James and Goetze bring together contributors of varied backgrounds, ranging from evolutionary theorists to game theorists to analysts of specific ethnic conflict. Their work represents a coherent attempt at evaluating the usefulness of evolutionary theories for explaining ethnic phenomena and demonstrates how these theories can be applied in attempts to elucidate real-world behaviors.

This study found that kinship theory that posits evolved dispositions to form cooperative bonds with family, ethnic groups and other social groups may go a long way in accounting for the formation of...

"Liberation Theology in the Philippines: Faith in a Revolution" studies the interrelationship of international development policies and local social and economic structures in the Philippines. This ethnography demonstrates that the application of conventional development paradigms to the situation overlooks the human suffering and displacement experienced by the people for whom the policies are supposed to help. By contrast, the Basic Ecclesial Community (BEC) movement offers an alternative strategy for development that aims to build a more just and community-oriented society, while...

Plasser examines the changing practices of election campaigning worldwide. Based on data of an indepth survey of campaign managers and political consultants from 43 countries, he provides insights into the professional role definitions and strategic orientations determining the future of electioneering in media-centered democracies.

The first section gives a state-of-the-art overview of the international literature and modernization theories describing and analyzing the ongoing process of modernization and growing professionalization of electioneering around the world. The...

Kuypers charts the potential effects the printed presses and broadcast media have upon the messages of political and social leaders when they discuss controversial issues. Examining over 800 press reports on race and homosexuality from 116 different newspapers, Kuypers meticulously documents a liberal political bias in mainstream news. This book asserts that such a bias hurts the democratic process by ignoring non-mainstream left positions and vilifying many moderate and most right-leaning positions, leaving only a narrow brand of liberal thought supported by the mainstream press.

This...

Wasburn compares U.S. commercial news reports on a wide variety of events with those produced by the news media of several other nations. The events include the Falklands War, the Iran-Iraq War, the Tiananmen Square Uprising, several political assassinations, major trade disputes between the U.S. and Japan, the "Intifada," U.S. presidential nominating conventions and a presidential inauguration.

Different patterns of coverage--amount of attention given an event, language used to describe an event, selection of particular occurrences to characterize an event, and descriptions of U.S. and...

Prominent in several Buddhist traditions, the Rhinoceros Sutra espouses the virtues of solitude, explaining the dangers of attachments, prescribing a solitary spiritual life, and discussing the nature of friends and friendship. British Library Fragment 5B is the remnant of a scroll that originally contained a complete text of the Rhinoceros Sutra. A Gandhari Version of the Rhinoceros Sutra examines in detail the literary and textual background of the sutra, describes the condition of the scroll and its reconstruction, analyzes the text, comparing it with other extant versions, and...

The traditional documentary programming of network television's bygone era has given way to the recent explosion of ratings-driven, personality-based news magazine programming. While ostensibly conforming to a high standard of public service, these magazines, as even some of their producers admit, must succumb to the forces of public appetite and profit maximization in order to be competitive.

This study examines this phenomenon of the electronic magazine and shows how the soft news programs affect the public's view of American politics and culture. Maintaining the distinction between...

Public discourse receives the concerted attention of linguists, political analysts, and others involved with language as a persuasive tool of communication. Yet sometimes overlooked is the fact that the impact of much modern political communication comes from aesthetic attributes. Effectiveness of delivery, poetry of expression, and emotional investment of the rhetorician give the audience a gauge for determining the speaker's sincerity.

"Warriors' Words" examines leadership in the present century by scrutinizing the oral and written communications of 15 remarkable individuals at...

Drawing on scholarly research and media critiques, The Third Agenda in Presidential Debates examines the most recent U.S. presidential debates from the perspective of television viewers who watched the encounters first hand. Through a national program--DebateWatch--tens of thousands of viewers had an opportunity to provide feedback to the debate sponsors, the campaigns, and the media following the 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential debates. As a result, thousands of groups met after each debate to discuss what they liked and didn't like about a particular candidate, what they...

In a short volume De Bassompierre successfully links the emerging political patterns to the overall economic integration endeavor. He concludes that this condominium of 12 sovereign nations offers an unparalleled adventure for the national bureaucracies in managing what is, in effect, a global superpower in the making.' Of broader appeal than its title suggests. Valuable for upper-division students in all colleges and universities. "Choice"

Watching the tortuously slow process of European integration in recent years has been akin to watching grass grow. Twelve European powers, most of...