Winner of the Thomas A. Herz Prize for Qualitative Research and the Habilitation Prize.What if utopia wasn't a distant dream, but already unfolding around us?Focusing on South Africa, this compelling book rethinks utopia not as a fictional unreachable future, but as a lived practice – emerging in social movements and intentional communities.Rejecting capitalism, it explores how people create alternative ways of living social orders or economies, imagining and organi...

This book explores class formation and political consciousness in contemporary Africa. It challenges prevailing narratives by examining the nuanced emergence of middle-class identities across Africa since the early 2000s.Initially viewed through a narrow economic lens focused on income thresholds, the concept of an "African middle class" has evolved into a rich field of inquiry. This collection moves past superficial analyses to explore the lived experiences, political orientations...

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.Climate Justice in Action celebrates the activism and adaptations of Eastern Africa, one of the most climate vulnerable regions of the world. Contributions from activists and researchers highlight diverse innovations and efforts to curb environmental catastrophe through transforming social inequalities and addressing root causes. The book amplifies community voices and intersectional approaches that integrate environmental s...

What is Urban Theory? How can it be used to understand our urban experiences? Experiences typically defined by enormous inequalities, not just between cities but within cities, in an increasingly interconnected and globalised world. This book explains:Relations between urban theory and modernity in key ideas of the Chicago School, spatial analysis, humanistic urban geography, and ‘radical′ approaches like MarxismCities and...

Why did the European Union experience a stark variation in the levels of conflict between the late 1970s, when budgetary disputes dominated European politics, and the 1990s, when political actors were able to settle upon budgetary agreements without major conflicts?This book responds to this key question with a two-step argument: Its first part shows that decision-making rules can be regarded as a key determinant of the level of conflict in EU budgetary politics. It details far-rea...

This book suggests a new explanation for why international peace interventions often fail to reach their full potential. Based on several years of ethnographic research in conflict zones around the world, it demonstrates that everyday elements - such as the expatriates' social habits and usual approaches to understanding their areas of operation - strongly influence peacebuilding effectiveness. Individuals from all over the world and all walks of life share numerous practices, habits, and ...

In this important new book, Nancy Fraser and Rahel Jaeggi take a fresh look at the big questions surrounding the peculiar social form known as “capitalism,” upending many of our commonly held assumptions about what capitalism is and how to subject it to critique. They show how, throughout its history, various regimes of capitalism have relied on a series of institutional separations between economy and polity, production and social reproduction, and human and non-human nature, periodically...

What is the EU for? In light of the current state of European integration, EU law cannot meaningfully be appreciated without understanding the political, social and cultural context within which it operates. This textbook proposes a fresh, accessible and interdisciplinary take on the subject that is suitable for one-semester and introductory courses wishing to engage the reader with the wider context of the EU project. It situates the institutions, legal order and central policy domains of...

This is an authoritative, one-volume, and independent treatment of the history, functioning and nature of the European integration. Written by a selection of leading scholars. It covers the major institutions, policies, and events in the history of integration, whilst also providing a guide to the major theoretical approaches that have been used to study it over time. By bringing together such a distinguished cast covering such a wide array of themes, the Handbook is intended as a...

Social work is the profession that claims to intervene to enhance people's well-being. However, social workers have played a low-key role in environmental issues that increasingly impact on people's well-being, both locally and globally.This compelling new contribution confronts this topic head-on, examining environmental issues from a social work perspective. Lena Dominelli draws attention to the important voice of practitioners working on the ground in the aftermath of environmen...

The idea of the imagination is as evocative as it is elusive. Not only does the imagination allow us to project ourselves beyond our own immediate space and time, it also allows us to envision the future, as individuals and as collectives. The radical imagination, then, is that spark of difference, desire and discontent that can be fanned into the flames of social change. Yet what precisely is the imagination and what might make it 'radical'? How can it be fostered and cultivated? How can ...

The fifth edition of Canadian Parties in Transition continues and enriches the work of earlier editions in bringing together a highly respected group of scholars to offer a comprehensive account of the development of party politics in Canada.The book addresses the origin and the evolution of the Canadian party system and discusses how that system has been impacted by regionalism, brokerage politics, and political marketing. It focuses on the competing ideological currents ...