By Etchenique, Nicolas Cimarra

From the document: "While great power competition is the domain of geopolitics, democratic resilience mostly concerns domestic politics. President Biden has defined the domestic political challenges to democracy in the U.S. as a 'battle for the soul of the nation'. This narrative correlates with the 'battle between democracy and autocracy' that takes place at the geopolitical level. Rising distrust in government and society, polarization and illiberalism are particularly relevant to the international position of Washington and its soft power, as they are compromising democratic stability within the U.S. The paper will be divided in two parts: a diagnosis, called 'the global maelstrom of distrust', and a policy proposal, called 'the lighthouse of democracy'. The diagnosis focuses on the cumulative effect of three sets of challenges to democracy: a) great power competition and the authoritarian offensive against democracy, b) the rise of polarization and illiberalism, and c) the impact of social media and AI on democracy. This section of the paper will argue that these sets of challenges feed on distrust and amplify it. Furthermore, they have evolved into a series of cycles of distrust within democracies and into a great geopolitical cycle of distrust. Finally, the entanglement and feedback loops among the domestic and the geopolitical cycles of distrust have generated a cohesive threat to democracy. This threat is represented by a downward spiral that is pulling societies and the global community towards enmity. It feeds on and generates destructive human emotions, such as outrage and hatred, which include a strong irrational and unconscious dimension, and thus leads to violence, war, and autocracy."

Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. 2023.

By Larry B. Hill

FROM THE JACKET: “One increasingly popular device for achieving a balance between authority and accountability in government is the institution of the ombudsman. The first non-Scandinavian ombudsman appeared in New Zealand in 1962, and since then the office has spread to many countries and been adopted at different levels of government. This book--the first intensive study of New Zealand's "model" ombudsman-seeks to understand the process by which the institution was successfully adapted and made a part of New Zealand's political system. The author's inquiry is based on eighteen months of field experience in New Zealand. His book examines the complaints, the clients, their interaction with the ombudsman, his relations with the bureaucracy, and his effectiveness. His relations with various publics-bureaucrats, Honorable Members, and Queen's Ministers- receive special attention.

"This book will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the ombudsman institution. This book raises the level of scholarship on the ombudsman from mere definitions or classifications to that of tested propositions." -Stanley Anderson, University of California, Santa Barbara

Princeton, New Jersey. Princeton University Press. 1976.429p

By Kurt Lewin

FROM THE FOREWORD BY DORWIN CARTWRIGHT: “When the intellectual history of the twentieth century is written, Kurt Lewin will surely be counted as one of those few men whose work changed fundamentally the course of social science in its most critical period of development. During his professional life of only about thirty years, the social sciences grew from the stage of speculative system building, through a period of excessive empiricism in which facts were gathered simply for their intrinsic interest, to a more mature development in which empitical data are sought for the significance they can have for systematic theories. Although the social sciences are only barely into this third stage of development, Lewin's work has accelerated greatly the rate of development. Though he was primarily a psychologist and made his major contributions in that field, the influence of his work has extended well beyond the bounds of traditional psychology.

New York. Harper & Brothers Publishers. 1951. 365p.

By C. Eric Lincoln. Foreword by Gordon Allport

FROM THE JACKET: “This is the first full study of the Black Muslims - an organization of more than 100,000 Negroes Who preach black autonomy, black supremacy, black union against the white world. The Black Muslim Movement has been characterized as melodramatic and extremist, but in chis book Dr. Lincoln shows that it is an accurate gauge of racial tension in the United States today. Behind an array of myths and ritual, behind an alleged tie to Islam, this new form of black nationalism reflects the American Negro's rising discontent with the way things are and his determination to change them.”

Boston. Beacon Press. 1961. 292p.

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP

Edited by Shlomo Deshen and Walter P. Zenner

FROM THE PREFACE: “This work sterns from many decades of effort and affection which we, as social anthropologists, have invested in research on Jews from Muslim lands for over thirty years. We have been engaged in uncovering the present-day life of Middle Eastern Jews in Israel, the United States, in other countries in Europe and the Americas, as well as North Africa. Together with our interest in the present, we both have a lively interest in the social history of these people. In 1982, we published a volume of selections which tried to reconstruct the lives in Jews in traditional Middle Easter societies, as well as syntheses by anthropologists and historians. Jewish Societies in the Middle East: Community, Culture and Authority was well received at the time. But, since 1982, much has been published on the Jews of North Africa and Southwest Asia, both by professional historians and anthropologists. Anthropological thinking has become more critical of earlier theoretical approaches. The perspectives of scholars have been affected by political changes in the relationship of Israel and her Arab neighbors. We decided to respond to these developments by editing a new volume.”

NY. New York University Press. 1996. 297p.

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP

By Luigi Barzini

FROM THE COVER: “The most illuminating book about the Italians I have yet encountered; it explains thing about the Italian character and be havior which have been puzzling and infuriating me for the last twenty years, and does it all with the wit, brio and charm which distinguish everything Barzini writes.— HARPER'S

"Altogether wonderfully readable. Luigi Barzini paints a full-length portrait of his countrymen that is at once grave and witty, cynical and compassionate, somber and glittering, scholarly and stimulating." —CHICAGO TRIBUNE

NY. Bantam. 1969. 390p.

By Guadalupe Kavanaugh, Maria Micaela Sviatschi, Iva Trako

Many developing countries have unequal access to justice, especially for women. What are the implications for gender-based violence, intra-household bargaining and investments in children? This paper provides quasi-experimental evidence on all-women's justice centers (WJCs) a community based approach aimed at reducing violence against women in Peru. WJCs are specialized institutions that mostly employ female officers and whose main purpose is to reduce gender-based violence by providing police and legal services. We examine the gradual rollout of these centers and using complaint police data we find that as victims trust women officers more, they increase the reporting of gender-specific crimes by 40%. We also find evidence that this led to the deterrence of gender-based violence: using administrative non-reported data from health providers and district attorney offices, we find a 10% reduction in domestic violence, female deaths due to aggression, femicides and mental health problems with no effects for men and non-gender specific crimes. We argue that these results are driven by an increase in women representation in law and enforcement at the WJCs. Moreover, we find inter-generational effects: WJCs substantially increase human capital investments in children, increasing enrollment, attendance, test scores, while decreasing child labor. These results are consistent with a bargaining model in which the threat point is determined by women representation in law and enforcement. In sum, the evidence in this paper implies that providing access to justice for women is not only important for addressing gender-based violence, but also generates inter-generational benefits.

Paris: Paris School of Economics, 2018. 88p.

By Irene Bucelli and Abigail McKnight

• Geographical concentration of disadvantage can lead to concentrated exclusion. Place-based policies have an important role to play, affecting a range of quality-of life dimensions and experiences of economic, social and civic participation. • These types of localised solutions are limited in relation to poverty reduction, suggesting they should not be considered in isolation of complementary national and regional policy around, for instance, housing, employment, education and social security. • To make sure those who are disadvantaged benefit from local regeneration policies, clear equity and social inclusion objectives need to be set, together with adequate forms of evaluation and monitoring – growth and prosperity cannot be expected to organically ‘trickle down’. • There are connections between neighbourhood environment and policy areas covered in other reviews, for instance: o Digital exclusion: Many strategies for urban regeneration have recently focused on leveraging the potential benefits of digitalisation. Strategies that support digital inclusion are required to reduce the risk of reinforcing existing inequalities. o Household debt; Food insecurity; Fuel poverty: Regeneration strategies can disrupt informal support networks (families, friends, neighbours) which play a critical role in mitigating vulnerability experienced by poor households. • We conclude the review with some promising actions identified in the international literature, namely: o Setting clear objectives in relation to poverty and social exclusion reduction is important for regeneration efforts to make sure benefits reach the most disadvantaged and to avoid gentrification. o This calls for evaluations to be planned alongside interventions which focus on distributional outcomes, not only processes and outputs. Realistic timeframes and estimates of ‘social value’ should also be included. o Community-led approaches can mitigate the risks of gentrification but require proactive engagement of disadvantaged citizens in the community.

Cardiff: The Wales Centre for Public Policy, 2022. 36p.

By Amy Prevost & Petra Jonas

Research on the negative outcomes of social media use have particularly focused on Facebook, with limited studies examining the relationship to Instagram use. This study explored the connection between Instagram use and six relevant themes related to overall well-being, including the potential for victimization. The study used both quantitative and qualitative methods. For the quantitative component, surveys were distributed to undergraduate students at two Canadian Universities. The qualitative nature of the study consisted of two focus groups which were conducted at the University of the Fraser Valley. Each focus group consisted of nine participants who engaged in dialogue regarding the six preliminary themes identified from the survey data. The study revealed that Instagram use is correlated with escapism, frustration, fear of missing out, validation, anxiety, addiction, and vulnerability to cyber victimization. Consistent with other studies in this area, our results indicated that regular Instagram use has negative psychological outcomes for individual users. The research offers some important implications and recommendations for early education, increased awareness about the potential for victimization, and early intervention strategies.

Vancouver, BC: International Centre for Criminal Law Reform , 2020. 36p.

USED BOOK. ,AY CONTAIN MARK-UP

By Gaddis Smith

FROM THE FOREWORD: “"The United States always wins the war and loses the peace," runs a persistent popular complaint. Neither part of the statement is accurate. The United States barely escaped the War of 1812 with its territory intact, and in Korea in the 1950sthe nation was forced to settle for a stalemate on the battlefield. At Paris in 1782, and again in 1898, American negotiators drove hard bargains to win notable diplomatic victories. Yet the myth persists, along with the equally erroneous American belief that we are a peaceful people. Our history is studded with conflict and violence…”

NY. Knopf. 1985. 213p.

By Frana, Philip L.

From the webpage: "Generative AI language models currently operate only within the controlled environments of computer systems and networks, and their capabilities are constrained by training datasets and human uses. The generative transformer architecture [hyperlink] that is powering the current wave of artificial intelligence may reshape many areas of daily life. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been making a global tour to engage with legislators, policymakers, and industry leaders about his company's pathbreaking Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) series of large language models (LLMs). While acknowledging that AI could inflict damage on the world economy, disrupt labor markets, and transform global affairs in unforeseen ways, he emphasizes that responsible use and regulatory transparency will allow the technology to make positive contributions [hyperlink] to education, creativity and entrepreneurship, and workplace productivity."

Atlantic Council Of The United States. 2023. 21p.

By Mckillop, Matt; Lieberman, Dara Alpert

From the document: "The United States spends trillions of dollars annually on healthcare, but U.S. residents are not getting healthier and tend to experience worse health outcomes than residents of other high-income countries that spend comparably less money on healthcare. Keeping everyone safe from diseases, disasters, the health impacts of climate change, and bioterrorism requires a public health system focused on prevention, equity, preparedness, and surveillance. Investment to ensure foundational public health capabilities is key. Foundational public health capabilities include assessment and surveillance, emergency preparedness and response, community partnership development, communications, policy development and support, organizational accountability and performance management, and a focus on equity. Interagency and jurisdictional planning and cooperation are also critical, as are efforts to address the needs of population groups or communities at greatest risk. All of these activities require dedicated and sustained funding and a well-resourced public health infrastructure and workforce, one that has the resources to deal with its everyday work and that is well-positioned to quickly pivot and scale up during emergencies. [...] To advance equity, successful public health systems promote structural conditions that support optimal health for all and work to remove systemic barriers that have resulted in health disparities. In addition, a strong public health system comprises federal, state, tribal, territorial, and local health agencies working within a network that includes healthcare providers, public safety agencies, human service and charity organizations, education and youth development organizations, recreation and arts-related organizations, economic and philanthropic organizations, and environmental agencies and organizations. [...] Experts agree that increased and sustained funding to strengthen the country's public health system is urgently needed, particularly in the areas of data infrastructure and workforce." The associated Fact Sheets are available here: www.tfah.org/chronic-underfunding-in-public-health-fact-sheets/

Trust For America's Health. 2023. 52p.

By Paul J. Wright

Social scientific interest in pornography use and effects dates back to at least the mid-twentieth century. Despite this, recent meta-analyses reveal a need for additional longitudinal studies, in general; a need for attitudinal studies, specifically; and a need for studies of U.S. consumers, in particular. In response to these needs and recent calls for the fields of communication and psychological science to prioritize replication, the present study probed whether Wright et al. (Psychol Pop Media 3(2):97–109, 2014) novel longitudinal findings on pornography consumption and extramarital sex attitudes among married U.S. adults were replicable. As in Wright et al., a distal assessment of extramarital sex attitudes did not predict interindividual increases in the likelihood of pornography consumption. Contrary to Wright et al., a distal assessment of pornography consumption also failed to predict interindividual increases in positive attitudes toward extramarital sex. However, more proximal measures of extramarital sex attitudes and pornography consumption did predict over time interindividual change in pornography use and attitudinal positivity, respectively, even after adjusting for participants’ age, divorce history, education, race, sex, general unhappiness, marital unhappiness, liberal-conservative political orientation, and religiosity. These results are consistent with prior panel studies in the pornography literature in the macro, but also highlight a need for theoretical development (and testing) on the duration and time-course of selection and socialization effects in the context of pornography use and sexual attitudes.

Archives of Sexual Behavior (2023) 52:1953–1960

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP

By Jack Temple Kirby

FROM THE PREFACE: “The New South Entered the American language at least as early as 1866, when Georgia's Benjamin H. Hill proclaimed the miraculous transformation of the former Confederacy to a New York audience. By new Hill meant a South unburdened of slavery, secessionist feeling, and a host of habits and practices out of step with industrializing, urbanizing America. Hill's successor as New South spokesman, the Alanta publisher Henry W. Grady went much furtier. During the 1880s Grady and like-minded colleagues declared that southerners had become creatures of the bourgeois world-entrepreneurs, mechanics, hustlers--progressives who had put the primitive worlds of the village, farm, and plantation behind them. So positive and eloquent were Grady and his generation of publicists that after most of them were dead, serious scholars of the early twentieth century ac- cepted their proclamations as truth. Subsequently, the hyperbole and fraud of this rhetorical New South….”

Baton Rouge and London. Louisiana State University Press. 1987. 407p.

By Julian Nida-Rümelin and Nathalie Weidenfeld

Deals with cultural and philosophical aspects of artificial intelligence and pleads for a “digital humanism.” Philosophically sound and yet written in a way that will make it accessible for everybody interested in the subject. Provides a vision of what it means to live in a world where AI is a central technology for a more humane civilization.

Cham: Springer Nature, 2022. 129p.

Edited by Nissa Finney, James Nazroo, Laia Bécares, Dharmi Kapadia and Natalie Shlomo

This book provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date evidence on ethnic inequalities in Britain. This is highly pertinent to contemporary social and political race debates and policy agendas in the post-pandemic recovery context. The COVID-19 pandemic brought ethnic inequalities to the fore as it became evident that infection and mortality rates were higher among ethnic minorities than the population as a whole (ICNARC, 2020; Nazroo and Bécares, 2020; ONS, 2020; Platt and Warwick, 2020). In May 2020, as the devastating and unequal impacts of the pandemic were being realised, the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota in the US saw a resurgence of Black Lives Matter (BLM) movements globally (Alexander and Byrne, 2020). In response, the UK government published the Sewell Report in 2021 which relayed the conclusions of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, 2021), and, subsequently, the Inclusive Britain report in 2022 which laid out policy recommendations (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, 2022).

Bristol, UK: Policy Press, 2023. 234p.

By Catherine M. Roach

At the heart of Stripping, Sex, and Popular Culture lies a very personal story, of author Catherine Roach's response to the decision of her life-long best friend to become an exotic dancer. Catherine and Marie grew up together in Canada and moved to the USA to enroll in PhD programs at prestigious universities. For various reasons, Marie left her program and instead chose to work as a stripper. The author, at first troubled and yet fascinated by her friend's decision, follows Marie's journey into the world of stripping as an observer and analyst. She finds that this world raises complex questions about gender, sexuality, fantasy, feminism, and even spirituality. Moving from first hand interviews with dancers and others, the book broadens into a provocative and accessible examination of the current popularity of "striptease culture," with sex-saturated media imagery, thongs gone mainstream, and stripper aerobics at your local gym. Stripping, Sex, and Popular Culture scrutinizes the naked truth of a lucrative industry whose norms are increasingly at the center of contemporary society.

Oxford, UK: Bloomsbury Academic/Berg, 2007. 224p.

By Éléonore Lépinard

For more than two decades Islamic veils, niqabs, and burkinis have been the object of intense public scrutiny and legal regulations in many Western countries, especially in Europe, and feminists have been actively engaged on both sides of the debates: defending ardently strict prohibitions to ensure Muslim women’s emancipation, or, by contrast, promoting accommodation in the name of women’s religious agency and a more inclusive feminist movement. These recent developments have unfolded in a context of rising right-wing populism in Europe and have fueled “femonationalism,” that is, the instrumentalization of women’s rights for xenophobic agendas. This book explores this contemporary troubled context for feminism, its current divisions, and its future. It investigates how these changes have transformed contemporary feminist movements, intersectionality politics, and the feminist collective subject, and how feminists have been enrolled in the femonationalist project or, conversely, have resisted it in two contexts: France and Quebec. It provides new empirical data on contemporary feminist activists, as well as a critical normative argument about the subject and future of feminism. It makes a contribution to intersectionality theory by reflecting on the dynamics of convergence and difference between race and religion. At the normative level, the book provides an original addition to vivid debates in feminist political theory and philosophy on the subject of feminism. It argues that feminism is better understood not as centered around an identity—women— but around what it calls a feminist ethic of responsibility, which foregrounds a pragmatist moral approach to the feminist project.

New York: Oxford University Press, 2020. 337p.

By Webster, Elizabeth M.

From the document: "After the President issues an emergency or major disaster declaration under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) may provide three primary forms of disaster assistance: Individual Assistance (IA), Public Assistance (PA), and Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA). IA provides aid to affected individuals and households, and can take the form of assistance for housing and/or other needs through the Individuals and Households Program (IHP). [...] The IHP is the focus of this report. It is the only form of IA, and the only FEMA assistance authorized pursuant to an emergency or major disaster declaration, that provides grants of financial assistance directly to individuals and households to support their disaster recovery by helping address housing and other needs (FEMA may also provide direct assistance for housing under the IHP). This report begins with an overview of the IHP, including the categories and types of IHP assistance that may be made available, selected considerations or limitations associated with each type of assistance, and selected legislative and program updates. This report then outlines the process for requesting and authorizing IA, including the factors that FEMA considers when evaluating a governor or chief executive's request for a major disaster declaration authorizing IA [...]. [...] This report concludes by describing some of the IHP's general program limitations, as well as selected challenges and considerations that may be of interest to Congress, including related to increasing transparency in IA declaration decisions, expanding access to IHP spending data, and ensuring IHP assistance can meet the needs of future disaster survivors."

Library Of Congress. Congressional Research Service. 2023. 73p.

By Bryant-Bertail, Jessica; Congdon, Tara; Dunn, Kaitlin; Long, Drew; Sendejas, Ray; Sun, Roxanna T.

From the document: "The CARES [Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security] Act includes a provision for GAO [Government Accountability Office] to report regularly on the public health and economic effects of the pandemic and the federal response. We have issued 10 comprehensive reports examining the federal government's continued efforts to respond to, and recover from, the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we have issued over 200 standalone reports, testimonies, and science and technology spotlights focused on different aspects of the pandemic. This report includes several key data updates and five enclosures that summarize and highlight standalone reports issued from April 2022 (the date of our last comprehensive report) through April 2023 on the following topics: 'public health preparedness, improper payments and fraud, vulnerable populations, distribution of federal COVID-19 funding,' and 'COVID-19 and the economy.' This report is based on work we previously conducted in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards or our quality assurance framework. More detailed information on our scope and methodology can be found in the reports cited in the enclosures."

United States. Government Accountability Office. 2023.