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The explosive growth and increasing complexity of global financial markets are defining characteristics of the contemporary world economy. Unfortunately, financial globalization has been accompanied by a marked increase in the frequency and severity of financial crises. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has taken a central role in managing these crises through its loans to developing countries. Despite extensive analysis and criticism of the IMF in recent years, key questions remain unanswered. Why does the Fund treat some countries more generously than others? To what extent is IMF lending driven by political factors rather than economic concerns? In whose interests does the IMF act? In this book, Mark Copelovitch offers novel answers to these questions. Combining statistical analysis with detailed case studies, he demonstrates how the politics and policies of the IMF have evolved over the last three decades in response to fundamental changes in the composition of international capital flows.

International capital flow and domestic financial market structures explain why some countries are more vulnerable to banking crises.

Dramatic images of an ever-more chaotic and divided America Over the past 10 years, New York-based photographer Mark Peterson (born 1955) has focused his lens on America's divided political landscape. The Past Is Never Dead takes up Peterson's ongoing documentation where his award-winning book Political Theatre, depicting the troubled lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, left off. He captures a time in which the left and right move further apart, misinformation and untruths abound in the media, and politicians have no qualms in breaking the fourth wall to recruit audiences to their causes. Peterson portrays a country on edge, through subjects such as "Stop the Steal" protesters and the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol. With his trademark flash and high-contrast approach, Peterson's dramatic black-and-white images are like X-rays of America's complex political culture: "Democracy is a messy form of government," he declares, "and I try and capture it in all its chaos."

Der früh verstorbene US-amerikanische Künstler Mark Lombardi (1951–2000) produzierte visuelle Netzwerke und Diagramme, die die unsichtbaren Verknüpfungen zwischen politisch-ökonomischen Vorgängen, Korporationen und Individuen transparent machen. Dieses Notizbuch bildet nicht die bekannten feingliedrigen Zeichnungen und Netze ab, sondern zeigt Lombardis Recherchehilfsmittel und Denkstützen: seine Karteikarten. Der ehemalige Bibliothekar Lombardi, der für seine Akribie bekannt war, hat seine Informationen aus öffentlich zugänglichen Quellen mittels eines Karteikartensystem sortiert und archiviert, von denen einige hier abgedruckt sind. In ihrer persönlichen Einführung beschreibt Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev ihre persönlicheSicht auf dieses außergewöhnliche künstlerische Oeuvre, dessen Verbindungslinien sich der Faktenlage von Finanzskandalen, Terrorangriffen und Verbrechen unterordnen und Namen nennen. Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (*1957) ist künstlerische Leiterin der dOCUMENTA (13). Sprache: Deutsch/Englisch

At the time of Christ, world politics was an ebb and flow of colliding empires and forces. The world knew only dynastic succession and rule by force. Israel was swept up in this world. Her expectations of deliverance, while diverse, had in common the anticipation of violent liberation by an alliance of God, the expected one (Theo), and Israel's forces. Her vision included the subjugation of the world to Yahweh. Any messianic claimant would be expected to fulfill this hope. Mark's story of Jesus must be read against such expectations of military power. Mark knows that Jesus' plan of salvation differed radically from this. Rather than liberation through revolution, it involved deliverance through humble, loving service and cross-bearing. However, the disciples follow Jesus but do not understand Jesus' purpose. They constantly expect war. So, the Gospel is then read from Mark's full understanding and the disciples' flawed perspective. In this first volume of Jesus in a World of Colliding Empires, Keown backgrounds Mark and the political situations of the world at the time. He then unpacks Mark 1:1--8:29 as Jesus seeks to show the disciples he is Messiah while drawing out the deep irony of their incomprehension.

Cruciformed is a reader-response, narrative-critical study of Mark's gospel focusing on the two main components of any story: character and plot. It explores how readers will identify with the role of the disciples who are portrayed realistically as embodying both good and bad traits and how the chief plot device is the way that expectations of both disciples and readers are brought to surprising fulfillment and reversal as they interact with Jesus. Contents: Reading the Gospel as Literature; Components of the Markan Narrative; Mark's Characters and Plot; Structuring the Story; Prologue: Disorientation in the Wasteland; Scene One: Healings and Oppostition; Scene Two: Riddles and Rejection; Scene Three: Feedings and Frustration; Scene Four: Predictions and Delusion; Scene Five: Prophecies and Confrontations; Scene Six: Crucifixion and Desertion; Sequel: Reorientation for the Future; Cruciformed Readers in Today's World; Annotated Bibliography.