Book reviews

Amor Technologiae: Marshall McLuhan as Philosopher of Technology – Toward a Philosophy of Human-Media Relationships, Yoni Van Den Eede (2012) Brussels, Belgium: ASP VUB Press, 517 pp., ISBN: 978-9057181870, p/bk, €29.95 Titanic Century: Media, Myth and the Making of a Cultural Icon, Paul Heyer (2012) Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 211 pp., ISBN 978-0-313-39815-5, h/bk, $48.00 Media Environments, Barry Vacker (ed.) (2010) San Diego, CA: Cognella, 546 pp., ISBN: 978-1935551348, p/bk, $142.50 Networked Reenactments: Stories Transdisciplinary Knowledges Tell, Katie King (2012) Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 392 pp., ISBN: 978-0822350729, p/bk, $25.95

Book reviews

Book reviewed: The Brain and Emotion by E. Rolls (2000). ix + 367 pp., ISBN 0-19-852463-3, Price £17.99, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Anxiety, Depression and Emotion by R.D. Davidson (Ed.). (2000). ISBN 0-19-513358-7, New York: Oxford University Press.

The politics of the new Germany

The Politics of the New Germany takes a new approach to understanding politics in the post-unification Federal Republic. Assuming only elementary knowledge, it focuses on debates and issues in order to help students understand both the workings of Germany's key institutions and some of the key policy challenges facing German politicians. Written in a straightforward style by four experts, each of the chapters draws on a rich variety of real-world examples. Packed with boxed summaries of key points, a guide to further reading and a range of seminar questions for discussion at the end of each chapter, this book highlights both the challenges and opportunities facing policy-makers in such areas as foreign affairs, economic policy, immigration, identity politics and institutional reforms. The book also takes a bird's-eye view of the big debates that define German politics over time, regardless of which party happens to be in power. It pinpoints three key themes that have characterised German politics over the last sixty years; reconciliation, consensus and transformation. Table of Contents: Introduction 1. Germany and the Burden of History 2. Germany’s Post-War Development, 1945-1989 3. Towards German Unity? 4. A Blockaded System of Government? 5. The Party System and Electoral Behaviour: The Path to Stable Instability? 6. Economic Management: The End of the German Model? 7. Citizenship and Demographics: A Country of Immigration? 8. The Reform of the Welfare State? 9. Germany and the European Union: A European Germany or a German Europe? 10. Foreign and Security Policy: A New Role for the Twenty-First Century? 11. Conclusion

The politics of exclusion:institutions and immigration policy in contemporary Germany

Immigration is one of the most sensitive issues of modern European politics. Nowhere is this more the case than in Germany, as a result of its history and the sheer scale of immigration it has experienced since 1945. Yet despite this background, Germany's immigration, residence and citizenship policy has been more restrictive when compared to that of many other countries; indeed, official policy long maintained that Germany was not a 'country of immigration'. But why has this been the case? The politics of exclusion provides a new analytical perspective on immigration in Germany, tracing the country's immigration and citizenship policy since the Second World War. The book argues that institutional politics are central to understanding why Germany's policy structures have experienced only incremental change over the past 20 years, and have remained comparatively restrictive. With its lively and accessible style, the book will appeal to advanced scholars and students of immigration and Germany.

The politics of the new Germany

The Politics of the New Germany continues to provide the most comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date textbook on contemporary German Politics. The text takes a new approach to understanding politics in the post-unification Federal Republic. Assuming only elementary knowledge, it focuses on a series of the most important debates and issues in Germany today with the aim of helping students understand both the workings of the country's key institutions and some of the most important policy challenges facing German politicians. For this second edition, the content has been comprehensively updated throughout, augmented by additional factboxes and data, and features new material on: •Grand coalition •Lisbon treaty •Constitutional court •Financial crisis •Reform of social policy •Afghanistan. Written in a straightforward style by three experts, each of the chapters draws on a rich variety of real-world examples. In doing so, it highlights both the challenges and opportunities facing policy-makers in such areas as foreign affairs, economic policy, immigration, identity politics and institutional reform. The book also takes a bird’s-eye view of the big debates that have defined German politics over time, regardless of which political parties happened to be in power. It pinpoints three key themes that have characterised German politics over the last sixty years; reconciliation, consensus and transformation. The book is a comprehensive, yet highly accessible, overview of politics in 21st Century Germany and should be essential reading for students of politics and international relations, as well as of European and German studies.

Logistics by rail:is this the key to more sustainable traffic policies in Northern Germany?

Despite the fact that Germany has a well- expanded traffic infrastructure, the country con-fronts a strong growth in freight volumes and it is very likely that in the forthcoming yearsit will not be able to reasonably cope with the increasing demand. Against this back-ground, the aim of this paper is to provide an in-depth analysis of the transport sector in North Germany in an effort to identify, if any, the possibilities of collapse as a result of the continuous increase in the demand of freight traffic. The research based on the DelphiTechnique, collects, analyses and summarizes the opinions of a group of experts in theaforementioned issues. Results indicate that railways could represent the solution to theforecasted growing freight volumes in the next years, not only in Germany, but also in thewhole European transport sector. In spite of continuous efforts undertaken by the politicsand the economy, the existing logistics and freight traffic concepts are not sufficient. Fi-nancing is too scarce; traffic concepts take issues like sustainability, environment protec-tion and working conditions into little consideration.

Attitudes towards and perceptions of entrepreneurs in Central Eastern Europe (Poland, the Czech Republic, and East-Germany)

This paper explores attitudes and perceptions towards entrepreneurs in three Central Eastern European (CEE) countries undergoing transition from planned to market-based economic systems. Entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) play a critical role in this transformation process. Study one examines whether governments and general public are perceived as supportive of entrepreneurs. Such perceptions might eventually increase the number of entrepreneurs as it would be seen as a legitimate career choice (cf. Etzioni, 1987). Study two explores whether the concept ‘entrepreneur’ is interpreted in the same way in the three cultures using a student sample. Cross-cultural aspects and support measures for entrepreneurship are discussed.

Editorial

On behalf of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan and the editorial team, I am pleased to welcome readers to this, the first issue of Knowledge Management Research & Practice (KMRP). The aim of KMRP is to provide an outlet for rigorous, high-quality, peer-reviewed articles on all aspects of managing knowledge, organisational learning, intellectual capital and knowledge economics. The Editorial Board intends that there be a particular emphasis on cross-disciplinary approaches, and on the mixing of 'hard' (e.g. technological) and 'soft' (e.g. cultural or motivational) issues. This issue features four regular papers and an editorial paper; in addition, there are two book reviews. KMRP is intended as a truly international journal. The papers in this issue feature authors based in five different countries on three continents; eight different countries and four continents if the editorial paper is included. The first of the regular papers is 'The Knowledge-Creating Theory Revisited: Knowledge Creation as Synthesizing Process', by Ikujiro Nonaka and Ryoko Toyama. There can be few readers who are unaware of the work on knowledge creation by Nonaka and his co-workers such as Takeuchi, and this paper seeks to revisit and extend some of the earlier ideas. The second paper is 'Knowledge Sharing in a Multi-Cultural Setting: A Case Study' by Dianne Ford and Yolande Chan. They present a case study that explores the extent to which knowledge sharing is dependent on national culture. The third paper is 'R&D Collaboration: The Role of bain Knowledge-creating Networks' by Malin Brännback. She also draws upon Nonaka and Takeuchi's work on knowledge creation, using the case of knowledge-creating networks in biopharmaceutical R&D involving both universities and industry as an example. The fourth regular paper is 'The Critical Role of Leadership in Nurturing a Knowledge Supporting Culture' by Vincent Ribière and Alea Saa Sitar. They examine the role of leaders in knowledge management generally, and especially in knowledge organisations, from the viewpoint of 'leading through a knowledge lens'. In addition, this issue includes an 'editorial paper', 'Knowledge Management Research & Practice: Visions and Directions' by the editorial team of John Edwards, Meliha Handzic, Sven Carlsson, and Mark Nissen. This paper presents a small survey of academics and practitioners, outlines key directions for knowledge management research and practice, and gives the editorial team's views on how KMRP can help promote scholarly inquiry in the field. We trust that you will both enjoy reading this first issue and be stimulated by it, and cordially invite you to contribute your own paper(s) to future issues of KMRP.

The essentials of knowledge management

This book reviews the field of Knowledge Management, taking a holistic approach that includes both "soft" and "hard" aspects. It provides a broad perspective on the field, rather than one based on a single viewpoints from Computer Science or Organizational Learning, offering a comprehensive and integrated conception of Knowledge Management. The chapters represent the best Knowledge Management articles published in the 21st century in Knowledge Management Research & Practice and the European Journal of Information Systems, with contributors including Ikujiro Nonaka, Frada Burstein, and David Schwartz. Most of the chapters contribute significantly to practise as well as theory.

James Paul Gee, How to Do Discourse Analysis: A Toolkit, New York: Routledge, 2011; ix + 206 pp., €25.00/US$33.00 (pbk)

Book reviews