Paradigm-Breaking Books

 

 

Cosmopolitanism and the Geographies of Freedom. David Harvey (director, Center for Place, Culture, and Politics, CUNY Graduate Center). NY: Columbia UP, July 2009/368p/$27.50. Liberty and freedom are frequently invoked to justify political action, but in practice these idealist agendas often turn sour because they ignore the complexities of geography; Harvey charts a cosmopolitan order more appropriate for an emancipatory form of global governance, rooted in human experience rather than illusory ideals, yet bringing us closer to the liberation we seek. (WORLD POLITICS * COSMOPOLITANISM)

 

 

Commonwealth. Michael Hardt (Prof of Literature and Italian, Duke U) and Antonio Negri. Cambridge: Harvard UP/Belknap Press, Oct 2009/330p/$35. Concludes a trilogy started with Empire and continued in Multitude, considers models of governance adequate to a global commonwealth, and proposes an ethics of freedom for living in our common world and a possible constitution for our common wealth; “common” should replace the opposition of private and public, and the politics predicated on that opposition. (GOVERNANCE)

  

 

Superpower Illusions: How Myths and False Ideologies Led America Astray and How to Return to Reality. Jack F. Matlock Jr (Adjunct Prof of Intl Rels, Columbia U). Yale U Press, Jan 2010/320p/$30. Former US Ambassador to the Soviet Union (1987-1991) refutes the enduring idea that the US forced the collapse of the USSR, arguing that the end of the Cold War diminished US power because, with the removal of the Soviet threat, allies were less willing to accept American protection and leadership. During recent years, the belief that the US had defeated the Soviet Union led to a conviction that it did not need allies, diplomacy, or international organizations, resulting in America’s weakened ability to lead. (WORLD POLITICS * U.S.: WORLD LEADERSHIP)

 

 

States Without Nations: Citizenship for Mortals. Jacqueline Stevens (Assoc Prof of Law and Society, UC-Santa Barbara). NY: Columbia UP, Nov 2009/384p/$35. Imagines a world in which national laws establishing birthright citizenship, family inheritance, state-sanctioned marriage, and private land are eliminated. Current legal mandates promoting these rights result in much violence and inequality; would a world without these laws be more just? (LAW * CITIZENSHIP)

 

 

The Birthright Lottery: Citizenship and Global Inequality. Ayelet Shachar (Prof of Law and Pol Sci, U of Toronto). Cambridge: Harvard UP, April 2009/254p/$39.95. Securing membership in a given state provides opportunity for some and a life of little hope for others, and birthright entitlements still dominate our laws for allotting membership; argues that nations should expand their membership boundaries beyond outdated notions of blood-and-soil [ALSO SEE States Without Nations: Citizenship for Mortals by Jacqueline Stevens (Columbia UP, Nov 2009).] (LAW * CITIZENSHIP * INEQUALITY)

 

 

 

Fixing Failed States: A Framework for Rebuilding a Fractured World. Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart. NY: Oxford UP, Oct 2009/272p/$16.95pb. Two former World Bank officials and UN advisors argue for a reorientation in the international response to create capable states. First published in May 2008 (254p/$24.95), this paperback edition adds a new preface. (WORLD POLITICS * FAILED STATES)

 

 

Energy, Environment and Development (Second Edition). Jose Goldemberg (former rector, U of Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Oswaldo Lucon (Sao Paulo). London & Sterling VA: Earthscan, Dec 2009/352p/$39.95pb. Relationships between energy and environment, and between energy and development, have both been widely studied, yet both of these approaches may produce distortions; this book studies all three elements in relation to each other, while discussing security, climate change, impact assessment, new international agreements, and tech developments. (DEVELOPMENT * ENERGY)

 

Just Give Money to the Poor: The Development Revolution from the Global South. Joseph Hanlon (Open U), Armando Barrientos (World Poverty Institute, U of Manchester), and David Hulme (WPI/UofM). Kumarian Press, April 2010/288p/$24.95pb. Amid all the complex theories about causes and solutions to poverty, one idea is basic: researchers have found again and again that cash transfers given to significant portions of the population transform the lives of recipients, who use the money wisely to start a business, feed families, or send a child to school. This quiet revolution bypasses governments and NGOs, letting the poor decide how to use their money.  (DEVELOPMENT)

 

Can Business Save the World? Hard Truths About Ending Poverty. R. Glenn Hubbard (dean, Columbia Business School) and William Duggan (Senior Lecturer, CBS). NY: Columbia Business School (Columbia UP), Aug 2009/208p/$22.95. By diverting a major share of charitable aid into the local business sector of poor countries, citizens can take the lead in growing their own economies, following the success of China and India; switching the “feudal system of aid” to the local business sector to cultivate an ordinary middle class is the surest and only way to eliminate poverty. (DEVELOPMENT * FOREIGN AID) 

State of the World’s Cities 2008-2009: Harmonious Cities. UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT). NY: United Nations Publications, 2008/280p/$40 (Sales #E.08.III.Q.1). Assesses various intangible assets within cities that represent the soul of the city and are as important for harmonious urban development as tangible assets; focuses on three key areas: spatial or regional harmony, social harmony, and environmental harmony. (CITIES)

 

Megaregions: Planning for Global Competiveness. Edited by Catherine L. Ross (Prof of Regional Development, Georgia Tech). Foreword by Richard Florida. Washington: Island Press, June 2009/350p$35. Concepts of “the city,” “the state,” and the “nation state” are passé; the new scale for considering economic strength and growth opportunities is “the megaregion,” a network of metro centers and their surrounding areas; by 2050, megaregions will contain two-thirds of US population. (CITIES * PLANNING * MEGAREGIONS)

  

Global Environmental Change and Human Security. Edited by Richard A. Matthew (Assoc Prof of Politics, UC-Irvine) and three others. Cambridge: MIT Press, Dec 2009/328p/$25pb. In recent years, scholars have begun to conceive of security more broadly, moving away from a state-centered concept of national security toward the concept of human security; global environmental change and new questions of human insecurity are viewed through this lens. (SECURITY * ENVIRONMENT)

 

A Question of Command: Counterinsurgency from the Civil War to Iraq. Mark Moyar (Woodbridge VA; Chair of Insurgency and Terrorism, US Marine Corps Univ). Yale U Press, Oct 2009/384p/$30. The conventional wisdom of counterinsurgency is that the key is winning people’s hearts and minds, and allocating much labor and treasure to economic/social/political reforms; rather, Moyar asserts that the key is selecting commanders with superior leadership abilities and concentrating resources on security, civil administration, and leadership development. (SECURITY * COUNTERINSURGENCY RECONSIDERED)

 

Shooting Up: Counterinsurgency and the War on Drugs. Vanda Felbab-Brown (Brookings Fellow in Foreign Policy). Brookings Institution Press, Nov 2009/260p/$28.95. Conventional wisdom on the drug wars is “dangerously wrongheaded”: counternarcotics campaigns focused on eradication fail to bankrupt groups that rely on the drug trade and increase legitimacy of insurgents; in contrast, a laissez-faire policy toward illicit crops combined with interdiction targeted at major traffickers improves the chance of winning the war on drugs and the war against insurgents such as the Taliban.  (DRUG WARS * SECURITY)

 

Rethinking Violence: States and Non-State Actors in Conflict. Edited by Erica Chenowith (Asst Prof of Govt, Wesleyan U) and Adria Lawrence (Asst Prof of Pol Sci, Yale U). Cambridge MA: The MIT Press, April 2010/400p/$25pb. Major wars between sovereign states have become rare, but current world politics is rife with internal conflict, ethnic cleansing, and violence against civilians. The authors ask how, when, and why states and non-state actors use violence against one another, and consider the effectiveness of various forms of political violence. Arguments focus on how changes in the balance of power between and among states and non-state actors generate uncertainty and threat, thus creating an environment conducive to violence. This new way to understand violence deemphasizes the role of ethnic cleavages and nationalism in modern conflict. (SECURITY * VIOLENCE RECONSIDERED)

Atomic Obsession: Nuclear Alarmism from Hiroshima to Al Qaeda. John Mueller (Chair of Natl Security Studies & Prof of Pol Sci, Ohio State U). NY: Oxford UP, Nov 2009/320p/$27.95. Obsession with nuclear weapons is unsupported by history, fact, or logic: nukes have had little impact on history, they have inspired overwrought policies and distorted spending priorities, and have proven militarily useless. Anxieties about use by terrorists are essentially baseless.  (SECURITY * NUCLEAR WEAPONS)

  

Sustainability by Design: A Subversive Strategy for Transforming Our Consumer Culture. John R. Ehrenfeld (www.johnehrenfeld.com; director, Int’l Society for Industrial Ecology; Senior Research Scholar, Yale School of Forestry). Yale U Press, Aug 2009/272p/$17pb (hc Feb 2008/$28). Former director of the MIT Program on Technology, Business, and Environment argues that eco-efficiency and corporate social responsibility are band-aids, discusses consumption as addiction and adaptive government, and proposes a new definition of sustainability as the possibility that humans and other life will flourish on Earth forever. (SUSTAINABILITY * CONSUMPTION)

 

Linkages of Sustainability. Edited by Thomas Graedel (Director, Center for Industrial Ecology, Yale U) and Ester van der Voet (Inst. for Env. Sciences, U of Leiden). Cambridge: MIT Press, Nov 2009/430p/$40. The multiple components of sustainability, all demanding attention, make understanding the concept itself a challenge; these essays on the linkages and the constraints among the components argue for a comprehensive view of sustainability, a transformation in the way we view it. (ENVIRONMENT * SUSTAINABILITY)

 

Treasures of the Earth: Need, Greed, and a Sustainable Future. Saleem H. Ali (Assoc Prof of Env. Studies, U of Vermont). Yale U Press, Oct 2009/320p/$30. A natural history of consumption and materialism, arguing that simply disavowing consumption of materials is not likely to help in planning for a resource-scarce future. Rather, a new environmental paradigm is proposed that accepts our need to consume “treasure” responsibly but warns of our concomitant need to conserve, to distinguish between needs and wants, and to alleviate global poverty. (SUSTAINABILITY * CONSUMPTION * RESOURCES)

 

The New Economics: A Bigger Picture. David Boyle and Andrew Simms (both New Economics Foundation, London). London & Sterling VA: Earthscan, Oct 2009/160p/$24.95. A new economics derived from Ruskin and Schumacher, turning assumptions about wealth and poverty upside down: real wealth can be measured by increased well-being and environmental sustainability, rather than consuming more things. (ENVIRONMENT * SUSTAINABILITY * ECONOMICS)

 

Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet. Tim Jackson (Prof of Sustainable Development, U of Surrey). London & Sterling VA: Earthscan, Nov 2009/160p/$22.50. Challenges unquestioned assumptions of the global policy of growth, arguing that continuing growth is not possible. (ENVIRONMENT * SUSTAINABILITY * ECONOMICS)

  

Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications (Second Edition). Herman F. Daly (Prof of Economics, U of Maryland) and Joshua Farley (Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, U of Vermont). Washington: Island Press, Oct 2009/488p/$50. An introductory-level textbook designed to address the significant flaw in conventional economics that excludes biophysical and social systems, thus ignoring many costs. The interdisciplinary framework embraces linkages between economic growth, environmental degradation, and social inequity. (First published in Jan 2004/454p.) (ENVIRONMENT * ECONOMICS)

 

100 Per Cent Renewable: Energy Autonomy in Action. Edited by Peter Droege. London & Sterling VA: Earthscan, Nov 2009/368p/$56. The great challenge of our time is building a world based on sustainable use of renewable power; many see a 100% renewable world as an impossible dream, but a growing number of plans and initiatives are making the change and many have already achieved it. (ENERGY * SUSTAINABILITY)

 

Factor Five: Transferring the Global Economy Through 80% Improvements in Resource Productivity. Report to the Club of Rome. Ernst von Weizsäcker (Emmendingen, Germany) and four others. London & Sterling VA: Earthscan, Dec 2009/400p/$39.95. Sequel to Factor Four (von Weizsacker/Lovins/Lovins, 1997) on the unique historic opportunity to scale up resource efficiency and radically transform the global economy with 80%+ improvements in energy productivity, water use, transport, buildings, and materials, based on concepts such as bio-mimicry and whole system design. (CLUB OF ROME * RESOURCES * ENERGY * WATER)

The Myth of Resource Efficiency: The Jevons Paradox. John M. Polimeni (Albany College of Pharmacy), Kozo Mayumi (U of Tokushima), Mario Giampietro (U Autonoma de Barcelona), and Blake Alcott (Zurich). Foreword by Joseph A. Taintor. London & Sterling VA: Earthscan, July 2009/184p/$$24.95pb. First published in 2008 as The Jevons Paradox and the Myth of Resource Efficiency Improvements, the authors explain a paradox first expressed in 1865 that an increase in efficiency in using a resource leads to increased use of that resource; thus it may be a false hope that future technological innovations in energy, etc. will reduce consumption of resources. (RESOURCES * ENERGY)

 

Communication Power. Manuel Castells (Prof of Communication, USC; Distinguished Visiting Prof, MIT & Oxford U). NY: Oxford UP, Sept 2009/608p/$34.95. A leading communication theorist and author of The Information Age trilogy argues that power now lies in the hands of those who understand or control communication; also discusses the new network society of instant messaging, global media deregulation, the role of the Internet in the Obama campaign for president, media control in China and Russia, and the worldwide crisis of political legitimacy. (COMMUNICATION * WORLD POLITICS)

 

Wiki Government: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful. Beth Simone Noveck (Prof of Law, NYU). Washington: Brookings Institution Press, June 2009/224p/$28.95. Shows how collaborative democracy can be designed, and how it opens policymaking to greater participation; includes a case study of inviting the public to join in examining patent applications, radically transforming the process, and proposes policy wikis and civic juries. (GOVERNANCE * DEMOCRACY)

  

The Democracy Index: Why Our Election System Is Failing and How to Fix It. Heather K. Gerken (Prof of Election Law, Yale Law School). Princeton UP, May 2009/216p/$24.95. Diagnoses what is wrong with US elections and proposes a radically new and simple solution with incentives for reform: a Democracy Index that rates the performance of state and local elections systems, similar to the USN&WR annual ranking of colleges and universities; indicators would include how long it takes to vote, how many ballots are discarded, how often voting machines break down, etc. (GOVERNMENT * ELECTIONS)

 

The Constitution in 2020. Edited by Jack Balkin and Reva Siegel (both Profs of Law, Yale U). NY: Oxford UP, June 2009/336p/$19.95pb. Offers a blueprint for implementing a more progressive vision of constitutional law in the years ahead, considering the challenge of new technologies, presidential power, international human rights, religious liberty, freedom of speech, voting, reproductive rights, and economic rights. [ALSO SEE A More Perfect Constitution: 23 Proposals by Larry J. Sabato (Walker & Co, 2007) and A Bill of Rights for 21st Century America by Joseph F. Coates (Kanawha Institute, 2007.] (GOVERNANCE * U.S. CONSTITUTION)

  

Bioethics in the Age of New Media. Joanna Zylinska (Reader in Communications, Goldsmith’s, U of London). Cambridge: MIT Press, April 2009/240p/$30. The paramount bioethical issue in an age of digital technology is the transformation of the very notion of life; a new “ethics of life” is proposed, rooted in the kinship between the humans, animals, and machines. (BIOETHICS * ETHICS OF LIFE)

 

Addiction: A Disorder of Choice. Gene M. Heyman (Lecturer in Psychology, Harvard Medical School). Cambridge: Harvard UP, May 2009/176p/$26.95. Argues that the conventional wisdom about addiction as a disease and a compulsion beyond conscious control is wrong; just as there are successful dieters, there are successful ex-drug addicts; indeed, addiction is the psychiatric disorder with the highest rate of recovery. (HEALTH * DRUG ADDICTION)

 

More Than Genes: What Science Can Tell Us About Toxic Chemicals, Development and the Risk to Our Children. Dan Agin (Emeritus Associate Prof of Molecular Genetics, U of Chicago and columnist for Huffington Post). NY: Oxford UP, Dec 2009/256p/$27.95. Adding to the nature-nurture debate, it is argued that the fetal environment can be just as crucial as genetic hardwiring or later environment in determining intelligence and behavior. Stress during pregnancy and environmental toxins leads to IQ differences in racial/ethnic groups. (TOXIC CHEMICALS * CHILDREN)

About Michael Marien