Using Germany as a case study of the impact of American culture throughout a period characterized by a totalitarian system, two destructive wars, ethnic cleansing, and economic disaster, this book explores the political and cultural parameters of Americanization and anti-Americanism.

Traditions of Writing Research reflects the various styles of work offered at the Writing Research Across Borders conference. This volume, like the conference that it grew out of, will bring new perspectives to the rich dialogue of contemporary research on writing and advance understanding of this complex and important human activity.

Over the past decade, the World Wide Web has dramatically changed the face of technical communication, but the teaching of writing has thus far altered very little to accommodate this rapidly changing context. Technical Communication and the World Wide Web offers substantial and broadly applicable strategies for teaching global communication issues affecting writing for the World Wide Web. Editors Carol Lipson and Michael Day have brought together an exceptional group of experienced and well-known teacher-scholars to develop this unique volume addressing technical communication education. The chapters here focus specifically on curriculum issues and the teaching of technical writing for the World Wide Web, contributing a blend of theory and practice in proposing changes in curriculum and pedagogy. Contributors offer classroom examples that teachers at all levels of experience can adapt for their own classes. The volume provides comprehensive coverage of the technical communication curriculum, from the two-year level to the graduate level; from service courses to degree programs. This volume is an important and indispensable resource for technical writing educators, and it will serve as an essential reference for curriculum and pedagogy development in technical communication programs.

Drawing on ethno-anthropological fieldwork, this book considers issues of identity and belonging in Europe from a consciously emic perspective. The book explores issues such as borders, migration, economic organization, heritage, and the politics and practice of developing cultural understanding.

Democracy promotion has been an influential policy agenda in many Western states and international organisations, and amongst many NGO actors. But what kinds of models of democracy do democracy promoters promote? This book examines in detail the conceptual orders that underpin democracy support activity, and the conceptions of democracy that democracy promoters, consciously or inadvertently, work with. Such an examination is not only timely but much-needed in today’s context of multiple democratic and financial crises. Contestation over democracy’s meaning is returning, but how is this contestation reflected, if at all, in democracy promotion policies and practices? Seeking to open up debate on multiple models of democracy, this text provides the reader not only with the outlines of various possible politico-economic models of democracy, but also with a close empirical engagement with democracy promoters’ discourses and practices. Drawing on a broad spectrum of examples, it exposes the challenges faced by Western governments in trying to reshape the political and economic landscape across the world and tentatively advances a set of concrete policy provocations which may enable a more pluralist and flexible democracy promotion practice to emerge. This innovative new work will be essential reading for all students of democratisation, democracy promotion and international relations.

Democratic development in Central and Eastern Europe is not a finished project, nor is its progress immune to internal and external threats. The current social, economic, ethnic and political situation within the region presents new dangers. This text identifies and analyses challenges to current East-Central European democracies in terms of potential deconsolidation of democracy reflected in the changes in the institutional and procedural framework (polity), and in the choice of instruments and strategies in the policy area. Specifically examining the regimes of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, these challenges include political extremism and violence, corruption, ethnic and religious conflicts. Presenting original Central European data and utilising the concept of consolidation of democracy from von Beyme and Merkel’s concept, the book demonstrates that these challenges are as much influenced by imported phenomena, such as immigration, organized crime, and other potential systemic undemocratic volatilities, as the domestic situation. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students East European politics, post-Soviet politics, EU Studies, security and strategic studies, international relations, area studies, modern history and sociology.

Our world is in urgent need of global answers on subjects such as Big Data, climate change, and the interconnected global economy. This volume tackles those issues and more, with the goal of advancing more democratic modes of decision-making.