The subject of this book is the relationship between unequal partners in the international system. The chapters focus on two relationships between unequal partners - Austria and the Federal Republic of Germany on the one hand, and Canada and the United States on the other. By including not only the political and economic, but also the historical, cultural and communications aspect of the relationship, the authors broaden the scope of their analyses.

This book offers a nuanced analysis of a US-led foundation initiative of uncommon ambition, featuring seven foundations with a shared commitment to strengthen capacity in higher education in Sub-Saharan African universities. The book examines the conditions under which philanthropy can be effective, the impasses that foundations often face, and the novel context in which philanthropy operates today. This study therefore assesses the shifting grounds on which higher education globally is positioned and the role of global philanthropy within these changing contexts. This is especially important in a moment where higher education is once again recognized as a driver of development and income growth, where knowledge economies requiring additional levels of education are displacing economies predicated on manufacturing, and in a context where higher education itself appears increasingly precarious and under dramatic pressures to adapt to new conditions.

Self-organised user groups of social and health care services are playing an increasingly significant part within systems of local governance. Based on detailed empirical work looking at the user and 'official' perspective, this report includes studies of user groups and officials in two policy areas - mental health and disability. The authors examine both the strategies user groups adopt to seek their objectives, and explore conceptual issues relating to notions of consumerism and citizenship. Unequal partners thus contributes to our understanding of the role of user self-organisation in empowering people as consumers, and in enabling excluded people to become 'active' citizens. The authors discuss the way in which self-organisation may be supported without being controlled by officials in statutory agencies, highlighting the need to understand and distinguish between user self-organisation and user involvement. The report concludes that if policy makers are genuinely committed to greater user involvement in design, planning and delivery of services, then user self-organisation needs to be both encouraged and supported materially, without being 'captured' or incorporated into management. The research points to the significance of 'user groups' in challenging the exclusion of disabled citizens from all aspects of social, economic, political and cultural life. Unequal partners is essential reading for health and social care policy makers and practitioners, lobby and pressure groups, students and academics in health and social policy and local government studies, and users.

The reconciliation of France and Germany is a landmark in the history of the 20th century. Between 1870 and 1950, they fought three wars. Then, as founders of the European Community they became linked by increasingly close economic, political, and cultural ties. Friend asserts that it is no exaggeration to say that the French-German relationship has been central to the history of Western Europe in the second half of the 20th century. Friend provides a largely chronological account of the bilateral relation from the turbulence of unification through the years when an enlarged EU sought new institutions of governance. He then examines the basis of the Franco-German relationship today and looks to future changes. As Germany has become the economic giant of Europe, particularly after the reunification of West and East Germany, the relationship has changed, and Friend explores how this unequal but unavoidable partnership has adapted. An important guide for policy makers as well as scholars and students involved with contemporary European Studies.

"Making use of the Dickenses' banking records and legal papers as well as their correspondence with friends and family members, Nayder challenges the long-standing view of Catherine Dickens and offers unparalleled insights into the relations among the four Hogarth sisters; reclaiming those cherished by the famous novelist as Catherine's own and illuminating her special bond with her youngest sister, Helen, her staunchest ally during the marital breakdown. Drawing on little-known, unpublished material and forcing Catherine's husband from center stage, The Other Dickens revolutionizes our perception of the Dickens family dynamic, illuminates the legal and emotional ambiguities of Catherine's position as a "single wife, and deepens our understanding of what it meant to be a Woman in the Victorian age."--BOOK JACKET.

When we think of Catholicism, we think of Europe and the United States as the seats of its power. But while much of Catholicism remains headquartered in the West, the Church’s center of gravity has shifted to Africa, Latin America, and developing Asia. Focused on the transnational Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Unequal Partners explores the ways gender, race, economic inequality, and colonial history play out in religious organizations, revealing how their members are constantly negotiating and reworking the frameworks within which they operate. Taking us from Belgium and the United States to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, sociologist Casey Clevenger offers rare insight into how the sisters of this order work across national boundaries, shedding light on the complex relationships among individuals, social groups, and formal organizations. Throughout, Clevenger skillfully weaves the sisters’ own voices into her narrative, helping us understand how the order has remained whole over time. A thoughtful analysis of the ties that bind—and divide—the sisters, Unequal Partners is a rich look at transnationalism’s ongoing impact on Catholicism.

Since Mexico's defeat in the Mexican-American War of the 1840s, the United States has dominated Mexico economically, militarily, and politically. This long history of asymmetry has created a Mexican distaste for "American arrogance" and an American vision of Mexico as its "backyard," and has damaged political negotiations, trade pacts, and capital flows, as suspicions and protectionism have undermined diplomacy. Despite this, the two nations remain joined at the hip: more than 80 percent of Mexico's exports are to the United States, and the majority of foreign investment in Mexico comes from America.In Unequal Partners, Sidney Weintraub examines the current relationship of Mexico and the United States as one of sustained dependence and dominance. The chapters examine the consequences of this imbalance in six major policy areas: trade; investment and finance; narcotics; energy; migration; and the border. The book begins in 1954 when the Mexican "growth miracle" was at its apex, and proceeds to the present. Special attention is paid to the post-1982 debt crisis era, when Mexico began a more outward-looking trade policy.As this study reveals, Mexico has often been its own worst enemy in foreign relations. Over the past thirty years, the country has been plagued by debt, currency fluctuations, tax collection problems, political corruption, and state-controlled business monopolies that block foreign investment and importation. These factors have created an environment of instability, damaged outside perceptions, and weakened Mexico's bargaining position. Weintraub considers future policy changes that would help Mexico to level the playing field. Improving the education system, he argues, will benefit nearly every other activity and institution, and opening the oil market to private investment and technology will help develop deep-water drilling and revitalize this significant export commodity. In foreign relations, Mexico must be assertive-as it has been in easing U.S. restrictions on goods traded through NAFTA, and demanding U.S. aid to fight drug cartels-not passive, as it currently is on U.S. anti-immigration policy and the proposed border wall. Perhaps most importantly, the study points to the deeper development of policies that are proactive and outward looking.