

This book will appeal to students and scholars of Russian foreign policy, Russia-West relations, IR theory, diplomatic studies, political science, and European history including the history of ideas.

The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Sri Lanka offers a comprehensive survey of issues facing the island country and an overview delineating some key moments in the country's contemporary polity, economy, and sociality.

This book outlines aspects and influences foundational to understanding a country defined by its economic and political turmoil, and rift with public distrust in today's shifting geopolitics. Chapters by various established scholars highlight this book's pivotal contribution in situating Sri Lanka's turmoil and deprivation in this current conjuncture.

The handbook is structured in seven parts:

• Nations and Nationalism
• Politics, State and Institutions
• Economy and Political Economy
• Work and Life
• Environment and Environmental Politics
• Society, Social Systems, and Culture
• Moment of Flux, Looking Ahead

Each part includes on average six chapters covering the social sciences and humanities to survey emerging and cutting-edge areas of the study of Sri Lanka. Multi-disciplinary in focus, the book also includes an introductory section and concluding section, which creates the space and platform for senior, mid-ranking, and junior academics to engage in dynamic conversation with each other about contemporary Sri Lanka. Including scholarship from Sri Lankan experts, the handbook creates academic output, which chimes with broader calls in academia on decolonising the academic landscape.

An important reference work, this handbook will be of interest to scholars and students from wideranging academic disciplines and a focus on Sri Lanka, Asian and South Asian studies, sociology, environmental politics, development, labour, management, political economy and anthropology.

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

The India Migration Report 2023: Student Migration is one of the first books that attempts to comprehensively explore the various nuances of Indian international student migration factoring in multiple factors that influence the migration journey of Indian students. It also looks into other migration stories including internal and international returnees, various impacts of remittances, and migration in the context of the pandemic.

This volume:

• Inspect the factors driving the student migration from India, accounting for both the historical and current happenings influencing these factors. Following the pandemic, the book highlights the challenges faced by Indian international students in accessing health care and other related services which goes on to push them into vulnerable situations
• Outlines the reasoning behind Indian students' decision to emigrate and how families play an important role in influencing key migration decisions made by students and the different patterns of student migration observed in India
• Examines the employment challenges experienced, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic, by the highly skilled Indian migrants and Indian international students
• Describes the role that recruitment and consultancy agencies play in international student mobility (ISM) and examines the intricate relationship between migrant agencies and migration facilitation
• Investigates the psychological, economic and social challenges faced by Indian international students during their migration journey both during and after the completion of their course abroad
• Provides a critical overview of the conditions of both internal and international returnees to different parts of India
• Studies the impact of remittances on migrant households including their consumption patterns and human capital investment
• Analyses interstate migration networks through the prism of gender and critically assesses how gender migration patterns have altered throughout time

Scholars, students, researchers, academicians, policymakers or anyone with an interest in migration, migration politics, economics, social psychology, migration policies, development studies, sociology, social anthropology and gender studies will find this book on Indian student migration extremely informative. The book is a comprehensive collection of various studies that look into the multiple aspects of student migration but also extend to other pertinent issues of Indian migration that are extremely relevant at this given point in time.

This important book provides new understandings of how the politics of memory impacts peace in societies transitioning from a violent past. It does so by developing a theoretical approach focusing on the intersection of sites, agency, narratives, and events in memory-making. Drawing on rich empirical studies of mnemonic formations in Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, South Africa and Cambodia, the book speaks to a broad audience. The in-depth, cross-case analysis shows that inclusivity, pluralism, and dignity in memory politics are key to the construction of a just peace. The book contributes crucial and timely knowledge about societies that grapple with the painful legacies of the past and advances the study of memory and peace.

An electronic edition of this book is freely available under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.

The Military Balance has been published since 1959. The 2024 edition provides an open-source assessment of the armed forces and equipment inventories of over 170 countries, with accompanying defence economics data. In addition to detailed country data, The Military Balance assesses, region-by-region, important military issues. It includes graphics to illustrate defence personnel, equipment, and procurement developments. The 65th edition examines emerging lessons from Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, details Chinese military activity around Taiwan, and identifies developments in uninhabited aerial vehicle exports. The accompanying wallchart spotlights the important issues around critical national infrastructure in the Euro-Atlantic. The book draws on the breadth of data in the Military Balance+ online database. The Military Balance and Military Balance+ are indispensable sources of information for those involved in defence and security policymaking, analysis, and research.

'You shouldn't drink too much. The Earth is round. Milk is good for your bones.' Are any of these claims true? How can you tell? Can you ever be certain you are right?

For anyone tackling philosophical logic for the first time, here is a practical guide to the skills required to think critically. From the basics of good reasoning to the difference between claims, evidence and arguments, Jamie Carlin Watson, Robert Arp and Skyler King cover the topics found in an introductory course.

Now revised and fully updated, this 3rd edition gives you the chance to develop critical thinking skills that can be used in and out of the classroom. Two new chapters on reasoning in the age of conspiracy theories and fake news demonstrate how to apply reason and avoid being dissuaded by the persuasive power of evidence-free emoting. Features include a glossary, chapter goals, more student-friendly exercises, study questions, diagrams, and suggestions for further reading. Chapter topics, organised around real-life examples such as predicting the weather, a murder mystery and the Ouija board, cover:

- the structure, formation, analysis and recognition of arguments
- deductive validity and soundness
- inductive strength and cogency
- inference to the best explanation
- truth tables
- tools for argument assessment
- informal and formal fallacies

This entertaining and easy-to-follow introduction is a complete beginner's tool set to good reasoning, analyzing and arguing.