Adam Baczko's Books

Civil War in Syria

Mobilization and Competing Social Orders

By: Adam Baczko,Gilles Dorronsoro,Arthur Quesnay

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Civil War in Syria

Mobilization and Competing Social Orders

By: Adam Baczko,Gilles Dorronsoro,Arthur Quesnay

In 2011, hundreds of thousands of Syrians marched peacefully to demand democratic reforms. Within months, repression forced them to take arms and set up their own institutions. Two years later, the inclusive nature of the opposition had collapsed, and the PKK and radical jihadist groups rose to prominence. In just a few years, Syria turned into a full-scale civil war involving major regional and world powers. How has the war affected Syrian society? How does the fragmentation of Syria transform social and sectarian hierarchies? How does the war economy work in a country divided between the regime, the insurgency, the PKK and the Islamic State? Written by authors who have previously worked on the Iraqi, Afghan, Kurd, Libyan and Congolese armed conflicts, it includes extensive interviews and direct observations. A unique book, which combines rare field experience of the Syrian conflict with new theoretical insights on the dynamics of civil wars.

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340

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1108372708

ISBN 13

9781108372701

The Taliban Courts in Afghanistan

Waging War by Law

By: Adam Baczko

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The Taliban Courts in Afghanistan

Waging War by Law

By: Adam Baczko

How did the Taliban gain the trust of the Afghan population through decades of conflict? How did they put themselves in a position to regulate social relations? And with what consequences for Afghan society? The Taliban Courts in Afghanistan: Waging War by Law explores how the Taliban used the law as a resource in its conflict with militarily and technologically superior Western armies. While the international coalition set up an inadequate and corrupt legal system, the Taliban set up hundreds of courts in the countryside. By insisting on due process, impartiality of judges, and the enforcement of verdicts, this system of justice established itself as one of the few sources of predictability in the daily lives of Afghans. The armed movement used law to substantiate their claim to embody the state, disseminate their vision of society, and establish local legitimacy. Their courts attempted to balance the political agenda of the movement, the demands of Islamic law, the needs of the population, and the expectations of international legal actors whose implicit recognition they desired. In contemporary civil wars, where dispensing justice is at once a juridical activity, a political weapon, and a stake in the war, this book thus accounts for why the West lost the war and how the Taliban took over the country. Based on the author's extensive fieldwork in various provinces in Afghanistan and unique access to Taliban judges and court users, this socio-legal investigation offers new perspectives on a country that was at war for over four decades. Baczko proposes an innovative reflection on the place of law and courts in civil wars as well as a stark reminder of the dangers of foreign intervention. Timely and thought-provoking, this book is appeals to a multi-disciplinary audience including legal scholars, political scientists, sociologists, diplomats, policy-makers, and anyone interested in the Afghan conflict.

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321

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0198896778

ISBN 13

9780198896777

Civil War in Syria

Mobilization and Competing Social Orders

By: Adam Baczko,Gilles Dorronsoro,Arthur Quesnay

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Civil War in Syria

Mobilization and Competing Social Orders

By: Adam Baczko,Gilles Dorronsoro,Arthur Quesnay

The first comprehensive field-based study of the Syrian conflict, introducing a seminal approach to civil wars.

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339

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

110842080X

ISBN 13

9781108420808

Letters from Freedom

Post–Cold War Realities and Perspectives

By: Adam Michnik

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Letters from Freedom

Post–Cold War Realities and Perspectives

By: Adam Michnik

A hero to many, Polish writer Adam Michnik ranks among today's most fearless and persuasive public figures. His imprisonment by Poland's military regime in the 1980s did nothing to quench his outpouring of writings, many of which were published in English as Letters from Prison. Beginning where that volume ended, Letters from Freedom finds Michnik briefly in prison at the height of the "cold civil war" between authorities and citizens in Poland, then released. Through his continuing essays, articles, and interviews, the reader can follow all the momentous changes of the last decade in Poland and East-Central Europe. Some of the writings have appeared in English in various publications; most are translated here for the first time. Michnik is never detached. His belief that people can get what they want without hatred and violence has always translated into action, and his actions, particularly the activity of writing, have required his contemporaries to think seriously about what it is they want. His commitment to freedom is absolute, but neither wild-eyed nor humorless; with a characteristic combination of idealism and pragmatism, Michnik says, "In the end, politics is the art of foreseeing and implementing the possible." Michnik's blend of conviction and political acumen is perhaps most vividly revealed in the interviews transcribed in the book, whether he is the subject of the interview or is conducting a conversation with Czeslaw Milosz, Vacláv Havel, or Wojciech Jaruzelski. These face-to-face exchanges tell more about the forces at work in contemporary Eastern Europe than could any textbook. Sharing Michnik's intellectual journey through a tumultuous era, we touch on all the subjects important to him in this wide-ranging collection and find they have importance for everyone who values conscience and responsibility. In the words of Jonathan Schell, "Michnik is one of those who bring honor to the last two decades of the twentieth century.

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388

Publisher

Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520922492

ISBN 13

9780520922495

Letters From Prison and Other Essays

By: Adam Michnik

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Letters From Prison and Other Essays

By: Adam Michnik

Among the voices that speak to us from Poland today, the most important may be that of Adam Michnik. Michnik now sits in a jail belonging to the totalitarian regime, yet his first concern--and herein lies one of the keys to his thinking, and one should add, to his character--is with the quality of his own conduct, which, together with teh conduct of other victims of the present situation, will, he is sure, one day set the tone for whatever political system follows the totalitarian debacle. His essays are the most valuable guide we have to the origins of the revolution, and, more particularly, to its innovative practices.

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Page Count

408

Publisher

Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520908589

ISBN 13

9780520908581

History and Truth

By: Adam Schaff

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History and Truth

By: Adam Schaff

History and Truth deals with the epistemological premises and the objectivity of historical truth as well as the social conditioning of historical cognition. Both the problem of the model of cognitive relationship and the problem of truth are discussed in the context of true cognition. Comprised of eight chapters, this book begins with an overview of historians' conflicting interpretations regarding the causes of the French Revolution to highlight the tendency of historians to differ in their visions of the historical process, resulting in different and sometimes even contradictory representations of one and the same fact. The discussion then turns to three models of the process of cognition (the cognitive subject, the object of cognition, and knowledge as the product of the process of cognition), as well as the concept of truth as a philosophical problem. Subsequent chapters focus on two concepts of history, namely, positivism and presentism; The class character of historical cognition; historicism and relativism; and the selection of historical facts. The book also considers why history is continuously written anew before concluding with an assessment of the objectivity of historical truth. This monograph will be of interest to students, practitioners, and researchers in the fields of history, philosophy, and the social sciences.

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Page Count

279

Publisher

Elsevier

Published Date

ISBN 10

148327974X

ISBN 13

9781483279749

My War Against the Nazis

A Jewish Soldier with the Red Army

By: Adam Broner

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My War Against the Nazis

A Jewish Soldier with the Red Army

By: Adam Broner

A poignant account of the perils and fortunes of an indomitable survivor of violence in Eastern Europe during World War II. In 1939, to escape Nazi occupation, 14-year-old Adam Broner and his older brother Sam left their home and family in Lodz, Poland, and made their way to the Soviet Union. Adam enlisted in the Red Army to join the fight against the Nazis but was sent to work in a Siberian coal mine instead when his nationality was discovered. After a bold and daring escape from Siberia, Broner reached the Soviet Polish Kosciuszko Army, joined the struggle against the Nazis, participated in the liberation of Poland, and rode victorious into Berlin in 1945. He later learned that his parents, siblings (except Sam), and all other close relatives had perished during the war. Broner rebuilt his life, established a family, returned to Moscow for a degree in economics, and then went back to Poland, where he accepted a job in the Polish central planning agency. Eventually fed up with the growing anti-Semitism of the Communist government there, the author emigrated to the United States in 1969. He earned a doctorate from Princeton University and served as an economic adviser to New Jersey governors and the state legislature. In retirement, Broner learned portrait painting and reproduced the likenesses of his parents and siblings from memory, which are presented along with their biographies in this book. In recounting his struggle for survival during some of the most dramatic upheavals of the 20th century— the Great Depression, Nazism, World War II, and the spread of Communism in Central Europe— Broner reveals a life dedicated to the ultimate goal of freedom, which he achieved through a combination of arduous effort and fortunate circumstance.

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Page Count

230

Publisher

University of Alabama Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0817354174

ISBN 13

9780817354176

The Taliban Courts in Afghanistan

Waging War by Law

By: Adam Baczko

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The Taliban Courts in Afghanistan

Waging War by Law

By: Adam Baczko

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

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Page Count

321

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0198896816

ISBN 13

9780198896814

Book's by Adam Baczko

Civil War in Syria

Civil War in Syria

The Taliban Courts in Afghanistan

The Taliban Courts in Afghanistan

Civil War in Syria

Civil War in Syria

Letters from Freedom

Letters from Freedom

Letters From Prison and Other Essays

Letters From Prison and Other Essays

History and Truth

History and Truth

My War Against the Nazis

My War Against the Nazis

The Taliban Courts in Afghanistan

The Taliban Courts in Afghanistan

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