The Tragedy of Property. Private Life, Ownership and the Russian State

Art and finance coalesce in the elite world of fine art collecting and investing. Investors and collectors can’t protect and profit from their collections without grappling with a range of complex issues like risk, insurance, restoration, and conservation. They require intimate knowledge not only of art but also of finance. Clare McAndrew and a highly qualified team of contributors explain the most difficult financial matters facing art investors. Key topics include: Appraisal and valuation Art as loan collateral Securitization and taxation Investing in art funds Insurance The black-market art trade Clare McAndrew has a PhD in economics and is the author of The Art Economy. She is considered a leading expert on the economics of art ownership.

The social sciences have long been based upon contrasts drawn between the 'militaristic' societies of the past, and the 'capitalist' or 'industrial' societies of the present. But how valid are such contrasts, given that the current era is one stamped by the impact of war and by the intensive development of sophisticated weaponry? In setting out to address this and similar questions, this book investigates issues that have been substantially neglected by those working in sociology and social theory. Anthony Giddens offers a sociological analysis of the nature of the modern nation-state and its association with the means of waging war. His analysis is connected in a detailed way to problems that have traditionally preoccupied sociologists – the impact of capitalism and industrialism upon social development in the modern period. The result is a theory both of the institutional parameters of modernity and of the nature of international relations. The book is a sequel to the author's much discussed Contemporary Critique of Historical Materialism. The framework of social theory outlined in that work is here elucidated in a systematic and thorough-going fashion. The novel and provocative ideas which the author develops will interest those working in a wide variety of disciplines: sociology, politics, geography and international affairs.

Almost three years after the first voluntary handover of power in Russian history, this book examines Putin's management of this complex agenda, and considers how Moscow's current approach to international relations resembles and differs from that under Yeltsin. Examines Putin's management of Russia's foreign policy two years after the first voluntary handover of power in Russian history. Considers how Moscow's current approach to international relations resembles and differs from that under Yeltsin. Analyses whether changes in foreign policy have been qualitative, or largely cosmetic. Explores growing talk of a ‘strategic partnership'' with the US and the West. Assesses the realism of such hopes and considers whether we are indeed witnessing a strategic shift in the mentality and conduct of such Russian foreign policy.

'An urgent and extraordinary book. Weaving a philosophical analysis of Heidegger, Agamben and Foucault, Jan draws out the implications of their thought for a radical analysis of the ontological politics of Islam and Pakistan. Whether writing about the 'Ulama and Deoband schools, blasphemy laws, the military, beards, or the Bamiyan Buddhas, Jan provokes and challenges our thinking while unearthing the ground on which Pakistan—and our world—are built.' —Joel Wainwright, Department of Geography, Ohio State University, USA 'In this exceptionally inventive and important book, Jan shows us that the problems besetting political life in Pakistan are part of a more troubling crisis in modern forms of power. Challenging accounts that cordon off «political Islam» from «the West,» Jan discloses their fundamental indistinction and thus, through his practice of critical ontology, reorients our understanding of how power and violence are at work in the world.' —Joshua Barkan, Department of Geography, University of Georgia, USA The Metacolonial State presents a novel rethinking of the relationship between Islam and the Political. Key to the text is an original argument regarding the «biopoliticization of Islam» and the imperative need for understanding sovereign power and the state of exception in resolutely ontological terms. Through the formulation of a critical ontology of political violence, The Metacolonial State endeavors to shed new light on the signatures of power undergirding postcolonial life, while situating Pakistan as a paradigmatic site for reflection on the nature of modernity's precarious present. The cross-disciplinary approach of Dr. Jan's work is certain to have broad appeal among geographers, historians, anthropologists, postcolonial theorists, and political scientists, among others. At the same time, his explication of critical ontology – with its radical reading of the interlacement of history, power and the event – promises to add a bold new dimension to social science research on Islamism and biopolitics.

The present book includes the first full catalogue of Russian porcelain of the 18th and 19th centuries from the Vladimir Tsarenkov Collection. The collection has over 250 outstanding works by leading Russian manufactories — the Imperial Porcelain Factory in Saint Petersburg and the Gardner Porcelain Factory in the Moscow region — with a particular focus on the Age of Catherine the Great. The bulk of the collection consists of table and tea and coffee services, including the Private Service of Empress Elizabeth of Russia; the Everyday (“Rose”), Arabesque and Yacht Services of the Age of Catherine the Great; the Dowry Services of the daughters of Emperor Paul I and Empress Maria Feodorovna, which are the pearl of the collection; the djeuner services of the Ages of Paul I and Alexander I; the Coronation Service of the Age of Nicholas I. The collection also includes statuettes, decorative vases and other porcelain forms such as a Vinogradov snuff box with a genre scene, a sculptural group with “trophies”, and an exclusive selection of cups with heraldic emblems. Other masterpieces include a very rare biscuit bouquet by Pyotr Ivanov and decorative vases with floral ornaments, chinoiserie decoration, architectural landscapes and reproductions of paintings. The collection has major artistic, historical and cultural significance and great material and spiritual value. Each item provides historical evidence of its time. This illustrated edition includes introductory articles, a catalogue of wares, thematic appendices, a list of marks, a bibliography, and an index of names. It is intended for specialists, collectors, and general readers who take an interest in the best traditions of world art.

The present book includes the first full catalogue of Russian porcelain of the 18th and 19th centuries from the Vladimir Tsarenkov Collection. The collection has over 250 outstanding works by leading Russian manufactories — the Imperial Porcelain Factory in Saint Petersburg and the Gardner Porcelain Factory in the Moscow region — with a particular focus on the Age of Catherine the Great. The bulk of the collection consists of table and tea and coffee services, including the Private Service of Empress Elizabeth of Russia; the Everyday (“Rose”), Arabesque and Yacht Services of the Age of Catherine the Great; the Dowry Services of the daughters of Emperor Paul I and Empress Maria Feodorovna, which are the pearl of the collection; the djeuner services of the Ages of Paul I and Alexander I; the Coronation Service of the Age of Nicholas I. The collection also includes statuettes, decorative vases and other porcelain forms such as a Vinogradov snuff box with a genre scene, a sculptural group with “trophies”, and an exclusive selection of cups with heraldic emblems. Other masterpieces include a very rare biscuit bouquet by Pyotr Ivanov and decorative vases with floral ornaments, chinoiserie decoration, architectural landscapes and reproductions of paintings. The collection has major artistic, historical and cultural significance and great material and spiritual value. Each item provides historical evidence of its time. This illustrated edition includes introductory articles, a catalogue of wares, thematic appendices, a list of marks, a bibliography, and an index of names. It is intended for specialists, collectors, and general readers who take an interest in the best traditions of world art.

This volume offers an incisive overview of central issues and controversies in political thought and analysis. It includes major discussions of the idea of the modern state, contemporary theories of the state, problems of power and legitimation, new forms of democratic ideal, citizenship and social movements, the direction of public policy and the fate of sovereignty in the modern global system. While analysing these topics, the author critically assesses the thought of many of those who have contributed decisively to political discussion. Among those whose works are discussed are classic figures such as Hobbes, Locke, Mill and Marx, as well as contemporary writers such as Habermas, Offe and Giddens. Political Theory and the Modern State is an ideal resource for students seeking an introduction to modern politics and political sociology. It is also an original statement about the many competing perspectives in political thought today.

In our individualized society we are all artists of life – whether we know it or not, will it or not and like it or not, by decree of society if not by our own choice. In this society we are all expected, rightly or wrongly, to give our lives purpose and form by using our own skills and resources, even if we lack the tools and materials with which artists’ studios need to be equipped for the artist’s work to be conceived and executed. And we are praised or censured for the results – for what we have managed or failed to accomplish and for what we have achieved and lost. In our liquid modern society we are also taught to believe that the purpose of the art of life should be and can be happiness – though it’s not clear what happiness is, the images of a happy state keep changing and the state of happiness remains most of the time something yet-to-be-reached. This new book by Zygmunt Bauman – one of the most original and influential social thinkers writing today – is not a book of designs for the art of life nor a ‘how to’ book: the construction of a design for life and the way it is pursued is and cannot but be an individual responsibility and individual accomplishment. It is instead a brilliant account of conditions under which our designs-for-life are chosen, of the constraints that might be imposed on their choice and of the interplay of design, accident and character that shape their implementation. Last but not least, it is a study of the ways in which our society – the liquid modern, individualized society of consumers – influences (but does not determine) the way we construct and narrate our life trajectories.

This book offers a fresh, accessible and original interpretation of the modern state, concentrating particularly on the emergence and nature of democracy. Poggi presents an extensive conceptual portrait of the state, distinguishing its early characteristics from those which have developed subsequently and are apparent in contemporary states. He reviews the 'historical career' of the state, from the dissolution of feudal forms of rule to the advent of modern, liberal-democratic systems. Poggi also discusses the nature of liberal-democratic regimes, and the distinctive features of the Soviet one-party system. Finally, the chapter discusses the challenges set to the state by contemporary developments in military affairs, in the international economy, and in the ecological sphere.