Sunday, December 6, 2009

Development of British Naval Thinking or Out for Good

Development of British Naval Thinking: Essays in Memory of Bryan Ranft

Author: Geoffrey Till

In this book, Britain's leading naval historians and analysts have come together to produce an investigation of the development of British naval thinking over the last three centuries, from the sailing ship era to the current day. It will describe the beginnings of formalised thought about the conduct of naval operations in the eighteenth century, its transformation through the impact of industrialisation in the nineteenth century and its application in the two world wars of the twentieth. The book concludes with a review of modern British naval thinking and the appearance of naval doctrine against the uncertainties of the loss of empire, the Cold War, nuclear weapons and the huge changes facing us as we move in to the new millennium. How perceptive and distinctive was British naval thinking? Where did British ideas come from? Did they determine or merely follow British experience? Do they explain British naval success? The contributors to this volume will try to answer all such questions in a book that should be of considerable interest to the maritime community around the English-speaking world.



Table of Contents:
List of Contributors     xi
Foreword   Sir Julian Oswald, GCB     xiii
Acknowledgements     xvi
Introduction: British naval thinking: a contradiction in terms?   Geoffrey Till     1
The idea of naval strategy in Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries   N.A.M. Rodger     19
The development of education in the Royal Navy: 1854-1914   Andrew Lambert     34
Corbett and the emergence of a British school?   Geoffrey Till     60
1914-18: the proof of the pudding   Andrew Gordon     89
Richmond and the faith reaffirmed: British naval thinking between the wars   Geoffrey Till     103
All sorts of wars: British naval thinking and technology in the Second World War   Jock Gardner     134
British naval thinking in the nuclear age   Richard Hill     160
The discovery of doctrine: British naval thinking at the close of the twentieth century   Eric Grove     182
Epilogue: Professor Bryan McLaren Ranft   Geoffrey Till     192
Bibliography     195
Index     208

Read also Derivative Securities and Difference Methods or Designing and Delivering Scientific Technical and Managerial Presentations

Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America

Author: Dudley Clendinen

This is the definitive account of the last great struggle for equal rights in the twentieth century. From the birth of the modern gay rights movement in 1969, at the Stonewall riots in New York, through 1988, when the gay rights movement was eclipsed by the more urgent demands of AIDS activists, this is the remarkable and until now untold story of how a largely invisible population of men and women banded together to create their place in America's culture and government. Told through the voices of gay activists and their opponents, filled with dozens of colorful characters, Out for Good traces the emergence of gay rights movements in cities across the country and their transformation into a national force that changed the face of America forever.

Out for Good is the unforgettable chronicle of an important -- and nearly lost -- chapter in American history.

New York Times Book Review - David Garrow

[A] rich and valuable book....nicely captures the optimism that followed the enactment of gay rights ordinances in [several] cities in the 1970s....[C]onsistently, Out for Good portrays gay activists as their own worst enemies, with political advancement reapeatedly thwarted by unnecessarily ugly intramural politics.

Library Journal

Two New York Times reporters on the struggle for equal rights.

The New York Times Book Review - David J. Garrow

...[A] rich and valuable book....nicely captures the optimism that followed the enactment of gay rights ordinances in [several] cities in the 1970s....[C]onsistently, Out for Good portrays gay activists as their own worst enemies, with political advancement reapeatedly thwarted by unnecessarily ugly intramural politics.

USA Today - Foster

[A]n extraordinarily revealing history...Clendinen and Nagourney artfully chart the dynamic oscillation of shanging cultural and political attitudes about gay life, in which even modest victories sometimes precede devastating reactions...[The Authors] have accomplished a great deal in Out for Good. It's a riveting history that strikes at the heart of a perplexing story about the persistence of bigotry— and a 30-year effort, so far, to vanquish it.

Kirkus Reviews

Embedded within this heavily detailed chronicle of the American gay rights movement(s) between 1969 and 1992 are openings of bright clarity onto the complex, sometimes self-divided evolution of gay and lesbian activism. Clendinen and Nagourney, both New York Times journalists, chose their subtitle well: Their book focuses on such political (not social-service or cultural) organizations and their leaders as the Gay Liberation Front, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. However, the authors' claim for their book, that it uniquely recounts the history of gay activism since 1969, is dated, in view of John Loughery's Other Side of Silence (1998), which includes within its more intellectually nuanced history of gay male identity some of the political developments described here (such as the Supreme Court case of Bowers v. Harwick, upholding state laws against "sodomy," and the countervailing passage of gay rights bills). What Clendinen and Nagourney additionally incorporate are: attention to lesbian activism and to such sometimes forgotten midwestern cities as Chicago and Minneapolis; pivotal moments in the rise of gay political consciousness, such as the first national gay fund-raising campaign (to help arson victims in New Orleans, 1973); and the dialectics of political success and failure (Anita Bryant's antigay rhetoric in Florida energized gay activism nationally). Though the lengthy documentation of personal politics within the organizations discussed is wearing, it contextualizes the tensions the authors expose, with impartial sympathy, between gay men and lesbians, blacks and whites, and conservatives and radicals withinthe gay rights movements—oppositions that do not often receive, as they do here, the candid discussion they deserve. In that regard, the chapter on Jesse Jackson's ambivalent speech to the Human Rights Campaign Fund in 1983 is a highlight. Readers who can navigate the journalistic density of sometimes anecdotal fact and quotation will be rewarded with a richer sense of recent gay history.



Saturday, December 5, 2009

Bringing Religion into International Relations or Nazi Propaganda and World War II

Bringing Religion into International Relations

Author: Jonathan Fox

This book examines the role religion plays in international relations as well as why this role has been ignored until now by international relations theorists. Fox and Sandler argue that while religion is not the driving force in world politics, international relations cannot be understood without taking religion into account. Religious legitimacy influences policy makers and their constituents; local religious phenomena, especially religious conflicts, cross borders; many transnational issues like human rights and population control have religious components. The authors also examine Huntington's Clash of Civilizations, which touches indirectly upon the role of religion in current world politics, and provide insights into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.



Table of Contents:
1Introduction1
2The overlooked dimension9
3Religion and legitimacy35
4Local religious conflicts are international issues63
5Transnational religious phenomena83
6The clash of civilizations debate115
7The Palestinian-Israeli conflict : a case study of religion and international politics137
8Toward a theory of international relations and religion163

New interesting book: Weird Pennsylvania or My French Life

Nazi Propaganda and World War II

Author: Aristotle A Kallis

Was Nazi wartime propaganda a 'totalitarian' mechanism that controlled the perceptions of the Germans? Was it as effective as generally thought? Did it 'win' the psychological war over the minds of the population? Was Joseph Goebbels the 'mastermind' of the Third Reich? This book analyzes the factors that determined the organization, conduct and output of Nazi propaganda during World War II, in an attempt to re-assess previously inflated perceptions about the influence of Nazi propaganda and the role of the regime's propagandists in the outcome of the 1939-45 military conflict.



Friday, December 4, 2009

The Rise and Decline of the State or Conquest in Cyberspace

The Rise and Decline of the State

Author: Martin L Van Crevald

The state, which since the middle of the seventeenth century has been the most important of all modern institutions, is in decline. From Western Europe to Africa, many existing states are either combining into larger communities or falling apart. Many of their functions are likely to be taken over by a variety of organizations that, whatever their precise nature, are not states. In this unique volume Martin van Creveld traces the story of the state from its beginnings to its end. Starting with the simplest political organizations that ever existed, he guides the reader through the origins of the state, its development, its apotheosis during the two World Wars, and its spread from its original home in Western Europe to cover the globe. In doing so, he provides a fascinating history of government from its origins to the present day. This original book will of interest to historians, political scientists and sociologists.



Table of Contents:

Introduction;

Part I. Before the State: Prehistory to 1300 AD:

1. Tribes without rulers;
2. Tribes with rulers (chiefdoms);
3. City states;
4. Empires, strong and weak;
5. Limits of stateless societies;

Part II. The Rise of the State: 1300-1648:
6. The struggle against the church;
7. The struggle against the empire;
8. The struggle against the nobility;
9. The struggle against the towns;
10. The monarch's triumph;

Part III. The State as an Instrument: 1648-1789:
11. Building the bureaucracy;
12. Creating the infrastructure;
13. Monopolizing violence;
14. The growth of political theory;
15. Inside the Leviathan;

Part IV. The State as an Ideal: 1789-1945:
16. The great transformation;
17. Disciplining the people;
18. Conquering the money;
19. The road to total war;
20. The apotheosis of war;

Part V. The Spread of the State: 1696-1975:
21. Into Eastern Europe;
22. The Anglo-Saxon Experience;
23. The Latin American experiment;
24. Frustration in Asia and Africa;
25. What everybody has ...;

Part VI. The Decline of the State: 1975-:
26. The waning of major war;
27. The retreat of welfare;
28. Technology goes international;
29. The threat to international order;
30. The withdrawal of faith; Conclusion: beyond the state.

New interesting book: Fitness In Line Skating or Sick Buildings

Conquest in Cyberspace: National Security and Information Warfare

Author: Martin C Libicki

With billions of computers in existence, cyberspace, 'the virtual world created when they are connected,' is said to be the new medium of power. Computer hackers operating from anywhere can enter cyberspace and take control of other people's computers, stealing their information, corrupting their workings, and shutting them down. Modern societies and militaries, both pervaded by computers, are supposedly at risk. As Conquest in Cyberspace explains, however, information systems and information itself are too easily conflated, and persistent mastery over the former is difficult to achieve.



Wednesday, December 2, 2009

International Political Economy or Peace Process

International Political Economy: Interests and Institutions in the Global Economy

Author: Thomas Oatley


Emphasizing both domestic and international politics as well as fundamental economic principles, International Political Economy is the most accessible and holistic overview of the global economy. This text offers students a uniquely engaging introduction to IPE by viewing global economic exchange as a political competition. While surveying key IPE theories, economic principles, institutions, and processes, the text explains how this competition raises social welfare but also creates winners and losers who influence the policies of governments and international institutions and ultimately the global economy.



Table of Contents:
Prefacexii
Chapter 1International Political Economy1
What Is International Political Economy?3
Studying International Political Economy8
Traditional Schools of International Political Economy9
Interests and Institutions in International Political Economy13
The Organization of the Book15
Key Terms17
Chapter 2The Multilateral Trade System18
The Multilateral Trade System19
Power, Interests, and the Multilateral Trade System26
The Creation of the Postwar Trade System27
The Evolution of the Multilateral Trade System30
A Closer Look: Hegemonic Decline and American Trade Policy33
The Problem of Trade Cooperation42
The Politics of Trade Liberalization43
Multilateral Institutions and Trade Cooperation48
Globalization and its Critics51
The Globalizing World Economy51
A Closer Look: The Global Division of Labor in the Semiconductor Industry56
The Critics of Globalization and the World Trade Organization58
A Closer Look: The WTO and its Critics59
Conclusion72
Key Terms73
Web Links73
Suggestions for Further Reading74
Chapter 3The Domestic Politics of Trade Policy75
Protection and its Consequences76
The Structure of Protection in the Advanced Industrialized Countries76
A Closer Look: Trade Policy Instruments77
The Economic Consequences of Protection80
A Society-centered Approach to Trade Policy86
Trade Policy Preferences88
The Collective Action Problem and Trade Policy Demands94
Political Institutions and Trade Politics96
Interests and Institutions in American Trade Politics99
A Closer Look: Trade Politics in the European Union100
Weaknesses of a Society-centered Approach107
A State-centered Approach to Trade Policy109
States and Industrial Policy109
Industrial Policy in High-technology Industries113
Weaknesses of the State-centered Approach118
Conclusion120
Key Terms121
Web Links121
Suggestions for Further Reading122
Chapter 4Trade and Economic Development in the South123
Insulation and Systemic Reform124
Domestic Interests, Internal Pressures, and Protectionist Coalitions124
Markets, Trade, and Economic Development: The Structuralist Critique130
Domestic and International Elements of Trade and Development Strategies135
A Closer Look: Import Substitution Industralization in Brazil140
Dismantling ISI: Trade Policy Reform in the Developing Countries145
Emerging Problems with Import Substitution Industrialization146
The East Asian Model149
International Financial Institutions and Structural Adjustment157
A Closer Look: Structural Adjustment in Mexico161
Domestic Politics and Structural Adjustment162
Developing Countries in the Contemporary Multilateral Trade System164
Conclusion167
Key Terms168
Web Links168
Suggestions for Further Reading169
Chapter 5Multinational Corporations in the World Economy170
Multinational Corporations: The Agents of Globalization171
Economic Explanations for MNCs180
Market Imperfections180
Locational Advantages183
Domestic Politics and MNCs185
The Host Country Dilemma187
Regulating MNC Activity189
A Closer Look: Singer Sewing Machines in Taiwan192
The Bargaining Relationship198
A Closer Look: Luring the German Luxury Car Producers to the South200
MNCs and Labor in the Global Economy204
MNCs and Labor in Developing Countries204
MNCs and Labor in Advanced Industrialized Countries207
International Regulation of MNCs210
A Closer Look: Protecting Investment in NAFTA214
Conclusion217
Key Terms218
Web Links219
Suggestions for Further Reading219
Chapter 6The International Monetary System220
The International Monetary System221
The Exchange Rate System222
Balance of Payments Adjustment224
The Tradeoff between Exchange Rate Stability and Domestic Autonomy228
The Bretton Woods System230
Creating the Bretton Woods System231
A Closer Look: The International Monetary Fund235
The Operation and Collapse of the Bretton Woods System237
A Closer Look: Dollar Overhang and the Confidence Problem240
Contemporary International Monetary Arrangements246
International Financial Integration246
Exchange Rate Arrangements in a World of Mobile Capital250
Conclusion264
Key Terms265
Web Links266
Suggestions for Further Reading266
Chapter 7Domestic Politics and Exchange Rate Policy267
Domestic Politics, Monetary Policy, and the Exchange Rate268
Electoral Politics, the Keynesian Revolution, and Monetary Policy268
The Unholy Trinity and the Domestic Politics of Exchange Rate Policies273
Society-based Approaches to Monetary and Exchange Rate Policy277
The Electoral Model of Exchange Rate Politics277
The Partisan Model of Exchange Rate Politics280
The Sectoral Model of Exchange Rate Politics284
Weaknesses of the Society-centered Approaches289
The State-centered Approach to Monetary and Exchange Rate Policy290
Monetary Policy and Unemployment291
A Closer Look: The Natural Rate in the United States and European Union292
The Time Consistency Problem300
Independent Central Banks as Commitment Mechanisms301
A Closer Look: The European Monetary System as a Commitment Mechanism303
Independent Central Banks and Exchange Rates307
Criticisms of the State-centered Approach309
Conclusion310
Key Terms311
Web Links311
Suggestions for Further Reading312
Chapter 8Developing Countries and the International Financial System313
The Early Postwar Period314
The Supply of External Finance316
A Closer Look: The World Bank319
Financial Arrangements in Developing Countries322
Commercial Bank Lending: Private Capital and the Debt Crisis325
The Oil Shock, ISI, and the Demand for External Finance325
Commercial Banks and the Supply of External Finance327
Commercial Bank Lending and the Boom and Bust Cycle in Latin America329
Managing the Debt Crisis334
The Debt Regime334
The Sources of Bargaining Power337
A Closer Look: The Debt Crisis in Africa338
The Domestic Politics of Economic Reform342
The Resumption of Capital Flows and the Return of Financial Crises346
The Causes and Consequences of the Asian Financial Crisis349
Reforming the International Financial System?355
Conclusion358
Key Terms359
Web Links359
Suggestions for Further Reading360
Chapter 9Political Economy of Socialist and Post-socialist Societies361
The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Bloc362
Creating and Extending the Soviet System362
Stagnation, Crisis, and Collapse372
Economic Decline and Political Change375
Market Reform in the Former Soviet Bloc379
Strategies of Market Reform380
A Closer Look: Shock Therapy in Poland382
Economic Reform in China392
Economic Reform393
The Political Logic of China's Economic Reforms397
Conclusion399
Key Terms400
Web Links401
Suggestions for Further Reading401
Glossary402
References415
Index434

Peace Process: American Diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict Since 1967

Author: William B Quandt

In this timely new edition of Peace Process, William B. Quandt analyzes how each U.S. president since Lyndon Johnson has dealt with the complex challenge of brokering peace in the Middle East, from the 1967 Arab-Israeli war to the death of Yasir Arafat. This classic work has now been updated to reflect recently declassified U.S. government documents and other published materials relating to the Johnson, Nixon, and Clinton presidencies, and to carry the story through George W. Bush's first term.

The most comprehensive account of the Middle East peace process in print, the book places the current situation in historical context and point to possible ways out of the impasse between Israelis and Palestinians. The text is complemented by extensive documentary appendixes containing significant treaties, resolutions, and speeches, which are available on the Brookings Institution's web site.

Booknews

Quandt is a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies program at the Brookings Institution and was a member of the National Security Council staff during the Nixon and Carter administrations. He provides a detailed account of American policy toward the Arab-Israeli conflict, assessing each administration's initial approach to the problem of peacemaking since 1967 and the evolution of policy. Co- published with the Brookings Institution. Paper edition (unseen), $15.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

What People Are Saying

Thomas R. Mattair
"Quandt's work on this subject, including this third edition, is probably the most readable, comprehensive, thoroughly researched, dispassionate, honest, fair, and yet critical, account we have."
Middle East Policy




Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Handbook of Comparative Social Policy or While Six Million Died

Handbook of Comparative Social Policy

Author: Patricia Kennett

"This Handbook brings together the work of key commentators in the field of comparative analysis in order to provide comprehensive coverage of contemporary debates and issues in cross-national social policy research." International in scope, this authoritative Handbook presents original cutting-edge research from leading specialists and will become an indispensable source of reference for anyone interested in comparative social research. It will also prove a valuable study aid for undergraduate and postgraduate students from a range of disciplines including social policy, sociology, politics, urban studies and public policy.



Book review: The Future of Reputation or Essay on the Principle of Population

While Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy

Author: Arthur D Mors

First published in 1967, While Six Million Died revealed the untold story behind the deliberate obstruction placed in the way of attempts to save the Jewish people from Hitler's "final solution," with detailed documentation from worldwide interviews with participants, research in archives around the world, as well a classified and official papers that had never been published before Morse's exhaustive study. While the tragedy of the Holocaust continues to be told by historians, novelists, filmmakers, and others, no single volume has documented this dark period in its historical relationship to America as thoroughly and passionately as Arthur Morse's pioneering work.

What People Are Saying

Barbara Tuchman
For national self-knowledge, the historical record Arthur Morse has compiled is one of the most important of our time.