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"Thompson, William R., author"
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Strategic Rivalries in World Politics
International conflict is neither random nor inexplicable. It is highly structured by antagonisms between a relatively small set of states that regard each other as rivals. Examining the 173 strategic rivalries in operation throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this book identifies the differences rivalries make in the probability of conflict escalation and analyzes how they interact with serial crises, arms races, alliances and capability advantages. The authors distinguish between rivalries concerning territorial disagreement (space) and rivalries concerning status and influence (position) and show how each leads to markedly different patterns of conflict escalation. They argue that rivals are more likely to engage in international conflict with their antagonists than non-rival pairs of states and conclude with an assessment of whether we can expect democratic peace, economic development and economic interdependence to constrain rivalry-induced conflict.
eBook
Ascending India and its state capacity : extraction, violence, and legitimacy
India's ascent as a formidable power on the world stage and its geopolitical ramifications have received much attention in recent years. This comprehensive study by Sumit Ganguly and William Thompson, two highly distinguished scholars of political science and international relations, delves into the intricate inner workings of this great Asian nation to reveal an Indian state struggling to maintain national security, domestic order, and steady fiscal growth despite weaknesses in its economic and political institutions. The authors' sobering account questions India's perceived strengths and domestic and foreign policy initiatives, while focusing on the South Asian giant's infrastructural and economic growth problems, opposition to reform, and other important hurdles the nation has faced and will continue to face over the coming decade and beyond.-- Provided by Publisher.
Book
The Emergence of the Global Political Economy
The Emergence of the Global Political Economy challenges the assumption that the international political economy is a recent phenomenon. Instead this volume asserts that the current global political economy began to take shape around 1500 and that some of today's key processes were already perceivable several hundred years ago. The book explains the interdependence between long-term economic growth, global political leadership and global war and how this interdependence has evolved over the last 500 years, and includes discussion of: *the ascendence of Western Europe and the significance of the 1490s *the military superiority thesis *sequences of leadership and of challenge to the global political economy *the importance of commodities from sugar and cloth to slaves and bullion *the Anglo-American rivalry until the First World War.
eBook
Climate change in the Middle East and North Africa : 15,000 years of crises, setbacks, and adaptation
\"Environmental factors in the Middle East and North Africa have played a crucial role in the historical and social development of the region. The book delves into a broad set of historical literature from the past 15,000 years that neglected to consider environmental factors to their full effect. Beyond the broad historic analysis, the chapters derive conclusions for today's debate on whether climate change leads to more social conflict and violence. Introducing a theoretical framework focused on adaptive cycling, this book probes and refines the role of climate in ancient and modern political-economic systems in the MENA region. It also underscores just how bad the 21st century environment may become thanks to global warming. While the MENA region may not survive the latest onslaught of deteriorating climate, there is also some interest in how a region that once led the world in introducing all sorts of innovations thousands of years ago has evolved into a contemporary setting characterized by traditional conservatism, poverty, and incessant strife. Emphasizing regional dynamics, the central question deals with the role of climate change in the rise and decline of the MENA region. The book will be a key resource to students and readers interested in global warming including academics and policy makers\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
The Great Powers and Global Struggle, 1490-1990
In The Great Powers and Global Struggle , Karen A.
Rasler and William R. Thompson focus on two themes: the rise and
fall as well as the relative decline of major world powers over the
past five hundred years, and the way in which these processes have
set the stage for the outbreak of global war. Their
interdisciplinary approach encompasses political science,
economics, sociology, geography, and history.
The most significant wars occur when regional
leaders-historically in Western Europe-challenge global leaders. By
studying the wars of Napoleon, Louis XIV, Phillip II and the
Italian/Indian Ocean wars of the sixteenth century through World
Wars I and II to the present, the authors challenge the long-held
idea that prosperity leads to over-consumption and underinvestment
and thus decline-a theory, traceable to ancient times, that remains
the principal explanation for global decline today. Arguments about
global structural change and its implications abound, but rarely is
the abstract translated into concrete historical terms with
emphases on specific actors and empirical documentation.
Rasler and Thompson reinterpret the past five hundred years of
major-power warfare and provide extensive tests of the eighteen
generalizations critical to their argument. They conclude that
those who argue that global war and repositioning are no longer a
concern among the major powers lack critical understanding of the
behavior that contributes to such conflict.
eBook
Visual Perception from a Computer Graphics Perspective
Suitable for readers studying or working in the fields of computer graphics and visualization, cognitive science, and visual neuroscience, this book provides an introduction to human visual perception. It focuses on how computer graphics images are generated, rather than solely on the visual system's organization, so the text provides a more direct tie between image generation and the resulting perceptual phenomena. It covers topics such as illumination, action, and perception of factors including material properties, pictorial space, image statistics, and spatial cognition.
eBook
Maurizio Cattelan : all
The Guggenheim Museum's sold-out publication 'Maurizio Cattelan: All' is returning to print. Hailed as a provocateur, prankster and tragic poet of our times, Maurizio Cattelan (born 1960) has created some of the most unforgettable images in contemporary art--most notoriously \"The Ninth Hour\" (1999), a sculpture of Pope John Paul II struck by a meteorite. Derived from popular culture, history and organized religion, Cattelan's subjects range widely, and his work, while bold and irreverent, is deadly serious in its scathing cultural critiques. The second edition of 'All' updates the catalogue that accompanied the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum's 2011-2012 retrospective survey of the artist. For this exhibition, Cattelan sidestepped the totalizing effect of a retrospective by devising a site-specific installation in which his entire oeuvre was suspended from the oculus of the museum's iconic rotunda. This book offers an equally unique response to the conventions of the catalogue. It is a faux-leather bound hardcover with gold stamping and thin paper that is designed to resemble an old textbook or bible. The volume details almost every work of Cattelan's from the late '80s to the present within a double-column page format, featuring full-color reproductions and accompanying entries. The revised edition describes the artist's return to art making after a five-year \"retirement\" with a special, ongoing project opening at the Guggenheim in May 2016. It also features a redesigned cover and installation images of the exhibition 'All'. Nancy Spector has augmented her critical overview of Cattelan--which documents not only his artistic output but also his ongoing activities as a curator, editor and publisher--with a new coda. Since its original publication, 'All' has become the Cattelan bible, and this revised edition exploring the latest chapter of the artist's influential career ensures it will remain the definitive source on his work for years to come.
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