International Studies

Sacred sites offer believers the possibility of communing with the divine and achieving deeper insight into their faith. Yet their spiritual and cultural importance can lead to competition as religious groups seek to exclude rivals from practicing potentially sacrilegious rituals in the hallowed space and wish to assert their own claims.

Reports of sexual violence in armed conflict frequently appear in political discussions and news media, presenting a stark contrast to a long history of silence and nonrecognition. Conflict-related sexual violence has transitioned rapidly from a neglected human rights issue to an unambiguous security concern on the agendas of powerful states and the United Nations Security Council. Through interviews and primary-source evidence, Kerry F. Crawford investigates the reasons for this dramatic change and the implications of the securitization of sexual violence.

At the height of the ideological antagonism of the Cold War, the US State Department unleashed an unexpected tool in its battle against Communism: jazz. From 1956 through the late 1970s, America dispatched its finest jazz musicians to the far corners of the earth, from Iraq to India, from the Congo to the Soviet Union, in order to win the hearts and minds of the Third World and to counter perceptions of American racism.

The public intellectual, as a person and ideal, has a long and storied history. Writing in venues like the New Republic and Commentary, such intellectuals were always expected to opine on a broad array of topics, from foreign policy to literature to economics. Yet in recent years a new kind of thinker has supplanted that archetype: the thought leader. Equipped with one big idea, thought leaders focus their energies on TED talks rather than highbrow periodicals.

Out in the Pacific Ocean, there is a war taking place. It is a "warm war", a shoving match between the United States, since World War II the uncontested ruler of the seas, and China, which now possesses the world's largest navy. The Chinese regard the Pacific, and especially the South China Sea, as their ocean, and they're ready to defend it. Each day the heat between the two countries increases as the Chinese try to claim the South China Sea for their own, and the United States insists on asserting freedom of navigation.

The American Dream is close to being replaced by a living nightmare. Key commodities that are essential to our daily lives and that are widely believed to be abundant are running critically short. Even worse, the Chinese are doing what they can to monopolize the world's dwindling resources. The U.S. is now largely dependent on our greatest economic rival for rare earth elements as well as a host of other minerals - all of which are absolutely essential to the development of alternative energies....

David Headley, the American Pakistani also known as Daood Gilani, lived a double life. One day he would stroll through Central Park in his tailored Armani suit as a true New Yorker, and the next he would browse in the bazaar in Lahore wearing traditional Pakistani clothes. One day he would drink champagne at the most extravagant clubs; on another he would prostrate himself in prayer in remote Pakistan and pledge fidelity to Allah.

They are coddled and well-groomed. They chase after the latest scandal and then run around in crazy circles, using the TV studio as their show ring and wee-wee pad. There is no controversy they can't trivialize, no issue they can't vulgarize. They obey their political masters and betray the trust of the audience with every bark. They're the attack poodles: a new breed of celebrity pundit.

Drawing upon history, economics, complexity theory, human immunology, psychology and his own extraordinary experiences, Joshua Ramo puts forth a radical new model for looking at the world, one that embraces its inherent unpredictability--and offers our best hope for dealing with problems and disasters as they emerge.

Past and present civilizations failed and fail for many reasons, but the number-one predictor of a civilization’s survival is its sense of religion—or lack thereof. So argues David Goldman in How Civilizations Die (and Why Islam Is Dying Too). The strength of a civilization’s religion affects its purpose, its fertility rate, and ultimately, its fate, says Goldman—who then argues that, contrary to popular belief, Islamic countries are in the last throes of death while Christian America is in a position to flourish.

Was sind die großen Herausforderungen, vor denen die Menschheit steht? Wer sind wir und was sollen wir mit unserem Leben anfangen? Seit Jahrtausenden fragt die Menschheit nach dem Sinn des Lebens. Doch jetzt setzen uns die ökologische Krise, die wachsende Bedrohung durch Massenvernichtungswaffen und der Aufstieg neuer disruptiver Technologien unter Zeitdruck. Irgendjemand wird darüber entscheiden müssen, wie wir die Macht nutzen, die künstliche Intelligenz und Biotechnologie bereit halten. Yuval Noah Harari will Menschen dazu anregen, sich an den großen Debatten unserer Zeit zu beteiligen.

Come sarà il mondo da qui a trent'anni? Come cambierà la nostra vita grazie o a causa della tecnologia sempre più pervasiva? E come dobbiamo prepararci noi e i nostri figli per saper intercettare al meglio i cambiamenti già in atto ma che da noi, in Italia, arrivano sempre in ritardo? Dopo il caustico pamphlet "Muovete il culo!", Alberto Forchielli torna a scuotere le coscienze degli italiani per prepararli al mondo di domani. E lo fa con un viaggio pirotecnico nei luoghi in cui il futuro non si aspetta ma si costruisce.

Understanding Christ’s paradox of the servant-leader is an absolute necessity for success in the workplace and in ministry. Matt Williams has been an associate pastor, Christian college administrator, and has worked with pastors, staff members, and church ministries around the country for more than 40 years.

Sex trafficking is not a recent phenomenon. Over 100 years ago, the first international traffic in women for prostitution emerged, prompting a worldwide effort to combat it. The Politics of Trafficking provides a unique look at the history of that first anti-trafficking movement, illuminating the role gender, sexuality, and national interests play in international politics. Initially conceived as a global humanitarian effort to protect women from sexual exploitation, the movement's feminist-inspired vision failed to achieve its goal....

All Americans know we are in a state of cultural crisis, but how did we get to this point? It has been said, if we seek an actual legal date for the fall of Judeo-Christian culture in America, it would be June 26, 2015, the day the Supreme Court ruled that homosexual marriage was a constitutionally protected right. But according to William D. Howard, the destruction of our country started well before that when states began changing laws and incorporating changes that had lasting repercussions on the culture as a whole.

This volume aims to call attention to and trace the various lines of prophetic time to the events in which they culminate. To receive its testimony, the listener will need to have an ear to hear and must expect to cast away many preconceived opinions as fast as they come to see their lack of harmony with God's word.

The Divine Plan of the Ages is a book that talks about God's future plan for the world and the part that we all play in it. It tells us that even though there is a lot of sadness and bad things happening in the world, God has a plan to fix it all. The book talks about why God sent the "Messiah".

Many of us could finish that sentence in our sleep. John 3:16 is a beautiful scripture that neatly and simply sums up the message of the Gospel. But what do all the other 3:16s in the Bible have to tell us? The words of the Bible weave a tapestry of love, particularly the love that our Heavenly Father has for his children. But a love so deep and so wide cannot be contained in one memorized phrase. It takes multiple authors of sixty-six individual books to begin to explore the mystery of God's care for us.

To See and Be Seen considers some of the ideological, aesthetic, pragmatic, institutional, cultural, commercial, environmental, and psychological forces that consciously or otherwise shape the production of news images and subsequently influence their reception. T. J. Thomson examines the expectations, experiences, and reactions of those depicted by visual journalists and considers other relevant factors: How do everyday people perceive cameras and those who operate them?

Härskarteknik är något som vi alla, oavsett kön, ålder och position, använder mot varandra. Det handlar inte bara om män som förtrycker kvinnor eller chefer som missbrukar sin makt. Problemet är att de flesta inte vet om det. Den här boken visar när och hur det sker.