At a time when diplomatic practices and the demands imposed on diplomats are changing quite radically, and many foreign ministries feel they are being left behind, there is a need to understand the various forces that are affecting the profession. Diplomacy remains a salient activity in today's world in which the basic authoritative actor is still the state. At the same time, in some respects the practice of diplomacy is undergoing significant, even radical, changes to the context, tools, act...

Throughout history, humankind has pursued means to improve the yield of crop plants through selective plant breeding and hybridization. Today, genetic manipulation provides a powerful tool for directing plant breeding. But how is genetic manipulation implemented? What benefits can it offer? And what are the broader issues surrounding the use of this technology? The second edition of Plant Biotechnology: the genetic manipulation of plants presents a balanced, objective exploration of the techn...

The study of law and politics is one of the foundation stones of the discipline of political science, and it has been one of the most productive areas of cross-fertilization between the various subfields of political science and between political science and other cognate disciplines. This Handbook provides a comprehensive survey of the field of law and politics in all its diversity, ranging from such traditional subjects as theories of jurisprudence,constitutionalism, judicial politics and l...

Social media has come to deeply penetrate our lives: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and many other platforms define many of our daily habits of communication and creative production. The Culture of Connectivity studies the rise of social media in the first decade of the twenty-first century up until 2012, providing both a historical and a critical analysis of the emergence of major platforms in the context of a rapidly changing ecosystem of connective media. Such history is needed to understand h...

Winner of the James Coleman Award for Best Book from the Rationality and Society section of the American Sociological Society Winner of the Outstanding Recent Contribution from the Social Psychology section of the American Sociological Association. Winner of the Best Publication Award from the Mental Health section of the American Sociological Association Honorable Mention, PROSE Book Award, Cultural Anthropology and Sociology, from the Association of American Publishers. When people are faci...

In religious studies, theory and method research has long been embroiled in a polarized debate over scientific versus theological perspectives. Ronald L. Grimes shows that this debate has stagnated, due in part to a manner of theorizing too far removed from the study of actual religious practices.

A worthwhile theory, according to Grimes, must be practice-oriented, and practices are most effectively studied by field research methods. The Craft of Ritual Studies melds together a systematic the...

One of the most notable trends in biomedical science in recent years has been the increasing use of molecular techniques as part of the diagnosis of disease. As such, there is a growing need for students to understand the technological basis of molecular analysis and to have a comprehensive appreciation of their use in diagnosis. Combining coverage of molecular techniques with their application to diagnostic pathology, this book provides students with a thorough andup to date appreciation of ...

Covering both trade and international finance, this innovative text provides a thoroughly up-do-date and comprehensive treatment of each area. Throughout, the theory is illustrated with empirical evidence and an abundance of relevant case studies. It includes an online study guide.

Task-based teaching has created enormous interest among teachers in recent years. But how does the idea of designing tasks (e.g. discussions, problems, games) that encourage learners to use real language work in practice? This book explains the basic principles behind task-based learning and teaching and gives practical examples of how to make it work in different teaching situations.

Thou and thine, Hester Prynne, belong to me.'With these chilling words a husband claims his wife after a two-year absence. But the child she clutches is not his, and Hester must wear a scarlet 'A' upon her breast, the sin of adultery visible to all. Under an assumed name her husband begins his search for her lover, determined to expose what Hester is equally determined to protect.

Defiant and proud, Hester witnesses the degradation of two very different men, as moral codes and legal imperativ...