Bridges to Another World – serie

Combining innovative social theory with ongoing policy discussions on climate change, this book analyzes past and present efforts at challenging global poverty through reforming the dynamics of worldwide agricultural production.Focusing on the efforts of the World Bank and CGIAR research centers, particularly through research and projects that have been launched by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), “Climate-Smart” to “Climate-Just” exposes how neoliberal principles of limited government and individual entrepreneurship have expanded through the development of “Climate-Smart Agriculture.” At the same, an alternative – “Climate-Just Agriculture” – is becoming possible as rightwing populists have disrupted international free trade orthodoxy, and social movement demands for food sovereignty gain traction in key international spaces.As Pahnke explains in this innovative account, “Climate-Just Agriculture” includes structural changes to free trade agreements that would build from local and regional food systems to make them resilient in the face of the adverse effects of climate change. This resiliency, moreover, allows marginalized groups the capacity to create and participate in markets that allow for greater self-sufficiency to push back on colonialism and imperialism.Written in a clear and accessible style, this book will be essential reading for students and scholars of sociology, environmental studies, and politics, as well as for policymakers and professionals involved in climate change policy and the agriculture and food industry.

Combining innovative social theory with ongoing policy discussions on climate change, this book analyzes past and present efforts at challenging global poverty through reforming the dynamics of worldwide agricultural production.Focusing on the efforts of the World Bank and CGIAR research centers, particularly through research and projects that have been launched by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), “Climate-Smart” to “Climate-Just” exposes how neoliberal principles of limited government and individual entrepreneurship have expanded through the development of “Climate-Smart Agriculture.” At the same, an alternative – “Climate-Just Agriculture” – is becoming possible as rightwing populists have disrupted international free trade orthodoxy, and social movement demands for food sovereignty gain traction in key international spaces.As Pahnke explains in this innovative account, “Climate-Just Agriculture” includes structural changes to free trade agreements that would build from local and regional food systems to make them resilient in the face of the adverse effects of climate change. This resiliency, moreover, allows marginalized groups the capacity to create and participate in markets that allow for greater self-sufficiency to push back on colonialism and imperialism.Written in a clear and accessible style, this book will be essential reading for students and scholars of sociology, environmental studies, and politics, as well as for policymakers and professionals involved in climate change policy and the agriculture and food industry.

We live in a period when more people are migrating from the countryside to the city, from city to city, and from country to country than at nearly anytime in human history. At the same time, we see sharp increases in wealth and income inequality. These two trends fuel populist movements on both the left and right, topping political agendas across the world.Untangling the Political Roots of Immigration and Inequality in the United States examines the causes, consequences, and politics of mass migration and growing inequality by investigating the case of the United States – the quintessential immigrant nation. While scholars, policy makers, and advocates have put forth a variety of explanations, many misdiagnose the causes and put forward remedies that treat symptoms. This book looks to the root causes of mass migration and intensifying inequality, arguing that they are two sides of the same coin resulting from rapacious forms of capitalist accumulation and imperialist interventionism. Developing a broadly left analytic framework grounded in elements of Marxist theory and political science, two periods are examined – 1870–1925 and 1970–2025 – when the proportion of immigrants in the US peaked at 15% of the total population, the US experienced steep inequality and political polarization, immigration and inequality became contentious political issues that generated sharp conflict, and immigrants and workers organized mass movements that advanced radical politics and transformative change. This book contains a wealth of information and elevates valuable lessons for scholars, policy makers, and organizers interested in understanding these trends and forging equitable and just solutions today.

We live in a period when more people are migrating from the countryside to the city, from city to city, and from country to country than at nearly anytime in human history. At the same time, we see sharp increases in wealth and income inequality. These two trends fuel populist movements on both the left and right, topping political agendas across the world.Untangling the Political Roots of Immigration and Inequality in the United States examines the causes, consequences, and politics of mass migration and growing inequality by investigating the case of the United States – the quintessential immigrant nation. While scholars, policy makers, and advocates have put forth a variety of explanations, many misdiagnose the causes and put forward remedies that treat symptoms. This book looks to the root causes of mass migration and intensifying inequality, arguing that they are two sides of the same coin resulting from rapacious forms of capitalist accumulation and imperialist interventionism. Developing a broadly left analytic framework grounded in elements of Marxist theory and political science, two periods are examined – 1870–1925 and 1970–2025 – when the proportion of immigrants in the US peaked at 15% of the total population, the US experienced steep inequality and political polarization, immigration and inequality became contentious political issues that generated sharp conflict, and immigrants and workers organized mass movements that advanced radical politics and transformative change. This book contains a wealth of information and elevates valuable lessons for scholars, policy makers, and organizers interested in understanding these trends and forging equitable and just solutions today.

Organizers all around the world are working to build ways of managing resources that serve human and ecological needs. But how can these projects be more than small islands of solidarity and sustainability surrounded by oceans of domination and environmental destruction?Solidarity Economics: Building Sustainable Social Relations lays out the landscape of these projects aimed at building a better world, and explores the institutional frameworks needed for them to expand. It asks broader questions about what is needed to help them build toward just and sustainable societies based on relations of solidarity. Drawing on Indigenous economics and anti-capitalist theory, this book critiques the idea of an economy as something autonomous from the rest of society and helps us see practical pathways to building systems which ensure that everyone’s needs are met.This accessible book provides an important overview of key issues around social theory, the environment, and practical social action to investigate new ways of overcoming the cultural and social issues around class, race, gender, climate change, human identity, and economics.