Caroline Beer's new book explores the consequences of democratic politics in Mexico. Focusing on struggles at the subnational level, she assesses how increased electoral competition alters the long-term distribution of power across political institutions in ways that shift power away from established elites and into the hands of ordinary citizens. Electoral Competition and Institutional Change in Mexico includes compelling case study comparisons of three states with very different experiences with electoral democracy: Guanajuato, Hidalgo, and San Luis Potos . These cases are then situated within a broader quantitative analysis of all thirty-one Mexican states. Beer's research reverses the causal arrow of many standard studies by focusing on the causes of institutional change rather than the consequences of institutional design. Her analysis reveals that the process of increasing electoral competition has unleashed new forces that have slowly eroded the power of centralized, authoritarian elites in Mexico. Utilizing a theoretical framework that draws on insights from classic democratic theory, new institutionalist literature, and current critiques of contemporary Latin American democracy, Beer's important work represents the first comparative study of state legislatures and governors in Mexico and offers compelling insight into the bottom-up dynamics of Mexico's transition to democracy.

Millions of animals are brought into existence and raised for food every year. This has generated three serious problems: first, intensive animal farming is one of the leading causes of environmental degradation. Farming livestock contributes to a large amount of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere each year; it contributes to land and water degradation, biodiversity loss, coral reef degeneration, and deforestation. Second, raising animals for food causes millions of animals to suffer and be killed. And third, consumption of meat and animal products is linked with heart disease, diabetes, and various cancers. Consequently, a global change in the way that animals are treated is imperative. Many moral philosophers have suggested a move toward vegetarianism. But vegetarianism, unfortunately, still relies on raising animals for food, and does not avoid the deleterious effects of animal products on human health. The right solution is ethical veganism, which is the avoidance of all animal products and by-products. Some moral philosophers have framed ethical veganism in terms of animals having the same fundamental rights as humans, a notion that is highly controversial. In any case, the view that animals have rights is not capable of generating the moral duty to embrace ethical veganism. The answer is to adopt a virtue-oriented approach to the treatment of animals because the acquisition of virtues, such as compassion, magnanimity, temperance, and fairness enable people to see that raising and using animals for food is unfair, callous, and self-indulgent.

Using the psychohistorical schema of Jean Gebser, Kealey analyzes the positions of "environmental ethicists" and concludes that the first four of Gebser's structures of consciousness are inadequate to meet the present crisis. Drawing on Plotinus, Aurobindo, and Max Scheler, Kealey outlines an adequate "fully integral ecological ethic."

Preservation and Protest proposes a novel taxonomy of four paradigms of nonhuman theological ethics by exploring the intersection of tensions between value terms and teleological terms. McLaughlin systematically develops the paradigm of cosmocentric transfiguration, arguing that the entire cosmos shares in the eschatological hope of a harmonious participation in God’s triune life. With this paradigm, McLaughlin offers an alternative to anthropocentric and conservationist paradigms within the Christian tradition, an alternative that affirms both scientific claims about natural history and the theological hope for eschatological redemption.

In this thoroughly revised and updated second edition of the highly successful Ecological Ethics, Patrick Curry shows that a new and truly ecological ethic is both possible and urgently needed. With this distinctive proposition in mind, Curry introduces and discusses all the major concepts needed to understand the full range of ecological ethics. He discusses light green or anthropocentric ethics with the examples of stewardship, lifeboat ethics, and social ecology; the mid-green or intermediate ethics of animal liberation/rights; and dark or deep green ecocentric ethics. Particular attention is given to the Land Ethic, the Gaia Hypothesis and Deep Ecology and its offshoots: Deep Green Theory, Left Biocentrism and the Earth Manifesto. Ecofeminism is also considered and attention is paid to the close relationship between ecocentrism and virtue ethics. Other chapters discuss green ethics as post-secular, moral pluralism and pragmatism, green citizenship, and human population in the light of ecological ethics. In this new edition, all these have been updated and joined by discussions of climate change, sustainable economies, education, and food from an ecocentric perspective. This comprehensive and wide-ranging textbook offers a radical but critical introduction to the subject which puts ecocentrism and the critique of anthropocentrism back at the top of the ethical, intellectual and political agenda. It will be of great interest to students and activists, and to a wider public.

The book explores the profound insights of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, an Islamic scholar, on the ecological crisis and its underlying causes. Nasr argues that the dominance of scientism, which prioritizes contemporary science as the sole source of knowledge, has led to a destructive relationship between humans and nature. He proposes that restoring the religious perspective is crucial for finding a lasting solution to the ecological problem. The book delves into Nasr's comprehensive body of work, covering diverse subjects such as Islamic philosophy, Islamic art, Islamic science, Sufism, and the ecological crisis. Nasr's approach advocates for a holistic and inclusive philosophy that draws inspiration from the perennial philosophy and the principles of Islam. He emphasizes the importance of reconnecting with our spiritual heritage and rediscovering reverence for the natural world. The book also discusses the relevance and applicability of Nasr's ideas to non-Islamic cultures and societies. This is a unique study into the work of an important Islamic scholar and ecologist. The key audience includes scholars and researchers interested in Islamic philosophy, environmental ethics, and the intersection of religion and ecology.

The Spirit of Sustainability helps readers navigate the moral worlds and ethical concepts, and social and religious practices related to sustainability. In collaboration with the Forum on Religion and Ecology, an established network of leading scholars, it explores a wide range of topics and perspectives, from the promise and problems of approaching sustainability through global and indigenous religions, to major theories in philosophy and environmental ethics, and professional practices and social movements. This volume presents the various goals of sustainability - ecological integrity, economic health, human dignity, fairness to the future, and social justice - and provides a framework for reasoning through many interrelated environmental challenges for both current and future generations.