bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A Measure Short of War
Authors: Kastner Jill , Wohlforth William C. 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
This book is a primer on the history of subversion—hostile domestic interference to undermine or manipulate a rival—among rival great powers. It provides a conceptual apparatus for understanding why and when great powers meddle in each other’s domestic affairs and examines subversion via compact case studies exploring 2,000 years of mischief and manipulation. Evidence from classical antiquity and early modern Europe to the great-power rivalries of the nineteenth century, the 1930s, and the Cold War illustrates subversion’s allure, its operational possibilities, and the means for fighting back against it. The book helps readers understand how hostile meddling in rivals’ domestic politics has shaped great power politics from Ancient Greece through the Cold War. With this unique transhistorical conceptual and empirical base, the book then dives deeply into subversion’s brief exit after the Cold War and its role in the return of great power rivalry after 2008. It places Russia’s 2016 operation against the United States in historical perspective, and it assesses subversion’s role in great power rivalry in the past, present, and future. As the first study of this phenomenon that is focused on subversion among great power peers, the book fills key gaps in scholarship on international relations, history, and intelligence studies.
Subversion 101
Authors: Kastner Jill , Wohlforth William C. 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
This chapter offers a distinctive definition of subversion as hostile meddling in a rival’s domestic politics, against the wishes of the existing regime, in order to weaken it or change its foreign policy. It explains the reasoning behind the authors’ approach, examining historical episodes of subversion from the ancient world to the present day. It explains why a focus on this form of statecraft among peer great powers is novel and necessary, and it provides a cost–benefit framework for assessing subversion’s role through time. The chapter identifies subversion’s low costs and flexibility as key benefits, and it identifies the potential for escalation and the erosion of trust as key costs. The chapter suggests conditions under which the balance may tilt toward offense and defense in subversive statecraft.
Classical Antiquity
Authors: Kastner Jill , Wohlforth William C. 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
This chapter examines episodes of ancient subversion among some of the most powerful states and city-states of the Classical world. Beginning with the rivalry between Sparta and Athens, it explores incidents of propaganda, disinformation, bribery, and more violent measures during a time of near constant warfare. The chapter discusses the role of subversion in contributing to the onset of the Peloponnesian War. Its uses during the conflict, particularly by the Athenian statesman Alcibiades, are discussed. The chapter covers subversive activities in the struggle between Philip II of Macedon and the Greek states in the fourth century bc, as well as subversion in Rome’s foreign affairs in both the Republic and the Empire. It concludes that the essential elements of today’s subversive operations were very much in use in ancient times, with more impact and frequency than seen in modern times.
The Nineteenth Century
Authors: Kastner Jill , Wohlforth William C. 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
This chapter examines the role of subversion—hostile meddling in a rival’s domestic politics—in nineteenth-century European statecraft. It unpacks subversion’s understudied interaction with the balance of power politics of the early, middle, and late century. Cases feature Britain versus Russia’s Tsar Paul, the potential intervention in Russian Poland, Bismarck versus France after the Franco-Prussian War, and Bismarck’s efforts to undermine Britain’s Prime Minister William Gladstone. The politics of alignment turn out to be central, as expected in a multipolar balance of power system. The chapter explains why restraint tended to prevail over the temptation to undermine rivals via subversive meddling.
Looking Back
Authors: Kastner Jill , Wohlforth William C. 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
This chapter presents general findings concerning subversive statecraft among great power peers through history. It explains why constraints tend to dominate inducements to subvert great powers, keeping subversion to a simmer. It delineates the larger scale shifts in the strategic environment that account for variation and change in subversion over time. It also offers a compact assessment of the three roles subversion plays in great power rivalries: as a safety valve, allowing great powers to try to realize their objectives without triggering a larger conflict; as merely a way station on the route to conflict; and as an independent catalyst of intensified rivalry.
Running with the Surrealists
Authors: Osei Adjoa 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
Elsie Houston was preoccupied with the artistic; however, surrealism and left-wing politics were inextricably connected, and she straddled both spheres. Her marriage to French poet Benjamin Péret brought her into contact with the likes of André Breton, and Elsie engaged with the key tenets of surrealism by juxtaposing Afro-Brazilian and classical music. Her transnational community also included Brazilian modernists that were known as antropófagos—the artistic cannibals. Elsie was photographed by Man Ray, appeared in a radio show alongside Duke Ellington, and performed in stylish clubs and cabarets. Other women performers who were part of this cabaret scene include the Afro-Guadeloupean dancer and muse Adrienne “Ady” Fidelin; Brazilian singer, dancer, and actress Araci Cortes; and African American dancer Zaidee Jackson. Elsie’s academic work published in Paris focused on African contributions to Brazilian society and musical culture, and she therefore acted as a cultural translator of Brazilian identity.
A Passport to Brazil
Authors: Osei Adjoa 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
Arriving in New York City in 1937 under the sponsorship of the Brazilian government, Elsie Houston became a kind of Brazilian cultural ambassador during the Good Neighbor era. She was known as the principal interpreter of Villa-Lobos’s compositions and for her “voodoo incantations” or “magic songs”—the monikers given by the US press for her renditions of Afro-Brazilian folk songs. Her artistic cosmopolitanism, which foregrounded Afro-diasporic music, proposed American interhemispheric reconciliation and also black-white reconciliation, albeit oftentimes through an exoticist lens. She performed a palatable, non-threatening version of ethnic otherness for US audiences. Her persona shifted between accentuating American sameness and highlighting radical difference, and she was perceived by US audiences as an “authentic” embodiment of Afro-Brazilian culture.
Understanding the Effectiveness of Formers
Authors: Koehler Daniel 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
Formers are referred to broadly, but there are nuances and challenges with this term. It is important to recognize that the term formers contributes to their stigmatization and fails to capture their own personal growth—the term is used reluctantly for the sake of clarity but in practice the term should be “retired.” The label former captures a wide range of individual experiences, and therefore formers should not be viewed as a homogeneous group. In its simplest form, the label refers to individuals who identify (or in some cases who are attributed) as having left behind attitudinal and/or behavioral engagement in violent extremism or combatant groups (including groups labeled as terrorist).
Being a Former, Becoming a Mentor, and the Value of Using Formers in the Swedish Exit Program
Authors: Christensen Tina Wilchen 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
Mentoring is a common approach in programs aimed at countering violent extremism, but what does mentoring constitute in this context, how do formers become mentors, and how can exit programs benefit from engaging them? Based on an ethnographic fieldwork at the Swedish nongovernmental organization EXIT, which facilitates right-wing extremist disengagement, this chapter discusses what mentoring implies and some of the challenges involved in engaging formers in exit programs. It illustrates practices that support formers becoming mentors and ways in which exit programs gain from engaging them. Although good intentions and a shared past between a mentor and mentee are important, it is not enough for a mentor to support a mentee in an exit process. Rather, formers need to reinterpret their narrative of (dis)engagement shape by programs’ institutional logics, receive supervision, and learn to act on a deliberate practice to become mentors who adds value to exit programs.
Moral Injury, Moral Blindness, and Political Non-Repentance
Authors: Alonso Rogelio 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
This chapter assesses the role that former members of the terrorist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) may play in preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE). Different categories of former ETA members can be differentiated according to their degree of distancing from the group, the extent of their deradicalization when this happened, the period of time when they disengaged, as well as their motives and means. Three main types of formers emerge when analyzing the scope of the disengagement and deradicalization processes of those who have distanced from ETA: those with a “moral injury”; those with a “moral blindness”; and those who have abandoned violence, criticizing it albeit with certain qualifications and a lack of political repentance. These varying degrees determine different types of disengagement at the physical and psychological level, exposing the real extent of formers’ deradicalization when this occurs and, consequently, their potential effectiveness or ineffectiveness in P/CVE.
The Role of Former Northern Irish Combatants in Building Peace and Preventing Violence
Authors: Ferguson Neil , Flack Patrick 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
Although the ability of former combatants to add value to preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) and peacebuilding programs is widely accepted, it is a controversial approach with complex challenges. This chapter explores these issues within the Northern Irish setting, focusing on the role of former Northern Irish paramilitary combatants in reducing violence, transforming conflict, and building peaceful community relations across Northern Ireland. The chapter begins with a discussion of the conflict and the impact of the conflict on the post-Agreement landscape of Northern Ireland and the role of former combatants in both the conflict and peace process. The chapter then discusses research exploring the motivations behind engagement in P/CVE and conflict transformation activity among former paramilitaries, in addition to drivers and barriers to engagement in this activity. Finally, the chapter explores intra-community perceptions of loyalist conflict transformation and P/VE work and examines levels of community support for this activity.
Do Former Child Soldiers Have a Role in Peacebuilding in Colombia?
Authors: Martuscelli Patrícia Nabuco , Villa Rafael Duarte 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
This chapter discusses the connections between former child soldiers (demobilized by their own decision [collectively or alone] or because they were liberated from an armed group) and peacebuilding in Colombia. The current challenges that former child soldiers face in Colombia are considered. Understanding the relationship between former child soldiers and peacebuilding in Colombia is an important topic because (a) Colombia has a history of failing child soldiers during the demobilization of the paramilitary group AUC and (b) there is a risk of re-recruitment of child soldiers and the COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated this risk. Although the Colombian government negotiated a peace agreement with the main guerrilla group, FARC-EP, in 2016, dissident groups of the FARC-EP and other armed groups continue to actively recruit children in Colombia. This risk of re-recruitment represents a clear threat for sustainable peace in the country.
Collaboration with Former Extremists
Authors: Davies Lynn 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
This chapter analyzes the prospects and challenges in inviting former extremists to share their lived experiences and understandings with young people in various youth settings, especially in schools. The chapter is based on work with the organization ConnectFutures, which facilitates practical training for formers. Such engagement is part of broader programmatic work to build resilience in young people to violent extremism and exploitation, with a range of programs across the United Kingdom targeted at different groups, ages, and settings. It is suggested that former extremists have instrumental potential to contribute to youth resilience, although there are risks associated with it.
Life After Hate
Authors: Galloway Brad 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
Former extremists have been working in the preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) field for more than two decades. P/CVE programs and the broader P/CVE field have benefited from formers’ involvement in the work, but not without challenges. This chapter explains the implications of using formers in P/CVE settings. In addition, it provides a brief account regarding the effectiveness of utilizing formers in P/CVE and subsequently the promises and challenges this poses. The chapter also presents several recommendations for utilizing formers more effectively. Although formers are an asset in the P/CVE field, more research and evaluation would assist further growth regarding where formers might continue to contribute to helping deter, prevent, and counter violent extremism.
Setting the Stage
Authors: Lucero Lisa J. 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
This chapter takes the reader on a journey through the humid and biodiverse tropical jungles of Central America, with its rainy and dry seasons, plethora of inhabitants, and three realms—the Upperworld, the Earth’s surface, and the Underworld. It highlights what living in the tropics entails and what it would have been like for the ancestral Maya in the southern lowlands of present-day Belize, Guatemala, and parts of Mexico and Honduras. The tropical forest provided varied resources that the Maya relied on sustainably for millennia—game, food, fuel, medicines, and materials used to make pole-and-thatch houses, stone tools, and pottery. No plants or animals became extinct. Forest collaboration worked for millennia. Biodiversity, however, is decreasing rapidly due to the use of non-Maya practices (monocropping, extensive deforestation, and chemical pesticides), which is not a good thing since forests provision the ecosystems on which Earth’s inhabitants rely—water, food, and air.
The Maya
Authors: Lucero Lisa J. 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
This chapter introduces Maya history and details the Maya people’s resilience. The First Americans arrived 20,000 years ago during the last ice age and came face to face with megafauna (giant sloths, mammoths) and relied on hunting and gathering until the introduction of maize and other domesticated crops. The Maya and their ancestors were part of an interwoven history with other Mesoamerican peoples. Farming communities (c. 2000 bce) led to landscape transformation, growing population, and eventually, the emergence of hundreds of cities and kings. Rural farmers relied on urban reservoirs during seasonal drought. When several prolonged droughts struck beginning c. 800 ce, reservoir levels plummeted, crops failed, and famine ensued. Subjects blamed their kings and deserted them and the cities by 900 ce. Farmers adapted and moved on. This story continued until the early 1500s when the Spanish invaded and forced religious conversion and brought with them violence and epidemic diseases.
Chahk, the Capricious Rain God
Authors: Lucero Lisa J. 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
This chapter revolves around Chahk, the Rain God, who was vital for the rainfall-dependent Maya, and his capricious nature—too much, not enough, or the right amount of rain. Annual rainfall varies locally, and much of it percolates through the porous limestone bedrock. Rains transform everything. The rainy season is a time of renewal: rains nourish flora and fauna and everything else. It is also the agricultural-intensive period, so there’s always the risk of flooding, erosion, and crop damage. During the five-month dry season, Maya flocked to cities and urban reservoirs. They prevented water from becoming stagnant and disease-ridden for over 1,000 years by constructing self-cleaning reservoirs that are the same as the constructed wetlands used globally today that rely on aquatic plants to maintain water quality. The Maya sustainably adapted to the wet and dry seasons for millennia.
The Maya Inclusive Worldview
Authors: Lucero Lisa J. 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
This chapter introduces the Maya nonanthropocentric inclusive worldview where everything is animated and connected. The Maya work with nature, not against it, because they are part of the tropical world where things, humans, animals, land, water, and other entities coexist on the same plane and each plays a role in world maintenance. There are no Cartesian dichotomies—no sacred/secular, natural/supernatural, or animated/inanimate. Their cyclical view of life focuses on renewal via ceremonies and collaboration in the home, forests, and Underworld portals (caves and water bodies), which often were places of pilgrimage where they engaged with ancestors, gods, and fellow entities. Ancestors, gods, and forest spirits ensure that people follow the right path. Infractions can result in death or worse—including being killed as a witch and left in portals where their souls would never be reborn.
House and Cosmos
Authors: Lucero Lisa J. 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
When Maya first moved into an area, they and their descendants invested in place materially and spiritually via their homes to emphasize their connection to the land, nonhuman entities, and the cosmos, as highlighted in this chapter. This relationship was sustained via renewal ceremonies, as illustrated at the small Maya city of Saturday Creek, Belize (c. 600 bce to 1500s ce). The house is part of the landscape, enmeshed with other entities through continuous transformation and renewal, essential since family is the unit of action and the home is the building block of society. Commoner and royal families recorded their history through burials and ritual deposits. The family home connects the three realms: the space underneath the roof is the Upperworld, the walls are the mountains, the floor is the Earth’s surface, and under the floors is the Underworld.
Yax Cities
Authors: Lucero Lisa J. 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
This chapter is about yax, or blue-green Maya cities, that is, green (sustainable) and blue (reservoirs) ones, some occupied for over 2,000 years. During the dry season, Maya relied on urban reservoirs and also built and maintained monumental buildings, met in the markets, attended ball games, and participated in public ceremonies. Cities encompassed temples, palaces, ball courts, elite and commoner residences, large plazas, reservoirs, agricultural fields, orchards, and gardens. Cities cannot survive without farmers and the local resource network that brings in forest and farm products, not to mention labor. Urban-rural networks lasted for over a thousand years. And even though cities have remained empty since c. 900 ce, they still withstand hurricanes and tropical storms, which speaks to their resilience. They thus provide a roadmap for sustainable urban planning—if they are not lost to destruction, urban sprawl, agriculture, and looting.
The Survival of Our Planet
Authors: Lucero Lisa J. 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
This chapter presents concrete solutions crucial for the survival of Earth based on Maya wisdom, and not just for the tropics, but globally. Action and change start in the home and continue in communities, cities, governments, and transnational corporations. Solutions include adopting more diverse practices and an inclusive worldview, appreciating Indigenous knowledge, and considering nonhumans in future strategies. It is also important to devise green technologies that don’t rely on finite resources (e.g., lithium) and that serve multiple purposes. Green cities, urban-rural networks, and using organic waste to fertilize fields and gardens are also vital. People need what the Earth provides, but the Earth does not need people. Thus, it is essential to take care of fellow entities and not deplete them or cause their extinction, and to collaborate more sustainably and properly with forests, water, land, soils, and air to ensure the survival of our planet.
Economic and Welfare Impacts of Farm Size and Tenure
Authors: Berry Albert 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
A farm’s impact on people involves not only the output it produces, but also its direct effects on the welfare or satisfaction of those involved and on the environment. Small farms tend to produce more per unit of land than do larger ones, but less per worker; when the scarce factor of production is land—the norm in developing countries—this makes land productivity a better measure of the contribution to total agricultural output than labor productivity, and this underpins the basic argument that smaller farms are typically more efficient than larger ones. Along with size, land tenure can affect results significantly, especially when it involves a lack of security. A major challenge to small farms meeting their potential is a lack of public sector support in areas like infrastructure and research and development on new varieties of crops and new technologies; this often stems from an elite control of the state, a related preference to support larger farms, and a belief that small farmers cannot be efficient producers. Land concentration promotes income inequality which is famously persistent over time. Evidence is less clear on the impact of land concentration on agricultural and overall growth; it varies with each case but, on average, may well be negative. Overall, land concentration typically has seriously negative consequences on overall human welfare.
Institutions With New Rules, But No Norms
Authors: Power Greg 
Published: December 2024

Abstract
Chapter 1 looks at the diverging experiences of Libya, Egypt, and Iraq in trying to get new political institutions to work when there was no recent democratic experience, high levels of division between different political forces and little agreement about what the new institutions should do. In Libya the process was characterized by an extreme form of zero-sum politics which ultimately led to state collapse. In Egypt, following the Arab spring, those running the institutions behaved as though the democracy was already stable, but ultimately failed to address any of the deep-seated problems and allowed the space for a military coup to seize power. In Iraq, the context is shaped by the muhassassa system which divides power between Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish blocs, and means that no side entirely wins, and no side entirely loses. As one politician put it, “the problem here is that no one is in opposition”, everyone shares the spoils.