Forging the Golden Urn


Book Description

In 1995, the People’s Republic of China resurrected a Qing-era law mandating that the reincarnations of prominent Tibetan Buddhist monks be identified by drawing lots from a golden urn. The Chinese Communist Party hoped to limit the ability of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile to independently identify reincarnations. In so doing, they elevated a long-forgotten ceremony into a controversial symbol of Chinese sovereignty in Tibet. In Forging the Golden Urn, Max Oidtmann ventures into the polyglot world of the Qing empire in search of the origins of the golden urn tradition. He seeks to understand the relationship between the Qing state and its most powerful partner in Inner Asia—the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism. Why did the Qianlong emperor invent the golden urn lottery in 1792? What ability did the Qing state have to alter Tibetan religious and political traditions? What did this law mean to Qing rulers, their advisors, and Tibetan Buddhists? Working with both the Manchu-language archives of the empire’s colonial bureaucracy and the chronicles of Tibetan elites, Oidtmann traces how a Chinese bureaucratic technology—a lottery for assigning administrative posts—was exported to the Tibetan and Mongolian regions of the Qing empire and transformed into a ritual for identifying and authenticating reincarnations. Forging the Golden Urn sheds new light on how the empire’s frontier officers grappled with matters of sovereignty, faith, and law and reveals the role that Tibetan elites played in the production of new religious traditions in the context of Qing rule.




Forging a New Era


Book Description




Forging Reform in China


Book Description

The greatest economic challenge facing China in the post-Deng era is the reform of unprofitable, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) which threaten to drag down the rest of the economy. Despite an array of well-intentioned, market-oriented reform measures, these firms have never truly been forced to face the pressure of a bottom line, or the threat of bankruptcy. Forging Reform in China explains how and why these measures have not been sweepingly successful to date, and what it would take to achieve meaningful reform. The author investigates firm-level processes, including case studies of China's steel industry giants, revealing institutional and systemic barriers to market-oriented performance. This book makes a compelling argument that private ownership cannot work in China's current system until governance over complex economic factors has been established, that is, until credit is tightened and market selection processes made to work.




Forging Democracy


Book Description

Democracy in Europe has been a recent phenomenon. Only in the wake of World War II were democratic frameworks secured, and, even then, it was decades before democracy truly blanketed the continent. Neither given nor granted, democracy requires conflict, often violent confrontations, and challenges to the established political order. In Europe, Geoff Eley convincingly shows, democracy did not evolve organically out of a natural consensus, the achievement of prosperity, or the negative cement of the Cold War. Rather, it was painstakingly crafted, continually expanded, and doggedly defended by varying constellations of socialist, feminist, Communist, and other radical movements that originally blossomed in the later nineteenth century. Parties of the Left championed democracy in the revolutionary crisis after World War I, salvaged it against the threat of fascism, and renewed its growth after 1945. They organized civil societies rooted in egalitarian ideals which came to form the very fiber of Europe's current democratic traditions. The trajectories of European democracy and the history of the European Left are thus inextricably bound together. Geoff Eley has given us the first truly comprehensive history of the European Left--its successes and failures; its high watermarks and its low tides; its accomplishments, insufficiencies, and excesses; and, most importantly, its formative, lasting influence on the European political landscape. At a time when the Left's influence and legitimacy are frequently called into question, Forging Democracy passionately upholds its vital contribution.




Forging New Partnerships, Breaching New Frontiers


Book Description

The decade 2004-14- when the two United Progressive Alliance (UPA) governments, led by prime minister Manmohan Singh, were in office- was a remarkable milestone in the history of India's diplomacy. The period saw a significant transformation in the way India deals with the external world. Under the quiet and active leadership of prime minister Manmohan Singh, India established important strategic partnerships, managed key security challenges, carved out a position of influence in core domains of global governance, and fostered the economic development and socio-political stability of its neighbourhood. The ten years of UPA rule has been a crucial passage in the evolution of India's foreign policy, and yet this period has been-until now-curiously understudied. This book bridges this puzzling gap in the literature. In this book, seventeen eminent scholars of international relations, drawn from leading universities around the world, examine and debate India's diplomacy during this period. This is the first comprehensive assessment of the transformations brought by the UPA governments in India's foreign policy. It offers a wide-ranging analysis of India's bilateral relations and engagements with important geographic regions, as well as insight into India's diplomacy on major issue areas such as international trade, nuclear policy, maritime security, energy, and UN Security Council reform.




The Forging of the American Empire


Book Description

From Mexico to Vietnam, from Nicaragua to Lebanon, and more recently to Kosovo, East Timor and now Iraq, the United States has intervened in the affairs of other nations. Yet American leaders continue to promote the myth that America is benevolent and peace-loving, and involves itself in conflicts only to defend the rights of others; excesses and cruelties, though sometimes admitted, usually are regarded as momentary aberrations.This classic book is the first truly comprehensive history of American imperialism. Now fully updated, and featuring a new introduction by Howard Zinn, it is a must-read for all students and scholars of American history. Renowned author Sidney Lens shows how the United States, from the time it gained its own independence, has used every available means - political, economic, and military - to dominate other nations.Lens presents a powerful argument, meticulously pieced together from a huge array of sources, to prove that imperialism is an inevitable consequence of the U.S. economic system. Surveying the pressures, external and internal, on the United States today, he concludes that like any other empire, the reign of the U.S. will end -- and he examines how this time of reckoning may come about.




Forging War


Book Description

""A fascinating study of the manipulation of the media in the former Yugoslavia."" -- The New York Times This study of the political manipulation of the media in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina before and during the war argues that political struggles for media control are early warnings of war and a form of preparation for it.




The Peace Imperative: Transforming the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict


Book Description

The Peace Imperative: Transforming the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict A Revolutionary Blueprint for Lasting Peace, Regional Prosperity, and Global Security "The Peace Imperative" shatters paradigms, offering a visionary, comprehensive approach to resolving one of the world's most intractable conflicts. This groundbreaking book presents a meticulously crafted roadmap for transforming the Israeli-Palestinian dispute into a catalyst for unprecedented regional cooperation and global stability. Drawing on cutting-edge research, innovative technologies, and the collective wisdom of global experts, "The Peace Imperative" goes far beyond traditional peace proposals. It introduces: • The Multidimensional Conflict Ecosystem (MCE) model: A revolutionary framework leveraging AI, quantum computing, and systems thinking to map complex conflict dynamics and identify novel solutions. • The Middle East Renaissance Plan: A $1 trillion economic revitalization initiative, transforming the region into a global hub of innovation, sustainable development, and shared prosperity. • Radical Honesty and Historical Reckoning: A groundbreaking approach to addressing historical grievances, including virtual reality experiences and a Truth and Accountability Commission. • Cutting-Edge Security Paradigm: Utilizing AI-powered predictive peacekeeping, quantum encryption, and neurotechnology to redefine regional security. • Green Middle East Initiative: Massive environmental cooperation projects as catalysts for peace, including solar grand projects and innovative water solutions. • Education Revolution: Transforming curricula to nurture empathy, critical thinking, and a shared vision for the future, anchored by the pioneering Middle East Peace University. • Collective Trauma Healing: Large-scale initiatives addressing the psychological scars of conflict, integrating advanced therapies and community-based reconciliation programs. • Interfaith Harmony Initiative: Reimagining religious narratives as sources of unity, featuring unprecedented cooperation in holy site management and scriptural reinterpretation. • Media and Narrative Transformation: Harnessing AI, virtual reality, and collaborative storytelling to reshape public discourse and foster mutual understanding. • Innovative Governance Models: Exploring new political structures for coexistence, including AI-assisted policy simulations and blockchain-based voting systems. "The Peace Imperative" is more than a book; it's a movement, a call to action for every individual who believes in the power of peace to transform our world. It challenges readers to reimagine what's possible, offering a bold vision of a future where Israelis and Palestinians not only coexist but thrive together, setting a new standard for conflict resolution worldwide. This comprehensive blueprint demonstrates how resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can catalyze a new era of cooperation across the Middle East and beyond, addressing urgent global challenges from climate change to economic inequality. "The Peace Imperative" is essential reading for policymakers, peace activists, students of international relations, and anyone passionate about creating a more just and harmonious world. Dare to imagine a transformed Middle East. Embrace "The Peace Imperative" and become part of the solution to one of history's most enduring conflicts.




Forging America


Book Description

Stacks of stone preside over many bucolic and wooded landscapes in the mid-Atlantic states. Initially constructed more than two hundred years ago, they housed blast furnaces that converted rock and wood into the iron that enabled the United States to secure its national independence. By the eve of the Revolutionary War, furnaces and forges in the American colonies turned out one-seventh of the world's iron.Forging America illuminates the fate of labor in an era when industry, manhood, and independence began to take on new and highly charged meanings. John Bezís-Selfa argues that the iron industry, with its early concentrations of capital and labor, reveals the close links between industrial and political revolution. Through means ranging from religious exhortation to force, ironmasters encouraged or compelled workers—free, indentured, and enslaved—to adopt new work styles and standards of personal industry. Eighteenth-century revolutionary rhetoric hastened the demise of indentured servitude, however, and national independence reinforced the legal status of slavery and increasingly defined manual labor as "dependent" and racially coded. Bezís-Selfa highlights the importance of slave labor to early American industrial development. Research in documents from the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries led Bezís-Selfa to accounts of the labor of African-Americans, indentured servants, new immigrants, and others. Their stories inform his highly readable narrative of more than two hundred years of American history.




State, Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East


Book Description

Roger Owen has fully revised and updated his authoritative text to take into account the latest developments in the Middle East. This book continues to serve as an excellent introduction for newcomers to the modern history and politics of this fascinating region. This third edition continues to explore the emergence of individual Middle Eastern states since the fall of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the First World War and the key themes that have characterized the region since then.