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Russia needs to fit into the international geopolitical and geo-economic landscape. The formation of this landscape is largely determined by alternating integration and disintegration cycles in the development of the world economy. The second global disintegration cycle that started in 2008 is expected to last 15—20 years. It will be followed by a new integration cycle, largely dependent on China (Pax Sinensis instead of Pax Americana). This change necessitates a number of steps: a significant strengthening of the Eastern vector in the development of Russia, the formation of the Moscow-Beijing-New Delhi triangle (Evgeny Primakov's idea) as well as providing access of energy-intensive and water-intensive goods from East Siberia by railway to the Chinese and Indian markets. Russia has expressed its interest in the construction of a railway from China to India. It will allow Russia to reduce transportation costs and use a potentially heavy transit traffic for the modernization of the Transsibirian railway. These steps could radically change the role of the Baltic exclave of Russia: from being a 'window to Europe' the region is to turn into the westernmost point of a infrastructure axis extending from east to west. The creation of such an axis, combined with a sharp fall in transportation costs will facilitate the access of energy-intensive and water-intensive goods from the Urals and Siberia to the Asian and European markets. The Kaliningrad region is increasingly taking on business facilitating functions, which used to be performed by the Soviet Baltic republics in the past. The region can play a more important role in the formation of Eurasia stretching from Shanghai to St. Petersburg (according to Dmitry Trenin), instead of the Europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok.

The New York Times bestselling author of My Vanishing Country examines the modern political landscape and policies that are impacting Black families and communities and offers solutions for a better tomorrow. In late May in 2020, while discussing the murder of George Floyd on CNN, Bakari Sellers spoke from the heart sharing devastating insight that touched millions around the world: Its just so much pain. You get so tired. We have black children. I have a 15-year-old daughter. I mean, what do I tell her? Im raising a son. I have no idea what to tell him. Its just-its hard being black in this country when your life is not valued and people are worried about the protesters and the looters. And its just people who are frustrated for far too long and not have their voices heard. In this powerful and persuasive book, Sellers expands on the issues he addressed in his New York Times bestseller My Vanishing Country, examining national politics and policies that deeply impact not only Black people in his home state of South Carolina but the lives of millions of African Americans in communities across the nation. Four years later, Sellers has an answer to the question he raised on CNN, offering much-needed prescriptions to help all Black American lives.Sellers explores inequities in healthcare, education, early childhood education, and policing, drawing on interviews with numerous thought leaders such as pioneering voting rights and poverty activist the Rev. William Barber, and Ben Crump, the civil rights legend who successfully uses the law to achieve justice for people of color in racially charged cases. He also shares his thoughts on conservative media and the forces and dark money behind firebrands such as Tucker Carlson. This thoughtful and practical work is a timely meditation on the state of our world today and how we can all play a part in making it better for tomorrow

Under the scope of the EU, militaries are distinct from civilian power, but they are indisputably subordinated to civilians, as well as completely depoliticized. Because Turkey's CMR practices do not conform to this outlook, many believe that Turkey cannot acquire EU membership, due to the poor quality of her democracy, especially from the CMR perspective, since the army has excessive political power. On the other hand, most of the Turks believe that Turkey has been governed by a sui generis democracy for almost ninety years. To underpin this view, they refer to her long-lasting memberships to many democratic international organizations, such as her about six-decade-year membership to NATO, which also requires some certain democratic criteria to be met. Besides, some also argue that democracy in Turkey should ineluctably be different from the western practices, as her population is Muslim in 99.8%, and the first condition of democracy, secularism, has not yet been sufficiently internalized by her politicians and people. Because of this, Turkey, like most other Muslim majority countries, is constantly vulnerable to the threat of sharia. With the contributions of her unfavorable geography, they claim that her democracy should be distinct from traditional western democracies in order to contain threats arising from those factors. What makes the issue even more complex and interesting is that this odd model is perceived as normal by not only the military but also the majority of the civilian elites. Although the anti-militarist looking Justice and Development Party has recently gathered about fifty percent of all popular votes, most Turks seem to have no problem with this military flavored democracy, according to public surveys. This is in part because they view their army as the "Founder of the Republic" and "Savior of the Nation," but also because more educated Turks believe that Turkey has tried a brand new democratization model during a time when the wall separating mosques and politics necessarily erects and the democratic culture of devout people sufficiently flourishes. They also persistently emphasize that unless simultaneous democratization of other civilian institutions accompany the reformation in CMR, as well as a genuine separation of powers, is achieved, Turkey could slide to an authoritarian regime with an Islamist autocracy. As noticed, the role of TAF in Turkish politics and society differs from the traditional roles and liberal-democratic practices outlined by the EU, while its intervention in the political realm differs from the Southeast American, Asian and African Juntas that demonstrate their hunger for power by directly ruling their countries for years. Furthermore, there seems to exist a considerable gap between the perceptions of the EU circles and Turkish Elites, as well as the majority of Turks. Thus, to shed light on all aspects of the problem this dissertation attempted to analyze cultural and historical roots of the CMR that is considered one of the major obstacles that Turkey must overcome to realize her EU membership goal.

El principio de jurisdicción universal y su encrucijada. ¿Utopía o el Mundo Real?
Josefina Buscetti y Mayra Scaramutti
Miembros del Departamento de Derecho Internacional del Instituto de Relaciones Internacionales | UNLP.

El sistema de solución de controversias de la Convención de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Derecho del Mar: contribuciones de su experiencia
Golman, Ludmila;
Lic. en Relaciones Internacionales – UNLa, Miembro del Grupo de Jóvenes Investigadores del IRI
Ponce, Magdalena;
Estudiante en Relaciones Internacionales – USAL; Miembro del Grupo de Jóvenes Investigadores del IRI
Villarreal Zogbi, StephanieAbogada – UBA; Miembro del Grupo de Jóvenes Investigadores del IRI

El cambio internacional mediante las relaciones sur-sur: los lazos de Brasil, Chile y Venezuela con los países en desarrollo de África, Asia y el Medio Oriente.
Bernabé MALACALZA
Universidad Nacional de Quilmes (UNQ), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina. Correo electrónico:b.malacalza@conicet.gov.ar

(2019). War and Chance: Assessing Uncertainty in International Politics.
Martín Dieguez
Universidad de San Andrés (UdeSa). Correo electrónico: mdieguez@udesa.edu.ar

Nuclear Deviance. Stigma Politics and the Rules of The Non Proliferation Game.
García López María Belén
Licenciada en Relaciones Internacionales por la Universidad Católica de Santiago del Estero. Correo electrónico: be.garcialopez@gmail.com

East Asian Transwar Popular Culture. Literature and Film from Taiwan and Korea
Desirée Chaure,
CECOR – Grupo de Jóvenes Investigadores. Correo electrónico: desiree.chaure@gmail.com
Luna Tissera
Grupo Jóvenes Investigadores. Correo electrónico: tisseraluna@gmail.com

Killer high: a history of war in six drugs
Julian Mokwa Félix
Licenciado en Relaciones Internacionales (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS). Miembrodel Grupo de Jóvenes Investigadores (IRI-UNLP) – Correo electrónico: julianmfx@gmail.com

Imagining Disarmament, Enchanting International Relations
Catalina Carreras,
Estudiante avanzada de la Lic. en Relaciones Internacionales de la Universidad Católica de Santa Fe(UCSF). Miembro del Grupo de Jóvenes Investigadores del IRI. Correo electrónico: catalinabcarreras@gmail.com
Juan Ignacio Percoco,
Licenciado en Relaciones Internacionales de la Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Doctorando en RelacionesInternacionales por la Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Miembro del Grupo de Jóvenes Investigadores delIRI. Correo electrónico: juanignacio.percoco@gmail.com
David Rodríguez Ibáñez
Abogado (UNLP). Maestrando en la Maestría de Relaciones Internacionales (IRI-UNLP). Miembro del Grupode Jóvenes Investigadores (IRI-UNLP). Correo electrónico: davidrodri92@outlook.com

Cómo mueren las democracias
María Fiorella Traboulsi
Universidad Católica Argentina y Grupo Jóvenes Investigadores GJI – IRI. Correo electrónico: fiorella.traboulsi@gmail.com

China's Economic Engagement in North Korea
María Florencia Shqueitzer
Licenciada en Ciencias Políticas y Relaciones Internacionales (UCALP). Estudiante de la Maestría en Relaciones Internacionales (IRI-UNLP). Miembro del Grupo de Jóvenes Investigadores y del CeRPI (IRI-UNLP) Correo electrónico: flor.shq@gmail.com
Emiliano Dicósimo
Profesor en Historia (UNICEN). Estudiante de la Maestría en Relaciones Internacionales (IRI-UNLP). Miembrodel Grupo Jóvenes Investigadores del Instituto en Relaciones Internacionales (GJI-IRI). Correo electrónico:emilianodicosimo@gmail.com

ÖZPost-Sovyet Kazakistan, Kırgızistan ve Özbekistan'da Siyasal Konsolidasyon ve Mobilizasyon Örüntüleri adını taşıyan elinizdeki tez çalışması Sovyet sonrası dönem Orta Asya'sındaki yeni siyasal ve toplumsal yapıyı anlama çabasının bir parçasıdır. Siyasal ve toplumsal yapıyı açıklamada egemenlik ilişkileri alanına özel bir önem atfedilmektedir. Bu çerçevede çalışmanın kısa bir başlıkla "Orta Asya'da hegemonya ve iktidar olarak" adlandırılması da mümkündür. Yeni rejimlerin toplum nezdinde, rıza ve baskı araçlarını bir arada kullanılarak nasıl bir yerleşiklik kazandığı, ideolojik ve kurumsal düzeyde nasıl konsolide edildiği, Kazakistan Kırgızistan ve Özbekistan örnekleri üzerinden değerlendirilmektedir. Türkiye dahil altı ülkede yürütülen araştırma ve saha çalışmalarına yaslanan çalışma karşılaştırmalı bir bölge çalışmasıdır. Tezin sorularına yanıt üretme çabasında disiplinlerarası bir yaklaşımla, siyaset bilimi, siyaset sosyolojisi, antropoloji, tarih ve uluslararası ilişkiler disiplinlerinin yöntem ve yaklaşımlarından yaralanılmıştır. Çalışmanın kuramsal geri planında ise Gramsci'nin hegemonya teorisinin özel bir ağırlığı vardır. Araştırmada sözkonusu üç ülkedeki siyasal konsolidasyon örüntülerinin ideolojik, kurumsal ve toplumsal dayanakları hegemonya-iktidar-toplum üçgeninde ele alınıyor. Bu çerçevede anayasal mimari, siyasal partiler ve seçim sistemlerinin himayeci-kliental ilişkilerle nasıl eklemlendiği gösterilmeye çalışılmaktadır.Çalışmanın şu dört soru etrafında özetlenmesi mümkündür: Egemenlik ilişkilerinin çözümlenmesinde tarih ve sosyal çevrenin yeri; Siyasal konsolidasyon ve mobilizasyon olgusunu açıklamada kilit kavramlar neler olduğu; Mevcut siyasal rejimlerde siyasal konsolidasyon örüntüsünün ana öğelerinin neler olduğu ve son olarak siyasal konsolidasyonun sınırları, hegemonya karşısındaki direnç odakları ve siyasal değişimin aktör ve dinamikleri neler olduğu sorularına yanıt aranmaktadır. ABSTRACT "In this thesis, it is aimed at understanding the emerging patterns of society and politics in Post-Soviet Central Asia. In understanding the social and political structure, special attention is paid to the sphere of power relations. With regard to this main aspect the thesis could also be titled as "hegemony and power in Central Asia". New regimes' consolidation at ideological and institutional levels, are evaluated through an analysis of how the power used repressive state apparatuses together with the ideological apparatuses in each of the above mentioned countries.The thesis is a comparative one based on field researches conducted in six countries, including Russian Federation, UK, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. In search for answers to the questions of the research, different methods from the disciplines of politics, political sociology, anthropology, history and international relations are used within an interdisciplinary approach. At the background of the theoretical construction of the thesis lies the Gramscian theory of hegemony. Ideological, social and institutional pillars of the consolidation patterns in three of these Central Asian states are evaluated from the prism of hegemony-power-society relations. With regard to this framework, it is tried to explore and explain how constitutional designs, political party systems and electoral systems of these countries are combined with the clientalistic networks of political patronage.The overall content of the thesis could be summarized in the following four points: The role of the historical background and social structure in the analysis of power relations; the key concepts in explaining the consolidation and mobilization patterns; the fundamental elements of the consolidation and mobilization patterns; and finally, the limits of hegemony, challenges to hegemony.

Democracy has generally been understood the best remedy to prevent societal violence, as it gives different groups a channel to voice their interests and grievances. However, in this article, that focuses on the Chittagong Hills, which for many decades has formed one of the most violent spaces in Bangladesh, we argue that, in reality, democracy and violence can be two sides of the same coin. This is not to say that in Bangladesh, where full liberal democracy is not in place, ordinary citizens have no values and idea(l)s of democracy and citizenship. On the contrary, in order to make sense of the intricate connection between democratic idea(l)s, and violent imaginations and practices, we focus in particular on the process of what we call the vernacularisation of democratic politics. We connect this process to the appropriation of citizenship and nationalism, by ordinary but radically differently-positioned people, in their daily realities.We demonstrate that widely shared imaginations of Bangladeshi-ness, as Bengali-ness or Muslim-ness, and of Bengalis/Muslims as the true nation and citizens of Bangladesh, are intimately connected with popular understandings and practices of democracy, which are based on the exclusion of the not-genuine-Bengalis, with the legitimisation and continuation of violence, and the exclusion of ethnic minorities in the Chittagong Hills.

This book examines lived experiences of making, inhabiting and appropriating space, in relation to the upscale commercial gentrification of the Milan Chinatown. It inquires about the significance of diverse neighborhoods as emerging multicultural spaces? Are we talking about neighborhood entrepreneurs providing services and entertainment to create local urban culture, or are we talking about political/economic forces in the commodification of ethnic and cultural diversity? Starting from these questions, this book uses innovative visual ethnography and critical urban research to understand the relationship between community-based entrepreneurs, local politics, residents sense of belonging, and patterns of city branding strategies in Milan, the fashion capital of Italy. This book is intended for researchers and students in the fields of sociology, anthropology, urban studies, geography, and urban planning. Additionally, it is appropriate for practitioners in the fields of urban planning, housing policies, and community development. Manzos Gentrification and Diversity urges readers to look at the fashion capital of Milan through the lens of ethnic diversity, class and urban transformation. Based on a decade of ethnographic work in Milans changing Chinatown, the book takes the reader on a journey of aesthetics, capital speculation and urban contestations to show how the Chinese traders and entrepreneurs who would have been displaced by gentrification in fact strategically navigate the racialized restrictions to reclaim their place. Gentrification and Diversity is an exemplar of how Chinatowns around the world are being reinvented locally and globally today amidst continued debates over how Chinese identity and culture should be represented in such spaces. (Prof. Elaine Lynn-Ee Ho, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, Singapore) "The author problematizes the notion of diversity in the southern European context, which is a much-needed addition to the existing scholarship on gentrification in traditional ethnic enclaves. The power dynamics and clashes of interests depicted in this book provide us significant and timely insights on how the social construct of a sanitized, aestheticized ethnic space for consumption was built upon a centuries' old anti-Asian milieu and refreshed by the fear of a rising China. Furthermore, Manzo skilfully illustrates how Chineseness as a cultural discourse is strategically mobilized in narratives of urban inclusion and exclusion." (Prof. Fang Xu, Continuing Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Studies, University of California, Berkeley, CA, The USA).

Introduction: From the Social Lives of Secrecy to the Secret lives of the Social: Notes on Religion, Power, and the Public Paul Christopher Johnson and Hugh B. UrbanPart 1: Configurations of Religious Secrecy: Conceptual and Comparative Frameworks1. Mysticism and Secrecy Arthur Versluis2. Esotericism and Secrecy Kennet Granholm3. Gender, Sexuality, and Secrecy Hugh B. Urban4. Psychedelics and Secrecy Christopher Partridge5. Architectures of Secrecy Paul Christopher Johnson6. Secrecy, the Paranormal, and the Imaginal: The Remote Viewing Literature Jeffrey J. Kripal and Christopher SennPart 2: Secrecy as Religious Practice 7. Secrecy in Islam, Sufism, and Shi'ism Mark Sedgwick8. Concealing the Concealment: Towards a Theopolitics of Kabbalistic Esotericism Elliot R. Wolfson9. Keeping Secrets: The Social Practice of Gnostic Secrecy April D. DeConick10. Secrecy's Situational Ironies: Hiding and Its Consequences for Covert Buddhists in Japan Clark Chilson11. Notions of Secrecy and the Unknown/ Hidden in Chinese Religions Barend ter Haar12. Secrecy in South Asian Hindu Traditions: The Gods Love What is Occult Gordan Djurdjevic13. Reflections on Secrecy in Yolngu Religion Ian Keen14. AWO: The Nature of Secrecy in YoruÌbaì Religious Traditions: Conversations with Ifa Diviners Jacob K. OluponaPart 3: Secrecy and the Politics of the Present 15. Secrecy and Freemasonry Henrik Bogdan16. The Sacred, the Secret, and the Sinister in the Latter-day Saint Tradition Christopher James Blythe17. The High Magic of Jesus Christ: Materializing Secrets in Brazil's Valley of the Dawn Kelly E. Hayes18. Secrecy, Sex Abuse, and The Practice of Priesthood John C. Seitz19. From Resistance to Terror: The Open Secret of Jonestown Rebecca MoorePart 4: Secrecy and Social Resistance20. Crypto-Paganism in the Late Antique World: Models of Concealment in a Christian Empire, Fourth to Sixth Century CE David Frankfurter21. Hopi Knowledge and the Ethnographic Allure of Secrets Adam Fulton Johnson22. Secrecy, Spirit Work, and Women's Fugitive Speech in the Creolophone Caribbean Elizabeth McAlister23. Lifting the EucharisticVeil: Allan Rohan Crite as Afro-Anglican Mystagogue Hugh R. Page, Jr. and Stephen C. FinleyPart 5: Secrecy, Terrorism, and Surveillance24. Weaponizing Secrecy: The FBI's War on Black Radical Religion Sylvester Johnson25. Varieties of Secrecy and Symbolism in American White Power Movements Damon Berry26. The Islamic State and the Management of Secrecy Haroro J. Ingram and Craig Whiteside27. Conspiracy Theories about Secret Religions: Imagining the Other David G. Robertson28. Xenophobia and Conspiracism after 9/11 Michael Barkun29. Imagining Secret Wars Mark Juergensmeyer.Index

This book presents a cutting-edge analysis of the economic effects and challenges of Russias invasion of Ukraine, with a special focus on EU sanctions on Russian energy exports and Ukraines political relationship with the European Union in a global context. Key macroeconomic perspectives on the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine are outlined, highlighting in particular how sanctions imposed by the international community will have a wider economic impact than what has been envisaged thus far. The book discusses the effects of Russian gas supply boycotts against Western countries as well as the global effects of an EU energy import boycott on Russia, especially for the Asian continent. An innovative proposal to cut electricity prices is presented. It also explores the challenges to relations between the EU, China and Russia caused by the invasion, the effects of the unfolding refugee crisis (within a post-Brexit EU), military and humanitarian aid pledges to Ukraine, and the risks of reduced multilateralism within the world economy as a direct result of the war. The book also analyzes the risks and benefits of a potential enlargement of the EU to integrate Ukraine as a member state. The topics covered by the book are all set within a long-run view of diplomatic and economic relations between the West, Russia and Ukraine. The factors analyzed here provide a new, broader picture of the international effects of the conflict, as well as its potential implications for policy design as we enter a new global order marked by the Russo-Ukrainian war. The book will be of interest to researchers and policymakers working in International Economics, New Political Economy, European politics and integration, and macroeconomics more broadly. Paul J. J. Welfens is a long-time researcher of Russian economic development and European integration as well as an expert on EU-US and EU-China economic relations. He is President of the European Institute for International Economic Relations (EIIW) at the University of Wuppertal, where he also holds the Jean Monnet Chair in European Economic Integration and the Chair of Macroeconomic Theory and Policy. He is also a Non-Resident Senior Research Fellow at AICGS/Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC.

Preliminary Material /D. R. Gabaccía and D. Hoerder -- Editors' Introduction /Donna R. Gabaccia and Dirk Hoerder -- Crossing The Waters: Historic Developments And Periodizations Before The 1830s /Dirk Hoerder -- A World Made Many: Integration And Segregation In Global Migration, 1840–1940 /Adam McKeown -- Introduction: Inter-Oceanic Migrations From An Indian Ocean Perspective, 1830s To 1930s /Ulrike Freitag -- Indian Merchant Networks Outside India In The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries: A Preliminary Survey /Claude Markovits -- Migration — Re-Migration — Circulation: South Asian Kulis In The Indian Ocean And Beyond, 1840–1940 /Michael Mann -- Indian Ocean Crossings: Indian Labor Migration And Settlement In Southeast Asia, 1870 To 1940 /Amarjit Kaur -- Introduction: Link-Points In A Half-Ocean /Wang Gungwu -- From Tribute Trade To Migration Center: The Ryukyu And Hong Kong Maritime Networks Within The East And South China Seas In A Long-Term Perspective /Takeshi Hamashita -- Singapore As A Nineteenth Century Migration Node /Carl A. Trocki -- Hong Kong As An In-Between Place In The Chinese Diaspora, 1849–1939 /Elizabeth Sinn -- Introduction: The Atlantic, Its Migrations, And Their Scholars /Donna R. Gabaccia -- From One Black Atlantic To Many: Slave Regimes, Creole Societies, And Power Relationships In The Atlantic World /Dirk Hoerder -- Latin American Perspectives On Migration In The Atlantic World /Silke Hensel -- Undone By Desire: Migration, Sex Across Boundaries, And Collective Destinies In The Greater Caribbean, 1840–1940 /Lara Putnam -- The Dynamics Of Labor Migration And Raw Materials Acquisition In The Transatlantic Worsted Trade, 1830–1930 /Mary H. Blewett -- Overseas Migration And The Development Of Ocean Navigation: A Europe-Outward Perspective /Yrjö Kaukiainen -- Introduction: The Rhythms Of The Transpacific /Henry Yu -- The Intermittent Rhythms Of The Cantonese Pacific /Henry Yu -- Remapping A Pre-World War Two Japanese Diaspora: Transpacific Migration As An Articulation Of Japan's Colonial Expansionism /Eiichiro Azuma -- Migration And The Politics Of Sovereignty, Settlement, And Belonging In Hawai'i /Christine Skwiot -- Disquietude And The Writing Of Ethnographic Histories: Portuguese Decolonization And Goan Migration In The Indian Ocean, 1920 To The Present /Pamila Gupta -- Afterword: Migration And Globalization: Bridging Three Eras In Modern World History /Donna R. Gabaccia -- Bibliography /D. R. Gabaccía and D. Hoerder -- Contributors /D. R. Gabaccía and D. Hoerder -- Index Of Places /D. R. Gabaccía and D. Hoerder.

"In 1996, President Bill Clinton hailed the 'end of welfare as we know it' when he signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. The law effectively transformed the nation's welfare system from an entitlement to a work-based one, instituting new time limits on welfare payments and restrictions on public assistance for legal immigrants. In 'They Say Cutback, We Say Fight Back', Ellen Reese offers a timely review of welfare reform and its controversial design, now sorely tested in the aftermath of the Great Recession. The book also chronicles the largely untold story of a new grassroots coalition that opposed the law and continues to challenge and reshape its legacy. While most accounts of welfare policy highlight themes of race, class and gender, 'They Say Cutback' examines how welfare recipients and their allies contested welfare reform from the bottom-up. Using in-depth case studies of campaigns in Wisconsin and California, Reese argues that a crucial phase in policymaking unfolded after the bill's passage. As counties and states set out to redesign their welfare programs, activists scored significant victories by lobbying officials at different levels of American government through media outreach, protests and organizing. Such efforts tended to enjoy more success when based on broad coalitions that cut across race and class, drawing together a shifting alliance of immigrants, public sector unions, feminists, and the poor. The book tracks the tensions and strategies of this unwieldy group brought together inadvertently by their opposition to four major aspects of welfare reform: immigrants' benefits, welfare-to-work policies, privatization of welfare agencies, and child care services. Success in scoring reversals was uneven and subject to local demographic, political and institutional factors. In California, for example, workfare policies created a large and concentrated pool of new workers that public sector unions could organize in campaigns to change policies. In Wisconsin, by contrast, such workers were scattered and largely placed in private sector jobs, leaving unions at a disadvantage. Large Latino and Asian immigrant populations in California successfully lobbied to restore access to public assistance programs, while mobilization in Wisconsin remained more limited. On the other hand, the unionization of child care providers succeeded in Wisconsin--but failed in California--because of contrasting gubernatorial politics. With vivid de ...

This book takes a multi-disciplinary approach to the great financial crisis of 2007-09. It combines the disciplines of economics, finance, sociology and politics to analyse the causes, consequences and challenges of the crisis. The authors propose that the causes of the crisis should be understood at three inter-related levels - the level of theory and ideology; the level of financial industry practices and malpractices; and finally the level of structural imbalances in the international economy. Above all, the book is historical and holistic in perspective. This book is an excellent read for the critical layman interested in understanding the causes that underlie the global financial crisis. The authors combine the inquisitive and critical mind of a scholar and the lucid writing style of a journalist. The book provides a perspective on the crisis that is both practical and down to earth and at the same time, rigorous and holistic. Khor Hoe Ee, Chief Economist, Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development, and former Assistant Managing Director, Economics, Monetary Authority of Singapore The authors trace the rise of finance and its domination over the real economy, the consequences of financial innovation and deregulation for systemic fragility, and the failure of conventional economic and financial theory to analyse and anticipate the consequent dangers. Their main original contribution is to relate these Western market developments to recent trends in the East Asian region and to call for appropriate systemic reforms, not only to avoid similar future crises, but also to address other underlying development and analytical problems.K.S. Jomo, Assistant Secretary General, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United NationsIn linking wealth and income distribution to financial instability, this book makes an important point that is often missed in the debate on the crisis. Central Banks have become strongly opposed to the idea of accommodating wage demands with the help of monetary easing, but they have been increasingly tolerant, or even supportive, of debt-financed consumption and asset inflation. Indeed, by serving to concentrate wealth further in the hands of a small rentier class, while protecting that class from the risks of debt defaults, they are only adding to systemic pressures that give rise to serious financial crises. Yilmaz Akyuz, Special Economic Advisor, South Centre, and former Chief Economist at United Nations Con ...