Africa is a continent of 54 countries and over a billion people. However, despite the rich diversity of the African experience, it is striking that continuations and themes seem to be reflected across the continent, particularly south of the Sahara. Questions of underdevelopment, outside exploitation, and misrule are characteristic of many--if not most-states in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this Very Short Introduction Ian Taylor explores how politics is practiced on the African continent, considering the nature of the state in Sub-Saharan Africa and why its state structures are generally weaker than elsewhere in the world. Exploring the historical and contemporary factors which account for Africa's underdevelopment, he also analyses why some African countries suffer from high levels of political violence while others are spared. Unveiling the ways in which African state and society actually function beyond the formal institutional facade, Taylor discusses how external factors--both inherited and contemporary--act upon the continent. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

African Politics: A Very Short Introduction

Taylor, Ian

Legal Theory & Systems

Oxford University Press

Time Hacks: The psychology of time and how to spend it

Science & Math

Behavioral Sciences

Piatkus

Crime in Context: A Critical Criminology of Market Societies

At the end of the twentieth century, the bookstores are full of books on crime, though this title will certainly not find a place on the same shelves. In the massive Waterstones bookstore in the city of Manchester, England, where I lived through most of the 1990s, the ground floor display area was rearranged in 1995 so as to accommodate, right at the front of the store, several hundred new titles, on topics like Serial Murderers and Sexual Crimes of the Twentieth Century.l Several of these new books are companion volumes to movies on release in the city's cinemas or, in some instances, are simply the original text on which the movies are based. The movies in question - Shallow Grave, Silence of the Lambs, Reservoir Dogs, Natural Born Killers and others - focus heavily on interpersonal violence and murder and also place great emphasis in the manner of many earlier cinematic genres - on the idea of the 'criminal mind' (not least, as a way of dramatizing the detection of the originating criminal act) but also - to a significant extent, these are movies which emphasize the idea and contemporary social presence of evil. Similar moral and psychologistic preoccupations are now also widely apparent on primetime television - most notably, in Britain, in the extraordinarily powerful Cracker series, produced by Granada Television in 1994 and 1995, watched by over 15 million people, and featuring, inter alia, the forensic investigation' of serial and sexual murders, some of them extremely graphically displayed (Crace 1994).2 The prominence of 'Gothic' themes in movies about violent death is not new in itself: there is a long history of interest in the cinema in horror and, indeed, in 'transgression' and evil. What may be definitive about the present genre of movies as well as the range of fictional and non-fictional titles in the bookstores about crime is the overwhelming focus on murder and killing represented in very contemporary and mundane, ordinary and, indeed, 'respectable' settings, and the powerful suggestion that these movies are a representation of the risks and dangers involved in everyday life at the end of the twentieth century. The bookstore display in Waterstones is straightforwardly called the 'Real Crimes' section.

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Routledge

This book aims to explore one of the most obvious areas of discontent in post-Fordist societies, the ever-intrusive fear and reality of crime. It provides an analysis that explains the varieties of actually occurring behaviours which certainly are very firmly defined by their victims as crime.

Crime In Context: A Critical Criminology of Market Societies

Motivation and Self-regulation in Sport and Exercise

The ability to effectively use one’s thoughts, emotions and motivation to enhance performance and well-being is one of the most important skills in sport and exercise contexts. Motivation and Self-Regulation in Sport and Exercise explores the theories, research and processes that underpin these self-regulatory and motivational processes. A deeper understanding of motivation and self-regulation has far-reaching implications, from helping individuals to begin an active lifestyle, to seasoned athletes looking for a competitive edge. For the first time, the globally leading researchers in this research field come together to provide their unique, cutting-edge insight into how to exercise or perform more effectively. In doing so, the book provides new insight into established theories of motivation and self-regulation, but also breaks new ground by inspecting lesser-known or emerging paradigms. 
This book is intended for all scholars interested in self-regulation and motivation, from undergraduate students to experienced researchers, as well as practicing sport and exercise psychologists, coaches and athletes.

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Englert, Chris

Psychology & Counseling

A major contribution to criminology in which Taylor, Walton and Young provide a framework for a fully social theory of crime.

The New Criminology (International Library of Sociology)

This collection constitutes a salutory demonstration that Britain no longer serves as the centre for cultural studies. Engaging the critical discourses of feminism, postmodernism and postcolonialism, the contributions explore the renegotiations and changes in cultural studies in the wake of its export from Britain. In particular, the volume shows how to understand the experiences of marginalized groups, including women and aboriginal peoples in postcolonial states. Questions about the ongoing globalization of capital and culture are linked to constructions of national, local and individual identities. The alternative relocations of cultural studies offered here manifest two not incommensurate trends: Some contributors consider how textual processes of representation articulate with exclusionary practices. Others keep alive a sense of politics in respect of institutional and policy debates. The result is an invigorated cultural studies which moves between theory and practice, gives primacy to tensions between extra-local centres of political and economic power, and considers lived experiences within their specific geo-cultural contexts.

Relocating Cultural Studies (International Library of Sociology)

The New European Criminology gathers together leading criminologists from all over Europe to consider crime and responses to crime within and across national borders. For the first time it allows students to experience the most exciting work in European criminology and to compare approaches to crime in different parts of Europe. The five sections of the book look at: * the effects of European harmonisation on crime * criminal justice, law enforcement and penal reform * organised crime, from the Mafia in Italy to drug running in the Balkans * local crime in international contexts * possible future directions for criminology and some suggestions for a new criminology of war.

The New European Criminology: Crime and Social Order in Europe (Intl.Geosphere Programme Book Ser.;3)

South, Nigel

Ruggiero, Vincenzo

Africa in International Politics: External Involvement on the Continent (Routledge Advances in International Relations and Global Politics)

Locating Africa on the global stage, this book examines and compares external involvement in the continent, exploring the foreign policies of major states and international organizations towards Africa.

Reference

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Taylor, Ian. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Taylor, Ian

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Taylor, Ian. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

African Politics: A Very Short Introduction

Time Hacks: The psychology of time and how to spend it

Crime in Context: A Critical Criminology of Market Societies

Crime In Context: A Critical Criminology of Market Societies

Motivation and Self-regulation in Sport and Exercise

Motivation and Self-regulation in Sport and Exercise

The New Criminology (International Library of Sociology)

Relocating Cultural Studies (International Library of Sociology)

The New European Criminology: Crime and Social Order in Europe (Intl.Geosphere Programme Book Ser.;3)

Africa in International Politics: External Involvement on the Continent (Routledge Advances in International Relations and Global Politics)