Bøger af William Ascher

This book highlights the attention that policymakers, activists, and the public should pay to internal migration. Although prominent research has analyzed particular types of internal migration, especially urbanization and internally displaced persons (IDPs), the narrow scope of existing studies cannot capture the overlaps of motivation and circumstances that pose serious policy dilemmas. The book is distinctive in examining the full range of modes and motives of internal migration: state-sponsored or unsponsored, coerced or voluntary, land-seeking or market-seeking, urban or rural, and so on. While approaching internal migration holistically, it also emphasizes how it is distinct from international migrations, especially the central role of the state, whose internal divisions and defensive reactions to challenges often play decisive roles in governing migration. The writing style is geared towards accessibility, making it appropriate for college- and graduate-level students as well as the broader public.

This landmark book offers a comprehensive analysis of how development approaches have evolved since World War II, examining and also evaluating the succession of theories, doctrines, and practices that have been formulated and applied in the Third World and beyond.

Although many scholars and practitioners recognize that development and conflict are intertwined, there is much less understanding of the mechanisms behind these linkages. This book takes a new approach by critically examining how various development strategies provoke or help prevent intrastate violence, based on cases from all developing regions.

Scheming for the Poor is the first comparative analysis of redistributive policymaking in Latin America. Ascher examines the success or failure of progressive policies launched by nine governments grouped into three regime types-populist, reformist, and radical-over the course of the postwar history of Argentina, Chile, and Peru.

Humans are plagued by shortsighted thinking, preferring to put off work on complex, or difficult problems in favor of quick-fix solutions to immediate needs. This book draws on research from psychology, economics, institutional design, and legal theory to suggest strategies to overcome obstacles to long-term planning in developing countries.

The dominance of cognitive theories applied to political psychology has diminished the roles of affect, psychological needs, and the psychodynamic mechanisms that are crucial for understanding political behavior. The goal here is to recapture these dimensions.

Presents the aspects of the author's contributions to the field of Political Psychology such as the psychodynamic mechanisms drawn from psychoanalytic theory, and the use of symbol associations to understand political propaganda.