Michael Breen

This book examines how election news reporting has changed over the last half century in Ireland by means of a unique dataset involving 25m words from newspapers as well as radio and television coverage. The authors examine reporting in terms of framing, tone and the distribution of coverage.They also focus on how the economy has affected election coverage as well as media reporting of leaders and personalities, gender and the effect of the commercial basis of media outlets. The findings - drawn from a machine learning computer system involving a huge content analysis study - will interest academics as well as politicians and policymakers internationally.

Nations built on exclusion and assimilation, decades of civil war, widespread poverty, authoritarianism and the decline of democracy. Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka are travelling a road to federalism. Institutions and ethnic identity have interacted to privilege some and marginalise others. But when the right conditions prevail, political equality can be restored. This book charts the origins and evolution of federalism and other approaches to the accommodation of minority ethnic groups in Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. It applies a historical institutionalism methodology to understand why federalism has been resisted, what causes it to be established and what design options are most likely to balance otherwise competing centripetal and centrifugal forces. Breen shows how Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka are finding a middle ground whereby deliberative and moderating institutions are combined with accommodating ones to support a political equality among groups and individuals.

This book examines how election news reporting has changed over the last half century in Ireland by means of a unique dataset involving 25m words from newspapers as well as radio and television coverage. The authors examine reporting in terms of framing, tone and the distribution of coverage.They also focus on how the economy has affected election coverage as well as media reporting of leaders and personalities, gender and the effect of the commercial basis of media outlets. The findings - drawn from a machine learning computer system involving a huge content analysis study - will interest academics as well as politicians and policymakers internationally.

In the beginning ... there was a meeting, and the gods decided how to parcel the earth among themselves; Yahweh kept Israel for himself. Then something goes wrong: snake shows up, Adam and Eve are kicked out of Eden, and they end up in the portions of the earth reserved to the other gods. Chaos follows: Cain sacrifices Abel to Yahweh and cannibalizes him. One of the lost tribes of Israel ends up in Hell. A medieval anchorite imprisons herself in a hermit's cell, trying to escape Hell. A poor fundamentalist preacher is given a sacred charm, sells it, and seizes power in the name of Christ. A holy huddle of Christians tries to seal itself off from the sin of the world in a high-security bunker, schisms, and reunites against the threat of a holy impostor. Scientists at the famous CERN laboratory dethrone God while looking for the God Particle. God laughs. What do these fables have in common? They are untold stories of the Bible; stories that will provoke and perhaps insult you. Each carefully researched story in Modern Myths originates in a passage from scripture, and tells a tale of the pervasive shadow side of God and religion in the beginning, through the arc of history, and in the scientific instruments used to look back at the beginning.

Nations built on exclusion and assimilation, decades of civil war, widespread poverty, authoritarianism and the decline of democracy. Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka are travelling a road to federalism. Institutions and ethnic identity have interacted to privilege some and marginalise others. But when the right conditions prevail, political equality can be restored. This book charts the origins and evolution of federalism and other approaches to the accommodation of minority ethnic groups in Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. It applies a historical institutionalism methodology to understand why federalism has been resisted, what causes it to be established and what design options are most likely to balance otherwise competing centripetal and centrifugal forces. Breen shows how Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka are finding a middle ground whereby deliberative and moderating institutions are combined with accommodating ones to support a political equality among groups and individuals.

Since it was first established in the 1970s the Applied Linguistics and Language Study series has become a major force in the study of practical problems in human communication and language education. Drawing extensively on empirical research and theoretical work in linguistics, sociology, psychology and education, the series explores key issues in language acquisition and language use. What the learner contributes is central to the language learning process. Learner Contributions to Language Learning provides a uniquely comprehensive account of learners' personal attributes, their thinking, their feelings, and their actions that have been shown to have an impact upon language learning.Containing specific chapters from leading names in the field, this book provides both a review of what has been discovered from previous research and identifies important future directions for research on learner contributions. It is a landmark volume setting the agenda for language learning research in the 21st century and it provides invaluable information for all those engaged in language teaching.The contributors to the volume are-Michael P. Breen Bonny NortonAnna Chamot Rebecca OxfordRod Ellis Anna PavlenkoJames P. Lantolf Anita WendenDiane Larsen-Freeman

Updated to incorporate information on the growing unrest with North Korea, an incisive look at Korea, the history of its people, and the country itself examines how far the Koreans have come and where their advances will take them in the future, as well as how they will effect the world.