Planetary Politics

This book is a philosophical essay on the sun. It draws on Georges Bataille’s theories of the solar economy and solar violence and demonstrates their relevance to a world affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. The sun, which, since Antiquity, has played an essential role in our utopian imaginations, is the ultimate source of energy, both productive and destructive. According to Georges Bataille, its infinite generosity can be taken as the model for human societies, which suggests an alternative to the capitalist economy with its infinite expansion, colonization, and disastrous consequences on the cosmic scale. Taking a step from solar economy to solar politics, Timofeeva locates the grounds for it in solidarity with nature, treated neither as a master nor as a slave, but as a comrade. The book will appeal to students, academics, artists, and other readers interested in the philosophy of nature, ecology, social and political theory, postcolonial and decolonial studies, and the humanities generally.

Get up to speed on the U. S. political system Confused by caucuses, primaries, and pollsters? Puzzled by the various parties and special interest groups? Politics For Dummies has everything you need to understand local, state, and national politics; how to communicate with your elected officials; and what your representatives can do for you. You’ll find out all about lobbying groups, sub-committees, the government branches, and how elections work. Also included is new information on how to use online tools and social media to find out what legislation is on the floor, what issues are before the Supreme Court, and when congress and the Supreme Court are in session. Understand the United States political system Learn more about the three branches of U. S. government Discover the differences in federal, state, and local operations Get need-to-know information for involvement This book cuts through the political jargon and provides clear, up-to-date details about everything from legislation to polls to presidential elections in the United States—and explains how you can become a political player yourself.

New Pandemics, Old Politics explores how the modern world adopted a martial script to deal with epidemic disease threats, and how this has failed – repeatedly. Europe first declared ‘war’ on cholera in the 19th century. It didn’t defeat the disease but it served purposes of state and empire. In 1918, influenza emerged from a real war and swept the world unchecked by either policy or medicine. Forty years ago, AIDS challenged the confidence of medical science. AIDS is still with us, but we have learned to live with it – chiefly because of community activism and emancipatory politics. Today, public health experts and political leaders who failed to listen to them agree on one thing: that we must ‘fight’ Covid-19. There’s a consensus that we should target individual pathogens and suppress them – rather than address the reasons why our societies are so vulnerable. Arguing that this consensus is mistaken, Alex de Waal makes the case for a new democratic public health for the Anthropocene.

Ein Abend voll schmutziger Gedanken mit Serdar Somuncu und Band. Zusammen mit seiner Band pr?sentiert Serdar Somuncu «Sexy Revolution & The Politics», eine Mischung aus Comedy, politischem Kabarett und Konzert. ,,Sexy Revolution & The Politics" ist geil, gr??enwahnsinnig, groovy und garantiert nicht jugendfrei. Aber wer jetzt denkt, es ginge dabei nur um plumpe Provokation, der liegt falsch. Nat?rlich bleibt Serdar auch in ,,Sexy Revolution" seiner Rolle als engagierter und unberechenbarer B?hnenk?nstler treu, der offen und ehrlich Stellung zu gesellschaftlich-politischen Fragen der Zeit nimmt. Zusammen mit seiner Band serviert der ,,Hassprediger der Herzen" ein einzigartiges Potpurri aus Geschichten voller Leidenschaft und Lust, voller Reflektion und Revolution und zeigt dabei einmal mehr, welch Meister der Improvisation er ist!

Often derided as weak-willed and insecure, Queen Anne was in fact one of Britain’s most remarkable monarchs. In many ways a stolid, conventional woman, she nevertheless presided over some of the most momentous events in British history and led a personal life riven by passion, illness and intrigue.In 1702, fourteen years after she helped oust her father from his throne and deprived her newborn half-brother of his birthright, Queen Anne inherited the crowns of England and Scotland. Childless, despite seventeen pregnancies that had either ended in failure or produced heartrendingly short-lived offspring, in some respects she was a pitiable figure. But against all expectation she proved Britain’s most successful Stuart ruler.Her reign was marked by many triumphs, including union with Scotland and glorious victories in war against France. Yet while her great general, the Duke of Marlborough, was performing feats of military genius, Anne’s relationship with his outspoken wife Sarah was becoming ever more rancorous. Political differences partly explained why the Queen’s earlier adoration for Sarah transformed to loathing, but the final rupture was precipitated by Sarah’s startling claim that it was the Queen’s lesbian infatuation with another lady-in-waiting, Abigail Masham, that had destroyed their friendship.Having lost the will to continue an expensive war that the Marlboroughs and their political allies favoured, the Queen embarked upon a peace process that some condemned as a betrayal of the national interest. And, as it became clear that Anne did not have long to live, the nation became polarised by fears that she intended to bequeath her crown to her Catholic half brother, rather than the German Protestant cousin whom Parliament had designated her heir.Drawing widely on unpublished sources, Anne Somerset vividly depicts the clashes of personality and party rivalries that aroused such strong feelings at the time. Traditionally depicted as a weak ruler dominated by female favourites and haunted by remorse at having deposed her father, Queen Anne emerges as a woman whose unshakeable commitment to duty enabled her to overcome private tragedy and painful disabilities, setting her kingdom on the path to greatness.

By The Times columnist and acclaimed author of When They Go Low, We Go High. Start Again is a life-raft for all those who find themselves politically adrift and a rallying cry for a better kind of politics – As heard on the Today programmeBritain is today divided old against young, class against class, region against region, nativist against cosmopolitan, rich against poor and London against the rest. Our country is divided by generation, by education, by place and by attitude. Politics needs to be turned off and started again.In this time of tumult, when Britain is wrestling with the question of what sort of nation it wishes to be, its politics is stuck.Power is hoarded by a distant and unresponsive centre and our two largest political parties have both been captured by those on their outer edges.Too many of us have been left politically homeless.In Start Again, Philip Collins, Times journalist and until recently a lifelong Labour voter, offers a road map to a different political destination.Drawing on lessons from history Collins proposes new answers to today’s most urgent questions: questions of education, work, health, housing, security, nationhood, and of how we can achieve a better future.Hopeful, indignant and inspirational, this is a book for anyone who feels that politics no longer speaks to them.

Featuring a special section on “Identity Clashes: Russian and Ukrainian Debates on Culture, History, and Politics” This issue's special section explores the discursive gaps, tensions, and ruptures between Ukrainian and Russian narratives of national identity. It gives the floor to Russian and Ukrainian authors with a view to enabling analytical comparisons between the dominant narratives in the two countries, including their cultural, historical, and political dimensions. This juxtaposition of Russian and Ukrainian insights is aimed at deepening our understanding of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

This special issue provides a forum for discussion of what Belarusian Studies are today and which new approaches and questions are needed to revitalize the field in the regional and international academic arena. The major aim of the issue is to go beyond the narratives of dictatorship and authoritarianism as well as that of a never-ending story of failed Belarusian nationalism—interpretive schemes that are frequently used for understanding Belarus in scholarly literature in Western Europe and Northern America. Bringing together ongoing research based on original empirical material from Belarusian history, politics, and society, this issue combines a discussion of the concept of autonomy/agency with its applicability to trace how individual and collective actors who define themselves as Belarusian—or otherwise— have manifested their agendas in various practices in spite of and in reaction to state pressure. This issue offers new approaches for interpreting Belarusian society as a dynamically changing set of agencies. In doing so, it attempts to overcome a tradition of locating present Belarusian political and social dilemmas in its socialist past.

Special Sections: Russian Foreign Policy Towards the “Near Abroad”and Russia's Annexiation of Crimea II This special section deals with Russia’s post-Maidan foreign policy towards the so-called “near abroad,” or the former Soviet states. This is an important and timely topic, as Russia’s policy perspectives have changed dramatically since 2013/2014, as have those of its neighbors. The Kremlin today is paradoxically following an aggressive “realist” agenda that seeks to clearly delineate its sphere of influence in Europe and Eurasia while simultaneously attempting to promote “soft-power” and a historical-civilizational justification for its recent actions in Ukraine (and elsewhere). The result is an often perplexing amalgam of policy positions that are difficult to disentangle. The contributors to this special issue are all regional specialists based either in Europe or the United States.

Russian Foreign Policy Towards the “Near Abroad” This special section deals with Russia’s post-Maidan foreign policy towards the so-called “near abroad,” or the former Soviet states. This is an important and timely topic, as Russia’s policy perspectives have changed dramatically since 2013/2014, as have those of its neighbors. The Kremlin today is paradoxically following an aggressive “realist” agenda that seeks to clearly delineate its sphere of influence in Europe and Eurasia while simultaneously attempting to promote “soft-power” and a historical-civilizational justification for its recent actions in Ukraine (and elsewhere). The result is an often perplexing amalgam of policy positions that are difficult to disentangle. The contributors to this special issue are all regional specialists based either in Europe or the United States. This issue also features special sections on Multilingualism in Ukraine; and Russia’s Annexation of the Crimea