Lost Federations

SPACE. THE FINAL FRONTIER. THESE WERE ALMOST THE VOYAGES OF THE STARSHIP ENTERPRISE. We think we know the history of Star Trek. Born at the height of 1960s popular culture, the five-year mission of Captain James T. Kirk and his crew faced early cancellation, bounced back with a series of beloved movies in the 1980s and gave way to a fleet of successful sequels and spin-offs that kept on exploring strange new worlds. In Lost Federations: The Unofficial Unmade History of Star Trek, author A. J. Black tells a different story. This is an alternate history of the franchise, one filled with roads not taken, from early 1960s feature-films and spin-offs, the original sequel Star Trek: Phase II in the 1970s, via epic planned movies such as Planet of the Titans and into many untold episodes, arcs and character stories from The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, all the way through to the modern era. Bringing together pre-existing material over decades for the first time in one space, plus some new reflections from Star Trek writers and analysis of how it all fits into the wider cultural trends of the last sixty years, Lost Federations invites you to boldly explore a history you may not already know . . .

THIS IS THE GUIDE TO CLASSIC SUPERHERO MOVIES YOU NEVER KNEW YOU NEEDED. If you mention the word 'superhero' these days, the mind is immediately bombarded by visions from the MCU, DCU and all the numerous phases, extended TV series and animated side-specials that combine to make our eyes bleed with a barrage of different characters fighting each other. But before 1997 people would generally only think of a few things: Christopher Reeve smiling as his Superman kept a watchful eye over Earth's atmosphere, Michael Keaton's Batman running around Gotham dressed in moulded rubber, Nicholas Hammond's Spider-Man being hauled up a wall on a rope, Bill Bixby trying not to unleash his inner Hulk and Flash Gordon camply swashbuckling his way around another galaxy. It's time to don your cowl, cape, shredded jeans and Vultan leatherwear and join John Rain as he wades his way through twenty classic superhero films that stunned, amazed and baffled the world from 1978 to 1997. IS IT A BIRD? IS IT A PLANE? NO, IT'S SUPERBOOK! 'The perfect way to enjoy the best and worst films of your childhood' - Ed Byrne

The constitutional and institutional development of the European Union, and federalism in particular, are widely and intensively debated. The issue of federalism has proved to be divisive and misunderstood. This book provides a critical reappraisal of the political, economic, and socio-cultural potential of current federal political-institutional arrangements. It includes both an analysis of their necessary preconditions as well as an evaluation of their advantages and disadvantages compared with other forms of state organization. The authors examine the issue at the level of the Union, the member states, and the states of Central and Eastern Europe, reflecting the increasing interdependence and interplay of these three levels: nation states in all parts of Europe influencing one another and the Union, and being influenced by it. The book concludes with an overall assessment of the federalizing processes at work in Europe, both at the Union and the nation state level, and points out the problems, paradoxes, and likely outcomes of these processes.

As Chinese society becomes more open, and hopes rise that control by the Communist Party may become more relaxed, a great deal is expected from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the formation of civil society. This book, based on extensive original research including detailed interview research in over 40 Chinese NGOs, discusses the current position of NGOs within China. It argues that although all NGOs – both those originating as a result of government initiatives, and those which are popularly-organised – are dependent on the state, all enjoy a very large degree of autonomy. This autonomy arises in part because of the limited capacity of central government to control NGOs, and in part because of the fragmented and non-monolithic nature of the state, which enables individual bureaucratic patrons to protect particular NGOs, especially officially-organised ones, from the full impact of state control. The book also discusses the skill base of NGOs, showing that this is somewhat limited, and argues that, contrary to current hopes that NGOs and thereby civil society may flourish, the lack of state control is already leading to an "uncivil society" where rules do not exist or are ignored, and where organisations which are supposed to work for the public interest are being used to serve illegitimate private interests instead.

Since the end of the Second World War, a set of democratic European countries have established a decentralized system of government based on federal or regional patterns. Some of these systems initially displayed an asymmetrical trend, however, some democracies have implemented a subsequent process of re-symmetrization that changes the structure and the legitimization of the previous political agreements. Charting the evolution of decentralization processes and asymmetries implemented in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, leading international scholars illustrate which countries have evolved more symmetrically, why this is so and what the role of political actors in these processes have been. In doing so, each case study: - Examines the causes of the legal and constitutional asymmetries and the main political cleavages. - Analyses the main institutions, actors and factors that influence the political dynamics of the territorial debate. - Questions whether there is such a process of re-symmetrization - Presents the main actors in favour of the process of re-symmetrization and of maintaining the constitutional and legal asymmetries Written accessibly and contributing to key debates on federalism and asymmetry, Federalism beyond Federations appeals to academics, politicians, decision-makers and all those interested in the political problems facing modern democracies.

Since the end of the Second World War, a set of democratic European countries have established a decentralized system of government based on federal or regional patterns. Some of these systems initially displayed an asymmetrical trend, however, some democracies have implemented a subsequent process of re-symmetrization that changes the structure and the legitimization of the previous political agreements. Charting the evolution of decentralization processes and asymmetries implemented in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, leading international scholars illustrate which countries have evolved more symmetrically, why this is so and what the role of political actors in these processes have been. In doing so, each case study: – Examines the causes of the legal and constitutional asymmetries and the main political cleavages. – Analyses the main institutions, actors and factors that influence the political dynamics of the territorial debate. – Questions whether there is such a process of re-symmetrization – Presents the main actors in favour of the process of re-symmetrization and of maintaining the constitutional and legal asymmetries Written accessibly and contributing to key debates on federalism and asymmetry, Federalism beyond Federations appeals to academics, politicians, decision-makers and all those interested in the political problems facing modern democracies.

World’s leading theorists of multinational justice on sub-state national minority groups Almost without exception, multinational states across the West are facing existential crises precipitated by the resurgence of sub-state national minority groups. This edited volume brings together many of the world’s leading theorists of multinational justice in order to analyse two of the most frequent areas of debate and dispute in multinational federations: recognition and redistribution. The authors address questions such as the following: What are the most appropriate forms of institutional recognition for sub-state national groups? How is the concept of redistributive justice affected by the presence of federal institutions and autonomous sub-state nationalities? And what are the potential sources of stability that fractious federations can call upon? As well as extensive theoretical analyses, the book is peppered throughout with examples drawn from actual multinational states including Canada, Belgium, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Contributors Jean-François Grégoire (KU Leuven), Michael Jewkes (KU Leuven), Helder De Schutter (KU Leuven), Antoon Vandevelde (KU Leuven), Alain-G Gagnon (Université du Québec à Montréal), Geneviève Nootens (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi), Philippe Van Parijs (Université Catholique de Louvain), François Boucher (University of Montreal), Jocelyn Maclure (Université Laval), Andrew Shorten (University of Limerick), David Robichaud (University of Ottawa), Ferran Requejo (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Marc Sanjaume (Université du Québec à Montréal).