Showing 49–60 of 97 resultsSorted by latest
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£7.99
Written in 1970, with the Holocaust and Hiroshima still fresh in recent memory, the war in Vietnam raging and the streets of Europe and America seething with student protest, Hannah Arendt’s now classic work offered a startling dissection of violence in the 20th century: its nature and causes, its place in politics and war, its role in the modern age. Combining theory and lucid historical analysis, Arendt argues that violence and power are ultimately incompatible, and that one fills the vacuum created by the other – an insight which continues to offer a valuable framework for understanding the chaos of our own times.
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£10.99
‘The Russo-Ukrainian War’ is the comprehensive history of a conflict that has burned since 2014, and that, with Russia’s attempt to seize Kyiv, exploded a geo-political order that had been cemented since the end of the Cold War. With an eye for the gripping detail on the ground, both in the halls of power and down in the trenches, as well as a keen sense of the grander sweep of history, Serhii Plokhy traces the origins and the evolution of the conflict, from the collapse of the Russian empire to the rise and fall of the USSR and on to the development in Ukraine of a democratic politics. Based on decades of research and his unique insight into the region, he argues that Ukraine’s defiance of Russia, and the West’s demonstration of unity and strength, has presented a profound challenge to Putin’s Great Power ambition, and further polarised the world along a new axis.
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£10.99
Drawing on examples from Ancient Greece through Brexit and using his own award-winning research – on how democracy is more likely to thrive under high inequality, for instance – Oxford professor Ben Ansell explains the cul-de-sac of modern politics – and how we can make it better. Understanding these traps helps us escape or avoid them altogether, in ways small to large, ultimately showing how we can all thrive in an imperfect world.
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£10.99
For decades, a single free market philosophy has dominated global economics. But this is bland and unhealthy – like British food in the 1980s, when bestselling author and economist Ha-Joon Chang first arrived in the UK from South Korea. Just as eating a wide range of cuisines contributes to a more interesting and balanced diet, so too is it essential we listen to a variety of economic perspectives. In ‘Edible Economics’, Chang makes challenging economic ideas more palatable by plating them alongside stories about food from around the world. Structuring the book as a series of menus, Chang uses histories behind familiar food items – where they come from, how they are cooked and consumed, what they mean to different cultures – to explore economic theory.
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£14.99
The modern era saw the emergence of individuals who had command over a terrifying array of instruments of control, persuasion and death. Whole societies were re-shaped and wars fought, often with a merciless contempt for the most basic norms. At the summit of these societies were leaders whose personalities had somehow given them the ability to do whatever they wished. Ian Kershaw’s book is a compelling, lucid and challenging attempt to understand these rulers, whether operating on the widest stage (Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini) or with a more national impact (Tito, Franco). What was it about these leaders and the times they lived in that allowed them such untrammelled and murderous power? And what brought that era to an end?
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£9.99
Adam Fleming introduces and explains the history, key ideas and tools of democracy developed by some of the world’s greatest thinkers – spanning from the ancient Greeks to the present day. From the right to vote to the monarchy, viral politics to Brexit, ’50 Democracy Ideas You Really Need to Know’ is a complete introduction to the most important democracy ideas throughout history.
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£18.99
For centuries, British identity has been shaped by ideas of exceptionalism and grandeur. Yet its democracy is failing. Minority governments elected under a deeply unrepresentative first-past-the-post system have delivered wounding blows to the country’s economy and international standing. This book explores the constitutional and structural failures at the heart of this political system. It sheds light on a culture of lies, mistrust and corruption. It reveals fundamental flaws in core institutions, including the House of Lords and the House of Commons. It draws on events such as the MP expenses scandal, Brexit, ‘Partygate’, and the farcical premiership of Liz Truss, symptoms of a government in crisis. But it also looks ahead, offering practical solutions and a positive outlook, and asks the question: what can we do to build a better future?
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£16.99
Throughout history, the concept of command – as both a way to achieve objectives and as an assertion of authority – has been essential to military action and leadership. But, as Sir Lawrence Freedman shows, it is also deeply political. Military command has been reconstructed and revolutionized since the Second World War by nuclear warfare, small-scale guerrilla land operations and cyber interference. Freedman takes a global perspective, systematically investigating its practice and politics since 1945 through a wide range of conflicts from the French Colonial Wars, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Bangladesh Liberation War to North Vietnam’s Easter Offensive of 1972, the Falklands War, the Iraq War and Russia’s wars in Chechnya and Ukraine.
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£14.99
The extraordinary turmoil we have seen in British politics in the last few years has set records. We have had the fastest turnover of prime ministers in our history and more MPs suspended from the House than ever. No wonder people are asking whether ‘parliamentary standards’ is a contradiction in terms. As Chair of the Committees on Standards and Privileges, Chris Bryant has been in the thick of the battle over standards in parliament. Cronyism, nepotism, conflicts of interest, misconduct and lying: politicians are engaging in these activities more frequently and more publicly than ever before. ‘Code of Conduct’ looks at every angle of parliamentary conduct, charting the history of how we got here.
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£10.99
An acclaimed expert on violence and seasoned peacebuilder explains the five reasons why conflict (rarely) blooms into war, and how to interrupt that deadly process. It’s easy to overlook the underlying strategic forces of war, to see it solely as a series of errors, accidents, and emotions gone awry. It’s also easy to forget that war shouldn’t happen-and most of the time it doesn’t. Around the world there are millions of hostile rivalries, yet only a tiny fraction erupt into violence. Too many accounts of conflict forget this. With a counterintuitive approach, Blattman reminds us that most rivals loathe one another in peace. That’s because war is too costly to fight.
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£25.00
A brilliant new theory of how society works from one of the most iconoclastic thinkers of our time.
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£25.00
‘The Russo-Ukrainian War’ is the comprehensive history of a conflict that has burned since 2014, and that, with Russia’s attempt to seize Kyiv, exploded a geo-political order that had been cemented since the end of the Cold War. With an eye for the gripping detail on the ground, both in the halls of power and down in the trenches, as well as a keen sense of the grander sweep of history, Serhii Plokhy traces the origins and the evolution of the conflict, from the collapse of the Russian empire to the rise and fall of the USSR and on to the development in Ukraine of a democratic politics. Based on decades of research and his unique insight into the region, he argues that Ukraine’s defiance of Russia, and the West’s demonstration of unity and strength, has presented a profound challenge to Putin’s Great Power ambition, and further polarized the world along a new axis.
