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Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > General
This book presents a series of studies that demonstrate the value of interactions between knowledge management with the arts and humanities. The carefully compiled chapters show, on the one hand, how traditional methods from the arts and humanities - e.g. theatrical improvisation, clay modelling, theory of aesthetics - can be used to enhance knowledge creation and evolution. On the other, the chapters discuss knowledge management models and practices such as virtual knowledge space (BA) design, social networking and knowledge sharing, data mining and knowledge discovery tools. The book also demonstrates how these practices can yield valuable benefits in terms of organizing and analyzing big arts and humanities data in a digital environment.
A diverse range of area specialists are brought together here in the first volume which embraces such a geographically diverse treatment of the subregional system. The Central European Free Trade Area, the Black Sea Economic Cooperation scheme, ECOWAS in West Africa, MERCOSUR, the Association of Caribbean States, Chilean strategies, the "Greater China" project, ASEAN, and the East Asian Economic Caucus are all explored in order to mount a case for a "new International Political Economy" perspective in the understanding of subregional cooperation.
Social pathologies are social processes that hinder how individuals exercise their autonomy and freedom. In this book, Gustavo Pereira offers an account of such phenomena by defining them as a cognitive failure that affects the practical imagination, thus negatively interfering with our practical life. This failure of the imagination is the consequence of the imposition of a type of practical rationality on a practical context alien to it, caused by a non-conscious transformation of the individuals' set of beliefs and values. The research undertaken provides an innovative explanation in terms of microfoundations based on the mechanism of "availability heuristic", by which the diminished exercise of the imagination turns the intuitively available or prevailing rationality into the one that regulates behaviour in inappropriate contexts. Additionally, this incorrect regulation results in a progressive distortion of the shared sense of the affected practical contexts, which becomes institutionalized. Consumerism, bureaucratism, moralism, juridification, some forms of corruption and the particular Latin American case of "malinchism" can be interpreted as social pathologies insofar as they imply such distortion. This way of conceptualizing social pathologies integrates the traditional sociological macro-explanation manifested through the negative consequences of the processes of social rationalization with a micro-explanation articulated around the findings of cognitive psychology such as availability heuristic. Understanding social pathologies as a cognitive failure allows us to identify the introduction of normative friction as the main way to counteract their effects. One of the potential effects of normative friction, as a specific form of cognitive dissonance, is the intense exercise of the imagination, thus operating as a condition of possibility for the exercise of autonomy and reflection. Democratic ethical life, understood as a shared democratic culture, as well as social institutions and narratives, are the privileged social spaces and means to trigger reflective processes that can counteract social pathologies through a reflective reappropriation of the meaning of the shared practical context. An extraordinary contribution by a Critical Theorist to the return of the concept of imagination today. It takes up the challenge once taken by Kant to think about imagination as the pivotal activity not only of knowledge and experience, but above all, for action. The author claims that imagination makes criticism possible (pathologies) and it allows us to envision alternative views into the path for social transformation. Without imagination nothing is possible. Maria Pia Lara, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Mexico
Ranging from the early modern period to the present day, this edited collection uses biography as a window into the history of the Arab-Islamic Middle East. The contributors reinterpret the lives of the famous such as George Antonius and Doria Shafiq and rediscover the lives of individuals previously consigned to the margins of history, including the notorious individuals of 17th-century Syria and the 20th-century Palestinian activist Kulthum Auda. The book also draws on the biographical tradition of Arab historical writing, including biographical dictionaries, for an understanding of the region’s social and cultural history. Interdisciplinary in scope and theoretically informed, this volume brings to light individual lives which are essential to an understanding of Middle Eastern history.
Written by an international team of experts from the US, UK, Hong Kong, China, Korea and Canada, this important and interesting book examines and explores the relationship between the international political and economic system, and China s economic and political transition. Exploring international relations theory with a China-centric view, the book addresses key and significant questions such as:
Giving vital insights into China s likely development and international influence in the next decade, China s Reforms and International Political Economy is an essential and invaluable read.
Though usually forgotten in general surveys of European
colonization, the Russians were among the greatest colonizers of
the Old World, eventually settling across most of the immense
expanse of Northern Europe and Asia, from the Baltic and the
Pacific, and from the Arctic Ocean to Central Asia. This book makes
a unique contribution to our understanding of the Eurasian past by
examining the policies, practices, cultural representations, and
daily-life experiences of Slavic settlement in non-Russian regions
of Eurasia from the time of Ivan the Terrible to the nuclear era.
Having identified early material that goes back to the Buddha
himself, the author argues that the two teachers of the Buddha were
historical figures. Based on the early Brahminic literature, namely
the early Upanishads and Moksadharma, the author asserts the origin
of the method of meditation learned by the Buddha from these
teachers, and attempts to use them to identify some authentic
teachings of the Buddha on meditation.
By the end of World War II, Americans' relationship with nature had changed dramatically. New consumption patterns drove an industrial economy that damaged the earth in new ways, and the atomic age heightened awareness of the earth' s fragility. Environmental historian Steven Stoll identifies 1945 as the birth of American environmentalism-- the point when conservation and nature advocacy fused with activism to form a political movement. In this thematically organized collection of primary sources, Stoll traces the development of the environmental movement and identifies its central issues and ideologies, including the politics of preservation, population growth, biological interdependence, ecodefense, climate change, ethical consumption, and environmental justice. Stoll' s insightful introduction provides students with a solid overview of environmentalism' s origins and contextualizes the topics raised by the documents. Document headnotes, a chronology, questions for consideration, and a selected bibliography offer additional pedagogical support.
Events of the past twenty years, including the Cold War and the
War on Terror, have meant that the environments of international
development co-operation have changed extensively, with dramatic
consequences for development policies and North-South relations in
general.
Perspectives on European Development Cooperation takes stock of
such changes, describing and analyzing the new European development
agenda, including the role of the European Union. Essays by
prominent authorities in the field examine the development policies
of individual donor countries and focus on the principles and
objectives governing aid strategies and the performances of these
policies.
This book will be of interest to students of development studies and those involved in determining development policy.
Democracy, Authoritarianism and Education reviews the most recently published empirical research findings on these subjects as well as results from a survey of the attitudes of 10,000 college and university students in 44 counteries towards authority, democracy, nationalism, militarism, internationalism, and educational policy choices. One interesting finding is that (cross-nationally) higher authoritarianism levels translate into lower scores on democratic attitudes and internationalism, higher nationalism and militarism scores, and support for more conservative and provincial (and monocultural) educational policy options.
This book examines the strategic interactions among China, the United States, Japan, and Southeast Asian States in the context of China s rise and globalization after the cold war. Engaging the mainstream theoretical debates in international relations, the author introduces a new theoretical framework institutional realism to explain the institutionalization of world politics in the Asia-Pacific after the cold war. Institutional realism suggests that deepening economic interdependence creates a condition under which states are more likely to conduct a new balancing strategy institutional balancing, i.e., countering pressures or threats through initiating, utilizing, and dominating multilateral institutions to pursue security under anarchy. To test the validity of institutional realism, Kai He examines the foreign policies of the U.S., Japan, the ASEAN states, and China toward four major multilateral institutions, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum (ARF), ASEAN Plus Three (APT), and East Asian Summit (EAS). Challenging the popular pessimistic view regarding China s rise, the book concludes that economic interdependence and structural constraints may well soften the "dragon s teeth." China s rise does not mean a dark future for the region. Institutional Balancing in the Asia Pacific will be of great interest to policy makers and scholars of Asian security, international relations, Chinese foreign policy, and U.S. foreign policy.
'An endlessly fascinating tour of the many different factors influencing our decision-making and reasoning' David Robson, author of The Intelligence Trap 'An eye-opening and engaging richness of information that gives us a detailed insight into the strengths and weaknesses of human behaviour' Melissa Hogenboom, author of The Motherhood Complex Do emotions really cloud your thinking? Are habits holding you back? Is AI manipulating your mind? Does IQ help you think better? Every one of our thoughts, actions, moods and decisions is shaped by a whole array of factors, most of which we don't pay any attention to. From culture, time and language to genetics, technology and the microorganisms living inside us - even our own unconscious routines and habits - it's clear that we aren't always in the driving seat. The good news is that by better understanding the external and internal forces at work, we can minimise their impact on our lives. Drawing on rigorous interdisciplinary research, leading science journalists Miriam Frankel and Matt Warren bring us extraordinary stories and studies that open our eyes to the inner workings of the mind, challenge our thought processes and improve our decision-making. Most of all, Are You Thinking Clearly? is a rallying cry to know yourself, think broadly, think boldly - and to listen. 'Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand why their beliefs, mistakes, emotions and intuitions are the way they are' Richard Gray, BBC Future
This is the first study of the relevance and applicability of international relations theory to the contemporary global push for the spread of liberal democracy. Contributors discuss the theory and practice of the push for the internationalization of liberal democracy and outline an alternative research program for future work.
The Collins Cambridge Lower Secondary Global Perspectives series offers a skills-building approach to the Cambridge curriculum framework (1129) from 2022. The resources support students to develop skills in analysis, collaboration, communication, evaluation, reflection and research, exploring global issues through rich international sources. We are working with Cambridge Assessment International Education towards endorsement of this title for the Cambridge Lower Secondary Global Perspectives curriculum framework (1129) from 2022. This book provides full coverage of the Stage 7 Cambridge Lower Secondary Global Perspectives curriculum framework. Focused on improving skills: each chapter centres on two skill strands, building these skills through a carefully structured sequence of active learning towards a collaborative final task. Empower students to engage with a range of contemporary issues and perspectives. In Stage 7 these relate to the syllabus topics, 'Change in culture and communities', 'Education for all', 'Health and wellbeing', 'Globalisation', 'Values and beliefs', 'Employment' and 'Environment, pollution and conservation'. Help students to assess their progress and understand how to improve: the final chapter asks students to apply the skills they have learned across Stage 7, by carrying out a group project in their local community and reflecting in writing on what they have learned. Encourage reflection through structured Reflection points in each lesson and a self-assessment Check your progress feature at the end of each chapter. The clear lesson-by-lesson approach allows teachers to easily use the resources in the classroom and build them into their own schemes of work. The Collins resources can be used as preparation for the Challenges, if schools wish, as each chapter in the Student's Book links to the skills and topic focus of a Stage 7 Challenge.
The Mongolic Languages represents the first comprehensive treatment of the Mongolic language family in English. The Mongolic languages form a linguistically well defined but geographically widely dispersed family of more than a dozen separate languages, distributed from East and North Asia (Mongolia, Manchuria and Southern Siberia) to Central and West Asia (Northern Tibet, Gansu, Sinkiang, Northern Afghanistan and the Caspian Region). Written by a team of international specialists, this in-depth volume is divided into twenty chapters. The first three chapters focus on reconstructed and historical forms of Mongolic. These are followed by fourteen chapters each containing synchronic and diachronic descriptions of a modern Mongolic language or dialect group, including Khalkha, Buryat, Dagur, Ordos, Kalmuck and Moghol. The final three chapters deal with areal and taxonomic issues. This unique resource is the ideal companion for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of linguistics. It will also be of interest to researchers or anyone with an interest in Mongolian Studies or Central Eurasian history and cultural studies.
'Heady, exhilarating, often astonishing' New York Times 'Iridescently original, deeply disorientating and yet somehow radically hopeful ... worth reading and rereading' Brian Eno 'Be prepared to re-evaluate your relationship with the amazing life forms with whom we share the planet. Fascinating, innovative and thought provoking: I thoroughly recommend Ways of Being' Dr Jane Goodall, DBE Recent years have seen rapid advances in 'artificial' intelligence, which increasingly appears to be something stranger than we ever imagined. At the same time, we are becoming more aware of the other intelligences which have been with us all along, unrecognized. These other beings are the animals, plants, and natural systems that surround us, and are slowly revealing their complexity and knowledge - just as the new technologies we've built are threatening to cause their extinction, and ours. In Ways of Being, writer and artist James Bridle considers the fascinating, uncanny and multiple ways of existing on earth. What can we learn from these other forms of intelligence and personhood, and how can we change our societies to live more equitably with one another and the non-human world? From Greek oracles to octopuses, forests to satellites, Bridle tells a radical new story about ecology, technology and intelligence. We must, they argue, expand our definition of these terms to build a meaningful and free relationship with the non-human, one based on solidarity and cognitive diversity. We have so much to learn, and many worlds to gain.
A major gap still exists between the income levels and economic structures of the accession states and the existing members of the EU. This book examines the ability of the central and south east European economies to withstand the competitive pressures on entry to the EU. These economies are still experiencing major structural problems inherited from communism.
This book tracks the phases of Singapore's economic and political development, arguing that its success was always dependent upon the territories links with the surrounding region and the wider global system, and suggests that managing these links today will be the key to the country's future. Singapore has followed a distinctive historical development trajectory. It was one of a number of cities which provided bases for the expansion of the British empire in the East. But the Pacific War provided local elites with their chance to secure independence. In Singapore the elite disciplined and mobilized their population and built successfully on their colonial inheritance. Today, the city-state prospers in the context of its regional and global networks, and sustaining and nurturing these are the keys to its future. But there are clouds on the elite's horizons; domestically, the population is restive with inequality, migration and surplus-repression causing concern; and internationally, the strategy of constructing a business-hub economy is being widely copied and both Hong Kong and Shanghai are significant competitors. This book discusses these issues and argues that although success is likely to characterize Singapore's future, the elite will have to address these significant domestic and international problems.
The balance between individual independence and social interdependence is a perennial debate in Japan. A series of educational reforms since 1990, including the implementation of a new curriculum in 2002, has been a source of fierce controversy. This book, based on an extended, detailed study of two primary schools in the Kinki district of Japan, discusses these debates, shows how reforms have been implemented at the school level, and explores how the balance between individuality and social interdependence is managed in practice. It discusses these complex issues in relation to personal identity within the class and within the school, in relation to gender issues, and in relation to the teaching of specific subjects, including language, literature and mathematics. The book concludes that, although recent reforms have tended to stress individuality and independence, teachers in primary schools continue to balance the encouragement of individuality and self-direction with the development of interdependence and empathy.
In this book David Wittner situates Japan's Meiji Era experience of technology transfer and industrial modernization within the realm of culture, politics, and symbolism, examining how nineteenth century beliefs in civilization and enlightenment influenced the process of technological choice. Through case studies of the iron and silk industries, Wittner argues that the Meiji government's guiding principle was not simply economic development or providing a technical model for private industry as is commonly claimed. Choice of technique was based on the ability of a technological artifact to import Western "civilization" to Japan: Meiji officials' technological choices were firmly situated within perceptions of authority, modernity, and their varying political agendas. Technological artifacts could also be used as instruments of political legitimization. By late the Meiji Era, the former icons of Western civilization had been transformed into the symbols of Japanese industrial and military might. A fresh and engaging re-examination of Japanese industrialization within the larger framework of the Meiji Era, this book will appeal to scholars and students of science, technology, and society as well as Japanese history and culture.
This book seeks to raise the profile of economic perspectives on crime and criminal justice. It includes exemplars and original contributions, welded into a coherent whole by commentaries on each chapter and annotated further readings. It includes sections concerning the economic analysis of crime and punishment crime and the labor market and modeling the system-wide costs of criminal justice policies.
In this book Judith Cherry analyses the impact of economic and cultural globalization on efforts to promote inward foreign direct investment (IFDI) in South Korea over the past four decades. The book traces the development of Korean IFDI policy from one of restriction and control to one of encouragement and promotion. Specifically, it focuses on the challenges inherent in reforming the 'software' of IFDI promotion (socio-cultural issues, mindsets and perceptions) as opposed to changing its 'hardware' (systems, laws and regulations). Although the Korean government has made sustained efforts over the past decade to enhance Korea's attractions as a host for inward investment, it has faced significant challenges in improving Korea's IFDI performance. The discussion in this book of the wide range of transparent and non-transparent barriers that continue to hamper efforts to promote inward investment draws not only on the Korean debate concerning strategies for maximizing the benefitsof IFDI, but also on the assessment of the Korean business and investment environment revealed in interviews conducted with European investors and officials in Seoul. Foreign Direct Investment in Post-Crisis Korea will appeal to students and scholars of international business, economics and globalization, as well as those with a more general interest in Korean society.
Structured into sub-sector by sub-sector analyses, this book provides a clear and accessible examination of industrial development, without over-generalizing or being weighed down by historical details. Written by an authority in the area of development economics it explores the companies and the individuals that have pushed Japan's economy forwards. Kohama situates the 'miraculous growth' of the Japanese economy in the 1960s in the trade liberalization policy of 1960 and the income doubling plan that commenced in 1961, yet also analyzes the pre-war structures that were in place to facilitate such a 'miracle.' Combining policy analysis with empirical industry-specific analysis, he argues that private dynamism was the real driver of change, rather than policy alone. Reviewing the macroeconomic development of the economy but focusing on the development of the industrial sub-sectors that dominated Japan's industrial scene at various stages of development and structural changes that happened in the process of industrial development, this book is ideal reading for graduate students taking courses on economic development.
This book is an indispensable resource for students and researchers wishing to develop a deeper understanding of one of the world's oldest and most multifaceted religious traditions. Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby, leading scholars in the field, have brought together a rich variety of perspectives which reflect the current lively state of the field. Studying Hinduism is the result of cooperative work by accomplished specialists in several fields that include anthropology, art, comparative literature, history, philosophy, religious studies, and sociology. Through these complementary and exciting approaches, students will gain a greater understanding of India's culture and traditions, to which Hinduism is integral. The book uses key critical terms and topics as points of entry into the subject, revealing that although Hinduism can be interpreted in sharply contrasting ways and set in widely varying contexts, it is endlessly fascinating and intriguing. |
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