Politics at Continuum

Just Published: Women Waging War and Peace

Women Waging War and Peace: International Perspectives of Women's Roles in Conflict and Post-Conflict Reconstruction, edited by Sandra I. Cheldelin and Maneshka Eliatamby, examines how women actively contribute not only to conflict, but also to peace and social change in diverse contexts around the world.

"Tremendoulsy rich in cross-national case studies, Women Waging War and Peace critically examines the complex agency of girls and women in the contexts of child soldiers, suicide bombers, front-line soldiers, peace negotiators, and peacebuilders.  By combining primary research, theoretical lenses from various academic disciplines, and women's lived experiences in all their trauma, healing, and triumph, Women Waging Peace and War reinforces the critical need for international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and policy leaders to empower women.  The Institute for Conflict Analysis & Resolution at George Mason University has provided a tremendous contribution to the fields of conflict analysis, peace studies, and women's studies." -Paige Eager, Associate Professor, Hood College

For more information, please visit our website at: http://www.continuumbooks.com/books/detail.aspx?BookId=158837&SearchType=Basic

New Title: Achieving Democracy

Achieving Democracy, a new textbook edited by Mary Fran T. Malone, analyzes why some nations become democratic while others remain authoritarian by looking at issues of democratization from a cross-national and historical perspective.

"Achieving Democracy provides undergraduate students with all the elements needed to think about the various aspects of democratization around the world. The volume explores processes of democratization in the first, second and third waves as well as current debates on democracy promotion. This book challenges students to test theories of democratization, thus asking them to take a proactive role vis-a-vis one of the most important topics of our times. Strongly recommended."- Ariel C. Armony, Director, Center for Latin American Studies and Weeks Professor in Latin American Studies Professor of International Studies, University of Miami, USA.

New Series: Key Studies in Diplomacy

Continuum is proud to launch its new series, Key Studies in Diplomacy edited by Lorna Lloyd from Keele University.

The first volume to publish is 21st Century Diplomacy by Kishan Rana, to be followed by Embassies in Armed Conflict by G.R. Berridge.

 

"The clichéd image of the venerable profession of diplomacy is one of stuffed shirts living in exotic, well-appointed residences and attending a whirl of cocktail parties. Yet how far this is from reality is superbly described in this new book by Kishan Rana. This seasoned representative of one of the best diplomatic services in the world reveals the true story of diplomats as modern managers of foreign relations, networking and negotiating with politicians, businessmen, academics or artists, and equally at home with the use of modern methods of technology. Rana’s comprehensive picture of the diplomat of the 21st century is not only scholarly and magisterial but also, with its telling use of amusing anecdotes taken from everyday life in embassies and international conference halls, highly entertaining. This excellent volume can be highly recommended to every student of contemporary diplomacy." -Ambassador Hans Winkler

 

The volumes in the series are relatively short handbooks aimed at beginning practitioners and advanced university students. The volumes highlight the ways foreign policy is implemented through the apparatus of diplomacy, the diplomatic system, and diplomats and will discuss:
a) specific aspects of diplomacy, such as the concept of diplomatic relations, the consequences of cutting off diplomatic relations, diplomatic immunity, etc.
b) key diplomatic activities and events, such as an international crisis, or a summit meeting. Such books will focus on the conduct of diplomacy rather than its politics. The focus will be on the contemporary practice of diplomacy, not on foreign policy or the theoretical direction of diplomacy.

New Politics Titles For July 2011

The following titles will be available from Continuum in July:

Achieving Democracy: Democratization in Theory and Practice
edited by Mary Fran T. Malone

"Achieving Democracy provides undergraduate students with all the elements needed to think about the various aspects of democratization around the world. The volume explores processes of democratization in the first, second and third waves as well as current debates on democracy promotion. This book challenges students to test theories of democratization, thus asking them to take a proactive role vis-a-vis one of the most important topics of our times. Strongly recommended."- Ariel C. Armony, Director, Center for Latin American Studies and Weeks Professor in Latin American Studies Professor of International Studies, University of Miami, USA.

Citizen Islam The Future of Muslim Integration in the West
by Zeyno Baran

"This book is very informative and helps both Muslims and non Muslims understand the ideologies, historical trends and current events in Muslim communities.  It is an especially valuable resource for western countries because it aptly explains how some Muslim societies are evolving and resolving issues of religion and state.  It is also important for Muslims to see how they are being perceived by others. I recommend it highly for those who need to better understand the many facets of Islamic doctrine and beliefs. " - Shaykh Hisham M Kabbani, Chairman of the Islamic Supreme Council of America

Continuum Books available on Kindle

We are delighted to announce that Continuum is now publishing ebooks simultaneously with print editions through Amazon Kindle and other retail partners. 

About 900 titles have started to become available as Kindle edition and, as of today, there are 233 titles available on Kindle. This number will grow significantly over the coming weeks and months as we add backlist and frontlist titles.

   You can also purchase ebooks in epub and PDF formats directly from our website at http://ebooks.continuumbooks.com/BookStore/pagedisplay.do?pub=continuum

New Title: Faith and Foreign Policy

Faith and Foreign Policy The Views and Influence of U.S. Christians and Christian Organizationsby Stephen R. Rock examines how the attitudes and preferences of various Christian groups in the United States can influence U.S. foreign policy with specific examples.

  "Faith and Foreign Policy makes a unique contribution to our understanding of the role of religious groups in American politics. Steve Rock shows that the religious forces influencing domestic policy extend into the international realm, impinging on virtually every imaginable policy concern in a globalizing world. This sensitive and lucid volume details religious group advocacy on the use of military force, international human rights, the Middle East, international institutions, and the global environment. Rock’s careful assessment of religious influence makes this an absolutely essential book for anyone interested in the intersection of religion and American foreign policy." - James L. Guth, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Political Science, Furman University.
     

 "Faith and Foreign Policy provides a useful description of the foreign policy positions and activities of the major religious organizations in the United States. It is a valuable addition to the literature on a topic that typically received far less attention that it deserved--and that is likely to be the focus of enhanced scrutiny in the future. A well-written and researched volume."- John C. Green, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, University of Akron

What's New?

We have many new politics books! Here's a few examples:

Dictators and Dictatorships: Understanding Authoritarian Regimes and Their Leaders
by Natasha M. Ezrow and Erica Frantz
Discusses how dictatorships work, looking at leaders, elites, and regime dynamics, synthesizing foundational and cutting-edge research on authoritarian politics, and integrating theory with case studies.

 

NATO and Terrorism: Organizational Expansion and Mission Transformation
by James W. Peterson
This book posits that the post 9/11 war on terrorism has had a profound effect on NATO’s post Cold War structure and military missions.

 

Federalism: A Normative Theory and its Practical Relevance
by Kyle Scott
Using case studies from around the world, the book develops a new theory of federalism, showing that it can enhance deliberative democracy and civil society.

New Politics Titles

Check out our great new politics titles! You can download our mini-catalog by clicking on this link: Download Politics catalog February 2011

Most of these books will be featured at ISA in Montreal, March 15-19. Be sure to drop by our booth (#7)!

 

New at Continuum: China's Energy Relations with the Developing World

Edited by Carrie Liu Currier and Manochehr Dorraj, China's Energy Relations with the Developing World examines China’s access to the energy resources of the developing world and its impact on Chinese foreign relations.

"This book offers a variety of excellent essays that cover many new developments in China’s quest for energy security, its energy strategies, and its interactions abroad in the developing world, with regional coverage of Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, and Latin America as playing fields, and country coverage of China, Russia, the United States, Japan, and India as key players in those regions. This book is a must for energy policy analysts and scholars dealing with China’s foreign policy behavior in the developing world. The insights offered by the authors would be invaluable for understanding China’s quest for energy security abroad."
—Sujian Guo, Professor of Political Science and Director of Center for US-China Policy Studies at San Francisco State University

New at Continuum: US Civil-Military Relations After 9/11

US Civil-Military Relations After 9/11: Renegotiating the Civil-Military Bargain by Mackubin Thomas Owens offers a thorough survey of the key issues that surround the relations between the military and its civilian control in the US today.

"Civilian control of our military is the fundamental precept of America's Civilian Military Relations.  Effectively using history and keen insights into this complex issue, in this book Dr. Owens provides an informed perspective.  In doing so, he reminds us of the military's broad and constant advisory role, of Congress' oversight responsibilities, of our civilian leaders' need for military understanding, and of the overarching need for civil military engagement if we are going to achieve the necessary synergy in defense.  The concepts illuminated in this book remind us that if our military is expected to act in concert with civilian leadership's aims, a constant dialogue and reciprocal process is necessary.  This is the finest work available today for a serious student of how the military can best serve the Republic."

--James N. Mattis, General, U.S. Marines

Recast All Under Heaven wins "honorable mention"

Continuum is pleased to announce that Recast All Under Heaven by Xiaoyuan Liu has received an "honorable mention" in this year's scholarship award competition of the Chinese Historians in the United States. The award committee wrote:

"Professor Liu Xiaoyuan’s book, Recast All Under Heaven, offers a systematic examination of China’s incessant efforts to reassert its sovereignty over its frontiers in the twentieth century. By weaving together the episodes of its interactions with neighboring countries (Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia, and India), the two superpowers of the Cold War era, as well as domestic ethnic minorities, the author tells a fascinating story of China’s regeneration from a traditional empire based on universalistic sovereignty to a “modern” state that went beyond the conventional type of nation-states. Liu’s work is conceptually powerful, empirically rich and solid, and indeed groundbreaking in advancing our understanding of China’s territorial identity in the modern era."

Notable 2010 Politics Titles

Many new titles in politics were published by Continuum over the year 2010, including:

Permanent Alliance? NATO and the Transatlantic Bargain from Truman to Obama
by Stanley R. Sloan

Groundless Existence: The Political Ontology of Carl Schmitt
by Michael Marder

Sociocultural Intelligence: A New Discipline in Intelligence Studies
by Kerry Patton

Pakistan's Quagmire: Security, Strategy, and the Future of the Islamic-nuclear Nation
edited by Usama Butt and N. Elahi

Struggling for Recognition: The Psychological Impetus for Democratic Progress
by Doron Shultziner

The Transforming Fire: The Rise of the Israel-Islamist Conflict
by Jonathan Spyer

Recast All Under Heaven: Revolution, War, Diplomacy, and Frontier China in the 20th Century
by Xiaoyuan Liu

Putin's Oil: The Yukos Affair and the Struggle for Russia
by Martin Sixsmith

The Poetics of Fear:  A Human Response to Human Security
by Chris Erickson

And many, many more!

New at Continuum: Global Activism Reader

Global Activism Reader is a unique collection of essays edited by Luc Reydams on the various causes, actors, and strategies in transnational social mobilization and counter-mobilization.

Reydams rocks!  In the Global Activism Reader, this intellectual impresario orchestrates a unique ensemble of theoretical and empirical themes on one of the hottest recent acts in international affairs: transnational advocacy.  For undergraduates and graduate students in international relations, human rights, globalization, and social movements, this excellent mix of readings showcases the highs and lows of global activism. Bravo! -- Clifford Bob, Duquesne University, author of The Marketing of Rebellion:  Insurgents, Media, and International Act

Covering key issues and assembling important literature, this anthology offers an excellent resource both for college courses and for general public education. Readers are offered a selection that promotes conceptual depth, historical sensitivity, critical assessment and political awareness in understanding of contemporary global activism. - Jan Aart Scholte, Professorial Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation, University of Warwick

Click here for more information.

New At Continuum: The Next Generation

The Next Generation by John Celock examines why and how people under 35 run for office in the U.S.

To write this in-depth examination of political campaigning and life, journalist John Celock interviewed over ninety young leaders across America serving in various capacities, from Vice President and Governor to Senator and County Legislator. In this unique work, Celock answers such questions as why do young people run for office? What personal obstacles do they face as they seek office? Does age affect policymaking?

"Sometimes it takes youth to write about youth, and that is obviously true in this new work by political journalist, John Celock. "The Next Generation" tells the remarkable stories of numerous politicians in their teens, twenties and early thirties, as they transform their idealism into effective political leadership. A welcome addition in a field that has treated young politicians as anomalies rather than a larger field of political leaders than we once may have realized." - Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, CM, President, DePaul University

The Transforming Fire

The Transforming Fire by Jonathan Spyer (Continuum, November 2010) sets out to explain how the rise of Islamism is changing the nature of the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

  "Jonathan Spyer, one of the smartest commentators on the Middle East, has written a brilliant, heartbreaking account of life and death in contemporary Israel.  A seamless weave of analysis and memoir,  “The Transforming Fire” should be on the very short list of indispensable books about Israel and the Middle East conflict."
    -Yossi Klein Halevi, author of At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden, and Israel correspondent and contributing editor of The New Republic.

    "To read The Transforming Fire is to discover a thoughtful Israeli who might well have been killed fighting Islamists. Making sense of it, Jonathan Spyer is clear that among other consequences Islamism has given the old Arab-Israeli dispute a new ideological character, one so intractable that Arabs and Israelis will be engaged in a test of strength for a long time. This is one of those rare books in which experience and ideas support one another, and altogether illuminate what to expect in today?s Middle East." --David Pryce-Jones

Just Published: Struggling for Recognition

Continuum is proud to announce the publication of Struggling for Recognition: The Psychological Impetus for Democratic Progress by Doron Shultziner.

This unique work examines the important role psychological factors play in fostering changes toward more democratic structures.

“Shultziner has in my view done a very sophisticated job in drawing on this literature to enrich our understanding of familiar political phenomena like democratic transitions.”

–Francis Fukuyama, Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy, The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Washington, DC

 

Contents

Introduction
1. Theories of Democratic Progress and Conceptions of Human Nature
2. Human Nature and the Pursuit of Recognition
3. From Pre-History to the End of History: Democratic Systems in the Human Experience
4. Recognition and Humiliation: The Origins of Mass Mobilization in the Montgomery Bus Boycott
5. Keeping Momentum: Leadership, Psychology, and Tactics
6. Prevention of Status and Police Brutality: The Origins of Mass Mobilization against Apartheid
7. Maintaining Commitment: Leadership, Cultural Change, and Music
8. Recognition Striving and Democratic Progress: An Integrative Approach
9. The Complexity of Democratic Progress and Levels of Analysis
Appendix A. List of Archives for the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Appendix B. List of abbreviations, interviews and background information about former anti-apartheid activists in the Port Elizabeth municipal area, South Africa
Bibliography
Index

Publication Celebration at NYU of Rethinking U.S. Labor History

There will be a celebration of our newly published Rethinking U.S. Labor History at NYU's Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, located at 20 Cooper Square, New York.

Tamiment Library and Program in Metropolitan Studies invites you to join us in celebrating the publication of Rethinking U.S. Labor History: Essays on the Working-Class Experience, 1756 - 2009, edited by Donna T. Haverty-Stacke and Daniel J. Walkowitz

There will be a panel discussion including the editor and two of the contributors: Donna Haverty-Stacke CUNY, Hunter College), Daniel Walkowitz (SCA/History, NYU), Eric Arnesen (George Washington University), and Zach Schwartz-Weinstein (American Studies, NYU) with a comment by Michael Nash of the Tamiment Library, followed by refreshments.

For more details of the event, please click here.

Singapore & Delhi

Some of you may have wondering about the silence of the blog lately. We are now back online -- the gap in news was because I was travelling, visiting our sales representatives in Singapore and Delhi.

Taylor & Francis Asia represents Continuum in Taiwan, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore. Palgrave Macmillan represents us in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

It was most interesting and profitable to learn about the Asian market and to see the increased sales potential in the region for our politics books. We have great, expert teams working there and I thank them all for the warm welcome.

I also visited some scholars on campus, met with librarians, and went to some bookstores --it was a full, but productive trip. Feel free to contact me if you have any comments or questions!

Marie-Claire Antoine
Senior Acquisitions Editor, Politics & IR

 

 

 

 

The Publishing World: The Frankfurt Book Fair

From October 5 to October 10, the Frankfurt Book Fair will occupy Publishers from around the world.

Publishers, booksellers, agents, authors, and even film producers gather at the fair, which has become the largest marketplace for books, media, rights, and licenses worldwide.

Continuum is one ot the 7,300 exhibitors, making sure your books get the exposure they deserve!

For more information on the fair, you can visit the website at http://www.book-fair.com/en/fbf/general/

 

What's going on?

"What's going on with the politics list?" might you ask. Well, much actually. First, we are thrilled to announce our newest series:

- Key Studies in Diplomacy, edited by Lorna Lloyd with a volume by G. R. Berridge in the works.
- Critical Theory and Contemporary Society, edited by Darrow Schecter, with an upcoming volume by William Outhwaite
- Contemporary Anarchist Studies, edited by Alex Prichard, Laurence Davis, Nathan Jun, and Uri Gordon

Second, we had a great time at APSA last month, where we enjoyed showcasing our newest titles and meeting with scholars from across the fields of political science (and from across the continents).

Third, we have just published the following:

- Pakistan's Quagmire: Security, Strategy, and the Future of the Islamic-Nuclear Nation, edited by Usama Butt and N. Elahi
- Energy and Climate Wars, by Michael Economides and Peter Glover
- Recast All Under Heaven: Revolution, War, Diplomacy, and Frontier China in the 20th Century by Xiaoyuan Liu

Lastly, we will publish in October:

- Rethinking US Labor History: Essays on the Working-Class Experience, 1756-2009, edited by Daniel Walkowitz and Donna Haverty-Stacke
- Orwell, Politics and Power by Craig Carr
- Terrorism, Civil War and Revolution by Peter Calvert

If you'd like to know more about our publications or are considering publishing with us, please contact me, Marie-Claire Antoine, Senior Acquisitions Editor, Politics & IR at mantoine@continuum-books.com