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Genuinely international in scope and drawing on a wide range of examples from around the world, this important new text provides an accessible introduction to the key elements of foreign policy analysis. Analyzing Foreign Policy examines the wide range of factors that explain why states and other actors behave in the way they do. Showing how theory can illuminate practice, Derek Beach explores how different theoretical approaches - including structural realism, liberalism and constructivism - can be applied to deepen our understanding of events and actions. The book covers all aspects of the policy process - from what states want and how decisions are made through to what states actually do across security, economic and diplomatic policies. Derek Beach also assesses whether we are witnessing a fundamental shift in the nature of foreign policy as a result of globalization and the rise of new non-state actors. The concluding chapter introduces readers to the various research methods available for the study of foreign policy. Engagingly written, this text is the ideal starting point for all who wish to understand and explain the drivers of contemporary foreign policy.
Process-tracing in social science is a method for studying causal mechanisms linking causes with outcomes. This enables the researcher to make strong inferences about how a cause (or set of causes) contributes to producing an outcome. In this extensively revised and updated edition, Derek Beach and Rasmus Brun Pedersen introduce a refined definition of process-tracing, differentiating it into four distinct variants and explaining the applications and limitations of each. The authors develop the underlying logic of process-tracing, including how one should understand causal mechanisms and how Bayesian logic enables strong within-case inferences. They provide instructions for identifying the variant of process-tracing most appropriate for the research question at hand and a set of guidelines for each stage of the research process.
Sandy beaches represent some of the most dynamic environments on Earth and examining their morphodynamic behaviour over different temporal and spatial scales is challenging, relying on multidisciplinary approaches and techniques. Sandy Beach Morphodynamics brings together the latest research on beach systems and their morphodynamics and the ways in which they are studied in 29 chapters that review the full spectrum of beach morphodynamics. The chapters are written by leading experts in the field and provide introductory level understanding of physical processes and resulting landforms, along with more advanced discussions.
The second edition of this introductory textbook on foreign policy analysis focuses on the key explanatory factors that underlie the foreign policies of states and other actors to show how theory can illuminate practice. Genuinely international in scope and drawing on a wide range of examples, it provides an accessible introduction to the key elements of foreign policy analysis to explain, predict and evaluate what states and other collective actors want, how they make decisions, and key determinants of state security, diplomatic, and economic foreign policies. Providing a broad set of theoretical tools for analysing foreign policy, and including increased coverage of methodology, this new edition provides students with the skills to undertake their own foreign policy analysis.
Derek Jarmans Garden is the last book Jarman ever wrote. It is a fitting memorial to a brilliant and greatly loved artist and film maker who, against all odds, made a breathtaking garden in the most inhospitable of places the flat, bleak, often desolate expanse of shingle overlooked by the Dungeness nuclear power station. Here is Jarmans own record of how the garden evolved, from its earliest beginnings in 1986 to the last year of his life. More than 150 photographs by his friend Howard Sooley capture the garden at all its different stages and at every season of the year, revealing its complex geometrical plan, magical stone circles and the beautiful and bizarre scupltures. We also catch glimpses of Jarman at work on the garden. This beautiful book will appeal to all those who love gardens and gardening, as well as the legions of admirers of this extraordinary man.
Derek Johnston starts his new career and tells himself he needs to step up his game and become a professional, especially if he wants to be taken serious. That all changes when he learns his co-workers are not as "professional" as they all come off to be. In fact, before he realizes it, Derek learns that he and his co-workers share a few more things in common than just being under the same payroll.In a field where mixing business and pleasure is the thing NOT to do, obliviously everyone does it and before all the employees of The Firm Firm realize it, it is too late to stop what they have all started, especially when everyone has ties to each other and a dark past of their own; the fine line between professional and personal is violated on any and all levels. It's a dog eat dog world and everyone is starving for a position at the top that only seats one.
Donegal, 1976 When a dolphin takes up residence in Carrig Cove, Emer and her best friend, Fee, feel like they have an instant connection with it. Then Dog Cullen and his sidekick, Kit, turn up, and the four friends begin to sneak out at midnight to go down to the beach, daring each other to swim closer and closer to the creature . . . But the fame and fortune the dolphin brings to their small village builds resentment amongst their neighbours across the bay, and the summer days get longer and hotter . . . There is something wild and intense in the air. Love feels fierce, old hatreds fester, and suddenly everything feels worth fighting for. In this beautiful, epic coming-of-age novel, an old tale is rewoven as a stunning YA story by well-known Irish author/illustrator Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick.
"Social phenomena can rarely be attributed to single causes. Drawing on set theory and the language of necessary and sufficient conditions, Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is a case-based research method that is ideally suited to capture causal complexity. QCA regards cases as combinations of conditions. It compares the conditions of each case in a structured way to identify the necessary and sufficient conditions for an outcome. While QCA has become increasingly popular and seen a substantial increase of applications across the social sciences and management, introductory textbooks have not kept pace with this development. In this textbook, Patrick A. Mello teaches students, scholars, and self-learners the fundamentals of QCA, research design, interpretation of results, and how to communicate findings. This concise and accessible textbook provides a hands-on introduction to QCA that will be ideal for use within a broader qualitative methods course and in intensive short courses"--
In February 2019, Donald Trump announced the United States withdrew from the landmark Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia sparking worldwide concerns over the specter of a new nuclear arms race. The rational-actor and game-theoretic models dominating international relations literature failed to predict or explain this strategic choice. Rationalist, normative, and materialist models of strategic choice saturate the study of international relations. Scholars continue to expose the shortfalls in these approaches in explaining or predicting outcomes of strategic interactions. In this timely study, John P. DeRosa advances a new model of strategic choice through a narrative lens. This narrative turn reframes the logic to emphasize the propositions of motives, perceptions, preferences, and the reflexive interaction of strategic choices. Case studies of American and Russian nuclear arms control treaties from the negotiations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987 to the crisis of the US withdrawal from the INF Treaty in 2019 support building a theory of “narrativized” strategic choice.
Philosophical Foundations of Mixed Methods Research provides a comprehensive examination of the philosophical foundations of mixed methods research. It offers new defences of the seven main approaches to mixed methods (the pragmatist approach, the transformative approach, the indigenous approach, the dialectical approach, the dialectical pluralist approach, the performative approach, and the realist approach) written by leading mixed methods researchers. Each approach is accompanied by critical reflections chapter from philosophers’ point of view. The book shows the value of the use of mixed methods from a philosophical point of view and offers a systematic and critical examination of these positions and approaches from a philosophical point of view. The volume also offers a platform to promote a dialogue between mixed methods researchers and philosophers of science and provides foundations for further research and teaching of this hotly debated topic. This volume is ideal for researchers and advanced students, and anyone who is interested in research methods and the social sciences more generally.