Politics Audiobooks | LoveReading

¿Quién manda en España? ¿Por qué mandan los que ocupan puestos de poder en los ministerios, secretarías de Estado, direcciones generales? ¿Qué redes de intereses les unen entre sí? Más allá de las ''puertas giratorias'', unos grupos pequeños de altos funcionarios, personas vinculadas al poder real, sobre todo al económico, TOMAN LAS DECISIONES Y LO HACEN SIN RESPONDER ANTE LOS CIUDADANOS NI ESCUCHARLES. Porque las élites de poder no se presentan a las elecciones ni defienden un programa electoral. Los que mandan de verdad defienden sus intereses personales, los de sus amigos y los de las grandes corporaciones. Se interrelacionan formando red. Por primera vez, un libro pone estas redes al desnudo y nos cuenta con ejemplos concretos las relaciones que unen a las élites que nos gobiernan. Este libro está narrado en castellano. - Andrés Villena nació en Elche (1980), pero ha vivido la mayor parte de su vida en Málaga. Es sociólogo y periodista. Se doctoró (cum laude) en Sociología por la Universidad de Málaga, y ha obtenido sendos masters en Sociología Aplicada y Sociología de los Problemas sociales. Y es además licenciado en Economía y Ciencias de la Comunicación. Ha trabajado como columnista y redactor en diversos medios como ElPlural, Diario Público, Informativos Tele5, The Huffingtonpost y la revista CTXT, entre otros. Actualmente es asesor y coordinador de Comunicación de la alcaldía del Ayuntamiento de San Sebastián de los Reyes (Madrid).

Andrés Villena (Author), Emilio Bianchi (Narrator)

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Science in an Age of Unreason

Science is undergoing an identity crisis! A renowned psychologist and biologist diagnoses our age of wishful, magical thinking and blasts out a clarion call for a return to reason and the search for objective knowledge and truth. Fans of Matt Ridley and Nicholas Wade will adore this trenchant meditation and call to action. Science is in trouble. Real questions in desperate need of answers—especially those surrounding ethnicity, gender, climate change, and almost anything related to “health and safety”—are swiftly buckling to the fiery societal demands of what ought to be rather than what is. These foregone conclusions may be comforting, but each capitulation to modernity’s whims threatens the integrity of scientific inquiry. Can true, fact-based discovery be redeemed? In Science in an Age of Unreason, legendary professor of psychology and biology, John Staddon, unveils the identity crisis afflicting today’s scientific community, and provides an actionable path to recovery. With intellectual depth and literary flair, Staddon answers pressing questions, including: Is science, especially the science of evolution, a religion? Can ethics be derived from science at all? How sound is social science, particularly surrounding today’s most controversial topics? How can passions be separated from facts? Informed by decades of expertise, Science in an Age of Unreason is a clarion call to rebirth academia as a beacon of reason and truth in a society demanding its unconditional submission.

John Staddon (Author), Ralph Lister (Narrator)

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The Secret History of the Five Eyes: The untold story of the shadowy international spy network, thro

'Puts Richard Kerbaj in the front rank of modern authors on espionage. It is, by turns, gripping and shocking and sheds completely new light on the most important intelligence alliance in the world' -- Tim Shipman, author of All Out War The Secret History of The Five Eyes: The untold story of the international spy network, is a riveting and exclusive narrative of the most powerful and least understood intelligence alliance, which has been steeped in secrecy since its formation in 1956. Richard Kerbaj, an award-winning investigative journalist and filmmaker, bypasses the usual censorship channels to tell the definitive account of authoritative but unauthorised stories of the Western world's most powerful but least known intelligence alliance made up of the US, Britain, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. As Kerbaj shows, spy stories are never better than when they are true - and these span from 1930s Nazi spy rings to the most recent developments in Ukraine and China. Through personal interviews with world leaders - including British Prime Ministers Theresa May and David Cameron - and more than 100 intelligence officials, this book explores the complex personalities who helped shape the Five Eyes. They include a Scotland Yard detective who became a spymaster and inspired the first exchanges between MI5 and the FBI. An American home economics teacher who helped create one of the most effective programmes to counter Soviet espionage. The CIA's lone officer in Budapest during the Hungarian Revolution. GCHQ's chief during the Edward Snowden intelligence leak. And the Australian politician turned diplomat whose tip-off to the FBI instigated the inquiry into Russia's meddling in the US presidential contest between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016. Richard Kerbaj is able to draw from deep inside the secret corridors of power and his unparalleled access spans all 5 countries. Some of the people he has interviewed include former GCHQ director Sir Iain Lobban, CIA director General David Petraeus, MI5 director-general Eliza Manningham-Buller, NSA director Admiral Mike Rogers, British National Security Advisor Kim Darroch, ASIO chief Mike Burgess, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service's chief Richard Fadden, and Ciaran Martin, the official who oversaw Britain's assessments on whether the Chinese telecoms firm, Huawei, should have had a role in the creation of the UK's 5G network. This page-turning book will lift the lid on spy stories from across the English-speaking world, question the future of the alliance, and our place within it.

Richard Kerbaj (Author), Richard Kerbaj (Narrator)

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American Exception: Empire and the Deep State

American Exception seeks to explain the breakdown of US democracy, in particular to understand the uncanny continuity of American foreign policy, the breakdown of the rule of law, and the extreme concentration of wealth and power into an overworld of the corporate rich. To trace the evolution of the American state, Aaron Good takes a deep-politics approach. The term “deep state” was badly misappropriated during the Trump era. In the simplest sense, it here refers to all those institutions that collectively exercise undemocratic power over state and society. To trace how we arrived at this point, American Exception explores various deep state institutions and history-making interventions. Key institutions involve the relationships between the overworld of the corporate rich, the underworld of organized crime, and the national security actors that mediate between them. History-making interventions include the toppling of foreign governments, the launching of aggressive wars, and the political assassinations of the 1960s. In its long history before World War II, the United States had a deep political system, a system of governance in which decision-making and enforcement were carried out within—and outside of—public institutions. It was a system that always included some degree of secretive collusion and law-breaking. After World War II, US elites decided to pursue global dominance over the international capitalist system. Setting aside the liberal rhetoric, this project was pursued in a manner that was by and large imperialistic rather than progressive. To administer this covert empire, US elites created a massive national security state characterized by unprecedented levels of secrecy and lawlessness. The “Global Communist Conspiracy” provided a pretext for exceptionism—an endless “exception” to the rule of law. What gradually emerged after World War II was a tripartite state system of governance. The open democratic state and the authoritarian security state were both increasingly dominated by an American deep state. Aaron Good concludes by assessing the prospects for a revival of US democracy.

Aaron Good (Author), Arthur Morey (Narrator)

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El arte de gobernar: Manual del buen gobierno

El arte de gobernar. Manual del buen gobierno explica en términos llanos las ideas de grandes teóricos de la política. El resultado es un accesible y ameno manual que sirve no solo al lector curioso sino al político interesado en llevar a cabo un cambio verdadero en la forma de ejercer su oficio. ¿Cómo ennoblecer el quehacer político y a sus actores para que cumplan las expectativas de la sociedad moderna? ¿Cómo podrían tener mayor conciencia de su función social? ¿Cómo han concebido la política filósofos y pensadores a lo largo de la historia? Para dar respuesta, Guedea da consejos prácticos y visiones generales sobre el arte político, además de repasar y comentar a los clásicos de la materia, desde Cicerón, Maquiavelo y Rousseau hasta Max Weber, Bertrand Russell, Hannah Arendt y Richard Rorty, con el ánimo de que después el lector continúe su andadura en un ámbito de la conducta humana tan importante como la política.

Rogelio Guedea (Author), Antonio Raluy (Narrator)

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Why Governments Get It Wrong: and how they can get it right

We live in an era when we really need governments to get it right - from the Covid-19 pandemic response to how they tackle climate change. Our lives depend on it. Yet, to many, they can seem clueless, and their decisions leave us confused. Why? In Why Governments Get It Wrong, renowned Cambridge professor and former political speechwriter Dennis C. Grube explores the pitfalls, failures and successes of those in power around the world. Across an array of policy issues we meet politicians who fumble their brief, while others seem on top of it and able to project a sense of calm. With insight and wit, Grube explains how governments can improve their decision-making. Examining fascinating case studies - from the UK school exam fiasco during the pandemic to gun reform in Australia, and sanitation in India - Grube highlights the key factors that make for effective government. With the stakes higher than ever before, this original and important book is an essential read for any concerned citizen who wants to understand why governments make the wrong decisions and, crucially, what can be done about it. 'A must-read' - Sebastian payne 'A timely book with accessibly provocative arguments' - Steve Richards 'There is a real gap for this book' - Isabel Hardman

Dennis C. Grube (Author), Dennis C. Grube (Narrator)

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Kingdom and Country: Following Jesus in the Land that You Love

We love God. We love our country. What does it look like to love each properly and well? National tensions are at a record high. People on all points in the political spectrum care deeply about their country, although they differ wildly in their opinions about what it looks like to serve that country well. As Christians, we love God and seek to follow him. At the same time, nothing shapes us and tugs at our loyalties quite like the place we live. And of course we are regularly encouraged to pledge our allegiance to our country―or particular understandings of it. Who wins when the priorities of God and our country clash? In Kingdom and Country, a collection of leading Christian thinkers and practitioners take a holistic approach to considering the questions of patriotism, nationalism, and where our ultimate loyalties must like. Contributors include Alejandro Mandes, Juliet Liu, Ryan Tafilowski, Derek Vreeland, Rod Wilson, Michelle Reyes, Amanda Smith, Karen Wilk, Sean Palmer, and Tina Boesch Kingdom and Country is the second in a series of Kingdom Conversations, books that bring together trusted Christian voices to address some of the most urgent and perplexing challenges of our time in timeless and redemptive ways.

Angie Ward (Author), Charity Spencer, Lyle Blaker (Narrator)

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The Bitter End: The 2020 Presidential Campaign and the Challenge to American Democracy

The year 2020 was a tumultuous time in American politics. It brought a global pandemic, protests for racial justice, and a razor-thin presidential election outcome. It culminated in an attack on the US Capitol that attempted to deny Joe Biden's victory. The Bitter End explores the long-term trends and short-term shocks that shaped this dramatic year and what these changes could mean for the future. John Sides, Chris Tausanovitch, and Lynn Vavreck demonstrate that Trump's presidency intensified the partisan politics of the previous decades. Presidential elections have become calcified, with less chance of big swings in either party's favor. Republicans remained loyal to Trump and kept the election close, despite Trump's many scandals, a recession, and the pandemic. But in a narrowly divided electorate even small changes can have big consequences. The pandemic was a case in point: when Trump pushed to reopen the country even as infections mounted, support for Biden increased. The authors explain that, paradoxically, even as Biden's win came at a time of heightened party loyalty, there remained room for shifts that shaped the election's outcome. Ultimately, the events of 2020 showed that instead of the country coming together to face national challenges-the pandemic, George Floyd's murder, and the Capitol riot-these challenges only reinforced divisions.

Chris Tausanovitch, John Sides, Lynn Vavreck (Author), Alex Knox (Narrator)

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Escape: How a generation shaped, destroyed and survived the internet

'Fifteen years ago, the internet felt like a special place my friends and I had built for each other; by 2020, we were standing on its ruins, wondering if we'd played a part in its destruction.' Journalist Marie Le Conte was born in 1991, the same year the World Wide Web was invented. She had her first blog at twelve, a successful music website at fifteen, a Wikipedia page at seventeen and now, at thirty, over 80,000 followers on Twitter. From MSN, Tumblr and MySpace, to chat rooms, forums and blogs; Marie is part of the millennial generation that grew up while the internet was growing up with them. Where did it go all wrong? How did the internet go from a place where you went to escape real life to where real life is shaped? A place where you could be yourself and find like-minded people to a world of filters and ads? A place we are all now desperately trying to escape from? Escape is a fascinating exploration of the rise and demise of the internet. It's a look back on the platforms, the people and the online places. It's an analysis of the lessons being online has taught us, how the internet has changed us - and a celebration of the tools it gives us to feel less alone. The online generation have forever altered the world we live in, but is the internet still a place for the people that shaped it?

Marie Le Conte (Author), Yolanda Kettle (Narrator)

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False Prophets: British Leaders' Fateful Fascination with the Middle East from Suez to Syria

'Fascinating' Guardian, 'Book of the Day' 'A truly masterly book... A tour de force that will be read for a very long time.' Peter Hennessy Selected by the New Statesman as an essential read for 2022 Britain shaped the modern Middle East through the lines that it drew in the sand after the First World War and through the League of Nations mandates over the fledgling states that followed. Less than forty years later, the Suez crisis dealt a fatal blow to Britain's standing in the Middle East and is often represented as the final throes of British imperialism. However, as this insightful and compelling new book reveals, successive prime ministers have all sought to extend British influence in the Middle East and their actions have often led to a disastrous outcome. While Anthony Eden and Tony Blair are the two most prominent examples of prime ministers whose reputations have been ruined by their interventions in the region, they were not alone in taking significant risks in deploying British forces to the Middle East. There was an unspoken assumption that Britain could help solve its problems, even if only for the reason that British imperialism had created the problems in the first place. Drawing these threads together, Nigel Ashton explores the reasons why British leaders have been unable to resist returning to the mire of the Middle East, while highlighting the misconceptions about the region that have helped shape their interventions, and the legacy of history that has fuelled their pride and arrogance. Ultimately, he shows how their fears and insecurities made them into false prophets who conjured existential threats out of the sands of the Middle East.

Nigel Ashton (Author), Bruno Roubicek (Narrator)

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El grito armenio

Este libro recopila los resultados de una sólida investigación sobre el genocidio de más de un millón y medio de armenias y armenios a manos del ejército turco entre 1915 y 1923. Mariano Saravia explica con claridad los antecedentes y desencadenantes de ese primer genocidio del siglo XX. Recupera documentos gubernamentales, crónicas de la época y testimonios de sobrevivientes que despejan toda duda sobre la magnitud de lo sucedido, sobre las responsabilidades alrededor del crimen y de su encubrimiento posterior. También se preocupa por reconstruir la historia de aquel pueblo, sus costumbres y sueños que siguieron en pie pese al intento de exterminio -y cuenta cómo aún hoy los descendientes de las víctimas luchan para que se lo reconozca como tal-. Editado en 2007, El grito armenio tuvo un prólogo altamente elogioso de Osvaldo Bayer y fue traducido a varios idiomas. - Mariano Saravia es un periodista, historiador y docente universitario nacido en Córdoba, Argentina. Conduce el programa radial Mirada sur, enfocado en política internacional, y trabaja como columnista en otros envíos. Ha recorrido su provincia y otros puntos de América Latina dictando conferencias sobre diversos temas. Lleva publicados diez libros hasta la fecha, entre los cuales se cuentan La sombra azul (2005), El grito armenio (2007), El golpe paraguayo (2012) y Cuadernos de un viajador 1 y 2 (2016).

Mariano Gustavo Saravia, Mariano Saravia (Author), Maia Trogolo (Narrator)

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Getting China Wrong

The West's strategy of engagement with China has failed. More than three decades of trade and investment with the advanced democracies have left that country far richer and stronger than it would otherwise have been. But growth and development have not caused China's rulers to relax their grip on political power, abandon their mercantilist economic policies, or accept the rules and norms of the existing international system. To the contrary: China today is more repressive at home, more aggressive abroad, and more obviously intent on establishing itself as the world's preponderant power than at any time since the death of Chairman Mao. What went wrong? Put simply, the democracies underestimated the resilience, resourcefulness, and ruthlessness of the Chinese Communist Party. For far too long, the United States and its allies failed to take seriously the Party's unwavering determination to crush opposition, build national power, and fulfill its ideological and geopolitical ambitions. In this powerfully argued study, Friedberg identifies the assumptions underpinning engagement, describes the counterstrategy that China's Communist Party rulers devised in order to exploit the West's openness while defeating its plans, and explains what the democracies must do now if they wish to preserve their prosperity, protect their security, and defend their common values.

Aaron L. Friedberg (Author), Charles Constant (Narrator)

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