Recommending Books for Purchase (Bulletin 87 - June 2020): Political Science

This volume offers a comprehensive evaluation of the concept of global order, with a particular emphasis on the role of regional organisations within global governance institutions such as the United Nations. Building from a solid theoretical base it draws upon the expertise of numerous leading international scholars offering a broad array of timely and relevant case studies. These all take into consideration the historical setting, before analysing the contemporary situation and offering suggestions for potential realignments and readjustments that may be witnessed in the future. The volume adopts an interdisciplinary approach when addressing some of the most pressing issues of global governance which our global community must tackle. This presents the readers an opportunity to understand related topics such as political economy, international law, institutions of global governance, in conjunction with the academic field of International Relations (IR). It further helps students and interested readers understand the theoretical and practical foundations to the changing nature of global affairs.  

This book investigates how, while children used as soldiers are primarily perceived as victims of offences against international law, they also commit war atrocities. In the aftermath of armed conflict, the mainstream justice system targets warlords internationally, armed groups and militias' commanders who abduct and enrol children as combatants, leaving child perpetrators not being held accountable for their alleged gross human rights violations. Attempts to prosecute child soldiers through the mainstream justice system have resulted in child rights abuses. Where no accountability measures have been taken, demobilised young soldiers have experienced rejection, and eventually, some have returned to soldiering. This research provides evidence of the potential of restorative justice peacemaking circles and locally-based jurisprudence - specifically the Baraza - to hold former child soldiers accountable and facilitate their reintegration into society.

The book is the first and general report of a series of six that reviews the practice of "China Dream" policy by the Zhejiang provincial government.  "China Dream" is one of the most important state policies established by the present Chinese government and how to convert this abstract national strategy to concrete practice is still much of a challenge for local governments. The book summarizes the six facets of government administrative practices  in economics, politics, culture, society, ecology and construction of the Party.  It serves as the skeleton of the series and outlines the whole structure.  It will help scholars and political practitioners worldwide better understand the statecraft of China and the practice China has experienced.

This book evaluates climate change and populism, two ideas that do not generally go together. The author argues that perhaps they should if policymakers are to be galvanized into action before it is too late. Although populism is usually associated with right-wing authoritarianism, there is growing interest in more progressive forms of populist politics. Across the world, young people in particular are mobilizing to demand change from an older generation that appears to be incapable of action or is hostage to powerful vested interests and outdated ideas. In this book, the author explains why populist forms of political action may yet provide the key to effective policies, which are often discussed but less frequently implemented. Accessible and trenchantly argued, this book presents a primer for the politics of survival.

This book analyzes both NATO's and the EU's military crisis management operations and provides an explanation for the fact that it is sometimes NATO, sometimes the EU, and sometimes both international organizations that intervene militarily in a conflict. In detailed case studies on Libya, Chad/Central African Republic, and the Horn of Africa, Claudia Fahron-Hussey shows that the capabilities and preferences of the organizations matter most and the organizations' bureaucratic actors influence the decision-making process of the member states.

This handbook provides a comprehensive and cutting-edge analysis of ethnicity through diverse multidisciplinary lenses. It explores numerous aspects of ethnicity and how it is linked to a range of contemporary political, economic and social issues at the global, regional as well as local levels. In a world where globalization has enveloped and transformed societies through economic and financial integration, social media networks, knowledge transfer, transnational travel, technology and education, there is a tendency to frame issues largely from the standpoint of economic, political and strategic interests of the dominant powers. Issues such as ethnic and cultural identity are often ignored partly because they are too complex to deal with. In this regard, the study of ethnicity is critical in delving deeper into people's worldviews, perceptions of each other, relationships and  sense of identification to help us uncover some of the deeper perceptions and meanings of social change as seen and shared by cultural groups as they adapt to the fast-changing world. To better inform ourselves of the complexities of ethnicity and relationship to contemporary global developments and challenges, an approach which is people-centered, balanced, comprehensive and research-based is needed.             The multidisciplinary approach of this handbook provides conceptual and empirical narratives across different disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, political studies, cultural studies, media studies, literature, law, development studies and  economics, to name a few. It includes comparative case studies from different parts of the world to enrich our understanding of the diverse experiences. The chapters focus on contemporary issues and situations while drawing from historical reflections and lessons. The idea is not only to illuminate the intricacies of ethnic identity, but also to provide innovative ideas to help understand and address some of the contemporary challenges associated with these in our world today.

This book is a comprehensive guide to qualitative comparative analysis (QCA)  using R. Using Boolean algebra to implement principles of comparison used by scholars engaged in the qualitative study of macro social phenomena, QCA acts as a bridge between the quantitative and the qualitative traditions. The QCA package for R, created by the author, facilitates QCA within a graphical user interface. This book provides the most current information on the latest version of the QCA package, which combines written commands with a cross-platform interface.  Beginning with a brief introduction to the concept of QCA, this book moves from theory to calibration, from analysis to factorization, and hits on all the key areas of QCA in between.  Chapters one through three are introductory, familiarizing the reader with R, the QCA package, and elementary set theory. The next few chapters introduce important applications of the package beginning with calibration, analysis of necessity, analysis of sufficiency, parameters of fit, negation and factorization, and the construction of Venn diagrams. The book concludes with extensions to the classical package, including temporal applications and panel data. Providing a practical introduction to an increasingly important research tool for the social sciences, this book will be indispensable for students, scholars, and practitioners interested in conducting qualitative research in political science, sociology, business and management, and  evaluation studies.   

Now in its 155th edition, The Statesman's Yearbook continues to be the reference work of choice for accurate and reliable information on every country in the world. Covering political, economic, social and cultural aspects, the Yearbook is also available online for subscribing institutions.  

Now in its 156th edition, The Statesman's Yearbook continues to be the reference work of choice for accurate and reliable information on every country in the world. Covering political, economic, social and cultural aspects, the Yearbook is also available online for subscribing institutions. 

Now in its 156th edition, The Statesman's Yearbook continues to be the reference work of choice for accurate and reliable information on every country in the world. Covering political, economic, social and cultural aspects, the Yearbook is also available online for subscribing institutions. This companion to the classic reference work The Statesman's Yearbook provides detailed biographies of past leaders and figureheads not found in the annual publication, and also includes comprehensive chronologies of natural disasters and key political events, as well as overviews of major global cities. In addition to facts and figures, the publication also includes infographics commemorating the anniversaries of key historical events as well as a number of synopses of relevant and related publications. Alongside The Statesman's Yearbook, The Statesman's Yearbook Companion continues to provide accurate and reliable information about politics, culture and the world.

This companion to the classic reference work The Statesman's Yearbook provides detailed biographies of past leaders and figureheads not found in the annual publication, and also includes comprehensive chronologies of natural disasters and key political events, as well as overviews of major global cities. In addition to facts and figures, the publication also includes infographics commemorating the anniversaries of key historical events as well as a number of synopses of relevant and related publications. Alongside The Statesman's Yearbook, The Statesman's Yearbook Companion continues to provide accurate and reliable information about politics, culture and the world.

The book explains why and how the UN Security Council authorizes international criminal investigations into mass atrocities. In doing so, it tackles head-on the obvious double standards of global justice, where few atrocities get investigated and most slip below the headlines. The book argues that the Council's decision-making procedure is central to understanding the Council's decisions. This procedure is broken into three distinct steps, namely the role of diplomats at the Council, the Council's reliance on third parties and the Council's resort to precedent. The volume documents that the Council authorized international criminal investigations only into the handful of mass atrocities for which the Council's deliberations successfully completed each of these three steps. Written for both scholars and practitioners, the book combines insights from the fields of international relations, international law and human rights. Through archival research and interviews with UNSC diplomats who took part in deliberations on atrocities, the volume presents evidence that supports its argument across cases and across time. In doing so, the book avoids the yes/no (or 0 vs 1) tendency of many social science projects, thereby acknowledging that there is no silver bullet to explain the work of the Council's five permanent and ten elected members.  Chris Kaoutzanis's Procedure Matters is a deep dive into how the UN Security Council actually works in dealing with some of the world's worst atrocities.  Showing that UN procedure does matter, Kaoutzanis illuminates the limited accountability for international crimes that can be expected from that vital institution.  As importantly, he offers a road map for how to use UN legitimating procedures to navigate the power politics of that august body.  This is a map no scholar of international institutions and no human rights activist should be without. Michael Doyle, Columbia University  This project recognizes what the scholarly literature has generally ignored or deemphasized: the central role of the Security Council in responding to mass atrocity situations. As much as international lawyers would hate to admit it, the legal response to international crimes is initially controlled not by international judges and tribunals, but rather by the Security Council and its geo-political and diplomatic complications. Kaoutzanis has put the sun back at the center of our solar system.  Jens David Ohlin, Cornell Law School

This book examines the process, policies, and politics of urban development in China, with particular attention to city region governance, urban redevelopment, and urban-rural interaction through intensive theoretical discussions and extensive case studies. It offers ample data, pictures, and illustration to provide readers with a deep understanding of urban policies and policies in China. This study offers a more tightly knitted and concrete analysis on the process, policies, and politics of China's urban development. The regional perspective is emphasized to analyze the urban-rural transition and how it affects urban governance. This book develops a well grounded political economy analysis to examine how city-region development and governance evolve in China. Such development will be the focal point of China's continuing urbanization and its impact needs to be carefully analyzed. In the end, this book aims to foster some discussions that may lead to serious consideration on China's future urbanization route​.

Although far right movements and political parties in the first half of the 20th century have paid great attention to their visual performance this dimension has not gained much of reseachers' interest for the post WW II period. Contributions in this volume investigate the use far right protagonists make of images and drawings as a crucial resource for the symbolic definition of political events and as a means to express their world view.