Princeton University Press strana 6 z 24

Why elites always rule democracies—and why recognizing that reality can help us respond to the crisis of democracy todayA central paradox of democracies is that they are always ruled by elites. What can democracy mean in this context? Today, it is often said that a populist revolt against elites is driving democratic politics throughout the West. But in Elites and Democracy, Hugo Drochon argues that democracy is more accurately and usefully understood as a perpetual struggle among competing elites—between rising elites and ruling elites. Real political change comes from the interaction between social movements and elite political institutions such as parties. But, although true democracy—the rule of the people—may never be achieved, striving towards it can bring about worthwhile democratic results.At the turn of the twentieth century, Gaetano Mosca, Vilfredo Pareto, and Robert Michels put forward “elite” theories of democracy and gave us terms such as the “ruling class” and “elites” itself. Drawing on their work and tracing the history of democratic thought through figures such as Joseph Schumpeter, Robert Dahl, C. Wright Mills, and Raymond Aron, Elites and Democracy reveals that this fundamentally elitist basis of democracy—democracy understood as competition between elites—was there all along. The challenge is to think it anew.Moving away from procedural or principled conceptions of democracy, Elites and Democracy develops a dynamic theory of democracy, one grounded in movement. With current politics defined by a populist backlash against elites, dynamic democracy offers the tools we urgently need to understand our contemporary predicament and to act upon it.

A marvelously illustrated look at bats from around the worldThe only mammals capable of flight, bats are found on every major continent on the planet. They perform crucial roles in the ecosystems they inhabit, from consuming insect pests over agricultural crops and forests to pollinating night-flowering plants, dispersing seeds in tropical biomes, and recycling nutrients and creating natural fertilizer. Many of the world’s 1,400 species are threatened or endangered due to habitat destruction, climate change, and persecution arising from harmful myths. This beautifully illustrated guide demystifies these fascinating creatures, blending the latest science with fact-filled profiles of representative species, from the tiny bumblebee bat to the imposing giant golden crowned flying fox. A must for bat lovers everywhere, Bats of the World showcases the extraordinary diversity of this incredible group of animals. Features a wealth of stunning color photos and engaging infographicsShares invaluable insights into the anatomy, evolution, and behavior of bats and their cultural and ecological importanceProfiles bats from every family, detailing their unique features, distribution, numbers, conservation status, and habitatWritten by leading experts in bat ecology and conservation

A history that reframes the Bolsheviks’ unprecedented attempts to abolish private property after the revolutions of 1917 The revolutions of 1917 swept away not only Russia’s governing authority but also the property order on which it stood. The upheaval sparked waves of dispossession that rapidly moved beyond the seizure of factories and farms from industrialists and landowners, envisioned by Bolshevik revolutionaries, to penetrate the bedrock of social life: the spaces where people lived. In Power and Possession in the Russian Revolution, Anne O’Donnell reimagines the Bolsheviks’ unprecedented effort to eradicate private property and to create a new political economy—socialism—to replace it. O’Donnell’s account captures the story of property in reverse, showing how the bonds connecting people to their things were broken and how new ways of knowing things, valuing them, and possessing them coalesced amid the political ferment and economic disarray of the Revolution. O’Donnell reminds us that Russia’s postrevolutionary confiscation of property, like many other episodes of mass dispossession in the twentieth century, largely escaped traditional forms of record keeping. She repairs this omission, drawing on sources that chronicle the lived experience of upheaval—popular petitions, apartment inspections, internal audits of revolutionary institutions, and records of the political police—to reconstruct an archive of dispossession. The result is an unusually intimate history of the Bolsheviks’ attempts to conquer people and things. The Bolsheviks’ reimagining of property not only changed peoples’ lives and destinies, it formed the foundation of a new type of state—one that eschewed the defense of private property rights in favor of an enduring but enigmatic new domain: socialist state property.

The complex and multifaceted relationship between economic factors and conflictIn this book, Stephen Brooks provides a systematic empirical and theoretical examination of how economic factors influence security affairs. Empirically, he analyzes how economic variables of all kinds affect interstate war, terrorism, and civil war; in total, sixteen pathways are examined. Brooks shows that the relationship between economic factors and conflict is complex and multifaceted; discrete economic factors—such as international trade, economic development, and globalized manufacturing, to name a few—are sometimes helpful for promoting peace and stability, but at other times are detrimental. Brooks also develops a stronger theoretical foundation for guiding future research on the economics-security interaction. Drawing on Adam Smith, he provides a more complete range of answers to the three key conceptual questions analysts must consider: how economic goals relate to security goals; what economic factors to focus on; and how economic actors influence security policies. Combining an innovative theoretical understanding with empirical rigor, Brooks’s account will reshape our understanding of the political economy of security.

A revolutionary new paradigm for understanding addictionWhy do people with addiction use drugs self-destructively? Why don’t they quit out of self-concern? Why does the rat in the experiment, alone in a cage, press the lever again and again for cocaine—to the point of death? In this pathbreaking book, Hanna Pickard proposes a new paradigm for understanding the puzzle of addiction. For too long, our thinking has been hostage to a false dichotomy: either addiction is a brain disease, or it is a moral failing. Pickard argues that it is neither, and that both models stifle addiction research and fail people who need help.Drawing on her expertise as an academic philosopher and her clinical work in a therapeutic community, Pickard explores the meaning of drugs for people with addiction and the diverse factors that keep them using despite the costs. People use drugs to cope with suffering—but also to self-harm, or even to die. Some identify as “addicts," while others are in denial or struggle with cravings and self-control. Social, cultural, and economic circumstances are crucial to explaining addiction—but brain pathology may also matter. By integrating addiction science with philosophy, clinical practice, and the psychology and voices of people with addiction themselves, Pickard shows why there is no one-size-fits-all theory or ethics of addiction. The result is a heterogeneous and humanistic paradigm for understanding and treating addiction, and a fresh way of thinking about responsibility, blame, and relationships with people who use drugs.

A major new history of the genocide of Roma and Jews during World War II and their entangled quest for historical justiceJews and Roma died side by side in the Holocaust, yet the world did not recognize their destruction equally. In the years and decades following the war, the Jewish experience of genocide increasingly occupied the attention of legal experts, scholars, educators, curators, and politicians, while the genocide of Europe’s Roma went largely ignored. Rain of Ash is the untold story of how Roma turned to Jewish institutions, funding sources, and professional networks as they sought to gain recognition and compensation for their wartime suffering. Ari Joskowicz vividly describes the experiences of Hitler’s forgotten victims and charts the evolving postwar relationship between Roma and Jews over the course of nearly a century. During the Nazi era, Jews and Roma shared little in common besides their simultaneous persecution. Yet the decades of entwined struggles for recognition have deepened Romani-Jewish relations, which now center not only on commemorations of past genocides but also on contemporary debates about antiracism and Zionism. Unforgettably moving and sweeping in scope, Rain of Ash is a revelatory account of the unequal yet necessary entanglement of Jewish and Romani quests for historical justice and self-representation that challenges us to radically rethink the way we remember the Holocaust.

An authoritative illustrated guide to the long-necked herbivores that roamed the dinosaur world, from the enormous Brontosaurus and Brachiosaurus to their prosauropod ancestorsNew discoveries are transforming our understanding of the sauropod and prosauropod dinosaurs, revealing startling new insights into the lives and look of these awesome herbivores. The Princeton Field Guide to Sauropod and Prosauropod Dinosaurs provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of the mighty plant eaters that ruled the earth for many tens of millions of years. This incredible guide covers some 275 species and features stunning illustrations of sauropodomorphs of many shapes and sizes. It discusses their history, anatomy, physiology, locomotion, reproduction, growth, size, and extinction, and even gives a taste of what it might be like to travel back to the Mesozoic. This one-of-a-kind guide also discusses the controversies surrounding these marvelous creatures, taking up such questions as the extreme size of the biggest land animals of all time and whether the super long-necked sauropods held their heads as high as multistory buildings. Features detailed species accounts of some 275 sauropod and prosauropod dinosaurs, with the latest size and mass estimatesShares new perspectives on iconic sauropodomorphs such as Plateosaurus and BrontosaurusCovers everything from the biology of sauropods and prosauropods to the colorful history of paleontologyFeatures a wealth of color and black-and-white drawings and figures, including life studies, scenic views, and original skeletal, skull, and muscle reconstructionsIncludes detailed color maps

How, over the course of five centuries, one particular god and one particular Christianity came to dominate late Roman imperial politics and piety The ancient Mediterranean teemed with gods. For centuries, a practical religious pluralism prevailed. How, then, did one particular god come to dominate the politics and piety of the late Roman Empire? In Ancient Christianities, Paula Fredriksen traces the evolution of early Christianity—or rather, of early Christianities—through five centuries of Empire, mapping its pathways from the hills of Judea to the halls of Rome and Constantinople. It is a story with a sprawling cast of characters: not only theologians, bishops, and emperors, but also gods and demons, angels and magicians, astrologers and ascetics, saints and heretics, aristocratic patrons and millenarian enthusiasts. All played their part in the development of what became and remains an energetically diverse biblical religion. The New Testament, as we know it, represents only a small selection of the many gospels, letters, acts of apostles, and revelations that circulated before the establishment of the imperial church. It tells how the gospel passed from Jesus, to the apostles, thence to Paul. But by using our peripheral vision, by looking to noncanonical and paracanonical texts, by availing ourselves of information derived from papyri, inscriptions, and archaeology, we can see a different, richer, much less linear story emerging. Fredriksen brings together these many sources to reconstruct the lively interactions of pagans, Jews, and Christians, tracing the conversions of Christianity from an energetic form of Jewish messianism to an arm of the late Roman state.

A visually stunning, meticulously researched field guide to all the major habitats of Australia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon IslandsWhen visitors think of Australia, they expect strange wildlife such as kangaroos, Platypus, Koalas, and Cassowaries. Yet nothing prepares people for the otherworldly landscapes of mallee and mulga woodlands, Karri forests, and spinifex and gibber deserts. This illustrated guide covers every major habitat found on the continent together with those of New Guinea and the Solomons. Making the otherworldly understandable, it presents an easy-to-use system for exploring and enjoying habitats by combining wildlife assemblages with descriptions of habitat structure, climate, soils, and botany. Packed with invaluable information, Habitats of Australia, New Guinea, and the Solomons completely redefines how we experience the landscapes and wildlife in this spectacular region of the world. Features engaging, fact-filled descriptions of 85 major habitatsCombines all state vegetation and ecosystem mapping from the region to provide completely original, up-to-date habitat mapsBlends vibrant climate graphs and silhouettes with more than 350 stunning photos, illustrating the relationships between landscapes and their wildlifeFormatted like a field guide for easy reference, accessible to nonacademics, and essential for working ecologists, botanists, and conservationistsAn ideal travel companion for birders, naturalists, and wildlife enthusiasts

Learn how to use ecology to turn your backyard into a thriving haven for pollinators, birds, and other wildlife with this engaging, marvelously illustrated guideNative plants are essential for healthy ecosystems that support insects and animals, but vegetation alone does not provide the necessary resources for most creatures or their life cycles. This book breaks down ecological processes that regulate habitats and explains how to recreate vibrant, gorgeous, natural habitats in your own backyard—ones that attract pollinating insects, birds, and other suburban wildlife while appealing to neighbors and friends. It focuses on how to rebuild broken processes and covers a wealth of topics, such as the importance for gardens that support wildlife to include shelter, nest sites, hydration areas, and places to overwinter. Written by a leading expert, Natural Habitats and Wildlife Gardening is an easy-to-understand primer on ecology and ecological processes that explains innovative conservation and ecological ideas for small and large garden designs. This book will interest gardeners, land managers, natural science majors, and urban planners. Shares design tips for creating robust garden habitats for insects and animals, giving step-by-step instructions that are easy to followDraws inspiration from wild habitats and their ecosystems, showing readers how to cultivate aesthetically beautiful home gardens that replicate healthy natural landscapesProvides a deep understanding of natural processes and systems in simple termsIncludes detailed species profiles for common insects (including bees), amphibians, birds, and reptiles, with an emphasis on key resources to include in your landscape designsExplains how to replicate roles of absent animals including bison, wolves, and beavers and processes like floods, fires, and ecological succession, which naturally regulate and create habitatsDiscusses the specific requirements of ecosystems across North AmericaFeatures hundreds of stunning color photos

The utilization—and weaponization—of charm in contemporary global politicsPolitics is a site of performance, and contemporary politicians often perform the role of a regular person—perhaps someone we would like to have a beer with. They win elections not because of the elevated rhetorical performances we often associate with charisma (“ask not what your country can do for you”), but because of something more ordinary and relatable. The everyday magic spell that politicians cast using mass and social media is what sociologist Julia Sonnevend calls “charm.” In this engaging and enlightening book, Sonnevend explores charm (and the related “charm offensive”) as a keyword of contemporary global politics. Successful political leaders deploy this form of personal magnetism—which relies on proximity to political tribes and manifests across a variety of media platforms—to appear authentic and accessible in their quest for power. Sonnevend examines the mediated self-representations of a set of liberal, illiberal, and authoritarian political leaders, past and present: New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, Hungary’s Viktor Orba´n, Iran’s Mohammad Javad Zarif, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, and Germany’s Angela Merkel. She considers how charm (or the lack of it) is wielded as a political tool, and the ways charm is weaponized to shape the international image of a country, potentially influencing decisions about military aid, trade, and even tourism. Sonnevend argues that charm will shape the future of democracy worldwide, as political values will be increasingly embodied by mediated personalities. These figures will rise and fall, often fading into irrelevance; but if we do not understand charm’s political power, we cannot grasp today’s fragile political moment.

A history of three transnational political projects designed to overcome the inequities of imperialismAfter the dissolution of empires, was the nation-state the only way to unite people politically, culturally, and economically? In Post-Imperial Possibilities, historians Jane Burbank and Frederick Cooper examine three large-scale, transcontinental projects aimed at bringing together peoples of different regions to mitigate imperial legacies of inequality. Eurasia, Eurafrica, and Afroasia—in theory if not in practice—offered alternative routes out of empire. The theory of Eurasianism was developed after the collapse of imperial Russia by exiled intellectuals alienated by both Western imperialism and communism. Eurafrica began as a design for collaborative European exploitation of Africa but was transformed in the 1940s and 1950s into a project to include France’s African territories in plans for European integration. The Afroasian movement wanted to replace the vertical relationship of colonizer and colonized with a horizontal relationship among former colonial territories that could challenge both the communist and capitalist worlds. Both Eurafrica and Afroasia floundered, victims of old and new vested interests. But Eurasia revived in the 1990s, when Russian intellectuals turned the theory’s attack on Western hegemony into a recipe for the restoration of Russian imperial power. While both the system of purportedly sovereign states and the concentrated might of large economic and political institutions continue to frustrate projects to overcome inequities in welfare and power, Burbank and Cooper’s study of political imagination explores wide-ranging concepts of social affiliation and obligation that emerged after empire and the reasons for their unlike destinies.

An examination of coined money and its significance to rulers, aristocrats and peasants in early medieval EuropeBetween the end of the Roman Empire in the fifth century and the economic transformations of the twelfth, coined money in western Europe was scarce and high in value, difficult for the majority of the population to make use of. And yet, as Rory Naismith shows in this illuminating study, coined money was made and used throughout early medieval Europe. It was, he argues, a powerful tool for articulating people’s place in economic and social structures and an important gauge for levels of economic complexity. Working from the premise that using coined money carried special significance when there was less of it around, Naismith uses detailed case studies from the Mediterranean and northern Europe to propose a new reading of early medieval money as a point of contact between economic, social, and institutional history. Naismith examines structural issues, including the mining and circulation of metal and the use of bullion and other commodities as money, and then offers a chronological account of monetary development, discussing the post-Roman period of gold coinage, the rise of the silver penny in the seventh century and the reconfiguration of elite power in relation to coinage in the tenth and eleventh centuries. In the process, he counters the conventional view of early medieval currency as the domain only of elite gift-givers and intrepid long-distance traders. Even when there were few coins in circulation, Naismith argues, the ways they were used—to give gifts, to pay rents, to spend at markets—have much to tell us.

The second volume in a landmark commentary on an important and influential work of ancient philosophyThis is the second volume of a groundbreaking commentary on one of the most important works of ancient philosophy, the Enneads of Plotinus—a text that formed the basis of Neoplatonism and had a deep influence on early Christian thought and medieval and Renaissance philosophy. This volume covers Enneads IV and V, which focus on two of the principal “hypostases” of Plotinus’s ontological system, namely the soul and the Intellect. Paul Kalligas provides an analytical exegesis of the arguments, along with an account of Plotinus’s principal sources, references to other parts of his work, and a systematic evaluation of his overarching theoretical aspirations. A landmark contribution to Plotinus scholarship, this is the most detailed and extensive commentary ever written for the whole of the Enneads.

Does happiness come from the pursuit of pleasure or moral virtue? A vivid new translation of Cicero’s exploration of a timeless question“Of course, we all want to be happy.” So wrote the Roman statesman, orator, and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero. He and his fellow Greek and Roman philosophers agreed that the secret to happiness—or what they called the “good life”—is pursuing the “greatest good.” The only problem is that they couldn’t agree on what the greatest good is. Cicero addressed this dilemma by composing a set of dialogues, On the Greatest Good and Evil (De finibus bonorum et malorum), in which he pitted advocates of different philosophical approaches to happiness against one another. Notably, these include the Epicureans (who believe that the greatest good is pleasure) and the Stoics (according to whom it is moral virtue). Rather than choosing sides, Cicero considers the pros and cons of the different philosophies, ultimately leaving it to his readers to make up their own minds. In How to Find Happiness, Katharina Volk offers a vivid new translation of selections from Cicero’s work, complete with an introduction and the original Latin text on facing pages. The result is a lively and engaging debate that invites each of us to discover our own path to happiness.

An energetic new translation of the ancient Greek satirist Lucian’s humorous and enlightening dialogue on the pros—and cons—of athletics, fitness, and competitionSports and philosophy went hand in hand for the ancient Greeks and Romans, and philosophical conversation was a recognized part of gym life throughout Greco-Roman antiquity. Athens’s Lyceum was a gym—and reportedly a hangout of that philosophical gym rat Socrates—before it became the site of Aristotle’s school. Fittingly, that gym is the setting of the Greek satirist Lucian’s Anacharsis, a witty philosophical dialogue that wrestles with questions about the purpose and value of sports—questions that we are still grappling with in our own sports- and fitness-obsessed times. How to Compete presents a new translation of Lucian’s timeless classic, inviting us into a ringside debate about the point of sports. Pitting a sports skeptic, Anacharsis, against a superfan, Solon, this delightful and thought-provoking work tries to make sense of sports. Why do so many of us care so much about them? Are sports like boxing too violent? Should we take fitness so seriously? Do athletics have educational value? And, most important of all, why did the ancient Greeks exercise naked? While Anacharsis, observing a Greek sport that sounds something like mixed martial arts, asks what kind of citizens set aside serious affairs to watch young men beat each other to a pulp, Solon counters that sports have great civic benefits and that athletes are ultimately competing for the highest prize—human excellence. Featuring an inviting introduction, a handy glossary, helpful notes, and the original Greek on facing pages, How to Compete is a winning exploration of why sports are more than just a game.