Foreign Influence

Recruited as a field operative for a new Department of Defense spy agency, former Navy SEAL Scot Harvath investigates the bombing death of a group of American students in Rome, an act with possible ties to a past colleague.

This book examines the effects of the transnational social and environmental advocacy of foreign NGOs in China. Based on three case studies, including China’s first participatory development project, its first successful case of transnational anti-dam activism, and its first national park project, the book challenges our typical understanding that global forces shape local outcomes. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in China and archival work in the United States, Matsuzawa sheds light on the entrepreneurial behaviors of Chinese activists, researchers, and government officials. She shows that global projects are often substantially transformed by local actors, despite the original intentions of their foreign collaborators and even China’s central government. Thus, it is argued that foreign NGOs are not as hegemonic or culturally imperialistic as is commonly viewed. Matsuzawa reveals that their goals may change profoundly as a result of their engagements with local actors on the ground. She offers a new theory of transnational advocacy together with an account of the Chinese party-state’s rising concerns over the influence of foreign NGOs. Activating China will be of interest to sociologists and political scientists working in the fields of social movement studies and activism in China.

Questions about the role and influence of think tanks in matters of foreign policy and geopolitics are both timely and important. The reconfiguration of global power, explosion of social media, shifts away from traditional print and oral-based ways of imparting knowledge, and the dramatic increase in the volume of information and ideas clamoring for the attention of policy-makers are changing the landscape of foreign policy-making and the pathways through which influence is achieved. This book explains the impact of think tanks on the framing of domestic and international conversations on matters of foreign policy and geopolitics. An international group of prominent experts examine these issues in specific countries and also across national and regional borders to better understand how governments and actors in civil society are influenced by the activities of think tanks.

The Influence of Faith examines religion as a growing factor in world politics and U.S. foreign policy. Particular attention is placed on the American reaction to the persecution of Christians and Jews overseas, as well as the role of faith-based groups such as missionary and relief organizations in the formulation and implementation of U.S. policy.

An analysis of decision making and negotiation in international relations, this book offers a political-psychological model of the images that compose policymakers' world views. Dr. Cottam explores the limits these images impose on diplomatic adaptation to changes in the foreign policies of other states. She evaluates established models of politica

For many observers, the European Union is mired in a deep crisis. Between sluggish growth; political turmoil following a decade of austerity politics; Brexit; and the rise of Asian influence, the EU is seen as a declining power on the world stage. Columbia Law professor Anu Bradford argues the opposite in her important new book The Brussels Effect: the EU remains an influential superpower that shapes the world in its image. By promulgating regulations that shape the international business environment, elevating standards worldwide, and leading to a notable Europeanization of many important aspects of global commerce, the EU has managed to shape policy in areas such as data privacy, consumer health and safety, environmental protection, antitrust, and online hate speech. And in contrast to how superpowers wield their global influence, the Brussels Effect - a phrase first coined by Bradford in 2012- absolves the EU from playing a direct role in imposing standards, as market forces alone are often sufficient as multinational companies voluntarily extend the EU rule to govern their global operations. The Brussels Effect shows how the EU has acquired such power, why multinational companies use EU standards as global standards, and why the EU's role as the world's regulator is likely to outlive its gradual economic decline, extending the EU's influence long into the future.

This is the first book dealing with the foreign influence on ancient India. Discusses the foreign invasions of India by the Achaemenians, Greeks, Sakas, Kushans, Sassanians, Pahlavas and the Hunas, and also the peaceful impact of the Romans on India. The book advances a theory that ancient India never provided any casus belli to the foreigners to attack her. It was India's weakness and an implied confidence in future victories that kept the invaders coming to India one after another. But these foreigners have also influenced India in the field of administration, religion, philosophy, astronomy, language, script, trade and commerce, and above all the way of life of the people of India, which is the main subject of the book. This book suggests that after the partition of this sub-continent, the name `India' which continued to be used for this country is a misnomer when the river INDUS after which the country was so named, went to Pakistan. This book also finds is real nature the matrimonial alliance between Seleucus and Chandra Gupta Maurya and gives possible solutions to some riddles of Indian history. The origin of the name of KIDAR has also been discovered for the first time. The book tells us in a poetic language how ‘the golden age of the Guptas was converted into a molten age of destruction and confusion’ by the Hunas. What remained of our culture after so much turmoil and changes is before us.

As terrorists conspire to unleash a series of deadly attacks across America and a foreign wet work team targets a famous Hollywood filmmaker, counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath races against time to save the United States from complete collapse.