The African Union's Agenda 2063 is ambitious. It advocates for, among others: equitable and people-centred growth and development; eradication of poverty; creation of infrastructure and provision of public goods and services; empowerment of women and youth; promotion of peace and security, and the strengthening of democratic states, and creating participatory and accountable governance institutions. New African Thinkers: Agenda Africa, 2063 presents the thinking of emerging scholars on these critical issues - those on whose shoulders the responsibility rests for taking this agenda forward. The book will be an essential reference for researchers and educators who are interested in Africa's developmental path as designed in the Agenda 2063.

Political philosophy is a field of study which aims to clarify our most fundamental ethical questions as human beings living in societies under conditions of scarce resources and unequal power: How should we live? What does a good life look like? What kind of social and political arrangements are most conducive to living good lives? Puzzles in contemporary political philosophy shows the relevance of classical and contemporary thinkers to our own lives and the world we live in today. This introduction uses a wealth of real-world examples drawn from the South African context to explore some of these questions: We value freedom but where should the limits to our freedom lie? What do we mean by equality? Do we mean that we want people to be equally happy, or equally successful, or equally well fed? We think of democracies as places where citizens can enjoy a certain measure of justice, but what is meant by "justice"? Is it a particular form of distribution of goods, of services, of opportunities? Is justice the same as "equality" or is there a difference? Are some forms of inequality "just"? Is justness the same as "fairness"? Written in simple, jargon-free language, this introduction to some of the most important debates in contemporary politics is an essential guide for undergraduate South African students of political philosophy.

The rise of China is the most significant development in world affairs in this generation. No nation in history has risen as quickly or modernized as rapidly as has China over the four decades. This sixth edition of The China Reader chronicles the diverse aspects of this transition since the late-1990s. It is comprehensive in scope and draws upon both primary Chinese sources and secondary Western analyses written by the world's leading experts on contemporary China. Perfectly suited as both a textbook for students as well as for specialists and the public alike, the volume covers the full range of China's internal and external developments. During the past three decades China dramatically modernized its economy and taken a positon as one of the two major powers in the world. Its mega-economy has skyrocketed to being the second largest in the world, and will soon surpass the United States on aggregate. The physical transformation of the country has been extraordinary to witness, with infrastructure development unparalleled in human history. Modern cities featuring futuristic architecture have literally risen from farmland across the country. As China has developed domestically, it has also taken its place as a major power on the world stage. Whether in its relations with other powers-the United States, Russia, and European Union-with its neighbors in Asia or other countries across the world, China is now a major factor in international relations. Its businesses are "going global" and its people are establishing their footprint from Antarctica to outer space. For all its newfound prowess, China's rise has not been a smooth process. Domestically, the nation's juggernaut economy has produced numerous negative social and environmental side-effects. Its political system remains anachronistic and authoritarian, with substantial repression. Externally, Beijing's rapid military modernization and regional territorial claims have alarmed China's neighbors. Its relationship with the United States is complex and increasingly strained. And its "soft power" remains limited. Still, the rise of China is the story of the current era. The China Reader is a perfect window into the complexities of this historic process.

So long as large segments of humanity are suffering chronic poverty and are dying from treatable diseases, organized giving can save or enhance millions of lives. With the law providing little guidance, ethics has a crucial role to play in ensuring that the philanthropic practices of individuals, foundations, NGOs, governments, and international agencies are morally sound and effective. In Giving Well: The Ethics of Philanthropy, an accomplished trio of editors bring together an international group of distinguished philosophers, social scientists, lawyers and practitioners to identify and address the most urgent moral questions arising today in the practice of philanthropy. The topics discussed include the psychology of giving, the reasons for and against a duty to give, the accountability of NGOs and foundations, the questionable marketing practices of some NGOs, the moral priorities that should inform NGO decisions about how to target and design their projects, the good and bad effects of aid, and the charitable tax deduction along with the water's edge policy now limiting its reach. This ground-breaking volume can help bring our practice of charity closer to meeting the vital needs of the millions worldwide who depend on voluntary contributions for their very lives.

Global emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and environmental concerns, have challenged the readiness of societies and forced them to operate in more innovative ways. In response, the world has witnessed new technologies emerge and researchers continually finding better solutions to cope with these situations. It is crucial that these innovations are investigated so that we may better the world during times of crisis. Impact of Disruptive Technologies on the Socio-Economic Development of Emerging Countries provides relevant case studies, innovative disruptive applications, and the latest empirical research findings in the digital technology space. Additionally, it provides accounts of the design, development, and usage of digital solutions that have an impact on addressing societal problems in emerging economies. Covering topics such as e-social work, social media addiction, and adaptive testing, this premier reference source is an essential resource for government officials, entrepreneurs, politicians, business leaders, students and educators of higher education, sociologists, librarians, researchers, and academicians.

Chad's economy has contracted since 2015, preventing poverty reduction and the improvement of development outcomes. This Systematic Country Diagnostic identifies key constraints on poverty reduction and recommends solutions.

The Quality Early Learning volume synthesizes the latest relevant knowledge from multiple disciplines on how young children learn and what skills are most crucial for school-readiness.

Sustainable development is a long-term solution to how we plan our indefinite progress in the future. The concept covers a broad scope of environmental, social, and economic development, which continues to prove its importance in our lives as it affects all aspects of them. Innovative Economic, Social, and Environmental Practices for Progressing Future Sustainability explores the current practice and implementation of economic, social, and environmental sustainable development. This book offers a reference for a wide number of stakeholders interested in the importance of economic, social and environmental development in sustainable development. New contributions, especially theoretical, practical and managerial, will be discussed in this book. This book is a reference for a wide number of stakeholders interested in the area of sustainable development, especially in the area of economic, social, and environment. This text is an international platform to bring together academics, researchers, lecturers, decision-makers, policymakers, and practitioners to share new theories, research findings, and case studies.

Following the positive contribution of microfinance to economic development in some parts of South East Asia and Africa, a huge amount of time has been devoted by researchers to understand this concept for sustainable development in Africa, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. The concept of microfinance also has significant positive relationship with microbusiness development. Though there are a few books on the relationship between microfinance and poverty reduction in Africa and some developing countries across world. There is no specific book that explores the relationship between microfinance and sustainable development in Africa. Certainly, the use of microfinance for poverty reduction and economic development in the developing world is growing. However, this concept needs to be expanded to ensure its application with the view to achieving sustainable development in developing countries, particularly in Africa. Therefore, this book seeks to explore how the provision of microfinance to individuals, groups and business organisations facilitates economic growth and sustainable development in Africa. In this regard, this book hopes to examine the complex relationship between receipt of microfinance, poverty reduction, economic growth and microbusiness development, focusing on the provision of small credit facilities as a driver of sustainable development in Africa. This book aims to examine and bring on board the various views and perspectives on the relationship between microfinance and sustainable economic development in Africa through industry experts, experienced researchers and policymakers. The concept of microfinance and its relationship with sustainable development in Africa will be explored by these experts and contributors from different perspectives with the view to forming an opinion on the problems, processes and prospects of microfinance in Africa. The focus here is Sub-Saharan Africa, which has witnessed growing activities of microfinance institutions. Theoretical and empirical insight to be provided in this book will be a priceless resource to microfinance institutions, policymakers, state institutions, managers and non-governmental organisations working in developing countries particularly in Africa. This book is envisaged to also benefit financial institutions that are looking to expand their product portfolio and outreach. The book will offer great insight into theoretical, policy-oriented and practical ways to address some of the challenges of using microfinance for sustainable development in Africa. Given the focus of this book on the nexus between microfinance and sustainable development, there will be a broadening of ideas on how the provision of microfinance can aid sustainable development in Africa.

Adoption of better technologies can generate better and more jobs for Senegal's growing population. The book recommends policies to ensure availability of affordable digital infrastructure and to promote use of better technologies by firms as well as to narrow deepening digital divides across enterprises and households.

How did South Sudan become one of the most striking examples of state-building failure and state collapse after years of international support? What went wrong in the state-building enterprise? How did external intervention overlap and intertwine with local processes of accumulation of power and of state formation? This book addresses these questions analysing the intersection between international and local actors and processes. Based on original ethnographic and archival data, it provides a unique account of how state-building resources were captured and manipulated by local actors at various levels, contributing to the deepening of ethnic fragmentation and the politicization of ethnicity.

The essays in this collection are written to make readers (re)consider what is possible in Africa. The essays shake the tree of received wisdom and received categories, and hone in on the complexities of life under ecological and economic constraints. Yet, throughout this volume, people do not emerge as victims, but rather as inventors, engineers, scientists, planners, writers, artists, and activists, or as children, mothers, fathers, friends, or lovers - all as future-makers. It is precisely through agents such as these that Africa is futuring: rethinking, living, confronting, imagining, and relating in the light of its many emerging tomorrows.

Over the last 40 years, the ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute has been honoured to partner with the Singapore government in hosting 44 Singapore Lectures. The Singapore Lecture series is a unique public platform for world leaders and experts visiting Singapore that reflects the city-state's role as a global hub of ideas and diplomacy. The 21 lectures chosen for this 40th anniversary volume chart the fundamental changes in the global economy and the inter-state system that Southeast Asia and Singapore have successfully navigated over these four momentous decades.

Pre-pandemic the Middle East and North Africa was the only region in the world experiencing increases in poverty and declines in life satisfaction. This Report investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic changed the welfare of individuals and households in the region, by relying on phone surveys and micro-simulation exercises.

This book seeks to address critical issues and challenges in Africa and the emerging trends for the future. Authors from varied disciplines will examine and offer insight into what knowledge already exists in a specific topic area and what that may mean for the future of Africa. Despite several idealistic efforts towards a united Africa, the term remains a hypothetical concept symbolizing a desired federal state on the continent. This book plays an important role in shaping policies on the future of Africa through a deconstructive interrogation of present trends. It provides a valuable resource in varied fields of study and is highly relevant to the emerging contexts in Africa. The audience of this book includes students and policymakers, key players in Africa, political parties, trade unions, NGO's, and general audiences looking to examine and understand the future trends in Africa.

The community development profession: issues, concepts and approaches is an informative resource for students and practitioners of community-based development as it faces the stumbling blocks of a new professionalism. Authors Professors Frik de Beer and Hennie Swanepoel introduce and debate the relevant issues, concepts and approaches, and their evolution, interpretation and application in the field of development. Based on an extensive literature study, the book argues that some more recently evolved approaches can be traced to a "community development" origin, with possible pitfalls of marginalisation and disempowerment in the hands of powerful people. De Beer and Swanepoel also discuss issues such as the origin and history of community development from an international and South African perspective; community development principles, policy, ethics, institutions and training; community development project management and evaluation; the integrated development programme (IDP); all aspects of participatory planning, local economic development, and sustainability; the important role played by government and NGOs. Lecturers will benefit from the questions for reflection and discussion, a reading list per theme and a glossary for second-language users, all of which are included in each chapter.

Foreign trade has always been crucial to the economic development of the Caribbean. Slavery was introduced to the Caribbean by Europeans in order to make commodity export profitable. An adequate supply of (low cost, forced) labour was a necessary condition for profitability but it was not sufficient, and as market conditions changed, Caribbean countries had to shift resources from one export to another. In 1820 sugar accounted for 50% of merchandise exports but fell below 40% at the end of the century and below 20% by the 1980s. At first, countries simply shifted resources from one exportable commodity to another but none remained permanently profitable. Manufactured exports became important for a few countries after the Second World War, especially in the assembly industry, but it was the rise in exports of services that transformed the outlook for the Caribbean. Starting with tourism before spreading to other activities, such as finance, insurance, health, education and transport, the export of services is now much more important than the export of goods in most Caribbean countries and this has helped to raise living standards considerably. The Caribbean has benefited greatly from service exports, but they are not a panacea. Just as in the case of commodity exports, there is still a constant need for diversification as a result of changes in market conditions. In From Slavery to Services, Victor Bulmer Thomas builds on his earlier work, The Economic History of the Caribbean, and continues his exploration of the economic history of the entire Caribbean. Divided into four parts covering the four language areas of the Caribbean – English, Spanish, French and Dutch – Bulmer-Thomas presents a comprehensive analysis of the entire region and its constant need to adapt to changing external conditions which makes the struggle for economic independence a permanent one.

Worldwide, countries have to respond to local and global socio-technological shifts and needs, specifically the transformations wrought by a rapidly shifting understanding of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Science, technology and innovation policy (STI) finds itself at the intersection of these local and global challenges. Innovation Policy at the Intersection: Global Debates and Local Experiences shows that a comprehensive rethink in STI policy-making is required - one that takes a systemic view of the varied challenges, and adopts an inclusive and holistic approach to STI policy. Such a rethink has to bring together the global and local, the theoretical and practical. The chapters in this book follow three broad concerns: The theories and approaches that have historically informed STI policy-making, along with the most influential current approaches in different country contexts; The development and application of comprehensive STI monitoring and evaluation systems as developed and implemented by various public agencies; and The role and function of STI policy advisory bodies within their respective contexts. Innovation Policy at the Intersection provides a comparative lens of different theories and practices across a unique spectrum of national contexts, including Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Finland, Iran, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, South Korea, and Sweden.

This book provides a comprehensive account of EU's renewable energy policy development as it traces the agenda-shaping, policy formulation and decision-making phases of the EU's secondary legislation on renewable energy - that is the three successive directives of 2001 (RES-E), 2009 (RED), and 2018 (RED II). It also explores the EU's energy policymaking dynamics and assess integration outcomes of these three policymaking instances in the renewable energy field from a comparative perspective. Enriched with elite interviews with the Brussels policy community, and drawing on European integration and public policy literature, the proposed book will resonate with and offer relevant insights to students, scholars, stakeholders, and policymakers interested in EU energy policy, in particular, and European integration, in general.

This unique book explores a very broad range of ideas and institutions and provides case studies and best practices in the context of broader theoretical analysis. The impact global multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and IMF have on development is hotly debated, but few doubt their power and influence. Therefore, the main aim of this book is to examine the concepts that have powerfully influenced development policy and, more broadly, look at the role of ideas in these institutions and how they have affected current development discourse. With the aim, the objectives, therefore, to enhance the understanding of how the ideas travel within the systems and how they are translated into policy, modified, distorted, or resisted. It is not about creating something fundamentally new, nor is it about completely transcending the efforts of these global institutions. Rather, it is about creating effective global institutions at a global level, that can aid in social and economic development globally. The scholarly value of the proposed publication is self-evident because of the increase in the emphasis placed on global institutions and the role they play for corporate governance, innovation, and sustainability globally and it is going to be more crucial post-pandemic when the economies restart and more so in emerging economies. Moreover, there is a dire need for understanding comprehensively the complexity in the process of how these global institutions work multi-laterally.

In order to understand positionality as it relates to research, it is important to learn how to identify and reflect on how knowledge is produced and reproduced. Research across Borders introduces key concepts and methods to understand and critically analyze research in academic books and journals, as well as in media, government reports, and anywhere else information is found. This book addresses the opportunities and challenges of undertaking research in international, cross-border, and cross-cultural contexts. Specifically designed for students studying interdisciplinary or international programs on topics such as human rights, conflict studies, international relations, global development, and migration, Research across Borders provides the methodological, ethical, and epistemological foundations for understanding research across different disciplines. Whether students are gathering information from secondary sources or conducting primary research, Research across Borders aims to help readers become better researchers.

This book develops a framework for thinking through such spatially-targeted policies and assessing their social value, while presenting new evidence on key empirical issues.