Technological innovation, the globalization of exchange, greater marital instability, and new environmental and health challenges are reshaping the world in which we live. This edited volume analyzes current and projected future socioeconomic trends in the context of New York State, a state that has historically played an important role in public policy innovation. The contributors identify major trends, compare New York State to the United States as a whole, and indicate the need for new social policy at the local, state, and federal levels. Among the issues discussed are the distribution of income, trends in land use, recent immigrants, and family living arrangements.

This book investigates the educational equity in China from multiple perspectives, including rural and urban educational equity, interschool educational equity, Eastern and Western educational equity and administrative policies related to the educational equity. All those perspectives concentrate on examining the comprehensive development of the educational equity in contemporary China. In addition, this book also presents specific historical and cultural shifts for policymakers and stakeholders to offer an in-depth understanding of the educational equity strategy in a long term.

Beliefs held by US and European elites about unregulated markets and a currency union without fiscal union led to a transatlantic crisis unmatched in severity since the Great Depression. Leading scholars of elites analyze how elites have responded to the crisis, are altered by it and what this 'hour of elites' means for democracy.

According to available estimates, only .3% of the total fresh water is usable for the world's entire human and animal populations. Some experts have observed that in the near future, the earth will face severe scarcity of water, resulting in an insufficient amount of water to sustain our ever increasing future needs. Others believe that such pessimistic estimates are unwarranted.

Due to conflicting opinions and data-interpretations, the future levels of scarcity are difficult to accurately forecast. One fact, however, is above controversy: water resources are not evenly distributed. The world's 38 poorest countries are located near areas that lack ample water supplies. Even some areas, which seem to possess sufficient supplies, suffer zonal or regional shortages. In recent years there has been an increasing realization not only of the importance of water as a key factor for sustainable development, but also the impending strategies for water in the near future. The chapters in this collection examine this critical resource and the policies being pursued to meet the challenge of decreasing access to usable water by selected countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. A major study for students, researchers, and policymakers involved with environmental and development issues.

Situating Gorbachev and perestroika historically and ideologically, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of Soviet political economy in the context of socialist theory and seven decades of its application in the Soviet Union. A. F. Dowlah challenges the belief that socialism is sternly committed to centralized economic and political structures, and claims that socialism contains several theories, some more decentralized or democratic, others more authoritarian. Although the contemporary crisis in the socialist economies powerfully challenges the foundations of socialist theory and practice, Gorbachev, up until the coup attempt of August 1991, claimed that perestoika embodied more socialism, not less, and he was looking within the socialist tradition to solve contemporary Soviet problems. This work examines Gorbachev's claim and evaluates perestroika as a strategy of transition to a new variant of socialism. Based on thorough inquiry, textual evidence, and historical facts, the study concludes that Gorbachev's claims are substantially legitimate, and that a democratic version of socialism is possible within the Russian socialist tradition. It remains to be seen, however, in light of recent political and economic developments, whether this, or some more radical set of reforms, will emerge in Gorbachev's troubled economy.

This book provides an insightful sociological study of the declining Japanese population, using statistical analysis to establish the significance of municipal power using demographic data on national, regional, prefectural and municipal levels. Penned by one of Japan's eminent sociologists, it provides a quantitative characterization of population decline in Japan with a focus on regional variation, and identifies the principal explanatory factors through GPI statistical software tools such as G-census and EvaCva, within a historical perspective. Furthermore, it offers a qualitative assessment of what constitutes 'municipal power' as this relates to regional/local revitalization as a means of addressing municipal population decline. Using Goki-Shichido as a theoretical framework, this book pays special attention to municipal variations within the same prefecture, presenting a completely unique approach. In combining these two dimensions of analyses, the book successfully reveals the impact of municipal power and socio-cultural identity of social capital in the region, from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives at the municipal level. Demography issues in Japan have been receiving increasing attention among researchers given the growing number of declining populations in developed countries, in tandem with rapid aging and low fertility trends. Providing an original and unique contribution to regional population analysis in the fields of regional demography, historical demography and regional population policy, this book shows that the revitalization of the community is vital if Japan is to increase its population, so as to renew a community 'raison d'etre'. The book is of interest to scholars of Asian studies more broadly, and to sociologists, demographers, and policymakers interested in population studies, specifically. "Providing an informative and vivid overview of the demographic situation of Japan, the author offers excellent suggestions for effective regional policy in confronting a shrinking society. This book presents a unique analysis of the regional variations on small municipal levels, with demographic variables, social indicators and historical identities. An original contribution to regional population analysis in the fields of regional population policy, regional demography and historical demography." - Toshihiko Hara, Professor Emeritus, Sapporo City University

This volume explores why Americans are among the least likely in the world to speak another language and how this U.S. foreign language deficit negatively impacts national and economic security, business and career prospects. Stein-Smith exposes how individuals are disadvantaged through their inability to effectively navigate the global workplace and multicultural communities, how their career options are limited by the foreign language deficit, and even how their ability to enjoy travel abroad and cultural pursuits is diminished. Through exploring the impact of the U.S. foreign language deficit, the author speaks to the stakeholders and partners in the campaign for foreign languages, offering guidance on what can and should be done to address it. She examines the next steps needed to develop specific career pathways that will meet the current and future needs of government, business, and industry, and empower foreign language learners through curriculum and career preparation.

What is charity? How does it operate, who does it benefit and what should we expect it to do? This important book helps to tackle the most common misunderstandings and misconceptions of charitable activity in contemporary British society, especially insofar as these affect the thinking of politicians and policymakers. The authors present and discuss over a dozen studies, including public attitudes to giving, large datasets on the geography and funding patterns of third sector organisations, and interviews with a wide range of donors, charity leaders, fundraisers and philanthropy advisers. This data enables them to explore the logic of charity in terms of the distribution of resources across causes and communities in the UK, and the processes behind philanthropic decision-making, to reveal a picture of charitable activity at odds with widespread assumptions.

Most of the scholarship on the Job Guarantee up to now has been in the context of industrialized nations such as the United States and Australia. Employment Guarantee Schemes directs attention to challenges and opportunities of enacting direct job creation policies in developing countries and BRICS, including China, Ghana, Argentina, and India. This book also investigates how the Job Guarantee might interface with other policy goals, such as environmental sustainability. Eschewing narrow individualistic and economistic approaches, these interdisciplinary, historical, and comparative studies delve deeper into how both unemployment and true full employment can affect community.

This volume is a collection of essays that provide a comprehensive coverage of multiple aspects of the discourse on environment, development and sustainability. It is designed to bring in a host of perspectives highlighting the synergies and the trade-offs in this debate, showcasing research along with policy implications of putting research into use. The global discussion on sustainability paints the broad canvas for this book. This volume aims to probe some contemporary issues that will help in understanding the sustainability narrative in India. The topics span over a host of questions on energy, environment, natural resources and related constituents of development. The discourse further extends to the role of economic modelling, public policy debates, political intervention, stakeholders' response, community participation and so on. The discussions are often based on empirical support, review of existing literature as well as policy analysis. With an ultimate aim to understand the overall development narrative of the people of India, the discourse takes in its ambit the nuances of resource utilisation, economic growth, COVID-19 impacts, competitiveness and market structures, urbanization, sectoral reforms, environmental hazards, climate change, pollution, natural resource accounting and management to name a few. The book is divided into four sections, namely, The Big Picture: Evolving Perspectives; The Energy Scenario: Dilemmas and Opportunities; Sustainability Cross-Cuts: Developmental Aspects and Externality Empirics: Knowledge and Practice. The first section contains commentaries on the overarching themes of economic growth, development and sustainability. It presents some emerging perspectives on the developmental crisis that has emerged through the environmental lens with additional focus on the need for inclusion of creativity, knowhow, technology and financial resources to achieve the ambitious SDG targets. The second section brings out the dilemmas and opportunities in the energy sector, that has been a key player in discussions of sustainability, especially for India where significant technological advances in conventional forms of energy supply coexists with fairly low levels of per capita energy consumption and energy security is a key challenge. The section on sustainability crosscuts attempts to highlight the problems and processes of mainstreaming the sustainability question into conventional thinking through the concepts of a circular economy, green accounting techniques, institutional and governance structures, public policy and inclusive growth, amongst others. The last section presents some empirical studies on environmental externalities, the unaccounted environmental effects of economic production and consumption and finally the behavioural aspects of the stakeholders that are crucial in the larger narrative of sustainable development. This edited volume contains contributions of reputed scholars from various Indian universities, research institutions and professionals from outside academia, who are proven experts in their fields. The link between policy, practice, and well-being of the large vulnerable population of India is the major focus of enquiry that will help researchers, practitioners and policy planners in conducting further research in energy, environment, resource and linked areas of development economics. General readers with an active interest in energy, environment, and economic development are also likely to find this book an interesting read, especially in the times of several environmental challenges facing humankind.

This key text from the best-selling "Understanding Welfare" series provides an unique understanding of the main theoretical perspectives and concepts used in social policy in a student-friendly format. A central theme is that theory helps us to understand policy, politics and practice. Written by a leading author in UK social policy, the book uses diverse examples from contemporary social policy to help theoretical arguments come alive and uses summaries and additional resources to help students and their teachers in their learning. It will be essential reading for 2nd and 3rd year undergraduates and postgraduates in social policy, social theory and related subjects, as well as their teachers.

This international handbook is the first to analyze mental health policies systematically across a variety of both developed and developing countries. Mental health and public policy experts survey current policies, the public policy process, and critical issues in twenty countries that are representative of different problems. The work considers the treatment of the mentally ill and mentally retarded, mentally disordered offenses, questions of substance abuse, deinstitutionalization, funding, and consumer rights. This major reference, with its comprehensive and comparative survey, is designed for scholars, students, and professionals who deal with mental health and public policy issues.

This book advocates a holistic reform of the current monetary and financial system dealing with the issues of money creation, central banks, loans, stock markets, tax justice, pension security and the international monetary system - "Bretton Woods II". Its innovative approach presents several alternatives for each cornerstone, in addition to introducing a participatory democratic process whereby sovereign citizens can themselves determine the rules governing the new financial and monetary system. With "democratic money conventions" in each municipality, where the elements of this new money system are discussed and decided on in a participatory manner, and a federal money covenant which then elaborates a template for a referendum about the future "money constitution", a true "sovereign" could progressively convert money from a financial weapon into a democratic tool. The envisaged democratic monetary system, by providing equal opportunities for every member of society to participate in the development of the "new rules of the game", turns money progressively into a public good which increases the freedom for all. The new system furthermore drives the enhancement of constitutional and relational values such as human dignity, solidarity, justice, sustainability, or democracy. Money should serve life and should serve the common good. The "Bank for the Common Good" Project, which was initiated in Austria by the author Christian Felber, represents a practical example of his proposals.

Public Opinion, Public Policy, and Smoking tracks Americans' changing attitudes about cigarette smoking over the last century. With data from more than five thousand public and privately conducted polls, this book carefully examines how Americans came to understand the health risks of smoking; how the tobacco industry sought to reframe smoking; and how public opinion support for tobacco control affected lawsuits, elections, and public policies. This book tests several well-known linkage models that connect public opinion with public policy. It shows that conventional wisdom about public opinion and tobacco control policy is often mistaken. This book offers the first in-depth look at American public opinion and cigarette smoking during the last century.

Under which conditions do companies engage in the provision of collective goods and services if the state lacks the capacity to do so? To what extent do multinational firms engage in a 'race to the top' fostering rather than undermining regulation? The empirical analyses in the individual chapters look at business responses to some of South Africa's most pertinent governance challenges, HIV/AIDS and environmental pollution. The contributors look at firms in four industry sectors: the automotive industry, the mining industry, the food and beverage industry and the textile industry. These four sectors comprise a significant number of foreign as well as local companies, with or without brand name, which cater to different market segments within South Africa, differ in size and are exposed to varying pressure from NGOs and foreign competitors.

This book addresses important questions and puzzles regarding the massification of higher education in Asia. It equips readers to critically evaluate and understand the consequences and challenges that massification entails, while also prompting policymakers and higher education administrators to tackle emerging issues related to the massification of higher education. Readers will gain a deeper, nuanced understanding of this trend, including its impacts and governance issues.

The authors examine how health governance is being transformed amid globalization, characterized by the emergence of new actors and institutions, and the interplay of competing ideas about global health. They explore how this has affected the governance of specific health issues and how it relates to global governance more broadly.

This book explores recent social policy reforms and innovations in Chile. Focusing on four major reform episodes - health, pensions, childcare, and maternity leave - Silke Staab unveils the complex interplay of factors that have shaped the successes and failures of actors pursuing positive gender change in social policy. She shows that even in highly constrained settings positive gender change is possible, but that its scope and quality are bound to vary in response to sector-specific institutional constraints and opportunities.

In October 1962, the world went to the brink of Armageddon. This study provides an archive based account of the Cuban missile crisis, providing the first detailed and authoritative account from the British perspective. The book draws upon British and US archival material and scholarship in the west and the former USSR. The diplomatic, military and intelligence dimensions of British policy are scrutinized. Material is presented and existing interpretations of UK US relations at this crucial moment are reassessed. The book contributes a fresh aspect to the literature on the Cuban missile crisis, by exploring where the views of Washington and its closest ally converged and diverged.

Over the past 25 years, the United States government has developed, through trial and error, both an understanding of terrorism and the means to deal with it. Using information collected in interviews with key decisionmakers from the Nixon to the Clinton administrations, David Tucker draws both strategic and tactical lessons from the United States' encounters with various terrorist groups. These lessons can be usefully applied to future counterterrorism efforts, as well as to other aspects of national security policy in a post-Cold War world where major conflicts will continue to be played out in numerous small struggles. This study will be must-reading for scholars and professionals in international relations, foreign policy, and military/political affairs.

This book focuses on the tensions between and conflict resolution processes concerning minority ethnic groups in Myanmar's rural areas and the State. It covers topics such as relations and communication between the central government, the Kokang Chinese community and the Kachin State; the impact of cyclone Nargis on remote settlements in the Ayeyarwady Delta; the impact of depletion of mangrove forests and Yangon's fuel needs on a Karen minority group; and the collapse of a community forestry project in a Pa-O village in Shan State. Written by young scholars from Myanmar, some of whom belong to minority groups, the book provides firsthand reporting and scholarship that, for the past sixty years, have not been available. Offering in-depth, unique insights into minority change issues in the interior and at the periphery of Myanmar, as seen from local perspectives, it offers a valuable resource for academics, students and researchers in the fields of sustainable development, social and political studies, and development communication in Asia.

Global contributors discuss the theoretical controversies concerning the merits and demerits of affirmative action, and explain why affirmative action is needed in multi-ethnic countries. They analyse actual experience with affirmative action policies - their origin, nature and consequences - in nine countries.

This book examines the politics of cancer, explains how our government is intrinsically tied to cancer research efforts, and documents how major political actors make cancer policy and are influenced in their decision making by political, social, scientific, and economic variables. Is whether we contract cancer—and whether we survive the disease, if we get it—largely just a result of good versus bad luck, or are these outcomes regarding cancer tied to the policies and actions of our federal government? Cancer-treating drug development and approval is overseen by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, billions of dollars of federal money are devoted towards cancer research, and exposure of citizens to potentially cancer-causing environments or chemicals is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency. Additionally, all of these factors can be affected by the political motivations of our most powerful politicians. The Politics of Cancer: Malignant Indifference analyzes the policy environment of cancer in America: the actors, the political institutions, the money, and the disease itself, identifying how haphazard U.S. government policy toward cancer research has been and how the president, Congress, government bureaucracies, and even the cancer industry have failed to meet timelines and make the expected discoveries. Whitman Cobb examines funding for the National Cancer Institute and the roles of the executive, Congress, policy entrepreneurs, and the bureaucracy as well as that of the state of cancer science. She argues that despite the so-called "war on cancer," no strategic, comprehensive government policy has been imposed—leading to an indecisive cancer policy that has significantly impeded cancer research. Written from a political science perspective, the book enables readers to gain insight into the realities of science policy and the ways in which the federal government is both the source of funding for much of cancer research and often deficient in setting comprehensive and consistent anti-cancer policy. Readers will also come to understand how Congress, the president, the bureaucracy, and the cancer industry all share responsibility for the current state of cancer policy confusion and consider whether pharmaceutical companies, for-profit cancer treatment hospitals, and interest groups like the American Cancer Society have a personal incentive to keep the fight alive.

Abortion is one of the most compelling public policy issues facing government and the public in the United States today. Most societies have enacted laws and statutes regarding abortion, and most societies have strong feelings regarding birth control and abortion. But the legal statutes and attitudes follow markedly different approaches. Simon examines how this issue is being faced in the United States, Canada, a sample of Western and Eastern European countries, Middle Eastern, African, and Latin American societies, and, among Asian countries, Japan, China, and India, along with Australia.

After a brief historical introduction, Simon examines the legal statutes pertaining to abortion in the selected countries and then reviews public attitudes toward abortion based on responses to national public opinion polls. She concludes by discussing the relationships between the laws and statutes pertaining to abortion and the nations' policies vis- DEGREESDa-vis population growth and control. "Abortion" is the first volume in a series that will examine major public policy issues using an explicitly comparative approach. Each will serve as a handbook for students, researchers, and scholars, containing basic empirical data and comprehensive references on the social issue or practice under examination.