Women and media in the Middle East

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Jeremy Tunstall

British newspapers -- The Times, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, and Financial Times -- have long been considered among the best in the world, and the BBC has become the world's most venerated television and radio organization. In this book Jeremy Tunstall surveys British media since 1945, including television, radio, films, newspapers, and magazines, with the purpose of studying how they operate and what the future holds for them. In the course of the book he discusses such issues as the relationship of politics to the media, media audiences, media biases, control of the media by conglomerates, and policies for the future.

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Michael Breen

"Just a few decades ago, the Koreans were an impoverished, agricultural people. In one generation they moved from the fields to Silicon Valley. The nature and values of the Korean people provide the background for a more detailed examination of the complex history of the country, in particular its division and its emergence as an economic superpower. Who are these people? And where does their future lie? In this absorbing and enlightening account, Michael Breen provides compelling insight into the history and character of this fascinating nation "--

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Saïd Amir Arjomand

Much of the Western world responded to Iran's recent post-election upheaval with surprise. The demands of protesters left many pundits scrambling to explain what they perceived as unprecedented politicization of the citizenry. The author analyzes Iran's political and ideological transformation in the post-Khomeini period. For many Americans, Iran is our most dangerous enemy--part of George W. Bush's "axis of evil" even before the appearance of Ahmadinejad. But what is the reality? How did Ahmadinejad rise to power, and how much power does he really have? What are the chances of normalizing relations with Iran? In After Khomeini, Saïd Amir Arjomand paints a subtle and perceptive portrait of contemporary Iran. This work, a sequel to Arjomand's acclaimed The Turban for the Crown, examines Iran under the successors of Ayatollah Khomeini up to the present day. He begins, as the Islamic Republic did, with Khomeini, offering a brilliant capsule biography of the man who masterminded the revolution that overthrew the Shah. Arjomand draws clear distinctions between the moderates of the initial phrase of the revolution, radicals, pragmatists, and hardliners, the latter best exemplified by Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Taking a chronological and thematic approach, he traces the emergence and consolidation of the present system of collective rule by clerical councils and the peaceful transition to dual leadership by the ayatollah as the supreme guide and the subordinate president of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He explains the internal political quarrels among Khomeini's heirs as a struggle over his revolutionary legacy. And he outlines how the ruling clerical elite and the nation's security forces are interdependent politically and economically, speculating on the potential future role of the Revolutionary Guards. -- Publisher description.

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Robin Cohen and Harry Goulbourne

After independence many African countries abjured conventional patterns of political representation and democratic participation in the interest of creating a unified state and promoting economic development. Today, however, the dominant models of one-party democracy and African socialism are in terminal collapse as a result of internal pressures and the influence of political changes taking place in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Throughout Africa, especially in South Africa, the old Left has been slowly forced to abandon its belief in democratic centralism in favor of a more pluralistic vision of the future. In this volume of provocative essays, leading scholars from Africa, Europe, and the United States examine the extent to which popular demands for democracy are both subverting and enriching the postcolonial order in Africa. The contributors explore a wide range of topics, including economic democracy, the state and civil society, the impact of the economic crisis on women, and agrarian reform. Theoretical chapters are followed by case studies of the prospects for democracy in South Africa, Uganda, Ghana, the Sudan, Botswana, and the southern African region. This book will be indispensable for those seeking to understand Africa's future in the world order.