In case studies and comparative analysis of Canada, the United States, France, Switzerland, and Belgium, a distinguished international group of scholars looks at how and why provinces, states, cantons, and large municipalities increasingly seek access to foreign sources of wealth and technological information. The first book to explore the subject, this new study examines the effects of these initiatives on the traditional conduct of foreign policy and foreign trade and the implications of the continued "perforation" of national boundaries already subject to an unprecedented flow of foreign products, cultural influences, and visitors, as well as environmental pollution from abroad.

Focusing on the development agenda of selected developed and developing countries, the contributors in this volume show that the varying degrees of success or failure in the programs of different countries are due to the way they deal with human factor development. Each essay clearly shows that a nation cannot achieve development if it continuously fails to develop its own national human factor. The contributors maintain that what different parts of the world, particularly Southeast Asia, call a development miracle is not a miracle at all.

Countries such as Japan and Singapore have experienced significant development in recent decades because their programs have focused intently on building the human factor. Countries such as Mexico, Nigeria, Bolivia, and India, on the other hand, are struggling to develop because their ongoing development programs do not address the human factor. Nations that aspire to achieve sustained human-centered development in the 21st century should focus on human factor development now.

Against the backdrop of the environmental impact of household electricity consumption and the history of cooling practices, Marlyne Sahakian considers how people keep cool, from Metro Manila to other mega-cities in Southeast Asia.

With the current global crisis, high levels of volatility in trade, capital flows, commodity prices, aid, and the looming threat of climate change, this book brings together high-quality research and presents conceptual issues and empirical results to analyze the determinants of the vulnerability to poverty in developing countries.

Regional innovation systems and sustainable development: emerging technologies promotes scientific discussion on standards and practices of regional development, while also covering emerging research topics in regional innovation systems and sustained development. A leading source of information from experts in the field, this text demonstrates the capacity of regional innovation systems, information technology, management and sustainable development for the mutual understanding, prosperity and well being of all the citizens in the world.

This contributed volume examines development efforts in sub-Saharan Africa and the role privatization and foreign investment can play. The focus is on African and international capital mobility and recent experience in private investment in contemporary African states. While government in Africa continues to have a hand in economic and political matters, private enterprise, private investment, and market forces are becoming increasingly active. The volume reveals these new directions in development practice in Africa and analyzes the difficulties which government, while well-intended, has created in the past.

Contributors from the United States and Africa pose questions and examine scenarios for investment in sub-Saharan Africa. And while no single strategy is agreed upon, they provide overwhelming evidence that it has been the failure of prior central policies which has held these nations back, and that hope for the 1990's lies in the unleashing of the private sector. This work will be of interest to scholars and policy-makers in development economics, international trade and finance, and African studies.

"This is the first book to offer a systematic analysis of human rights in the 21st century. The chapters, written from diverse methodological perspectives, provide rich and varied insights on vital questions concerning the resiliency, weaknesses, and prospects of human rights today"--Provided by publisher.

As a country, Taiwan is one of the most vibrant, exciting, colourful and entrepreneurial on earth. The contributors reveal what underpins the vitality of Taiwan, examining the relevance of its democratic politics, civil society and the presence of an existential threat from China, as well as the importance of its international business nexus.

This volume explores Western attitudes towards the phenomenon of Easternization, drawing upon Eastern perspectives and examining the impact upon contemporary culture to argue that Easternization is another type of globalization.

Public Administration in the Global Village offers a global and comparative approach to the study of public administration. It examines the ongoing international changes in the field of public administration; it defines the emerging new world order and the promises and challenges that it holds for public administration; and it stipulates the effects and side effects of these changes on developing countries. The volume seeks to promote a global and comparative perspective on public administration to counter the continuing parochialism and ethnocentrism in the field.

This book examines the challenges faced by seven multinational companies - Intel, Lenovo, Samsung Electronics, ZTE, BMW Hyundai Motor Company, Mahindra and Mahindra - in their endeavour to contribute to the economic, environmental and social development of Asia. The lessons learned from the examination of these business practices may directly contribute to an increase in the practice of sustainable management and may as such contribute to positive economic, environmental and social impact of companies in this region. The cases are highly relevant for management theoreticians seeking to deepen our understanding of corporate sustainability in an area where scholars, practitioners and policy-makers can expect new questions, problems and challenges in the years ahead. The book is also of high interest to policy review agencies, policy makers and welfare economists seeking to support the development of a comprehensive sustainability framework for managing social and environmental issues in the context of Asia.

This book contains the full research papers presented at the 20th AGILE Conference on Geographic Information Science, held in 2017 at Wageningen University & Research in Wageningen, the Netherlands. The selected contributions show trends in the domain of geographic information science directed to spatio-temporal perception and spatio-temporal analysis. For that reason the book is also of interest to professionals and researchers in fields outside geographic information science, in which the application of geoinformation could be instrumental in sparking societal innovation.

`While many economists, policy-makers and commentators often point at negative effects of globalization on wage inequality and income distribution, few specific proposals have emerged so far. Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead's book should be commended for proposing a concrete approach for addressing the wage-related dimension of the social issues raised by globalization---Pascal Lamy, Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva`Remedies should be found for the worrying global wage trends so well documented in this book, not only by governments but by employers themselves, out of enlightened self-interest rather than generous benefaction, in the pursuit of long-term profitability. Daniel shows that there is still much room for tapping the resources of corporate social responsibility: this potential must be exploited to the full before anything else, and therefore it must be investigated and publicized the way he does.'---D. Mario Nuti, Professor, University of Rome `La Sapienza' and formerly of the London Business School `This is an exceptionally important and timely piece of work for the simple reason that it brings to our attention a global crisis - that of unfair wages. In this volume, Daniel provides an excellent analytical framework and tool that can be applied at firm level. I fully expect that the different dimensions of the fair wage proposed in this book will become standard features of company annual wage reviews and of social audits.'- Auret Van Heerden, President and CEO, Fair Labor Association Over the past decade the emergence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has helped to improve corporate governance by tackling such burning issues as child labour and human rights violations. However, as the author argues in this important new book, the time has now come to incorporate wage issues into CSR. Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead proposes a new methodology, the `Fair Wage' approach, providing CSR actors with a coherent and comprehensive set of fair wage dimensions and indicators. Application of this new approach in a large-scale auditing exercise on wages in Asia and a number of qualitative case studies in China provides unique, first-hand information on wage practices among suppliers. The results confirm the need to address wage issues using a broad spectrum of wage dimensions, including living wages, minimum wages, social dialogue, payment of working hours and wage development in accordance with prices, enterprise performance and changes in technology and human capital. The `Fair Wage' approach advocated in this book is a first, serious and concerted effort to address the issue of wages, which are increasingly being used as the adjustment variable at the end of the supply chain.

Taking a forward-looking approach, this book critically examines the issues and dynamics central to Africa's problematic development and situates these issues within the contents unique cultural, political, economic, and social milieu. Moving away from a simple litany of problems bedeviling Africa's economy, the book is the culmination of several scholars' efforts to identify specific causative factors. Each chapter delineates a specific issue, demonstrates the role it plays in overall development, and speculates on probable ways to meet the challenges it poses. The major conceptual and epistemological constructs considered include the tamed African State, social capacity, management of change, reconceptualized gender roles, and economic integration.

Although the contributors' various approaches diverge and disagree, the epistemological variations contribute cumulatively to an understanding of the issues at the root of Africa's slow pace of development. While traversing the spectrum of issues that affect development, the book uniquely points out that the management of change is pivotal to fostering development. The authors' efforts provide a useful base for future research and help to chart a course of action leading to success in the 21st century.

This is a challenging and stimulating collection of twenty-one essays by international contributors. Their topics are as varied as the cultures and disciplines they themselves represent. We are invited to go beyond present complexities and take a far future perspective. Business, so often cast as the villain, is given a transforming role of rescuing us from the mess we are in. We are shown practical and achievable steps to bring peace and cooperation to the Middle East and an end to war. Conventional scientific methods are also tested and found wanting. These essays resonate with the interconnectedness and interdependence of the issues that face us: they also demonstrate that the solutions we seek are achievable but must also reflect that same interconnectedness. They show that to become mesmerized by the problems we face is to lose sight of the possibilities. These visions are a refreshing antidote to a growing tide of pessimism about the future.

The world of trade is changing rapidly, from the 'rise of the South' to the growth of unconventional projects like fair trade and carbon trading. Beyond Free Trade advances alternative ways for understanding these new dynamics, based on historical, political, or sociological methods that go beyond the limitations of conventional trade economics.

Throughout the global community, the challenges of finite resources, budget deficits, and growing interdependence and complexity have forced governments and the private sector to do more with less. In the foreign assistance realm, this has translated into a donor mandate to promote self-sustaining development in the Third World, a key component of which is the institutional framework that conceives, plans, funds, implements, and manages activities. This book, based on the results of a multi-year applied research project, focuses on institutional sustainability and its role in agriculture and rural development. It concentrates on collaboration between international donor organizations and developing countries to design and implement projects aimed at introducing performance and capacity improvements.

The collection of fifteen essays is divided into three subject areas. Part one examines the sustainability dimensions of agriculture and rural development, with chapters that focus on the range of meanings of sustainability and the relationship between it and continued benefit flows; a conceptual model that draws on systems theory, organizational contingency theory, and political economy; and the action-research methodology for applying the model in the field. Part two is made up of nine chapters, each of which uses the model to analyze a particular case where an international donor-funded intervention sought to develop a sustainable institution. The cases range geographically across the world. Finally, part three draws on the case experiences to highlight strategies for promoting institutional sustainability. Lessons are derived from a comparative analysis of several of the cases, and a chapter incorporating the points made in all of the cases is also provided. With its comparative framework and conclusion that institutional sustainability is a feasible objective for development agencies, this volume will be an important work for development practitioners and students of development administration, as well as a significant addition to public and academic library collections.

Urban Environments and Health in the Philippines offers a retrospective view of women street vendors and their urban environments in Baguio City, designed by American architect and planner Daniel Burnham in the early twentieth century, and established by the American imperial government as a place for healing and well-being. Based on a transdisciplinary multi-method study of street vendors, the author offers a unique perspective as a researcher of the place, to ultimately ask how marginalized women authenticate and democratize prime urban spaces for their livelihoods. This book provides a portal to another way of seeing and understanding streets and people, covering spatial units at multiple scales, design imperialism and its impact on health, and resilience strategies for challenging realities. Blending subjects of architecture, planning, and health, this book is an ideal read for those interested in fields of urban planning and design, public health, landscape architecture, geography, and social sciences.

Combining studies of demography, climate change, technology and innovation, political development, new actors in international development, and global governance frameworks, this book highlights the major underlying determinants of change in the African context and key uncertainties about the continent's future development prospects.

All societies develop their own norms about what is fair behavior and what is not. Violations of these norms, including acts of corruption, can collectively be described as forms of 'grabbing'. This unique volume addresses how grabbing hinders development at the sector level and in state administration. The contributors - researchers and practitioners who work on the ground in developing countries - present empirical data on the mechanisms at play and describe different types of unethical practices.

The book's sixteen case studies explore why certain practices constitute forms of grabbing, what implications they have for the achievement of development goals, and how policy options should take the characteristics of grabbing into account. A broad range of sectors are covered, including extractive industries, construction, ports, utilities, finance, health, pharmaceuticals and education. The authors discuss political checks and balances, democratic elections and the law enforcement system, as well as the government s role in the allocation of land and as a development partner in other countries.

The volume's original approach makes it a valuable resource for researchers and students interested in development, economics, governance and corruption. Development aid practitioners, as well as politicians and public officials in developing countries, will find it a useful aid in their work.

This book is a collection of working papers, policy briefs and training modules, published by the International Poverty Centre in Brazil, which provides a comprehensives set of recommendations for alternative economic policies that can generate growth, employment and poverty reduction in developing countries.

Focusing on transboundary river systems and their basins, the authors explore the fresh water crisis of Himalayan Asia. While the region hosts some of the world's mightiest rivers, it is also home to rapidly modernizing, increasingly affluent, and demographically multiplying societies. This combination ensures both the depletion of water resources and the increase in disputes over ownership of transboundary river waters. In a thorough investigation, based on extensive field research across Asia, the authors examine how these disputes impact the present and future interstate relations of this key region.

Looking beyond the materialistic boundary of the conventional development paradigm, this book identifies our spiritual underdevelopment which is being reflected as self-centeredness and greed, as the root cause of conventional development's failure to alleviate poverty and inequality, achieve sustainability and deliver happiness to humanity.

Cash Transfers and Basic Social Protection offers a ground-breaking analysis of the discourses that facilitated the rise of cash transfers as instruments of development policy since the 1990s. The author gives a detailed overview of the history of social protection and identifies the factors that made cash transfers legitimate policy.