Book Description
This book is for users wanting to understand the impact of international economics. Therefore, the economic theory is low-level, but it is very applied with an emphasis on managerial or public policy decision-making. For instance, the book gives heavier treatment to international production and international development than most international economics books.
Customer Reviews:
a global study.......2007-07-28
Reinert explains the current workings of the global economy. Explaining the basic precepts of international trade. Within the context of the postwar trade agreements. The rise of the newly industrialising countries of East Asia (Japan, South Korea and Taiwan) is keyed to the massive amounts of export-driven manufactured goods that those countries produced.
Related to this are ideas like the enabling of foreign direct investment, which can act as a capital supplier and a spur to future growth of a country that gets the investment.
The book also delves into economic theory and accounting frameworks needed to quantify international trade. Given the global scope of the book, currencies and exchange rates between those currencies are discussed. Hence the idea of purchasing power parity, as a different way to compare countries, instead of purely by exchange rates. The Big Mac index, introduced by the Economist magazine, is given as a vivid instantiator of PPP.
Book Description
In 1945, many Europeans still heated with coal, cooled their food with ice, and lacked indoor plumbing. Today, things could hardly be more different. Over the second half of the twentieth century, the average European's buying power tripled, while working hours fell by a third. The European Economy since 1945 is a broad, accessible, forthright account of the extraordinary development of Europe's economy since the end of World War II. Barry Eichengreen argues that the continent's history has been critical to its economic performance, and that it will continue to be so going forward.
Challenging standard views that basic economic forces were behind postwar Europe's success, Eichengreen shows how Western Europe in particular inherited a set of institutions singularly well suited to the economic circumstances that reigned for almost three decades. Economic growth was facilitated by solidarity-centered trade unions, cohesive employers' associations, and growth-minded governments--all legacies of Europe's earlier history. For example, these institutions worked together to mobilize savings, finance investment, and stabilize wages.
However, this inheritance of economic and social institutions that was the solution until around 1973--when Europe had to switch from growth based on brute-force investment and the acquisition of known technologies to growth based on increased efficiency and innovation--then became the problem.
Thus, the key questions for the future are whether Europe and its constituent nations can now adapt their institutions to the needs of a globalized knowledge economy, and whether in doing so, the continent's distinctive history will be an obstacle or an asset.
Book Description
This exciting text provides students with a superior grounding in contemporary international political economy. It emphasizes current scholarship and provides the background in politics, economics, and history that students need to understand the contemporary global economy.
Customer Reviews:
readable textbook.......2007-02-14
This textbook was easy to read (not overly technical and used a lot of real-world analogies). An instuctor or professor who requires this text is probably taking a practical approach to the course, which typically means it will be more interesting to learn about the subject matter. The text is only in paperback and not particularly durable for backpack toting- buy used if possible.
Just great.......2007-01-10
First the book appears to be full of ideas without a touch of reality or just theoretical, but after reading the first and second chapter and after understanding the principles of econ 101/102, everything will make sense. There is so much to learn in this book and, the good thing, it is not boring.
I have to say that it was the best political econ book I've ever read, and I do recommend it for beginners.
gives an understanding of the many forms of globalisation.......2006-09-28
Oatley provides a readable, non-mathematical description of international economics since World War 2. The book will give the reader a good grounding in understanding globalisation. Not as something to be feared or tamed, but as arising from fundamental trends that are effectively impossible to reverse.
Oatley certainly talks about more than just globalisation. Like managing exchange rates. But even here, it is discussed in the context and reality of a world where immense pools of capital are often highly mobile. This is not typically thought of by the general public as globalisation. But the text shows that capital flow across national boundaries is indeed another aspect of globalisation, that has become common in the last 20 years.
coherent and concise.......2006-05-05
Oatley has a way of boiling down complex concepts into short, pithy chapters. The writing is clear and concise and the examples used in the text provide interesting perspectives on current political issues such as the US budget deficit or the power dynamics in debt negotiations between powerful international creditors (IMF, World Bank) and debtor countries. The chapters are well structured--with introductions and conclusions that really help draw out the key points of the chapter. I found that this book provided coherent theories with which I could better understand material from other political science and economics classes. Overall, I highly recommend it.
Well researched and excellently written.......2006-04-14
Thomas Oatley has written a brilliant historic piece of literature. He uses great examples to explain difficult concepts and leaves you with a comprehensive understanding of the topic. I found this book to be paramount in my undestanding of today's current debates on the US Trade Policy, our deficit, etc.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Political Economics, Economics, or just wants to learn about our economic and trade policy
5 Stars: Great Job!
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
|
History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
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ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
Book Description
Business and political leaders often talk about what their respective countries must do to compete in the world economy. But what does it really mean for a country to compete, and how do they do this successfully? As the world has globalized, countries develop strategies to compete for the markets, technologies, and skills that will raise their standards of living. These government strategies can make—or break—a nation’s efforts to drive and sustain growth.
In How Countries Compete: Strategy, Structure and Government in the Global Economy, Richard Vietor shows how governments set direction and create the climate for a nation’s economic development and profitable private enterprise. Drawing on history, economic analysis, and interviews with executives and officials around the globe, Vietor provides rich and insightful examinations of different government approaches to growth and development--leading to both success and failure.
Individual chapters focus on the unique social, economic, cultural, and historical forces that shape governments’ approach to economic growth. Countries discussed include: China, India, Japan, Singapore, the United States Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa. Vietor challenges the widespread notion that, in market-driven economies such as the United States, a strong government can only hinder business success.
A provocative account and a rich resource, How Countries Compete offers potent insights into how the business environment has evolved in crucial nations—and what its trajectory might look like in the future.
Customer Reviews:
Offering strategy.......2007-06-02
This book is a great example of the need of undertanding the offering strategy of any entity. Ths includes from countries, retailers, to brands and local products. Just think that Coca-Cola offers just one product!
Francisco Zegers
Good information, little analysis (and many stylistic stumbles).......2007-05-01
I expected great things from this book. After all, when your very title takes issue with Paul Krugman ("countries don't compete, firms do"), one counts on intriguing new insights. Alas, not here. It is a collection of very nice, albeit somewhat opinionated capsule economic histories in ten countries, from South Africa to the US. As you move along, you finally realize that countries are not competing with each other. They are "competing to grow," shaped by "four elements of successful economic development: (1) national strategy, (2) economic structure, (3) resource development, and (4) efficient use of resources." The compilation of interesting facts about each particular case can come in handy, but it is very difficult to see how these facts add up to lead to the ten success factors presented at the end of the book: (1) basic property rights, at best temporary fiscal deficits, higher savings and investment rates, strong central banks, sound microeconomic policies, labor market flexibility, avoiding the resource curse (for resource-rich countries), low levels of corruption, an acceptable income distribution, and adequate current balances.
Anyway, it would be a nice little book for reference, but it is marred by what appears to be a dearth of editorial talent over at the folks of Harvard Business School Press. There is Japan going down to "unconditional defeat." (p. 25) In Malaysia, the "majority (5.98 [sic] percent was Malaysian." (p. 41) In China, "the majority of the investment came from expatriot Chinese ..." (presumably still flashing their Super Bowl rings, p. 65) There is reference to a "John" Hopkins University, and the Southern African Development Community is rendered as "South African," and there are incomplete sentences ("The World Bank estimated that SOE productivity was -1.2 percent annually." P. 65).
Finally, there is a certain element of what one might consider an often peculiar perspective. Putin does very well in the description of the Russian experience. Italy (and Europe in general) might as well throw in the towel, according to Vietor's views. There is an intriguing observation that "... [b]ound by their roots, most Italians are unwilling to relocate even when offered higher-paying jobs." (p. 207) That must have come as quite a surprise to the Italians who represented the first wave of Gastarbeiter in Germany in the 1950s, and their descendants. Right next to it is the gem that "[d]espite a high population density, Italy had the lowest birthrate in Europe." (also p. 207) Does that mean that countries with low population densities normally have low birthrates? And then there is President Bill Clinton "imposing a significant tax on energy (British thermal units, or BTUs, which release carbon dioxide when burned.)" Presumably American thermal units don't do that. And there is much more.
All in all, for those who expected to get a new perspective on the competitiveness debate--and I certainly agree that government actions can make, or often break, efforts by private enterprise to compete--will walk away disappointed.
Enlightening.......2007-03-20
I think it is a very well written book. It has a lot of very interesting and meaningful information on history, economics and countries' social lives.
The author tries to introduce you in a timely fashion on the situational scenario the countries he covers were at a particular point in time, describes the challenges and advantages and how and why they managed to get to where they are.
It is easy to read and highly advisable especially for the ones that haven't had the chance to look at some facts related to some Asian countries.
.
Book Description
This volume provides a uniquely rich set of arguments and data for prioritizing our responses to some of the most serious problems facing the world today, such as climate change, communicable diseases, conflicts, education, financial instability, corruption, migration, malnutrition and hunger, trade barriers, and water access. Leading economists evaluate the evidence for costs and benefits of various programs to help gauge how we can achieve the most good with our money. Each problem is introduced by a world-renowned expert analyzing the scale of the problem and describing the costs and benefits of a range of policy options to improve the situation. Shorter pieces from experts offering alternative positions are also included; all ten challenges are evaluated by a panel of economists from North America, Europe, and China who rank the most promising policy options. Global Crises, Global Solutions provides a serious, yet accessible, springboard for debate and discussion and will be required reading for government employees, NGOs, scholars and students of public policy and applied economics, and anyone with a serious professional or personal interest in global development issues. Bjørn Lomborg is Associate Professor of Statistics at the University of Aarhus and the director of the Danish Environmental Assessment Institute. He is also the author of the controversial bestseller, The Skeptical Environmentalist (Cambridge, 2001).
Customer Reviews:
Bjorn Lomborg: GlobalCrises, Glbal Solutions.......2007-05-07
This book appears at the first look about economy. It is not. Its starting premise is the question: if you have limited resources and have to prioritize, what would you do in our global warming situation. It is a hard
headed treatment of the subject matter by a multitude of subject experts. Their complete set of policy proposals then evaluated by eight of the world top economists.
It is interesting, how fast the discussion veers off after discussing the economics into the very conditions enabling or blocking the desirable economic developments, such as conflicts, communicable diseases, sanitation and trade barriers just to mention a few.
The book can be read on two different level.For casual reader and policy maker most the numbers are avoidable and still be a very readable and very thoughtful and interesting material. For those, who want hard numbers and hard details, that is provided too, but not necessary for understanding.
This is the multicolored, multifaceted work of many dedicated individuals who - by the work they are dedicated to perform - are forced to set priorities in expending limited resources. I was surprised by their reasoning, and I trust, so will you be.
if you care about the world.......2007-03-08
why arn't global politics based on these arguments? it's a pleasure to read the scientific arguments that lomborg uses to validate his claims. it's a shame that we cannot organise the solutions to make this world a better place for a lot of people at no expense to our own prosperity. all the hard (econometrical) stuff is almost easy to read.
next year i'll read it again and see how far we are...
Raising the Level of Debate About Global Problems.......2006-08-09
Most people never think about the unavoidable tradeoffs involved in ameliorating social problems. With opportunity costs in mind, may we must dedicate ourselves to a better world.
I have two respectful criticisms:
1. If people focused only on the problems that we could do most to solve then that would reduce the pressure to solve problems. However rational it might seem to shift all foreign aid from funding education to funding AIDS prevention, the result would probably be less total aid. The way politics works, one big problem is sometimes treated less seriously than two problems that are half as big.
2. It is difficult to quantify any of these problems, but some of them, like global warming, are much harder to quantify. The "worst case scenario," unlikely as it may be, has the potential to do such incredible damage, that we need to act on it. Reducing global warming might be conceived of as an insurance policy, whereas preventing AIDS is more likely an investment in mutual funds.
Global Crises, Global Solutions.......2006-07-20
I enjoyed Bjorn Lomborg's latest work as a thought provoking alternative to conventional wisdom on different aspects of globalisation. Unfortunately, much of the scientific and political community have become prisoners to theories which have dubious merit. They are followed more out of political correctness and the prevailing winds of public opinion, than research and testing.
By including other experts who provide alternative opinions and challenge each other, Lomborg has followed the true spirit of scientific method - development of a theory and testing it through falsification. It is a shame that some purported scientists have tried to silence him in a similar way to Galileo. Poor science leads to inadequate policy.
The book is a worthy successor to the Environmental Sceptic and reflects a growing concern in the scientific community about the need for more rigorous research and debate on key issues. It's content is well laid out.
Clearly, the amount of material is not designed for reading in one session. However, it is a valuable resource book suited to those interested in entering into the debate on key global issues. You can pick an individual topic and obtain a good grounding in it.
I look forward to Bjorn Lomborg's next offering.
Highly Recommended!.......2005-07-27
This report is an excellent, controversial and refreshing approach to global problems. Daily, the news media and politicians declare that another crisis is urgent. Often, loud, public resolutions accompany these pronouncements. Political blocs form to push through agendas based on those resolutions. The only thing missing from the process is a dispassionate analysis of whether the solutions make economic sense and, if so, which ones make the most economic sense. This book of compiled essays from the Copenhagen Consensus - as documented in The Economist - provides that missing element. The conference drew from United Nations documents to assemble a list of the most urgent problems facing the world and identified those that presented opportunities for solutions. Then it set the task of identifying solutions that would provide the biggest benefit for the cost, examining 38 proposals for spending $50 billion over four years. Surprisingly, some of the most economically rational projects never make headlines and never turn up in public exhortations. When was the last time you saw someone climbing onto a platform to demand mosquito nets to prevent malaria in Africa? That may not come up nearly as often as adherence to the Kyoto Protocol, which provides a far weaker cost vs. benefit scenario. According to the analysts from Copenhagen, the former seems to be a very sound use of the world's problem-solving resources, but the latter costs a lot and seems to deliver relatively few benefits. We highly recommend this intriguing, sweeping conversation.
Book Description
This up-to-date book provides a balanced, in-depth background to main IPE theoretical approaches, examines IPE issues in historical perspective, and discusses domestic-international linkages.
Managing the Global Economy Since World War II: The Institutional Framework; The Realist Perspective; The Liberal Perspective; The Historical Structuralist Perspective; International Monetary Relations; Foreign Debt; Global Trade Relations; Regionalism and Global Trade Regime; Multinational Corporations and Global Production; International Development; Current Trends in the Global Political Economy.
Anyone interested in international political economy.
Customer Reviews:
Great introductory text!.......2006-12-05
Theodore H. Cohn's "Global Political Economy: Theory and Practice" is an excellent primer to the study of international political economy (IPE). This text covers the main theoretical approaches to IPE and provides fairly detailed accounts of several issues such as "International Monetary Relations", debt, trade, regionalism, MNC's, international development and a brief section on globalization. I used this book for an undergrad. IPE course about a year ago and I find myself constantly referring back to it, mostly for an overview of a subject. The most valuable component of this book is the reference section at the end of each chapter. Cohn has excellent sources that are invaluable for those who wish to pursue a certain theoretical perspective as well as a specific issue. These citations were particularly helpful when writing research papers. Overall, this is an outstanding beginners text in the subject of IPE.
Excellent if wordy.......2004-10-02
I have used this book over the past few years in an introductory course on International Politics. The organization of the book is quite ideal for this purpose as the paradigms used in IR (Realism, Liberalism, and Structuralism) are used in the presentation of ways to approach the study of International Political Economy. In addition, there is a useful overview of the Bretton Woods Institutions (IMF, IBRD, etc.) and chapters on IPE topics, such as currency exchange and debt. The only concern that I have had with this text is its growing wordiness, as each edition (now in its 3rd) is released. Undergraduates rarely have the patience for wading through pages of text, particularly on topics such as economics! With that caveat (for which I have only a limited sympathy) I would say the book is one of the best availbable on the subject.
Good Introduction & Reference.......2003-06-17
A great reference and introduction to the topic for students unfamiliar with the terrain (like me).
Despite it's heavy title this text simply and clearly introduces you to the global players and what they do. It then provides an overview of how they are seen by realists (the right), liberals (the free trade proponents), and historical structuralists (the left). It then provides an invaluable overview of major themes in the world economy and offers an impressively unbiased analysis of how people with different perspectives and organizations with different agendas view and respond to these themes.
If you really want to start to understand how global trade is facilitated (and hindered), and are willing to exert the energy to take a deeper look, then use this book to learn about the World Bank, UN (United Nations), IMF (International Monetary Fund), MNCs(Multinationl Companies), Foreign Debt, International Development, Capital Flows and Controls, etc.
Though filled with acronyms and the topics are heavy the book is a surprisingly friendly read. Readers are properly introduced to the international actors and agencies before they are discussed. There is even a glossary at the back in case you forget that SPARTECA is the South Pacific Regional Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement. =)
While obviously not a casual read, it is a surprisingly captivating read if you have any desire to learn about globalization and the shepparding of the world economy (the shepards still have A LOT to learn).
As with any good book, after reading this book you will be attracted to articles you never even looked at before. Even more amazingly, you will completely understand them.
Book Description
This comprehensive introduction to international relations focuses on what has changed and what has remained the same since the end of the cold war. Providing a strong conceptual, historical, and theoretical foundation, it identifies key perspectives and the actors in world politics, explains the concepts, tracks the trends (global interdependence and crises of authority), and examines current and future global concerns.
KEY TOPICS: The volume provides an introduction to trends, perspectives and concepts, and examines security and statecraft, international security, civil society and the global economy, religion, nationalism and conflicting identities and civil society.
For political science and international relations professionals and others interested in the global agenda.
Customer Reviews:
Great Intro to IR.......2006-12-28
Unbiased evaluation of international relations focusing on key issues of security, economics, and identity. Other themes include globalization and resource managment. Each segment includes web links to locations which further your study. Each chapter includes historical perspective as well as theroetical underpinnings. The end of the book has a handy glossary from which to quickly recall previously discussed definitions. Whether you are a realist, internationalist, structuralist or feminist, or a little of each, you will improve your understanding on the state of nations and how we got here and hopefully develop insight into where we are going.
Amazon.com
An absolutely brilliant analysis of the ways in which individuals and organizations of the media are influenced to shape the social agendas of knowledge and, therefore, belief. Contrary to the popular conception of members of the press as hard-bitten realists doggedly pursuing unpopular truths, Herman and Chomsky prove conclusively that the free-market economics model of media leads inevitably to normative and narrow reporting. Whether or not you've seen the eye-opening movie, buy this book, and you will be a far more knowledgeable person and much less prone to having your beliefs manipulated as easily as the press.
Book Description
In this pathbreaking work, now with a new introduction, Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky show that, contrary to the usual image of the news media as cantankerous, obstinate, and ubiquitous in their search for truth and defense of justice, in their actual practice they defend the economic, social, and political agendas of the privileged groups that dominate domestic society, the state, and the global order.
Based on a series of case studies—including the media’s dichotomous treatment of “worthy” versus “unworthy” victims, “legitimizing” and “meaningless” Third World elections, and devastating critiques of media coverage of the U.S. wars against Indochina—Herman and Chomsky draw on decades of criticism and research to propose a Propaganda Model to explain the media’s behavior and performance. Their new introduction updates the Propaganda Model and the earlier case studies, and it discusses several other applications. These include the manner in which the media covered the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement and subsequent Mexican financial meltdown of 1994-1995, the media’s handling of the protests against the World Trade Organization, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund in 1999 and 2000, and the media’s treatment of the chemical industry and its regulation. What emerges from this work is a powerful assessment of how propagandistic the U.S. mass media are, how they systematically fail to live up to their self-image as providers of the kind of information that people need to make sense of the world, and how we can understand their function in a radically new way.
Customer Reviews:
A brilliant critique of the American mass media.......2007-09-30
In this critique of the American Mass Media, the authors present a "propaganda model" and then go on to support it with a variety of examples. The model is based on five "filters" that news passes through:
1. That of corporate/profit-minded ownership
2. Of advertising as a revenue model, which makes media reliant on big advertisers
3. Of the necessity to be close to common "sources" of news and PR (because the media can not be present themselves everywhere that news is made at the time it's made), many of which are controlled by Government and big corporations
4. The aversion to Flak, i.e., negative responses to media programs and
5. Anti-communism as a control mechanism (yes, the book is fairly old - it was originally written in 1988, I think)
These forces cause the media to behave in certain strange ways towards news. One of these, the authors point out, is the treatment of "worthy" and "unworthy" victims, the former being those that are oppressed by/in countries aligned with Communists, and the latter being victims of policies supported by the United States. For instance, the murder of Jerzy Popieluszko, a Polish priest murdered by the Polish police, attracted far greater attention in the media than the murders of several other priests murdered in countries that were within the American sphere of influence.
Unlike other treatments that suggest a conspiracy theory, the authors have chosen to analyze the forces (the five filters) that make journalists and others internalize the principles of distortion.
The Propaganda Model in the book is very powerful, and comes alive through the numerous case studies. As the authors point out, a freely functioning media is often thought to be central to any notion of a democracy, and hence the importance of this deep understanding of the ways the media operates.
The book leaves me hanging with a few thoughts:
1. How does this thinking apply to media in other countries where the models of ownership, legal structures, market economy and many other variables are very different? Especially, I am curious to know if someone has done a similar analysis of media in my home country, India.
2. Is the web helping democratize news? The authors talk a fair bit about the consolidation of mainstream media in a few hands, and the reasons for that which are primarily around the economics of distribution. I feel that the web has changed the economics sufficiently for news to become more open, but I'd love to see a more academic treatment of the subject.
Presents Examples; Model is Too Theoretical.......2007-08-13
This book presents a "propaganda model" which is designed to predict (and has held up remarkably well) what stories will be covered by the press and what ones will go uncovered. The model is made by filters, which a story must pass through - the more filters a story collides with the less likely it'll be covered. The problem with the model is that it's nothing new - it explains what we've already known; that victims of the state get less coverage and victims of our enemies are exaggerated. But, no new insight will arise about what causes it (editors blocking the story, journalistic incompetence, etc.) and it might be naive to think anything one model can, because circumstances are highly individual.
Furthermore, the rest of the book (which is just individual analyses of overseas conflicts and how they were depicted back home) hardly addresses the model - because it can't. The only way a book could have incorporated the thesis (propaganda model) would be to investigate what at home, in the newsbereaus went wrong. Instead, the authors examine overseas situations and who the media sided with. Regardless of your views about whether Chomsky's and Herman's view of the truth about these situations is, the model seems like an excuse to write about these overseas situations.
With that being said, the book is very helpful in describing what really happened overseas, particularly Indochina and Central America. Not only will you learn a lot about what actually happened, but also about the unreported and misreported events.
Don't get the book to understand anything more about how the media operates (you'll learn nothing new). Get the book if you want another side to the presented overseas situations. This newer edition talks about the IMF and World Bank protests in 1999 and 2000, and also the Kosovo Crisis.
Best book to read if you want to understand how the media works .......2007-07-07
Manufacturing Consent
Manufacturing Consent pretty much sums up how the media works within the United States model of democracy. Far from a "conspiracy theorist" (which Chomsky is not) evaluation, the authors explain that the control of the media is systematic within a corporate-controlled framework; that is to say that, since the media is essentially run by large corporations, they wont go too far to the left, exposing the crimes of the country that allowed them to be subsequently rich. So this book is as much of a "conspiracy" analysis as an analysis of capitalism itself it, which is ludicrous, as neither are "conspiratorial" (in the sense of people who think, for example, the U.S. government faked the 1969 moon landing), but rather the expected, systematic outcome of what takes place under such a system; YOU own a newspaper - you get YOUR views across (or something close to it).
Chomsky and Herman vociferously reveal that political debate is framed within certain bounds that are mainly applicable to how far "left" you can go. For example, the question is always asked, "What are `we' going to do about Iran's nuclear program?" The question is almost never asked whether they have the right to even have a nuclear program, so there definitely won't ever be any debate within that framework. So in other words, the media makes presuppositions we're just supposed to accept, and if we don't debate within that structure, we'll be labeled "marginal" and thus our opinions shunned.
This book is far better than, say, Slander, by Ann Coulter, as she apparently fails to understand the role of the "liberal" intellectuals and reporters, which is to set the bounds on how far to the left you can go in political debate - and if you cross that line, there will be a whole list of words you'll be called, like,
-socialist
-communist
-anti-American
-terrorist sympathizer
-and a slew of other silly buzzwords, which have been completely evacuated of any substance, and utilized purposely to dismantle any further discourse.
Anton Batey
Anton_Batey@yahoo.com
A socialist idea from a socialist.......2007-06-28
Now im going to sate this right out: i dont have any negative feelings for Noam Chomsky as a person. He seems well intentioned and his work does bring out facts about american foreign policy that are interesting. My problem with most of his works are his scholarship. This book i have read more then once and it is a severe blunder in an attempt at media analysis. The basic theory behind this book is that The News corporations are beholden to the advertising companies who give them money and the the government who not only helps the news corp with "Selective" news leaks but is sinisterly connected to the corporations. Not to mention the monopoly of only a few media corporations controlling the news. Since Big business (which owns government) is controlled by elites, They mold the news to fit what they want people to hear.
This is supposed to be a free market view. Actually this is very much the view a person steeped on socialist thinking would have. The idea of elites managing a system from the top down could be nothing farther from a freemarket view. As a editor states in the documentary, this view could only come from someone who doesnt understand the way a newspaper or news show works. This book is interesting if you believe in capitalist conspiracies
Manufacturing Lies.......2007-06-05
Manufacturing Consent is poorly researched, shoddily organized and replete with attempts to mislead and deceive the unsuspecting reader. This is not hyperbole- one can find falsehoods on nearly every page.
A typical example of the book's deceit is Chomsky and Herman's analysis of "legitimizing versus meaningless" Central American elections. They attack the fairness of the 1984 Salvadoran elections on the grounds that voting was required by law and that the government defense minister Guillermo Garcia stated abstention would be treasonous. They state that a "climate of fear" which worked to "encumber free debate and free choice... was rarely even hinted at in the mass media" (Manufacturing Consent p. 108).
They also provide a footnote (n. 69, p. 359) stating: "Warren Hoge did quote Garcia, but only to suggest an open election: 'Without any lies, you can see here what it is that the people want...' ("Salvadorans Jam Polling Stations," New York Times, Mar. 29, 1982)".
There are two problems here:
1) The Warren Hoge NYT article (the actual headline is "Salvadorans Jam Polling Stations; Rebels Close Some" - the latter part curiously omitted) cited in the footnote proves just the opposite of what Chomsky and Herman claim about the US media:
a) It explicitly mentions that "[t]he left had refused to run any candidates, arguing that they would not be safe from retaliatory violence in the current atmosphere in El Salvador."
b) It explicitly quotes a woman at a polling place who said "that people had voted out of fear that officials would threaten those whose names did not appear on the voting lists."
c) It explicitly mentions that after a guerrilla attack on a polling place, "soldiers pulled residents from their homes and beat them." Other articles from the same day mention guerrilla threats to kill those who voted ("Rural Voters, Despite Fears, Hike for Miles," New York Times, Mar. 29, 1982)
And from these sources Chomsky and Herman would have the reader believe that a "climate of fear" in the Salvadoran elections was "rarely even hinted at" in the major media. Ridiculous.
2) Chomsky and Herman also do not mention Daniel Ortega giving the same treason warning as the Salvadoran defense minister to Nicaraguans in 1984: "The only ones who will not vote will be the enemies of Nicaragua, the traitors, the turncoats... and [they] will expose themselves to the fury of the people at the moment of intervention" (Robert Leiken, Why Nicaragua Vanished, p. 136), nor that this threat at a campaign rally was not cited in major press accounts (ibid. p. 135), a fact which would seem to directly contradict their propaganda model. Instead Chomsky and Herman's analysis of coercion in Nicaragua's 1984 elections descends into utter hypocrisy and absurdity: they cite a Time magazine article that says failure to vote was considered a counter-revolutionary stance, and which quotes Ortega as saying those who did not vote would be "sellouts". To this they lamely reply that Ortega's statement "was an insult but not a clear threat... not clearly a warning" (p. 124). And this rubbish is held up as penetrating analysis?
Anyone who reads this book should take the time to fact check and verify each citation, if only to see how badly they're being conned. Better yet, save your time and money and look elsewhere for scholarly and intellectually honest treatments of media bias.
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