Aspirational Power

Aspirational Power
Title Aspirational Power PDF eBook
Author David R. Mares
Publisher Brookings Institution Press
Pages 212
Release 2016-06-28
Genre Political Science
ISBN 0815727968

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Brazil’s soft power path to major power status. The largest country in South America by land mass and population, Brazil has been marked since its independence by a belief that it has the potential to play a major role on the global stage. Set apart from the rest of the hemisphere by culture, language, and history, Brazil has also been viewed by its neighbors as a potential great power and, at times, a threat. But even though domestic aspirations and foreign perceptions have held out the prospect for Brazil becoming a major power, the country has lacked the capabilities—particularly on the military and economic dimensions—to pursue a traditional path to greatness. Aspirational Power examines Brazil as an emerging power. It explains Brazil’s present emphasis on using soft power through a historical analysis of Brazil’s three past attempts to achieve major power status. Though these efforts have fallen short, this book suggests that Brazil will continue to try to emerge, but that it will only succeed when its domestic institutions provide a solid and attractive foundation for the deployment of its soft power abroad. Aspirational Power concludes with concrete recommendations for how Brazil might improve its strategy, and why the great powers, including the United States, should respond positively to Brazil’s emergence.

Populism's Power

Populism's Power
Title Populism's Power PDF eBook
Author Laura Grattan
Publisher Oxford University Press
Pages 305
Release 2016-01-06
Genre Political Science
ISBN 0190277653

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Uprisings such as the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street signal a resurgence of populist politics in America, pitting the people against the establishment in a struggle over control of democracy. In the wake of its conservative capture during the Nixon and Reagan eras, and given its increasing ubiquity as a mainstream buzzword of politicians and pundits, democratic theorists and activists have been eager to abandon populism to right-wing demagogues and mega-media spin-doctors. Decades of liberal scholarship have reinforced this shift, turning the term "populism" into a pejorative in academic and public discourse. At best, they conclude that populism encourages an "empty" wish to express a unified popular will beyond the mediating institutions of government; at worst, it has been described as an antidemocratic temperament prone to fomenting backlash against elites and marginalized groups. Populism's Power argues that such routine dismissals of populism reinforce liberalism as the end of democracy. Yet, as long as democracy remains true to its meaning, that is, "rule by the people," democratic theorists and activists must be able to give an account of the people as collective actors. Without such an account of the people's power, democracy's future seems fixed by the institutions of today's neoliberal, managerial states, and not by the always changing demographics of those who live within and across their borders. Laura Grattan looks at how populism cultivates the aspirations of ordinary people to exercise power over their everyday lives and their collective fate. In evaluating competing theories of populism she looks at a range of populist moments, from cultural phenomena such as the Chevrolet ad campaign for "Our Country, Our Truck," to the music of Leonard Cohen, and historical and contemporary populist movements, including nineteenth-century Populism, the Tea Party, broad-based community organizing, and Occupy Wall Street. While she ultimately expresses ambivalence about both populism and democracy, she reopens the idea that grassroots movements--like the insurgent farmers and laborers, New Deal agitators, and Civil Rights and New Left actors of US history--can play a key role in democratizing power and politics in America.

Great Powers’ Foreign Policy

Great Powers’ Foreign Policy
Title Great Powers’ Foreign Policy PDF eBook
Author
Publisher BRILL
Pages 507
Release 2022-12-19
Genre Political Science
ISBN 9004523448

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This book provides a timely comparative analysis on the foreign policy of eleven great powers, in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Putin’s war against the West and the global competition reshaping the world order.

The Sum of Small Things

The Sum of Small Things
Title The Sum of Small Things PDF eBook
Author Elizabeth Currid-Halkett
Publisher Princeton University Press
Pages 267
Release 2017-05-15
Genre Social Science
ISBN 1400884691

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How the leisure class has been replaced by a new elite, and how their consumer habits affect us all In today’s world, the leisure class has been replaced by a new elite. Highly educated and defined by cultural capital rather than income bracket, these individuals earnestly buy organic, carry NPR tote bags, and breast-feed their babies. They care about discreet, inconspicuous consumption—like eating free-range chicken and heirloom tomatoes, wearing organic cotton shirts and TOMS shoes, and listening to the Serial podcast. They use their purchasing power to hire nannies and housekeepers, to cultivate their children’s growth, and to practice yoga and Pilates. In The Sum of Small Things, Elizabeth Currid-Halkett dubs this segment of society “the aspirational class” and discusses how, through deft decisions about education, health, parenting, and retirement, the aspirational class reproduces wealth and upward mobility, deepening the ever-wider class divide. Exploring the rise of the aspirational class, Currid-Halkett considers how much has changed since the 1899 publication of Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class. In that inflammatory classic, which coined the phrase “conspicuous consumption,” Veblen described upper-class frivolities: men who used walking sticks for show, and women who bought silver flatware despite the effectiveness of cheaper aluminum utensils. Now, Currid-Halkett argues, the power of material goods as symbols of social position has diminished due to their accessibility. As a result, the aspirational class has altered its consumer habits away from overt materialism to more subtle expenditures that reveal status and knowledge. And these transformations influence how we all make choices. With a rich narrative and extensive interviews and research, The Sum of Small Things illustrates how cultural capital leads to lifestyle shifts and what this forecasts, not just for the aspirational class but for everyone.

Introduction to Politics

Introduction to Politics
Title Introduction to Politics PDF eBook
Author Robert Garner
Publisher Oxford University Press
Pages 676
Release 2023-02-09
Genre
ISBN 0192847716

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Combining theory, comparative politics, and international relations ntroduction to Politics 5e, provides a comprehensive introduction to the subject for first year undergraduate students. As the only introductory text to cover both comparative politics and international relations, it is themost authoritative and global introductory politics textbook on the market.Written by three experts in the field, this book takes a balanced approach to the subject, serving as a strong foundation for further study. Assuming no prior knowledge, the authors use an accessible yet analytical approach which encourages critical analysis and debate, helping students to developthe skills that will be vital to their future studies and employment.The new edition has been fully updated with additional up-to-date case studies and examples to help students relate their studies to real-world events. The fifth edition includes coverage of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on global politics; provides an overview of Russia's imperial history,and the political economy of sanctions; a new section on decolonising political thinking; and additional examples from Non-Western settings throughout the text. This ensures that ntroduction to Politics 5e is the most comprehensive, global, and essential guide for students new to the study ofPolitics.The fifth edition includes a wealth of embedded digital resources, which are accessible through the enhanced e-book. These include:- Multiple-choice questions for every section, designed to reinforce your understanding of key points through frequent and cumulative revision, and to assist with independent self-study- Political scenarios which encourage you to apply your learning to a practical case to see how the content of the text can be reflected in real life.- A library of web links to relevant blogs, debates, and videos, to help explore your research interests and take your learning further- Videos of news reports, speeches, analysis, and key events help bring theories and concepts to life, exploring issues such as 'are Western values still relevant?' and 'Will China Become the Centre of the World Economy?'- An interactive flashcard glossary to test your knowledge and understanding of each chapter's key termsTeaching resources for adopting lecturers include:- Customisable PowerPoint slides that can be adapted for use in lectures- Discussion questions that lecturers can use to engage their students, based on the content of each chapter- A bank of questions for lecturers to use to test students' understanding of key concepts covered in the chapters

Evolutionary Macroeconomics (Routledge Revivals)

Evolutionary Macroeconomics (Routledge Revivals)
Title Evolutionary Macroeconomics (Routledge Revivals) PDF eBook
Author John Foster
Publisher Routledge
Pages 326
Release 2013-02-01
Genre Business & Economics
ISBN 113664623X

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First published in 1987, Evolutionary Macroeconomics offers an evolutionary approach to macroeconomics as an alternative to contemporary new classical and Keynesian macroeconomics. In order to develop such an approach, an alternative view of the micro-foundations of macroeconomics is presented. The book begins with a commentary on the state of macroeconomics and an evaluation of attempts to redevelop its underlying vision of economic behaviour. Particular attention is paid to the treatment of expectations and anticipations. The second part of the book presents a behavioural framework which is compatible with an evolutionary perspective on economic behaviour. The third part of the book discusses the implications of adopting an evolutionary approach to macroeconomic theory, empirical methods and policy design, culminating in a specific policy proposal to cure stagflation.

Alternative Paths to Influence

Alternative Paths to Influence
Title Alternative Paths to Influence PDF eBook
Author Giulio M. Gallarotti
Publisher Taylor & Francis
Pages 207
Release 2023-06-06
Genre Political Science
ISBN 1000887243

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This book offers new and cutting-edge analyses of under-explored subjects and issues in the realm of soft power. It attempts to fill significant scholarly gaps in understanding the process by which soft power is created, as well as gaps in demonstrating its impact. Soft power is one of the most influential ideas in the study of international politics over the past thirty years. Can nations attain their most vital foreign policy objectives in agreeable ways? Advocates of the concept of soft power have vociferously answered in the affirmative. After many years of thinking in the field of international affairs that the only effective path to influence in international politics was military and economic power, the idea of soft power offers new and exciting possibilities of gaining such influence through a more benign path, one that elevates cooperation and esteem as preferred alternatives to violence, threat and military capacity. This book posits that the realization of the full potential of soft power as a foundation for international relations is a crucial goal for our present world, one beset by war and planetary crises. The book will be of special interest to researchers across political science, international relations, cultural studies and foreign policy. It was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Political Power.