Violent non-state actors have become almost endemic to political movements in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa. This book examines why they play such a key role and the different ways in which they have developed. Placing them in the context of the region, separate chapters cover the organizations that are currently active, including: The Muslim Brotherhood, The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, Hamas, Hizbullah, the PKK, al-Shabab and the Huthis.The book show...

The book Disruptive Future came out of deep curiosity and a desire to understand the world and where it is heading. During the past four years Superlab has read research reports, followed different kinds of studies, trends, analyzed data from social phenomena, visited pioneering companies and gathered information from various relevant sources. The result is a book that reminisces the past, explains how patterns have evolved, and why the current state of affairs came to be. By trying to und...

Turn-of-the-Century Barcelona comes to life in this rediscovered classic from one of Catalan's most beloved female authors

The sports industry provides a seemingly endless set of examples from every area of microeconomics, giving students the opportunity to study economics in a context that holds their interest. Thoroughly updated to reflect the current landscape, The Economics of Sports introduces core economic concepts and theories and applies them to US and international sports.Divided into five parts, the book focuses on three major areas of the economics of sports: industrial organization...

African Sacred Spaces: Culture, History, and Change is a collection of carefully and analytically written essays on different aspects of African sacred spaces. The interaction between the past and present points to Africans’ continuing recognition of certain natural phenomena and places as sacred. Western influence, the introduction of Christianity and Islam, as well as modernity, have not succeeded in completely obliterating African spirituality and sacred observances, especially...

This book features four peer-reviewed reviews on organic soil amendments.The first chapter examines the role of biofertilisers and consortia of microorganisms in improving the effectiveness of organic fertilisation, before moving on to consider the use of animal excrement, including manures, slurry and guano. The chapter also considers the use of products or by-products of both animal and plant origin as fertilisers.The second chapter provides a critical evaluation of the p...

This book reports an approach developed to research and apply methods of assessing patterns of processes in the landscape, and suitability of different types of vegetation to mitigate soil erosion and sediment flux. Practical guidelines on a spatially strategic approach to management of land degradation at a range of spatial scales were produced. Originally developed for the Mediterranean environment, it has much wider potential global application. It provides researchers with methods to a...

Earth overshoot will end either by design or by disaster. Which future should we choose?Earth is in overshoot. The cumulative impact of 8 billion humans combined with the relentless pursuit of economic growth in the name of "progress" has stressed the planet beyond its limits. We must act now.Surveying economic alternatives and charting plausible paths forward for a planned economic contraction, Escape from Overshoot covers a wide terrain, includin...

“The Conquest of Bread” is an 1892 work by Peter Kropotkin. Kropotkin outlines what he believes are the main problems with both feudalism and capitalism, and explains why they require and encourage poverty and scarcity through the description of a future society based on liberty, equality and fraternity. A must-read for those with an interest in anarchy, communism, or libertarianism. Contents include: “Our Riches”, “Well-Being for All”, “Anarchist Communism”, “Expropriation”, “Food”, “Dwel...

Victor Gischler's STAY, in which a stay-at-home dad with a secret past is forced to take pre-emptive action when his family is threatened by a crime lord, with TV rights sold.David Sparrow is an awesome stay-at-home dad. He gets his kids ready for school while his wife, Amy, commutes to New York City, where she is an Assistant District Attorney. She just inherited a major case: prosecuting crime lord Dante Payne. Meanwhile, David is content chatting with the moms a...

Meeting today’s energy and climate challenges require not only technological advancement but also a good understanding of stakeholders’ perceptions, political sensitivity, well-informed policy analyses and innovative interdisciplinary solutions. This book will fill this gap. This is an interdisciplinary informative book to provide a holistic and integrated understanding of the technology-stakeholder-policy interactions of smart grid technologies. The unique features of the book include the...

This comprehensive textbook explores the policy process from a multitude of perspectives, including rationalism, culturalism, institutionalism and from a political point of view. This allows students to discover key concepts from the policy science literature and gain a deeper understanding of how public policy is discussed academically and shaped empirically.Public Policy in Action gives a detailed breakdown of all stages of the policy process by discussing the emergence ...