Publications

Today we view Cézanne as a monumental figure, but during his lifetime (1839-1906), many did not understand him or his work. With brilliant insight, drawing on a vast range of primary sources, Alex Danchev tells the story of an artist who was never accepted into the official Salon: he was considered a revolutionary at best and a barbarian at worst, whose paintings were unfinished, distorted and strange. His work sold to no one outside his immediate circle until his late thirties, and he maintained that 'to paint from nature is not to copy an object; it is to represent its sensations' - a belief way ahead of his time, with stunning implications that became the obsession of many other artists and writers, from Matisse and Braque to Rilke and Gertrude Stein. Beginning with the restless teenager from Aix who was best friends with Emile Zola at school, Danchev carries us through the trials of a painter tormented by self-doubt, who always remained an outsider, both of society and the bustle of the art world. Cézanne: A Life delivers not only the fascinating days and years of the visionary who would 'astonish Paris with an apple', with interludes analysing his self-portraits - but also a complete assessment of Cézanne's ongoing influence through artistic imaginations in our own time. He is, as this life shows, a cultural icon comparable to Marx or Freud.

Speech is core to our humanity and fundamental to our capacity to assert political rights, and determine what is just and unjust. Rights therefore mean little if they do not relate to speech. But what are language rights? What language or speech is defended? How do language rights relate to each other?

This book explores these questions and examines language rights politics in theoretical, historical and international context, bringing together debates from law, sociolinguistics, international politics, and the history of ideas. It includes a critical exploration of the following issues:

• Language rights as linguistic identity rights
• International linguistic human rights in theory and practice
• Language rights advocacy and global governance
• Linguistic imperialism and global English debates
• National language politics and global governance in Bosnia
• The emerging field of ecolinguistics
• Hate speech and counter-terrorism legislation

The author looks at how, why and where freedom of speech is endangered, and argues that international language rights advocacy supports the global governance of language and questions freedoms of speech and expression.

China has become an enthusiastic supporter of and contributor to UN peacekeeping. Is China’s participation in peacekeeping likely to strengthen the current international peacekeeping regime by China’s adopting of the international norms of peacekeeping? Or, on the contrary, is it likely to alter the peacekeeping norms in a way that aligns with its own worldview? And, as China’s international confidence grows, will it begin to consider peacekeeping a smaller and lesser part of its international security activity, and thus not care so much about it?
This book aims to address these questions by examining how the PRC has developed its peacekeeping policy and practices in relation to its international status. It does so by bringing in both historical and conceptual analyses and specific case-oriented discussions of China’s peacekeeping over the past twenty years. The book identifies the various challenges that China has faced at political, conceptual and operational levels and the ways in which the country has dealt with those challenges, and considers the implication of such challenges with regards to the future of international peacekeeping.

What's wrong with the world today and how might it become better (or worse)? These are the questions pursued in this book, which explores the hopes and fears, dreams and nightmares of the 21st century. Drawing on examples from architecture, fiction, theory, film and experiments with everyday life, Sargisson explores contemporary hopes and fears about religion, gender, sex, the environment and new technologies. The book asks, is the search for utopia a quest for Fools' Gold? Its answer is 'yes' and 'no' and Sargisson identifies a number of different kinds of utopian impulse. Some utopias offer blueprints for the perfect world. Others are experiments in process. Some utopianism is dangerous, even toxic. Some utopianism is playful and fun. Some utopianism seeks actively to change the world. This book teases out examples of these and other types of utopianism which both shape and reflect our world today.

The manner in which time is institutionalized is critical to how a political system works. Terms, time budgets and time horizons of collective and individual political actors; rights over timing, sequencing and speed in decision-making; and the temporal properties of policy matter to the distribution of power; efficiency and effectiveness of policy-making; and democratic legitimacy. This book makes a case for the systematic study of political time in the European Union (EU) - both as an independent and a dependent variable - and highlights the analytical value-added of a time-centred analysis. The book discusses previous scholarship on the institutionalization of political time and its consequences along the dimensions of polity, politics and policy; reviews dominant perspectives on political time, which centre on power, system performance and legitimacy; and presents case studies that illustrate the importance of time in the governance of the EU.

This book examines the European Union’s contribution to providing security in Europe amidst an increasingly complex and challenging environment.

In this new and comprehensive guide to the EU's role in security since the end of the Cold War, the authors offer an explanation of EU internal and external security regimes, and argue that the Union has become an important exporter of security within its region. However, the Union’s rhetorical ambitions and commitments continue to outstrip its capabilities and it lacks both a common conceptualisation of security and a meaningful, shared strategic culture. Drawing extensively on primary sources the book examines the Union’s relations with the US and Russia in a time of shifting geostrategic calculations and priorities. With the EU capacity for enlargement slowing, this text presents a detailed assessment of EU security policies towards Central Europe, the Mediterranean, the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe and South Caucasus.

European Union Security will be of interest to students and scholars of the EU, security studies, and international relations.

Aristotle and Natural Law lays out a new theoretical approach which distinguishes between the notions of ‘interpretation,’ ‘appropriation,’ ‘negotiation’ and ‘reconstruction’ of the meaning of texts and their component concepts. These categories are then deployed in an examination of the role which the concept of natural law is used by Aristotle in a number of key texts. The book argues that Aristotle appropriated the concept of natural law, first formulated by the defenders of naturalism in the ‘nature versus convention debate’ in classical Athens. Thereby he contributed to the emergence and historical evolution of the meaning of one of the most important concept in the lexicon of Western political thought. Aristotle and Natural Law argues that Aristotle’s ethics is best seen as a certain type of natural law theory which does not allow for the possibility that individuals might appeal to natural law in order to criticize existing laws and institutions. Rather its function is to provide them with a philosophical justification from the standpoint of Aristotle’s metaphysics.

This groundbreaking study develops a new approach to understanding the formation of the post-revolutionary state in Mexico. In a shift away from dominant interpretations, Adam Morton considers the construction of the revolution and the modern Mexican state through a fresh analysis of the Mexican Revolution, the era of import substitution industrialization, and neoliberalism. Throughout, the author makes interdisciplinary links among geography, political economy, postcolonialism, and Latin American studies in order to provide a new framework for analyzing the development of state power in Mexico. He also explores key processes in the contestation of the modern state, specifically through studies of the role of intellectuals, democratization and democratic transition, and spaces of resistance. As Morton argues, all these themes can only be fully understood through the lens of uneven development in Latin America. Centrally, the book shows how the history of modern state formation and uneven development in Mexico is best understood as a form of passive revolution, referring to the ongoing class strategies that have shaped relations between state and civil society. As such, Morton makes an important interdisciplinary contribution to debates on state formation relevant to Mexican studies, postcolonial and development studies, historical sociology, and international political economy by revitalizing the debate on the uneven and combined character of development in Mexico and throughout Latin America. In so doing, he convincingly contends that uneven development can once again become a tool for radical political economy analysis in and beyond the region.

The new edition of this well-established and highly regarded textbook continues to provide the clearest and most comprehensive introduction to the modern state. It examines the state from its historical origins at the birth of modernity to its current jeopardized position in the globalized politics of the 21st Century. The book has been entirely revised and updated throughout, including substantial new material on the financial crisis and the environment.

This book is essential reading for all those studying the state, international relations and comparative politics.

This book examines the complex practice of counter-insurgency warfare through the prism of British military experiences in the post-war era and endeavours to unpack their performance.

During the twentieth century counter-insurgency assumed the status of one of the British military’s fortes. A wealth of asymmetric warfare experience was accumulated after the Second World War as the small wars of decolonisation offered the army of a fading imperial power many opportunities to deploy against an irregular enemy. However, this quantity of experience does not translate into quality. This book argues that the British, far from being exemplars of counter-insurgency, have in fact consistently proved to be slow learners in counter-insurgency warfare.

This book presents an analysis of the most significant British counter-insurgency campaigns of the past 60 years: Malaya (1948-60), Kenya (1952-60), South Arabia (1962-67), the first decade of the Northern Irish ‘Troubles’ (1969-79), and the recent British counter-insurgency campaign in southern Iraq (2003-09). Colonial history is used to contextualise the contemporary performance in Iraq and undermine the commonly held confidence in British counter-insurgency. Blending historical research with critical analysis, this book seeks to establish a new paradigm through which to interpret and analyse the British approach to counter-insurgency, as well as considering the mythology of inherent British competence in the realm of irregular warfare.

It will be of interest to students of counter-insurgency, military history, strategic studies, security studies, and IR in general.

Why did the Conservative Party take so long to recover from its landslide defeat in the 1997 General Election? Why, despite the best efforts of its charismatic leader David Cameron, did the party still fail to win an overall parliamentary majority in the 2010 General Election? Why did it form a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, and what are the prospects for both parties?

This book is the first full-length attempt to answer these questions. Written by three leading specialists on the Conservative Party, From Crisis to Coalition provides detailed analysis of key developments within the party since 1997. It is essential reading for all students of British Politics, and for anyone with an interest in contemporary British political history.

Drug use is an inherent part of our culture. Since the Sumerians wrote of the 'joy of the poppy plant' in 3000BC to the crack dens of today, people in every society have wanted to use drugs. Drug policy cannot be effective until this basic fact is acknowledged and incorporated into policy-thinking. Until we recognize that drug use is an integral feature of society, it cannot be eliminated.

In this unique and engaging new book, the former chair of DrugScope Sue Pryce tackles the major issues surrounding drug policy. Why do governments persist with prohibition policies, despite their proven inefficacy? Why are some drugs criminalized, and some not? And why does society care about drug use at all?

In a highly polarized debate, in which emotions run high, Pryce illuminates these questions and guides us through the problems, possibilities and realities of drug policy around the world.

The British National Party (BNP) is the most successful far right party in British political history. Based on unprecedented access to the party and its members, this book examines the rise of the BNP and explains what drives some citizens to support far right politics. It is essential reading for all those with an interest in British politics, extremism, voting, race relations and community cohesion. The book helps us understand:

• how wider trends in society have created a favourable climate for the far right;
• how the far right has presented a ‘modernised’ ideology and image;
• how the movement is organized, and has evolved over time;
• who votes for the far right and why;
• why people join, become and remain actively involved in far right parties.

Since the 1990s, there has been a growing concern about the resurgence of extremist and radical movements in the Western world. The main focus of concern among academics, policy-makers and practitioners within Europe and beyond has been on the growth and activities of Islamists and to a lesser extent the extreme right. This book presents new empirical research on the causes of these two ‘new’ extremisms in 21st Century Britain and the appropriate responses to it by both the state and civil society. Both forms of extremism pose vital questions for those concerned with the development of a more cohesive and stable society. Unlike many studies, this volume adopts a holistic approach, bringing together experts from a variety of disciplines to examine the factors that cause support and the potential policy responses.

The newly-published Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, co-edited by Chris Pierson of the School of Politics and International Relations and Professor Frank Castles of the Australian National University, is the authoritative and definitive guide to the contemporary welfare state.  The book is divided into eight sections. It opens with three chapters that evaluate the philosophical case for (and against) the welfare state. Surveys of the welfare state's history and of the approaches taken to its study are followed by four extended sections, which offer a comprehensive and in-depth survey of our current state of knowledge across the whole range of issues that the welfare state embraces. The first of these sections looks at inputs and actors (including the roles of parties, unions, and employers), the impact of gender and religion, patterns of migration and a changing public opinion, the role of international organisations and the impact of globalisation. The next two sections cover policy inputs (in areas such as pensions, health care, disability, care of the elderly, unemployment, and labour market activation) and their outcomes (in terms of inequality and poverty, macroeconomic performance, and retrenchment). The seventh section consists of seven chapters which survey welfare state experience around the globe (and not just within the OECD). Two final chapters consider questions about the global future of the welfare state. The individual chapters of the Handbook are written in an informed but accessible way by leading researchers in their respective fields giving the reader an excellent and truly up-to-date knowledge of the area under discussion. Taken together, they constitute a comprehensive compendium of all that is best in contemporary welfare state research and a unique guide to what is happening now in this most crucial and contested area of social and political development.

A collection of Alex Danchev's essays on the theme of art, war, and terror, this book offers a sustained demonstration of the way in which works of art can help us explore the most difficult ethical and political issues of our time: war, terror, extermination, torture, and abuse. The volume takes seriously the idea of the artist as moral witness to this realm, considering war photography, for example, as a form of humanitarian intervention.

Contributions also consider war poetry, war films, and war diaries in a broad view of art and war. Kafka is drawn upon to address torture and abuse in the war on terror; Homer is utilized to critique current talk of "barbarisatio;." the paintings of Gerhard Richter are used to investigate the terrorists of the Baader-Meinhof group; and the photographs of Don McCullin and the writings of Vassily Grossman and Primo Levi allow one writer to propose an ethics of small acts of altruism. The collection examines the nature of conflict over the last century, from the Great War to the current "Global War on Terror," investigating what it means to be human in war, the nature of the costs exacted, and ways of coping.

On Art and War and Terror was 'Book of the Week' in the Times Higher Education magazine and a 'Book of the Year' in the Sunday Telegraph.

Each of the authors has been active in the field of electoral studies for some thirty years, and they have been involved in a variety of large scale comparative studies and a great number of publications.  

The book argues that voters and politicians are more or less the same, wherever they are, but that apparent differences in their behaviours and preferences can be understood in terms of the institutional and cultural environments in which they live. The authors challenge a variety of ‘common wisdoms’, provide comparative perspectives across countries, across periods, and within countries, and conclude with a broad-ranging and empirically informed assessment of the performance of electoral democracy in different political systems.

This book critically examines the responses of the working classes of the world to the challenges posed by the neoliberal restructuring of the global economy. Neoliberal globalisation, the book argues, has created new forms of polarisation in the world. A renewal of working class internationalism must address the situation of both the more privileged segments of the working class and the more impoverished ones. The study identifies new or renewed labour responses among formalised core workers as well as those on the periphery, including street-traders, homeworkers and other 'informal sector' workers. The book contains ten country studies, including India, China, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Canada, South Africa, Argentina and Brazil. It argues that workers and trade unions, through intensive collaboration with other social forces across the world, can challenge the logic of neoliberal globalization.

 

“Perhaps the most detailed and certainly one of the most widely researched studies yet done on Le Guin’s masterpiece.” —Carl Freedman, professor and director of graduate studies, Louisiana State University

Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed is of interest to political theorists partly because of its association with anarchism and partly because it is thought to represent a turning point in the history of utopian/dystopian political thought and literature and of science fiction. Published in 1974, it is often thought that it marked a revival of utopianism after decades of dystopian writing. According to this widely accepted view The Dispossessed represents a new kind of literary utopia, which Tom Moylan calls a “critical utopia.”

The present work challenges this reading of The Dispossessed and its place in the histories of utopian/dystopian literature and science fiction. It explores the difference between traditional literary utopias and novels and suggests that The Dispossessed is not a literary utopia at all, but rather a novel devoted to the theme of utopianism in politics. Le Guin’s concerns have more to do with those of the novelists of the nineteenth century writing in the tradition of European Realism than they do with either science fiction or utopian literature. It also claims that her theory of the novel has an affinity with the ancient Greek tragedy. This implies that there is a conservatism in Le Guin’s work as a creative writer, or as a novelist, which fits uneasily with her personal commitment to anarchism.  

Picasso Furioso is a short work devoted chiefly to Picasso's cannibalization (or Picassification) of other artists, notably in political paintings like 'Guernica'.

Traces the effects of democracy on the British Conservative Party, specifically looking at how changes in how the Conservatives elect their leaders have altered their mandate to lead. The book includes analysis of the original undemocratic 'system' whereby a leader 'emerged' from a shadowy process of consultation, and of the six elections between 1965 and 1997 where Tory MPs, and they alone, chose the Party leader. This historical perspective is followed by in-depth analysis of the three leadership successions that have taken place under the 'Hague rules', according to which ordinary Party members have the final say, since 2001. This is the most comprehensive account yet published of the operation of those rules on the Conservative Party and the legitimacy of its leadership, and of the election in 2005 of David Cameron, the most controversial Tory leader since Margaret Thatcher. Combining detailed historical analysis of the process of choosing Conservative leaders, and of the contemporary issues surrounding Cameron's attempts to 'modernise' the Party, this book is essential reading for students, academic specialists, and anyone interested in the recent history and contemporary practice of British Conservatism.