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Marie Bashkirtseff was of one of the most extraordinary women of the 19th century. Her Journal (originally comprising some 20,000 hand-written pages but pared down to a few hundred for publication) was a cause cElEbre after her death and continues to be an inspiration to the Women's Movement to this day. It also inspired such great writers as AnaIs Nin and Katherine Mansfield among many others.Born into an aristocratic family in a village in Ukraine the family soon settled in France, first in Nice and later in Paris. Taught entirely by tutors Marie spoke multiple languages, played numerous musical instruments and longed for a singing career on the stage. An illness that affected her throat made her change course and she took up painting for which she had a latent talent. As a student at the AcadEmie Julian in Paris she was soon exhibiting at the annual Paris Salon, the premier venue for artists.But it was her personality that makes Marie Bashkirtseff such an exceptional individual. At a very young age she was already exhibiting in her Journal the thoughts of a learned philosopher, wrestling with the nature of God, the position of women in society, the politics of men. Having contracted tuberculosis in early childhood she ceaselessly strove to shrug it off in her quest to achieve greatness. In the end, a great tragedy unfolds.The book is somewhat unique in format. The first part is a biographical section that describes Marie's unusual and fascinating life. Then a second section, consists of a single Journal excerpt (in English translation from the original French) on each left-hand page, juxtaposed with one of her outstanding works of art on the facing page. In this manner, we learn about her remarkable life and tribulations, enter her restive and brilliant mind via her Journal, as well as appreciate her exceptionally fine works as an artist.

In this first installment of the Misinformation series, the author tackles complex socio-economic and political topics related to the economy of the United States, such as the federal budget, wasteful spending, the national debt, unemployment and social security. By breaking down each subject into layman's terms, the author clearly and concisely presents, in an unbiased manner, the facts behind the fake news, half-truths and general misinformation from the annoying headlines and memes cluttering social media on these volatile subjects.

A point of departure for this book is the paradox between the seemingly limitless promise modern web technologies hold for enhanced political communication and their limited actual contribution. Empirical evidence indicates that neither citizens nor political parties are taking full advantage of online platforms to advance political participation. This is particularly evident when considering the websites of political parties, which have taken on two main functions: i) Disseminating information to citizens and journalists about the history, structure, programme and activities of the party; ii) Monitoring citizens' opinions in regard to different political questions and policy proposals that are under discussion. Despite the integration of websites into political parties' "permanent campaigns" (Blumenthal), television continues to be seen as the core medium in political communication and one-way and top-down communication strategies still prevail. In other words, it is still "business as usual." This book questions whether Web 2.0 could help enhance citizens' political participation. It offers a critical examination of the current state of the art from diverse perspectives, highlights persisting gaps in our knowledge and identifies a promising stream of further research. The ambition is to stimulate debate around the party-citizen "participation mismatch" and the role and place of modern web technologies in this setting. Each of the included chapters provide valuable explorations of the ways in which political parties motivate, make use of and are shaped by citizen participation in the Web 2.0 era. Diverse perspectives are employed, drawing examples from several European political systems and offering analytical insights at both the individual/micro level and at broader, macro or inter-societal systems level. Taken together, they offer a balanced and thought-provoking account of the political participation gap, its causes and consequences for political communication and democratic politics, as well as pointing the way to new forms of contemporary political participation.

Within current political, social, and ethical debates - both in academia and society - activism and how individuals should approach issues facing nonhuman animals, have become increasingly important, 'hot' issues. Individuals, groups, advocacy agencies, and governments have all espoused competing ideas for how we should approach nonhuman use and exploitation. Ought we proceed through liberation? Abolition? Segregation? Integration? As nonhuman liberation, welfare, and rights' groups increasingly interconnect and identify with other 'social justice movements', resolutions to these questions have become increasingly entangled with questions of what justice and our ethical commitments demand on this issue, and the topic has become increasingly significant and divisive.The book considers how this question, and contemporary issues facing nonhumans (such as experimentation, hunting, and factory farming) should be answered by drawing on both theory and practice in order to provide grounded, yet actionable, ways forward.Indicatively, the book covers topics such as:- The intersection between interspecies ethics and the ethics of war and self-defence- Nonhuman animals as political subjects and acting agents- Whether we should intervene for nonhuman animals in cases of natural disaster- Various explorations of why the nonhuman movement may not be succeeding as well as it could be- Comparisons between the nonhuman movement and other social movement- Arguments for and against intervening to help or save nonhumans, and how far we may go- What intervention could ultimately mean for nonhumansThe book is therefore intended not only to provide new and interesting insight into the area and important contemporary discussions, but also to constructively aid the nonhuman movement and unite theory and practice on the crucial issues. With the nonhuman movement and its past approaches currently being questioned as a success, more nonhumans than ever being harmed and exploited, and a growing gulf between activists and scholars, this book will not only be a timely addition to the literature, but an attempt to bridge these gaps and move both theory and practice - and thus the movement and field - forward.

Communication in the public sphere as well as within organizational contexts has attracted the interest of researchers over the past century. Current forms of citizen engagement and community development, partly enabled through digital communication, have further enhanced the visibility and relevance of non-profit communication. These are performed by the civil society, which is 'the organized expression of the values and interests of society' (Castells, 2008) in the public sphere. Non-profit communication feeds the public sphere as 'the discursive processes in a complex network of persons, institutionalized associations and organizations, ' whereas those 'discourses are a civilized way of disagreeing openly about essential matters of common concern' (Jensen, 2002).Despite the relevance in the public sphere, non-profit communication was never properly defined within communication research. The aim of the present book is to offer an overview and report on Strategic Communication for Non-Profit-Organisations and the Challenges and Alternative Approaches. Considering the assumption that key principle of strategic communication is the achievement of organisational goals, the majority of research developed in the field has used business environments to develop theories, models, empirical insights and case studies. Here, we make a step on the proposal of new approaches that are centred on the concept of non-profit in various dimensions and from various perspectives, showing the diversity and complexity around this subject and at the same time the need of further theoretical and empirical work that provide frameworks and also tools for further understanding of the phenomena.

This short book deals with a sociological concept: love-agape. It is an attempt to demonstrate that love-agape resists, indeed insists, as a fact that cannot be reduced or concealed. Its simple goal is to introduce agape into the vocabulary of sociological analysis by demonstrating its potential to demarcate and to interpret social phenomena. Love-agape is presented as a critical concept. On the one hand, love-agape denounces the risks linked to the needs of closed groups, often absolutist and fundamentalist. On the other hand, it represents a concrete reality, lying at the root of a particular type of sociality. A sociality that, rather unconventionally, recognizes differences and distances, but also characterizes their condition of being together, as community founded on the recognition and respect of subjectivity.

Napoleon's Purgatory is a work portraying the human side of Napoleon as revealed by those who shared his exile on the island of St. Helena. Through the diaries and journals of the Emperor's servants, generals, and companions come the stories of Napoleon's tender love for children, his captivating sense of humor, his eternal love for Josephine, and his agonizing death. Napoleon Bonaparte was sent by the British to the remote island of St. Helena where he could not escape. What followed were six excruciating years of loneliness and depression, mixed with frolicking play with the island's children, a battle of wills with his British captor, an exploration of his lapsed Catholic faith, and the complex relationship with the members of his entourage. This time in exile was akin to time served in Purgatory for Napoleon. His humanity, suffering, joy in the laughter of children, and longing for Josephine are captured vividly in this work through the detailed use of primary sources written by those who were there. While many considered Napoleon Bonaparte the "Corsican Ogre" for the wars he waged across Europe, he was anything but during his exile on St. Helena.

Within current political, social, and ethical debates - both in academia and society - activism and how individuals should approach issues facing nonhuman animals, have become increasingly important, 'hot' issues. Individuals, groups, advocacy agencies, and governments have all espoused competing ideas for how we should approach nonhuman use and exploitation. Ought we proceed through liberation? Abolition? Segregation? Integration? As nonhuman liberation, welfare, and rights' groups increasingly interconnect and identify with other 'social justice movements', resolutions to these questions have become increasingly entangled with questions of what justice and our ethical commitments demand on this issue, and the topic has become increasingly significant and divisive.The book considers how this question, and contemporary issues facing nonhumans (such as experimentation, hunting, and factory farming) should be answered by drawing on both theory and practice in order to provide grounded, yet actionable, ways forward.Indicatively, the book covers topics such as:• The intersection between interspecies ethics and the ethics of war and self-defence• Nonhuman animals as political subjects and acting agents• Whether we should intervene for nonhuman animals in cases of natural disaster• Various explorations of why the nonhuman movement may not be succeeding as well as it could be• Comparisons between the nonhuman movement and other social movement• Arguments for and against intervening to help or save nonhumans, and how far we may go• What intervention could ultimately mean for nonhumansThe book is therefore intended not only to provide new and interesting insight into the area and important contemporary discussions, but also to constructively aid the nonhuman movement and unite theory and practice on the crucial issues. With the nonhuman movement and its past approaches currently being questioned as a success, more nonhumans than ever being harmed and exploited, and a growing gulf between activists and scholars, this book will not only be a timely addition to the literature, but an attempt to bridge these gaps and move both theory and practice - and thus the movement and field - forward.

This volume covers various issues in global development and global economic transformation including factors affecting economies and development in the European Union (EU), the Ukraine, select countries in Africa, the Caribbean, the South Pacific as well as India and the United States. The global economy is in transition, from the 1990s' status quo to the "new normal" with heavy reliance on the internet, rapid communications, sophisticated payment systems, diminishing importance of size and distance and changing notions of the market.This volume discusses how this process is affecting economies across the globe and why an appreciation of it will help efforts by governmental bodies and the private sector to reassess societal relationships - both economic and political. This volume shows that challenges to policy-making and the achievement of social consensus on development issues are often quite similar in all countries, irrespective of size, geographical location, endowment and developmental status. The chapters speak to concerns that touch on a cross-section of issues which are driving transition and transformation at multiple levels. As a group, they compare economic factors across transnational economic or political associations (OECD, European Union, G20) or make comparisons across or within emerging markets or small states (BRICS, various African countries, the Caribbean, South Pacific). They include the presentation of a new model for transnational agreements, discussions of policies related to labor compensation and corporate governance, comparisons of nations across the world using indices of economic development and governance, an analysis of gender inequality in employment in the European Union, comparisons of tax burdens across the European Union and the USA, discussions of employee representation in corporate governance, and a look at grass-roots development and markets in developing economies. As a whole, in its breadth and cross-national perspective, the volume represents an important scholarly contribution to international economics.

Transition economies experience transformation of their economic system. Following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, a number of former socialist countries underwent transitions from central planning to a market economy. More generally, many rapidly growing economies undergo no less profound transformations of their economic systems.Contrary to common misconception, the transition process cannot be simply reduced to eliminating state intervention and liberalizing the economy. Economies under transition exhibit a unique set of policy challenges. Unlike developed market economies, missing markets or market failures abound. Economic transformation takes the form of rapidly evolving patterns of international trade and investment, industrial structure and consumption. These changes call for appropriate public policies. A continuing flow of investment hinges on suitable institutions, the provision of public infrastructure and other public goods. Adequate regulation can be central in ensuring that environmental resources are sustainably managed. And sophisticated production systems, call for corresponding social institutions in terms of education, health and welfare provisions. In all these cases, accurate empirical assessments are central to the design of effective policy.This book presents a selection of pressing economic and social issues in transition economies. Selected issues include the development of particular industrial sectors, the drivers and consequences of foreign direct investment, public finances, urbanization, social indicators, environmental policy and energy diversification. In each case an original empirical analysis is performed, using a variety of advanced quantitative methods, applied to recent data. The book will be of interest to economists studying transition economies, economic development or having a general interest in applied economics. It will be of particular interest to applied economists, policy analysts and policy makers in transition economies, concerned with the shape and direction of appropriate economic reforms.

This book bridges the disciplines of economics and marketing and brings them to bear on the analysis of contemporary business problems. The world has changed dramatically over the last four decades. Sociologically, technologically, economically and politically speaking the world is changing at an increasing pace. The spread of ideas and values are reinforcing the impact of globalization on various business operations and activities. As the late Peter Drucker once remarked: "while you were out the world changed."To make sense of to the world we live in, we are compelled to draw from diverse disciplines and subjects.This book focuses on the contributions of economics and marketing. The basic principles, theories and issues of economics are selected and are integrated with key elements and principles of marketing.Marketers, in conventional as well as in digital markets, are encouraged to integrate marketing with economics in order to make successful and effective business decisions.Marketing and Economics are subjects dealing with business - business of private firms, not-for-profit organisations and that of government. Economics involves allocation of scarce resources. Scarcity in economics is relative scarcity, scarcity in relation to demand. Written in a casual, accessible language and taking very little for granted, this book is for anyone who is curious about economics and marketing. It provides the essential analytical framework necessary for thriving in today's business.In its diverse chapters it covers topics such as offshoring, the circular economy, benchmarking, mergers and acquisitions, knowledge and innovation, services industries, customer relationships, advertising and communication, among others. It is particularly well suited to undergraduates in business or economics and its fresh perspectives on today's challenges would be of interest to business managers and marketing professionals.

'Climate Change Perception and Changing Agents in Africa & South Asia' presents first-hand experiences of climate change perception. Now more than ever understanding public perceptions of climate change is fundamental in creating effective climate policies, especially within countries that are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Striving to present a comprehensive study of climate perception in Africa and South Asia, this volume presents seven in-depth case studies from Cameroon, the Eastern Himalayas, Kenya, Nepal, and Zimbabwe.In order to combat climate change, effective communication is essential in order to educate, persuade, warn and mobilize the masses. Therefore, climate change communication is shaped not only by our different experiences and beliefs but also by the underlying cultural and politic values of a country. Within this volume, climate change communication is examined from Cameroonian, Kenyan and Zimbabwean perspectives. From the role of stakeholders to practical field experiences, the individual case studies present an interesting and informative portrait of climate change communication. It is often the poorest and most vulnerable people who are most affected by the impacts of climate change. Therefore, community-based adaptation is an approach that is aimed at empowering communities in the process of planning for and coping with climate change. In this book, this progressive and innovative approach is examined from a grass-roots perspective that looks to both the Eastern Himalayas and Zimbabwe. Readers are presented with case-studies that investigate the importance of indigenous knowledge, community-based research and the role of social workers in climate change mitigation. This high-quality resource puts forward a well-informed and accessible discussion of climate change perception that will be of interest to both students and scholars, alike.

The work presents articles discussing various subjects relating to literary, cultural borders and borderlands as well as their crossings with the Orient and the Occident. A broad, multifaceted scope of the volume draws the attention of readers to the problem of liminal spaces between cultures, genres, codes and languages of literary and artistic communication. The perspective of borderness proposed by orientalists, literary specialists, culture experts provide insights into multi-dimensional and heterogenic subjects and methods of consideration. The authors referring to, inter alia, comparative studies, theory of reception, intertextuality, transculturality of the East and West works touch upon themes such as coexistence, exclusion, crossing or the instability of borders. Also by taking into account identity issues, the interpenetration of various influences between different literatures, poetics and languages, the readers gain a broader context of intercultural dialogue between the Orient and Occident, what allow them to transgress barriers of a purely artistic, literary reception of the book contents. The volume - due to the abundance of proposed topics, its heterogeneous representations and manifold approaches used in analysis, discussion and (re)interpretations - is a debate's record or a result of an academic reflection rather than a comprehensive monograph.

This collection of essays contributes to the growing field of 'encounter studies' within the domain of cultural history. The strength of this work is the multi- and interdisciplinary approach, with papers on a broad range of historical times, places, and subjects. While each essay makes a valuable and original contribution to its relevant field(s), the collection as a whole is an attempt to probe more general questions and issues concerning the productive outcomes of cultural encounters throughout the Late Medieval and Early Modern periods. The collection is divided into three sections organised thematically and chronologically. The first, 'Encounters with the Past,' focuses on the reception of classical antiquity in medieval images and texts from France, Italy and the British Isles. The second, 'Encounters with Religion,' presents a selection of instances in which political, philosophical and natural philosophical issues arise within inter-religious contexts. The final section, 'Encounters with Humanity,' contains essays on early science fiction, political symbolism, and Elizabethan drama theory, all of which deal with the conception and expression of humanity, on both the individual and societal level. This volume's wide range of topics and methodological approaches makes it an important point of reference for researchers and practitioners within the humanities who have an interest in the (cross-)cultural history of the medieval and Renaissance periods.

'The Playbook of Persuasive Reasoning: Everyday Empowerment and Likeability' provides an easy, practical guide to the strategies of persuasive reasoning, which Gavin Hurley argues is crucial to all effective communication. Helping professionals and students to become better and more likeable communicators, this fundamental "playbook" outlines numerous eye-opening communicative maneuvers for readers of all levels and backgrounds. It offers a unique approach to argumentation and persuasion and moves away from the more conventional methods which are often overtechnical, unnecessarily complex or too science oriented. Hurley demonstrates how to successfully apply these strategies of cooperative argumentation to your life in order to succeed professionally, socially and cerebrally. This he argues, will allow you to empower your messaging and increase your social magnetism. 'The Playbook of Persuasive Reasoning' is a down-to-earth guide on effective rhetorical strategizing. It is written for everyday application, based on everyday examples, and embedded in everyday language. Today, successful communication is a highly sought-after trait by international employers, clients, and customers alike. Gavin Hurley shows how a wide range of people can benefit from learning how to deliver more abstract material in an effective manner: both verbally and written. This guide is particularly appealing for professionals, including business managers, as well as academics and students, including public intellectuals. 'The Playbook of Persuasive Reasoning' is a useful book for anyone wanting to enrich their skills and strengthen their powers of communication in order to have a social and professional advantage.