Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  Democracy and the Left - Social...

  Evelyn Huber, John D. Stephens

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  Although inequality in Latin America ranks among the worst in the world, it has notably declined over the last decade, offset by improvements in health care and education, enhanced programs for social assistance, and increases in the minimum wage.In Democracy and the Left, Evelyne Huber and John D. Stephens argue that the resurgence of democracy in Latin America is key to this change. In addition to directly affecting public policy, democratic institutions enable left-leaning political parties to emerge, significantly influencing the allocation of social spending on poverty and inequality. But while democracy is an important determinant of redistributive change, it is by no means the only factor. Drawing on a wealth of data, Huber and Stephens present quantitative analyses of eighteen countries and comparative historical analyses of the five most advanced social policy regimes in Latin America, showing how international power structures have influenced the direction of their social policy. They augment these analyses by comparing them to the development of social policy in democratic Portugal and Spain. The most ambitious examination of the development of social policy in Latin America to date, Democracy and the Left shows that inequality is far from intractable—a finding with crucial policy implications worldwide.

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  Coronavirus Criminals and...

  John Nichols

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  A furious denunciation of coronavirus criminalsThe rogues gallery begins with Donald Trump, who deliberately downplayed the coronavirus crisis despite knowing its dangers, as well as his international political allies, above all Boris Johnson. Billionaire politicians like Georgia senator Kelly Loeffler moved stocks at the same time they were telling Americans all was well. Political charlatans like Education Secretary Betsy DeVos undermined public safety in order to advance their agenda. Libertarian "think tanks" like the Ayn Rand Institute decried public expenditures but were first in line to get bailout checks. Pharmaceutical companies gamed the vaccine race, and the most rapacious global corporations like Facebook, Visa, and Pfizer have found the pandemic to be very profitable indeed, vastly enriching the already grotesquely bloated fortunes of trillionaires like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Charles Koch.Guilty Men closes with a call for a version of the Pecora Commission, initiated by newly elected Franklin Roosevelt, that took aim at what FDR called "speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, and profiteering" that stoked the Depression. The commission led to some of the most far-reaching reforms in US history, as well as sensational hearings that led to the fall of the leading bankers and financiers of that era.

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  The Soul of the First Amendment

  Floyd Abrams

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  The nation’s most celebrated First Amendment lawyer“explores the American right to free speech in this thoughtful and concise volume” (Publishers Weekly). The right of Americans to voice their beliefs without government approval or oversight is protected under what may well be the most honored and least understood addendum to the US Constitution—the First Amendment. Floyd Abrams, a noted lawyer and award-winning legal scholar specializing in First Amendment issues, examines the degree to which American law protects free speech more often, more intensely, and more controversially than is the case anywhere else in the world, including democratic nations such as Canada and England.   In this lively, powerful, and provocative work, the author addresses legal issues from the adoption of the Bill of Rights through recent cases such as Citizens United. He also examines the repeated conflicts between claims of free speech and those of national security occasioned by the publication of classified material such as was contained in the Pentagon Papers and was made public by WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden.   “Abrams’s engaging and plain-spoken reflections will be of interest to those already steeped in constitutional law as well as young readers curious about the nation’s founding ideals . . . For Abrams, one inescapable truth applies across the history of First Amendment disputes. To allow the government to determine whose speech can be regulated . . . is, as [his] fascinating history shows, literally to play with fire.”—The Wall Street Journal   “He dives into historic and contemporary controversies that test our adherence to these principles, noting, ‘Speech is sometimes ugly, outrageous, even dangerous.’”—The Washington Post

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  Monsters to Destroy -...

  Navin A. Bapat

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  Terrorism kills far fewer Americans annually than automobile accidents, firearms, or even lightning strikes. Given this minimal risk, why does the US continue expending lives and treasure to fight the global war on terror? 
  In Monsters to Destroy, Navin A. Bapat argues that the war on terror provides the US a cover for its efforts to expand and preserve American control over global energy markets. To gain dominance over these markets, the US offered protection to states critical in the extraction, sale, and transportation of energy from their "terrorist" internal and external enemies. However, since the US was willing to protect these states in perpetuity, the leaders of these regimes had no incentive to disarm their terrorists. This inaction allowed terrorists to transition into more powerful and virulent insurgencies, leading the protected states to chart their own courses and ultimately break with US foreign policy objectives. Bapat provides a sweeping look at how the loss of influence over these states has accelerated the decline of US economic and military power, locking it into a permanent war for its own economic security.

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  World Peace and Other 4th-Grade...

  John Hunter

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  In John Hunter's classroom, students fearlessly tackle global problems and discover surprising solutions by playing his groundbreaking World Peace Game. These kids-from high school all the way down to fourth grade, in schools both well funded and underresourced-take on the roles of politicians, tribal leaders, diplomats, bankers, and military commanders. Through battles and negotiations, standoffs and summits, they strive to resolve dozens of complex, seemingly intractable real-world challenges, from nuclear proliferation to tribal warfare, financial collapse to climate change. 
   
  In World Peace and Other 4th-Grade Achievements, Hunter shares the wisdom he's gleaned from over thirty years teaching the World Peace Game. Here he reveals the principles of successful collaboration that people of any age can apply anywhere. His students show us how to break through confusion, bounce back from failure, put our knowledge to use, and fulfill our potential. Hunter offers not only a forward-thinking report from the front lines of American education, but also a generous blueprint for a world that bends toward cooperation rather than conflict. In this deeply hopeful audiobook, a visionary educator shows us what the future can be.

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  rüffer&rub visionär Every Drop...

  Ernst Bromeis

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  Water is the foundation of life - for human beings, for animals, for nature in general. Notwithstanding this, access to water is endangered. And this holds true around the world. Causes are pollution, global warming and wasteful use. The result: millions of people are forced each year to flee their homes and become "climate refugees". While this is going on, global corporations are responding to the growing scarcity and hence value of water by purchasing rights to it.
  
  Ernst Bromeis' objective is to make human beings aware of clean water's being finite in quantity. He finds it intolerable that some 880 million people do not have clean water to drink. To change this, Bromeis - who is often called an "ambassador for water" - undertakes spectacular deeds. In 2008, he swam across 200 lakes in Switzerland's canton of Graubünden. In 2014, he swam the entire length of the Rhine - the some 1200 kilometers it traverses between Lago di Dento and its mouth in the North Sea.
  
  Ernst Bromeis' activities and book are intended to encourage humanity to take the steps needed to protect water and to dedicate itself to alleviating the problems facing our society and environment.

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