Regime Of Obstruction

Rapidly rising carbon emissions from the intense development of Western Canada’s fossil fuels continue to aggravate the global climate emergency and destabilize democratic structures. The urgency of the situation demands not only scholarly understanding, but effective action. Regime of Obstruction aims to make visible the complex connections between corporate power and the extraction and use of carbon energy. Edited by William Carroll, this rigorous collection presents research findings from the first three years of the seven-year, SSHRC-funded partnership, the Corporate Mapping Project. Anchored in sociological and political theory, this comprehensive volume provides hard data and empirical research that traces the power and influence of the fossil fuel industry through economics, politics, media, and higher education. Contributors demonstrate how corporations secure popular consent, and coopt, disorganize, or marginalize dissenting perspectives to position the fossil fuel industry as a national public good. They also investigate the difficult position of Indigenous communities who, while suffering the worst environmental and health impacts from carbon extraction, must fight for their land or participate in fossil capitalism to secure income and jobs. The volume concludes with a look at emergent forms of activism and resistance, spurred by the fact that a just energy transition is still feasible. This book provides essential context to the climate crisis and will transform discussions of energy democracy. Contributions by Laurie Adkin, Angele Alook, Clifford Atleo, Emilia Belliveau-Thompson, John Bermingham, Paul Bowles, Gwendolyn Blue, Shannon Daub, Jessica Dempsey, Emily Eaton, Chuka Ejeckam, Simon Enoch, Nick Graham, Shane Gunster, Mark Hudson, Jouke Huizer, Ian Hussey, Emma Jackson, Michael Lang, James Lawson, Marc Lee, Fiona MacPhail, Alicia Massie, Kevin McCartney, Bob Neubauer, Eric Pineault, Lise Margaux Rajewicz, James Rowe, JP Sapinsky, Karena Shaw, and Zoe Yunker.

This study of regime collisions in international law combines theoretical contributions by leading scholars in the field with case studies.

Parliamentary obstruction, popularly known as the "filibuster," has been a defining feature of the U.S. Senate throughout its history. In this book, Gregory J. Wawro and Eric Schickler explain how the Senate managed to satisfy its lawmaking role during the nineteenth and early twentieth century, when it lacked seemingly essential formal rules for governing debate. What prevented the Senate from self-destructing during this time? The authors argue that in a system where filibusters played out as wars of attrition, the threat of rule changes prevented the institution from devolving into parliamentary chaos. They show that institutional patterns of behavior induced by inherited rules did not render Senate rules immune from fundamental changes. The authors' theoretical arguments are supported through a combination of extensive quantitative and case-study analysis, which spans a broad swath of history. They consider how changes in the larger institutional and political context--such as the expansion of the country and the move to direct election of senators--led to changes in the Senate regarding debate rules. They further investigate the impact these changes had on the functioning of the Senate. The book concludes with a discussion relating battles over obstruction in the Senate's past to recent conflicts over judicial nominations.

A newly updated, expanded edition of the spectacular bestselling field guide to the plants and animals of the North America's Northwest Coast. “A must have for any naturalist in the region.”—Douglas Justice, Associate Director, Horticulture & Collections, UBC Botanical Garden With its temperate climate and rich biodiversity, the coastal Pacific Northwest is an ideal environment for nature lovers of all sorts. Stretching from Juneau, Alaska, south to coastal British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and all the way down to California's San Francisco Bay, this vast region is home to an incredibly rich variety of flora and fauna. Packed with over 1,500 photographs and essential information about more than 900 commonly found plant and animal species across the region, this second edition of The Flora and Fauna of Coastal British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest is a colourful, concise, easy-to-follow resource guide. Accessible for anyone with an interest in nature—from amateur arborists to avid gardeners, from weekend hikers to experienced beachcombers—this book provides an essential overview of the region's trees, shrubs, bushes, flowering plants, berries, ferns, fungi, marine plants, marine and land mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and insects. With expanded flora and fauna sections; revised species organization; and new information about at-risk species, toxicity, edibility, and traditional uses, this book is an essential guide to the abundance of nature in this beautiful part of the world.

Police Funding, Dark Money, and the Greedy Institution is about a pervasive but little-studied phenomenon. Private funding of public police entails private entities sending resources to police through unconventional or hidden channels, sometimes for suspect reasons. The book argues police acquisition of this "dark money" befits the notion of a "greedy institution" that pursues resources beyond ample public funding and needs, and seeks ever more loyal members beyond its traditional boundaries to reproduce itself. The book focuses on private police foundations, corporate sponsorships, and paid detail arrangements primarily in North America, how these funding networks operate and are framed for audiences, and the forms and volumes of capital they generate. Based on interviews with police representatives, sponsors, funders, and foundation representatives as well as records from over 100 police departments, this book examines key issues in private funding of public police, including corporatization, accountability, corruption, and the rule of law. It documents and analyzes the troubling explosion of police foundations and sponsors and corporate paid detail brokers unknown to the public as a social and policy issue and a hidden response to the global police defunding movement. The book also considers potential policy responses and community safety alternatives in a more generous society. An accessible and compelling read, students and scholars in criminology, criminal justice, law, sociology, political science, anthropology, geography, as well as policymakers, will find this timely book revealing of a neglected, growing area of police practice spanning multiple themes and jurisdictions.

This contributed volume collects papers related to the Logic in Question workshop, which has taken place annually at Sorbonne University in Paris since 2011. Each year, the workshop brings together historians, philosophers, mathematicians, linguists, and computer scientists to explore questions related to the nature of logic and how it has developed over the years. As a result, chapter authors provide a thorough, interdisciplinary exploration of topics that have been studied in the workshop. Organized into three sections, the first part of the book focuses on historical questions related to logic, the second explores philosophical questions, and the third section is dedicated to mathematical discussions. Specific topics include: • logic and analogy• Chinese logic• nineteenth century British logic (in particular Boole and Lewis Carroll)• logical diagrams • the place and value of logic in Louis Couturat’s philosophical thinking• contributions of logical analysis for mathematics education• the exceptionality of logic• the logical expressive power of natural languages• the unification of mathematics via topos theory Logic in Question will appeal to pure logicians, historians of logic, philosophers, linguists, and other researchers interested in the history of logic, making this volume a unique and valuable contribution to the field.

Focusing on the case of Russia during Putin’s first two presidential terms, this book examines media manipulation strategies in electoral authoritarian regimes. Which instruments and approaches do incumbent elites employ to skew media coverage in favor of their preferred candidate in a presidential election? What effects do these strategies have on news content? Based on two case studies of the presidential election campaigns in Russia in 2000 and in 2008, this investigation identifies the critical internal mechanisms according to which these regimes work. Looking at the same country while it transformed from a competitive into a hegemonic authoritarian regime, allows a diachronic comparison of these two regime types. The book explicates the subtle differences between competitive and hegemonic regimes, different types of media manipulation strategies, the diverging extent of media instrumentalization, various interactions among state actors, large business owners, the media, and journalists, the respective effects that all these factors and interactions have on media content, and the peculiar types of bias prevalent in each type of regime. This deep exploration of post-Soviet politics is based on extensive review of documents, interviews with media professionals, and quantitative as well as qualitative content analyses of news media during two Russian presidential election campaigns.

“This is the roadmap out of climate crisis that Canadians have been waiting for.” — Naomi Klein, activist and New York Times bestselling author of This Changes Everything and The Shock Doctrine • One of Canada’s top policy analysts provides the first full-scale blueprint for meeting our climate change commitments • Contains the results of a national poll on Canadians’ attitudes to the climate crisis • Shows that radical transformative climate action can be done, while producing jobs and reducing inequality as we retool how we live and work. • Deeply researched and targeted specifically to Canada and Canadians while providing a model that other countries could follow Canada needs to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to prevent a catastrophic 1.5 degree increase in the earth’s average temperature — assumed by many scientists to be a critical “danger line” for the planet and human life as we know it. It’s 2020, and Canada is not on track to meet our targets. To do so, we’ll need radical systemic change to how we live and work—and fast. How can we ever achieve this? Top policy analyst and author Seth Klein reveals we can do it now because we’ve done it before. During the Second World War, Canadian citizens and government remade the economy by retooling factories, transforming their workforce, and making the war effort a common cause for all Canadians to contribute to. Klein demonstrates how wartime thinking and community efforts can be repurposed today for Canada’s own Green New Deal. He shares how we can create jobs and reduce inequality while tackling our climate obligations for a climate neutral—or even climate zero—future. From enlisting broad public support for new economic models, to job creation through investment in green infrastructure, Klein shows us a bold, practical policy plan for Canada’s sustainable future. More than this: A Good War offers a remarkably hopeful message for how we can meet the defining challenge of our lives. COVID-19 has brought a previously unthinkable pace of change to the world—one which demonstrates our ability to adapt rapidly when we’re at risk. Many recent changes are what Klein proposes in these very pages. The world can, actually, turn on a dime if necessary. This is the blueprint for how to do it.