5 Politics, Sociology eBooks

Technotopia: A Media Genealogy of Net Cultures (Media Philosophy) by Clemens Apprich, translated by Aileen Derieg
Lament for an Ocean: The Collapse of the Atlantic Cod Fishery by Michael Harris
Anjula Gurtoo, Colin Williams, "Developing Country Perspectives on Public Service Delivery"
Islamic perspectives relating to business, arts, culture and communication: Proceedings of the 1st ICIBACC 2014
Constanze Binder, Giulio Codognato, Miriam Teschl, "Individual and Collective Choice and Social Welfare: Essays in Honor of Nick Baigent"

Technotopia: A Media Genealogy of Net Cultures (Media Philosophy) by Clemens Apprich, translated by Aileen Derieg
English | October 5, 2017 | ISBN: 1786603136 | EPUB | 210 pages | 0.9 MB
Many technologies and practices that define the Internet today date back to the 1990s – such as user-generated content, participatory platforms and social media. Indeed, many early ideas about the future of the Internet have been implemented, albeit without fulfilling the envisioned political utopias. By tracing back the technotopian vision, Clemens Apprich develops a media genealogical perspecive that helps us to better understand how digital networks have transformed over the last 30 years and therefore to think beyond the current state of our socio-technical reality.
This highly original book informs our understanding of new forms of media and social practices, such that have become part of our everyday culture. Apprich revisits a critical time when the Internet was not yet an everyday reality, but when its potential was already understood and fiercely debated. The historical context of net cultures provides the basis from which the author critically engages with current debates about the weal and woe of the Internet and challenges today’s predominant network model.

Lament for an Ocean: The Collapse of the Atlantic Cod Fishery by Michael Harris
English | July 9, 2013 (1998) | ISBN: 0771039581, 0771039603 | EPUB | 400 pages | 2.2 MB
The northern cod have been almost wiped out. Once the most plentiful fish on the Grand Banks off the coast of Newfoundland, the cod is now on the brink of extinction, and tens of thousands of people in Atlantic Canada have been left without work by a 1992 moratorium on fishing the stock. Today, the Pacific salmon stocks are in similar trouble – victims of the same blind, stupid greed.
Angry, accusatory fingers have been pointed at various possible culprits for the collapse of the cod – at the Spanish and Portuguese, who for hundreds of years sent ever-bigger fleets to the Grand Banks; at the factory-freezer trawlers, which “vacuumed” the ocean floor for the prized fish; at those inshore fishermen who circumvented the rules governing the fishery; at the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which is responsible for managing the fishery; at the harp seal, the cod’s competitor for food, whose numbers have exploded in recent years; even at Nature, for lowering the temperature of the ocean.
In Lament for an Ocean, the award-winning true-crime writer Michael Harris investigates the real causes of the most wanton destruction of a natural resource in North American history since the buffalo were wiped off the face of the prairies. The story he carefully unfolds is the sorry tale of how, despite the repeated and urgent warnings of ocean scientists, the northern cod was ruthlessly exploited.

Anjula Gurtoo, Colin Williams, "Developing Country Perspectives on Public Service Delivery"
2015 | pages: 298 | ISBN: 8132221591 | PDF | 6,2 mb
The book examines the status of public service in developing countries, in the sectors of health, infrastructure, labour and marginalized populations, rural economy and public administration. The last decade has witnessed significant government focus on service delivery in developing nations like South Africa, Philippines, India and Malaysia. At the forefront of this movement has been the public sector reforms significantly driven by two broad factors: public sector inefficiencies and liberal economic ideology. This move towards efficient public service delivery in developing nations (versus developed nations) has required a significant shift in institutional thinking and institutional capacity for the governments. It is therefore no surprise that while economic liberalization has been relatively easy to implement, governance reforms towards public service delivery has been significantly more challenging. In this background, the chapters of the book, with sector themes, examine the three basic foundations of public policy―courses of action, regulatory measures and issues, and funding structures and priorities―in public service delivery. The book is a multi country, multi sector, perspective since it includes studies from Russian Federation, India, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Fiji, South Africa, Columbia, Philippines, Macedonia and India. This perspective lends itself to the investigation for a comprehensive overall development model.

Roaimah Omar, Hasan Bahrom, Geraldine de Mello, "Islamic perspectives relating to business, arts, culture and communication: Proceedings of the 1st ICIBACC 2014"
2015 | pages: 475 | ISBN: 9812874283 | PDF | 8,2 mb
This timely book explores how the Malays and Muslims in general are faced with challenges in the fields of business, economy and politics, in the modern era of globalisation. These research findings can help the Muslim community to enhance international integration, particularly in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
In this work, scholarly and expert authors explore Islamic perspectives on communication, art and culture, business, and law and policy. They respond to the need to uphold and strengthen the culture, arts and heritage of the Malays. Readers are invited to explore the challenges for the Malay and Muslim world and to evolve strategies to ensure competitiveness, dynamism and sustainability. Topics such as Islamophobia, drug trafficking, savings behaviours and the role of social media are addressed.
These reviewed papers were presented at the International Conference on Islamic Business, Art, Culture & Communication 2014, held in Melaka, Malaysia. They have the potential to strengthen aspects of Islamic economy and leadership, if translated into action plans. This book represents essential reading for scholars of Islamic studies and will be of interest to those examining Southeast Asia and the Malay world.

Constanze Binder, Giulio Codognato, Miriam Teschl, "Individual and Collective Choice and Social Welfare: Essays in Honor of Nick Baigent"
2015 | pages: 374 | ISBN: 3662464381 | PDF | 5,1 mb
The papers in this volume explore various issues relating to theories of individual and collective choice, and theories of social welfare. The topics include individual and collective rationality, motivation and intention in economics, coercion, public goods, climate change, and voting theory. The book offers an excellent overview over latest research in these fields.