This book examines the direction of the BRICS association. Beginning with historical analyses of the broader Global South and the fundamental composition of the BRICS countries and then moving on to present trends, The BRICS Order evaluates the variables that will influence the association's future. While the BRICS as a forum emerged as a result of the visible fragmentation of the post-1945 world order, it itself remains dogged by issues emanating from internal divergences among member states and from external factors. The contributors interrogate the extent to which this formation of "emerging economies" is indicative of a challenge to the West, or in fact a complimentary relation. Integral to these studies - which encompass examinations of such diverse areas as governance systems, issues in bilateral relations, security threats, multilateral institution building, the transnational creation and dissemination of knowledge, and technological innovation - are patterns of convergence and divergence which render the countries not a formal alliance, but as signifiers of a multilateral future in which the West is itself to become more heterogeneous and thus become occasionally complemented depending on the vacillating consensus within the BRICS association and on the interests of the BRICS countries at different points in time.

A "digital divide" threatens the global trade regime. And it is not narrowing - it is rapidly becoming an unbridgeable chasm. Nor is this a problem merely for developing countries: the headlong trend toward dematerialisation of trade documents in the developed world will grind to a halt unless all trading countries without exception possess the legal and operational ability to participate in paperless trade. This work not only describes the obstacles to universal support for paperless trade, but also provides solutions that can be implemented if stakeholders make the collective effort to achieve this goal. Dr. Laryea investigates such central issues as the following: legal problems and security risks not encountered in paper documentation; accommodating low-tech problems with electronic documentation; and funding the construction of information and communication technology infrastructure in developing countries. The presentation focuses on each of the essential contract documents in turn, from the quotation to the documentary credit, explaining exactly how the electronic versions of each work (particularly in terms of security), and why each is desirable.

This book presents a rough sketch of Dr. Yat-sen Sun's (1866-1925) requirements for modernizing China and elaborates on Sun's desire for the then China to implement a sweeping wave of economic reconstruction and development reforms concerning its railroads and highways, river conservancy and irrigation, new ports and modern cities, by absorbing international capital coming to China. In the preface to this book, first published in 1922, Yat-sen Sun posits, "Unless the Chinese question can be settled peacefully, another world war greater and more terrible than the one just past will be inevitable." In order to solve the "Chinese question," he suggested that the country's vast resources be developed internationally under a socialistic scheme, both for the good of the world in general and the Chinese people in particular. It was his hope that such a scheme would abolish the prevalent spheres of influence of the time, and that the class struggle between capital and labor could be avoided. In this book, Yat-sen Sun presents his solutions for three great questions of global importance: International War, Commercial War and Class War.

This book makes an original contribution to the discussion about agro-food exporting countries' governmental policy. It presents a historicized and internationally contextualized exploration of the political economy of agrarian change in three Latin American countries: Argentina, Praguay, and Uruguay. By comparatively examining how these states have acted in a context of global driven market forces and historically formed institutions, the monograph illuminates the differing capacities of state autonomy under the present era of globalized agriculture.

In Guinea, situated against the background of central government struggles, rural elites use identity politics through contemporary political reforms to maintain their privileges and perpetuate a generations-old local social contract that bridges ethnic and religious divides. Simultaneously, administrative reform and national unrest lead to the creative re-combination of sources of authority and practices of legitimate rule. Past periods of colonization, socialism and authoritarian regime are reflected in contemporary struggles to make sense of participatory democracy and the future of the embattled Guinean national state.

This book uses international case studies to present insights on the policies, actors, and institutions that are critical to successful transit-oriented development (TOD). TOD has many potential benefits for cities and regions, and is considered a critical element in reshaping sprawling car-dependent urban regions into denser regions built around transit corridors. However, it is not a magic bullet solution for metropolitan transportation problems: challenges persist, such as displacement of local residents and regulatory barriers. How has TOD been successfully implemented? How can we integrate the positive aspects of TOD while minimizing its negative impacts? This book presents a study conducted at the University of Amsterdam, exploring 11 international case studies, including a meta-analysis, rough set analysis and policy transfer workshops. The authors discuss the findings and present solutions to persistent challenges to transit-oriented development. Additional literature on eTOD (equitable TOD) strategies, as a fundamental component of planning for regional transportation, shows that these approaches can result in more collaborative processes, community-led development that minimizes the negative impacts of transportation infrastructure. As our Dutch colleagues stated, TOD can be considered a policy concept that can be used as a story to unite people.

The richness of Africa's heritage at times stands in stark contrast to the economic, health, political and societal challenges faced. Development is essential but in what forms? For whom? Following whose agendas? At what costs? This book explores how heritage can promote, secure, or undermine sustainable development with special focus on sub-Saharan Africa, and in turn, how this affects conceptions of heritage. The chapters in this volume identify shared challenges, good practices and failures, and use specific case studies to provide detailed insights into varied forms of heritage and heritage defining processes on the continent. By critically analysing the often romanticised discourses of 'heritage', 'community engagement', and 'sustainable development' the volume suggests ways of harnessing aspects of heritage to tackle some of the socio-economic and political pressures facing heritage practices on the continent, including the legacies of colonialism.

"Liberation Theology in the Philippines: Faith in a Revolution" studies the interrelationship of international development policies and local social and economic structures in the Philippines. This ethnography demonstrates that the application of conventional development paradigms to the situation overlooks the human suffering and displacement experienced by the people for whom the policies are supposed to help. By contrast, the Basic Ecclesial Community (BEC) movement offers an alternative strategy for development that aims to build a more just and community-oriented society, while promoting sustainable development.

The study begins with an historical analysis of the relationship between liberation theology, the Catholic Church, and the nationalist struggle. The remaining chapters look at the real experiences of people living and working in the BECs, as they struggle against some of the negative impacts of traditional approaches to development. In addition, the author illustrates how BECs can fail when environmental and social factors clash with a community's attempts at development, and highlights the theology and religious aspects of the BEC movement. This unique contribution to the study of liberation theology and development will be of interest to scholars, students, and professionals working with development agencies and religious organizations.

This book depicts the role of both formal and informal institutions in achieving long-term economic efficiency and development. It is organized into three sections: the first section deals with the historical and political roots that make institutions favorable to development; the second section offers theoretical perceptions of immaterial institutions; the last section explores how the various official institutions - such as international organizations - interrelate with the process of development. As both the recent global financial crisis and the subsequent sovereign debt crisis within the Eurozone have shown, sustainable development is a combination of human, social and institutional factors that interact with each other and go beyond the strictly economic conditions of each country. With contributions from several countries in Europe as well as Iran, this volume offers readers an international and multidisciplinary perspective of the institutionalist determinants of growth in the long run.

This book explores narratives produced in the Maghreb in order to illustrate shortcomings of imagination in the discipline of international relations (IR). It focuses on the politics of narrating postcolonial Maghreb through a number of writers, including Abdelkebir Khatibi, Fatema Mernissi, Kateb Yacine and Jacques Derrida, who explicitly embraced the task of (re)imagining their respective societies after colonial independence and subsequent nation-building processes. Narratives are thus considered political acts speaking to the turbulent context in which postcolonial Maghrebian Francophone literature emerges as sites of resistance and contestation. Throughout the chapters, the author promotes an encounter between narratives from the Maghreb and IR and makes a case for the kinds of thinking and writing strategies that could be used to better approach international and global studies.

Business retains a large influence over the progression of society. Thus, shared goals among corporations could lead to a larger positive impact on the resilience of social and economic expansions. Value Sharing for Sustainable and Inclusive Development is a critical academic resource that explores the opportunities through which businesses can contribute to sustainable and inclusive development. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as the value sharing model, corporate social responsibility, and multi-sided markets, this book is geared toward academicians, researchers, policy makers, and students seeking current research on the importance of collaborative efforts on the part of businesses and entities to achieve functional progression.

This book constructs a multidisciplinary approach to human security questions related to digitalisation in the European High North i.e. the northernmost areas of Scandinavia, Finland and North-Western Russia. It challenges the mainstream conceptualisation of cybersecurity and reconstructs it with the human being as the referent object of security.

This book builds upon critiques of development in the disability domain by investigating the necessity and implications of theorising disability from the Global South and how development policies and practices pertaining to disabled people in such contexts might be improved by engaging with their voices and agency. The author focuses on the lived experiences of disabled people in Burkina Faso, while situating these experiences, where necessary, in the wider national and regional contexts. She explores development agencies' interventions with disabled people and the need to re-think these practices and ideologies which are often framed within western contexts. This work will appeal to policy makers, NGOs, academics, students and researchers in the fields of development and disability studies.

This book examines a range of current issues in Islamic development management. The first part of the book explores practical issues in governance and the application of Islamic governance in new areas such as quality management systems and the tourism industry, while the second delves into questions of sustainability. The book proposes a new Islamic sustainability and offers new perspectives on CSR in connection with waqf (Islamic endowments) and microfinance. The third part of the book addresses Islamic values and how they are applied in entrepreneurship, inheritance, consumer behavior and marketing. The fourth part examines the issues of waqf and takaful (a form of insurance in line with the Islamic laws), while the fifth discusses the fiqh (the study of Islamic legal codes) and legal framework from the perspectives of entrepreneurship, higher education, reporting and inheritance (wills). The final chapter is dedicated to the application of Islamic principles in various other issues. Written in an accessible style, the book will appeal to newcomers to the field, as well as researchers and academics with an interest in Islamic development management.

This book examines forced migration of two refugees groups in South Asia. The author discusses the claims of "belonging" of refugees, and asserts that in practice "belonging" can extend beyond the state-centric understanding of membership in South Asian states. She addresses two sets of interrelated questions: what factors determine whether refugees are relocated to their home countries in South Asia, and why do some repatriated groups re-integrate more successfully than others in "post-peace" South Asian states? This book answers these questions through a study of refugees from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh who sought asylum in India and were later relocated to their countries of origin. Since postcolonial societies have a typical kind of state-formation, in South Asia's case this has profoundly shaped questions of belonging and membership. The debate tends to focus on citizenship, making it a benchmark to demarcate inclusion and exclusion in South Asian states. In addition to qualitative analysis, this book includes narratives of Sri Lankan and Chakma refugees in post-conflict and post-peace Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively, and critiques the impact of macro policies from the bottom up.

This book presents new scientific knowledge on using developmental science to improving lives of children and youth across the globe. It highlights emerging pathways to sustainability as well as the interconnectedness and interdependence of developmental science and sustainable children and youth development globally. Presenting cross-cultural views and current perspectives on the role of developmental science in the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals for children and youth development, contributors from different disciplines from low-and-middle-income countries or scholars working in these countries capture ground realities of the situation of children and youth in these regions. This book addresses developmental issues related to inequity, gender, health, education, social protection, and needs of vulnerable populations of children and youth. Other areas of focus are improving mechanisms and monitoring frameworks of development and well-being indicators.

This book provides a comparative analysis of how communities have developed people-based resilience in response to the global impact of COVID-19. The crisis of the capitalist economy due to border closure, downturn in business, loss of jobs and large-scale destruction of people's well-being has worsened poverty, and inequality worsened the situation of the already marginalized. At the same time, it has provided the opportunity for indigenous and marginalized communities to innovatively strengthen their social and solidarity economies to respond the unprecedented calamity in a self-empowering and sustainable way. The book explores some of the ways in which local communities have mobilized their cultural resources to strengthen their social solidarity and mitigating mechanisms against the continuing global calamity. It looks at how different communities approach social protection as a way of sustaining their well-being outside the parameters of the ailing market economy and how some of these can provide valuable lessons for strengthening resilience for the future.

This book examines the historical antecedents of Pan-Africanism as a driving force of African Unity, carefully studying its major contributors, current institutional status, and potential future growth. It analyzes the facilitative role of emerging technologies, such as high performance computing, telecommunications, and satellite remote sensing in enabling African sustainable development. Finally, the authors discuss possible ways that the vision of Pan-Africanism can be used today in Africa's efforts towards unity and sustainable development.

This book conceptualises the ongoing hydropower expansion in Southwest China as a socio-political and transnational project transcending the construction of dams. Chapters in this volume are organised around three sections spanning hydropower and resettlement governance, rural livelihoods, and international relations connected to China's hydropower expansion. Dam projects of various scales are analysed as infrastructure projects that shape peoples' livelihoods, the environment, and China's relations with Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

This book focuses on socio-economic developments of Bangladesh by challenging the dominant international narrative of the case being termed as "development surprise", "development paradox" or "development conundrum," given the absence of good governance. In doing so, the book examines the political economic dynamics and offers valuable insights into the current state of the Bangladeshi economy in light of stability, transformability and sustainability. Pointing to the 'high' rate of growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in Bangladesh, there is wide belief that economic growth can be obtained even without functioning institutions, and is more important than an inclusive political system. Advocates go on to argue that authoritarianism may be condoned as long as a steady course of development is perused. However, the inadequacy of comparative analysis in to the state of the economy of Bangladesh vis-a-vis other relevant economies makes such claims myopic and parochial. This book thus investigates the numbers and narratives to ascertain the validity of such assertions and lamentations by looking at the necessary and sufficient conditions of development. The necessary conditions imply an incisive inquiry into the factors of economic growth- land, labour, capital and technology while sufficient conditions warrant a penetrating incisive inquiry into the factors of economic growth- land, labour, capital and technology. As such, the book explores development by drawing variables of politics and economics to find out a causal relationship, and interjects these variables have on themes such as growth, agriculture, manufacturing industry, financial sector, health, education, poverty and inequality.

This book explains in simple language the change of perspective and the transition of the systems for poverty alleviation, based on the fifteen-year development of China's poverty alleviation policy. Written by scholars from the International Poverty Reduction Center in China, Peking University and the China Agricultural University who have been engaged in the field of poverty alleviation for many years, the contributions combine views on China's poverty reduction policy with the authors' personal experiences. It is a valuable reference resource for researchers at the forefront of poverty alleviation and also appeals to anyone interested in poverty alleviation and China's poverty alleviation changes.

This book explores the potential of Pan-African thought in contributing to advancing psychological research, theory and practice. Euro/American mainstream psychology has historically served the interests of a dominant western paradigm. Contemporary trends in psychological work have emerged as a direct result of the impact of violent histories of slavery, genocide and colonisation. Hence, this book proposes that psychology, particularly in its social forms, as a discipline centered on the relationship between mind and society, is well-placed to produce the critical knowledge and tools for imagining and promoting a just and equitable world.

This book analyzes how today's system of international trade law and international economic relations has evolved over the last six decades. Focusing on the major innovations that came with the inception of the World Trade Organization (WTO) with its various agreements in 1994, it also provides in-depth commentary on the intense debate over important matters that remain unsettled. Topics covered include the WTO dispute settlement mechanism; the General Agreement on Trade in Services (OATS); the Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMS); intellectual property rights - the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS); areas still covered by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1947; the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) concept; special provisions relating to agriculture and textiles; sanitary and phytosanitary measures; technical barriers to trade; pre-shipment inspection; and import licensing procedures. The book would be an excellent resource for scholars as well as practitioners working in the field of international arbitration and trade laws.

Although uncertainty is intertwined with all human activity, plans, and aspirations, it is experienced differently: at times it is obsessed over and at times it is ignored. This ethnography shows how Rashaida in north-eastern Sudan deal with unknowns from day-to-day unpredictability to life-threatening dangers. It argues that the amplification of uncertainty in some cases and its extenuation in others can be better understood by focusing on forms that can either hold the world together or invite doubt. Uncertainty, then, need not be seen solely as a debilitating problem, but also as an opportunity to create other futures.

This practical, solutions-oriented approach to African development provides a detailed overview of the steps needed for industrialization. It includes lessons from the developed world as well as descriptions of key facets of Africa's current environment. It outlines the resources now available to the nations of Africa and gives examples, both broad and specific, from other successful development programs. Policy makers, business professionals, and academics and students will find the overview presented in this book comprehensive and practical.

The author examines agriculture, manufacturing, natural resources, transportation, and urbanization in the context of classical and modern economic and development theory. The experiences of other regions, including Europe during the Industrial Revolution and the United States in the twentieth century are offered as examples of possible paths to follow. An appendix provides a detailed look at each country in Africa, which includes population, resources, language groups, and other relevant information.