The publishing programme at Royal Collection Trust aims to create the highest-quality books, exhibition catalogues, guides and children's books to celebrate the royal residences and the works of art found within them. Our list includes beautifully produced printed books, apps and online catalogues and symposia. We also publish scholarly catalogues raisonnés, which demonstrate the highest standards of academic research.
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The Johnson era will be remembered for a series of scandals that severely eroded trust in the British government. From questionable PPE tenders and public appointments to the 'partygate' fiasco, every aspect of public life seemed tainted. How did this downward spiral begin, and what can be done to reverse it? In this eye-opening book, veteran KC John Bowers presents a fearless examination of the decline in ethical standards before, during and after the Johnson government. He focuses on the institutions responsible for holding the government accountable, exposing how they have been bypassed by prime ministers determined to impose their agenda. Through interviews with political insiders, Bowers provides analysis of scandals such as partygate, Greensill and the revolving door with the private sector. He shines a light on a culture of favouritism, where standards are upheld based on little more than the assumption those in power can be trusted to behave. Rishi Sunak entered Number 10 on the promise of restoring integrity, but it is clear major problems remain. Confronting the failings of the current system, Downward spiral presents concrete proposals for creating an alternative that is more transparent and accountable.
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Cultural warfare and trust: fighting the Mafia in Palermo concentrates on a central issue in research on democratic processes: the development of generalised trust. The existence of generalised trust and confidence in a society is decisive for economic development and an effective democracy. Is it possible to fight persistent values of distrust and non-cooperation? Is it possible to support the development of generalised trust through public action and education? The book addresses these questions by examining political efforts to combat Palermo's Mafia-controlled heritage and to turn a tradition of non-cooperation and distrust into cooperation and trust. In particular, it focuses on the school program launched in Palermo during the mid-1990s, which was designed to break the Mafia's territorial and mental control. Combining theories on social capital and civic education, the author presents and analyses new quantitative and qualitative research carried out in seven public schools in Palermo. This book will be valuable to students, academics and researchers interested in social capital and trust, Italian politics, civic education, organised crime, local government and democratic practice. ;
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This book is a powerful addition to a developing literature informed by arts and humanities research carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic. Investigating the impacts of crisis governance and decision-making on people and populations, the book brings together microbial organisms and humans, children and data, decision-making and infection prevention, publics and process, global vaccine distribution and citizens' juries. Through its eight chapters, the book stimulates broadly-drawn discussions about exceptional executive powers in an emergency, the role of trust, and the importance of the principles of good governance - such as selflessness, ethics, integrity, accountability and honesty in leadership. The lessons drawn out in this book will support future decision-makers in both ordinary times and extra-ordinary emergencies.
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Local government today provides a comprehensive analysis of the structure, finance, management and democratic framework for local government in Britain. This new edition has been substantially rewritten to encompass the many changes to the structure and function of the system since 2000, including developments flowing from the 2007 Local Government Act. The study discusses how, during the Blair years, local governments came to be seen once again as centrally important institutions within Britain's political system. However, they are not seen as organisations that can function as separate agencies, undertaking all their duties 'in-house'. They are now required to work in partnership with the private, public and voluntary sectors to deliver local services and represent local interests. It is further argued that, for the first time in over a century, the barriers between civil servants and senior local government officers are being eroded as central government begins to incorporate leading local government officials into its decision-making processes. This established textbook also offers a comparative focus by showing how the British system differs from the structures for local governance in Western Europe and the United States. ;
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From a psychological perspective, there are many aspects to negotiating. Given the right knowledge of backgrounds and mechanisms, it is an art form possible to get to grips with and put into practice. In an entertaining and informative way, this book introduces the reader to the basics of communication and body language, cooperative negotiation, strategic negotiation, the different personalities of negotiators, and negotiating. Using practical exercises and valuable practical tips, this book takes the reader through the main psychological strategies and methods so he can negotiate in a flexible, goal-oriented, and successful manner. Target Group: For people who want to improve their negotiating skills.
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In Singapore and Malaysia, the inversion of Chinese Underworld traditions has meant that Underworld demons are now amongst the most commonly venerated deities in statue form, channelled through their spirit mediums, tang-ki. The Chinese Underworld and its sub-hells are populated by a bureaucracy drawn from the Buddhist, Taoist and vernacular pantheons. Under the watchful eye of Hell's 'enforcers', the lower echelons of demon soldiers impose post-mortal punishments on the souls of the recently deceased for moral transgressions committed during their prior incarnations. Chinese religion in contemporary Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan offers an ethnography of contemporary Chinese Underworld traditions, where night-time cemetery rituals assist the souls of the dead, exorcised spirits are imprisoned in Guinness bottles, and malicious foetus ghosts are enlisted to strengthen a temple's spirit army. Understanding the religious divergences between Singapore and Malaysia (and their counterparts in Taiwan) through an analysis of socio-political and historical events, Fabian Graham challenges common assumptions about the nature and scope of Chinese vernacular religious beliefs and practices. Graham's innovative approach to alterity allows the reader to listen to first-person dialogues between the author and channelled Underworld deities. Through its alternative methodological and narrative stance, the book intervenes in debates on the interrelation between sociocultural and spiritual worlds, and promotes the destigmatisation of spirit possession and discarnate phenomena in the future study of mystical and religious traditions.
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This book is a study of the ambitions, activities and achievements of Methodist missionaries in northern Burma from 1887-1966 and the expulsion of the last missionaries by Ne Win. The story is told through painstaking original research in archives which contain thousands of hitherto unpublished documents and eyewitness accounts meticulously recorded by the Methodist missionaries. This accessible study constitutes a significant contribution to a very little-known area of missionary history. Leigh pulls together the themes of conflict, politics and proselytisation in to a fascinating study of great breadth. The historical nuances of the relationship between religion and governance in Burma are traced in an accessible style. This book will appeal to those teaching or studying colonial and postcolonial history, Burmese politics, and the history of missionary work.
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Exile, its pain and possibility, is the starting point of this book. Women's experience of exile was often different from that of men, yet it has not received the important attention it deserves. Women in exile in early modern Europe and the Americas addresses that lacuna through a wide-ranging geographical, chronological, social and cultural approach. Whether powerful, well-to-do or impoverished, exiled by force or choice, every woman faced the question of how to reconstruct her life in a new place. These essays focus on women's agency despite the pressures created by political, economic and social dislocation. Collectively, they demonstrate how these women from different countries, continents and status groups not only survived but also in many cases thrived. This analysis of early modern women's experiences not only provides a new vantage point from which to enrich the study of exile but also contributes important new scholarship to the history of women.
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Sexual politics in revolutionary England recounts a dramatic transformation in English sexual polemic that unfolded during the kingdom's mid-seventeenth-century civil wars. In early Stuart England, explicit sexual language was largely confined to manuscript and oral forms by the combined regulatory pressures of ecclesiastical press licensing and powerful cultural notions of civility and decorum. During the early 1640s, however, graphic sex-talk exploded into polemical print for the first time in English history. Over the next two decades, sexual politics evolved into a vital component of public discourse, as contemporaries utilized sexual satire to reframe the English Revolution as a battle between licentious Stuart tyrants and their lecherous puritan enemies. By the time that Charles II regained the throne in 1660, this book argues, sex was already a routine element of English political culture.
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This book about the Thatcher government and the City of London tells the compelling human story of the people and processes that made Britain's 1980s financial revolution. Fusing insider testimony with new archival discoveries, it examines high stakes and networked solutions, and uncovers new objectives that drove reforms. In so doing it demystifies a major shift in capitalism. This has implications for our understandings of government and capitalism, from the way we think about the origins of subsequent financial crises to today's growing inequalities. Survival Capitalism offers new insights into the last major restructuring of the City, disrupts myths surrounding the logics of the market, and pays attention to people and processes at a time when the City of London again faces major change as Britain seeks to find its place outside the European Union in the wake of Brexit.
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