De Gruyter Disruptions

This book investigates why government instability is particularly evident in Italy compared to other European political systems. It focuses on three main dimensions. Firstly, it examines the historical, institutional, and social roots of instability by providing insights into the sources of instability, from the country’s constitutional architecture to the lack of social and political cohesion produced by a difficult unification process. Secondly, leveraging an original multilevel dataset, the book performs an in-depth analysis of the nexus between instability and policymaking accountability, and a quantitative empirical analysis to identify factors increasing the risk of cabinet termination. Finally, the book provides scholars and pundits with empirically-based policy recommendations on how to solve the instability issue.

Following the horrific attack on October 7, support for a devastating military retaliation and resolution has taken center stage. Nevertheless, within Israel, numerous critical voices cast doubt on the sustainability of such approaches. They champion the principles of morality, legality, and common sense as the true keys to a lasting solution. This book focuses on these voices which are critical of Israeli government policies. They are deeply grieving and affected by the October 7 attack, while also able to hold both Palestinian and Israeli pain and aspirations not as mutually exclusive, but as an impetus for creating a better and more equitable future for all who inhabit the land. It chronicles the reactions of intellectuals and scholars to unfolding events. All the pieces in this volume were written within a few days to a few months of October 7 and comprise an archive of a particular discourse taking shape in Israel at this historical juncture.

The book is dedicated to the memory of Vivian Silver, who devoted her life to waging peace through valiant activism, and was murdered in her home on October 7. The editor’s royalties will go to support an annual lecture in her memory on the themes of peace and democracy.

Read the interview with Lihi Ben Shitrit on De Gruyter Conversations and learn more about the book and the editor!

With contributions by Shaul Arieli, Eva Illouz, Idan Landau, Yaniv Ronen, Yofi Tirosh, Assaf David, Ameer Fakhoury, Ghadir Hani, Eran Tzidkiyahu, Orit Kamir, Orly Noy, Noam Shuster-Eliassi, Jessica Ausinheiler, Meirav Jones, Tal Correm, Anwar Mhajne, David Kretzmer, Omer Bartov, Rawia Aburabia, Hannah Safran, Tanya Zion-Waldoks, Galit Cohen-Kedem, Avi Shilon, Hagar Kotef, Merav Amir, Ali Al-Awar, and Nicholas Kristof.

The Therapized Antisemite determines the failure of psychology in the understanding and punishment of antisemitism. Through exploring social, clinical, and forensic psychology, as well as psychohistory and the intrusion of psychology into criminal law and policymaking, Christopher L. Schilling argues that we don’t yet understand what causes antisemitism in psychological terms, let alone how to go about solving the problem.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the latest chapter in a series of events that have their origins in World War One. The difficult existential questions that emerged before and during this conflict still remain unresolved. Contrary to the claim that wars are not supposed to happen in Europe or that we live in the era of the End of History, the experience of Ukraine highlights the salience of the spell of the past. The failure of the West to take its past seriously has left it confused and unprepared to deal with the current crisis. Unexpectedly fashionable claims about the irrelevance of borders and of nation states have been exposed as shallow myths. The author argues that the West’s self-inflicted condition of historical amnesia has encouraged it to disregard the salience of geo-political realities. Suddenly the once fashionable claims that made up the virtues of globalisation appear threadbare. This problem, which was already evident during the global Covid pandemic has reached a crisis point in the battlefield of Ukraine. History has had its revenge on a culture that believes that what happened in the past no longer matters. The Road To Ukraine: How the West Lost Its Way argues that overcoming the state of historical amnesia is the precondition for the restoration of global solidarity.

America’s reputation and power fell to new lows during Trump’s presidency. Militarily, the United States held its own, but its soft power suffered mightily. President Biden pledges to work with the international community, rely on cooperation with like-minded allies, challenge adversaries, and restore American democracy, society and economy to levels that will once again command international respect. De-Trumping U.S. Foreign Policy will address the objectives, obstacles, and potential outcomes of this attempt over the next few years.

Sloan evaluates both elite and public opinion from democratic allies around the world, plus elite opinions from states less friendly to the United States. He documents and analyses Biden’s approach to foreign policy and his goals for the U.S. role in the world. The volume will also examine how Biden’s domestic policy objectives, in the areas of the pandemic, systemic racism, political equity, the economy and climate change, relate to his foreign policy goals. The early steps made by Biden will be laid out and evaluated and hidden chances of success or failure will be measured, with a striking analysis of what failure might mean for the USA and the world.