Résumé : How did the Taliban gain the trust of the Afghan population through decades of conflict? How did they put themselves in a position to regulate social relations? And with what consequences for Afghan society? The Taliban Courts in Afghanistan: Waging War by Law explores how the Taliban used the law as a resource in its conflict with militarily and technologically superior Western armies. While the international coalition set up an inadequate and corrupt legal system, the Taliban set up hundreds of courts in the countryside. By insisting on due process, impartiality of judges, and the enforcement of verdicts, this system of justice established itself as one of the few sources of predictability in the daily lives of Afghans. The armed movement used law to substantiate their claim to embody the state, disseminate their vision of society, and establish local legitimacy. Their courts attempted to balance the political agenda of the movement, the demands of Islamic law, the needs of the population, and the expectations of international legal actors whose implicit recognition they desired. In contemporary civil wars, where dispensing justice is at once a juridical activity, a political weapon, and a stake in the war, this book thus accounts for why the West lost the war and how the Taliban took over the country. Based on the author's extensive fieldwork in various provinces in Afghanistan and unique access to Taliban judges and court users, this socio-legal investigation offers new perspectives on a country that was at war for over four decades. Baczko proposes an innovative reflection on the place of law and courts in civil wars as well as a stark reminder of the dangers of foreign intervention. Timely and thought-provoking, this book is appeals to a multi-disciplinary audience including legal scholars, political scientists, sociologists, diplomats, policy-makers, and anyone interested in the Afghan conflict. - Note de l'editeur

Résumé : Experimental architect and engineer Frei Otto (1925-2015) innovative tent structures were modeled first and foremost on nature. Illustrated with over 250 black-and-white images and drawings from his archive, this oversized first monograph on his work accompanying the extensive exhibition at ZKM (2016) features for the first time a large number of his experimental models and drawings. In the 1950s, Frei Otto's tent structures left their mark on the horticultural shows of the new Bonn Republic; together with Behnisch & Partner he created the roof landscape for the Munich Olympic Games in 1972. Otto's interdisciplinary mode of thinking harnessed architecture, technology, art, science, society and nature to civil engineering. Known for his lightweight tensile and membrane-based structures incorporating massive tent constructions like those by Russian engineer Vladimir Shukhov and architect Antonio Gaudí, Otto perfected the construction of tents for both temporary and alternative housing. His interest in alternative materials for shelter originated with his internment as a POW after the war. Exhibition: ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany (05.11.2016 - 19.03.2017).

Résumé : The Brussels Canal Zone, one of the most dynamic areas of the city, is an example of post-industrial reconversion, where private and public actors and civil society negotiate visions on future renewal. This study looks at visions expressed in spatial planning documents from 1988 onwards and then focuses on four urban development projects: the reconversion of the Tour & Taxis site, the renewal of the Belle-Vue brewery in Molenbeek, the citizens’ movement Platform Kanal and the branding project of the Canal Zone by the regional government. These visions are studied in a qualitative way using urban regime theory, discourse analysis and Lefebvre’s approach on the social production of space.This book gives a detailed insight on how spatial visions are negotiated in complex urban renewal processes. It provides a transversal, historical and contemporary socio-economic geography of the Brussels Canal Zone. This work proposes a framework that is not only an analytical and comparative tool for researchers, but also an instrument of reflection for policy makers, urban professionals and social movements.Sofie Vermeulen holds a PhD in Urban Geography and Spatial Planning (Cosmopolis, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 2015).

Résumé : In A Century of Violence in a Red City Lesley Gill provides insights into broad trends of global capitalist development, class disenfranchisement and dispossession, and the decline of progressive politics. Gill traces the rise and fall of the strong labor unions, neighborhood organizations, and working class of Barrancabermeja, Colombia, from their origins in the 1920s to their effective activism for agrarian reforms, labor rights, and social programs in the 1960s and 1970s. Like much of Colombia, Barrancabermeja came to be dominated by alliances of right-wing politicians, drug traffickers, foreign corporations, and paramilitary groups. These alliances reshaped the geography of power and gave rise to a pernicious form of armed neoliberalism. Their violent incursion into Barrancabermeja's civil society beginning in the 1980s decimated the city's social networks, destabilized life for its residents, and destroyed its working-class organizations. As a result, community leaders are now left clinging to the toothless discourse of human rights, which cannot effectively challenge the status quo. In this stark book, Gill captures the grim reality and precarious future of Barrancabermeja and other places ravaged by neoliberalism and violence. - Note de l'éditeur

Résumé : "Coming of age in the 1960s, the photographer Danny Lyon (b. 1942) distinguished himself with work that emphasized intimate social engagement. In 1962 Lyon traveled to the segregated South to photograph the civil rights movement. Subsequent projects on biker culture, the demolition and redevelopment of lower Manhattan, and the Texas prison system, and more recently on the Occupy movement and the vanishing culture in China's booming Shanxi Province, share Lyon's signature immersive approach and his commitment to social and political issues that concern those on the margins of society. Lyon's photography is paralleled by his work as a filmmaker and a writer. Danny Lyon: Message to the Future is the first in-depth examination of this leading figure in American photography and film, and the first publication to present his influential bodies of work in all media in their full context. Lead essayists Julian Cox and Elisabeth Sussman provide an account of Lyon's five-decade career. Alexander Nemerov writes about Lyon's work in Knoxville, Tennessee; Ed Halter assesses the artist's films; Danica Willard Sachs evaluates his photomontages; and Julian Cox interviews Alan Rinzler about his role in publishing Lyon's earliest works. With extensive back matter and illustrations, this publication will be the most comprehensive account of this influential artist's work"

Résumé : Exploring the contentious relationship between trade and labour, this book looks at the impact of the EU’s ‘new generation’ free trade agreements on workers. Drawing upon extensive original research, including over 200 interviews with key actors across the EU and its trading partners, it considers the effectiveness of the trade-labour linkage in an era of global value chains. The EU believes trade can work for all, claiming that labour provisions in its free trade agreements ensure that economic growth and high labour standards go hand-in-hand. Yet whether these actually make a difference to workers is strongly contested. This book explains why labour provisions have been profoundly limited in the EU’s agreements with the CARIFORUM group, South Korea and Moldova. It also shows how the provisions were mismatched with the most pressing workplace concerns in the key export industries of sugar, automobiles and clothing, and how these concerns were exacerbated by the agreements’ commercial provisions. This pioneering approach to studying the trade-labour linkage provides insights into key debates on the role of civil society in trade governance, the relationship between public and private labour regulation, and the progressive possibilities for trade policy in the twenty-first century. This book will appeal to research scholars, post-graduate students, trade policy practitioners, policy researchers allied to labour movements, and informed activists.

Résumé : "Adventures in the Aid Trade takes us on a fascinating journey through 40 years of work at the coal face of international development. Drawing on his experiences from long periods in the field, the author reflects on what has worked, what has not and why, and considers how these experiences relate to students and practitioners today. Looking beyond high-level policy matters and international relations, this book focuses instead on the author's actual experiences in the field and the inspired local people he encountered. The narrative traces how these people, working through their own organisations, make a difference to the lives of their contemporaries, and learn how they generate the income to do it. Chapters draw on the author's experiences of working with local practitioners from 40 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, South, South East, and Central Asia, and the South Pacific. Peppered with lively stories and anecdotes, Adventures in the Aid Trade provides valuable lessons from the shifting aid landscape and reflects on where the industry is likely to go next. Whether you are a current development practitioner, or a student just starting out in your understanding of the development and humanitarian sectors, this book provides an invaluable snapshot of the world of civil society organisations, governance, the voluntary sector, and the lived lives of ordinary people in extraordinary times

Résumé : "Kenya is one of the most politically dynamic and influential countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Today, it is known in equal measure as a country that has experienced great highs and tragic lows. In the 1960s and 1970s, Kenya was seen as a "success story" of development in the periphery, and also led the way in terms of democratic breakthroughs in 2010 when a new constitution devolved power and placed new constraints on the president. However, the country has also makes international headlines for the kind of political instability that occurs when electoral violence is expressed along ethnic lines, such as during the "Kenya crisis" of 2007/08 when over 1,000 people lost their lives and almost 700,000 were displaced. This Handbook explains these developments and many more, drawing together 50 specially commissioned chapters by leading researchers. The chapters they have contributed address a range of essential topics including the legacy of colonial rule, ethnicity, land politics, devolution, the constitution, elections, democracy, foreign aid, the informal economy, civil society, human right, the International Criminal Court, the rise of China, economic policy, electoral violence, and the impact of mobile phone technology. In addition to covering some of the most important debates about Kenyan politics, the volume provides a comprehensive overview of Kenyan history from 1930 to the present day and features a set of chapters that review the impact of devolution on regional politics in every part of the country"

Résumé : The Oxford Handbook of the American Revolution draws on a wealth of new scholarship to create a vibrant dialogue among varied approaches to the revolution that made the United States. In thirty-three essays written by authorities on the period, the Handbook brings to life the diverse multitudes of colonial North America and their extraordinary struggles before, during, and after the eight-year-long civil war that secured the independence of thirteen rebel colonies from their erstwhile colonial parent. The chapters explore battles and diplomacy, economics and finance, law and culture, politics and society, gender, race, and religion. Its diverse cast of characters includes ordinary farmers and artisans, free and enslaved African Americans, Indians, and British and American statesmen and military leaders. In addition to expanding the Revolution's who, the Handbook broadens its where, portraying an event that far transcended the boundaries of what was to become the United States. It offers readers an American Revolution whose impact ranged far beyond the thirteen colonies. The Handbook's range of interpretive and methodological approaches captures the full scope of current revolutionary-era scholarship. Its authors, British and American scholars spanning several generations, include social, cultural, military, and imperial historians, as well as those who study politics, diplomacy, literature, gender, and sexuality. Together and separately, these essays demonstrate that the American Revolution remains a vibrant and inviting a subject of inquiry. Nothing comparable has been published in decades. - Note de l'editeur

Résumé : Urbanization is rapidly overtaking China and India, the two most populous countries in the world. One-sixth of humanity now lives in either a Chinese or Indian city. This transformation has unleashed enormous pressures on land use, housing, and the environment. Despite the stakes, the workings of urban governance in China and India remain obscure and poorly understood. In this book, Xuefei Ren explores how China and India govern their cities and how their different styles of governance produce inequality and exclusion. Drawing upon historical-comparative analyses and extensive fieldwork (in Beijing, Guangzhou, Wukan, Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata), Ren investigates the ways that Chinese and Indian cities manage land acquisition, slum clearance, and air pollution. She discovers that the two countries address these issues through radically different approaches. In China, urban governance centers on territorial institutions, such as hukou and the cadre evaluation system. In India, urban governance centers on associational politics, encompassing contingent alliances formed among state actors, the private sector, and civil society groups. Ren traces the origins of territorial and associational forms of governance to late imperial China and precolonial India. She then shows how these forms have evolved to shape urban growth and residents' struggles today. As the number of urban residents in China and India reaches beyond a billion, Governing the Urban in China and India makes clear that the development of cities in these two nations will have profound consequences well beyond their borders