Costly Calculations

Costly Calculations
Author: Scott Sigmund Gartner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2021-07-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107075289

Considers war initiation, wartime politics, war policies and war termination through the complex roles played by citizen wartime casualties.

Toppling Trump

Toppling Trump
Author: Samuel J. Best
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 354
Release:
Genre:
ISBN: 3031554019

War Made Invisible

War Made Invisible
Author: Norman Solomon
Publisher: The New Press
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2024-09-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 162097925X

With a new preface by the author on the Gaza war An unflinching exposé of the hidden costs of American war-making written with “an immense and rare humanity” (Naomi Klein) by one of our premier political analysts Every election cycle, candidates across the political spectrum repudiate what has become one of the most consequential and enduring components of American foreign policy: the forever war. Yet, once the ballots have been cast and the camera crews go home, the American war machine chugs along in almost complete obscurity. The journalist and political analyst Norman Solomon’s War Made Invisible is a “gripping and painful study” (Noam Chomsky) of the mechanisms behind our invisible, but perpetual, national state of war. From ever-compliant journalists serving as little more than stenographers for the Pentagon to futuristic military technology, horrifying in its destructive power, that makes dropping a bomb or pulling the trigger on a drone strike more of an abstraction than a moral calculation, Solomon’s “staggeringly important intervention” (Naomi Klein) exposes the profoundly human consequences at home and abroad of the bipartisan commitment to war making. In an era of increasing global instability in which it is all too easy to succumb to despair, Solomon pierces the “manufactured ‘fog of war’ . . . [and] casts sunlight, the best disinfectant, on the propaganda that fuels perpetual war” (Amy Goodman). Now in paperback with a new preface by the author on the Gaza war, Solomon’s incisive, ever-timely analysis “provide[s] the fresh and profound clarity that our country desperately needs” (Daniel Ellsberg) now more than ever.

Frankly, We Did Win This Election

Frankly, We Did Win This Election
Author: Michael C. Bender
Publisher: Twelve
Total Pages: 491
Release: 2021-07-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1538734818

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! Michael C. Bender, senior White House reporter for the Wall Street Journal, presents a deeply reported account of the 2020 presidential campaign that details how Donald J. Trump became the first incumbent in three decades to lose reelection—and the only one whose defeat culminated in a violent insurrection. Beginning with President Trump’s first impeachment and ending with his second, FRANKLY, WE DID WIN THIS ELECTION chronicles the inside-the-room deliberations between Trump and his campaign team as they opened 2020 with a sleek political operation built to harness a surge of momentum from a bullish economy, a unified Republican Party, and a string of domestic and foreign policy successes—only to watch everything unravel when fortunes suddenly turned. With first-rate sourcing cultivated from five years of covering Trump in the White House and both of his campaigns, Bender brings readers inside the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One, and into the front row of the movement’s signature mega-rallies for the story of an epic election-year convergence of COVID, economic collapse, and civil rights upheaval—and an unorthodox president’s attempt to battle it all. Fresh interviews with Trump, key campaign advisers, and senior administration officials are paired with an exclusive collection of internal campaign memos, emails, and text messages for scores of never-before-reported details about the campaign. FRANKLY, WE DID WIN THIS ELECTION is the inside story of how Trump lost, and the definitive account of his final year in office that draws a straight line from the president’s repeated insistence that he would never lose to the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol that imperiled one of his most loyal lieutenants—his own vice president.

Trump and the Deeper Crisis

Trump and the Deeper Crisis
Author: Kevin A. Young
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2022-12-12
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1804555126

As far-right forces cement their hold on the Republican Party, and as the Democratic Party appears unable to stop them, what lies ahead? The authors argue that confronting Trumpism requires a frontal attack on the conditions that incubated the monster.

The Troubles with Democracy

The Troubles with Democracy
Author: Jeff Noonan
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2019-01-18
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1786604299

This book sets out the most influential theories of democracy (liberal-egalitarian, deliberative, and cosmopolitan) and argues that they fail to adequately comprehend the cause of politically meaningful inequality on the one hand and the security state on the other. The private and exclusive control of that which all need to survive, realize, and enjoy life, and their exploitation to increase the wealth of a small mostly white and male ruling class is the cause of both growing inequality and the instability and political violence that legitimates the growth of the security state. Jeff Noonan contends that the inequality and increasingly totalitarian practice of current systems of democracy proves that democratic ideals cannot be fully realized in existing institutions. These institutions are bound up with an economic system based upon private and exclusive control of the resources and wealth everyone needs in order to enjoy a meaningful life as socially self-conscious agents. However, this fact does not mean that democratic values are wrong, only that their realization demands a different set of social structures and institutions. Noonan goes on to explore alternative sets of individual motivations, goals, and values from those that define liberal-capitalism.

Blame and Political Attitudes

Blame and Political Attitudes
Author: Gail Sahar
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2023-01-25
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 3031202368

Questions about the causes of events, from terrorist attacks to mass shootings to economic and public health crises dominate conversations across the US. Recent research in social psychology outlines the process we use to identify the causes of such events, reveals how we determine who is responsible or to blame, and documents the far-reaching consequences of these determinations for our emotions, our actions, and our attitudes. Current approaches to political opinions posit a direct path from a person’s worldview (liberal or conservative) to their attitudes toward specific political issues like abortion and welfare. This book argues that blame is the missing link between the two. Gail Sahar demonstrates that the current emphasis on value differences, whether between conservatives and liberals in the U.S. or between religious and secular countries on a global level, ignores commonalities in the way people think about issues. She proposes that focusing on perceived causes of social problems is a much more promising avenue for dialog than trying to reconcile fundamental belief systems. Informed by the latest psychological science, this new take on how to change attitudes has implications for anyone seeking to influence the viewpoints of others, from politicians and activists to ordinary people talking about current events at a dinner party.

Between Crime and War

Between Crime and War
Author: Jens David Ohlin
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 593
Release: 2022
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0197638791

"The threat posed by the recent rise of transnational non-state armed groups does not fit easily within either of the two basic paradigms for state responses to violence. The crime paradigm focuses on the interception of demonstrable immediate threats to the safety of others. Its aim is to protect specific persons and members of the general public from violence by identifiable individuals, who may be acting alone or in concert. In pursuit of this aim, the state uses police operations and the criminal justice system. Both of these tools are governed by human rights principles that significantly constrain state power. A state may not restrict liberty unless it has demonstrable evidence that an individual may pose a danger to others. It may not use force if other means will be effective to stop a threat. If using force is unavoidable, it must be the minimum amount necessary. Furthermore, a state generally may not take life unless no other measure will intercept an immediate threat to life"--

The False Promise of Liberal Order

The False Promise of Liberal Order
Author: Patrick Porter
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2020-05-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1509542132

In an age of demagogues, hostile great powers and trade wars, foreign policy traditionalists dream of restoring liberal international order. This order, they claim, ushered in seventy years of peace and prosperity and saw post-war America domesticate the world to its values. The False Promise of Liberal Order exposes the flaws in this nostalgic vision. The world shaped by America came about as a result of coercion and, sometimes brutal, compromise. Liberal projects – to spread capitalist democracy – led inadvertently to illiberal results. To make peace, America made bargains with authoritarian forces. Even in the Pax Americana, the gentlest order yet, ordering was rough work. As its power grew, Washington came to believe that its order was exceptional and even permanent – a mentality that has led to spiralling deficits, permanent war and Trump. Romanticizing the liberal order makes it harder to adjust to today’s global disorder. Only by confronting the false promise of liberal order and adapting to current realities can the United States survive as a constitutional republic in a plural world.

Trumpism

Trumpism
Author: Matthew Johnson
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2018-10-25
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1527520315

Timely and important, this collection focuses on the meaning of the 2016 presidential campaign and the election of Donald J. Trump as it relates to gender. Authored by scholars in political science, international studies, sociology, peace and conflict studies, psychiatry, and social work, as well as feminist activists from various backgrounds, chapters focus on campaigning for Hillary Clinton; how Trump won the election over a highly qualified female candidate; Trump’s hyper-masculine posturing; the meaning of the election for marginalized populations; the effect of the election on survivors of sexual assault; proposed policies related to women; and how to teach and parent in the era of Trump. Further, the book offers an appendix of recommended resources for persons seeking to better understand the election and its effect on gender relations in 2016 and beyond.