Choice Outstanding Academic Book! How do transformative changes in public policy take place? Why do some issues rise to the top of the political agenda, while others are completely ignored? What makes some major policy initiatives succeed—at times, even when the odds are decidedly against them—while others fail or languish for decades? Answering those questions is the purpose of    More >

Presenting a unique method of looking at environmental policy formulation and implementation, George Honadle clarifies those elements of context that affect how policies work and outlines policymaking approaches that incorporate the important linkages among public policies, human behavior, and natural settings.    More >

In this compelling ethnographic study, Angela Taylor delivers an inside view of how drug dealers settle disputes—yielding rich insight into situational theories of violence and the nature of the drug trade. Taylor draws on firsthand accounts to address the following questions: What are the characteristics of drug-business disputes? How do such disputes move from initial confrontation to    More >

How NGOs React follows the Soros Foundation's educational reform programs in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Mongolia and raises larger questions about the role of NGOs in a centralist government, relationships NGOs have with international donors and development banks, and strategies NGOs use to interpret global reforms locally. The authors, all former or current educational experts of the    More >

Vladimir Putin's efforts to build influence abroad have succeeded in many places, but the Kremlin has also faced serious hurdles and even defeats. Thomas Kent delves into six cases where hubris and miscalculation led to reversals—some temporary, some permanent—of Russia's fortunes and suggests how understanding the common threads in Russia's self-defeating behavior can be    More >

As national governments struggle to cope with the complex threat of mass-casualty terrorist attacks, there is an ongoing debate about the best approaches to counterterrorism policy. The authors of How States Fight Terrorism explore the dynamics of counterterrorism policy development in Europe and North America. A series of case studies examine security concerns, political debates and policy    More >

International development assistance—what Arjan de Haan calls the aid industry—continues to be critical for overcoming the world’s development challenges, perhaps more so than ever given the global realities of climate change and the Covid pandemic. But how does this industry actually work? What practices does it follow, and to what effect? De Haan addresses these questions,    More >

Peter Uvin links human rights with development theory and practice to show how practitioners can surmount tough obstacles to successfully effect strategies for reducing conflict and improving human rights outcomes.    More >

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The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), characterized by the growing utilization of new technologies, unquestionably is ushering in innovative solutions to myriad development challenges. At the same time, as the authors of Human Rights and the Fourth Industrial Revolution in South Africa demonstrate, these new technologies can also come with drawbacks, particularly in relation to fundamental human    More >