When the rand collapsed from 7.60 to 13.84 to the US dollar in 2001, Kevin Wakeford blew the whistle, accusing three big corporates and one global bank of being party to manipulation in the currency markets. Wakeford predicted that the rand was on its way to 20, 30, 40 and possibly 50 to the dollar, which would have thrown the seven-year-old democracy into economic and political turmoil. As a result of his intervention, a Rand Commission was set up by President Mbeki to investigate his claims, and the rand’s collapse was arrested and reversed. The Rand Commission was, however, shut down prematurely and Wakeford was fired as CEO of the South African Chamber of Business. While the Enron and WorldCom scandals in the United States triggered comprehensive corporate reform, it seemed that South African authorities were determined to cover up any wrongdoing. In The Assault on the Rand, Barry Sergeant tells the explosive story of the rand’s collapse and the events that followed. He also explores more recent banking scandals around the world, giving a hard-hitting exposé of greed, collusion and manipulation in the markets.

"When the rand collapsed from 7.60 to 13.84 to the US dollar in 2001, Kevin Wakeford blew the whistle, accusing three big corporates and one global bank of being party to manipulation in the currency markets. Wakeford predicted that the rand was on its way to 20, 30, 40 and possibly 50 to the dollar, which would have thrown the seven-year-old democracy into economic and political turmoil. As a result of his intervention, a Rand Commission was set up by President Mbeki to investigate his claims, and the rand's collapse was arrested and reversed. The Rand Commission was, however, shut down prematurely and Wakeford was fired as CEO of the South African Chamber of Business. While the Enron and WorldCom scandals in the United States triggered comprehensive corporate reform, it seemed that South African authorities were determined to cover up any wrongdoing. In The Assault on the Rand, Barry Sergeant tells the explosive story of the rand's collapse and the events that followed. He also explores more recent banking scandals around the world, giving a hard-hitting exposé of greed, collusion and manipulation in the markets."--Back cover.

Thirty years after her death in March 1982, Ayn Rand's ideas have never been more important. In "Ayn Rand Nation," Weiss explores the people and institutions that continue to be heavily influenced by Rand's work, particularly in the current political and economic climate.

The face of power in South Africa is rapidly changing – for better and for worse. The years since Thabo Mbeki was swept aside by Jacob Zuma’s ‘coalition of the wounded’ have been especially tumultuous, with the rise and fall of populist politicians such as Julius Malema, the terrible events at Marikana, and the embarrassing Guptagate scandal. What lies behind these developments? How does the Zuma presidency exercise its power? Who makes our foreign policy? What goes on in cabinet meetings? What is the state of play in the Alliance – is the SACP really more powerful than before? And, as the landscape shifts, what are the opposition’s prospects? In The Zuma Years, Richard Calland attempts to answer these questions, and more, by holding up a mirror to the new establishment; by exploring how people such as Malema, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko have risen so fast; by examining key drivers of transformation in South Africa, such as the professions and the universities; and by training a spotlight on the toxic mix of money and politics. The Zuma Years is a fly-on-the-wall, insider’s approach to the people who control the power that affects us all. It takes you along the corridors of government and corporate power, mixing solid research with vivid anecdote and interviews with key players. The result is an accessible yet authoritative account of who runs South Africa, and how, today.

What if the state as we know it didn’t exist? Our air would be poisonous, our votes uncounted, and our markets dysfunctional. Yet across the world, in countries as diverse as Hungary, Israel, the U.K., and the U.S., attacks on the modern state and its workforce are intensifying. They are morphing into power grabs by self-aggrandizing politicians who attempt to seize control of the state for themselves and their cronies. What replaces the modern state once it is fatally undermined is not the free market and the flowering of personal liberty. Instead, the death of government agencies organized under the rule of law inevitably leads to the only realistic alternative: the rule of men. In the Assault on the State, political scientists Stephen Hanson and Jeffrey Kopstein offer an impassioned plea to defend modern government against those who seek to destroy it. They dissect the attack on the machinery of government from its origins in post-Soviet Russia to the core powers of Western democracy. The dangers of state erosion imperil every aspect of our lives. Kopstein and Hanson outline a strategy that can reverse this destructive trend before humanity is plunged back into the pathological personalistic politics of premodern times.

"Sexual assault continues to be a pervasive problem, both for society in general and within the military community. To assist the Air Force in its continued efforts to combat sexual assault within its ranks, we reviewed the existing empirical literature on the characteristics and behaviors of adult perpetrators who commit sexual assault against other adults. Our search was not limited to studies of military populations. While a vast majority of the existing literature has focused on sole male perpetrators who assault female victims, we identified some research on other types of perpetrators, including female sexual assault perpetrators, men who perpetrate assault against other men, and perpetrators who participate in group sexual assault. This body of research indicates that adult perpetrators are diverse in terms of their demographics, background characteristics, and motivations. Moreover, research indicates that sexual assault perpetration is likely influenced by a combination of factors, including an individual's developmental and family history; his or her personality, including attitudes/cognitions; and environmental factors, including peer attitudes and alcohol consumption. The complexity of factors that influence sexual assault perpetration and the multiple pathways that lead to an attack make it difficult to predict whether an individual is prone to commit sexual assault. While predicting sexual assault perpetration is problematic, we identified a number of factors related to perpetration that may be relevant for intervention efforts and offer recommendations for the Air Force"--Publisher's web site.

To assist the U.S. Marine Corps in evaluating its sexual assault prevention programs, the authors of this report identify and develop measures of performance and measures of effectiveness with which to assess the programs. The research team created a logic model framework to guide evaluations and mapped program goals to measures that assess the degree to which each outcome has been achieved.

Author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand (1905-1982) is one of the most widely read philosophers of the twentieth century. Yet, despite the sale of nearly thirty million copies of her works, there have been few extended scholarly examinations of her thought. Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical provides the first comprehensive analysis of the intellectual roots and philosophy of this controversial thinker. Chris Sciabarra views Rand's "Objectivism" as a rejection--and affirmation--of key elements in the Russian tradition. Born in Russia during the Silver Age, Rand was educated at Leningrad University and studied with N. O. Lossky. She absorbed a dialectical method of inquiry that profoundly influenced her literary and philosophic project. Her distinctive libertarian synthesis is presented as a major contribution to radical social theory. Ultimately, Sciabarra challenges Rand's followers and critics to reassess her thought and its place in intellectual history. In writing this book, the author conducted original historical research, using materials from the Leningrad archives, interviews with Lossky's descendants and other Russian contemporaries of Rand, and an astounding diversity of sources within the vast written and oral tradition of Objectivism.

In this outstanding volume, Mimi Gladstein details Rand's belief in the moral supremacy of individualism over collectivism, highlighting her contribution to libertarian thought.