Reviews for Water pollution

The average rating for Water pollution based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-12-16 00:00:00 Jonathan Harris Do not be fooled by intellectual form of this book for it hides an astounding poverty of thought. It is informative (although most of the data is, as of now, only of historical value) but it's explanatory power is close to zero. To summarise the findings: Populism is evil because it is driven by resentment and xenophobia, while resentment and xenophobia are evil because they are populist hallmarks. It is a crude, high-handed account of various social, political, and cultural phenomena conveniently filed under the same name. And there not an ounce of bewilderment as to why certain things happen, not a spark of curiosity whether there is more than one way to look at these things. Have you heard about the distinction between the genetic (elitist) populism and the derivative one? The former is pure Betz: to paraphrase real socialism the main pillar of modern European democracies consists of elite and liberal "democratic avant-garde" acting for and on behalf of democratically deficient and inept masses. Betz oozes with paternalistic disdain for the people inadvertently emphasizing the oligarchic element in democracy. For him "populus" means more often than not "plebs" instead of "people"; the losers, the simpletons lacking education and understanding of intricate political processes. It is, thus, not surprising that every time Betz describes the derivative populism exhibited by your average Smith, Mueller or Martin, it is merely a mirror reflection of the arguments put forward by elitist populism For if your average working class Smith, Mueller, and Martin are now and again told that they are not equal with the elite in terms of knowledge or understanding of democratic complexities, then why denying them the right to attack with counter-argumentation mimicking the elites line of thinking? Contemporary European populism evolves around the "us versus them" dyad, but this division is present not only in the minds of the people, but also in the minds of the elite of whom Betz is a fine specimen.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-08-22 00:00:00 Jacob Freiburger Interesting read. "Radical Right-Wing Populism in Western Europe" shows several points of politics and cultural/social change and illustrates each point for the diffrent western right-wing populist parties. Personally, I read the introductions to each point and the skipped to the French parts, because that's what I'm interested in. You will also find Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Austria and Belgium. There are a lot of quotations (you will find more then enough other books or articles that you might like to read), but it gives a great overal view of the matter. I did like this book, it was good and quite easy to read. Although, I would have preferred less references in the text.