Richard Joseph and Alexandra Gillies, editors

Despite hundreds of billions of dollars spent on foreign aid to sub-Saharan Africa, a sure path to growth and development has not yet been found—and each new heralded approach has crumbled amid regrets and recriminations. The authors of Smart Aid for African Development provide critical assessments of the main components of foreign assistance, considering how smarter use can be made of  More >

Walter C. Opello, Jr., and Katherine A. R. Opello

This innovative text explores the nature of European politics in the context of the origin and institutional development of the European state system.  Underlying the analysis are a series of questions: How did the state, the central element of contemporary European political life, emerge from and eventually triumph over the bewildering multiplicity of competing forms of rule that existed  More >

Nathan C. Funk and Abdul Aziz Said

Islam and Peacemaking in the Middle East begins with a set of provocative questions: How, for example, do Muslims conceive of peace? To what degree do differences in the interpretation of Islam affect the ways in which peace is sought in the contemporary Middle East? Through analysis of regional trends and case studies, the authors explore various Islamic ideas of peace and their bearing on  More >

Anika Leithner

Reconciling the imperatives of Germany’s national identity and its national interest has been a challenge for the country’s policymakers since the end of the Cold War. Anika Leithner explores how (and how much) the past continues to shape Germany’s foreign policy behavior in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Leithner argues that, while German foreign policy is still  More >

John A. Scherpereel

Why do democratic leaders sometimes choose not to establish institutions that would promote the consolidation of democracy? And what are the consequences of those choices? Focusing on the cases of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, John Scherpereel explores the interplay of historical institutional legacies, short-term elite interests, and international pressures (i.e., EU conditionality) in the  More >

Bernd Reiter

Do societal inequalities limit the effectiveness of democratic regimes? And if so, why? And how? Addressing this question, Bernd Reiter focuses on the role of societal dynamics in undermining democracy in Brazil. Reiter explores the ways in which race, class, and gender in Brazil structure a society that is deeply divided between the included and the excluded—and where much of the  More >

Kenneth A. Root and Rosemarie J. Park

What happens to long-term employees when their jobs are unexpectedly eliminated? In this richly detailed study of a major layoff and its aftermath, Kenneth Root and Rosemarie Park address head-on the ramifications of job loss for older workers. The authors follow the experiences of 173 factory workers—from first thoughts on being forced out of work to reflections several years later.  More >

John H. Kramer and Jeffrey T. Ulmer

Sentencing guidelines, adopted by many states in recent decades, are intended to eliminate the impact of bias based on factors ranging from a criminal’s ethnicity or gender to the county in which he or she was convicted. But have these guidelines achieved their goal of “fair punishment”? And how do the concerns of local courts shape sentencing under guidelines? In this  More >

Walter C. Soderlund, E. Donald Briggs, Kai Hildebrandt, and Abdel Salam Sidahmed

Why has the international community been unwilling, time and time again, to address the humanitarian crises that have killed millions of people in postcolonial states and forced many millions more to leave their homes and livelihoods? Focusing on the role of major media outlets, the authors of Humanitarian Crises and Intervention provide a unique look at violent conflicts in Angola, Burundi,  More >

L. David Brown

Creating Credibility provides concrete approaches to assessing and enhancing the legitimacy and accountability of civil society organizations—so that they can reach their full potential in contributions to governance and problem solving.  More >