Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy

Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy
Andrew C McCarthy (Author)
(24)

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Democracy

The first fundamental truth about the "Arab Spring" is that there never was one. The salient fact of the Middle East, the only one, is Islam. The Islam that shapes the Middle East inculcates in Muslims the self-perception that they are members of a civilization implacably hostile to the West. The United States is a competitor to be overcome, not the herald of a culture to be embraced.

Is this self-perception based on objective truth? Does it reflect an accurate construction of Islam? It is over these questions that American officials and Western intellectuals obsess. Yet the questions are irrelevant. This is not a matter of right or wrong, of some posture or policy whose subtle tweaking or outright reversal would change the facts on the ground. This is simply, starkly, the way it is.

Every human heart does not yearn for freedom. In the Islam of the Middle East, "freedom" means something very nearly the opposite of what the concept connotes to Westerners – it is the freedom that lies in total submission to Allah and His law. That law, sharia, is diametrically opposed to core components of freedom as understood in the West – beginning with the very idea that man is free to make law for himself, irrespective of what Allah has ordained. It is thus delusional to believe, as the West's Arab Spring fable insists, that the region teems with Jamal al-Madisons holding aloft the lamp of liberty. Do such revolutionary reformers exist? Of course they do . . . but in numbers barely enough to weave a fictional cover story. When push came to shove – and worse – the reformers were overwhelmed, swept away by a tide of Islamic supremacism, the dynamic, consequential mass movement that beckons endless winter.

That is the real story of the Arab Spring – that, and the Pandora's Box that opens when an American administration aligns with that movement, whose stated goal is to destroy America.

• Rank: #3518 in Books
• Published on: 2013-02-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .60 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 184 pages

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Politics-United States Foreign Policy

Democracy in Retreat: The Revolt of the Middle Class and the Worldwide Decline of Representative Government (Council on Foreign Relations Books)

Democracy in Retreat: The Revolt of the Middle Class and the Worldwide Decline of Representative Government (Council on Foreign Relations Books)
Joshua Kurlantzick (Author)

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Democracy

Since the end of the Cold War, the assumption among most political theorists has been that as nations develop economically, they will also become more democratic—especially if a vibrant middle class takes root. This assumption underlies the expansion of the European Union and much of American foreign policy, bolstered by such examples as South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and even to some extent Russia. Where democratization has failed or retreated, aberrant conditions take the blame: Islamism, authoritarian Chinese influence, or perhaps the rise of local autocrats.

• Rank: #24258 in Books
• Published on: 2013-03-05
• Released on: 2013-02-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.32 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Description #1 by eBay - unbeatablesales:

Yale Univ Pr 9780300175387 Democracy in Retreat By Kurlantzick, Joshua Description *Author: Kurlantzick, Joshua *Series Title: Council on Foreign Relations Books *Subtitle: The Revolt of the Middle Class and the Worldwide Decline of Representative Government *Publication Date: 2013/03/05 *Number of Pages: 304 *Binding Type: Hardcover *Language: English *Depth: 1.00 *Width: 6.25 *Height: 9.75 SKU: UBM9780300175387 Payment We accept payment via PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Discover

Description #2 by Overstock.com:

Since the end of the Cold War, the assumption among most political theorists has been that as nations develop economically, they will also become more democraticespecially if a vibrant middle class takes root. This assumption underlies the expansion of the European Union and much of American foreign policy, bolstered by such examples as South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and even to some extent Russia. Where democratization has failed or retreated, aberrant conditions take the blame: Islamism, authoritarian Chinese influence, or perhaps the rise of local autocrats. But what if the failures of democracy are not exceptions? In this thought-provoking study of democratization, Joshua Kurlantzick proposes that the spate of retreating democracies, one after another over the past two decades, is not just a series of exceptions. Instead, it reflects a new and disturbing trend: democracy in worldwide decline. The author investigates the state of democracy in a variety of countries, why the middle class has turned against democracy in some cases, and whether the decline in global democratization is reversible.

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The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns

The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns
Sasha Issenberg (Author)
(62)

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Democracy

The book Politico calls “Moneyball for politics” shows how cutting-edge social science and analytics are reshaping the modern political campaign.

Renegade thinkers are crashing the gates of a venerable American institution, shoving aside its so-called wise men and replacing them with a radical new data-driven order. We’ve seen it in sports, and now in The Victory Lab, journalist Sasha Issenberg tells the hidden story of the analytical revolution upending the way political campaigns are run in the 21st century.
     The Victory Lab follows the academics and maverick operatives rocking the war room and re-engineering a high-stakes industry previously run on little more than gut instinct and outdated assumptions. Armed with research from behavioural psychology and randomized experiments that treat voters as unwitting guinea pigs, the smartest campaigns now believe they know who you will vote for even before you do.  Issenberg tracks these fascinating techniques—which include cutting edge persuasion experiments, innovative ways to mobilize voters, heavily researched electioneering methods—and shows how our most important figures, such as Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, are putting them to use with surprising skill and alacrity.
     Provocative, clear-eyed and energetically reported, The Victory Lab offers iconoclastic insights into political marketing, human decision-making, and the increasing power of analytics. 

• Rank: #10500 in Books
• Published on: 2012-09-11
• Released on: 2012-09-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 9.25" h x 1.22" w x 6.14" l, 1.29 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 368 pages

Description #1 by Barnes & Noble - Strand Bookstore:

Categories: Campaign management, Political campaigns, Campaign management. Contributors: Sasha Issenberg - Author. Format: Hardcover

Description #2 by Powells.com:

Politics-General

Description #3 by Barnes & Noble:

Categories: Campaign management, Political campaigns, Campaign management. Contributors: Sasha Issenberg - Author. Format: Hardcover

It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism

It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism
Thomas E. Mann (Author), Norman J. Ornstein (Author)
(158)

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Democracy

 

Acrimony and hyperpartisanship have seeped into every part of the political process. Congress is deadlocked and its approval ratings are at record lows. America’s two main political parties have given up their traditions of compromise, endangering our very system of constitutional democracy. And one of these parties has taken on the role of insurgent outlier; the Republicans have become ideologically extreme, scornful of compromise, and ardently opposed to the established social and economic policy regime.

• Rank: #4295 in Books
• Published on: 2012-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 8.31" h x 1.10" w x 5.71" l, .75 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

Description #1 by AbeBooks:

Acrimony and hyperpartisanship have seeped into every part of the political process. Congress is deadlocked and its approval ratings are at record lows. America's two main political parties have given up their traditions of compromise, endangering our very system of constitutional democracy. An...

Description #2 by Walmart:

It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism

Description #3 by Barnes & Noble - Big River Books:

Categories: Sallye's Current Affairs Picks, Republican Party (US : 1854- )->21st century. Contributors: Thomas E. Mann - Author. Format: Hardcover

The Law

The Law
Frederic Bastiat (Author)
(201)

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Democracy

The Law was originally published in French in 1850 by Frederic Bastiat. It was written two years after the third French Revolution of 1848 and a few months before his death of tuberculosis at age 49. It is the work for which Bastiat is most famous. This translation to American English is from 1874.

• Rank: #11159 in Books
• Published on: 2012-06-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .17" h x 5.51" w x 8.50" l, .22 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 72 pages

Description #1 by Christianbook.com:

The Law of Love: Lessons from the Pages of Deuteronomy is a lecture series by Beth Moore. This set includes six sessions on DVD, approximately 90 min each, and one listening guide. The listening guide offers six supplemental articles by Melissa Moore Fitzpatrick.

Description #2 by Powells.com:

Law-General

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Contributors: Dympna Glendenning - Author. Format: Paperback

A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present

A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present
Howard Zinn (Author)
(353)

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Democracy

“It’s a wonderful, splendid book—a book that should be read by every American, student or otherwise, who wants to understand his country, its true history, and its hope for the future.” —Howard Fast, author of Spartacus and The Immigrants

“[It] should be required reading.” —Eric Foner, New York Times Book Review

Library Journal calls Howard Zinn’s iconic A People's History of the United States “a brilliant and moving history of the American people from the point of view of those…whose plight has been largely omitted from most histories.” Packed with vivid details and telling quotations, Zinn’s award-winning classic continues to revolutionize the way American history is taught and remembered. Frequent appearances in popular media such as The Sopranos, The Simpsons, Good Will Hunting, and the History Channel documentary The People Speak testify to Zinn’s ability to bridge the generation gap with enduring insights into the birth, development, and destiny of the nation.

• Rank: #731 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-02
• Released on: 2005-08-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 8.03" h x 1.42" w x 5.28" l, 1.35 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 768 pages

• ISBN13: 9780060838652
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Description #1 by eBay - littleitalybooks:

Little Italy Books - presents ... A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present ISBN: 0060926430 Author: Zinn, Howard Publisher: Perennial Release Date: 1995-06-01 Seller Category: -- Qty Available: 1 Condition: Used: Very Good Sku: 1209250022 Notes: Book has been read but it is in very nice condition. No tears.Pages are clean and unmarked and have NO underlining or hilighting.I will ship promptly with a delivery confirmation.Why wait, for a few dollars more choose expedited shipping an

Description #2 by Powells.com:

US History-General

Description #3 by eBay - grandeagleretail:

Store Search search Title, ISBN and Author A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present by Howard Zinn Estimated delivery 3-12 business days Format Paperback Condition Brand New The only volume to tell America #039;s story from the point of view of mdash;and in the words of mdash;America #039;s women, factory workers, African Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers. Zinn shows that many of our country #039;s greatest battles were carried out at the grassro

Priests of Our Democracy: The Supreme Court, Academic Freedom, and the Anti-Communist Purge

Priests of Our Democracy: The Supreme Court, Academic Freedom, and the Anti-Communist Purge
Marjorie Heins (Author)
(1)

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Democracy

In the early 1950s, New York City’s teachers and professors became the targets of massive investigations into their political beliefs and associations. Those who refused to cooperate in the questioning were fired. Some had undoubtedly been communists, and the Communist Party-USA certainly made its share of mistakes, but there was never evidence that the accused teachers had abused their trust. Some were among the most brilliant, popular, and dedicated educators in the city. Priests of Our Democracy tells of the teachers and professors who resisted the witch hunt, those who collaborated, and those whose battles led to landmark Supreme Court decisions. It traces the political fortunes of academic freedom beginning in the late 19th century, both on campus and in the courts. Combining political and legal history with wrenching personal stories, the book details how the anti-communist excesses of the 1950s inspired the Supreme Court to recognize the vital role of teachers and professors in American democracy. The crushing of dissent in the 1950s impoverished political discourse in ways that are still being felt, and First Amendment academic freedom, a product of that period, is in peril today. In compelling terms, this book shows why the issue should matter to every American.

• Rank: #50695 in Books
• Published on: 2013-02-04
• Released on: 2013-02-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 9.33" h x 1.18" w x 6.38" l, 1.42 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

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Contributors: Marjorie Heins - Author. Format: NOOK Book

Profit Over People: Neoliberalism & Global Order

Profit Over People: Neoliberalism & Global Order
Noam Chomsky (Author), Robert W. McChesney (Author)
(47)

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Democracy

Why is the Atlantic slowly filling with crude petroleum, threatening a millions-of-years-old ecological balance? Why did traders at prominent banks take high-risk gambles with the money entrusted to them by hundreds of thousands of clients around the world, expanding and leveraging their investments to the point that failure led to a global financial crisis that left millions of people jobless and hundreds of cities economically devastated? Why would the world's most powerful military spend ten years fighting an enemy that presents no direct threat to secure resources for corporations?
The culprit in all cases is neoliberal ideology—the belief in the supremacy of "free" markets to drive and govern human affairs. And in the years since the initial publication of Noam Chomsky's Profit Over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order, the bitter vines of neoliberalism have only twisted themselves further into the world economy, obliterating the public’s voice in public affairs and substituting the bottom line in place of people’s basic obligation to care for one another as ends in themselves. In Profit Over People, Chomsky reveals the roots of the present crisis, tracing the history of neoliberalism through an incisive analysis of free trade agreements of the 1990s, the World Trade Organization, and the International Monetary Fund—and describes the movements of resistance to the increasing interference by the private sector in global affairs.
In the years since the initial publication of Profit Over People, the stakes have only risen. Now more than ever, Profit Over People is one of the key texts explaining how the crisis facing us operates—and how, through Chomsky’s analysis of resistance, we may find an escape from the closing net.

• Rank: #13670 in Books
• Published on: 1999
• Released on: 2011-09-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 7.80" h x .47" w x 5.08" l, .36 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Description #1 by Paddle.com:

In this collection of all new essays Noam Chomsky examines the dramatic shift away from a pluralist participatory ideal of politics and towards an authoritarian profit-obsessed model.

Description #2 by AbeBooks:

Why is the Atlantic slowly filling with crude petroleum, threatening a millions-of-years-old ecological balance? Why did traders at prominent banks take high-risk gambles with the money entrusted to them by hundreds of thousands of clients around the world, expanding and leveraging their investme...

Description #3 by Biblio.com:

Seven Stories Press. PAPERBACK. 1888363827 Brand new perfect condition. . New.

Democracy in America (Penguin Classics)

Democracy in America (Penguin Classics)
Alexis de Tocqueville (Author), Isaac Kramnick (Editor, Introduction), Gerald Bevan (Translator)
(39)

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Democracy

In 1831 Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French aristocrat and ambitious civil servant, made a nine-month journey throughout America. The result was Democracy in America, a monumental study of the life and institutions of the evolving nation. Tocqueville looked to the flourishing democratic system in America as a possible model for post-revolutionary France, believing that the egalitarian ideals it enshrined reflected the spirit of the age and even divine will. His insightful work has become one of the most influential political texts ever written on America and an indispensable authority on democracy.
 
This new edition is the only one that contains all Tocqueville's writings on America, including the rarely-translated Two Weeks in the Wilderness, an account of Tocqueville's travels in Michigan among the Iroquois, and Excursion to Lake Oneida.

• Rank: #9961 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07-01
• Released on: 2003-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 7.80" h x 1.65" w x 5.08" l, 1.48 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 992 pages

Description #1 by eBay:

author alexis de tocqueville format paperback language english publication year 24 04 2003 subject literature poetry criticism subject 2 anthologies goddings limited presents democracy in america penguin classics isbn 0140447601 author alexis de tocqueville editor isaac kramnick translator gerald bevan publisher penguin classics date 2003 07 01 seller sku gard 0140447606 qty available 1 format paperback condition new notes brand new book will ship 1 st class to the uk or airmail worldwide airmai

Description #2 by Christianbook.com:

Democracy, An American Novel

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How the World Works (Real Story (Soft Skull Press))

How the World Works (Real Story (Soft Skull Press))
Noam Chomsky (Author), Arthur Naiman (Editor), David Barsamian (Contributor)
(21)

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Democracy

According to The New York Times, Noam Chomsky is Aarguably the most important intellectual alive.” But he isn’t easy to read . . . or at least he wasn’t until these books came along. Made up of intensively edited speeches and interviews, they offer something not found anywhere else: pure Chomsky, with every dazzling idea and penetrating insight intact, delivered in clear, accessible, reader-friendly prose.

Published as four short books in the famous Real Story seriesAWhat Uncle Sam Really Wants; The Prosperous Few and the Restless Many; Secrets, Lies and Democracy; and The Common GoodAthey’ve collectively sold almost 600,000 copies.

And they continue to sell year after year after year because Chomsky’s ideas become, if anything, more relevant as time goes by. For example, twenty years ago he pointed out that Ain 1970, about 90% of international capital was used for trade and long-term investmentAmore or less productive thingsAand 10% for speculation. By 1990, those figures had reversed.” As we know, speculation continued to increase exponentially. We’re paying the price now for not heeding him them.

• Rank: #14628 in Books
• Published on: 2011-09-us.html
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 8.11" h x .91" w x 5.51" l, .95 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Description #1 by OnlineBookPlace.com:

Joseph Guiteau is a working actor who moved to New York to escape a tragic family history in the Midwest. Wandering through a city transformed by the attacks of September 2001, he frequents gatherings of conspiracy groups, trying to make sense of world events and his own personal history. Looming over his life is a secret that threatens to undermine his new marriage to Del, a snake expert at a city park, whose work visa is the only thread keeping her from deportation back to her native Greece. The new marriage influences the lives of those around them: William, a dark and troubled actor whose sanity is fading as quickly as his career, leading him to perform increasingly desperate acts; Madi, a young entrepreneur who will have to face the moral complications of a business made successful by the outsourcing of American jobs to India; and her brother Raj, Del's former lover, a promising photographer whose work details the empty rooms of an increasingly alienated city. Christopher Bollen's first novel captures the atmosphere of anxiety and loss that exists in Manhattan. It is a story of the city itself, and the interconnected lives of those attempting to navigate both Manhattan and their own mortality.

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Description #3 by Rakuten.com Shopping - Better World Books:

Lyrical, violent, and surprisingly passionate, Skels is an inventive yet realistic portrait of the urban underworld from a paramedic's point of view. The story is based on an unusual idea: What would happen if the ambulance world was permeated with the works of past authors, and the homeless patients (the "skels") carried the consciousness of the writers? What would a paramedic do if she met a great poet, dirty and covered with lice, and was granted the chance to save him - not from dying but from his own life? A funny, gritty urban thriller, Skels pits corrupt cops, bumbling firemen, drunken softball tournaments, and careening transvestites against this surreal literary environment, realistically portraying a New York City of 1979 rich with an ancient truth that is all but invisible from the outside. The characters within it must face brutality and illness, vengeance and despair, and find help in tenderness and the threads that connect them to the past.

On the People's Terms: A Republican Theory and Model of Democracy (The Seeley Lectures)

On the People's Terms: A Republican Theory and Model of Democracy (The Seeley Lectures)
Philip Pettit (Author)

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Democracy

According to republican theory, we are free persons to the extent that we are protected and secured in the same fundamental choices, on the same public basis, as one another. But there is no public protection or security without a coercive state. Does this mean that any freedom we enjoy is a superficial good that presupposes a deeper, political form of subjection? Philip Pettit addresses this crucial question in On the People's Terms. He argues that state coercion will not involve individual subjection or domination insofar as we enjoy an equally shared form of control over those in power. This claim may seem utopian but it is supported by a realistic model of the institutions that might establish such democratic control. Beginning with a fresh articulation of republican ideas, Pettit develops a highly original account of the rationale of democracy, breathing new life into democratic theory.

• Rank: #38340 in Books
• Published on: 2013-01-28
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .0 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 347 pages

Description #1 by eBay:

author philip pettit format paperback language english publication year 06 12 2012 series the seeley lectures subject politics government subject 2 politics general reference title on the people s terms a republican theory and model of democracy author pettit philip publisher cambridge univ pr publication date dec 06 2012 pages 256 binding paperback edition 1 st dimensions 0 71 wx 8 82 hx 5 98 d isbn 0521182123 subject political science history theory brand new paperback all orders get full ac

Description #2 by eBay:

author philip pettit format hardback language english publication year 06 12 2012 series the seeley lectures subject politics government subject 2 politics general reference author biography philip pettit is ls rockefeller university professor of politics and human values at princeton university and also distinguished professor of philosophy at the australian national university his books include the common mind republicanism rules reasons and norms and made with words hobbbes on language mind

Description #3 by eBay:

all our items our feedback faqs about us contact us item description on the people s terms a republican theory and model of democracy the seeley lectures ean 978 1107005112 isbn 10 1 107005116 ref cam 1107005116 title on the people s terms a republican theory and model of democracy the seeley lectures author pettit philip publisher cambridge university press