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Global Statesman revisits the decade that Gordon Brown spent as architect-in-chief of the New Labour project, and charts an often neglected but crucial dimension of the Brown years: his commitment to international development and the issues of global poverty. Drawing upon 10 years of primary research, including an extensive and exhaustive survey of speeches and policy statements made by Brown both prior to and throughout New Labour’s time in government, Global Statesman offers a critical assessment of one of the most powerful figures in modern British politics. While a number of books have focused upon the politics and performance of Brown in office, Global Statesman considers these in the light of the former Chancellor and Prime Minister’s own personal crusade against global poverty. As this book demonstrates, there was a clear link that existed between those policies that Brown himself design and implemented in Britain and the model of international development that he sought to promote abroad. As this book demonstrates however, this transmission of policy proved problematic and Brown’s persistence in working with the grain of global capitalism prevented him from truly getting to grips with the multiple and systemic causes of underdevelopment experienced by billions of people across the world. This, sadly, limited the scope for any genuine, lasting success and, ultimately, undermined Brown’s otherwise admirable commitment to address global poverty.

This book is designed to remove Peter Kropotkin from the framework of classical anarchism. By focusing attention on his theory of mutual aid, it argues that the classical framing distorts Kropotkin's political theory by associating it with a narrowly positivistic conception of science, a naively optimistic idea of human nature and a millenarian idea of revolution. Kropotkin's abiding concern with Russian revolutionary politics is the lens for this analysis. The argument is that his engagement with nihilism shaped his conception of science and that his expeditions in Siberia underpinned an approach to social analysis that was rooted in geography. Looking at Kropotkin's relationship with Elisée Reclus and Erico Malatesta and examining his critical appreciation of P-J. Proudhon, Michael Bakunin and Max Stirner, the study shows how he understood anarchist traditions and reveals the special character of his anarchist communism. His idea of the state as a colonising process and his contention that exploitation and oppression operate in global contexts is a key feature of this. Kropotkin's views about the role of theory in revolutionary practice show how he developed this critique of the state and capitalism to advance an idea of political change that combined the building of non-state alternatives through direct action and wilful disobedience. Against critics who argue that Kropotkin betrayed these principles in 1914, the book suggests that this controversial decision was consistent with his anarchism and that it reflected his judgment about the prospects of anarchistic revolution in Russia.

Migration-related cultural diversity poses a number of highly pressing political and normative challenges for liberal democratic societies. This book explores what forms of migrant accommodation and multicultural citizenship we can envisage in the contemporary context of increased migration flows, where newcomers are often not given a settlement perspective. Can we go beyond a form of nationally imagined citizenship and integration model? And if we can, then what would the potential advantages be? Through both theoretical contributions and empirically-orientated analyses, this book provides insights into how theories and practices of multicultural citizenship and migrant integration are adapting and might adapt to the new, more dynamic but also more fluid patterns of international migration and mobility. (114 words)Key Features The book addresses heads-on the challenges that increased and diversified patterns of international migration and mobility pose to theories and practices of multicultural citizenship It brings together renowned sociologists of migration and transnationalism with the foremost theorists of multiculturalism and citizenship, and also introduces some of the most promising younger scholars working in these areas It covers European, North American and Australian cases and dynamics, going beyond common regional limitations of discussions on international migration or multiculturalism It is written in an accessible way, addressing a readership coming from different disciplines such as law, political science, sociology and political theory It is multi-methodological in its approach, including both qualitative and quantitative, single country and comparative chapters, and chapters reviewing secondary sources as well as chapters based on empirical data sets.

Contemporary political philosophy—especially the works of Martha Nussbaum, John Rawls, and Amartya Sen—has assumed it can in various ways separate itself from more comprehensive philosophical positions and frameworks, and much of contemporary ethics—especially the works of Gerald Gaus and Stephen Darwall—has assumed that ethics can be based on a legislative or juridical model. Den Uyl and Rasmussen challenge both these trends. They do so by amplifying an account of human flourishing, which they call “individualistic perfectionism,” that they presented in their earlier work, Norms of Liberty. They continue to challenge the assumption that a neo-Aristotelian ethical framework cannot support a liberal, non-perfectionist political theory by describing in greater detail the nature of the perfectionist ethical approach they utilized in their previous political theorizing. They show that individualistic perfectionism represents a major and powerful alternative to much contemporary ethical thinking.

The aim of the book is to closely study regime responses and the principal transformations that have occurred in the MENA countries and in the region overall as a result of the Arab Spring, with the purpose of assessing whether the nature of power and power relations has changed since 2011.Thus, this book analyses comparatively the consequences of the political changes that have taken place following the Arab Spring in MENA countries, not only at national level (within political regimes), but also at regional and international level (the MENA region and western policies towards MENA countries). The monograph opts for a horizontal comparative analysis by theme: parties and political groups, elections, constitutional frameworks, power relations, governance, civil society, rights and freedoms, regional powers, security issues and foreign policies. In order to complement this comparative analysis, this book also employs a typology to study change processes undertaken in specific countries in the MENA region: democratisation, autocratisation, political liberalisation, authoritarian progression and the breakdown of state authority. Thus, political change can and often does take different directions, not all of which necessarily have to lead to regime change. Transitions may occur from authoritarianism toward democracy, but may also give rise to a reconfiguration of authoritarianism. Authoritarian rulers can undertake political reforms without democratic motivations. Thus, the broad concept of ‘political change’ is used in this monograph not only in the sense of provoking democratic developments, but also as an element in reshaping authoritarian regimes.

Religion and religious diversity are one of the toughest diversity challenges that European societies face today. Old paradigms of republicanism or multiculturalism seem to be in crisis but a new “third way” between laicité and state religion is not yet visible. This book questions whether the best way to deal with religious diversity is to equalise upwards or downwards, what are the obstacles to a more egalitarian religious pluralism, and what we can learn from policies and practices in the Middle East and Asia where religious plurality and the integration of religion in the public space is the norm rather than the exception. The first part of the book discusses the type and degree of secularism that is fit for addressing the challenges of religious diversity that contemporary western societies face at a theoretical or normative level, while its second part engages with the experiences of countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania in their governance and accommodation of diverse religious communities within a single state. These chapters seek to assess whether respect and acceptance of religion as one dimension of public and political life can provide for a more appropriate basis for the governance of religious diversity than European or North American models of moderate or complete separation of church and state.

Problems of social transformations and revolutions belong to the classical agenda of social inquiry, as well as to the most prominent challenges encountered by contemporary societies. The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Soviet collapse of socialism prompts a timely reflection on the significant transformations and revolutions which took place since then. The book analyses the transformation of Europe and the United States, and the extent to which their military actions in the wake of 9/11 have had a major transformative global impact. It also examines how the economic crisis that began in 2007/8 caused a series of breakdowns and provoked demands for democratic and social transformations, so far unfulfilled. The volume also surveys major transformations linked to the rise of China, India and Brazil, and the framework of global capitalism, including multiple economic, political, ecological and civilizational transformations. It contains reflections on the theoretical debates on revolutions and transformations as well.