Books

Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, seen from Narikala Fortress. Situated in the South Caucasus, between Russia and Turkey, the country has been a focus of competing Russian and Western influence since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. Photo: George Melashvili, CC BY-SA.
BooksInternational Relations

The War for Georgia’s Hearts and Minds

How Russia and the West turned a small Caucasus state into a soft power battleground, and why it matters for global politics today. About the book Soft Power Competition Between…

By
Vladimir Liparteliani
13 Min Read
The New Politics of Pricing: When AI Sets Your Price
A cash register from the era of posted prices, when every customer saw the same number. Photo Bylydia Gulinkina.
BooksTechnology
15 Min Read
What Peacekeepers Build, and Why it Matters for Reconstruction
Pakistani peacekeepers carry out engineering works in Bentiu, South Sudan, 2023. Photo by Gregório Cunha/UNMISS
BooksInternational Relations
13 Min Read
The Political Power of Small Talk in Evangelical Churches
Small Talk _Whispers in the Pews examines the conversations churchgoers avoid, and how that silence shapes their politics.
BooksPolitics & Religion
14 Min Read
Black Performance Under Empire and Anti-Blackness
Books
16 Min Read
Beyond the Facts: Tacit Knowledge in an AI World
A potter's hands shaping clay on the wheel: the kind of embodied, uncodifiable skill that lies at the heart of tacit knowledge.
BooksTechnology
12 Min Read
What Happens When Worlds End: A Perturbed System
Worlds end : A boat left stranded on cracked earth, its water gone. A small, literal picture of what it means when a world ends. Photo by Pijarn Jangsawang, public domain.
BooksPolitics & Religion
12 Min Read
Reflections on the Effect of Excessive Private Power
The Supreme Court chamber in Washington, D.C., where rulings on campaign finance and political speech have shaped the power of political spending in the United States.
Books
17 Min Read
Are We All Nationalists Now? 
A public ceremony in Latvia where participants carry national flags and white flowers, illustrating the rituals through which nationhood is symbolically reproduced in public life.
Books
17 Min Read
Slow Violence: Rethinking Schools as Democratic Institutions
School in USA
Books
12 Min Read
The Honesty Crises We Are Confronting Today
Pieter van Mol, Diogenes with His Lantern Looking for an Honest Man, 17th century. Jacqui Safra Collection. Public domain.
Books
15 Min Read
Democracy and the Art of Rhetoric
Pericles addresses the Athenian assembly from the Pnyx, delivering the funeral oration Thucydides renders as the definitive statement of Athenian democratic self-understanding — the speech Smith gestures toward when he names Pericles among history's masters of persuasion. Philipp Foltz, Pericles' Funeral Oration (Perikles hält die Leichenrede), 1852. Public domain.
Books
10 Min Read
Queer Making: What Does It Feel Like to Make a Work of Art?
Queer_Christ and Saint John the Evangelist, Swabia, Germany, ca. 1300–1320. Cleveland Museum of Art (Public Domain). Karl Whittington reads the carving of the two figures' clasped hands as a trace of the sculptor's own touch.
Books
16 Min Read
Epistemic Ecology: Thinking for Ourselves Together
Epistemic ecology_'Dispute of Queen Christina Vasa and René Descartes', 1884. Even the philosopher who modeled solitary reasoning spent years answering Queen Christina of Sweden's questions before arriving at her court. His more consequential correspondent, though, was Elisabeth of Bohemia: her 58 letters with Descartes (1643-49) forced him to confront the central weakness in his mind-body dualism. Painting by Nils Forsberg (1842-1934), after Pierre-Louis Dumesnil the Younger (1698-1781)
Books
16 Min Read
How Emotions Shape Climate Action: Barriers and Agency
Emotions: Climate activists march through central London, calling for climate justice and stronger action on the climate emergency. Photo: Alisdare Hickson (CC BY-SA).
BooksEnvironment & Sustainability
19 Min Read
How Institutional Cooperation Enables Intelligence Competition
Cybersecurity analysis of network traffic. Intelligence operations in cyberspace rely on detecting, exploiting, and managing vulnerabilities within complex digital systems.
Books
14 Min Read
Presidential Conspiracy Mongers
Presidential Conspiracy Mongers
Books
16 Min Read
Community Gardens and the Substantive Turn in Nonreligion
Community garden beds as sites of shared cultivation and ecological interdependence.
Books
17 Min Read
The Politics of Sanctuary and Immigrant Rights
26 Federal Plaza, New York City, site of ICE check ins and immigration court hearings central to grassroots sanctuary accompaniment during the first Trump administration.
Books
19 Min Read
Religion in International Politics: Power and Influence
Faith and Power: World Leaders in Prayer – A Moment of Reflection in International Politics. President George W. Bush, Mrs. Laura Bush, Former President George H. W. Bush, Mrs. Barbara Bush, Former President Bill Clinton, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton, bow their heads during the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance service at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.
BooksPolitics & Religion
19 Min Read
On the Religious Politics of American Borders
BooksPolitics & Religion
17 Min Read
Phenomenology of Race : Identity, Relationality, and Racism
Maxine Waters, a prominent American politician, is known for her unwavering defense of civil rights and her fight against racial injustice. Throughout her career, Waters has been a steadfast advocate for marginalized communities, focusing on issues that affect people of color. Her efforts have highlighted the systemic inequalities and challenges faced by these communities. Waters’ role in the U.S. Congress has been instrumental in pushing forward legislation aimed at closing the race gap in economic opportunities, education, and healthcare. Her dedication to the cause serves as an inspiring reminder of the importance of perseverance and commitment in the ongoing struggle for racial equality.
BooksAnalysis & Theories
13 Min Read
Christian Globalism: Bridging Distant Ties
Christian Globalism: Vintage letters, handwritten notes, and old photographs arranged beside a world map on a wooden desk, evoking historical global correspondence and Christian sponsorship networks.
BooksPolitics & Religion
11 Min Read
Introducing Civil Society to China
Members of civil society rally under the banner of Friends of Nature, one of China’s pioneering environmental NGOs, promoting awareness and action for ecological protection.
Books
16 Min Read
Secular Sensibilities amidst French and Québécois Politics
Poster Advocating Bodily Autonomy and Solidarity in a secular context. Outremont, Québec, Canada. Photographed on May 20, 2019. Crédit: A Disappearing Act (CC BY-SA).
BooksPolitics & Religion
19 Min Read
5 Must-Read Books on Artificial Intelligence and Ethics  
Artificial intelligence book covers
Books
9 Min Read
Microhistories and the African Past
Microhistories of Africa: Statues at the Slave Market Memorial in Stone Town, Zanzibar, commemorating the victims of the transatlantic slave trade. Photo by Son of Groucho (CC BY).
BooksPolitical History
16 Min Read
Understanding Social Structures: Relationships, Representations, and Rules
Books
16 Min Read
Hope in Hate Crime Laws? Lessons from India
Hate crime: Dalit students and activists gather under the statue of B. R. Ambedkar during a protest demanding justice for Rohith Vemula and caste-based violence victims. Their banners call for the enactment of a “Rohith Act” to address systemic discrimination. Photo by Joe Athialy (CC BY-NC-SA).
BooksHuman Rights
17 Min Read
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