John Keane offers an original account of the origins of violence, its consequences, its uses and remedies, and the relationship between violence and democracy. Rejecting the view that "human nature" is violent, Keane demonstrates why democracies do not wage war upon each other, and are unusually sensitive to violence. He emphasizes ethical questions, such as the circumstances in which violence can be justified, and argues that violence can and should be "democratized" and made publicly accountable.

Amid fears of terrorism, rising tides of xenophobia, and protests, John Keane explores the contradictory arguments and traces the historical origins, contemporary meanings and political potential of globalization. Defending the idea of a global civil society, Keane stresses the need for new democratic ways of living and demonstrates how it is linked with such developments as turbocapitalism, social movements and the political institutions of "cosmocracy." Keane's provocative reflections in Global Civil Society? draw upon a variety of scholarly sources and offer a fresh perspective on...

Once feared by princes, nobles and clerics, the old European ideal of liberty of the press appears to have come of age and gained acceptance among politicians, policy makers and the general public. Yet, paradoxically, there are signs in Europe, the United States and elsewhere that this ideal is under pressure and that it is further endangered by its indiscriminate or deceptive use in debates about the present and future structure of public communications.

This volume presents the proceedings of the 13th British National Conference on Databases, BNCOD 13, held in Manchester, UK in July 1995.
The volume contains 2 invited contributions and 14 full revised technical papers selected from a total of 64 submissions. The papers are organized in sections on functional databases, user interfaces, system-level algorithms, queries and transactions, and parallel and federated systems. Despite the fact that BNCOD is a national event there is strong international representation in the proceedings.

It is only a decade ago that the eighteenth-century distinction between civil society and the state seemed old-fashioned, an object of cynicism, even of outright hostility. In this important new book, John Keane shows how, in a wholly unexpected reversal of fortunes, this antiquated distinction has since become voguish among politicians, academics, journalists, business leaders, relief agencies and citizens' organizations.


John Keane examines the various sources and phases of the dramatic world-wide popularization of the term. He traces its reappearance in a wide range of...

At the moment, no other European city attracts so much fascination as the city of Berlin. An unrivalled symbol of modern urban life, Berlin is a dynamic city whose inhabitants, in the course of the past two centuries, have lived through both the rapid growth and the violent destruction of the institutions of civil society, several times over. This volume situates itself within these developments by presenting, for the first time in English, a sample of the best, recently written essays on contemporary civil societies, their structural problems, and their uncertain future, written by scholars...

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the technology behind the pico-solar revolution and offers guidance on how to test and choose quality products. The book also discusses how pioneering companies and initiatives are overcoming challenges to reach scale in the marketplace, from innovative distribution strategies to reach customers in rural India and Tanzania, to product development in Cambodia, product assembly in Mozambique and the introduction of 'pay as you go' technology in Kenya.

Pico-solar is a new category of solar electric system which has the potential to...

In Cultural and Theological Reflections on the Japanese Quest for Divinity, John J. Keane offers an explanation of Japanese divinity (kami 神) using sociology, anthropology, linguistics, literature and history. He presents an overview of how the Japanese have sought to love and serve their kami - a quest that rivals the interest that the West gives to God. The principles of interreligious dialogue are applied to the meaning of kami and a plea is made for a dialogue that respectfully accepts differences between the cultures and the theologies of Eastern and...

Predictions of the coming collapse of Chinese politics are today commonplace, however this thought-provoking book explores a radically different alternative. China, it argues, is a one-party-dominated political system whose surprising levels of public sup

An imaginative, radically new interpretation of the twenty-first-century fate of democracy by a distinguished scholar.