Peter Lawler

A comprehensive and accessible introduction to international relations theories with a unique emphasis on positioning IR theories within their social, political, and historical contexts to help students fully understand IR theories and their influence. A comprehensive first introduction to international relations theories which encourages students to fully understand the purpose and function of IR theory. Readers are introduced to each IR theory and asked to consider the social, political, and historical context within which the theory emerged. Pedagogical features such as 'Think Critically' and 'Twisting the lens' provide the tools students need to apply IR theory to global issues. A comprehensive introduction to mainstream IR theories and critical approaches to IR, explained within the social, political, and historical context, to demonstrate that theory does not emerge from a vacuum. An expert authorial voice guides students through the required material in a gentle, reassuring pace, with an accessible and concise style, without shying away from the more complex theories and concepts. A clear and consistent structure and pedagogical framework of key terms, key concepts, key events, and key thinkers, to enable students with little or no knowledge of theory to develop a strong theoretical understanding, supported by easy-to-navigate points of reference. Critical reflection on new theoretical knowledge is encouraged by 'Think Critically' questions that are supported by hints and tips to guide avenues of thought. Opportunities to apply theory to today's events and issues and to practise using theory to analyse and interpret important societal concerns Available as an e-book enhanced with self-assessment activities and multi-media content to offer a fully immersive experience and extra learning support

A small village that had existed for many generations in a remote valley was peremptorily destroyed in the late 19th century to build a reservoir, and the embittered villagers never accepted its loss. One of them had a vision which became their shared aspiration and guide. It was that the reservoir would be drained and their village restored. On their deaths, the people of the valley each retained spirit form and, while the majority retreated into the trees to await the realisation of the vision, three of them found themselves with the task of delivering it. Extraordinary measures for this extraordinary vision came into play to determine the outcome that ultimately transpired. Although the often conflicting endeavours of the chosen three were always instrumental in shaping it, other unexpected and influential forces emerged which utterly transformed it.

A systematic and comprehensive study of the early performance of New Labour in power. It brings together the results of a co-ordinated research initiative underway in the Department of Government at the University of Manchester, charting the developing relationship between election promise and government policy across the whole sweep of New Labour's manifesto agenda. Each chapter examines New Labour's initial comments, charts opening policy moves, and traces policy trajectories in each major department of state; so generating a comprehensive audit of New Labour's electoral fidelity and an academically-informed assessment of New Labour's likely policy trajectory though its first period of office.

The eleven essays in this collection examine the relationship between institutional structures and community integration, offering practical insights to increase social capital and strengthen social institutions.A variety of social institutions are analyzed. Three chapters cover political legal issues, two cover religion, three address education, and two examine the macrostructures of the military and the economy. An important collection for scholars and other researchers interested in the communitarian movement, sociology, and political science, particularly for those in public administration.

There is a crisis in America revolving around social and political life, and the contributors to this essay collection believe it has provoked a renewed attention to the issue of community in political thought. The 14 essays approach the question of community and political thought from a variety of perspectives, ranging from political philosophy to social theory. All the essays, however, share the concern of the opening essay by Hertzke and McRorie about moral ecology, or determining what is required for a vital and free social and political life and preserving it from erosion by individualism in its various forms.Two of the essays, by Jardine and Stier, deal with understanding the communitarian impulse. Three, by Frohnen, Stone, and Woolfolk, evaluate perhaps the first major contribution to the communitarian movement, Habits of the Heart. While McClay's chapter seeks to restore the connection between federalism and communitarianism, Sharpe's essay connects the liberal-communitarian debate to the classic works of de Tocqueville and Arendt. Two essays, by Knippenberg and Lawler, criticize the quirky communitarianism of America's leading professor of philosophy, Richard Rorty. Lawler also criticizes Bloom for his similarity to Rorty, joining Nichols in her discussion of Bloom's excessive debt to Rousseau. McDaniel and Mahoney present unfashionable appreciations, not without criticism, of the achievement of Leo Strauss's illiberal if not exactly communitarian thought. Finally, Anderson discusses Raymond Aron's prudent opposition to the oxymoronic global community. This is a unique and significant collection for all students and researchers interested in contemporary social and political thought.