Why do people go to war? Is it rooted in human nature or is it a late cultural invention? How does war relate to the other fundamental developments in the history of human civilization? And what of war today--is it a declining phenomenon or simply changing its shape? In this sweeping study of war and civilization, Azar Gat sets out to find definitive answers to these questions in an attempt to unravel the riddle of war throughout human history, from the early hunter-gatherers right through to the unconventional terrorism of the twenty-first century. In the process, the book generates an astonishing wealth of original and fascinating insights on all major aspects of humankind's remarkable journey through the ages, engaging a wide range of disciplines, from anthropology and evolutionary psychology to sociology and political science. Written with remarkable verve and clarity and wholly free from jargon, it will be of interest to anyone who has ever pondered the puzzle of war.

Кл.слова:
історія -- культура -- тероризм

A concise account of international law by an experienced practitioner, this book explains how states and international organisations, especially the United Nations, make and use international law. The nature of international law and its fundamental concepts and principles are described, and the differences and relationships between various areas of international law which are often misunderstood (such as diplomatic and state immunity, and human rights and international humanitarian law) are clearly explained. Also discussed is the essence of new specialist areas of international law, relating to the environment, human rights and terrorism.

Кл.слова:
законодавство

In the 225 years since the United States Constitution was first drafted, no single book has addressed the key questions of what constitutions are designed to do, how they are structured, and why they matter. In From Words to Worlds, constitutional scholar Beau Breslin corrects this glaring oversight, singling out the essential functions that a modern, written constitution must incorporate in order to serve as a nation's fundamental law. Breslin lays out and explains the basic functions of a modern constitution -- including creating a new citizenry, structuring the institutions of government, regulating conflict between layers and branches of government, and limiting the power of the sovereign. He also moves into the esoteric, discussing the theoretical concepts behind the fundamentals of written constitutions and examining in-depth some of the most important constitutional charters from around the world. In assaying how states put the structural ideas into practice, Breslin asks probing questions about why -- and if -- constitutions matter. His answer is a resounding yes. Solidly argued and engagingly written, this comparative study in constitutional thought demonstrates clearly the key components that a state's foundational document must address. In doing so, Breslin draws a critically important distinction between constitutional texts and constitutional practice.

Кл.слова:
конституція

Is Islam compatible with human rights? This fundamental question has generated a large body of literature addressing the question from different, often opposing, positions. The literalist reading of Islam emphasises the gaps between the limits of tolerance and acceptability in the Quràn and Hadith on the one hand, and internationally-sanctioned standards for human rights. The status of women and religious freedom are often the two key area of contention.

Кл.слова:
ісламська країна -- права мусульман

The book opens boldly: The law is real, but it is also a figment of our imaginations. Like all fundamental social institutions it casts a shadow of popular belief that may ultimately be more significant, albeit more difficult to comprehend, than the authorities, rules, and penalties that we ordinarily associate with law.

Кл.слова:
законодавство -- право

This book grew out of discussions with Dr. Rainer Moufang, my long-time friend from the Max Planck Institute for German and International Intellectual Property (The institute has been renamed as the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law). On a cold, quiet afternoon in Munich in 2006, we sat in his office discussing the need for a comprehensive review of fundamental and contemporary patent issues as they relate to the protection of both traditional and new technologies. We envisioned a book that would appeal to both academics and practitioners, and we selected experts from three major patent jurisdictions – the United States, Europe and Japan – who could write on each topic. Although we granted these authors complete freedom with regard to writing style, we strongly encouraged them to analyze their topics from the comparative law perspective.

Кл.слова:
патентування -- інтелектуальна власність

Law, Labor, and Ideology in the Early American Republic is a fundamental reinterpretation of law and politics in America between 1790 and 1850, the crucial period of the Republic's early growth and its movement toward industrialism. The book is the most detailed study yet available of the intellectual and institutional processes that created the foundation categories framing all the basic legal relationships involving working people at work. But it also brings out the political and social significance of those categories, and of law's role in their creation. Tomlins argues that it is impossible to understand outcomes in the interaction between law and labor during the early Republic unless one also understands the preeminence that legal discourse was assuming at the time in American society as a whole, and the particular social and political reasons for that preeminence. Because of the breadth and novelty of its interpretation this is a book not just for those interested in the history of law or the history of labor, but for anyone interested in the broad stream of American political and social history.

Кл.слова:
законодавство -- історія

The Beauty Bias explores the social, biological, market, and media forces that have contributed to appearance-related problems, as well as feminism's difficulties in confronting them. The book also reviews why it matters. Appearance-related bias infringes fundamental rights, compromises merit principles, reinforces debilitating stereotypes, and compounds the disadvantages of race, class, and gender. Yet only one state and a half dozen localities explicitly prohibit such discrimination. The Beauty Bias provides the first systematic survey of how appearance laws work in practice, and a compelling argument for extending their reach. The book offers case histories of invidious discrimination and a plausible legal and political strategy for addressing them. Our prejudices run deep, but we can do far more to promote realistic and healthy images of attractiveness, and to reduce the price of their pursuit.

Кл.слова:
дискримінація -- закон

The use or possession of many drugs is currently a criminal offense in the U.S. Can these criminal laws be justified? What are the best reasons to punish or not to punish drug users? These are the fundamental issues debated in this book by two prominent philosophers of law. Douglas Husak argues in favor of drug decriminalization, by clarifying the meaning of crucial terms, such as legalize, decriminalize, and drugs. Peter de Marneffe argues against drug legalization, demonstrating why drug prohibition, especially the prohibition of heroin, is necessary to protect youth from self-destructive drug use.

Кл.слова:
наркотик -- законодавство

According to the introduction, every nation has a constitution or a set of documents that serves as one. In each of these, the fundamental "rules" of the country--the defining principals of its government--are laid out in one form or another. It would be difficult to make any other generalizations concerning these documents and the information they contain. Each is unique in itself, while performing a similar function. The very nature of the material makes it challenging for a casual or inexperienced researcher to make comparisons. This set, in a sense, deconstructs these constitutions in a straightforward style. Entries for 194 countries are arranged A-Z. The articles for each country are signed and in many cases are written by scholars who specialize in the country they are writing about. The structure of each article follows a pattern designed to make it easy to compare information from one country to another. Each begins with a small collection of information about the country: name, capital, languages spoken, ethnic composition, type of government, and date of constitution, among others. A brief overview of the country is followed by standard subsections: "Constitutional History," "Form and Impact of the Constitution," "Basic Organizational Structure," "Leading Constitutional Principles," "Constitutional Bodies," and so on. Articles range from 4 to 13 pages in length, and each concludes with links to the text of the constitution in its original language (and, if needed, an English translation) and secondary sources for further reading. At the end of volume 3 are several useful appendixes. One gives the same kind of constitutional information for the European Union, and the second provides a list and description of "Special Territories" such as Antarctica, the Cook Islands, Guam, and the Isle of Man. The third is a glossary of terms.

Кл.слова:
конституція -- право

At the end of the 20th century, it was thought by many that the Anglo-American system of corporate governance was performing effectively and some observers claimed to see an international trend towards convergence around this model. There can be no denying that the recent corporate governance crisis in the US has caused many to question their faith in this view. This collection of essays by the leading British and American scholars provides a comprehensive attempt to answer the following questions: firstly, What went wrong—when and why do markets misprice the value of firms, and what was wrong with the incentives set by Enron? What has been done in response, and how well will it work? This study includes essays on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the US, UK company law reform, and European company law and auditor liability reform, along with a consideration of corporate governance reforms in historical perspective. Three approaches emerge. The first two approaches share the premise that the system is fundamentally sound, but these approaches part ways over whether a regulatory response is required. The third view, in contrast, argues that the various scandals demonstrate fundamental weaknesses in the Anglo-American system itself, which cannot hope to be repaired by the sort of reforms that have taken place.

Кл.слова:
право -- цінні папери

Congressional representation requires that legislators be aware of the interests of constituents in their districts and behave in ways that reflect the wishes of their constituents. But of the many constituents in their districts, who do legislators in Washington actually see, and who goes unseen? Moreover, how do these perceptions of constituents shape legislative behavior? This book answers these fundamental questions by developing a theory of legislative perception that leverages insights from cognitive psychology. Legislators are shown to see only a few constituents in their district on a given policy, namely those who donate to their campaigns and contact the legislative office, and fail to see many other relevant constituents. Legislators are also subsequently more likely to act on behalf of the constituents they see, while important constituents not seen by legislators are rarely represented in the policymaking process. Overall, legislators' views of constituents are limited and flawed, and even well-meaning legislators cannot represent their constituents if they do not accurately see who is in their district.

Кл.слова:
законодавство США

Who should have the last word on fundamental policy issues? This book analyzes the rise of two contenders - the people, through direct democracy, and the courts. Introduced in the U.S. during the Progressive Era and now available in nearly half the states, direct democracy has surged in recent decades. Through ballot measures, voters have slashed taxes, mandated government spending, imposed term limits on elected officials, enacted campaign finance reform, barred affirmative action, banned same-sex marriage, and adopted many other controversial laws. In several states, citizens now bypass legislatures to make the most important policy decisions. However, the "people's rule" is not absolute. This book demonstrates that courts have used an expanding power of judicial review to invalidate citizen-enacted laws at remarkably high rates. The resulting conflict between the people and the courts threatens to produce a popular backlash against judges and raises profound questions about the proper scope of popular sovereignty and judicial power in a constitutional system.

Кл.слова:
безпосередня демократія -- форма правління -- уряд

At the beginning of the twentieth century, criminals, both alleged and convicted, were routinely photographed and fingerprinted-and these visual representations of their criminal nature were archived for possible future use. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, a plethora of new tools-biometrics, DNA analysis, digital imagery, and computer databases-similarly provide new ways for representing the criminal.Capturing the Criminal Image traces how the act of representing-and watching-is central to modern law enforcement. Jonathan Finn analyzes the development of police photography in the nineteenth century to foreground a critique of three identification practices that are fundamental to current police work: fingerprinting, DNA analysis, and surveillance programs and databases. He shows these practices at work by examining specific police and border-security programs, including several that were established by the U.S. government after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Contemporary law enforcement practices, he argues, position the body as something that is potentially criminal. As Finn reveals, the collection and archiving of identification data-which consist today of much more than photographs or fingerprints-reflect a reconceptualization of the body itself. And once archived, identification data can be interpreted and reinterpreted according to highly mutable and sometimes dubious conceptions of crime and criminality.

Кл.слова:
криміналістика -- слідкування

Another in the Silver Lake Publishers small business series: an essential resource for starting a business today — after the lessons of the dot.com recession. Most entrepreneurs already know their businesses well and have common sense what they need are fundamental, practical tools for creating successful systems within the business. This book shows them how including: * background discussion of business structures * legal forms for filing necessary paperwork * general advice for how to get started on the right footing * definitions of concepts, markets and market relationships * worksheets, standard letters, sample documents and other tools * a modular system for building the plans and reports that lenders and investors need

Кл.слова:
підприємництво -- провадження бізнесу

Cultura Librees un libro fundamental para comprender los problemas y prejuicios que las nuevas regulaciones sobre la propiedad intelectual imponen sobre el progreso de la cultura y la difusión del conocimiento en el contexto de la sociedad digital. Lessig plantea que la lógica comercial bajo la se están articulando las leyes del copyright(derecho de autor, entre otros) es una de las principales barreras para el desarrollo de la cultura y particularmente en el ámbito digital; la cultura se ha gestado a lo largo de los siglos, a través de citas y creaciones, basadas o inspiradas en el trabajo de otros. Su autor nos muestra cómo desde la aparición Internet se está librando una verdadera batalla entre quienes desean controlar este nuevo espacio de creación y difusión del conocimiento mediante mayores y más restrictivas regulaciones sobre derechos de autor, y quienes promueven los principios de la libre circulación del conocimiento y la información, enfrentándose, en la práctica, el idea de una cultura libre a la del permiso.

Кл.слова:
авторське право -- інтернет

Computers and the Law provides readers with an introduction to the legal issues associated with computing - particularly in the massively networked context of the Internet. Assuming no previous knowledge of the law or any special knowledge of programming or computer science, this textbook offers undergraduates of all disciplines and professionals in the computing industry an understanding of basic legal principles and an awareness of the peculiarities associated with legal issues in cyberspace. This book introduces readers to the fundamental workings of the law in physical space and suggests the opportunity to create new types of laws with nontraditional goals.

Кл.слова:
інформаційні технології -- комп'ютерні технології

Liberal theories have long insisted that cultural diversity in democratic societies can be accommodated through classical liberal tools, in particular through individual rights, and they have often rejected the claims of cultural minorities for group rights as illiberal. Group Rights as Human Rights argues that such a rejection is misguided. Based on a thorough analysis of the concept of group rights, it proposes to overcome the dominant dichotomy between "individual" human rights and "collective" group rights by recognizing that group rights also serve individual interests. It also challenges the claim that group rights, so understood, conflict with the liberal principle of neutrality; on the contrary, these rights help realize the neutrality ideal as they counter cultural biases that exist in Western states. Group rights deserve to be classified as human rights because they respond to fundamental, and morally important, human interests. Reading the theories of Will Kymlicka and Charles Taylor as complementary rather than opposed, Group Rights as Human Rights sees group rights as anchored both in the value of cultural belonging for the development of individual autonomy and in each person’s need for a recognition of her identity. This double foundation has important consequences for the scope of group rights: it highlights their potential not only in dealing with national minorities but also with immigrant groups; and it allows to determine how far such rights should also benefit illiberal groups. Participation, not intervention, should here be the guiding principle if group rights are to realize the liberal promise.

Кл.слова:
політичний рух -- толерантність