Publications

Michael C. Howard, Transnationalism and Society (McFarland, 2011)

In the past, as in the present, transnationalism has played a vital role in the development of wealth, technology and art in all societies touched by cultures other than their own. This timely book provides an introduction to the social and cultural aspects of transnationalism, particularly focusing on the modern world since 1500, with an emphasis on the past 200 years. Topics covered include the role of migration, the development of cities, the effect of transnationalism on marriage and families, the presence of transnational corporations, dress, religion and art. A key text for understanding our increasingly transnational world.

Lenard J. Cohen and John R. Lampe, Embracing Democracy in the Western Balkans (John Hopkins University Press, 2011)

Embracing Democracy in the Western Balkans offers a comparative, cross-regional study of the politics and economics of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Albania from 1999 to the present. It was during this period that the first wave of post-communist regime transition ended and the region became more deeply involved in the challenges of democratic consolidation. Lenard J. Cohen and John R. Lampe explore the legacies of communist rule, the impact of incentives and impediments on reform, and the magnetic pull of European Union accession. The authors ask whether the Western Balkans are embracing democracy by creating functional, resilient institutions-governmental, administrative, journalistic, and economic-and fostering popular trust in the legitimacy of those institutions.

Human Security Report Project, Human Security Report 2009/10
December 2, 2010

The Human Security Report 2009/2010 analyzes the drivers of war and peace and the causes of the decline in the deadliness of armed conflict over the past six decades. Part I of the new Report examines the forces and political developments that have driven down the number of international conflicts and war deaths since the 1950s, and the number of civil wars since the early 1990s. It argues that the fact that these forces persist, or have strengthened, provides grounds for cautious optimism about the future of global security. Part II examines the paradox of mortality rates that decline during the overwhelming majority of today’s wars, as well as the challenges and controversies involved in measuring indirect war deaths—those caused by war-exacerbated disease and malnutrition. Part III, “Trends in Human Insecurity,” reviews recent trends in conflict numbers and death tolls around the world, and updates the conflict and other trend data in previous HSRP publications.

John Harriss and Paul Bowles, Globalization and Labour in China and India (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010)

Globalization has pushed China and India to the centre of the stage but what has been the impact on workers in these countries? This book analyzes this question and demonstrates the complexity of the processes and responses at play. Bringing together expert analyzes of both rural and urban areas, the book highlights the ways in which local and national policies as well as global actors have an impact on labour. There are signs that the state in both countries is shifting its role in a 'counter movement from above' as shown by the National Employment Guarantee Act in India and the Labour Contract Law in China. But will this be enough to quell the social unrest caused by globalization's dislocating and inequalizing effects, especially after the global financial crisis? This book shows how state responses are unlikely to be up to the task and what role labour in other countries could play.

Michael C. Howard, From Dashes to Dragons: The Ikat-Patterned Textiles of Southeast Asia (White Lotus Press, 2010)

From Dashes to Dragons: The Ikat-Patterned Textiles of Southeast Asia provides a comprehensive survey of Southeast Asia’s ikat-patterned textiles. These include some of the most dramatic textiles from the region such as the famous warp ikat patterned textiles of Sumba along with many textiles that are of great importance to the cultural heritage of the region, such as the Tai tubeskirt cloths with weft ikat gray heron motifs and the double ikat cloths from Tenganan, Bali. The book includes a discussion of ikat techniques and the origin and diffusion of ikat in Southeast Asia. This is followed by surveys of the ikat-patterned textiles of peoples speaking Tai, Austronesian, Mon-Khmer, and Tibeto-Burman languages. 296 color photographs accompany the text.

Jeffrey T. Checkel and Peter J. Katzenstein, European Identity (Cambridge University Press, 2009)

Why are hopes fading for a single European identity? Economic integration has advanced faster and further than predicted, yet the European sense of 'who we are' is fragmenting. Exploiting decades of permissive consensus, Europe's elites designed and completed the single market, the euro, the Schengen passport-free zone, and, most recently, crafted an extraordinarily successful policy of enlargement. At the same time, these attempts to de-politicize politics, to create Europe by stealth, have produced a political backlash. This ambitious survey of identity in Europe captures the experiences of the winners and losers, optimists and pessimists, movers and stayers in a Europe where spatial and cultural borders are becoming ever more permeable. A full understanding of Europe's ambivalence, refracted through its multiple identities, lies at the intersection of competing European political projects and social processes.

Arctic Security in the 21st Century: Conference Report 2008

The Simons Foundation and the School for International Studies hosted a Dialogue Conference on the Problems of Arctic Security in the 21st Century in April 2008.