This book examines the ways in which the Left in Britain appropriated and developed the nascent economic egalitarianism of the late nineteenth century, including a few episodes in which these theoretical debates exercised some influence over political decision-making or the formulation of party policy. This chapter examines the intellectual history and the British Left, arguments about equality, and the methods and the scope of the book.

What is the future for radical politics in an age that proclaims itself to be not only post-ideological but post-political as well? There are three fundamental and, in some ways, contradictory conditions that radical political theory must contend with today: the so-called ‘war on terror’, the ‘anti-globalisation’ movement, and the stifling atmosphere of consensus and centrism that so dominates modern democratic politics. This book examines and critically appraises the ideas of a number of key thinkers, including Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida, who have all had a strong impact on radical political theory and represent a broad range of theoretical perspectives such as poststructuralism, psychoanalysis, deconstruction, post-Marxism, and autonomism. It discusses the points of intersection and divergence amongst these various thinkers on questions that are central to radical political theory today: power and ideology, subjectivity, ethics, democracy and collective action. Forming a background to these debates and issues will be the question of universality, and the extent to which these various interventions allow for some sort of universal, emancipative dimension to be realised.

This chapter draws attention to Mike Leigh's film, Career Girls, that focused on just two young women, Hannah and Annie, who used to be flat-mates when they were students in the mid-1980s and, having not seen each other for six years, spend a weekend together at Hannah's London home, which turns out to be a weekend full of coincidences and unexpected blasts from the past. Leigh made no attempt to obscure these coincidences, which the characters point out and discuss, as Stella Bruzzi noted in her review of the film in Sight and Sound: ‘Career Girls flaunts its own artifice, deliberately announcing itself as a deeply implausible tale. Similarly unrealistic is the use for the first time in Leigh's films of flashbacks, a familiar enough cinematic device, but an overtly non-naturalistic one, deployed extensively here to make explicit contrasts. The film shows, through the warmth of their characterisation and the acute observation of those around them, how Hannah and Annie have developed as people while staying true to themselves and to each other.

This chapter begins with an account of the shared egalitarian outlook by considering the Left's objections to class inequality. Progressive writers and politicians employed a variety of arguments against inequality. By documenting the range of these arguments, this chapter gives an initial indication of the character of the British Left's egalitarian vision. It then asks whether progressives saw the aims of social mobility and meritocratic equal opportunity as able to satisfy their concerns about class inequality. It maintains that a meritocratic distribution was seen as an insufficient realisation of the Left's understanding of social justice.

The process of redefining the role of military means in Germany's foreign and security policy can be divided into three phases. This chapter considers the first phase: from German unification through 1994 when the German Constitutional Court ruled out-of-area deployments constitutional. Between 1990 and 1994 the paramount issues in the domestic German battle were the requirements of partnership and the lessons of Germany's past. The battle evolved around the attempt, launched by a handful of Conservative security experts, to win the political mainstream for an extended German role in international security. A majority on the left, however, remained opposed to any expansion of Germany's military role. Even after the Constitutional Court in 1994 ruled out-of-area deployments constitutional, German politics remained split on the issue.

As we stand at the intersection of complexity, longevity, and rapid societal change, Life Design emerges not merely as a method, but as a necessary life competence. Throughout this journey, we have explored how Life Design equips individuals, organizations, and societies to move from passive endurance toward active creation – embracing transition, uncertainty, and possibility. It is not perfection we seek, but progress: through small experiments, courageous iterations, and an ever-renewed commitment to living life as a dynamic, evolving portfolio of meaningful experiences.

This chapter presents an overview of dialectology that sheds light on the diachronic development of American English varieties. Key projects in US dialect study are considered in light of their historic roots, perspectives and goals; data collection methods; target populations; sampling methods; and linguistic features of focus. Also examined are various types of dialect maps, as well as the use of historic sources that have proven to be useful in tracing the history of dialect forms. The contribution of social dialectological studies is discussed as well, since in-depth surveys across social space have been shown to add to the understanding of how dialect forms develop and diffuse across time and geographic space. The chapter concludes with a discussion of developments in twenty-first-century American dialectology. Throughout, the chapter illustrates how different methods and data sources can be fruitfully brought together to solve the difficult problem of retracing historic pathways for inherently ephemeral spoken language forms.

This chapter examines the negotiations between Britain and Germany leading to the series of offset agreements, under which Germany agreed to buy British exports, in the form of armaments and civilian purchases. Under pressure from a serious balance of payments problem, Britain demanded more support than Germany was prepared to give, and resorted to threats of troop withdrawals if its demands were not met. The dispute reached its peak in 1966, when the United States, under similar economic pressure, and concerned about the knock-on effect that British troop withdrawals might have, was drawn into the dispute. The trilateral deal that was struck in 1967 marked the decline of the dispute in importance, when Britain and Germany agreed subsequently that collaborative projects, such as the joint development of a multi-role combat aircraft, might shape future negotiations, and when Britain pledged its future to Europe.

This book has shown that the dynamics of the conflict in Northern Ireland are more than simply a matter of two ethnic groups (Protestants and Catholics) suffering from constitutional and political insecurity that causes them to clash over their different national aspirations (John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary's view), or a struggle for national freedom (the republican view), or defence of the status quo (the loyalist view). The interpretation and self-interpretation of any group is complex: the formal articulation of their views is never the whole story. Ethno-national issues must be seen within the wider framework of the Symbolic, Imaginary and Real. The interplay of all three orders results in totalising socio-ideological fantasies based on self-idealisation and illusion that hide both communities' unconscious desires from themselves and reproduce division and antagonism. An examination of the unconscious unearthed some of the rationalisations that these fantasies involve. A Lacanian psychoanalysis of the unconscious in situations of conflict helps remove the cloak that communities unconsciously use to protect themselves.

Looking at the deserted remnants of the palace gardens at Samarra today, it is perhaps too easy to forget that these grounds once featured vast and elaborate waterworks. Indeed, there are numerous references to large pools, basins, fountains and water channels in contemporary descriptions of gardens and courtyard gardens of the Abbasid palaces in Lower Mesopotamia. However, like the gardens themselves, the water features have rarely been subject to archaeological investigations. The fragmentary evidence is primarily drawn from aerial photographs and archaeological surveys conducted in the early twentieth century, particularly those pertaining to the Caliphal Palace of Samarra. These sources, while sparse, still offer vital clues regarding the abundance of water and its indispensable role in shaping the design of these gardens. By combining this limited material evidence with abundant textual sources, this chapter presents a picture of the diverse water features that once adorned these gardens. It seeks to illuminate their critical role in both garden design and the everyday life at court, offering a comprehensive understanding of how water was intricately interwoven into the fabric of these built environments.

Birkas

Textual sources indicate that a prominent feature of Abbasid palace gardens was a large pool, referred to as a birka. The definitions of birka offered by contemporary philologists help us to understand some of its formal features. The Buyid vizier and lexicographer Ibn ʿAbbād (d. 385/995)1 defined birka as a structure ‘similar to a basin (ḥawḍ) dug into the ground’.2 Kitāb al-ʿAyn (compiled about 184/800 in Lower Mesopotamia) offered a more detailed definition, describing birka as a structure ‘similar to a basin (ḥawḍ), which is dug into the ground and does not have raised sides (aʿḍād: pl. of ʿiḍd) above the ground's surface’.

This chapter summarises Mike Leigh's achievements. The success of Mike Leigh's film, Vera Drake was followed up by Leigh's triumphant return to the theatre, a medium in which he had not worked since 1993's It's a Great Big Shame! Through his unique methods, he has led his various collaborators in creating a body of work that is utterly distinctive and impressive by any standards. Leigh's many fans cherish his matchless ability to perceive life's funny side at one and at the same time its tragedies. This chapter emphasizes and treats his character as human beings, and therefore as both flawed and admirable. This chapter also draws attention to the fact that, while pursuing his own career uncompromisingly, Leigh has helped the progress of a number of others. Lastly this chapter illustrates that Mike created films that can stand comparison with some of the great cinematic works.