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Political meritocrats believe political power should be allocated according to virtue and competence. It is an old idea, going back at least to Plato. But what is old is new again, as several political philosophers have recently proposed and defended novel articulations of this ancient idea. The purpose of this short monograph is to offer a critical overview of this literature. I cover three schools of thought. I first look at epistocracy, a form of government identical to modern liberal democracies, except voting power is allocated to citizens according to competence. I then turn to Confucian meritocracy, where more blatantly nondemocratic forms of political meritocracy are defended. I finally look at democratic meritocracy, which is the idea that elections either do or could (if they were appropriately reformed) select virtuous and competent leaders. I end by offering reasons to think the entire enterprise of political meritocracy rests on a mistake.

When George H. W. Bush ascended to the American presidency in 1989, one of the more urgent relationships that he was faced with building was that with Israel's Yitzhak Shamir. Drawing on newly declassified materials, from American and Israeli state and non-state archives, this book reveals the complexities of a relationship defined by both deep cooperation and sharp tensions. From the peace process to loan guarantees, from military aid to emotional diplomacy, The Strained Alliance uncovers the debates, conflicts, and strategic decisions that shaped this critical period between 1989–1992. In doing so, David Tal challenges the traditional perception that US-Israel relations were dominated by policy disagreements, highlighting instead the broader foundation of collaboration that endured behind the scenes. Tal provides fresh insights into the intricate dynamics of diplomacy, ideology, and leadership, offering a balanced perspective on one of the most pivotal chapters in US-Israel history.

In this major new interpretation of Sino-North Korean relations, Gregg A. Brazinsky argues that neither the PRC nor the DPRK would have survived as socialist states without the ideal of Sino-North Korean friendship. Chinese and North Korean leaders encouraged mutual empathy and sentimental attachments between their citizens and then used these emotions to strengthen popular commitment to socialist state building. Drawing on an array of previously unexamined Chinese and North Korean sources, Brazinsky shows how mutual empathy helped to shape political, military, and cultural interactions between the two socialist allies. He explains why the unique relationship that Beijing and Pyongyang forged during the Korean War remained important throughout the Cold War and how it continues to influence the international relations of East Asia today.

In this seminal study, Peter J. Katzenstein drags the analysis of world politics from the Newtonian humanism of the nineteenth century into a new post-Newtonianism of the twenty-first. The key concept is entanglement. By examining differences in context, process, and language, Katzenstein specifies how risk and uncertainty intertwine. Three deeply researched case studies – finance and political economy, nuclear crisis politics and war, and global warming and AI – support his original arguments. A chapter on power further illustrates the risk-uncertainty conundrum. Entanglements in World Politics calls for humility and eclectic pragmatism, emphasizing the unity of knowledge of the natural and humanistic sciences and the complementarities of science and religion. Katzenstein's engaging writing and innovative approach make this a must-read for anyone interested in the complexities of global politics. This book is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

What does 'Irish romanticism' mean and when did Ireland become romantic? How does Irish romanticism differ from the literary culture of late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain, and what qualities do they share? Claire Connolly proposes an understanding of romanticism as a temporally and aesthetically distinct period in Irish culture, during which literature flourished in new forms and styles, evidenced in the lives and writings of such authors as Thomas Dermody, Mary Tighe, Maria Edgeworth, Lady Morgan, Thomas Moore, Charles Maturin, John Banim, Gerald Griffin, William Carleton and James Clarence Mangan. Their books were written, sold, circulated and read in Ireland, Britain and America and as such were caught up in the shifting dramas of a changing print culture, itself shaped by asymmetries of language, power and population. Connolly meets that culture on its own terms and charts its history.

Why did the nonviolent Meerut mutiny of 1857 in India explode into a violent military revolt? Breaking new ground on the events of May 10, William Pinch reexamines the evidence, shifting our focus toward the identity of female participants and their actions in the hours before the revolt began. Drawing upon a wide range of sources, including Hindi folksongs, military records, police reports, literary fiction, and Urdu memoir, he creates snapshots from the perspective of key figures to uncover the social and emotional world of the military 'cantonment' and its rural hinterland. By foregrounding the lives of ordinary 'military women' and 'their men' - the Indian sepoys who peopled the revolt - Pinch challenges conventional narratives and guides readers through the literary and historiographical echoes of the fateful decision to take up arms against the British.

Fathers influence their children's development in many ways, including financially and emotionally, but the literature revealing how and why is limited. This book brings together theoretical orientations and different disciplinary lenses to the study of how and why fathers matter for children's development. It challenges the commonly held view that fathers are only economic providers and points to the complex interplay between the love fathers have for their children and the money they have (or not) to support them. By integrating developmental science with economics, and drawing on real-life examples from qualitative research, the authors argue that fatherhood is a tale of two stories: love and money.

The book provides a detailed analysis of important work in queer and trans studies over the past thirty years. Stretching from early figures (such as Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Judith Butler, Cathy Cohen, José Munoz, and Sandy Stone) to the most recent scholarship, it offers a rich account of these fields' major ideas and contributions while indicating how they have evolved. Centering race and empire, the book offers extended discussion of work in Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian American studies as well as engaging the Global South. The Introduction further addresses historical considerations of sexuality and gender identity, and queer and trans temporalities, while also providing a robust account of social and political movements that preceded the emergence of queer and trans studies as scholarly fields. Accessible for those unfamiliar with these areas of study, it is also a great resource for those already working in them.

This book examines the role of the European Court of Human Rights in promoting standards of effective civil justice in Europe. It defines judicial effectiveness as composed of three main components, namely the length, cost and predictability of proceedings. Following a comprehensive review of the relevant case law, the book argues that the legal standards established by the Court in these areas are rather modest, and that the legal reasoning behind them is predominantly formalist. Rather than developing an understanding of the relevant policy choices that determine the institutional framework of civil justice, the Court bases its decisions on abstract concepts like 'reasonable time', 'access to court' and 'legal certainty'. By sidelining the key institutional issues such as resource allocation and incentives, the Court has produced a largely theoretical case law that actually has little value for persons who wish to enforce their rights in courts.

New ideas of security spelled the end of piracy on the Mediterranean Sea during the nineteenth century. As European states ended their military conflicts and privateering wars against one another, they turned their attention to the 'Barbary pirates' of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli. Naval commanders, diplomats, merchant lobbies and activists cooperated for the first time against this shared threat. Together, they installed a new order of security at sea. Drawing on European and Ottoman archival records – from diplomatic correspondence and naval journals to songs, poems and pamphlets – Erik de Lange explores how security was used in the nineteenth century to legitimise the repression of piracy. This repression brought European imperial expansionism and colonial rule to North Africa. By highlighting the crucial role of security within international relations, Menacing Tides demonstrates how European cooperation against shared threats remade the Mediterranean and unleashed a new form of collaborative imperialism.

This Element is concerned with narrative as a mode of knowing. It draws attention to the epistemic value of historical narrative qua narrative. This it does not only in an abstract sense, but also with the help of recent works of history. Special attention is given to narrative sentences and narrative theses. A narrative thesis redescribes the actions and events the historian is concerned with and allows for the temporal whole or unity we associate with narrative, with its beginning, middle, and end. A thesis, it is argued, is indispensable and qualifies the work of historians as narrative.  The concern with narrative has not lost any of its relevance, for the simple reason that it informs us about history as an academic discipline and the knowledge it produces. For as long as historians decide what events are important in their past and for what reason, they will rely on narrative.

The book provides a detailed analysis of important work in queer and trans studies over the past thirty years. Stretching from early figures (such as Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Judith Butler, Cathy Cohen, José Munoz, and Sandy Stone) to the most recent scholarship, it offers a rich account of these fields' major ideas and contributions while indicating how they have evolved. Centering race and empire, the book offers extended discussion of work in Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian American studies as well as engaging the Global South. The Introduction further addresses historical considerations of sexuality and gender identity, and queer and trans temporalities, while also providing a robust account of social and political movements that preceded the emergence of queer and trans studies as scholarly fields. Accessible for those unfamiliar with these areas of study, it is also a great resource for those already working in them.

The Taft Court offers the definitive history of the Supreme Court from 1921 to 1930 when William Howard Taft was Chief Justice. Using untapped archival material, Robert C. Post engagingly recounts the ambivalent effort to create a modern American administrative state out of the institutional innovations of World War I. He shows how the Court sought to establish authoritative forms of constitutional interpretation despite the culture wars that enveloped prohibition and pervasive labor unrest. He explores in great detail how constitutional law responds to altered circumstances. The work provides comprehensive portraits of seminal figures such as Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. and Louis Dembitz Brandeis. It describes William Howard Taft's many judicial reforms and his profound alteration of the role of Chief Justice. A critical and timely contribution, The Taft Court sheds light on jurisprudential debates that are just as relevant today as they were a century ago.

Play has a significant role in children's learning and development. Play in the Early Years examines the central questions about play from the perspectives of children, families and educators, providing a comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of play for children from birth to eight years. In its fourth edition, Play in the Early Years has been thoroughly updated in line with the revised Early Years Learning Framework and the new version of the Australian Curriculum. It takes both a both a theoretical and a practical approach, and covers recent research into conceptual play and wellbeing. The text looks at social, cultural and institutional approaches to play, and explores a range of strategies for successfully integrating play into early years settings and primary classrooms. Each chapter features case studies and play examples, with questions and reflection activities incorporated throughout to enhance learners' understanding.

An entire forgotten corpus of US writing on the Nazi German enemy boomed in a matter of a few years, peaked during World War II, and collapsed within months of the war ending. For a fleeting moment in history, significant parts of the intellectual world in the United States converged to provide a cool-headed analysis of the Nazi threat and a clear identification of the enemy. Starting in 1944, these writers also offered an elaborate plan for a postwar re-education that would transform the National Socialist German nation into a democratic ally. Readers alarmed by the current resurgence of authoritarianism will learn from the work of those activists who analyzed Nazi Germany during World War II. This book, the first monographic study of this literature, provides pointed introductions to the main intellectual projects, their unique collaborative spirit, and their epochal results.

This Element considers pregnant women and their costumes in the staging of Shakespeare's plays. It examines the connections between a character's costume and the changing social conventions of pregnancy. It questions mid twentieth century productions' reduction and elimination of well-established visible pregnancy costumes. It considers the role played by the sexual revolution in the sixties in visible pregnancy's reinstatement. The Element focusses on the varied significance of its presence to actors and directors and explores the archives to chart this previously under-examined interaction between social conventions, costumes, and the actors who wear them.