Politics and International Studies in 2018

Dear Authors and Readers,

2018 was certainly a tumultuous year in politics and world affairs that has kept us on our toes! At Palgrave Macmillan, one of our biggest highlights was The British General Election of 2017, by Philip Cowley and Dennis Kavanagh. The BGE, as we lovingly call it in the editorial team, is now in its 20th edition with books dating back to 1945. We take great pride in this piece of history in the making, drawing on hundreds of interviews and with unparalleled access to all the key players of the election. It’s a great example of combining rigorous academic research with current events, making the BGE a must-read for scholars, Westminster insiders and the wider public. Written under immense time pressure and published as close as possible to the election, we are now holding our breath to find out when the next edition is due!

For the Politics & International Studies team, 2018 was also a year of pioneering a bit more with publishing formats. Following on to the huge success of Palgrave Pivot, short books of c. 25,000 to 50,000 words, we piloted a new short format called Palgrave Policy Essentials for our Public Policy list. These are accessible books of max. 25,000 words, written by influential academics with direct policymaking experience. They are designed to appeal to a wide audience, with clear summaries on policy implications and recommendations for action. Last summer we launched the Palgrave Policy Essentials with three books written by Claire Craig, Patrick Diamond and Simon Duke†, and we hope to expand the format to other subject areas this year.

• How Does Government Listen to Scientists? by Claire Craig discusses how interdisciplinary knowledge transfer can help speed up the development and use of practical insights for science in government, specifically around climate change, risk, disease prevention and artificial intelligence.
• The End of Whitehall? by Patrick Diamond argues that the system of government in Britain is being radically reshaped. The book provides an account of institutional change at a critical moment in UK politics, covering the Brexit process, the impact of Austerity, and challenges such as climate change and an ageing society.
• Will Brexit Damage our Security and Defence? by Simon Duke offers a critical analysis of the consequences of Brexit for crisis management, internal security and defence industries in both the UK and EU.

It’s always a big dilemma to pick highlights of the past year as there are so many wonderful books to choose from! However, here are a few choices from the editors we would like to share as they capture both cutting edge research, current affairs and also a bit of Palgrave Politics history:

• Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Trump by Duchess Harris is a definitive investigation of the mainstreaming of black feminist politics in the 21st century. Following on the success of Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Clinton and Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Obama, this volume incorporates the black women leaders of Black Lives Matter and contemporary black feminist political stars like Rep. Maxine Waters and Senator Kamala Harris.
• American Presidential Candidate Spouses by Laurel Elder, Brian Frederick and Barbara Burrell offers a comprehensive analysis of public opinion toward presidential candidate spouses over the course of three decades. The book includes public evaluations of Bill Clinton and Melania Trump during the 2016 presidential election as well as the presidential candidate spouses in the 1992 and 2012 elections.
• Butler’s Political Facts edited by Roger Mortimore and Andrew Blick is the most comprehensive single volume reference work available for British political facts and covers the period from 1900 to the present. This new edition updates the contents to the immediate post-European Union referendum period in the UK.
• Justin Trudeau and Canadian Foreign Policy edited by Norman Hillmer and Philippe Lagassé offers the first comprehensive analysis of Canadian foreign policy under the government of Justin Trudeau. It covers the areas of climate change, trade, Indigenous rights, arms sales, refugees, military affairs, relationships with the US and China – and Trudeau’s biggest and most unexpected challenge: the election of Donald Trump as US President.

Moving on from ‘new’ to ‘old’, last year we had a lot of cause for celebration! Palgrave Macmillan’s Politics programme is one of our longest standing lists and so we celebrated a number of impressive series anniversaries. The International Political Economy series turned 35 and has been edited by Timothy M. Shaw since it started in 1983. Since then the IPE series has tracked the development of the global political economy as well as the impact of crises on its organization and governance. Unlike competing series, it has always had a concentration on the global South as well as focusing on emerging economies, companies and sectors, debates and policies and has published nearly 500 titles in its lifetime. To mark the anniversary, we have also published a special Christmas present in form of The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary International Political Economy, edited by Timothy M. Shaw, Laura C. Mahrenbach, Renu Modi and Xu Yi-chong. Trumping the IPE series in years is our prestigious St Antony’s Series which celebrated its 40th anniversary. This is our longest-standing series across all subjects with over 300 publications from St Antony’s College contributors. Covering a range of disciplines from political and social sciences, the series has maintained its connection with St Antony’s College, a world-renowned centre at the University of Oxford for research and teaching on global and regional issues. And last but by no means least, we were proud to see The Studies of the Americas Series in its 26th year, published in conjunction with University of London’s Institute of the Americas under the editorship of Maxine Molyneux. The series showcases cross-disciplinary and comparative research on the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada – particularly in the areas of Politics, Economics, History, Anthropology, Sociology, Development, Gender, Social Policy and the Environment.

Finally, 2019 holds a new role in the company for myself and so I am delighted to introduce the new Editorial Director for Politics & International Studies, Sarah Roughley. Many of you will already know Sarah from her work as Publisher for International Relations and Security Studies and Head of Politics. I am leaving this fantastic programme and team in the most capable hands and cannot wait to see what gems our Authors and Editors will publish this year.

A very happy and inspiring 2019 to you all!

Yours,

Christina M Brian

Vice President Business, Economics, Politics, Law