Like any other subject, the study of religion is a child of its time. Shaped and forged over the course of the twentieth century, it has reflected the interests and political situation of the world at the time. As the twenty-first century unfolds, it is undergoing a major transition along with religion itself. This volume showcases new work and new approaches to religion which work across boundaries of religious tradition, academic discipline and region. The influence of globalizing processes has been evident in social and cultural networking by way of new media like the internet, in the extensive power of global capitalism and in the increasing influence of international bodies and legal instruments. Religion has been changing and adapting too. This handbook offers fresh insights on the dynamic reality of religion in global societies today by underscoring transformations in eight key areas: Market and Branding; Contemporary Ethics and Virtues; Intimate Identities; Transnational Movements; Diasporic Communities; Responses to Diversity; National Tensions; and Reflections on ‘Religion’. These themes demonstrate the handbook’s new topics and approaches that move beyond existing agendas. Bringing together scholars of all ages and stages of career from around the world, the handbook showcases the dynamism of religion in global societies. It is an accessible introduction to new ways of approaching the study of religion practically, theoretically and geographically.

The triangular relationship between the social, the political, and the cultural has opened up social and political theory to new challenges. The social can no longer be reduced to the category of society, and the political extends beyond the traditional concerns of the nature of the state and political authority. This Handbook will address a range of issues that have recently emerged from the disciplines of social and political theory, focusing on key themes as opposed to schools of thought or major theorists. It is divided into three sections which address: the most influential theoretical traditions that have emerged from the legacy of the twentieth century the most important new and emerging frameworks of analysis today the major theoretical problems in recent social and political theory The Second edition is an enlarged, revised, and updated version of the first edition, which was published in 2011 and comprised 42 chapters. The new edition consists of 50 chapters, of which seventeen are entirely new chapters covering topics that have become increasingly prominent in social and political theory in recent years, such as populism, the new materialism, postcolonialism, Deleuzean theory, post-humanism, post-capitalism as well as older topics that were not covered in the first edition, such as Arendt, the gift, critical realism, anarchism. All chapters retained from the first edition have been thoroughly revised and updated. The Routledge International Handbook of Contemporary Social and Political Theory encompasses the most up-to-date developments in contemporary social and political theory, and as such is an essential research tool for both undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as researchers working in the fields of political theory, social and political philosophy, contemporary social theory, and cultural theory.

The annual Global Civil Society Yearbooks provide an indispensable guide to global civil society or civic participation and action around the world. The Yearbook includes commissioned contributions from leading commentators across the social sciences on the latest issues and developments, explores and presents the latest approaches to measuring and analyzing global civil society, and provides a chronology of key global civil society events in the year.

Covering the five continents of the globe, this text explores the theory and practice of social work within selected countries. In the context of conditions prevalent in these countries, it highlights the constant challenges facing social workers to meet the needs of individuals and societies.

The International Handbook features chapters by leading scholars from around the world in a unique collection exploring the multi-disciplinary field of political ecology. This landmark volume canvasses key developments, topics, issues, debates and concepts showcasing how political ecologists today address pressing social and environmental concerns. Introductory chapters provide an overview of political ecology and the Handbook. Remaining chapters examine five broad themes: issues and approaches; governance and power; knowledge and discourse; method and scale; connections and transformations. Across diverse topics and perspectives, these chapters amount to a wide-ranging survey of current research, making the International Handbook an indispensable reference for scholars and students in political ecology.

"Churches seek to supply their people with pastoral support and theological insight, even when the community's self-understanding is evolving in the midst of a pluralistic environment. This anthology explores various ways in which churches of the Orthodox tradition are meeting the challenges of a post-modern world. The authors' presentations identify contemporary opportunities for Christian witness, promoting ministries of healing and renewal within a diverse society. Interesting topics, such as, cultural identity and ethnic conflict, globalization and human rights, violence, forgiveness and reconciliation, world mission and spirituality, are discussed."

A revised and updated guide to reference material. It contains selective and evaluative entries to guide the enquirer to the best source of reference in each subject area, be it journal article, CD-ROM, on-line database, bibliography, encyclopaedia, monograph or directory. It features full critical annotations and reviewers' comments and comprehensive author-title and subject indexes. The contents include: philosophy and psychology; religion; social sciences, sociology, statistics, politics, economics, labour and employment; land and property, business organizations, finance and banking, and economic surveys; economic policies and controls, trade and commerce, business and management, and law; public administration, social services and welfare, education, customs and traditions; geography; biography; and history.

Orientalism as self-critique rather than hegemonic discourse in works by Hofmannsthal, Musil, and Kafka. In recent years a debate has arisen on the applicability of postcolonial theory to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Some have argued that Austria-Hungary's lack of overseas territories renders the concepts of colonialism and postcolonialism irrelevant, while others have cited the quasi-colonial attitudes of the Viennese elite towards the various "subject peoples" of the empire as a point of comparison. Imperial Messages applies postcolonial theory to works of orientalist fiction by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Robert Musil, and Franz Kafka, all subjects of the empire, challenging Edward Said's notion that orientalism invariably acts in the ideological service of European colonialism.It argues that these Habsburg authors employ oriental motifs not to promulgate Western hegemony, but to engage in self-reflection and self-critique, including critique of the foundational concepts of orientalist discourse itself.By providing detailed textual analyses of canonical works of Austrian Modernism, including Hofmannsthal's "Tale of the 672nd Night," Musil's Young Törless, and Kafka's "In the Penal Colony," the book not only offers new postcolonial readings of these Austrian works, but also shows how they question the conventional postcolonial and post-Saidian view of orientalism as a purely hegemonic discourse. Robert Lemon is Associate Professor of German at the University of Oklahoma.