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Look at important issues in a fresh way, implicitly or explicitly breaking old paradigms. Some of the new out-of-the-box ideas may become the “ideas in power” of the future.
Catalog descriptions of the Paradigm-Breaking Books have featured a radical change from present thinking. Nevertheless, other GFB books may also offer you new ideas and paradigms.
Browse categories of Paradigm-Breaking Books:
World Governance
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The Peacekeeping Economy: Using Economic Relationships to Build a More Peaceful, Prosperous, and Secure World. Lloyd J. Dumas (Prof of Political Economy, U of Texas, Dallas). New Haven, CT: Yale U Press, Sept 2011, 432p, $45pb. The idea that military strength is virtually synonymous with security is deeply entrenched and widely held. However, security is better served by building relationships that replace hostility with a sense of purpose and mutual gain. Economic relationships can offer a far more effective, and far less costly, means of maintaining security. Looks at the practical aspects of the transition from a military-based security arrangement to economic peacekeeping. (SECURITY * “PEACEKEEPING ECONOMY” * MILITARY VS. ECONOMIC SECURITY)
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The Politics of Protection: The Limits of Humanitarian Action. Elisabeth G. Ferris (Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies, Brookings Institution). Washington: Brookings Institution Press, April 2011, 380p, $32.95pb. For the past decade, humanitarian actions have increasingly sought not only to assist people affected by conflicts and natural disasters, but also to protect them. At the same time, protection of civilians has become central to UN peacekeeping operations, and the UN General Assembly has endorsed the principle that the international community has the “responsibility to protect” (R2P) people when their governments cannot or will not do so. Examines inconsistent ways in which protection is defined and applied, and argues that “protection paradigms currently in use are inadequate to meet the challenges of the future, such as climate change, protracted displacement, and the changing nature of warfare.”
(HUMANITARIAN ACTION * RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT/R2P)
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* Sex and World Peace. Valerie M. Hudson (Prof of Pol Sci, Brigham Young U), Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill (Prof of Psychology, BYU), Mary Caprioli (Assoc Prof of Pol Sci, U of Minnesota Duluth), and Chad F. Emmett (political geographer, BYU). NY: Columbia U Press, Feb 2012, 256p, $26.50. The security of the state affects the security of women, but the systemic insecurity of women acts to unravel the security of all. Explores the question of whether the security of women helps determine the security of states and proves that the situation of women is a vital variable in the incidence of peace and war. Notes discrepancies between national laws protecting women and the enforcement of those laws, abnormal sex ratios favoring males, the practice of polygamy, and inequitable family law. Emphasizes the importance of an R2PW, or state responsibility to protect women. Also questions conventional definitions of security and democracy, and argues that “the true clash of civilizations will be one of gender, played out on the international stage.” (SECURITY * WOMEN AND WORLD SECURITY) |
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Crafting State-Nations: India and Other Multinational Democracies. Alfred Stephan (Prof of Government, Columbia U), Juan J. Linz (Prof of Pol and Soc Sci, Yale U), and Yogendra Yadav (co-director, Lokniti; senior fellow, Center for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi). Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins U Press, Dec 2010/304/$30pb. Conventional wisdom holds that the political boundaries of a state coincide with cultural boundaries. But today’s sociocultural diversity of many polities renders this understanding obsolete. Offers a new paradigm, the “state-nation,” which addresses the need in democratic nations to accommodate distinct ethnic and cultural groups within a country while maintaining national political coherence. Shows how policies in India have helped to craft multiple but complementary identities, while policies in Sri Lanka have contributed to polarized and warring identities.
(GOVERNMENT * MULTINATIONAL DEMOCRACIES * INDIA * “STATE-NATIONS”)
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Power and Responsibility: Building International Order in an Era of Transnational Threats. Bruce Jones (Center for International Cooperation, NYU), Carlos Pascual (VP, Brookings) and Stephen John Stedman (Center for International Security, Stanford U). Washington: Brookings Institution Press, March 2009/360p/$32.95. The post-WWII fabric of global security does not meet the needs of today’s global challenges; proposes a new concept of “responsible sovereignty,” new commitments to rule-based international order, helping the UN return to peacekeeping, an Inter-Governmental Panel on Biological Security, a path down the road to zero nuclear weapons, a Centre of Excellence on Poverty Reduction, expanding the G8 to G16, a new climate change framework, global economic security, etc.
(WORLD GOVERNANCE * SECURITY)
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Cosmopolitanism and the Geographies of Freedom. David Harvey (director, Center for Place, Culture, and Politics, CUNY Graduate Center). NY: Columbia UP, July 2009/368p/$27.50. Liberty and freedom are frequently invoked to justify political action, but in practice these idealist agendas often turn sour because they ignore the complexities of geography; Harvey charts a cosmopolitan order more appropriate for an emancipatory form of global governance, rooted in human experience rather than illusory ideals, yet bringing us closer to the liberation we seek. (WORLD POLITICS * COSMOPOLITANISM)
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Commonwealth. Michael Hardt (Prof of Literature and Italian, Duke U) and Antonio Negri. Cambridge: Harvard UP/Belknap Press, Oct 2009/330p/$35. Concludes a trilogy started with Empire and continued in Multitude, considers models of governance adequate to a global commonwealth, and proposes an ethics of freedom for living in our common world and a possible constitution for our common wealth; “common” should replace the opposition of private and public, and the politics predicated on that opposition. (GOVERNANCE)
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Superpower Illusions: How Myths and False Ideologies Led America Astray and How to Return to Reality. Jack F. Matlock Jr (Adjunct Prof of Intl Rels, Columbia U). Yale U Press, Jan 2010/320p/$30. Former US Ambassador to the Soviet Union (1987-1991) refutes the enduring idea that the US forced the collapse of the USSR, arguing that the end of the Cold War diminished US power because, with the removal of the Soviet threat, allies were less willing to accept American protection and leadership. During recent years, the belief that the US had defeated the Soviet Union led to a conviction that it did not need allies, diplomacy, or international organizations, resulting in America’s weakened ability to lead. (WORLD POLITICS * U.S.: WORLD LEADERSHIP)
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States Without Nations: Citizenship for Mortals. Jacqueline Stevens (Assoc Prof of Law and Society, UC-Santa Barbara). NY: Columbia UP, Nov 2009/384p/$35. Imagines a world in which national laws establishing birthright citizenship, family inheritance, state-sanctioned marriage, and private land are eliminated. Current legal mandates promoting these rights result in much violence and inequality; would a world without these laws be more just? (LAW * CITIZENSHIP)
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The Birthright Lottery: Citizenship and Global Inequality. Ayelet Shachar (Prof of Law and Pol Sci, U of Toronto). Cambridge: Harvard UP, April 2009/254p/$39.95. Securing membership in a given state provides opportunity for some and a life of little hope for others, and birthright entitlements still dominate our laws for allotting membership; argues that nations should expand their membership boundaries beyond outdated notions of blood-and-soil [Also see States Without Nations: Citizenship for Mortals by Jacqueline Stevens (Columbia UP, Nov 2009).]
(LAW * CITIZENSHIP * INEQUALITY)
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Fixing Failed States: A Framework for Rebuilding a Fractured World. Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart. NY: Oxford UP, Oct 2009/272p/$16.95pb. Two former World Bank officials and UN advisors argue for a reorientation in the international response to create capable states. First published in May 2008 (254p/$24.95), this paperback edition adds a new preface. (WORLD POLITICS * FAILED STATES)
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Guerilla Diplomacy: Rethinking International Relations. Daryl Copeland (USC Center on Public Diplomacy and U of Toronto Centre for International Studies). Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2009, 311p, $26.50pb. Heralds the emergence of a new diplomacy tuned to the demands of today’s interconnected, technology-driven world. Views the modern diplomat as able to engage with a plethora of new international actors as well as happy to mix with the general population. Provides tools for framing and managing issues ranging from climate change to weapons of mass destruction. (DIPLOMACY IN TRANSITION * “GUERRILA DIPLOMACY”)
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European and American Perspectives. Edited by Álvaro de Vasconcelos (director, EU Institute for Security Studies) and Marcin Zaborowski (director EUISS transatlantic program). European Union Institute for Security Studies (dist by Brookings Institution Press), May 2010/248p/$18.95pb. Analyzes topical issues facing agendas of the EU and the US: multilateralism, economy, disarmament, climate change, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, Africa, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Advocates taking advantage of the “Obama moment” to move towards “a new paradigm of the EU-US relationship” and NATO’s role within it that would that takes account of the fact that the West needs “the Rest” to deal with the most pressing issues of our time. (WORLD FUTURES * EU-US RELATIONS)
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The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia. James C. Scott (Prof of Pol Sci and Anthropology, Yale U). Yale U Press, Sept 2009/464p/$35. For 2000 years, the disparate groups that now reside in Zonia, a mountainous region the size of Europe that consists of portions of 7 Asian countries, have fled the projects of the organized state societies that surround them. This perspective redefines our views of Asian politics and demographics, and even what constitutes “civilization.”
(REGIONS/NATIONS * SOUTHEAST ASIA REDEFINED)
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The Environmental Politics of Sacrifice. Edited by Michael Maniates (Prof of Pol Sci and Env Science, Allegheny College) and John M. Meyer (Prof of Politics, Humboldt State U, CA). Cambridge MA: MIT Press, Aug 2010/344p/$25pb. Politicians, the media, and many environmentalists assume that well-off populations won’t make sacrifices now for future environmental benefits. Rather, activists and scholars should stress the salience of sacrifice in effective environmental politics and policies. “Sacrifice” captures a key and sensitive aspect of environmental politics; unquestioned assumptions about unlikely prospects of needed sacrifices limits available policy options. Identifies connections between sacrifice and human fulfillment in everyday life: parenthood, religious practices, and policemen and soldiers who put their lives at risk.
(ENVIRONMENT * SACRIFICE FOR ENVIRONMENT)
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Fast Forward: Ethics and Politics in the Age of Global Warming. William Antholis (managing director, Brookings Institution; former deputy director, White House climate change policy team) and Strobe Talbott (president, Brookings Institution; former US deputy Secretary of State). Washington: Brookings Institution Press, June 2010/150p/$22.95. Urgently-needed actions related to climate change may amount to the most difficult political transaction in the history of mankind. “Politics as usual” will not get the job done. A new mind-set is needed, particularly a focus on what can be accomplished immediately and on ethical responsibilities to future generations alike. “Those changes should entail, first and foremost, shifting from reliance on a cumbersome UN-led pursuit of a legally binding global treaty, on slow forward for 20 years, to a less formal process by which the US, the EU, China, and India form the core of an expanding circle of countries that will develop their energy policies and regulate their emissions in an increasingly coordinated fashion”. (CLIMATE CHANGE * WORLD GOVERNANCE)
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Poor Poverty: The Impoverishment of Analysis. United Nations. NY: United Nations Publications and Bloomsbury Academic, May 2011, 240p, $38. The mainstream perspectives on poverty and deprivation have contributed to considerable distortion and misunderstanding that resulted in ineffectual policy prescriptions. Critically appraises conventional measures and analysis of poverty, as well as poverty reduction policies. (POVERTY * POVERTY RECONSIDERED)
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Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty. Abhijit V. Banerjee (Prof of Economics, MIT) and Esther Duflo (Prof of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics, MIT). NY: Public Affairs, April 2011, 336p, $26.99. Reappraises the world of the extreme poor, their lives, desires, and frustrations. Billions of government dollars, and thousands of charitable organizations and NGOs, are dedicated to helping the world's poor. But much of their work is based on assumptions that are untested generalizations at best, and harmful misperceptions at worst. Identifies new aspects of the behavior of poor people, their needs, and the way that aid or financial investment can affect their lives. Defies certain presumptions: that microfinance is a cure-all, that schooling equals learning, and that poverty below $1 a day is just a more extreme version of the experience any of us have when our income falls uncomfortably low. The authors are co-founders and directors of the Poverty Action Lab at MIT, which supervises randomized control trials in dozens of countries.
(DEVELOPMENT * POVERTY ACTION LAB--MIT * POVERTY RETHOUGHT)
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The Limits to Scarcity: Contestations and Constructions. Edited by Lyla Mehta (Institute of Development Studies, Brighton UK). Foreword by Wolfgang Sachs. London & Sterling VA: Earthscan (dist by Stylus), Feb 2011, 304p, $34.95pb. Scarcity is considered a ubiquitous feature of the human condition. It underpins much of modern economics and is widely used as an explanation for social organization, social conflict, and the resource crunch in the planet’s future. It has emerged as a totalizing discourse in both the North and South. Scarcity, however, is not a natural condition: the problem lies in how we see scarcity and the ways in which it is socially generated.
(ECONOMICS AND SCARCITY * SCARCITY RECONSIDERED)
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Creative Capacity Development: Learning to Adapt in Development Practice. Jenny Pearson (Director, VBNK). West Hartford, CT: Kumarian Press (dist by Stylus), May 2011, 256p, $24.95pb (also e-book). The development community seems constantly and restlessly in search of a singular approach that will “solve” poverty, unveiling new buzzwords every few years only to toss them aside. Each new approach fails to break out the underlying technocratic and specialized paradigm in development work. The director of Cambodia’s leading capacity-building NGO explains how a dynamic and open learning process allowed VBNK to move beyond them, and argues that development work should be a never-ending process, as opposed to a process requiring a singular solution.
(DEVELOPMENT)
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The Changing Wealth of Nations: Lessons for Sustainable Development. The World Bank. Washington DC: World Bank, Oct 2010/270p/$35. Estimates comprehensive wealth – including produced, natural, and human/institutional assets – for over 100 countries. Presents wealth accounts for 1995, 2000, and 2005, permitting the first long-term assessment of global, regional, and country performance in building wealth. (WEALTH: NEW MEASURE * SUSTAINABILITY)
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Energy, Environment and Development (Second Edition). Jose Goldemberg (former rector, U of Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Oswaldo Lucon (Sao Paulo). London & Sterling VA: Earthscan, Dec 2009/352p/$39.95pb. Relationships between energy and environment, and between energy and development, have both been widely studied, yet both of these approaches may produce distortions; this book studies all three elements in relation to each other, while discussing security, climate change, impact assessment, new international agreements, and tech developments. (DEVELOPMENT * ENERGY)
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Just Give Money to the Poor: The Development Revolution from the Global South. Joseph Hanlon (Open U), Armando Barrientos (World Poverty Institute, U of Manchester), and David Hulme (WPI/UofM). Kumarian Press, April 2010/288p/$24.95pb. Amid all the complex theories about causes and solutions to poverty, one idea is basic: researchers have found again and again that cash transfers given to significant portions of the population transform the lives of recipients, who use the money wisely to start a business, feed families, or send a child to school. This quiet revolution bypasses governments and NGOs, letting the poor decide how to use their money. (DEVELOPMENT)
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Can Business Save the World? Hard Truths About Ending Poverty. R. Glenn Hubbard (dean, Columbia Business School) and William Duggan (Senior Lecturer, CBS). NY: Columbia Business School (Columbia UP), Aug 2009/208p/$22.95. By diverting a major share of charitable aid into the local business sector of poor countries, citizens can take the lead in growing their own economies, following the success of China and India; switching the “feudal system of aid” to the local business sector to cultivate an ordinary middle class is the surest and only way to eliminate poverty.
(DEVELOPMENT * FOREIGN AID)
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State of the World’s Cities 2008-2009: Harmonious Cities. UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT). NY: United Nations Publications, 2008/280p/$40 (Sales #E.08.III.Q.1). Assesses various intangible assets within cities that represent the soul of the city and are as important for harmonious urban development as tangible assets; focuses on three key areas: spatial or regional harmony, social harmony, and environmental harmony. (CITIES)
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Megaregions: Planning for Global Competiveness. Edited by Catherine L. Ross (Prof of Regional Development, Georgia Tech). Foreword by Richard Florida. Washington: Island Press, June 2009/350p/$35. Concepts of “the city,” “the state,” and the “nation state” are passé; the new scale for considering economic strength and growth opportunities is “the megaregion,” a network of metro centers and their surrounding areas; by 2050, megaregions will contain two-thirds of US population. (CITIES * PLANNING * MEGAREGIONS)
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Community Character: Principles for Design and Planning. Lane H. Kendig (Kendig Keast Collaborative, Sturgeon Bay WI). Washington: Island Press, June 2010/250p/$40pb. A planning consultant argues that most plans and zoning regulations are based solely on density and land use, which do not measure character or quality of development. Taking a far more comprehensive view, “community character” is proposed as a real-world framework for planning communities of all kinds and sizes with a wide range of measures.
(CITIES * PLANNING COMMUNITIES)
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OECD Atlas of Gender and Development. OECD Development Centre. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (dist. Brookings), March 2010, 280p, $74pb. Gender inequality holds back economic and social development, but in many countries discrimination against women is deeply rooted in social institutions. The OECD Atlas presents an innovative composite measure of gender inequality, the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI), examining women’s status regarding family code (early marriage, inheritance rights), physical integrity, son preference, civil liberties (women’s freedom of movement and dress), and ownership rights (access to land, property, and credit).
(WOMEN’S STATUS: OECD ATLAS * GENDER INEQUALITY: OECD INDEX)
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Macroeconomics in Context. Neva Goodwin, Julie A. Nelson, and Jonathan Harris (all Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts U). Armonk NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2009/437p. An introductory textbook covering both standard topics and the broader contextual approach. Topics include macroeconomic goals (decent living standards, security, sustainability), macroeconomics in global context for the 21C, economic tradeoffs, the three sphere of economic activity (the core sphere of households and community, the public purpose sphere, the business sphere), macroeconomic measurement (GDP vs. environmental and social dimensions reflecting 21C concerns), employment and unemployment, fiscal and monetary policy, pros and cons of “free trade,” how economies grow and develop, and macroeconomic challenges for the 21C (human development, ecological sustainability, problems of discounting the future).
(ECONOMY * CONTEXTUAL ECONOMICS * MACROECONOMICS IN CONTEXT)
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Microeconomics in Context (Second Edition). Neva Goodwin (co-director, Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts U), Julie A. Nelson (GDAE), Frank Ackerman (GDAE), and Thomas Weisskopf (Prof of Economics, U of Michigan). Armonk NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2009/522p. A companion textbook to the above that encourages engaged and critical thinking about topics in economics, with a focus on human well-being and the broader context of economic activity. Topics include the spheres of economic activity, economic actors, market institutions, the five forms of capital (natural, manufactured, human, social, financial), production costs, distribution, consumption, markets for labor and other resources, and “free market” economics vs. “contextual economics” illustrated herein.
(ECONOMY * CONTEXTUAL ECONOMICS * MICROECONOMICS IN CONTEXT)
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Global Development Outlook 2010: Shifting Wealth – Implications for Development. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Paris: OECD (dist by Brookings Institution Press), Aug 2010/200p/$84pb. Over the last 20 years, economic and political power has shifted toward the developing world and emerging economies. Viewing the world as divided between developed and developing countries is outdated, and demands a rethink of how to promote progress and reduce poverty and inequality. Also suggests ways in which developing countries could best take advantage of the new economic landscape.
(GLOBAL ECONOMY * DEVELOPMENT * OECD OUTLOOK: DEVELOPMENT)
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A Shameful Business: The Case for Human Rights in the American Workplace. James A. Gross (Prof of Labor Law, Cornell U). Ithaca, NY: ILR Press (dist by Cornell U Press), Feb 2010, 264p, $21.95. Argues that the US market philosophy is incompatible with core principles of human rights; calls for the transformation of the American workplace based on respect for human rights, rather than whatever the economic and regulatory landscape allows. Assesses various aspects of US labor relations—freedom of association, racial discrimination, management rights, workplace safety, and human resources— through the lens of internationally accepted human rights principles. When considered as human rights issues, many “best practices” of management are truly unacceptable.
(WORK * HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE WORKPLACE * WORKPLACE HUMAN RIGHTS)
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Free Trade Doesn’t Work: Why America Needs a Tariff. Ian Fletcher (Adjunct Fellow, US Business and Industry Council, San Francisco). Foreword by Edward Luttwak (author of Turbo-Capitalism, 1999). Washington: US Business and Industry Council, Jan 2010/327p/$24.95 (Kindle edition, $17.06). Theories that favor free trade tend to be mathematically neat, mostly because they assume markets are perfectly efficient; thus 93% of US economists in a 2003 survey favor free trade. But the US trade deficit of $688 billion in 2008—about 5% of GDP—is not healthy. The US should seek strategic, not unconditional, economic integration with the rest of the world. “Fairly open trade, most of the time, is justified. Absolutely free trade, 100% of the time, is an extremist position.” Chapters discuss the bad arguments for free trade (e.g. it is somehow inevitable, we live in a borderless global economy, etc.), America’s recent rise in income inequality (perhaps 25% is due to freer trade), trade solutions that won’t work (productivity growth, postindustrialism, currency revaluation), critiques of free trade to avoid (low foreign labor standards, race to the bottom), seven key flaws in the false theory of comparative advantage (trade is sustainable, there are no externalities, etc.), the negligible benefits of free trade, America’s neglect of industrial policy, and “the natural strategic tariff” that is “infinitely better than free trade” (it creates the right balance of special-interest pressures and should be in the 25-35% range, rather than something trivial like 2% or prohibitive like 150%). A possible trigger for the final breakdown of free trade is global warming: “the rationale for imposing tariffs on nations that fail to adequately control pollution is absolutely impeccable.” [Note: A clearly-written and well-argued assault on many conventional assumptions of outdated economists, with a bibliography of some 500 items.]
(GLOBAL ECONOMY * ECONOMY * FREE TRADE QUESTIONED * TARIFF POLICY)
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Perilous Glory: The Rise of Western Military Power. John France (Prof Emeritus of History, Swansea U). New Haven, CT: Yale U Press, Oct 2011, 448p, $35. Surveys the history of warfare from ancient Mesopotamia to the Gulf War and explains the origins of Western warfare and its eminence today. Despite enormous cultural differences, war was conducted in distinctly similar ways up to the Military Revolution and the pursuit of technological warfare in the 19th century. Since then, European and American culture has shaped warfare. However, the present dominance of US power is much more precarious and accidental than commonly believed. Casts doubt on well-entrenched attitudes about the development of military strength and the future of Western dominance. (SECURITY * WARFARE: HISTORICAL CHANGE * WESTERN MILITARY POWER)
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The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One. David Kilcullen (Adj Prof of Security Studies, John Hopkins U; fellow, Center for a New American Security). NY: Oxford U Press, April 2011, 384p, $17.95pb. On the big global war (War on Terrorism) and its relation to the associated small wars across the globe in Iraq, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan, East Timor, and East Africa. Today’s conflicts are a complex interweaving of contrasting trends, such as local insurgencies seeking autonomy caught up in a broader pan-Islamic campaign. The US has done a poor job of applying different tactics to these very different situations, continually misidentifying insurgents with limited claims and legitimate grievances (“accidental guerrillas”) as part of a coordinated worldwide terror network. We need to change the way we think about war.
(SECURITY * TERRORISM)
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Transforming Terror: Remembering the Soul of the World. Edited by Karin Lofthus Carrington (cofounder, graduate program in women’s spirituality, John F. Kennedy U) and Susan Griffin (Pulitzer Prize finalist, grantee of the Guggenheim Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts). Berkeley CA: U of California Press, May 2011, 314p, $24.95pb. Essays, poetry, prayers and meditation offering a new paradigm for moving the world beyond violence as the first, and often only, response to violence. Terrorist violence--defined here as an attack on unarmed civilians--can never be stopped by a return to the thinking that created it. Contributors (Desmond Tutu, Huston Smith, Riane Eisler, Daniel Ellsberg, Amos Oz, Fatema Mernissi, Fritjov Capra, Geroge Lakoff, etc) encompass both the Islamic and Western worlds in considering how to transform conditions that produce terrorist acts. (SECURITY * TERRORISM)
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* Between Threats and War: US Discrete Military Operations in the Post-Cold War World. Micah Zenko (Fellow for Conflict Prevention, CFR). A Council on Foreign Relations Book. Palo Alto CA: Stanford U Press, Aug 2010/256p/$24.95pb. American policy makers resort to “Discrete Military Operations” (for instance, air raids in Bosnia and Somalia, and drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan) when confronted with a persistent foreign policy problem that threatens US interests, and that cannot be adequately addressed through economic or political pressure. Examines 36 DMOs undertaken by the US over the last 20 years and discusses why they were used, whether they achieved their objectives, and what determined their success or failure.
(SECURITY * DISCRETE MILITARY OPERATIONS)
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Global Environmental Change and Human Security. Edited by Richard A. Matthew (Assoc Prof of Politics, UC-Irvine) and three others. Cambridge: MIT Press, Dec 2009/328p/$25pb. In recent years, scholars have begun to conceive of security more broadly, moving away from a state-centered concept of national security toward the concept of human security; global environmental change and new questions of human insecurity are viewed through this lens.
(SECURITY * ENVIRONMENT)
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A Question of Command: Counterinsurgency from the Civil War to Iraq. Mark Moyar (Woodbridge VA; Chair of Insurgency and Terrorism, US Marine Corps Univ). Yale U Press, Oct 2009/384p/$30. The conventional wisdom of counterinsurgency is that the key is winning people’s hearts and minds, and allocating much labor and treasure to economic/social/political reforms; rather, Moyar asserts that the key is selecting commanders with superior leadership abilities and concentrating resources on security, civil administration, and leadership development.
(SECURITY * COUNTERINSURGENCY RECONSIDERED)
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Shooting Up: Counterinsurgency and the War on Drugs. Vanda Felbab-Brown (Brookings Fellow in Foreign Policy). Brookings Institution Press, Nov 2009/260p/$28.95. Conventional wisdom on the drug wars is “dangerously wrongheaded”: counternarcotics campaigns focused on eradication fail to bankrupt groups that rely on the drug trade and increase legitimacy of insurgents; in contrast, a laissez-faire policy toward illicit crops combined with interdiction targeted at major traffickers improves the chance of winning the war on drugs and the war against insurgents such as the Taliban. (DRUG WARS * SECURITY)
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Rethinking Violence: States and Non-State Actors in Conflict. Edited by Erica Chenowith (Asst Prof of Govt, Wesleyan U) and Adria Lawrence (Asst Prof of Pol Sci, Yale U). Cambridge MA: The MIT Press, April 2010/400p/$25pb. Major wars between sovereign states have become rare, but current world politics is rife with internal conflict, ethnic cleansing, and violence against civilians. The authors ask how, when, and why states and non-state actors use violence against one another, and consider the effectiveness of various forms of political violence. Arguments focus on how changes in the balance of power between and among states and non-state actors generate uncertainty and threat, thus creating an environment conducive to violence. This new way to understand violence deemphasizes the role of ethnic cleavages and nationalism in modern conflict.
(SECURITY * VIOLENCE RECONSIDERED)
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Atomic Obsession: Nuclear Alarmism from Hiroshima to Al Qaeda. John Mueller (Chair of Natl Security Studies & Prof of Pol Sci, Ohio State U). NY: Oxford UP, Nov 2009/320p/$27.95. Obsession with nuclear weapons is unsupported by history, fact, or logic: nukes have had little impact on history, they have inspired overwrought policies and distorted spending priorities, and have proven militarily useless. Anxieties about use by terrorists are essentially baseless.
(SECURITY * NUCLEAR WEAPONS)
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Genocide: A Normative Account. Larry May (Prof of Philosophy, Vanderbilt U). NY: Cambridge U Press, March 2010, 300p, $28.99pb. The UN legal definition limits the recognition of crimes against all groups as genocide; moreover, post-genocide criminal trials rarely succeed in helping reconciliation efforts and establishing rule of law. This philosophical exploration of the crime of genocide in international criminal law expands its definition to include cultural genocide and ethnic cleansing.
(CRIME & LAW * GENOCIDE)
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A Skeptic’s Case for Nuclear Disarmament. Michael E. O’Hanlon (director of research, Foreign Policy, Brookings Institution). Washington: Brookings Institution Press, Nov 2010/160p/$26.95. Endorses conditional nuclear disarmament, showing that even when a Global Zero accord is in place, temporary suspension of restrictions may be necessary in response to nuclear “cheating” or discovery of an advanced biological weapons program. “Even once we eliminate nuclear weapons, we will have to accept the fact that we may have not done so forever.” The genie is out of the bottle, so taking all nuclear options off the table forever strengthens the hand of those who do not honor a nuclear agreement. Dismantling existing bomb inventories, in recognition of their dangerous and destabilizing potential, should be our goal. (SECURITY * NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT)
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Project on National Security Reform: Vision Working Group Report and Scenarios. Edited by Sheila R. Ronis (Working Group Chair; president, University Group Ind). Introduction by LeonFuerth (GWU; director, www.forewardengagement.org). U.S. Army War College, www.StrategicStudiesInstitute.army.mil, July 2010/278p/free download. PNSR submitted a two-year study of the national security system to the President and President-elect in Nov 2008, with findings tested against a diverse set of scenarios. This volume documents the scenario-testing process, with chapters on scenario use for national security reform, nine pre- and post-reform scenarios, a defense industrial base scenario, a nuclear bomb case study, and a proposed Center for Strategic Analysis and Assessment. PNSR seeks to develop a more effective network within government to manage national security challenges and to inspire a “whole-of-government approach.” The Vision Working Group is devoted to the study of contingencies and presenting the case for vision and foresight. As noted by Fuerth, “it is no longer possible to conflate national security and national defense.” Forward Engagement seeks to promote systematic thinking about complex, interactive, and longer-range issues.
(SECURITY * NATIONAL SECURITY REFORM * SCENARIOS AND NATIONAL SECURITY)
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The Justice of Mercy. Linda Ross Meyer (Prof of Law, Quinnipiac U; President, Assoc for the Study of Law, Culture, and Humanities). Ann Arbor MI: U of Michigan Press, October 2010/280p/$65 (digital version planned). Offers a theory of ‘punishment with mercy’ and illustrates the implications of that theory with legal examples drawn from criminal law doctrine, pardons, mercy in military justice, and fictional narratives of punishment and mercy. Relevant to debates over truth and reconciliation commissions, alternative dispute resolution, and other new forms of restorative justice. (CRIME/JUSTICE * PUNISHMENT WITH MERCY)
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Virtual Water: Tackling the Threat to Our Planet’s Most Precious Resource. Tony Allan (Prof of Geography, King’s College, U of London). I. B. Tauris (dist by Palgrave Macmillan), Aug 2011, 384p, $18pb. . All the goods we buy – from clothing to computers – have a water cost. Making a cup of coffee requires 140 liters of water, when the total amount of water used in growing, producing, packaging, and shipping the beans are considered. A hamburger consumes 2,400 liters of water, and a pair of blue jeans 11,000 liters. “Virtual water” is the powerful new concept created by Prof. Allan that reveals the hidden facts of our real water consumption, enabling us to manage our water in a more sustainable way. (WATER * VIRTUAL WATER * WATER COST RECONSIDERED)
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Risk and Precaution. Alan Randall (Ohio State U). NY: Cambridge U Press, March 2011, 278p, $31.99pb. The precautionary principle has been labeled simplistic and the rational approach to decision-making under risk was modeled on well-specified games of chance. The precautionary principle, however, is useful in managing the risks, uncertainties, and 'unknown unknowns' of the real world. Unravels the key controversies surrounding the precautionary principle; integrates precaution with elements of the standard risk management model for a new framework (“integrated risk management”); and uses examples from medicine, pharmacy, synthetic chemicals, nanotechnology, and natural resources conservation. (RISK MANAGEMENT * PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE * METHODS)
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The End of Energy: The Unmaking of America’s Environment, Security, and Independence. Michael J. Graetz (Prof of Law, Columbia U). Cambridge: MIT Press, April 2011, 400p, $29.95. Americans have been living an energy delusion for 40 years: they have never been asked to pay a price that reflects the real cost of the energy they consume. Presidents have wasted billions seeking a technological “silver bullet” to solve all our problems, while Congress has elevated narrow parochial interests over national goals, directing huge subsidies and tax breaks to favored constituents and contributors. Describes 40 years of energy policy incompetence (the Nixon administration’s fumbled response to the OPEC oil embargo, failure to develop alternative energy sources, the current standoff over “cap and trade”) and calls for better decisions on the US energy future that reflect the real energy costs. (ENERGY * ENERGY: WASTEFUL DECISIONS IN U.S.)
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** Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change. National Research Council. America’s Climate Choices Series. Washington: National Academies Press, Nov 2010, 326p (7x10”), $49.95pb. The first of four congressionally requested studies stating that, across the US, impacts of climate change are already evident. Heat waves have become more frequent and intense, cold extremes have become less frequent, and patterns of rainfall are likely changing. Even if GHG emissions were substantially reduced now, “climate change and its resulting impacts will continue for some time.” The NRC Panel on Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change calls for “a new paradigm that considers a range of possible future climate conditions and impacts that may be well outside the realm of past experience,” as well as actions by many decision-makers in government at all levels, the private sector, and NGOs. Current efforts are hampered by a lack of solid information on costs, benefits, and effectiveness of various adaptation options. A national adaptation strategy is needed to provide technical and scientific resources, incentives to begin adaptation planning, guidance across jurisdictions, and shared lessons learned. (CLIMATE CHANGE * AMERICA’S CLIMATE CHOICES)
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Ethical Transformations for a Sustainable Future (Peace and Policy, Vol 14). Edited by Olivier Urbain (director, Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research, Honolulu) and Deva Temple (chief sustainability officer, Mana Makai Group). Piscataway NJ: Transaction Publishers, Dec 2010/157p/$39.95pb. Observes that social, political and economic systems need to align to nature to make sure the Earth has the capacity to replenish resources and absorb wastes. Such transformations are urgently needed and possible, if supported by a new ethics organized around three keywords: 1) Reconnecting with the Earth and nature, as well as with each other; 2) Reframing the way in which people prioritize choices; and 3) Rethinking the mission of education and the roles of technology, and how we think about economy, business, and gender relations.
(ETHICAL TRANSFORMATION * SUSTAINABILITY)
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Sustainability by Design: A Subversive Strategy for Transforming Our Consumer Culture. John R. Ehrenfeld ( www.johnehrenfeld.com; director, Int’l Society for Industrial Ecology; Senior Research Scholar, Yale School of Forestry). Yale U Press, Aug 2009/272p/$17pb (hc Feb 2008/$28). Former director of the MIT Program on Technology, Business, and Environment argues that eco-efficiency and corporate social responsibility are band-aids, discusses consumption as addiction and adaptive government, and proposes a new definition of sustainability as the possibility that humans and other life will flourish on Earth forever.
(SUSTAINABILITY * CONSUMPTION)
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Linkages of Sustainability. Edited by Thomas Graedel (Director, Center for Industrial Ecology, Yale U) and Ester van der Voet (Inst. for Env. Sciences, U of Leiden). Cambridge: MIT Press, Nov 2009/430p/$40. The multiple components of sustainability, all demanding attention, make understanding the concept itself a challenge; these essays on the linkages and the constraints among the components argue for a comprehensive view of sustainability, a transformation in the way we view it. (ENVIRONMENT * SUSTAINABILITY)
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Treasures of the Earth: Need, Greed, and a Sustainable Future. Saleem H. Ali (Assoc Prof of Env. Studies, U of Vermont). Yale U Press, Oct 2009/320p/$30. A natural history of consumption and materialism, arguing that simply disavowing consumption of materials is not likely to help in planning for a resource-scarce future. Rather, a new environmental paradigm is proposed that accepts our need to consume “treasure” responsibly but warns of our concomitant need to conserve, to distinguish between needs and wants, and to alleviate global poverty.
(SUSTAINABILITY * CONSUMPTION * RESOURCES)
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The New Economics: A Bigger Picture. David Boyle and Andrew Simms (both New Economics Foundation, London). London & Sterling VA: Earthscan, Oct 2009/160p/$24.95. A new economics derived from Ruskin and Schumacher, turning assumptions about wealth and poverty upside down: real wealth can be measured by increased well-being and environmental sustainability, rather than consuming more things. (ENVIRONMENT * SUSTAINABILITY * ECONOMICS)
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Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet. Tim Jackson (Prof of Sustainable Development, U of Surrey). London & Sterling VA: Earthscan, Nov 2009/160p/$22.50. Challenges unquestioned assumptions of the global policy of growth, arguing that continuing growth is not possible.
(ENVIRONMENT * SUSTAINABILITY * ECONOMICS)
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Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications (Second Edition). Herman F. Daly (Prof of Economics, U of Maryland) and Joshua Farley (Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, U of Vermont). Washington: Island Press, Oct 2009/488p/$50. An introductory-level textbook designed to address the significant flaw in conventional economics that excludes biophysical and social systems, thus ignoring many costs. The interdisciplinary framework embraces linkages between economic growth, environmental degradation, and social inequity. (First published in Jan 2004/454p.) (ENVIRONMENT * ECONOMICS)
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100 Per Cent Renewable: Energy Autonomy in Action. Edited by Peter Droege. London & Sterling VA: Earthscan, Nov 2009/368p/$56. The great challenge of our time is building a world based on sustainable use of renewable power; many see a 100% renewable world as an impossible dream, but a growing number of plans and initiatives are making the change and many have already achieved it.
(ENERGY * SUSTAINABILITY)
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Factor Five: Transforming the Global Economy Through 80% Improvements in Resource Productivity. Report to the Club of Rome. Ernst von Weizsäcker (Emmendingen, Germany) and four others. London & Sterling VA: Earthscan, Dec 2009/400p/$39.95. Sequel to Factor Four (von Weizsacker/Lovins/Lovins, 1997) on the unique historic opportunity to scale up resource efficiency and radically transform the global economy with 80%+ improvements in energy productivity, water use, transport, buildings, and materials, based on concepts such as bio-mimicry and whole system design.
(CLUB OF ROME * RESOURCES * ENERGY * WATER)
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The Myth of Resource Efficiency: The Jevons Paradox. John M. Polimeni (Albany College of Pharmacy), Kozo Mayumi (U of Tokushima), Mario Giampietro (U Autonoma de Barcelona), and Blake Alcott (Zurich). Foreword by Joseph A. Taintor. London & Sterling VA: Earthscan, July 2009/184p/$$24.95pb. First published in 2008 as The Jevons Paradox and the Myth of Resource Efficiency Improvements, the authors explain a paradox first expressed in 1865 that an increase in efficiency in using a resource leads to increased use of that resource; thus it may be a false hope that future technological innovations in energy, etc. will reduce consumption of resources. (RESOURCES * ENERGY)
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Beyond Naturalness: Rethinking Park and Wilderness Stewardship in an Era of Rapid Change. Edited by David N. Cole (U.S. Forest Service, Missoula MT) and Laurie Yung (director, Wilderness Institute, U of Montana). Washington: Island Press, March 2010/368p/$35pb. The central concept guiding the management of parks and wilderness has been to keep them in their “natural” state. But what does this mean, as the effects of stressors such as climate change, invasive species, habitat fragmentation, and altered disturbance regimes increase? Scientists and policymakers herein explore the various meanings of naturalness and where, when, and how managers should intervene in ecosystem processes to protect wilderness values.
(PARKS * WILDERNESS RECONSIDERED * CONSERVATION RETHINKING)
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Sustainability Science: A Multidisciplinary Approach (Sustainability Science, 1 of 5). Edited by Hiroshi Komiyama (President Emeritus, U of Tokyo), Kazuhiko Takeuchi (Prof of Life Sciences, U of Tokyo), Hideaki Shiroyama (Prof of Law/Politics, U of Tokyo), and Takashi Mino (Prof, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, U of Tokyo). Tokyo & NY: United Nations U Press, Aug 2010, 375p, $37pb. On “a new academic discipline” that seeks to help build a sustainable society by developing solutions to climate change, the exhaustion of resources, ecological destruction, etc. In contrast to widespread fragmentation and specialization of academia, it seeks “comprehensive, integrated solutions to complex problems,” restructures education and research, and spans the natural, social, and human sciences. Discusses building a new discipline, positioning and connecting between existing sciences, tools and methods, redefining existing academic disciplines, education for sustainability science, and building a global meta-network.
(SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE SERIES * SCIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY)
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Achieving Global Sustainability: Policy Recommendations (Sustainability Science, 5 of 5). Edited by Takamitsu Sawa (Adviser, Kyoto Sustainability Initiative), Susumu Iai (Director, Kyoto Sustainability Initiative), and Seiji Ikkatai (Prof of Economics, Kyoto U). Tokyo & NY: United Nations U Press, Aug 2010, 375p, $37pb. “The problem of global sustainability is indisputably the most serious issue facing humanity today.” Solving this difficult problem requires a drastic redesign of society in all aspects—technological, economic, and social. Advocates paradigm shifts in both economic growth and socioeconomic development, in terms of social common capital, contemporary social discipline, and economic valuation of the environment. Presents climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies (the latter with a focus on technology), and recommends a “Green New Deal” leading to a low-carbon society by 2050.
(CLIMATE CHANGE * SUSTAINABILITY* LOW CARBON SOCIETY * “GREEN NEW DEAL”)
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Thriving Beyond Sustainability: Pathways to a Resilient Society. Andres R. Edwards (EduTracks). Foreword by Bill McKibben. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, May 2010, 240p, $17.95pb. Author of The Sustainability Revolution: Portrait of a Paradigm Shift (NSP, 224p) draws a collective map of individuals, organizations, and communities from around the world that are committed to building ecological health, new institutions, and rejuvenated environmental, social, and economic systems. The featured projects and initiatives are leading the way in relocalization, green commerce, ecological design, environmental conservation, and social transformation.
(SUSTAINABILITY * RESILIENT SOCIETY: EXEMPLARY PROJECTS)
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Government and Communication
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The Upside-Down Constitution. Michael S. Greve (Searle Scholar, American Enterprise Institute). Cambridge MA: Harvard U Press, Feb 2012, 510p, $49.95 (also as e-book). Over the course of US history, the Constitution has been turned upside-down. The Constitution’s vision of a federalism in which local, state, and federal government compete to satisfy the preferences of individuals has given way to a cooperative, cartelized federalism that enables interest groups to leverage power at every level for their own benefit. Thus the trend to toward more government and fiscal profligacy. Taking aim at both the progressive heirs of the New Deal and the vocal originalists of our own time, Greve explains why the current fiscal crisis will soon compel a fundamental renegotiation of a new federalism grounded in constitutional principles.
(GOVERNMENT * CONSTITUTION: INVERTED INTENT)
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Cultivating Conscience: How Good Laws Make Good People. Lynn A. Stout (Prof of Corporate and Securities Law, UCLA). Princeton NJ: Princeton U Press, Nov 2010, 296p, $27.95. Rather than lean on the power of greed to shape laws and human behavior, we should rely on conscience, which is a vital force in our lives. Drawing from social psychology, behavioral economics, and evolutionary biology, Stout demonstrates how social cues trigger unselfish behavior and argues that the legal system should use these cues. Current emphasis on self-interest may have contributed to the recent catastrophic political missteps and financial scandals by encouraging corrupt and selfish actions, and undermining society’s moral compass.
(GOVERNMENT * LEGAL SYSTEM * LAW AND UNSELFISH BEHAVIOR)
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Legality. Scott J. Shapiro (Prof of Law, Yale U). Cambridge MA: Harvard U Press/Belknap Press, Jan 2011/360p/$39.95. Offers a ground-breaking new theory of law and defends classical jurisprudence. Argues that legal systems are not defined by rules but by plans: thinking about laws as plans resolves many vexing puzzles about the nature of law and has profound implications for the practice of legal interpretation. (GOVERNANCE * LEGAL SYSTEMS * LAWS AS PLANS)
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Communication Power. Manuel Castells (Prof of Communication, USC; Distinguished Visiting Prof, MIT & Oxford U). NY: Oxford UP, Sept 2009/608p/$34.95. A leading communication theorist and author of The Information Age trilogy argues that power now lies in the hands of those who understand or control communication; also discusses the new network society of instant messaging, global media deregulation, the role of the Internet in the Obama campaign for president, media control in China and Russia, and the worldwide crisis of political legitimacy. (COMMUNICATION * WORLD POLITICS)
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Wiki Government: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful. Beth Simone Noveck (Prof of Law, NYU). Washington: Brookings Institution Press, June 2009/224p/$28.95. Shows how collaborative democracy can be designed, and how it opens policymaking to greater participation; includes a case study of inviting the public to join in examining patent applications, radically transforming the process, and proposes policy wikis and civic juries. (GOVERNANCE * DEMOCRACY)
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The Democracy Index: Why Our Election System Is Failing and How to Fix It. Heather K. Gerken (Prof of Election Law, Yale Law School). Princeton UP, May 2009/216p/$24.95. Diagnoses what is wrong with US elections and proposes a radically new and simple solution with incentives for reform: a Democracy Index that rates the performance of state and local elections systems, similar to the USN&WR annual ranking of colleges and universities; indicators would include how long it takes to vote, how many ballots are discarded, how often voting machines break down, etc. (GOVERNMENT * ELECTIONS)
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The Constitution in 2020. Edited by Jack Balkin and Reva Siegel (both Profs of Law, Yale U). NY: Oxford UP, June 2009/336p/$19.95pb. Offers a blueprint for implementing a more progressive vision of constitutional law in the years ahead, considering the challenge of new technologies, presidential power, international human rights, religious liberty, freedom of speech, voting, reproductive rights, and economic rights. [Also see A More Perfect Constitution: 23 Proposals by Larry J. Sabato (Walker & Co, 2007) and A Bill of Rights for 21st Century America by Joseph F. Coates (Kanawha Institute, 2007.]
(GOVERNANCE * U.S. CONSTITUTION)
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The Politics of Happiness: What Government Can Learn from the New Research on Well-Being. Derek Bok (Research Prof and former President, Harvard U). Princeton NJ: Princeton U Press, March 2010, 262p, $24.95. During the past 40 years, thousands of studies have been conducted on happiness. “Happiness research is most interesting when its results challenge conventional wisdom about what people want”; for instance, societies experiencing higher income are not necessarily happier. Shows how governments could use happiness research in a variety of policy areas—economic growth, equality, retirement, unemployment, health care, mental illness, family programs, education, and government quality— to increase well-being and improve the quality of life for all citizens. [Also see Society Without God by Phil Zuckerman; NYU Press, June 2010, on high contentment in godless Denmark and Sweden.]
(HAPPINESS AND PUBLIC POLICY)
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Policy and Choice: Public Finance through the Lens of Behavioral Economics. William J. Congdon (research director, Economic Studies, Brookings Institution), Jeffrey R. Kling (associate director, Congressional Budget Office), and Sendhil Mullainathan (Prof of Economics, Harvard U). Washington: Brookings Institution Press, Jan 2011/ 240p/ $29.95. Behavioral economics, integrating psychology and economics, has shown “tremendous promise” for informing economic policy in recent years, upending the standard economic analysis of government policy. Public finance —the study of government’s role in the economy— can incorporate many lessons of behavioral economics, e.g. accounting for challenges such as procrastination, indecision, retirement savings, college financial aid, etc.. Discusses asymmetric information, poverty and inequality, externalities and public goods, taxation, and revenue.
(ECONOMY * BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS * APPROPRIATE ECONOMICS FOR 21ST C)
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The Physical Basis of Mental Illness. Ronald Chase (Prof Emeritus of Biology, McGill U). Piscataway NJ: Transaction Publishers, Oct 2011, 166p, $39.95. The roots of current thinking about mental illness lie in philosophical dualism promoted by Rene Descartes in the 17th century. Chase argues that the mind-body dualism is outdated and misleading, and some form of physicalism is more likely to help us understand mental illness. Faulty brain development is the fundamental cause of all mental illness. Faulty brain development is the fundamental cause of major mental illness. Genes combine with environmental influences to produce changes in brain structures and functions. (HEALTH * MENTAL HEALTH)
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Bioethics in the Age of New Media. Joanna Zylinska (Reader in Communications, Goldsmith’s, U of London). Cambridge: MIT Press, April 2009/240p/$30. The paramount bioethical issue in an age of digital technology is the transformation of the very notion of life; a new “ethics of life” is proposed, rooted in the kinship between the humans, animals, and machines.
(BIOETHICS * ETHICS OF LIFE)
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Addiction: A Disorder of Choice. Gene M. Heyman (Lecturer in Psychology, Harvard Medical School). Cambridge: Harvard UP, May 2009/176p/$26.95. Argues that the conventional wisdom about addiction as a disease and a compulsion beyond conscious control is wrong; just as there are successful dieters, there are successful ex-drug addicts; indeed, addiction is the psychiatric disorder with the highest rate of recovery. (HEALTH * DRUG ADDICTION)
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More Than Genes: What Science Can Tell Us About Toxic Chemicals, Development and the Risk to Our Children. Dan Agin (Emeritus Associate Prof of Molecular Genetics, U of Chicago and columnist for Huffington Post). NY: Oxford UP, Dec 2009/256p/$27.95. Adding to the nature-nurture debate, it is argued that the fetal environment can be just as crucial as genetic hardwiring or later environment in determining intelligence and behavior. Stress during pregnancy and environmental toxins leads to IQ differences in racial/ethnic groups.
(TOXIC CHEMICALS * CHILDREN)
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What Is Addiction? Edited by Don Ross (Prof of Economics and Philosophy, U of Alabama-Birmingham) and three others. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press, March 2010/464p/$40pb. The image of the addict in popular culture combines victimhood and moral failure, but scientific knowledge about addiction tends to undermine this cultural construct. Leading addiction researchers discuss various questions: 1) is addiction is one kind of condition or several?; 2) is it neurophysiological, psychological, and/or social? 3) to what extent are addicts responsible for their problems? 4) is addition determined by inheritance, environment, or both?; 5) how does this affect health and regulatory policies?
(HEALTH * ADDICTION RESEARCH)
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Against Health: How Health Became the New Morality. Edited by Jonathan M. Metzl (Assoc Prof of Women’s Studies and Psychiatry, U of Michigan) and Anna Kirkland (Assoc Prof of Women Studies and Pol Sci, U of Michigan). NY: New York U Press, Nov 2010/240p/$22pb. Health is a concept, a norm, and a set of bodily practices assumed to be a monolithic, universal good. The way health is culturally configured and socially sustained can render individual strivings for health difficult. Unpacks the divergent cultural meanings of health, explores the ideologies involved in its construction, and presents strategies for moving forward suggesting new ideologies and alliances.
(HEALTH: ALTERNATIVE MEANINGS * SOCIETY AND HEALTH CONCEPTS)
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Next Medicine: The Science and Civics of Health. Walter M. Bortz II (Assoc Prof of Medicine, Stanford U). NY: Oxford UP, Dec 2010/348p/$24.95pb. A physician with 50 years of experience and an expert on aging argues that the financial interests of biotech and drug companies have eroded the values of the medical profession and placed profit before human wellbeing. Prescribes a new approach to medicine that emphasized personal responsibility and provides incentives for healthy lifestyle choices, with a new class of medical professionals trained to promote health rather than treat disease.
(HEALTH * HEALTHCARE REFORM)
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The Grey Zone in Health and Illness. Alan Blum (director, Cultures and Cities Centre, York U; Canada). Intellect Books (dist by U of Chicago Press), Sept 2010/304p/$60. Argues that our current understanding of health care tends to posit it as a state of permanent emergency., with a focus on medical advances and costs. Advocates “a complete rethinking of health and sickness, self-governance and negligence.” (HEALTH * ILLNESS RECONSIDERED)
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Society, Education
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Uneducated Guesses: Using Evidence to Uncover Misguided Education Policies. Howard Wainer (research scientist, National Board of Medical Examiners; Adjunct Prof of Statistics, Wharton School, U of Pennsylvania). Princeton NJ: Princeton U Press, Sept 2011, 200p, $24.95. Uses statistical evidence to show why some of the most widely held beliefs in education today – and the policies that resulted – are wrong. For instance, the push to substitute achievement tests with aptitude tests makes no sense; and colleges that make the SAT optional for applicants end up with underperforming students and inflated national rankings. Challenges the thinking behind the rise of advanced placement courses in high schools and demonstrates why assessing teachers based on how well their students perform on tests – a central pillar of the recent education reforms – is misguided. Exposes today’s educational policies to the light of empirical evidence, and offers solutions for fairer and more viable future policies. (EDUCATION * EDUCATION POLICIES QUESTIONED)
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Reading the Qur’an: The Contemporary Relevance of the Sacred Text of Islam. Ziauddin Sardar (Visiting Prof, City U, London). NY: Oxford UP, Sept 2011, 424p, $29.95pb. For far too many Muslims, the Qur’an has become a stick used for ensuring conformity and suppressing dissenting views, a justification for misogyny, a validation for hating others, an obsession with dress and ritual, and rules for running modern states. Sardar, a cultural critic and scholar of Islam (who also serves as editor of Futures: The Journal of Policy, Planning, and Futures Studies), calls for a more open, less doctrinaire approach to reading the Qur’an – a dynamic text that each generation should encounter anew. Religious life is not about standing still, but always striving to make our life, our society, the entire world around us a better place for everyone. The Qur’an is examined for what it says about current issues such as power and politics, rights of women, sex, homosexuality, the veil, freedom of expression, and evolution. (ISLAM AND THE QUR’AN RECONSIDERED * QUR’AN AND ISLAM RECONSIDERED * RELIGION)
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Dignity: The Essential Role It Plays in Resolving Conflict in Our Lives and Relationships. Donna Hicks (Associate, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard U). Foreword by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. New Haven, CT: Yale U Press, Sept 2011, 240p, $27.50. The desire for dignity is universal and powerful; it motivates interactions in families, communities, the business world, and relationships at all levels. When dignity is violated, the response is likely to involve aggression, violence, and vengeance. Offers a new set of strategies for becoming aware of dignity’s vital role in our lives and learning to put dignity into practice in everyday life. Topics include the elements of dignity, dignity violations, responses to violations, restoring relationships, dignity and leadership and so forth. “By choosing dignity as a way of life, we open the way to greater peace within ourselves and to a safer and more humane world for all.” (METHODS * DIGNITY * SECURITY AND DIGNITY)
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Macroeconomics Beyond the NAIRU. Servaas Storm and C.W.M. Naastepad (both Senior Lecturers in Economics, Delft U of Technology). Cambridge MA Harvard U Press, Jan 2012, 290p, $49.95 (also as e-book). Economists and the governments they advise have based their macroeconomic policies on the idea of a “natural rate of unemployment.” Government policy that pushes the rate below this point--about 6%--supposedly triggers an accelerated rate of inflation that is hard to reverse. Argues that this concept is flawed: a stable non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU), independent of macroeconomic policy, does not exist. Consequently, government decisions based on the NAIRU not only are misguided but have huge and avoidable social costs, namely, high unemployment and sustained inequality. NAIRU’s neglect of labor’s impact on technological change and productivity eclipses the many positive contributions that labor and its regulation make to economic performance. When these positive effects are taken into account, a more humane policy becomes feasible—one that would enhance productivity and progress.(UNEMPLOYMENT: “NATURAL RATE” QUESTIONED* ECONOMICS AND NAIRU)
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Ethics in Light of Childhood. John Wall (Assoc Prof of Religion and Childhood Studies, Rutgers U). Washington: Georgetown U Press, Aug 2010, 216p, $34.95pb. Childhood faces humanity with its own deepest and most perplexing questions. Reimagines ethical thought and practice in light of the experiences of the third of humanity who are children. Much like humanism, feminism, womanism, and environmentalism, a new “childism” is required that transforms moral thinking, relations, and societies in fundamental ways. Explores childhood's varied impacts on ethical thinking throughout history, advances the emerging interdisciplinary field of childhood studies, and reexamines basic assumptions in contemporary moral theory and practice.
(CHILDREN AND ETHICS * ETHCS AND CHILDREN * “CHILDISM”)
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A Convergence of Civilizations: The Transformation of Muslim Societies Around the World. Youssef Courbage and Emmanuel Todd (both French National Institute for Demographic Studies). NY: Columbia U Press, April 2011, 160p, $35 (also e-book). We are told that Western/Christian and Muslim/Arab civilizations are on the verge of destroying each other, but measured analysis shows a rapprochement between the two civilizations. Muslims are a diverse group that proves the immutability and individuality of Islam. Looks at Muslim groups across the world to underscore “the massive secularization movement spreading throughout Arab and Muslim populations.” Similar to the history of Christianity, the Muslim world is now entering into a global modernity.
(WORLD FUTURES * SECULAR MUSLIM WORLD)
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The Politics of Imagining Asia. Wang Hui (Prof of Literature and History, Tsinghua U, Beijing). Edited by Theodore Huters (Prof Emeritus of Chinese, UCLA). Cambridge: Harvard U Press, March 2011, 358p, $35 (also as e-book). Hui explores an alternative modernity that does not rely on imported conceptions of Chinese history and its legacy, and argues that models based on Western notions of empire and nation-state fail to account for the richness and diversity of pre-modern Chinese historical practice. Nation-state logic does not explain the Chinese language standardization or “The Tibetan Question”. Dismissing European-born standards to assess modern China’s evolution, Hui seeks to identify new models in complex multifaceted arrangements that defined his country and much of Asia for centuries.
(REGIONS/NATIONS * ASIA: RETHINKING MODERNITY * CHINA)
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The Lab: Creativity and Culture. David Edwards (founding director, Le Laboratoire, Paris and Idea Translation Lab, Harvard U; www.davidideas.com). Cambridge MA: Harvard U Press, Oct 2010/224p/$22.95. Describes an emerging cultural phenomenon in the US and Europe where artists and scientists collaborate to produce intriguing cultural content and surprising innovations. Advocates the “artscience lab” (a new kind of educational art lab based on a contemporary science lab model) as a new innovation model.
(SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY * INNOVATION * “ARTSCIENCE LAB”)
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The Same Thing Over and Over: How School Reformers Get Stuck in Yesterday’s Ideas. Frederick M. Hess (director of Education Policy Initiatives, American Enterprise Institute; editor, Education Next). Cambridge MA: Harvard U Press, Nov 2010/282p/$27.95. Whatever they think of school vouchers or charter schools, teacher merit pay or bilingual education, most education reformers take for granted the 19th century heritage: a one teacher-one classroom model, the professional full-time teacher, students grouped in age-defined groups, the nine months calendar, and top-down local district control. Uniformity gets in the way of quality, and reformers should create a higher variety of schools to meet the needs of a vastly more complex and demanding society.
(EDUCATION * SCHOOL REFORM)
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Complexity: A Guided Tour. Melanie Mitchell (Prof of Computer Sci, Portland State U and External Prof, Santa Fe Institute). NY: Oxford UP, March 2009/416p/$29.95. An overview of the ideas underlying complex systems science, current leading-edge research, the relationship between complexity and evolution, and prospects for the field’s contribution to solving some of the most important scientific questions of our time. (METHODS)
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The End of Money and the Future of Civilization. Thomas H. Greco Jr. White River Junction VT: Chelsea Green, April 2009/269p/$19.95pb. On the next stage of monetary evolution that can liberate us from centralized money power, with design proposals for exchange-system architectures for local, regional, national, and global financial systems. (ECONOMY * MONEY)
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The Making of Americans: Democracy and Our Schools. E. D. Hirsch, Jr (University Prof of Education and Humanities, U of Virginia). Yale U Press, Sept 2009/272p/$25. Author of Cultural Literacy and The Knowledge Deficit argues that our schools continue to disappoint us because educational theorists, especially in the early grades, have for the past 60 years rejected academic content in favor of “child-centered” theories at odds with how children really learn. The result is failing schools and widening inequality, as only children from content-rich and usually better-off homes can benefit from the schools educational methods. Proposes a nation-wide, specific, grade-by-grade content-based curriculum to give all children an equal opportunity. (EDUCATION * SCHOOL CURRICULUM)
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Red Families v. Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the Creation of Culture. Naomi Cahn (Prof of Law, GWU) and June Carbone (Chair of Law, UM-Kansas City). NY: Oxford UP, Jan 2010/288p/$29.95. The Blue Family Paradigm emphasizes women’s workplace participation, egalitarian gender roles, and delay of family formation, while the Red Family Paradigm rejects these new family norms; yet, the areas of the US most committed to traditional “Red” values have the highest divorce and teen pregnancy rates, fueling greater calls for traditional values. (SOCIETY)
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To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity Today. James Davison Hunter (Distinguished Prof of Religion and Culture, U of Virginia). NY: Oxford U Press, April 2010/384p/$27.95. The call to make the world a better place is inherent in Christian belief and practice, but why have efforts so often failed or gone tragically awry? Appraises the most popular models of world-changing among Christians today, showing the ways they are inherently flawed and incapable of generating intended change. All too often these political theologies of both Christian Right and Left worsen the very problems they seek to solve. A different paradigm of Christian engagement with the world is needed: the practice of faithful presence for both individuals and institutions.
(CHRISTIAN WORLD-CHANGING QUESTIONED)
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Transforming Teacher Education: What Went Wrong with Teacher Training, and How We Can Fix It. Edited by Valerie Hill-Jackson and Chance W. Lewis (both Assoc Profs of Eduction, Texas A&M). Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, April 2010, 288p, $27.50pb. The expert advice dispensed by schools of education is not connected to any theory of learning or to any reality of life in school classrooms. The best hope for more effective teachers is to base the budgets of teacher prep programs on the number of graduates serving in challenging schools and their effectiveness with students; salaries of hiring officials should be based on how well they identify and retain quality teachers.
(EDUCATION * TEACHER TRAINING QUESTIONED)
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The Future of Education: Reimagining Our Schools from the Ground Up. Kieran Egan (Vancouver; Prof of Education, Simon Fraser U). New Haven, CT: Yale U Press, Feb 2010, 208p, $20pb (also eBook; hc Feb 2008 ). The goals of education—whether academic, social, and developmental growth—are flawed and incompatible. Proposes a process of Imaginative Education that would dramatically change teaching and curriculum. (EDUCATION * SCHOOL REFORM)
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Bad Students, Not Bad Schools. Robert Weissberg (Prof Emeritus of Pol Sci, U of Illinois-Urbana). Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, April 2010, 370p, $39.95. An unpopular stance that attributes poor academic achievement to the demographic mix of students. Schools are wrongly blamed for the woeful state of US education. Rather, poor performance is due to poor English skills, mediocre intellectual ability, and retention of bad students in school that impede learning of others. Most of America’s educational woes would vanish if indifferent, troublesome students were permitted to leave when they had absorbed as much as they could learn. Education would benefit from rewarding the smartest students, not spending fortunes in a futile quest to uplift the bottom. (EDUCATION REFORM)
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Homeroom Security: School Discipline in An Age of Fear. Aaron Kupchik (Assoc Prof of Sociology and Criminal Justice, U of Delaware). NY: New York U Press, Aug 2010, 288p, $35. School crime and violence have been decreasing nationally for the past two decades. Yet, current school discipline policies at many high schools —police officers, armed security guards, surveillance cameras, metal detectors, zero-tolerance policies, random searches for drugs, mandatory suspensions and expulsions—are common, based on the assumption that they keep children safe. But they focus on enforcing rules instead of addressing student problems; they are often unhelpful, and can hurt students and make schools more violent places. Students who are most at risk of school problems and dropping out are the ones most affected by these counterproductive policies. Offers strategies to make schools and students safe.
(SCHOOL SECURITY POLICIES * EDUCATION AND DISCIPLINE)
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DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education. Anya Kamenetz (writer, Fast Company magazine; www.anyakamenetz.blogspot.com). White River Junction VT: Chelsea Green, April 2010/208p/$14.95pb (e-book available). Makes the case against college, and for education. In the US the price of college tuition has increased more than any other major good or service for the last 20 years. Almost half of college students don’t graduate; those who do have unprecedented levels of student loan debt, which constitutes a credit bubble similar to the mortgage crisis. The current system particularly fails first-generation and low-income college students, and students of color. The university needs to reform: the future lies in personal learning networks and paths, learning that blends experiential and digital approaches, and free and open-source educational models. (HIGHER EDUCATION: REFORM)
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Learning in Depth: A Simple Innovation That Can Transform Schooling. Kieran Egan (Simon Fraser U). Chicago IL: U of Chicago Press, Nov 2010/224p/$25. The author of The Future of Education: Reimagining Our Schools from the Ground Up (Yale UP, 2008) and The Educated Mind (U of Chicago, 1997) maintains that real education consists of both general knowledge and detailed understanding. According to his proposed plan to incorporate deep knowledge into basic education, students follow the usual curriculum, but in addition they study in depth one topic (apples, birds, sacred buildings, mollusks etc). Thus, they expand understanding of their topic, build portfolios of knowledge, and appreciate expertise. A number of schools have already found Egan’s plan is simple to implement, but radical in its effects. (EDUCATION * DEEP KNOWLEDGE * LEARNING IN DEPTH)
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The Future of Art in a Postdigital Age: From Hellenistic to Hebraic Consciousness (Second Edition). Mel Alexenberg (head, School of the Arts, Emuna College, Jerusalem). Intellect Books (dist by U of Chicago Press), Sep 2010/304p/$60. Announces a paradigm shift: Western civilization’s transition from embracing its Hellenistic to focusing on its Hebraic roots. The confluence between art and the Jewish structure of consciousness enhances the potential of art. Postdigital art features creative encounters among, art, science, technology, and human consciousness. (SOCIETY * ART: PARADIGM SHIFT * POSTDIGITAL ART)
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Slow Travel and Tourism. Janet Dickinson and Les Lumsdon. London & Sterling VA: Earthscan(dist by Stylus), July 2010/266p/$150. Advocates slow travel – holiday travel where air and car transport is rejected in favor of more environmentally benign forms of overland transport. Examines trends in tourism transport, recent climate change debates, low-carbon trouism, the potential for new consumption patterns, and current business models that facilitate hyper-mobility. (SLOW TRAVEL * SUSTAINABLE TOURISM * TOURISM AND SLOW TRAVEL)
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Power and Love: A Theory and Practice of Social Change. Adam Kahane (Reos Partners). San Francisco CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Jan 2010, 192p, $16.95pb (also in PDF e-book for #11.87). The groups that manage to solve complex collective problems have the ability to balance power (the pursuit of certain purposes) with love (individuals’ drive to unite with others). Drawing on firsthand experiences working with executives, politicians, military, trade unionists, and many others to address diverse and complex challenges (economic development, food security, healthcare, climate change), Kahane shows how some groups succeed while others fail in reaching sustainable, systemic solutions.
(SOCIAL CHANGE * METHODS)
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