Politik

All of us have in our minds a cartoon image of what an autocratic state looks like, with a bad man at the top. But in the 21st century, that cartoon bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, autocracies are run not by one bad guy, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, security services and professional propagandists. The members of these networks are connected not only within a given country, but among many countries. The corrupt, state-controlled companies in one dictatorship do business with corrupt, state-controlled companies in another. The police in one country can arm, equip, and train the police in another. The propagandists share resources¿the troll farms that promote one dictator¿s propaganda can also be used to promote the propaganda of another¿and themes, pounding home the same messages about the weakness of democracy and the evil of America.Unlike military or political alliances from other times and places, this group doesn¿t operate like a bloc, but rather like an agglomeration of companies: Autocracy, Inc. Their relations are not based on values, but are rather transactional, which is why they operate so easily across ideological, geographical, and cultural lines. In truth, they are in full agreement about only one thing: Their dislike of us, the inhabitants of the democratic world, and their desire to see both our political systems and our values undermine. That shared understanding of the world¿where it comes from, why it lasts, how it works, how the democratic world has unwittingly helped to consolidate it, and how we can help bring it down¿is the subject of this book.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Woodward tells the revelatory, behind-the-scenes story of three wars—Ukraine, the Middle East and the struggle for the American Presidency.  War is an intimate and sweeping account of one of the most tumultuous periods in presidential politics and American history.   We see President Joe Biden and his top advisers in tense conversations with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. We also see Donald Trump, conducting a shadow presidency and seeking to regain political power.   With unrivaled, inside-the-room reporting, Woodward shows President Biden’s approach to managing the war in Ukraine, the most significant land war in Europe since World War II, and his tortured path to contain the bloody Middle East conflict between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas.   Woodward reveals the extraordinary complexity and consequence of wartime back-channel diplomacy and decision-making to deter the use of nuclear weapons and a rapid slide into World War III.   The raw cage-fight of politics accelerates as Americans prepare to vote in 2024, starting between President Biden and Trump, and ending with the unexpected elevation of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president.  War provides an unvarnished examination of the vice president as she tries to embrace the Biden legacy and policies while beginning to chart a path of her own as a presidential candidate.   Woodward’s reporting once again sets the standard for journalism at its most authoritative and illuminating.

The international bestselling classic from the author of Animal Farm.

Understanding Modern Warfare has established itself as the leading introduction to the issues, ideas, concepts and context necessary to understand the theory and conduct of warfare in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It is an invaluable text for military professionals and students of military history. Key features include: incisive coverage of the debates surrounding contemporary and future warfare; accessible, yet sophisticated, discussion across the land, sea, and air environments; and coverage of contemporary topics such as drones, cyber warfare, and hybrid warfare. The book makes extensive use of text boxes to explain key concepts and to reference extended examples, and it includes annotated guides to further reading and key questions to promote the reader's further thinking. This second edition has been fully revised and updated to take into account new debates and recent events in Syria, Iraq and Ukraine, and it has also been restructured to further improve its usefulness as a teaching tool.

"A remarkable feat of fearless and responsible reporting . . . important, timely, and informative."John le Carre* AN ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEAR * THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER *The first definitive history of the Mossad, Shin Bet, and the IDF's targeted killing programs.

A hundred and fifty years of conflict. What does that do to a person's soul, to the spirit of a nation? To both the occupied and the occupier?International Booker Prize winning Israeli novelist David Grossman has spent decades campaigning for peace in Israel and Palestine. But after October 7th 2023, a day marking the biggest loss of Jewish life in this century, he retreated inwards to ask himself difficult and necessary questions about his beloved nation:How could this massacre have happened?How could the Netanyahu government, tangled in its web of scandals, fail to protect its citizens?And did October 7 and the war that followed take with it their last hope of a two-state solution?In eleven essays David Grossman traces the years leading up to that day and the ensuing war through a string of failures by a morally bankrupt party clinging to power. He documents the struggle being fought on both sides between those committed to conflict, and the many who simply want to live in peace.Ultimately, Grossman arrives at the most important question of all: Will there ever be a lasting peace in the region?

The international bestselling classic from the author of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

A brilliant exploration of freedom - what it is, how it's been misunderstood, and why it's our only chance for survival - by the acclaimed, bestselling author of On Tyranny. Timothy Snyder has been called 'the leading interpreter of our dark times'. As a historian, he has given us startling reinterpretations of political collapse and mass killing. As a public intellectual, he has turned that knowledge toward counsel and prediction, working against authoritarians. His book On Tyranny has inspired millions around the world to fight for freedom. Freedom is the great American commitment, but as Snyder argues, we have lost sight of what it means - and this is leading us into crisis. Too many of us look at freedom as the absence of state power: We think we're free if we can do and say as we please, and protect ourselves from government overreach. But true freedom isn't so much freedom from, as freedom to - the freedom to thrive, to take risks for futures we choose by working together. Freedom is the value that makes all other values possible. Drawing on the work of philosophers and political dissidents, conversations with contemporary thinkers, and his own experiences, Snyder identifies the practices and attitudes - the habits of mind - that will allow us to design a government in which we and future generations can flourish. We come to appreciate the importance of traditions but also the role of institutions. Intimate yet ambitious, this book helps forge a new consensus rooted in a politics of abundance, generosity, and grace. On Freedom helps us see exactly what we're fighting for. It is a thrilling intellectual journey and a tour de force of political philosophy.

Winner of the 1991 Elaine and David Spitz Book Prize for the best book on liberal and/or democratic theory, this book discusses what democracy is and why it is important. It examines basic assumptions of democratic theory and tests them against the questions raised by critics.

Does America s pro-Israel lobby wield inappropriate control over US foreign policy? This book has created a storm of controversy by bringing out into the open America s relationship with the Israel lobby: a loose coalition of individuals and organizations that actively work to shape foreign policy in a way that is profoundly damaging both to the United States and Israel itself. Israel is an important, valued American ally, yet Mearsheimer and Walt show that, by encouraging unconditional US financial and diplomatic support for Israel and promoting the use of its power to remake the Middle East, the lobby has jeopardized America s and Israel s long-term security and put other countries including Britain at risk.

There is no green energy. Nor pink, nor black. Nor clean nor dirty, for that matter. In this intelligent, eye-opening and witty bestseller, an eminent climate scientist takes a graphic novelist on a journey to understand the profound changes that our planet is experiencing. The scientist, Jean-Marc Jancovici, explains the workings of superpowers and history; oil and climate; ecology, economics and energy flows. He describes, in short, the world we live in today-a world whose future is deeply uncertain. The artist, Christophe Blain, intently listens and draws.As the pair come face to face with global warming, they - along with Mother Nature, Iron Man and Popeye, among others - create a picture of what the solution to our predicament actually looks like. It's not just about switching to renewable energy sources, they show. It's about rethinking everything: our energy supply, our economies and our whole world. We're left with a vision of the future in which nuclear power, food, education, housing, transport and communities - in other words all of us - work together to create a world without end.

In Democracy Awakening, American historian Heather Cox Richardson examines how, over the decades, an elite minority have made war on American ideals. By weaponising language and promoting false history, they are leading Americans into authoritarianism and creating a disaffected population.Many books tell us what has happened over the last five years. In Democracy Awakening, Richardson wrangles America's meandering and confusing news feed into a coherent story to explain how America got to this perilous point, what we should pay attention to, and what the future of democracy holds.

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization, and helped make us who we are.

In The Righteous Mind, psychologist Jonathan Haidt answers some of the most compelling questions about human relationships:Why can it sometimes feel as though half the population is living in a different moral universe? Why do ideas such as 'fairness' and 'freedom' mean such different things to different people? Why is it so hard to see things from another viewpoint? Why do we come to blows over politics and religion?Jonathan Haidt reveals that we often find it hard to get along because our minds are hardwired to be moralistic, judgemental and self-righteous. He explores how morality evolved to enable us to form communities, and how moral values are not just about justice and equality - for some people authority, sanctity or loyalty matter more. Morality binds and blinds, but, using his own research, Haidt proves it is possible to liberate ourselves from the disputes that divide good people.'A landmark contribution to humanity's understanding of itself' The New York Times'A truly seminal book' David Goodhart, Prospect'A tour de force - brave, brilliant, and eloquent. It will challenge the way you think about liberals and conservatives, atheism and religion, good and evil' Paul Bloom, author of How Pleasure Works 'Compelling . . . a fluid combination of erudition and entertainment' Ian Birrell, Observer'Lucid and thought-provoking ... deserves to be widely read' Jenni Russell, Sunday Times

Few writers have had a more demonstrable impact on the development of the modern world than has Karl Marx (1818-1883). Born in Trier into a middle-class Jewish family in 1818, by the time of his death in London in 1883, Marx claimed a growing international reputation. Of central importance then and later was his book Das Kapital, or, as it is known to English readers, simply Capital. Volume One of Capital was published in Paris in 1867 and is included in this edition. This was the only volume published during Marx's lifetime and the only to have come directly from his pen. Volume Two, available as a separate Wordsworth eBook, was published in 1884, and was based on notes Marx left, but written by his friend and collaborator, Friedrich Engels (1820-1895). Readers from the nineteenth century to the present have been captivated by the unmistakable power and urgency of this classic of world literature. Marx's critique of the capitalist system is rife with big themes: his theory of 'surplus value', his discussion of the exploitation of the working class, and his forecast of class conflict on a grand scale. Marx wrote with purpose. As he famously put it, 'Philosophers have previously tried to explain the world, our task is to change it.'

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERTwo long-time friends share an intimate and urgent conversation about life, music and their enduring love of America, with all its challenges and contradictions, in this stunningly-produced expansion of their ground-breaking Higher Ground podcast, featuring more than 350 photographs, exclusive bonus content, and never-before-seen archival material.Renegades: Born in the USA is a candid, revealing, and entertaining dialogue between President Barack Obama and legendary musician Bruce Springsteen that explores everything from their origin stories and career-defining moments to their country's polarized politics and the growing distance between the American Dream and the American reality. Filled with full-colour photographs and rare archival material, it is a compelling and beautifully illustrated portrait of two outsiders-one Black and one white-looking for a way to connect their unconventional searches for meaning, identity, and community with the American story itself. It includes: Original introductions by President Obama and Bruce Springsteen Exclusive new material from the Renegades podcast recording sessions Obama's never-before-seen annotated speeches, including his "e;Remarks at the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Marches Springsteen's handwritten lyrics for songs spanning his 50-year-long career Rare and exclusive photographs from the authors' personal archives Historical photographs and documents that provide rich visual context for their conversation. In a recording studio stocked with dozens of guitars, and on at least one Corvette ride, Obama and Springsteen discuss marriage and fatherhood, race and masculinity, the lure of the open road and the call back to home. They also compare notes on their favourite protest songs, the most inspiring American heroes of all time, and more. Along the way, they reveal their passion for-and the occasional toll of-telling a bigger, truer story about America throughout their careers, and explore how their fractured country might begin to find its way back toward unity.