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I Write What I Like
Selected Writings
Steve Biko
University of Chicago Press, 2002
"The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed." Like all of Steve Biko's writings, those words testify to the passion, courage, and keen insight that made him one of the most powerful figures in South Africa's struggle against apartheid. They also reflect his conviction that black people in South Africa could not be liberated until they united to break their chains of servitude, a key tenet of the Black Consciousness movement that he helped found.

I Write What I Like contains a selection of Biko's writings from 1969, when he became the president of the South African Students' Organization, to 1972, when he was prohibited from publishing. The collection also includes a preface by Archbishop Desmond Tutu; an introduction by Malusi and Thoko Mpumlwana, who were both involved with Biko in the Black Consciousness movement; a memoir of Biko by Father Aelred Stubbs, his longtime pastor and friend; and a new foreword by Professor Lewis Gordon.

Biko's writings will inspire and educate anyone concerned with issues of racism, postcolonialism, and black nationalism.

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Ideational Leadership in German Welfare State Reform
How Politicians and Policy Ideas Transform Resilient Institutions
Sabina Stiller
Amsterdam University Press, 2010

An important contribution to the debates surrounding the evolution of the European welfare state model, this volume investigates the role that “ideational leadership” has played in the passing of structural reforms in the change-resistant German welfare state. Based on in-depth case studies of individual reforms in health care, pensions, and unemployment insurance since the early 1990s, Stiller illuminates the ways in which Germany has made the transition from its Bismarckian past to a hybrid welfare state.

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In Death's Waiting Room
Living and Dying with Dementia in a Multicultural Society
Anne-Mei The
Amsterdam University Press, 2008
The story behind In Death’s Waiting Room is a penetrating human drama that concerns us all—as our “greatest generation” continues to age, more and more families are contending with the onset of dementia in their elderly parents and grandparents, a trend that will only continue as the global population of senior citizens continues to grow with certain speed. For this remarkable volume, Anne-Marie The carried out two years of hands-on ethnographic research in an Amsterdam nursing home for patients with various forms of dementia. In Death’s Waiting Room reveals what usually remains hidden in these modern-day centers of care: the decision to stop treatment, the poverty and voodoo rituals of the black Caribbean nursing staff looking after predominantly white patients, the difficulties faced—and caused—by relatives, and the tensions and aggressions between residents. This immensely readable and moving volume also shares the touching moments of humor and compassion, while at the same time forcing us to consider our own potential confrontation with dementia, in our own or our parents’ lives. From conversations with underpaid nurses to confrontations with family visitors who insist on prolonging treatment against all odds, this searing book is a truly necessary guide to some of the most wrenching aspects of old age.
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In His Milieu
Essays on Netherlandish Art in Memory of John Michael Montias
Edited by Amy Golahny, Mia Mochizuki, and Lisa Vergara
Amsterdam University Press, 2007

Gathered in honor of John Michael Montias (1928–2005), the foremost scholar on Johannes Vermeer and a pioneer in the study of the socioeconomic dimensions of art, the essays in In His Milieu are an essential contribution to the study of the social functions of making, collecting, displaying, and donating art. The nearly forty essays here by—all internationally recognized experts in the fields of art history and the economics of art—are especially revealing about the Renaissance and Baroque eras and present new material on such artists as Rembrandt, Van Eyck, Rubens, and da Vinci.

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In Pursuit of Prosperity
Industrial Policy and the Politics of Economic Upgrading
Charles R. Hankla
University of Michigan Press, 2025
With so many states committed to economic transformation and experts ready to provide technical advice on how to accomplish it, why are outcomes so mixed? In Pursuit of Prosperity examines the process of upgrading—moving to more valuable activities in production, improving technology, knowledge, and skills, and participating in global value chains—and develops a new theory to explain the form and success of national policies designed to promote it. 

With a mixed-methods approach, Charles R. Hankla draws upon archival research and interviews from postwar France and post-independence India as well as quantitative models of the outcomes in sixteen countries across six decades. He finds that the politics of a state affects its ability to improve their economy. When the state and private sectors are aligned in their institutional structures, which happens more commonly in corporatist and pluralist systems, industrial policy tends to be more effective. It is when the state or the private sector independently dominates industrial policy that poor outcomes are most likely. Rather than being fixed characteristics of countries, In Pursuit of Prosperity shows that policymaking styles vary across time and across sectors of the economy, reflecting the changing power dynamics and organizational resources of state and private actors. In doing so, the book sheds light on how industrial policy—which is experiencing a comeback in the United States and beyond—can best be harnessed for upgrading. It offers a valuable contribution to our understanding of the complex relationship between state politics and economic performance in the modern globalized context.
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Infrastructures
Time to Invest
Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy
Amsterdam University Press, 2009
All sectors of the Dutch infrastructures have undergone a degree of commercialisation, liberalisation or privatisation over the last ten to twenty years.  Where in the past the infrastructure landscape was dominated by public monopolies, the ownership and management of infrastructures is today shared by several public and private sector players.  The original goals of this 'regime change' have in many cases been achieved: greater efficiency, a greater focus on the customer and more choice for consumers.

The question is whether this emphasis on current consumer interests allows enough scope to achieve long-term objectives which affect the whole of our society: innovation, long-term availability and sustainability of infrastructures.  This is of crucial importance for economic and social development, which is coming under increasing pressure due to the combined impact of the exhaustion of natural resources and climate change.

The transition to a sustainable future demands substantial investment in infrastructures, which cannot be taken for granted in the present situation.  The WRR has investigated how these investments could be safeguarded in the long term, whilst retaining the efficiency of the infrastructures.
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Inklings of Democracy in China
Suzanne Ogden
Harvard University Press, 2002

Since 1979 China’s leaders have introduced economic and political reforms that have lessened the state’s hold over the lives of ordinary citizens. By examining the growth in individual rights, the public sphere, democratic processes, and pluralization, the author seeks to answer questions concerning the relevance of liberal democratic ideas for China and the relationship between a democratic political culture and a democratic political system. The author also looks at the contradictory impulses and negative consequences for democracy generated by economic liberalism.

Unresolved issues concerning the relationships among culture, democracy, and socioeconomic development are at the heart of the analysis. Nonideological criteria are used to assess the success of the Chinese approach to building a fair, just, and decent society.

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Innovative Concepts for Alternative Migration Policies
Ten Innovative Approaches to the Challenges of Migration in the 21st Century
Edited by Michael Jandl
Amsterdam University Press, 2007
Directed at researchers and policy makers at all levels, Innovative Concepts for Alternative Migration Policies expands on ten presentations from the 2006 workshop of the same name held at the International Centre for Migration Policy Development in Vienna. Based on the strengths of combined ideas from migration researchers, policy experts, and representatives of international organizations, this timely volume provides eight basic principles for the design of innovative migration policy and stimulates fresh thinking for the development of unconventional and thought-provoking policy making.
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Interactive Logic
Selected Papers from the 7th Augustus de Morgan Workshop, London
Edited by Johan van Benthem, Benedikt Löwe and Dov Gabbay
Amsterdam University Press, 2007
Traditionally, logic has dealt with notions of truth and reasoning. In the past several decades, however, research focus in logic has shifted to the vast field of interactive logic—the domain of logics for both communication and interaction. The main applications of this move are logical approaches to games and social software; the wealth of these applications was the focus of the seventh Augustus de Morgan Workshop in November 2005. This collection of papers from the workshop serves as the initial volume in the new series Texts in Logics and Games—touching on research in logic, mathematics, computer science, and game theory.
 
“A wonderful demonstration of contemporary topics in logic.”—Wiebe van der Hoek, University of Liverpool
 
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The International Monetary Fund and Latin America
The Argentine Puzzle in Context
Claudia Kedar
Temple University Press, 2013

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has played a critical role in the global economy since the postwar era. But, claims Claudia Kedar, behind the strictly economic aspects of the IMF’s intervention, there are influential interactions between IMF technocrats and local economists—even when countries are not borrowing money.

In The International Monetary Fund and Latin America, Kedar seeks to expose the motivations and constraints of the operations of both the IMF and borrowers. With access to never-before-seen archive materials, Kedar reveals both the routine and behind-the-scenes practices that have depicted International Monetary Fund–Latin American relations in general and the asymmetrical IMF-Argentina relations in particular.

Kedar also analyzes the “routine of dependency” that characterizes  IMF-borrower relations with several Latin American countries such as Chile, Peru, and Brazil. The International Monetary Fund and Latin America shows how debtor countries have adopted IMF’s policies during past decades and why Latin American leaders today largely refrain from knocking at the IMF’s doors again.

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Intervention as Indirect Rule
Civil War and Statebuilding in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Alex Veit
Campus Verlag, 2010

One of the largest peace-keeping missions currently being undertaken by the United Nations is in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the UN is attempting to deal with the civil wars and other conflicts that have plagued the country since 1996. In Intervention as Indirect Rule, Alex Veit uses a close study of the district of Ituri, a major battlefield and a laboratory for international intervention, to explore the micropolitics of warfare and statebuilding. Combining detailed firsthand empirical data with a historically informed analysis, Veit shows the effect that contemporary humanitarian interventions have on state-society relations. He also pays particular, and much needed, attention to the question of why the very organizations that should be helping with international statebuilding efforts—local authorities and civil society groups—so often instead turn out to be corrupt or hostile. Ultimately Veit argues that international intervention tends inadvertently to replicate—or even amplify—historical structures of political inequality, rather than establishing a liberal form of statehood.

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Islam and Democacy
What is the Real Question?
Asef Bayat
Amsterdam University Press, 2007
Is Islam compatible with democracy? The text examines one of the most frequently-asked and yet misguided questions. Democratic ethos should not and cannot be deduced from some essence of religions supposedly inscribed in the scriptures. Rather, they are the outcome of political struggles that push Islam toward democratic or authoritarian directions. Asef Bayat offers a new approach to examine Islam and democracy arguing how the social struggles of diverse Muslim populations, those with different interests and orientation, render Islam to embrace democratic ideas or authoritarian disposition. "Islamism" and "post-Islamism" are discussed as representing two contrasting movements which have taken Islam into different, authoritarian and inclusive, political directions.
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