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      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        September 2023

        Civil war London

        Mobilizing for parliament, 1641–5

        by Jordan S. Downs

        This book looks at London's provision of financial and military support for parliament's war against King Charles I. It explores for the first time a series of episodic, circumstantial and unique mobilisations that spanned from late 1641 to early 1645 and which ultimately led to the establishment of the New Model Army. Based on research from two-dozen archives, Civil war London charts the successes and failures of efforts to move London's vast resources and in the process poses a number of challenges to longstanding notions about the capital's 'parliamentarian' makeup. It reveals interactions between London's Corporation, parochial communities and livery companies, between preachers and parishioners and between agitators, propagandists and common people. Within these tangled webs of political engagement reside the untold stories of the movement of money and men, but also of parliament's eventual success in the English Civil War.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        August 2023

        Critical theory and legal autopoiesis

        The case for societal constitutionalism

        by Gunther Teubner, Diana Göbel

        This volume collects and revises the key essays of Gunther Teubner, one of the world's leading sociologists of law. Written over the past twenty years, these essays examine the 'dark side' of functional differentiation and the prospects of societal constitutionalism as a possible remedy. Teubner's claim is that critical accounts of law and society require reformulation in the light of the sophisticated diagnoses of late modernity in the writings of Niklas Luhmann, Jacques Derrida and select examples of modernist literature. Autopoiesis, deconstruction and other post-foundational epistemological and political realities compel us to confront the fact that fundamental democratic concepts such as law and justice can no longer be based on theories of stringent argumentation or analytical philosophy. We must now approach law in terms of contingency and self-subversion rather than in terms of logical consistency and rational coherence.

      • Trusted Partner
        2019

        History of the Throw-Away Society

        The drawback of consumption

        by Wolfgang König

        Sooner or later everything is thrown away. In the consumer society, however, usable and serviceable products that may be as good as new are also thrown away. Such behaviour is the result of a long-term process that has developed over a period of one-and-a-half centuries. The change was led by the USA, and the Federal Republic of Germany followed. It started at the turn of the last century with personal hygiene: articles such as toilet paper, sanitary towels, nappies and paper handkerchiefs. After the Second World War, a large number of other disposable articles were soon added, such as paper cups and plastic dishes, nylon stockings and pens, razor blades, beverage cans and much more besides. Wolfgang König shows how business and consumers have together made throwing things away perfectly normal – and discusses how the throwaway society may be overcome.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        April 2026

        Elites in civil society

        A comparative perspective

        by Niklas Altermark, Malin Arvidson, Jayeon Lee, Roberto Scaramuzzino

        Where civil society is often seen as a driving force for equality, this book addresses a challenging topic: civil society elites. Drawing on a comprehensive study of Italy, Poland, Sweden, and the UK, this ground-breaking research investigates the often-overlooked power structures within civil society. By combining elite studies with civil society research, the book uncovers how a distinct civil society elite emerges and how it interacts with leaders in politics and business. The findings reveal a fascinating paradox. While this elite may be a powerful engine for social change, its integration into wider power circles risks reproducing the very inequalities it seeks to dismantle. By exploring how this elite can become disconnected from its grassroots, the book provides essential insights into the future of civil society and its democratic promise.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        January 2018

        Noble society

        Five lives from twelfth-century Germany

        by Jonathan R. Lyon

        This book provides scholars and students alike with a set of texts that can deepen their understanding of the culture and society of the twelfth-century German kingdom. The sources translated here bring to life the activities of five noblemen and noblewomen from Rome to the Baltic coast and from the Rhine River to the Alpine valleys of Austria. To read these five sources together is to appreciate how interconnected political, military, economic, religious and spiritual interests could be for some of the leading members of medieval German society-and for the authors who wrote about them. Whether fighting for the emperor in Italy, bringing Christianity to pagans in what is today northern Poland, or founding, reforming and governing monastic communities in the heartland of the German kingdom, the subjects of these texts call attention to some of the many ways that noble life shaped the world of central medieval Europe.

      • Trusted Partner
        Business, Economics & Law
        January 2026

        Latin America and international investment law

        A mosaic of resistance

        by Sufyan Droubi, Cecilia Juliana Flores Elizondo

        Latin America has been a complex laboratory for the development of international investment law. While some governments and non-state actors have remained true to the Latin American tradition of resistance towards the international investment law regime, other governments and actors have sought to accommodate said regime in the region. Consequently, a profusion of theories and doctrines, too often embedded in clashing narratives, has emerged. In Latin America, the practice of international investment law is the vivid amalgamation of the practice of governments sometimes resisting and sometimes welcoming mainstream approaches; the practice of lawyers assisting foreign investors from outside and within the region; and the practice of civil society, indigenous peoples and other actors in their struggle for human rights and sustainable development. Latin America and international investment law describes the complex roles that governments have played vis-à-vis foreign investors and investments; the refreshing but clashing forces that international organizations, corporations, civil society, and indigenous peoples have brought to the field; and the contribution that Latin America has made to the development of the theory and practice of international investment law, notably in fields in which the Latin American experience has been traumatic: human rights and sustainable development. Latin American scholars have been contributing to the theory of international investment law for over a century; resting on the shoulders of true giants, this volume aims at pushing this contribution a little further.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        June 2026

        The Conservative Party and the Constitution

        by Daniel Pitt

        The Conservative Party and the Constitution examines the profound influence on Britain's constitutional framework over nearly two centuries. Through rigorous analysis, it traces how Tory leaders navigated parliamentary reform, devolution, and Brexit, balancing tradition with pragmatic adaptation. Drawing on exclusive interviews, archival records, and historical sources, the book reveals the Party's statecraft and offers fresh insights into the Conservatives' role in shaping modern governance. Essential for historians, political scientists, and those engaged with British politics, this study illuminates the dynamic interplay of power, ideology, and constitutional change, making it a vital contribution to understanding Britain's constitutional history.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        January 2013

        The face of the city

        Civic portraiture and civic identity in early modern England

        by Robert Tittler, Peter Lake, Anthony Milton, Jason Peacey, Alexandra Gajda

        Our conventional understanding of English portraiture from the age of Holbein and Henry VIII on to Reubens, VanDyck and Charles I clings to the mainstream images of royalty and aristocracy and to the succession of known practitioners of 'Renaissance' portraiture. In almost every respect, the 'civic' portraits examined here stand in sharp contrast to these traditional narratives. Depicting mayors and aldermen, livery company masters, school and college heads, they were meant to be read as statements about the civic leaders and civic institutions rather than about the sitters in their own right. Displayed in civic premises rather than country homes, exemplifying civic rather than personal virtues, and usually commissioned by institutions rather than their sitters, they have yet to be considered as a type of their own, or in their appropriate social and political context. This fascinating work will appeal to both art historians and historians of early modern Britain. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        Business, Economics & Law
        June 2026

        Histories of international legal theories in Japan

        From dialogue to conversation

        by Maiko Meguro, Yota Negishi

        This volume presents the first systematic account of Japanese international legal theory; edited by Japanese scholars, the volume traces thirteen influential scholars and spans over a century. It examines how theorists positioned outside international law's Western centre developed sophisticated frameworks to address tensions between Western modernity and their own experiences. The book's central contribution proposes 'conversation'-continuous engagement that respects differences between legal traditions-as an alternative to 'dialogue', which often reproduces existing hierarchies by assuming all perspectives can be reconciled. Through detailed intellectual biographies across six historical periods, contributors reveal how Japanese scholars strategically employed legal positivism, articulated transcivilizational perspectives, and developed concepts of normative multilateralism. Addressed at scholars of international law, legal theory, and comparative legal traditions, this volume demonstrates that the discipline's future requires genuinely reciprocal exchange where diverse perspectives can coexist productively.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        February 2017

        Oceania under steam

        Sea transport and the cultures of colonialism, c. 1870–1914

        by Frances Steel

        The age of steam was the age of Britain's global maritime dominance, the age of enormous ocean liners and human mastery over the seas. The world seemed to shrink as timetabled shipping mapped out faster, more efficient and more reliable transoceanic networks. But what did this transport revolution look like at the other end of the line, at the edge of empire in the South Pacific? Through the historical example of the largest and most important regional maritime enterprise - the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand - Frances Steel eloquently charts the diverse and often conflicting interests, itineraries and experiences of commercial and political elites, common seamen and stewardesses, and Islander dock workers and passengers. Drawing on a variety of sources, including shipping company archives, imperial conference proceedings, diaries, newspapers and photographs, this book will appeal to cultural historians and geographers of British imperialism, scholars of transport and mobility studies, and historians of New Zealand and the Pacific.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        September 2020

        The end of the small party?

        Change UK and the challenges of parliamentary politics

        by Louise Thompson

        For a brief moment in 2019 Britain's politics looked like it might be transformed. Just when it seemed that the divisions within and across British political parties over Brexit could not get any more intense, 7 Labour and 3 Conservative MPs broke away to form The Independent Group (TIG) - later Change UK. This is the first book to explore the meteoric lifespan of that party, within the wider context of the experiences of other small political groupings in the House of Commons. Ultimately, it shows why the party failed and disbanded after just a few months. Timely and thoroughly researched, Louise Thompson's book takes us deep inside the struggles facing MPs who leave behind the comforts of the large political parties. Drawing on interviews with current and former politicians, it explores the practicalities of being a small party MP in the Commons. What challenges face you? Who can you turn to? And just how can you make an impact? Crisply written for the non-specialist reader, this fascinating book opens a window onto the perilous world of parliamentary politics.

      • Trusted Partner
        Political parties
        November 2014

        The Conservative Party and the extreme right 1945–1975

        by Mark Pitchford

        This book, newly available in paperback, reveals the Conservative Party's relationship with the extreme right between 1945 and 1975. For the first time, this book shows how the Conservative Party, realising that its well known pre-Second World War connections with the extreme right were now embarrassing, used its bureaucracy to implement a policy of investigating extreme right groups and taking action to minimise their chances of success. The book focuses on the Conservative Party's investigation of right-wing groups, and shows how its perception of their nature determined the party bureaucracy's response. The book draws a comparison between the Conservative Party machine's negative attitude towards the extreme right and its support for progressive groups. It concludes that the Conservative Party acted as a persistent block to the external extreme right in a number of ways, and that the Party bureaucracy persistently denied the extreme right within the party assistance access to funds and representation within party organisations. It reaches a climax with the formulation of a 'plan' threatening its own candidate if he failed to remove the extreme right from the Conservative Monday Club.

      • Business, Economics & Law
        April 1905

        The Acquisitive Society

        by R.H. Tawney

        This 1926 survey, written by a distinguished social and economic historian, examines the role of religion in the rise of capitalism. Arguing that material acquisitiveness is morally wrong and a corrupting social influence, the author draws upon his profound knowledge of labor and politics to show how concentrated wealth distorts economic policies. Colorful but credible, this study offers a timeless vision of alternative means toward a just economic, social, and intellectual order.

      • Business, Economics & Law
        March 1905

        The Path of the Law

        by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

        In The Path of the Law, Holmes discusses his personal philosophy on legal practice. The Common Law is a series of lectures that established Holmes's reputation as a witty and articulate writer.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        September 2025

        Do It Yourself

        Making political theatre

        by Common Wealth

        A unique guide to creating political theatre, produced by one of the UK's most exciting companies. Do It Yourself is a vital resource for anyone interested in exploring theatre culture grounded in and produced by working-class, multi-racial communities. Designed for artists, activists and community organisers, the book offers a step-by-step guide to creating political theatre that is relevant, impactful and rooted in the lives of everyday people. Common Wealth have spent fifteen years working at the cutting edge of political theatre. In Do It Yourself, they share their experimental and activist approach to performance-making, based on DIY principles and the belief that ground-breaking theatre can be made with anyone, anywhere, in ways that truly resonate with the communities it serves. Do It Yourself introduces Common Wealth's artistic and political ethos, provides unique insights into their most significant performances and offers practical exercises for creating your own work. But this is not just a manual. It is a celebration of culture as a collective endeavour, one that can challenge the status quo and inspire change.

      • Trusted Partner
      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        September 2024

        Law across imperial borders

        British consuls and colonial connections on China’s western frontiers, 1880-1943

        by Emily Whewell

        Law across imperial borders offers new perspectives on the complex legal connections between Britain's presence in Western China in the western frontier regions of Yunnan and Xinjiang, and the British colonies of Burma and India. Bringing together a transnational methodology with a social-legal focus, it demonstrates how inter-Asian mobility across frontiers shaped British authority in contested frontier regions of China. It examines the role of a range of actors who helped create, constitute and contest legal practice on the frontier-including consuls, indigenous elites and cultural mediators. The book will be of interest to historians of China, the British Empire in Asia and legal history.

      • Trusted Partner

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