The Role of Psychedelics in the Development of Human Religious Practices explores how mind-altering substances have shaped humanity's search for the sacred. Drawing on neuroscience, archaeology, ethnopharmacology, and art history, Denis Paval offers an accessible, balanced synthesis of a rapidly evolving field. This Brief examines the phenomenology and neuropharmacology of psychedelic experiences, evaluates claims about their historical use in ritual and religion, and addresses the current psychedelic renaissance. Challenging both uncritical enthusiasm and outright skepticism, it provides a concise, evidence-based guide for researchers, clinicians, students, and readers interested in consciousness, spirituality, and the origins of religious practice across cultures worldwide.

This book brings together papers from the Social Science International Research Conference (SSIRC) 2025, a global forum hosted by North-West University, South Africa, that brings together scholars, practitioners, and emerging researchers to explore the evolving landscape of social sciences in the age of artificial intelligence.Focusing on the theme "Social Sciences Research in the AI Era: Opportunities, Challenges and Threats," the papers explore contemporary issues across business management, finance, economics, law, human resource management, marketing, education, and emerging technologies.This volume offers valuable perspectives for academics, policymakers, and professionals navigating the intersection of social sciences and technological innovation.

This book provides a brief history of web-based virtual reality and shows readers how to build three-dimensional web content for businesses using the A-Frame framework. Topics include building a basic scene with A-Frame primitives, applying textures and models, implementing navigation and collision detection, adding multiuser support, and integrating WebRTC for audio, video, and screen sharing. Features are illustrated using real-world business examples, including scenes for real estate, travel, retail, education, and enterprise. This book is intended for students and business practitioners with minimal programming experience who are interested in creating business-oriented virtual reality experiences on the web. It may also be used by educators looking to introduce web-based virtual reality concepts in a classroom setting.

This book provides a panoramic and comparative view of how Europe is currently redefining its security and defence in an age of renewed geopolitical tension and uncertainty. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Europe finds itself at a crossroads, caught between a fading reliance on the United States, growing hybrid threats, and the urgent need to strengthen its own resilience and defence capabilities. The book explores how this moment is reshaping Europe's identity, priorities, and strategic posture. Drawing on insights from authors across EU Member States and neighbouring countries, the book offers a guide to the continent's diverse perceptions of threats, definitions of security, and positioning within a broader European security architecture. Written in a concise and accessible style, it offers invaluable insights for policymakers, scholars, and all readers interested in understanding how Europe is now preparing for peace in a time of war.

This book explores Pakistan's internal and external political dynamics within the framework of its post-colonial strategic culture. Since gaining independence, Pakistan has charted a course distinct from India's, shaped by unique geopolitical challenges and ideological forces. The book seeks to uncover the underlying factors driving Pakistan's behavior on the regional and international stage. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the nation's political thought, institutional structures, and evolving foreign policy. Organized into six thematic chapters, it examines key issues such as civil-military relations, governance models, security priorities, and diplomatic strategies. This book offers valuable insights into the complexity of Pakistan's political identity and its impact on both domestic affairs and global interactions.

Welche Eigenschaften und Faehigkeiten sollten ideale Fuehrungspolitiker:innen auszeichnen? Was ist kluges Regieren?

Fragen wie diese stellen sich nicht nur Politiker:innen und Journalist:innen in der Gegenwart, sondern trieben auch die Verfasser von Fuerstenspiegeln des 13. bis 18. Jahrhunderts um. Fuerstenspiegel bilden ein Genre, das in verschiedenen Epochen und Kulturkreisen beheimatet war. Sie vermittelten einerseits Vorschlaege und Programme zur Erziehung von Fuersten, andererseits Handlungsanleitungen fuer eine kluge und erfolgreiche Herrschaftsausuebung. Ihre Verfasser widmeten sich der politischen Paedagogik und konkreter Politikberatung, sie eroerterten Tugenden und Laster, illustrierten ihre Ueberlegungen mit Beispielen guter und schlechter Herrscher und mit Geschichten politischen Erfolgs oder Scheiterns. Fuerstenspiegel versprachen damit aufzuzeigen, wie ein disziplinierter Herrschaftsapparat organisiert, Frieden und Stabilitaet nach innen und aussen gesichert und Politikziele erfolgreich durchgesetzt werden koennten. Wie diese Konzeptionen politischer Fuehrungskompetenz aussahen, wie sie rezipiert, tradiert und diskutiert wurden, zeigt dieser Band.

Democratic Alternatives investigates the intersection of social democracy, market socialism, and the radical critique of the Situationist International. While the Situationists rejected reformism outright, their analysis of alienation, commodification, and the spectacle provides a powerful lens for evaluating institutional reforms in contemporary capitalism. This book argues that policies such as universal basic income, reduction of the working day, participatory urbanism, and cooperative management of resources-though not revolutionary in themselves-can open cracks in the dominant logic of capital. Drawing on a novel analytical framework, the book evaluates reforms through Situationist categories such as decommodification, autonomy, spatial reappropriation, and detournement of institutions. Two case studies-Iceland's working-time reduction experiment and the Mondragon cooperative movement-illustrate both the transformative potential and risks of co-optation. The book positions itself between the intransigent legacy of the Situationists and the practical necessity of reform, arguing for 'non-reformist reforms' that create conditions for social experimentation, creativity, and political participation. Written with academic rigor and critical sensitivity, it offers scholars, students, and activists a methodological tool to assess when and how reforms may contribute to a post-spectacular society.

This book explores how trust, media, and democracy are deeply connected in times of digital change and political uncertainty. It shows how trust in democratic institutions and government is built, challenged, and contested through old and new media. The early chapters introduce key ideas about social and political trust and explain why trust and distrust both matter for democracy. It then examines the role of news media and journalism as mediators of trust, before turning to major contemporary challenges such as digitalisation, political polarisation, populism, and the spread of misinformation. Drawing on comparative research from across Europe, including the Covid-19 pandemic, later chapters analyse how citizens judge governments, experts, and media institutions. The book concludes by proposing a model of "enlightened trust" that highlights the importance of critical publics, media responsibility, and democratic debate. It will be of interest to readers searching for insights on trust, media, democracy, and the future of journalism and the public sphere.

This volume uncovers fresh perspectives and compelling new data about how Europe is perceived beyond its borders. Much of the literature on the EU and international relations tends to follow elites and policymakers in looking from the top down and from the inside out. The enquiry attempts a double reversal of the gaze: it probes Europe from the outside in, and from the bottom up. It explores how the continent is seen through the eyes of other global powers (China, India, Turkey, Russia, the United States) and their younger generations, whose views often tend to elude scholarly attention. Qualitative and quantitative lenses combine to provide an original account of how power affects international perceptions, and how international perceptions affect power.

Cruising Politics revalues the weaknesses of weak ties in political life, considering instead how these conditions enable different relational forms and tactics of direct democratic action. By "cruising politics," Galloway surfaces the novel affective intensities, modes of relationality, and ethical valences animating the political affairs of contemporary radical agonistic democrats. Through critical engagements across objects ranging from philosophical allegory, wartime surrealist verse, and pre-AIDS queer film to hacktivist memes and mobile performative critique, they demonstrate that the fleeting, anonymous, and public affairs of cruising politics are not only amenable to but are today driving radical democratic politics under conditions of networked publicity. Whether analyzing the queer vicissitudes of the "Ass Festival" that concludes Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra, or examining how Critical Mass fashioned a radical democratic institutional form suited to recurrent events of contentious celebration, Galloway shifts our perspective on politics to the dynamics of the encounter, where receptivity to others responds to a shared desire while exercising a pluralist mode of judgment that conduces to concerted action around the pleasure of the deed and its recurrence.

While scientific consensus on climate change is widely accepted, political responses to the crisis remain slow and inadequate. Current approaches often rely on incremental reforms or technological fixes, while the language of "sustainability" has failed to inspire broad democratic action. These limits stem from deep-seated assumptions-human exceptionalism, capitalist growth, and the idea that ecosystems are mere "resources." As climate disruption accelerates, we need a new way of thinking that moves beyond these constraints and sparks collective imagination.

Green Abolitionism offers a new approach. Drawing on abolitionist traditions and ecological economics, Christopher C. Robinson introduces "green abolitionism" as a framework for reimagining environmental politics around freedom rather than sustainability. Across nine engaging lectures, Robinson blends political theory, ecological critique, and stories of activism to show how anti-capitalist, democratic strategies can transform our relationship to the planet. Accessible yet thought-provoking, Green Abolitionism invites readers to see climate action not as technical adjustment but as a bold, abolitionist project-one that demands creativity, justice, and hope.

This book explores the role of algorithmic media services (e.g. Instagram, Google, Twitter/X, TikTok) in mass communication. It provides empirical analyses of these media as digital environments which shape news distribution, advertising practices, and interpersonal communication. Drawing on interdisciplinary research from media studies, computer science, and communication, the book separates evidence-based insights from widespread "folk theories" about big tech companies and their role in society. By focusing on structural changes introduced by algorithmic mediation, this work contributes to ongoing discussions about digital literacy, regulation of big tech, and the future of democratic discourse. The structural focus also provides theoretical insights regarding dispersed gatekeeping roles in algorithmic media environments, the communication dynamics surrounding enshittification, and emerging forms of digital capital in the age of "influencers." Overall, the book offers a pragmatic perspective toward the rapidly-evolving digital communication environment, emphasizing human agency and the potential for more purposeful engagement with algorithmic media.

This book examines how Korea is pioneering the integration of data-driven innovation and artificial intelligence in public administration. It offers a comprehensive analysis of Korea's data policies since the 2010s, examining governance structures, legal frameworks, and national data platforms such as the Public Open Data Portal, Big Data Platforms, and AI Hub.

Moving beyond policy review, the book introduces the concept of an AI government-a transformative model that leverages advanced technologies to deliver smarter, more efficient public services. Through practical frameworks like the AI Government Foundation Model and modular service strategies, it provides actionable insights for implementing AI-driven governance.

Designed for scholars, policymakers, and technology leaders, this book combines rigorous research with global relevance, offering lessons and strategies that extend far beyond Korea. It is an essential resource for anyone seeking to understand or shape the future of digital governance and AI-enabled public service innovation.

This book examines policy innovation in highly hierarchical societies, particularly in Asia. Drawing on an insightful case study from Thailand, it assesses how policy innovations come to be cultivated at the sub-national level of a centralised government. In particular, the book assesses the role of policy innovation cultivators in the policymaking process, including the constraints placed upon them and the tactics they employ to overcome them. Whilst this topic has received much attention from scholars in democratic societies, far less studies have examined the role of policy innovation cultivators in Asia and the Global South, where countries are often governed by hierarchical, semi-autocratic governments. The book therefore offers important insights into how the role of these cultivators differs in different parts of the world, depending on the political context, administrative system, and socio-cultural setting in which they operate. It also highlights the need for culturally sensitive approaches to studying policy innovation, tracing a journey through generative policy ecosystems. It will appeal to all those interested in public policy, public administration and governance, as well as politics in Asia and the Global South.

The book analyzes up-to-date data on violent, extremist activity in North America and Europe. It examines various factors influencing the formation of public demand for radicalism, manifestations of xenophobia, racism and securitization of minorities, and provides statistics on hate crimes. It also studies the role of political parties and groups in the formation of public demand for radicalism. Focusing on Hungary, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, Finland and France, Great Britain, the US, Canada, Russia, Moldova, and Ukraine, this book reflects the latest trends in Europe and North America, in partnership with The European Centre Democracy Development and the International Council for Diplomacy and Dialogue.

The author expresses gratitude to Dr. Jean-Yves Camus, Dr. William Allchorn, Dr. Anna Castriota, Marina Peunova-Connor, Dr. Eviane Leidig, Dr. Balsa Lubarda, Dr. Radoslaw Kossakovski, Dr. Pranvera Tika, Dr. Dmitry Stratievsky, Dr. Semyon Charny, Mr. Ruslan Bortnik, Dr. Jan Charvat, and Dr. Tommi Kotonen for their assistance in collecting and processing the material for this book

This new edition of a classic text provides a wealth of material on the management and
governance of the public sector, and explores the great shifts taking place in what is a
hotly contested part of society in many regions of the world. Setting out the key
theoretical perspectives on public management, this book will equip you with the key
concepts and tools that you need to make sense of contemporary public management
from different perspectives.

Reflecting the latest issues and trends in public management and administration, this
new edition offers:
Examples from a wide range of countries.
Increased analysis of the impact of authoritarianism and populism.
Coverage of key topics, including strategic management, leadership, performance
management, managing services and technology.
More inclusion of evidence and evidence-based policy.
Additional tables, figures and case study boxes offering the latest research insights.

Suitable for use on courses around the world, and for those with no prior knowledge of
the theory and practice of public management and administration, this fully revised sixth
edition is the ideal point of reference for lecturers and students in the field.