Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2023 -

This is an important book, both challenging and humble, that never loses its sight on an incredibly important question for the continent: How applicable is liberal democracy for Africa? More specifically, the volume breaks that huge question into three smaller ones: Is democracy universally applicable or in need of cultural adaptation? Is the Western model of liberal democracy actually hurting African democratization? Is there a role for African political thought in designing more successful models of democracy? Perhaps more impressively, the edited volume is equally dedicated to three parts: one fully justifying the Africa Beyond Liberal Democracy Project; one offering critiques of the project--something rarely done in works today, unfortunately; and one examining a host of diverse, individual proposals for context-relevant African models of democracy. Consequently, the volume sets the table completely and humbly seeks to offer real answers to deep philosophical questions. This is no standard "woke" piece of scholarship that simply wants to blame all of contemporary Africa's problems on historical colonialism and neocolonialism. Rather, it accurately shows how this historical legacy still matters while not bowing to a rigid path for moving forward. As such, it is a welcome addition to the literature.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates through faculty; professionals; general readers.

Stallard's exceptional reporting draws attention to the measured, strategized rise of authoritarian power in China, North Korea, and Russia. She thoroughly explains how the current leadership in these nations has responded to both internal and external threats by doubling down on the national mythologies and past military conflicts that brought their predecessors to power around the end of World War II. The book lays out in parallel the rise of Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un, and Vladimir Putin as they built support under the guise of being benevolent leaders with stories of embellished victories and false histories while using threats, mandatory reeducation programs, and unmerited detainment to stifle political challenges. Stallard (senior editor, New Statesman) cautions that understanding how nuclear-capable nations manipulate national pride and revisionist histories is critical to apprehending the growing threat of authoritarianism. Anyone looking to delve deeper into this reporting will find an extensive source list to explore. Given the current conflict in Ukraine and the renewed friction between the US and China, this a gripping and necessary read.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates through faculty; general readers.

In his remarkable book, Drevon (Geneva Graduate Institute, Switzerland) advances a well-grounded theoretical understanding of the radicalization and de-radicalization of Salafi groups and the centrality of institutionalization to the groups' strategic choices. Drevon's excellent book draws on unique materials gathered through extensive, in-country research in Egypt, which convincingly shows how different types of jihadist organizational patterns influence the trajectories of the groups, including their chances for conflict termination and political accommodation. This richly researched project is excellent scholarship because of the exceptional access Drevon had to historical figures in Egypt's most influential jihadist groups, which provides unique insight into strategic decision-making within militant organizations. The author analyzes each group's behavioral and ideological radicalization in parallel and argues that jihadist groups can transform themselves and become more mainstream political actors. This approach contends that armed groups embracing violence do not merely adopt "radical" ideas. Rather, they resort to violence as the result of changing patterns of interactions among different actors.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates through faculty; professionals; general readers.

Set against the backdrop of rising authoritarianism in ostensibly liberal democracies--most notably, the emergence of Trumpism in the US--the essays in this volume interrogate the use of the law for anti-liberal purposes. In their own ways, the five essays grapple with the tensions inherent in a governing system predicated on both individual liberties and state sovereignty. The chapters explore subjects that include the corrosive effects of neoliberalism, censorship and the politics of free speech, democracy and administrative governance, authoritarian truth-denialism, and the public harm of conspiratorial thinking. Taken together, the essays paint a troubling picture of the contemporary state of liberalism and the liberal belief in individual autonomy and rights. With its focus on the challenges contemporary liberal democracy faces, the book recalls other recent titles, including Jason Stanley's How Fascism Works (Penguin Random House, 2018), Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt's How Democracies Die (Crown, 2018), and Masha Gessen's Surviving Autocracy (Penguin Random House, 2020). This book arrives at a crucial moment, offering a theoretically rich account of the dangers liberalism faces today.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates through faculty and general readers.

The essays in this collection account for the "new authoritarian practices" of 13 MENA states, including Iran, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. The authors take a distinctive approach to authoritarianism by examining the "micro-practices of repression" and the specific, innovative means that different regimes employ to quell dissent. As evidenced in Libya and Iraq, authoritarian practices may outlive authoritarian regimes; they are revised, recalibrated, and reinvented into new practices. The authors identify many micro-practices of repression in various MENA states, including police control; emergency and anti-terror laws; digital surveillance; control of the media and civil society through censorship; and gender-specific forms of violence against women, such as sexual violence and virginity tests. As the studies of Turkey and Israel show, these practices are not always political, cultural, or region-specific. Further, democracies are not immune to them. This illuminating study goes beyond macro-level and structural mechanisms to explain authoritarianism. It is a valuable contribution for scholars, policy makers, and students of comparative politics.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

In the first decade of this century, Levitsky (Latin American Studies, Harvard Univ.) and Way (Univ. of Toronto, Canada) developed the seminal concept and analysis of "electoral authoritarianism" and applied it to regimes in various parts of the world. This book is similarly monumental in its ambition and breadth, showing how authoritarian regimes rooted in violent social revolutions are much more durable than other authoritarian regimes, especially if they are radical and strongly ideological rather than accommodationist. Their nuanced argument has two parts. The first is about the factors (or as they say, "pillars") that make authoritarian regimes long-lasting: a cohesive ruling elite, a powerful and loyal coercive apparatus, and a weak and divided social opposition to a strong state. The second part is about how revolution facilitates these factors specifically when there is a violent, but ultimately unsuccessful, counterreaction to radicalism, producing a "siege mentality." The authors apply their argument to 20 revolutionary regimes, including 13 in-depth case studies. Their analysis is crucial, not least because, overall, there is not as much scholarly focus on authoritarian regimes as regime types. The appendices are detailed, and the references are impressively comprehensive. This is a pathbreaking and must-have work of comparative historical analysis--and a riveting read to boot.Summing Up: Essential. Advanced undergraduates through faculty and professionals.

Kocabicak (sociology, Open Univ., England) makes an essential contribution to scholarship on patriarchal social structures in capitalist societies and the abilities of dominant groups to hold power, resist demands for change from feminist movements, and maintain a stratified order based on race, class, and gender. The book is divided into two main parts: a theoretical analysis of capitalist development and its political implications and a case study of Turkey with comparisons to the Global South. Kocabicak bases her analysis on sound empirical research. She provides insight into how the patriarchal order affects the place of women and their organizations in the socioeconomic system based on class and ethnic attributes. She concludes with a compelling discussion of the drivers and dampers of social change in capitalist and racist systems. She describes an exit strategy for women by diversifying their labor, breaking away from the hegemony of domestic patriarchies, confronting and working to change antidemocratic racist regimes, and forming a strategic alliance between feminist movements. This is a breathtaking study that will stand the test of time.Summing Up: Essential. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

This book is an outstanding analysis of one of the most urgent issues in Latin American politics: the impact of new participatory institutions on the conflict between extractive companies and nearby communities. In recent decades and in numerous Latin American countries, extractive industries have been important to economic growth but have also contaminated the land and water of Indigenous communities. To resolve the conflicts between companies and communities, governments adopt reforms, including processes of prior consultation, assessments of environmental impact, and payments to communities. With thorough research into a set of 30 conflicts in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru--including numerous interviews with both company employees and community leaders--Jaskoski (Northern Arizona Univ.) finds that these new institutions matter. However, though communities sometimes channeled their concerns through formal institutions, at other times, groups mobilized around or in reaction to the formal institutions. Further, as companies extended benefits to communities hurt by resource extraction, nearby communities were likely to contest their boundaries to qualify for benefits. Rich in case detail and pathbreaking in theoretical analysis, this book is a major contribution.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates through faculty and professionals.

Understanding Global Migration is a big book that tries to do big things by reaching beyond the usual sites of migration research to explore migration as a global phenomenon. The authors use a few key examples from different regions to build a theory about the nature of contemporary migration. They assert from the outset that certain things matter when analyzing modern migration regimes: (1) the state, (2) a historical and comparative approach, (3) human rights, and (4) migration as an engine of development. The authors organize the book into four sections representing the varieties of migration regimes: the postcolonial migration state informing African and the Middle Eastern illiberal modes; the developmental migration state as a source of and for development in Asia; the liberal and settler migration state behind the multiple nativist and inclusionary traditions in the Americas; and the liberal and post-imperial migration state reflecting the end of European colonialism, the transition from mass emigration to immigration, and conflicts over a comprehensive European policy. Theoretically rich chapters are matched by accessible empirical data. The authors are delightfully candid in evaluating migration governance and holes in understanding.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.