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Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Development studies
This book examines the ways in which colonialism continues to define the political economy of Nigeria sixty years after gaining political independence from the British. It also establishes a link between colonialism and the continued agitation for restructuring the political arrangement of the country. The contributions offer various perspectives on how the forceful amalgamation of disparate units and diverse nationalities have undermined the realization of the development potential of Nigeria. The book is divided into two parts. The first part interrogates the political economy of colonialism and the implications of this on economic development in contemporary Nigeria. The second part examines nation-building, governance, and development in a postcolonial state. The failure of the postcolonial political elites to ensure inclusive governance has continued to foster centrifugal and centripetal forces that question the legitimacy of the state. The forces have deepened calls for secession, accentuated conflicts and predispose the country to possible disintegration. A new government approach is required that would ensure equal representation, access to power and equitable distribution of resources.
The majority of the poor and hungry people in the world live on small farms and struggle to subsist on too little land with low input - low yield technologies. At the same time, many other smallholders are successfully intensifying and succeeding as farm businesses, often in combination with diversification into off-farm sources of income. This book examines the growing divergence between subsistence and business oriented small farms, and discusses how this divergence has been impacted by population growth, trends in farm size distribution, urbanization, off-farm income diversification, and the globalization of agricultural value chains. It finds that policy makers need to differentiate more sharply between different types of small farms than they did in the past, both in terms of their potential contributions towards achieving national economic growth, poverty alleviation, and food security goals, and the types of assistance they need. The book distinguishes between smallholders that are business oriented, subsistence oriented, and at various stages of transition to the non-farm economy, and discusses strategies appropriate for assisting each type. The book draws on a wealth of recent experience at IFAD and elsewhere to help identify best practice approaches.
Although a number of selected African countries have made efforts to implement various financial sector reforms, many countries have not fully implemented the requisite reforms required for sustainable development. Instead, they have focused mainly on bank-based financial reforms, thereby neglecting market-based financial reforms. This study provides a one-stop shop for understanding the history and evolution of the financial sector in Africa with a special focus on the sub-Saharan region where the financial system in many countries is still at a relatively nascent stage. The analysis is extensive and robust, and starts from financial repression to financial liberalisation (both internal and external), and its role in sustainable development and poverty alleviation. The book covers a range of important research issues pertaining to financial development in selectede African countries, including interest rate and exchange rate reforms, the dynamics of bank-based and market-based financial development; the role of the informal financial sector in sustainable development; the finance-growth nexus; bank-based versus market-based financial sectors in Africa; financial development and information and communication technology; and financial development and gender equality, among other topics. The book also considers the relationship between the COVID-19 global pandemic and financial development, and concludes by presenting a forecast of the future trends of financial and sustainable development on the African continent in general and sub-Saharfan Africa in particular. The chapters are authored by prominent scholars and researchers in the field of finance and banking, applied econometrics and development economics, with a deep understanding and knowledge of financial development and the local situations in African countries. This book provides crucial reference material for academics, researchers, policymakers and students of all levels and is a must-read for anyone wishing to understand the nature of finance and sustainable development in Africa in relation to the rest of the world. It covers African countries, but with more emphasis on the sub-Saharan African region where the financial systems in many of the countries are still relatively underdeveloped.
This book provides humanitarian practitioners and policy makers with a manual for how to apply foresight and strategy in their work. Drawing on extensive research, the book demonstrates in practical terms how embedding futures-focused thinking into practice can help humanitarian actors to enhance their impact and fit for the future. The book provides readers with a step-by-step guide to an innovative combination of tools and methods tested and refined over the course of several years. However, it also goes beyond this, by grounding the approach within the broader ambition of making humanitarian action more effective. Overall, the analytical and strategic processes outlined in this book will accompany a decision maker through every stage of creating a robust, agile and impactful long-term strategy. This accessible guide will be an essential point of reference for practitioners and decision makers in the humanitarian ecosystem, as well as students studying humanitarian affairs, global development, conflict studies and international relations.
Drawing on an innovative project exploring current mobility transition policies and practices in 14 countries around the world, including key institutions such as the European Union and the United Nations, this book provides a critique of current transitions, mobility and transport policies. The authors consider how our mobility futures have been imagined, what they will potentially look and feel like, what lives we might live in them and what choices we might have to make to get there.
This book examines administrative changes and reforms carried out in the developing nations: it looks at the role of the state, various administrative reforms carried out at the behest of the West but never fully materialized, and events leading to policy failures and administrative mishaps. It is a story of failed developmental goals told through the looking glass of administration and it is about directing, managing, and controlling the means used in and by Third World countries to achieve development. In addition to a history of development administration, this volume includes an analysis of bureaucratic corruption and accountability, the issue of capability building in science and technology transfer, the new challenge of the 1990s - how to achieve environmentally sustainable development in the face of resource constraints and ever-growing public demands and expectations, and a strategy for sustainable development administration as the Third World prepares for the 21st century.
As the failings of neoliberalism become evident, the need for a new development paradigm becomes increasingly urgent. This Handbook offers a ground-breaking critical review of development and social change, and in doing do sets out the terms of the debates needed in areas where the orthodoxy has worn thin. The Handbook on Development and Social Change tackles key global topics including sustainability, regionalism, and international finance, as well as examining key developing regions from Latin America to China. With original chapters by recognised experts from across the globe with proven practical experience this Handbook examines the economic, political and cultural aspects of development and social change. Promoting a strong interdisciplinary approach, and integrating knowledge with practice, it moves beyond current development theories which deal poorly with the non-causal and chaotic and thus provides an approach which is fit for purpose in the modern era of global complexity. With it?s accessible coverage of complex issues this Handbook will be of particular interest for students in the fields of development studies, development economics, comparative sociology and global politics. Contributors include: N. Absenger, F. Blank, P. Brown, C. Bruzelius, H. Dean, K. Hylten-Cavallius, C. Jacqueson, P. Martin, F. Pennings, P. Phoa, L. Scullion, M. Seeleib-Kaiser, S. Stendahl, O. Swedrup, A.M. Swiatkowski, M. Wujczyk
In volume 1 of Gandhi and the Psychology of Nonviolence the authors advanced a scientific psychology of nonviolence, derived from principles enunciated by Gandhi and supported by current state-of-the-art research in psychology. In this second volume the authors demonstrate its potential contribution across a wide range of applied psychology fields. As we enter the era of the Anthropocene, they argue, it is imperative to make use of Gandhi's legacy through our evolving noospheric consciousness to address the urgent problems of the 21st century. The authors examine Gandhi's contributions in the context of both established areas such as the psychology of religion, educational, community and organizational psychology and newer fields including environmental psychology and the psychology of technology. They provide a nuanced analysis which engages with both the latest research and the practical implications for initiatives like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. The book concludes with an overview of Gandhi's contribution to modern psychology, which encompasses the history, development, and current impetus behind emerging work in the field as a whole. It marks an exciting contribution to studies of both Gandhi and psychology that will also provide unique insights for scholars of applied psychology, education, environmental and development studies.
This book by Jonathan Turner and Anthony Roberts proposes a new theoretical approach for explaining the dynamics of inter-societal systems. The authors argue that inter-societal systems have existed since the beginning of human societies and the dynamics of these systems are a fundamental property of the social universe. However, while world-systems analysis has emphasized this latter point, the authors argue the reluctance to theorize complex abstract models and systems of explanatory propositions on the dynamics driving inter-societal systems hinders scientific explanation of inter-societal dynamics. In this context, the authors critically look at contemporary theorizing and review key theories that have been developed to explain geo-economic, geo-political, and geo-cultural dynamics, from the classic period through present-day world-systems analysis and cliometrics. The book summarizes these theories clearly, emphasizing their strengths and weakness, finally developing a theoretical synthesis through new models and propositions on the dynamics of premodern and modern inter-societal systems. Professor Turner's decades of experience writing theory books for undergraduates have ensured that this book presents abstract ideas clearly and with examples so that students can understand the arguments. This book is a must-read for all social theory researchers, academics, serious undergraduate students, graduate students, and interested laypersons.
With cities striving to meet sustainable development goals, circular urban systems are gaining momentum, especially in Europe. This research-based book defines the circular city and circular development. It explains the shift in focus from a purely economic concept, which promotes circular business models in cities, to one that explores a new approach to urban development. This approach offers huge opportunities and addresses important sustainability issues: resource consumption and waste; climate change; the health of urban populations; social inequalities and the creation of sustainable urban economies. It examines the different approaches to circular development, drawing on research conducted in four European cities: Amsterdam, London, Paris and Stockholm. It explores different development pathways and levers for a circular urban transformation. It highlights the benefits of adopting a circular approach to development in cities, but acknowledges that these benefits are not shared equally across society. Finally, it focuses on the challenges to implementing circular development faced by urban actors. This ground-breaking book will be essential reading to scholars, students, practitioners and policymakers interested in the circular economy, urban sustainability, urban ecology, urban planning, urban regeneration, urban resilience, adaptive cities and regenerative cities.
The world is changing at a fast pace, so is the Government and Governance style. Humans are bound to go for Algorithmic strategies rather than manual or electronic ones in different domains. This book introduces the Algorithmic Government or Government by Algorithm, which refers to authorizing machines in the Public Sector for automated decision-making based on Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, and other technologies. It is an emerging concept introduced globally and will be considered revolutionary in the future. The book covers concepts, applications, progress status, and potential use-cases of Algorithmic Government. This book serves as introductory material for the readers from technology, public policy, administration, and management fields.
Far from the vision of popular actors in the popular economy as reactionary and archaic, stubbornly resisting any move towards change, this book's overall aim is to contribute to a broadening and deepening of our understanding of the logic and socio-economic practices of those operating in the informal economy. It focuses on the vulnerabilities of these participants, resulting from high exposure to different risks combined with low social protection, and on the interactions between vulnerability and poverty. It considers security of livelihoods as the guiding principle for multiple practices in the informal economy. Thirteen studies, based on careful analyses of empirical data in different contexts in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, contribute to this multidisciplinary discussion. This book describes how people develop their own strategies to solve their problems through the use of interpersonal networks, associations, and other community-based arrangements. Moreover, it shows that informal economy actors systematically reposition themselves vis-a-vis the State, markets, international, and national policies with the aim of enhancing their economic and social security, and they may do this either individually or collectively. The book emphasizes how adaptability of the informal economy can be influenced by such factors as the macroeconomic context, access to financial, technological, and information resources, infrastructure, social protection schemes, and the institutional environment within which adaptations occur. Case studies stress the need to reformulate questions relating to policy intervention based on a more thorough understanding of the perspective of informal economy actors.
This handbook provides critical analyses of the theory and practices of small arms proliferation and its impact on conflicts and organized violence in Africa. It examines the terrains, institutions, factors and actors that drive armed conflict and arms proliferation, and further explores the nature, scope, and dynamics of conflicts across the continent, as well as the extent to which these conflicts are exacerbated by the proliferation of small arms. The volume features rich analyses by contributors who are acquainted with, and widely experienced in, the formal and informal structures of arms proliferation and control, and their repercussions on violence, instability and insecurity across Africa. The chapters dissect the challenges of small arms and light weapons in Africa with a view to understanding roots causes and drivers, and generating a fresh body of analyses that adds value to the existing conversation on conflict management and peacebuilding in Africa. With contributions from scholars, development practitioners, defence and security professionals and civil society activists, the handbook seeks to serve as a reference for students, researchers, and policy makers on small arms proliferation, control and regulation; defence and security practitioners; and those involved in countering violence and managing conflicts in Africa.
Criminal Capital explores the relationship between neoliberalism, criminality and the reshaping of class in modern India. It discusses how the political vocabularies of urban industrial workers reflect the processes by which power is distributed across the region. Based upon field research among a 'casualised' workforce in the industrial city of Jamshedpur, the book examines the links between the decline of employment security, and criminality in trade unions, corporations and the state. The volume compares popular discourses of corruption against the ethnography of local labour politics, business enterprise and debt collection, and shows how corruption and criminality consolidate class power in industrial environments. Using an interdisciplinary ethnographic approach, this study interrogates the relationship between capitalism, corruption, violence and labour politics in contemporary Indian society. An important intervention in the study of Indian political economy, this work will be of interest to scholars and researchers of Indian politics, social anthropology, economics, labour relations and criminology.
As survivors of genocide, mnemonicide, colonization, and forced assimilation, American Indians face a unique set of rhetorical exigencies in US public culture. Decolonizing Native American Rhetoric brings together critical essays on the cultural and political rhetoric of American indigenous communities, including essays on the politics of public memory, culture and identity controversies, stereotypes and caricatures, mascotting, cinematic representations, and resistance movements and environmental justice. This volume brings together recognized scholars and emerging voices in a series of critical projects that question the intersections of civic identity, including how American indigenous rhetoric is complicated by or made more dynamic when refracted through the lens of gender, race, class, and national identity. The authors assembled in this project employ a variety of rhetorical methods, theories, and texts committed to the larger academic movement toward the decolonization of Western scholarship. This project illustrates the invaluable contributions of American Indian voices and perspectives to the study of rhetoric and political communication.
This book builds on Marais's innovative A (Bio)Semiotic Theory of Translation to explore the implications of this conceptualization of translation as the semiotic work from which social-cultural reality emerges and chart the way forward for applications in empirical research. The volume brings together some of the latest developments in biosemiotics, social semiotics, and Peircean semiotics with emergent work in translation studies toward better understanding the emergence of particular trajectories in society-culture through semiotic processes. The book further develops lines of thinking around thermodynamics in the work of Terrence Deacon to consider the ways in which ideas emerge from matter, creating meaning, and its opposite in the ways in which ideas constrain matter. Marais links these theoretical strands to empirical case studies in the final three chapters toward operationalizing these concepts for further empirical work. This innovative work will be of interest to scholars in translation studies, semiotics, multimodality, and development studies.
This book is essential for anyone interested in knowing how science works nationally and internationally in the contemporary world. It offers a comprehensive analysis of scientific collaboration and its relation to development and the productivity of scientists, with specific reference to South Africa in both the past and the present.
This book uncovers, explores and analyses the cultural and social factors and values that lie behind waste making, recycling and disposal in the Asia Pacific region, where impressive economic growth has led to significant increases in production, consumption and concomitant waste production. This volume demonstrates the immense scope of waste as a multi-sectoral phenomenon, covering discussions on food, menstrual products, sewage, electronics, scrap, nuclear waste, plastics, and even entire villages as they are submerged underwater by dam building, considered expendable in favour of economic growth. It discusses the wide range of approaches and contexts through which people interact with waste, including socio-economic analysis, participatory observation, laboratory science, art, video, installations, literature and photography. Case studies focusing on India, China and Japan, in addition to other regional examples, demonstrate the ubiquity of waste, materially and geographically. It examines the duality of waste management, fostering community building while simultaneously excluding marginalised groups; how it can be linked to efforts creating circular economies, to then reappear in oceanic garbage patches; or technical waste repurposed for high-tech laboratory research before being discarded once again. This timely and wide-ranging collection of essays will be an important read for scholars, researchers and students in sustainability, development studies, discard studies, and social and cultural history, particularly focusing on countries in the Asia-Pacific.
This book ranks countries with respect to their achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and their vulnerability to climate change. Human livelihoods, stable economies, health, and high quality of life all depend on a stable climate and earth system, and a diversity of species and ecosystems. Climate change significantly impacts human trafficking, modern slavery, and global hunger. This book examines these global problems using techniques from mathematics of uncertainty. Since accurate data concerning human trafficking and modern slavery is impossible to obtain, mathematics of uncertainty is an ideal discipline to study these problems. The book also considers the interconnection between climate change, world hunger, human trafficking, modern slavery, and the coronavirus. Connectivity properties of fuzzy graphs are used to examine trafficking flow between regions in the world. The book is an excellent reference source for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in mathematics and the social sciences as well as for researchers and teachers.
Minns argues that the industrial transformations of Mexico, South
Korea and Taiwan were based on the existence of powerful
developmentalist states in each. It explores the origins of such
states and their dynamics and connects the form of autonomy they
enjoy within their countries to the policies they pursue. However,
these so-called economic 'miracles' have not and, it is suggested
here, cannot continue indefinitely. The causes of the decline of
the developmentalist state are already present at its birth.
This book analyzes women entrepreneurs in Muslim countries who are using Islamic values to develop and run small businesses. As a core case study, the authors are using Indonesia as it is the largest Muslim country in the world by population. The project examines supportive policies and economic programs in detail and considers their effects on the businesses of several women entrepreneurs. Additionally, the authors argue that this work-life balance is critical for the definition of a successful female Muslim entrepreneur. The monograph considers whether this new phenomenon indicates a change in the conception of ideal Muslim womanhood or whether it is a limited phenomenon with few impacts beyond Indonesia. The book will appeal to academic and practitioner audience interested in Islam, gender studies, Middle Eastern and South Asian politics, development, anthropology, and social policy.
This book explores how and why the labor practices of the world's largest employer, supermarket giant Walmart, were contested by unions and government regulators as it expanded to Latin America starting in the 1990s. With an in-depth case study of Brazil, and a comparative chapter examining Argentina, Chile, and Mexico, this book analyzes the problematic encounter between diffusion of home-office anti-labor practices and evolving national institutional contexts that are quite varied and in some cases enable considerable resistance by unions and/or regulators. Walmart's "repressive familial" and "anti-union" model is found to generate costs and conflicts that contributed to its unprofitability and ultimate exit from Brazil in 2018. This experience, contrasted with country situations where Walmart's overall competitive and labor and human resource practices "fit" better with national markets and institutions, underlines the brittle, problematic nature of diffusionist corporate models lacking adaptive capacity to significant cross-national variations across host countries.
Multiple sclerosis is an incurable neurological disease of unknown cause with a fearful reputation for generating disability, unemployment, poverty and early death. This book critically surveys the current state of multiple sclerosis research, demonstrating the shortfall of current research undertaken on the lives of people with multiple sclerosis.
This book offers a collection of distinguished contributions that identify current growth accelerators in India, and suggest policies and strategies to make India's growth more sustainable and inclusive. The papers are divided into three sections, the first of which focuses on issues related to industrial growth in India. The discussions include India's industrial development (manufacturing, construction and mining); role of manufacturing; global value chains; and of environment in industrial development. In turn, section II deals with issues related to trade and FDI as accelerators of India's growth. The respective chapters explore the changing patterns of trade, impacts of technology, and spill-over effects of FDI, to name but a few. Lastly, the third section discusses employment-related issues like measurement of labour input, the dichotomy of the Indian labour market, the nature of firms and employment generation, and impacts of technology on employment. Given its scope and focus, the book offers an invaluable resource for researchers and policymakers alike. |
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