Democratic Delusions

Democratic Delusions
Author: Natalie Fenton
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2024-10-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1509548491

A free media is inextricably linked to a healthy democracy, but in many parts of the world liberal democracies are deemed to be dying or on the demise – a demise that many forms of media have enabled while heralding themselves as democracy’s saviour. The hollowing out of democracy in these ways has left many people questioning the value of (neo)liberal democratic societies. What can we do about it? Democratic Delusions explores the potential of our media and tech systems to be democratic and contribute to a just and transformative democracy. This is only possible, Natalie Fenton argues, by first situating our political systems and mediated worlds within global capitalism. By interrogating different media and their relationship to seven key elements of democracy – power, participation, freedom, equality, public good, trust, and hope – the book asks: What is the response of society when the ability of news media to speak truth to power has been restricted by corporate logic? And, how do we tackle a deep-rooted market logic that shifts public debate towards private interest and marginalizes progressive perspectives? The book explores how these elements can be reimagined through newly conceived media and tech landscapes and, ultimately, what democracy might be in a future mediated world that places more power in the hands of more people. This is essential reading for students and scholars of media and communications, journalism, political communications, political science, and sociology.

A Companion to Atheism and Philosophy

A Companion to Atheism and Philosophy
Author: Graham Oppy
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 600
Release: 2019-05-06
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1119119111

PROSE 2020 Single Volume Reference Finalist! Philosophers throughout history have debated the existence of gods, but it is only in recent years that the absence of such a belief has become a significant topic of philosophical analysis, in particular for philosophers of religion. Although it is difficult to trace the historical contours of atheism as the lack of belief in a higher power, the reasoned, reflective, and thoughtful rejection of theism has become commonplace in many modern intellectual circles, including academic philosophy where disciplinary data indicates that a large majority of philosophers self-identify as atheists. As the first book of its kind to bring together a collection of writing on the philosophical aspects of atheism both historical and contemporary, the Companion to Atheism and Philosophy stages an explicit, constructive, and comprehensive conversation between philosophy and atheism to examine the ways in which atheist thought intersects with ideas and positions from a variety of philosophical and theological sub-disciplines. The Companion begins by addressing the foundational questions and lingering controversies which underpin philosophical thought about atheism, exploring the implications of major developments in the history of philosophy for the modern atheistic worldview. Divided into eight distinct sections, essays consider a range of thinkers who were widely believed to have been atheists—including David Hume, Mary Wollstonecraft, Karl Marx, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton—and survey different kinds of objections to theism and atheism, including logical, evidential, normative, and prudential. Later chapters trace the relationship between atheism and metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and political philosophy oriented around topics such as pragmatism, postmodernism, freedom, education, violence, and happiness. Deftly curated and thoughtfully composed, A Companion to Atheism and Philosophy is the most ambitious and authoritative account of philosophical thinking on atheism available, and is a first-rate resource for academics, professionals, and students of philosophy, religious studies, and theology.

Climate Change 2021 – The Physical Science Basis

Climate Change 2021 – The Physical Science Basis
Author: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 2410
Release: 2023-07-26
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1009175351

The Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provides a comprehensive assessment of the physical science basis of climate change. It considers in situ and remote observations; paleoclimate information; understanding of climate drivers and physical, chemical, and biological processes and feedbacks; global and regional climate modelling; advances in methods of analyses; and insights from climate services. It assesses the current state of the climate; human influence on climate in all regions; future climate change including sea level rise; global warming effects including extremes; climate information for risk assessment and regional adaptation; limiting climate change by reaching net zero carbon dioxide emissions and reducing other greenhouse gas emissions; and benefits for air quality. The report serves policymakers, decision makers, stakeholders, and all interested parties with the latest policy-relevant information on climate change. Available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Handbook on Trade Policy and Climate Change

Handbook on Trade Policy and Climate Change
Author: Jakob, Michael
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2022-03-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1839103248

This insightful Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the most recent developments in the academic debate on the numerous and complex linkages between international trade and climate change.

Understanding Global Climate Change

Understanding Global Climate Change
Author: Arthur P Cracknell
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 454
Release: 2021-07-28
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0429511906

Climate change, a familiar term today, is far more than just global warming due to atmospheric greenhouse gases including CO2. In order to understand the nature of climate change, it is necessary to consider the whole climatic system, its complexity, and the ways in which natural and anthropogenic activities act and influence that system and the environment. Over the past 20 years since the first edition of Understanding Global Climate Change was published, not only has the availability of climate-related data and computer modelling changed, but our perceptions of it and its impact have changed as well. Using a combination of ground data, satellite data, and human impacts, this second edition discusses the state of climate research today, on a global scale, and establishes a background for future discussions on climate change. This book is an essential reference text, relevant to any and all who study climate and climate change. Features Provides a thought-provoking and original approach to the science of climate. Emphasises that there are many factors contributing to the causation of climate change. Clarifies that while anthropogenic generation of carbon dioxide is important, it is only one of several human activities contributing to climate change. Considers climate change responses needed to be undertaken by politicians and society at national and global levels. Totally revised and updated with state-of-the-art satellite data and climate models currently in operation around the globe.

Accomplishing Change in Teaching and Learning Regimes

Accomplishing Change in Teaching and Learning Regimes
Author: Paul Trowler
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2019-12-05
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0192592572

This book offers a new perspective on the professional world of higher education. Using social practice theory, it presents a practice sensibility rooted in concepts which illuminate teaching and learning contexts. The book takes the reader through the social processes occurring within higher education institutions which shape contexts and influence the direction of change. For leaders and managers, educational developers, change agents, and academics, this sensibility will help to identify the successful paths to changes for enhancement and the patterns of policy implementation likely to occur as teaching and learning is enhanced. For researchers of higher education, the practice sensibility offers new possibilities for meaningful research into teaching and learning issues. Teaching and learning regimes are a key focus of the book. As a family of practices performed by a workgroup in higher education over extended periods, they comprise a number of 'moments'; characteristics derived from structural foundations which shape the workgroup's practices and frameworks of meaning. These moments condition how teaching and learning is fundamentally understood, what its aims are thought to be, what is considered 'normal' practice, how individuals see themselves and others, and how power operates within the workgroup. The material context is significant in this, as are the backstories, personal histories, and institutional sagas. This book develops a completely new approach to Trowler's concept of teaching and learning regimes. Using both his research and that of others in the field, it presents a more nuanced, fully-developed, and sophisticated version of the concept which has great traction for empirical research, the management of change, and the enhancement of the student experience and learning outcomes.

Climate Change, Cattle, and the International Legal Order

Climate Change, Cattle, and the International Legal Order
Author: Rebecca Williams
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2024-05-30
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1509968601

Livestock food systems need to be rapidly rethought to tackle the global climate crisis. This book examines how climate concerns for the livestock sector are governed in international law and addresses the sector's inclusion (or lack thereof) across the international governance of climate change, agriculture, forests and trade. The book provides a wide-ranging analysis of legal regimes at the international level that affect emissions from cattle (and where relevant, livestock more broadly). On this basis, tensions, interactions, and common themes for livestock emissions mitigation across the international climate change, forestry, agricultural and agri-trade regime are identified. This showcases where productive synergies and damaging tensions have emerged across the cross-cutting nature of livestock governance, enabling goals of fairer and more effective emissions mitigation for the sector to be achieved. In addition to addressing issues such as food security and public health, the book highlights the problem of affluence in reducing cattle emissions from meat consumption. This key insight is significant in terms of tackling future livestock emissions trajectories, particularly in relation to securing climate justice within the agricultural sector and securing equitable and effective livestock solutions. The book is a key text for all those with an interest in the legal governance of climate change and agriculture, adding to the timely debate on the future sustainability of the global diet and the relationship between affluence and climate change.