Sam Kaplan – författare

This book examines how interest groups in Turkey, including religious nationalists, neoliberal industrialists, and the military, promote and develop their particular worldviews through education and in school curricula. The aim is to explain how these competing groups define schoolchildren's educational experiences and how mass schooling creates the contexts in which children make sense of knowledge, power, and social change.The Pedagogical State offers an ethnographic case study that draws out the cultural and political processes by which education is reconfigured around the interests and understandings of different sectors in contemporary Turkish society. Using a wide array of sources, the author shows how a school system articulates a moral order at the intersection of gender, ethnicity, and class. Exploring how this articulation plays itself out in a Turkish village provides a nuanced approach to the interplay of religious heritage, secularity, economic globalization, militarism, and identity politics in society at large.

This book examines how interest groups in Turkey, including religious nationalists, neoliberal industrialists, and the military, promote and develop their particular worldviews through education and in school curricula. The aim is to explain how these competing groups define schoolchildren's educational experiences and how mass schooling creates the contexts in which children make sense of knowledge, power, and social change.The Pedagogical State offers an ethnographic case study that draws out the cultural and political processes by which education is reconfigured around the interests and understandings of different sectors in contemporary Turkish society. Using a wide array of sources, the author shows how a school system articulates a moral order at the intersection of gender, ethnicity, and class. Exploring how this articulation plays itself out in a Turkish village provides a nuanced approach to the interplay of religious heritage, secularity, economic globalization, militarism, and identity politics in society at large.

An insightful and thought-provoking guide to understanding China's growing global influence—and how democracies can respond.China's rise has transformed global politics, economics and security, reshaping international relationships in ways that will define the decades ahead. In Challenging China, longtime China policy expert Sam Kaplan examines how China's increasing authoritarianism, expanding global ambitions and evolving relationship with the United States present one of the world's most significant geopolitical challenges.Drawing on more than thirty years of experience in China policy and international trade, Kaplan explores the political, economic and cultural forces driving China's rise while offering practical, realistic strategies for engaging with the country without sacrificing democratic values or national interests. Written in an accessible, engaging style with references ranging from Dolly Parton and Bruce Springsteen to LeBron James, this book makes complex international issues understandable for general readers.Topics include:Xi Jinping's consolidation of power and the changing direction of China's governmentChina's expanding military, economic and diplomatic influence around the worldThe future of Taiwan, Hong Kong and regional security in the Indo-PacificHuman rights, censorship and increasing government controlThe complex economic relationship between China, the United States and its alliesTechnology, trade, supply chains and global competitionClimate change and other areas where international cooperation remains essentialPractical strategies for responding to China's rise while avoiding unnecessary conflictRather than arguing for confrontation or disengagement, Kaplan proposes a balanced approach that protects democratic interests while encouraging constructive engagement wherever possible. Challenging China is an essential guide for anyone seeking to understand one of the defining geopolitical issues of the twenty-first century.

Expertly researched and thought-out, yet approachable and witty, this book will immediately draw in anyone interested in global affairs, foreign policy and the future of America''s role on the world stage.This book provides a fascinating insider''s look at how China is changing rapidly today, how these changes pose grave risks to the rest of the world, and how the U.S. and its allies can best address these challenges. Trade wars and U.S. presidents may come and go, but the fundamental dynamics of the U.S.-China relationship will remain in place for years to come.Challenging China is a popular current events explanation of how China has become more authoritarian and expansionist and what strategies the U.S. and its allies need to adopt to address this new China. Although delving into serious issues, Challenging China is written in an engaging way and probably the only book on China that references Dolly Parton, LeBron James and Bruce Springsteen.Topics addressed include:The ongoing political crackdown in Hong Kong and heightened tensions with TaiwanThe deteriorating human rights situation in China for normal Chinese as well as the Uyghur and Tibetan minoritiesInternal Chinese political and social dynamics and Xi Jinping''s dominance of the partyChina''s ongoing sense of anti-Western grievance and its new military assertivenessIncreases in censorship and governmental control of dissent both off and onlineThe effects of U.S. trade policy on China including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Trump''s tariff wars, and the new U.S.-China Trade AgreementHow and why U.S. responses up to now have been ineffectual and counter-productiveClimate change policy and how cooperating with China can work if we want it toNew strategies to convince China to modify its behavior while avoiding direct confrontationAnd much more!The story of China''s rise is a remarkable tale of economic success, but that alone has not and will not lead to political liberalization. This book shows how actively engaging China, while protecting our own interests, can in fact work to promote its liberalization. This includes a wide array of strategies including trade alliances with other countries, cooperating with China on climate change, protecting Taiwan and using human rights as a foreign policy tool.Author Sam Kaplan has worked on China policy and trade for over thirty years. Drawing upon his extensive experience, contacts and research, he proposes new ways of dealing with China in a smarter, more realistic way. There is reason to be optimistic that China can and will change if we apply the right strategies and have the will to implement them.