What does it mean to be free? We invoke the word frequently, yet the freedom of countless Americans is compromised by social inequalities that systematically undercut what they are able to do and to become. If we are to remedy these failures of freedom, we must move beyond the common assumption, prevalent in political theory and American public life, that individual agency is best conceived as a kind of personal sovereignty, or as self-determination or control over one’s actions. In Freedom Beyond Sovereignty, Sharon R. Krause shows that individual agency is best conceived as a non-sovereign experience because our ability to act and affect the world depends on how other people interpret and respond to what we do. The intersubjective character of agency makes it vulnerable to the effects of social inequality, but it is never in a strict sense socially determined. The agency of the oppressed sometimes surprises us with its vitality. Only by understanding the deep dynamics of agency as simultaneously non-sovereign and robust can we remediate the failed freedom of those on the losing end of persistent inequalities and grasp the scope of our own responsibility for social change. Freedom Beyond Sovereignty brings the experiences of the oppressed to the center of political theory and the study of freedom. It fundamentally reconstructs liberal individualism and enables us to see human action, personal responsibility, and the meaning of liberty in a totally new light.

This volume explores the nature of human agency, including both its vitality and its vulnerabilities. The book identifies emancipatory sources of agency under conditions of domination and oppression, and it suggests a new, pluralist way to understand political freedom. Non-sovereign freedom should be conceived in a plural way because it takes diverse forms, happens in many different places, and aims at a variety of ends. The book reconstructs liberal individualism in fundamental ways. It offers new categories for conceiving human action, personal responsibility, and the meaning of liberty.

Review: "Seventeen distinguished experts tackle profound issues related to titled subject. Farer's lively introduction furnishes clear, insightful framework; subsequent chapters provide strong theoretical and empirical bases with high-quality scholarship. States receiving case study attention, however, are limited; key ones such as Brazil and Argentina are not included"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57. http://www.loc.gov/hlas/

An undergraduate level text integrating scientific and statistical data with anecdotes and personal experiences to identify stressful situations, understand human responses to them, and choose ways of dealing with the emotional and psychological arousal of stress. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

SCOTT (copy 1) From the John Holmes Library collection.

Demands for "autonomy" or minority rights have given rise to conflicts in every region of the world under every political system. Through an analysis of international legal norms and several specific case studies- including Hong Kong, India, the Kurds and Saamis, Nicaragua, Northern Ireland, Spain, Sri Lanka, and the Sudan-this book goes beyond slogans and identifies a framework in which these conflicts can be addressed. This newly revised edition includes two chapters which expand and update the topical discussions and case studies included in the first edition.