New USG books
2024 starts with fresh and critical reading material. Two interesting books, edited by scholars from the Utrecht University School of Governance (USG): Business Storytelling and Postcolonialism (edited by Ozan Alakavuklar et al.) and (In)visible European Government (edited by Maarten Hillebrandt et al.).
(In)visible European Government
(In)visible European Government: Critical Approaches to Transparency as an Ideal and a Practice was published in January 2024 by Routledge and edited by Maarten Hillebrandt from the Utrecht University School of Governance (USG) and Päivi Leino-Sandberg and Ida Koivisto of the University of Helsinki.
This book questions the theoretical premises and practical applications of transparency, showing both the promises and perils of transparency in a methodologically innovative way and in a cross-section of policy instruments. It scrutinizes transparency from three perspectives - methodologically, theoretically, and empirically - both in the specific context of the EU but also in the wider context of modern society in which transparency is embraced as an almost unquestionable virtue. The book examines the ways in which transparency practices can make institutions visible and stands out for its methodological self-reflection: to fully understand the irresistible call for transparency in our governing institutions, we must reflect on our own relationship with it.
(In)visible European Government will be of key interest to scholars and students of transparency studies, democratic legitimacy, global governance, governance law, EU studies and law and public policy more widely.
Business Storytelling and Postcolonialism
In November 2023, Business Storytelling and Postcolonialism was published at World Scientific, as the third volume of A World Scientific Encyclopedia of Business Storytelling, Set 1: Corporate and Business Strategies of Business Storytelling. Edited by Ozan Alakavuklar from the Utrecht University School of Governance (USG), together with Amon Barros (FGV EAESP (Sao Paulo), Brazil), Nimruji Jammulamadaka (Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, India), and Ana Maria Peredo (University of Ottawa, Canada).
This volume features stories that reflect the exacerbated inequalities of race, gender, and income across the world. These inequalities and power relations remain continuously contested, particularly in these trying times, despite being captive to a particular economic ideology built on the premise of exploitation and subjugation. The stories told in this volume tell against the orthodoxy, the coloniser, and the (seemingly) powerful. They are organized as stories of resistance, emancipation, and transformation. They invite us to rethink the multiple ways to (re)structure power relations between the colonizer and the colonized, and open up spaces for the marginalized underprivileged voices.
Business Storytelling and Postcolonialism is especially interesting for academics who work in the disciplines of Business, Management, Organizational Communication, and gender and diversity studies. But also, academics currently teaching in business management, organisational behaviour, and organisational communication at the post-secondary level might find this of great value.
Contact
Do you wish to contact the editors? Please contact them by email:
Ozan Alakavuklar: o.n.alakavuklar@uu.nl
Maarten Hillebrandt: m.z.hillebrandt@uu.nl