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Hints on the Art and Science of Government was the first treatise on statecraft produced in modern India. It consists of lectures that Raja Sir T. Madhava Rao delivered in 1881 to Sayaji Rao Gaekwad III, the young Maharaja of Baroda. Universally considered the foremost Indian statesman of the nineteenth century, Madhava Rao had served as dewan (or prime minister) in the native states of Travancore, Indore and Baroda. Under his command, Travancore and Baroda came to be seen as ''model states'', whose progress demonstrated that Indians were capable of governing well.Rao''s lectures summarise the fundamental principles underlying his unprecedented success. He explains how and why a Maharaja ought to marry the classical Indian ideal of raj dharma, which enjoins rulers to govern dutifully, with the modern English ideal of limited sovereignty. This makes Hints an exceptionally important text: it shows how, outside the confines of British India, Indians consciously and creatively sought to revise and adapt ideals in the interests of progress.This landmark edition contains both the newly rediscovered, original lecture manuscripts; and an authoritative introduction, outlining Rao''s remarkable career, his complicated relationship with Sayaji Rao III, and the reasons why his lectures have been neglected-until now.

An incisive history revealing BritainΓÇÖs conquest of the Kingdom of Benin and the plunder of its fabled Bronzes. The Benin Bronzes are among the British MuseumΓÇÖs most prized possessions. Celebrated for their great beauty, they embody the history, myth and artistry of the ancient Kingdom of Benin, once West AfricaΓÇÖs most powerful, and today part of Nigeria. But despite the BronzesΓÇÖ renown, little has been written about the brutal imperial violence with which they were plundered. Paddy DochertyΓÇÖs searing new history tells that story: the 1897 British invasion of Benin. Armed with shocking details discovered in the archives, Blood and Bronze sets this assault in its late Victorian context. As British power faced new commercial and strategic pressures elsewhere, it ruthlessly expanded in West Africa. Revealing both the extent of African resistance and previously concealed British outrages, this is a definitive account of the destruction of Benin. Laying bare the EmpireΓÇÖs true motives and violent means, including the official coverup of grotesque sexual crimes, Docherty demolishes any moral argument for Britain retaining the Bronzes, making a passionate case for their immediate repatriation to Nigeria.

The Indian sage Ramana Maharshi (1879- 1950) is perhaps the most widely known Indian spiritual figure of the last century, second only to Gandhi. This new book offers a fresh introduction to the MaharshiΓÇÖs life and teachings, intending to situate him within the non-dualistic traditions of Hinduism. It also delves into themes and questions particularly relevant to the spiritual crisis and search for meaning that have characterised, in various ways, both the modern and postmodern outlooks.While the MaharshiΓÇÖs background and frames of reference were traditional, the spiritual resonance of his teachings in todayΓÇÖs world must also be recognised. The sageΓÇÖs message lies at the intersection of the contemporary search for Self-knowledge, and todayΓÇÖs critical reflections on the foundations and limits of religion. Thus, the book comprises seven chapters that touch upon such central issues as the role of religion in Self-inquiry; the relationship between devotion and knowledge; the role and limitations of traditional forms; and the implications in our postmodern era of both the MaharshiΓÇÖs emphasis on surrender, and his basic question: ΓÇÿWho am I?ΓÇÖPublished in collaboration withGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY Center for International and Regional Studies, School of Foreign Service in Qatar.

Though the Arab Spring has reverberated through the Middle East, largely leaving a path of destruction, the relative calm in the United Arab Emirates has offered a regional roadmap for stability. Domestic changes since 2000 have significantly altered the country''s dynamics, firmly cementing power within Abu Dhabi. While Khalifa bin Zayed succeeded his father as emir of Abu Dhabi and UAE president in 2004, the Emirates'' evolution has largely been accredited to Abu Dhabi''s crown prince, Mohammed bin Zayed. His reign has been characterised by the rise of the security apparatus and a micromanaged approach to governance.Mohammed bin Zayed''s strategy of fortification has focused on pre-empting threats from the UAE''s native population, rather than from expatriates or foreign actors. As a result, he has consolidated power, distributing its administration among his tribal and kinship allies. In essence, Mohammed bin Zayed has driven modernisation in order to strengthen his grasp on power.This book explores Mohammed bin Zayed''s regime security strategy, illustrating the network of alliances that seek to support his reign and that of his family. In an ever-turbulent region, the UAE remains critical to understanding the evolution of Middle Eastern authoritarian control.

The Nature of Tyranny was written and published at the dawn of the twentieth century by Abdul Rahman Al-Kawakibi, one of the pioneering thinkers of the Arab world. More than a century later, another Arab awakening exploded, led by a new generation of youth who chanted Al-Kawakibi''s words in revolutionary cries from Aleppo, his hometown, to Cairo''s Tahrir Square.Today this seminal text appears in English for the first time, with a foreword from Leon T. Goldsmith offering an overview of Al-Kawakibi''s intellectual contributions. The first chapter of the text provides a definition of tyranny, presenting it as akin to a sickness or malaise that seeps into all classes of society, leaving behind decay. The following seven chapters apply this conception of tyranny to what Al-Kawakibi sees as society''s crucial elements: religion, knowledge, honour, economy, ethics and progress. Having laid a theoretical framework for understanding the centrality of tyranny, its characteristics and its devastating effects, Al-Kawakibi concludes by setting forth a brief programme for remedying the ''disease'' of tyranny. The final chapter outlines another book in which he had planned to elaborate upon his ideas-but, ultimately, his fate arrived too soon.

We no longer inhabit a world governed by international coordination, a unified NATO bloc, or an American hegemon. Traditionally, the decline of one empire leads to a restoration in the balance of power, via a struggle among rival systems of order. Yet this dynamic is surprisingly absent today; instead, the superpowers have all, at times, sought to promote what Jason Pack terms the ''Enduring Disorder''.He contends that Libya''s ongoing conflict--more so than the civil wars in Yemen, Syria, Venezuela or Ukraine--constitutes the ideal microcosm in which to identify the salient features of this new era of geopolitics. The country''s post-Qadhafi trajectory has been moulded by the stark absence of coherent international diplomacy; while Libya''s incremental implosion has precipitated cross-border contagion, further corroding global institutions and international partnership.Pack draws on over two decades of research in and on Libya and Syria to highlight the Kafkaesque aspects of today''s global affairs. He shows how even the threats posed by the Arab Spring, and the Benghazi assassination of US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, couldn''t occasion a unified Western response. Rather, they have further undercut global collaboration, demonstrating the self-reinforcing nature of the progressively collapsing world order.

Foreword by Bruce Riedel

In this volume, Michael Llewellyn-Smith sets the Greek occupation of Smyrna and the war in Anatolia against the background of Greece's 'Great Idea' and of great power rivalries in the Near East.

Seventy years on, the Partition of India fades from memory. Can it be restored?

A deeply personal tale of young life in a superpower haunted by its past.

The summer of 2014--when the Islamic State seized Mosul, Iraq's second city; captured vast swathes of eastern Syria; and declared itself a latter-day Caliphate--marked a turning point in the history of photography, one that pushed its already contested relationship with reality to its very limits. Uniquely obsessed with narrative, image management and branding, the Islamic State used cameras as weapons in its formative years as a Caliphate. The tens of thousands of propaganda photographs captured during this time were used to denote policy, to navigate through defeat and, perhaps most importantly, to construct an impossible reality: a totalising image-world of Salafi-Jihadist symbols and myths. Based on a deep examination of the 20,000 photographs Charlie Winter collected from the Islamic State's covert networks online in 2017, this book explores the process by which the Caliphate shook the foundations of modern war photography. Focusing on the period in which it was at its strongest, Winter identifies the implicit value systems that underpinned the Caliphate's ideological appeal, and evaluates its uniquely malign contribution to the history of the photographic image. The Terrorist Image travels to the heart of what made the Islamic State tick during its prime, providing unique insights into its global appeal and mobilisation successes.

A leading expert offers the definitive account of Syria's long history of welcoming, and now exporting, refugees.

A wide-ranging account of the roots, trajectory, and consequences of Libya's '17 February Revolution'.

A radical reappraisal of how Hitler and the Nazis conceived of themselves from the outset as a propagandistic state, rather than propaganda being merely an accessory to power.

Is the Commonwealth little more than a mirage -- as lacking in substance as the emperor's new clothes?

Why I Am a Hindu offers a profound reexamination of Hinduism, and cautions against its politicisation.

A rich portrait of the ultimate globalised city.

Here''s a perverse truth: from New Orleans to Bangladesh, women--especially poor women of colour--are suffering most from a crisis they have done nothing to cause. Yet where, in environmental policy, are the voices of elderly European women dying in heatwaves? Of African girls dropping out of school due to drought? Our highest-profile climate activists are women and girls; but, at the top table, it''s men deciding the earth''s future.We''re not all in it together--but we could be. Instead of expecting individual women to save the planet, what we need are visionary, global climate policies that are gender-inclusive and promote gender equality. Anne Karpf shines a light on the radical ideas, compelling research and tireless campaigns, led by and for women around the world, that have inspired her to hope. Her conversations with female activists show how we can fight back, with strength in diversity. And, faced with the most urgent catastrophe of our times, she offers a powerful vision: a Green New Deal for Women.

Hassan Mahamdallie remembers the comedy and comedians of his youth, Hussein Abdulsater explores the Islamic approach to humour, Bruce B Lawrence is enthralled by Sufi satire, Gilbert Ramsey and Moutaz Alkheder dissect Jihadi jokes, Boyd Tonkin relishes the wordplay in Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq''s Leg Over Leg, Robert Irwin enjoys old Arab gags, Eric Wagner explores Muslim comedy in America, Leyla Jagiella dissects the old theory of biological and psychological humours, Scott Jordan is astonished that comedy and news have merged into a single entity, Hussein Kesvani half-regrets his viral tweet, Shazia Mirza has a good laugh, Mevlut Ceylan retells Nasreddin Hodja tales, Shanon Shah is impressed by Arab political humour, Samia Rahman takes a sip from the famous drink of Abu Nawas, Ziauddin Sardar defends the integrity of put-upon pigeons, and RachelDwyer hands out Bollywood Comedy Awards.Also in this issue: Deena Mohamed''s superhero Qahera, Giles Goddard on Christian-Muslim relations, Hoda Yusuf watches the first feature film from Djibouti, and a short story by Medina Tenour Whiteman.About Critical Muslim: A quarterly publication of ideas and issues showcasing groundbreaking thinking on Islam and what it means to be a Muslim in a rapidly changing, interconnected world. Each edition centers on a discrete theme, and contributions include reportage, academic analysis, cultural commentary, photography, poetry, and book reviews.

'Precisely and rigorously ticks off Heineken's excesses and tribulations in Africa.' - Le Monde

The coronavirus has upended the post-World War II narrative in global affairs, as the United States and the European Union struggle to contain what may well become the deadliest pandemic in a century. Countries with some of the world''s most advanced biomedical research systems were slow to lock down, slow to set up testing and contact-tracing, slow to equip their health workers with personal protective equipment, and slow to mandate mask-wearing in their populations. This has been in contrast with other countries--especially in Asia--which are further on the road to eliminating the virus completely. In much of Africa, too, where HIV and Ebola have helped to prepare public health systems for epidemics, the policy response has been of a higher quality than that in much richer nations. In this issue of Critical Muslim, we explore the impact of the virus on the world, examining how different countries have responded to the pandemic; why the science and health policies of richer nations were found wanting; and the implications for a post-pandemic future. About Critical Muslim: A quarterly publication of ideas and issues showcasing groundbreaking thinking on Islam and what it means to be a Muslim in a rapidly changing, interconnected world. Each edition centers on a discrete theme, and contributions include reportage, academic analysis, cultural commentary, photography, poetry, and book reviews.

Intelligence agencies are reflections of the societies they serve. No surprise, then, that modern spies and the agencies they work for are fixated on the internet and electronic communications. These same officials also struggle with notions of privacy, appropriateness, national boundaries and the problem of disinformation. They are citizens of both somewhere and nowhere, serving a national public yet confronting spies who operate across borders. These adversaries are utilising new technologies that offer a transnational anonymity. Meanwhile, ordinary people are keen to be protected from threats, but equally keen - basing their understanding of intelligence on news and popular culture - to avoid over-reach by authorities believed to have near-God-like powers. This is the new operating environment for spies: a heady mix of rapid technological development, identity politics, plausible deniability, uncertainty and distrust of authority. Hacker, Influencer, Faker, Spy explores both the challenges spies face from these digital horizons, and the challenges citizens face in understanding what spies do and how it impacts on them. Rob Dover makes a radical case for overhauling intelligence to capitalise on open-source information: shrinking the secret state, whilst still supporting the functioning of modern governments in the post-COVID age.

In recent years, Western experts have generally portrayed the Kremlin''s actions as either strategic or tactical. Yet this proposition raises a very important question: how closely does the West''s interpretation of Russian strategy reflect the country''s own definitions? While many military historians have sought to interpret Russian strategy, ''Strategiya'' takes a different approach. It brings together, in English, the classic works of the Russian art of strategy, which were rediscovered after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Instead of explaining his analysis of Russia''s contemporary strategy, Ofer Fridman offers his translation of and commentary upon the founding texts of Russia''s own Clausewitzes, Baron Jominis and Liddell Harts, who have been inspiring Russian strategic thinking--both its conceptualisation and its implementation--from the moment Moscow rejected the exclusive role of Marxism-Leninism in strategic affairs. Russian contemporary strategists draw their inspiration from three main schools of thought. While works by Soviet military thinkers have already been translated into English, those by both Imperial strategists and military thinkers in exile have remained almost inaccessible to the Western reader. Filling this lacuna, ''Strategiya'' offers a fascinating glimpse inside the foundations of Russian strategic thought and practice.

The culture of politics within any system of governance is influenced by how state and society interact, and how these relationships are mediated by existing political institutions, whether formal or informal. The chapters in this volume highlight two broad types of informal political engagement in the Middle East: civil action that works in tandem with the state apparatus, and civil action that poses a challenge to the state. In both cases, these activities can and do achieve tangible results for particular groups of people, as well as for the state. For many, informal politics and civil mobilisation are not a choice, but a necessity to secure--collectively--some kind of social security, through communal reciprocity and everyday activism. Ironically, Middle Eastern authorities often turn a blind eye to informal organising, because ''self-help'' schemes allow certain social groups to survive--reducing their instinct to make demands of, or seek support from, the state. People are discouraged from political action and dissent; yet they are simultaneously encouraged to seek their own betterment, often leading to politicised groups and associations. By analysing these formations, the contributors shed light on informal politics in the region.