Böcker utgivna av Pluto Press

This book champions China's domestic politics, which will be essential in shaping the country's role in the world.*BR**BR*Many books claim to aid our understanding of China. They assume that it is destined to follow the model of the US; war, empire and unilateralism. However, China From the Inside Out highlights the China's domestic perception of it's own 'rise'. *BR**BR*Critically analysing Chinese policy which straddles the paradox between 'socialism' versus 'capitalism with Chinese characteristics', this book looks at the struggle to create a rule of law and foster human rights through a new stage of democratic reform.

How did the US become a world power? How did it become involved in the Middle East? What is the history and nature of its 'special relationship' with Israel?*BR**BR*Given the increase in tensions in the Middle East, and the United States' involvement in them, news coverage is in abundance. Yet, the reportage and discussion of American foreign policy is often narrow in scope, offering little background or context. And yet, the historical record sharply contrasts with reportage. Guiding the reader through a panoramic sweep of world and American history, we see how the US became a world power, how the Middle East became 'modern' and how Israel became an American 'strategic asset.' Disavowing the rhetoric commonly used by heads of state, press secretaries, news media, and commentators, we see how recent turmoil is closer to business-as-usual.

It often seems that different crises are competing to devastate civilisation. This book argues that financial meltdown, dwindling oil reserves, terrorism and food shortages need to be considered as part of the same ailing system.*BR**BR*Most accounts of our contemporary global crises focus on one area, such as climate change, or the threat of terrorism, to the exclusion of others. Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed argues that the unwillingness of experts to consider crises from an interdisciplinary perspective, has resulted in their failure to understand historical events. From ecology and the environment, to political governance, the global economy and international relations, Ahmed investigates contemporary crises, not as isolated events, but as trends and processes that belong to a single global system. Ahmed posits that we are therefore not dealing with a 'clash of civilisations', as Samuel P. Huntington argued. Rather, we are dealing with a fundamental crisis of civilisation itself.

Over a millennium after the end of its unrivalled dominance, the spectre of Rome figures highly in western culture. This book explores what the empire meant to its subjects.*BR**BR*The idea of Rome has long outlived the physical empire that gave it form, and now holds sway over vastly more people and a far greater geographical area than the Romans ever ruled. It continues to shape our understanding of the nature of imperialism and influence the workings of the world. It is through the lens of Rome that we answer questions such as: How do empires grow? How are empires ruled? Do empires exploit their subjects or civilise them? Rejecting the simplistic narrative of military triumph followed by decline and fall, the books analyses the origins of Roman imperialism, its wide-ranging impact on the regions it conquered, and its continuing influence in debates about modern imperialism.

The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories since 1967 has many important economic aspects that are often overlooked. In this highly original book, Shir Hever shows that understanding the economic dimensions of the occupation is crucial to unravelling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.*BR**BR*Hever rejects the premise that Israel keeps control over Palestinian territories for material gain, and also the premise that Israel is merely defending itself from Palestinian aggression. Instead, he argues that the occupation has reached an impasse, with the Palestinian resistance making exploitation of the Palestinians by Israeli business interests difficult, but the Israeli authorities reluctant to give up control.*BR**BR*With traditional economic analysis failing to explain this turn of events, this book will be invaluable for students, activists and journalists struggling to make sense of the complex issues surrounding Israel's occupation.

This book is a a critical examination of the role that immigrant intellectuals play in facilitating the global domination of American imperialism.*BR**BR*In his pioneering book about the relationship between race and colonialism, Black Skin, White Masks, Frantz Fanon explored the traumatic consequences of the sense of inferiority that colonised people felt. Brown Skin, White Masks picks up where Fanon left off, and extends Fanon's insights as they apply to today's world.*BR**BR*Dabashi shows how intellectuals who migrate to the West are often used by the imperial powers to misrepresent their home countries. Just as many Iraqi exiles were used to justify the invasion of Iraq, Dabashi demonstrates that this is a common phenomenon, and examines why and how so many immigrant intellectuals help to sustain imperialism.

This is a fascinating and at times unsettling journey into the world's most populous Muslim nation as it struggles to emerge from decades of dictatorship and the plunder of its natural resources. *BR**BR*Andre Vltchek brings together more than a decade of investigative journalism in and around Indonesia to chart the recent history of the country, from the revolution which overthrew General Suharto's genocidal dictatorship in 1998 to the present day. He covers the full breadth of the country from Islamic Aceh to mostly Catholic East Timor.*BR**BR*Tracing Indonesia's current problems back to Suharto's coup and the genocide of 1965 - and the support given by the West to Suharto - Vltchek provides an intimate and deeply humane insight into the hopes and fears of Indonesia's people.*BR*

A comprehensive collection of contemporary writings on political Islam from key thinkers in the field. Includes a substantial introduction.

How can we rebel against the capitalist system? John Holloway argues that by creating, cracks, fractures and fissures that forge spaces of rebellion and disrupt the current economic order. *BR**BR*John Holloway, author of the groundbreaking Change the World Without Taking Power, sparked a world-wide debate among activists and scholars about the most effective methods of fighting capitalism from within. From campaigns against water privatisation, to simply not going to work and reading a book instead, Holloway demands we must resist the logic of capitalism in our everyday lives. Drawing on Marx's idea of 'abstract labour', Holloway develops 33 theses that will help you create, expand and multiply 'cracks' in the capitalist system.

For nearly two decades, the US and its allies have prosecuted war and aggression in Iraq. Erasing Iraq shows in unparalleled detail the devastating human cost of the war in Iraq. *BR**BR*Western governments and the mainstream media continue to ignore or play down the human costs of the war on Iraqi citizens This has allowed them to present their role as the benign guardians of Iraqi interests. The authors deconstruct this narrative by presenting a portrait of the total carnage in Iraq today. From Iraqi refugees in Syria, Jordan and the West, to civilians left behind, and other witnesses, this the story of the war told by those who experienced it firsthand.

Does conflict transformation work? Or is the total rejection of global militarism the only route to peace? *BR**BR*Reviewing developments in the field of conflict transformation, Diana Francis acknowledges the work help it has afforded those engulfed in violent conflict to respond constructively. However, she argues that the dominant culture of power, resting on coercion and violence, must be displaced by the principles of interdependence, kindness and nonviolent solidarity. This is the only way that pacification - efforts to dominate and control - will be replaced by genuine peacebuilding. *BR**BR*Calling upon peacemakers worldwide to embrace and develop the practice of nonviolent power, she rejects the culture and institutions of war and working with movements around the world for global demilitarisation and 'positive peace'.

Agrofuels were heralded as a key weapon in the fight against climate change, but the deforestation and theft of agricultural land that was essential to farmers in the developing world, suggests that they are doing more harm than good.*BR**BR*Francois Houtart argues that the green potential of agrofuels has been hijacked by businesses that put profits above environmental protection. This has led to the absurd situation where an energy source that should be sustainable actually increases human and ecological damage, simply due to the profit-maximising decisions of capitalists rather than a flaw in the concept of agrofuels.*BR**BR*Houtart reveals that we need to rethink neoliberalism's relationship to green politics and ask is capitalism compatible with climate change, or do we need to overhaul our economic system in order to save the planet?

Hollywood is often characterised as a stronghold of left-liberal ideals. In Reel Power, Matthew Alford shows that it is in fact deeply complicit in serving the interests of the most regressive US corporate and political forces.*BR**BR*Films like Transformers, Terminator: Salvation and Black Hawk Down are constructed with Defence Department assistance as explicit cheerleaders for the US military, but Matthew Alford also emphasises how so-called 'radical' films like Three Kings, Hotel Rwanda and Avatar present watered-down alternative visions of American politics that serve a similar function.*BR**BR*Reel Power is the first book to examine the internal workings of contemporary Hollywood as a politicised industry as well as scores of films across all genres. No matter what the progressive impulses of some celebrities and artists, Alford shows how they are part of a system that is hard-wired to encourage American global supremacy and frequently the use of state violence.

Exodus, as a powerful narrative of liberation, has been a central imaginative touchstone in the black American struggle against US racism. This book traces the concept in a number of pivotal black thinkers, and explores its signficance for contemporary America.*BR**BR*The exodus story is a fitting allegory for the painful experience of exile that disproportionately afflicted African Americans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and it also provides compelling imagery for the triumphant election of Barack Obama in 2008. Building around these themes, Anna Hartnell traces the intellectual development of one of the defining narratives of black American thinking on social justice in the United States.*BR**BR*In placing black America at the centre of the study of US culture, Rewriting Exodus suggests new ways of thinking about America's relationship with the Middle East and the wider postcolonial world. Hartnell's groundbreaking contribution marks a vital new chapter in American cultural and political history.

In January 2003, the British media splashed the news that anti-terror police had disrupted an Al-Qaeda cell, poised to unleash the deadly poison ricin on the capital. Police had reportedly found traces of ricin, as well as a panoply of bomb and poison-making equipment in the cell's 'factory of death' - a shabby flat in north London. 'This danger is present and real, and with us now' announced prime minister Tony Blair.*BR**BR*But, when the 'Ricin plot' came to trial at the Old Bailey, a very different story emerged: there was no ricin and no sophisticated plot. Rarely has a legal case been so shamelessly distorted by government, media and security forces to push their own 'tough on terror' agendas. In this meticulously researched and compellingly written book, Lawrence Archer, the jury foreman at the trial, and journalist Fiona Bawdon, give the definitive story of the ricin plot, the trial and its aftermath.

Is ethnicity a result of cultural differences? Is ethnicity dependent on the practical use and belief in cultural differences? Drawing on a wide-range of classic and recent studies in anthropology and sociology, Thomas Hylland Eriksen examines the relationship between ethnicity, class, gender and nationhood. *BR**BR*Using the question 'What is ethnicity?' as his starting point, Eriksen examines the interplay between ideology and ethnicity, how the Internet impacts understanding of ethnicity, identity politics, and the commercialisation of identity. Through this, he reveals that far from being an immutable property of groups, ethnicity is a dynamic and shifting aspect of social relationships. *BR**BR*A core text for all students of social anthropology and related subjects, Ethnicity and Nationalism has been a leading introduction to the field since its original publication in 1993. This new edition - expanded and thoroughly revised - is indispensable to anyone seriously interested in understanding ethnic phenomena.

Washington's expansion of the War on Terror to the African continent substantiated claims that the U.S. fabricated terrorism in order to justify their military campaign. This book chronicles the effect of this warmongering and the creation of a self-fulfilling prophecy of terror and instability in the Sahara.*BR**BR*Beginning in 2004, with what local people called the US 'invasion' of the Sahel, the book shows how repressive, authoritarian regimes - cashing in on US terrorism 'rents' - provoked Tuareg rebellions in both Niger and Mali, caused a new narco-trafficking branch of Al-Qaeda and created instability in a region the size of western Europe. Exposing the suspected complicity of the World Bank, the tumult caused by US's new new combatant African command (AFRICOM), and the chilling tactics used to perpetuate the myth that Africa is a hotbed of Islamic terrorism, Jeremy Keenan proves his resolve to 'defeat the lie'. *BR*

From the early rumblings of the French revolution, at the start of the long nineteenth century, to the fall of the Soviet bloc at the close of the short twentieth century, historian Eric Hobsbawm is possibly the foremost chronicler of the modern age.*BR**BR*Hobsbawm was a chronicler of revolutions, labour history, Empire, and conflicts; whose writings have informed the historical consciousness of scholars and general readers alike. From colonialism to capitalism, his trilogy of histories, The Age of Revolution, The Age of Capital and The Age of Empire, evidence his skill for identifying the plurality of forces at play in major historical events. Tracing his intellectual and political journey, and encompassing the extraordinary historical events that marked his life, Gregory Elliot fills an analytical gap on Hobsbawm's scholarship and Marxist historiography.

Law lies at the roots of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Jews sought a national home by 'Public Law' while Palestinians reject the project as illegal. Britain, the League of Nations and the United Nations all mobilised international law to justify their interventions. After the 1967 war, Israel organised an occupation with excessive legalism that most of the world viewed, in fact, as illegal. *BR**BR*Partitioning Palestine focuses on three key moments in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: the League of Nations Mandate, the United Nations partition plan and the Oslo agreements. None of these documents are neutral but, rather, encode a variety of meanings. The book traces the way in which these legal narratives have both shaped national identity and sharpened the conflict. *BR**BR*In this pioneering text, John Strawson argues that a committed attachment to the belief in legal justice has hampered the search for a settlement. Law, far from offering conflict resolution, has reinforced the trenches from which Palestinians and Israelis confront one another.

For over ten years, Race and Ethnicity in Latin America has been an essential text for students studying the region. This second edition adds new material and brings the analysis up to date.*BR**BR*Race and ethnic identities are increasingly salient in Latin America. Peter Wade examines changing perspectives on Black and Indian populations in the region, tracing similarities and differences in the way these peoples have been seen by academics and national elites. Race and ethnicity as analytical concepts are re-examined in order to assess their usefulness.*BR**BR*This book should be the first port of call for anthropologists and sociologists studying identity in Latin America.

In carefully crafted official statements, the European Union presents itself as an honest broker in the Middle East. In reality, however, the EU's 27 governments have been engaged in a long process of accommodating Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories.*BR**BR*Journalist David Cronin interrogates the relationship and its outcomes. A recent agreement for 'more intense, more fruitful, more influential co-operation' between the EU and Israel has meant that Israel has become a member state of the Union in all but name. Cronin shows that rather than using this relationship to encourage Israeli restraint, the EU has legitimised actions such as the ill-treatment of prisoners and the Gaza invasion.*BR**BR*Concluding his revealing and shocking account, Cronin calls for a continuation and deepening of international activism and protest to halt the EU's slide into complicity.

From the American Revolution, and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, to the waning popularity of the Iraq war, Philip Golub depicts the long American journey to global ascendancy. *BR**BR*Through the study of imperial identity formation, Golub shows how a culture of force and expansion has shaped American foreign policy. Taking a historical and sociological approach to his examination of the US logic of world power, he reveals how entrenched assumptions about America's primacy inhibits democratic transformation at domestic and international levels, forging a new world where America is no longer able to set the global agenda.

This book guides students as they explore how white identities are forged using both sociological and psycho-social ideas.*BR**BR*Whiteness has traditionally been seen as 'ethnically transparent' - the marker against which other ethnicities are measured. Only recently have scholars moved away from focusing on ethnic minorities and instead oriented their studies around the construction of white identities. *BR**BR*Including an excellent survey of the existing literature and original research from the UK, this book will be an invaluable guide for sociology students taking modules in race and ethnicity.

Argues that destruction of Iraqi culture was aimed at remaking Iraq into a US client state

This is an investigation into the interaction of power, money and people in Russia during the presidencies of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev. *BR**BR*Profiling Putin's team, including his security services and pro-market economic 'reformers', Simon Pirani argues that the growth during the oil boom was one-sided. The gap between rich and poor widened. Now the boom is over, this problem has only grown.*BR**BR*As well as explaining Russia's economic trajectory, the book provides a unique account of the social movements that are working against an increasingly authoritarian government to change Russia for the better.

Maps the contemporary social world of anthropologists and its relation to the wider world in which they carry out their work.

Israel Shahak was a remarkable man. Born in the Warsaw ghetto and a survivor of Belsen, Shahak arrived in Israel in 1945. Brought up under Jewish Orthodoxy and Hebrew culture, he consistently opposed the expansion of the borders of Israel from 1967.*BR**BR*In this extraordinary and highly acclaimed book, Shahak embarks on a provocative study of the extent to which the secular state of Israel has been shaped by religious orthodoxies of an invidious and potentially lethal nature. Drawing on the Talmud and rabbinical laws, Shahak argues that the roots of Jewish chauvinism and religious fanaticism must be understood before it is too late. *BR**BR*Written from a humanitarian viewpoint by a Jewish scholar, this is a rare and highly controversial criticism of Israel that will both excite and disturb readers worldwide.

A. Sivanandan is a highly influential thinker on race, racism, globalisation and resistance. Since 1972, he has been the director of the Institute of Race Relations and the editor of Race & Class, which set the policy agenda on ethnicity and race in the UK and worldwide. Sivanandan has been writing for over forty years and this is the definitive collection of his work.*BR**BR*The articles selected span his entire career and are chosen for their relevance to today's most pressing issues. Included is a complete bibliography of Sivanandan's writings, and an introduction by Colin Prescod (chair of the IRR), which sets the writings in context.*BR**BR*This book is highly relevant to undergraduate politics students and anyone reading or writing on race, ethnicity and immigration.

This is an entirely new collection of Lenin's writing. For the first time it brings together crucial shorter works, to show that Lenin held a life-long commitment to freedom and democracy. Le Blanc has written a comprehensive introduction, which gives an accessible overview of Lenin's life and work, and explains his relevance to political thought today.Lenin has been much maligned in the mainstream, accused of viewing 'man as modeling clay' and of 'social engineering of the most radical kind.' However, in contrast to today's world leaders, who happily turn to violence to achieve their objectives, Lenin believed it impossible to reach his goals 'by any other path than that of political democracy.'

Every year, millions of the rural poor suffer from predictable and preventable seasonal hunger. This hunger is less dramatic but no less damaging than the starvation associated with famines, wars and natural disasters. Seasons of Hunger explores why the world does not react to a crisis that we know will continue year after year.*BR**BR*Seasonal hunger is caused by annual cycles of shrinking food stocks, rising prices, and lack of income. This hidden hunger pushes millions of children to the brink of starvation every year, permanently stunting their physical and cognitive development, weakening their immune systems and opening the door for killer diseases. Action Against Hunger argue that ending seasonal hunger could save millions of young lives and is key to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. This book documents seasonal hunger in four countries - India, Malawi, Mali and Myanmar - including personal stories and country-wide data which shows the magnitude of the problem. *BR**BR*The authors also find encouraging examples of interventions designed to address seasonality - initiatives led by governments, donors and NGOs, and poor people themselves - and propose a package of advocacy messages that could contribute to the global eradication of seasonal hunger. This book will be a valuable resource for journalists, policy makers, NGO members and students of development studies.