Conflict, Security and the Reshaping of Society
Conflict, Security and the Reshaping of Society

Author: Alessandro Dal Lago

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2010-07-13

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1136933425

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A PDF version of this book is available for free in open access via www.tandfebooks.com as well as the OAPEN Library platform, www.oapen.org. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license and is part of the OAPEN-UK research project. This book is an examination of the effect of contemporary wars (such as the 'War on Terror') on civil life at a global level. Contemporary literature on war is mainly devoted to recent changes in the theory and practice of warfare, particular those in which terrorists or insurgents are involved (for example, the 'revolution in military affairs', 'small wars', and so on). On the other hand, today's research on security is focused, among other themes, on the effects of the war on terrorism, and on civil liberties and social control. This volume connects these two fields of research, showing how 'war' and 'security' tend to exchange targets and forms of action as well as personnel (for instance, the spreading use of private contractors in wars and of military experts in the 'struggle for security') in modern society. This shows how, contrary to Clausewitz's belief war should be conceived of as a "continuation of politics by other means", the opposite statement is also true: that politics, insofar as it concerns security, can be defined as the 'continuation of war by other means'. This book will be of much interest to students of critical security studies, war and conflict studies, terrorism studies, sociology and IR in general. Salvatore Palidda is Professor of Sociology in the Faculty of Education at the University of Genoa. Alessandro Dal Lago is Professor of Sociology of Culture and Communication at the University of Genoa.

Political Demography
Political Demography

Author: Jack A. Goldstone

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2012-08-16

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 0199945969

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The field of political demography - the politics of population change - is dramatically underrepresented in political science. At a time when demographic changes - aging in the rich world, youth bulges in the developing world, ethnic and religious shifts, migration, and urbanization - are waxing as never before, this neglect is especially glaring and starkly contrasts with the enormous interest coming from policymakers and the media. "Ten years ago, [demography] was hardly on the radar screen," remarks Richard Jackson and Neil Howe of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, two contributors to this volume. "Today," they continue, "it dominates almost any discussion of America's long-term fiscal, economic, or foreign-policy direction." Demography is the most predictable of the social sciences: children born in the last five years will be the new workers, voters, soldiers, and potential insurgents of 2025 and the political elites of the 2050s. Whether in the West or the developing world, political scientists urgently need to understand the tectonics of demography in order to grasp the full context of today's political developments. This book begins to fill the gap from a global and historical perspective and with the hope that scholars and policymakers will take its insights on board to develop enlightened policies for our collective future.

The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Political Sociology
The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Political Sociology

Author: Edwin Amenta

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2016-09-26

Total Pages: 647

ISBN-13: 111925065X

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The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Political Sociology is a complete reference guide, reflecting the scope and quality of the discipline, and highlighting emerging topics in the field. Global in focus, offering up-to-date topics from an interdisciplinary, international set of scholars addressing key issues concerning globalization, social movements, and citizenship The majority of chapters are new, including those on environmental politics, international terrorism, security, corruption, and human rights Revises and updates all previously published chapters to include new themes and topics in political sociology Provides an overview of scholarship in the field, with chapters working independently and collectively to examine the full range of contributions to political sociology Offers a challenging yet accessible and complete reference guide for students and scholars

Governance of Security and Ignored Insecurities in Contemporary Europe
Governance of Security and Ignored Insecurities in Contemporary Europe

Author: Salvatore Palidda

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-14

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 1317125886

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This book explores changes in security governance in Europe from the 1990s, focusing on some of the most important consequences: the proliferation of ignored insecurities, including the increase of oncological diseases, environmental disasters, shadow economies reproducing neo-slavery and fiscal fraud, and the general damage to the res publica. What is the articulation of removal, reclamation and consequently the implementation of devices and the establishing of prevention practices? Why are the majority of victims and also the control agency professionals seemingly resigned to these ignored insecurities? Following more than 20 years of research in the area, the authors examine these questions and how the securitisation of society has been exacerbated. They argue that the primary cause of the increase in ignored insecurities is the consequence of the neoliberal turn in security governance. This book proposes an innovative approach to security governance, not only through a serious analysis of the balance of the costs and benefits, but also highlighting what is here termed `ignored insecurities'. The authors propose a review of the problems, showing that the governance of security is a crucial element of the contemporary political organisation of society. The book ends with an innovative reflection on the Anthropocene debate and the COP21 summit which took place in Paris in December 2015.

China's War on Terrorism
China's War on Terrorism

Author: Martin I. Wayne

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2007-11-06

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1134106238

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This book examines the success of China's counterinsurgency policies in fighting Islamic terrorism in its internal war in the Xinjiang province, and draws lessons for the West in its war against global Jihadism.

Security Unbound
Security Unbound

Author: Jef Huysmans

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-05-09

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 1317813081

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Security concerns have mushroomed. Increasingly numerous areas of life are governed by security policies and technologies. Security Unbound argues that when insecurities pervade how we relate to our neighbours, how we perceive international politics, how governments formulate policies, at stake is not our security but our democracy. Security is not in the first instance a right or value but a practice that challenges democratic institutions and actions. We are familiar with emergency policies in the name of national security challenging parliamentary processes, the space for political dissent, and fundamental rights. Yet, security practice and technology pervade society heavily in very mundane ways without raising national security crises, in particular through surveillance technology and the management of risks and uncertainties in many areas of life. These more diffuse security practices create societies in which suspicion becomes a default way of relating and governing relations, ranging from neighbourhood relations over financial transactions to cross border mobility. Security Unbound demonstrates that governing through suspicion poses serious challenges to democratic practice. Some of these challenges are familiar, such as the erosion of the right to privacy; others are less so, such as the post-human challenge to citizenship. Security unbound provokes us to see that the democratic political stake today is not our security but preventing insecurity from becoming the organising principle of political and social life.

Encyclopedia of Transnational Crime and Justice
Encyclopedia of Transnational Crime and Justice

Author: Margaret E. Beare

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2012-04-24

Total Pages: 545

ISBN-13: 1412990785

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Transnational crimes involve border crossings as an integral part of the criminal activity. They also include crimes that take place in one country with consequences that significantly affect other countries. Examples include human trafficking, smuggling (arms, drugs, currency), sex slavery, non-domestic terrorism, and financial crimes. Transnational organized crime refers specifically to transnational crime carried out by organized crime syndicates. Although several encyclopedias cover aspects of transnational crime, it is this encyclopedia′s emphasis on transnational justice, as well, that differentiates it from the pack. Not only do we define, describe, and chart the crimes and criminal activity, we also will include significant coverage of policing those crimes and prosecuting them within domestic and international court systems. Accessible and jargon-free and available in both print and electronic formats, the one-volume Encyclopedia of Transnational Crime and Justice will contain such entries as arms smuggling, art fraud, charity fraud, hacking and computer viruses, copyright infringement, counterfeiting, drug smuggling, extradition, human trafficking, intelligence agencies, international banking laws, Internet scams, Interpol, money laundering, pollution and waste disposal, price fixing, prosecution, sanctions, sex slavery, tax evasion, terrorism, war crimes, the World Court, and more. Features & Benefits: 150 signed entries (each with Cross References and Further Readings) are organized in A-to-Z fashion to give students easy access to the full range of topics in transnational crime and justice. A thematic Reader′s Guide in the front matter groups entries by broad topical or thematic areas to make it easy for users to find related entries at a glance. In the electronic version, the Reader′s Guide combines with a detailed Index and the Cross References to provide users with convenient search-and-browse capacities. A Chronology in the back matter helps students put individual events into broader historical context. A Glossary provides students with concise definitions of key terms in the field. A Resource Guide to classic books, journals, and web sites (along with the Further Readings accompanying each entry) helps guide students to further resources in their research journeys. An Appendix includes the Congressional Research Service Report on International Terrorism and Transnational Crime.

The Magma of War
The Magma of War

Author: Edgar Illas

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-06-21

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 1040048854

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War, from the conflicts in the Middle East and Russia/Ukraine to Mexican narco-violence, from neocolonial land grabs in the Global South to racial, border, health, and climate crises all over the planet, defines the most extreme and contradictory expression of the global world. In this fascinating exploration on the history of the thinking of conflict, Edgar Illas departs from military and sociological analyses to propose a theoretical exploration of war as the ontological force that produces political orders. Magma is used as a geological metaphor to theorize the mixtures of politics and war that organize, and disorganize, global society. Divided into two parts, Illas’ study begins by surveying some of the most important thinkers of war, moving from classical antiquity to the twentieth century. Each thinker provides a different inflection in the historical evolution of the being of war. The second part turns to a theorization of the twenty-first century to claim that conflictive relations between capital, state power, political movements, and social life in globalization culminate and at the same time reiterate the paradoxes of war as an ontological event. The Magma of War is an energizing contribution to the task of rethinking politics in relation to war and an invaluable resource to all those conscious of the unstable forms of contemporary social and political life.

Handbook on Human Security, Borders and Migration
Handbook on Human Security, Borders and Migration

Author: Natalia Ribas-Mateos

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2021-02-26

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13: 1839108908

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Drawing on the concept of the ‘politics of compassion’, this Handbook interrogates the political, geopolitical, social and anthropological processes which produce and govern borders and give rise to contemporary border violence.

How to Lose the Information War
How to Lose the Information War

Author: Nina Jankowicz

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2020-06-11

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 1838607692

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Since the start of the Trump era, the United States and the Western world has finally begun to wake up to the threat of online warfare and the attacks from Russia, who flood social media with disinformation, and circulate false and misleading information to fuel fake narratives and make the case for illegal warfare. The question no one seems to be able to answer is: what can the West do about it? Central and Eastern European states, including Ukraine and Poland, however, have been aware of the threat for years. Nina Jankowicz has advised these governments on the front lines of the information war. The lessons she learnt from that fight, and from her attempts to get US congress to act, make for essential reading. How to Lose the Information War takes the reader on a journey through five Western governments' responses to Russian information warfare tactics - all of which have failed. She journeys into the campaigns the Russian operatives run, and shows how we can better understand the motivations behind these attacks and how to beat them. Above all, this book shows what is at stake: the future of civil discourse and democracy, and the value of truth itself.