This book provides a comprehensive review of the Measures for Administration of Takeover of Chinese Listed Companies (the Chinese takeover law), with emphasis on the differences between the Chinese takeover law and takeover legislation in the UK, the US and Hong Kong. The Chinese M&A market has been booming at an unprecedented rate in recent years; not only domestic investors, but also foreign funds and multinational companies are actively participating on the market. For both market participants and researchers, it is crucial to understand the emerging and transitional aspects of the Chinese economy and its M&A market, and the impacts of those aspects on relevant laws. While there are ongoing academic discussions on the convergence between the Chinese takeover law and its counterparts in the UK, Hong Kong and the US, this book offers a comprehensive discussion of the divergence and focuses on key differences in the transplanted Chinese takeover law.

Waves of modernizing forces, such as the commercialization of new technology, have been pressing major change upon rural communities in the Third World. But has modernization created greater poverty and inequality? A data set generated from eleven surveys during 1966-87 in a typical rice village in the Philippines, illustrates a pattern of socio economic change shared by many lowland rice areas in the Philippines as well as in other Asian economies. The authors present the lessons drawn from 30 years of empirical research.

The European Union is facing a profound crisis and is confronted with multiple challenges. Over the last two decades, it has experienced a series of dramatic changes to its powers, its institutional design, its constitutional framework and its borders. The current political, economic and financial crisis puts the EU's legitimacy further under pressure and creates the impression of a turning point. This book provides a concise analysis of the EU and its dynamics by paying particular attention to its day-to-day operation. It aims to help students and scholars understand its evolution, its institutions, its decision-making and the interactions between the EU and various actors. Avoiding abstract theorizing, the authors propose an easy to read analysis of how the Union works while recognizing the complexity of the situation. Throughout the book, the key issues of European integration are addressed: democratic deficit, politicization, the role of member states, institutional crisis and citizen involvement. This edition has been fully updated to include: Brexit, the migration crisis as well as the consequences of the 2014 EP elections for all the EU institutions; An in-depth analysis of the 2014 EU elections; More empirical data across the board; New developments in EU decision-making such as the trialogues, and differentiated integration; More in-depth discussion of the role of interest groups in EU policy-making. This text is of key interest to students, scholars and readers interested in European Union politics and studies.

This multi-genre collection of chapters presents the dramatic transformation of English Studies in India since the early 1990s. It showcases the shift from the study of mainly British literature and language to a more versatile terrain of multilingualism, culture, performance, theory, and the literary Global South. Tracing this transition, the volume discusses themes like Indian literary history, postcolonial theory, post-pandemic challenges to literary studies, the state of Indian English drama, vernacular literature in English Studies and pedagogy, translations of feminist writers from South Asia, caste, and othering in literature, among other key themes. The volume, with contributions from eminent English Studies scholars, not only reflects the altered terrain of English Language and Literature in India but also invites readers to think about the transformative potential of the present juncture for both literary imagination and literary studies. This timely book, in honour of Professor GJV Prasad, will be of interest to scholars and researchers of English Studies, cultural studies, literature, comparative literature, translation studies, postcolonial studies, and critical theory.

This volume is a critical investigation into the contemporary phenomenon of the dissensus of the globe and the planet, and the new terrains of consciousness that need to be negotiated towards a possibility for transformation. It examines the possibilities of alternate, sustainable modes of being and existing in a world which requires a unified, ethical, biopolitical worldview. The book explores themes like philosophical posthumanism and planetary concerns; disruption of cultural and intellectual inequality; bodily movement through nomadic subjectivity; dystopic spatialities of game(re)play; globalization, and speculative imaginaries of the body; and theory of multiplicity. It also discusses the impact of COVID-19 on human beings, the role of the neoliberal media, the question of rights of robots and cyborgs in sci-fi movies, and representation of refugees in literature. This book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of English literature, political philosophy, cultural studies, literary cultures, post-colonial studies, critical theory, and social anthropology.

This book explores issues surrounding measles and vaccination in Pakistan. Drawing on long-term ethnographic research, it focuses on two major outbreaks in Sindh Province and on Pakistan’s vaccination campaigns. The chapters examine the responses to outbreaks and vaccination from various stakeholders including local people, the Pakistani government and the WHO. Inayat Ali reflects on the competing agendas, differing conceptualizations of measles and vaccination, and the factors that lie behind these contestations. Situating outbreaks within the institutionalized form of disparities, he analyzes the rituals used to deal with measles and local resistance to vaccines in Pakistan. The distinct imaginaries and practices related to measles and vaccination are considered in national and global context, and the book makes a valuable contribution to the development of an anthropology of vaccination and medical anthropology of Pakistan.

This book is the first empirical study of police discretion in India. Going beyond anecdotal accounts, it addresses the issues and concerns of arrest discretion behaviour of police with analysis of available literature internationally, testing the validity in the context of police in India and explaining the gap that exists between the legislative intent and field law enforcement. It establishes how extralegal determinants like subculture, environment and situations influence arrest discretion as much as legal determinants such as statutes, rules, manuals and court rulings. It also provides vital explanations on the working of the police system in India. The volume will be of great interest to policymakers, police leaders, officers of judiciary, scholars and researchers of criminology and criminal justice, sociology and social anthropology and South Asian studies.

This book is the second volume in a new series on 'Great Minds in Regional Science,' which seeks to present a contemporary view on the scientific relevance of the work done by great thinkers in regional science. This volume presents, among others, Adam Smith, Johann Heinrich von Thunen, and Alan Wilson. Each chapter combines factual biographical information about the 'Great Mind,' a description of their major contributions, and a discussion of the broader context of their work, as well as an assessment of its current relevance, scientific recognition, and policy impact. The book attempts to fill a gap in our knowledge and to respond to the growing interest in the formation and development of the field of regional science and its key influential figures.

Gender, Mediation and Popular Education in Venice, 1760–1830 examines how women with enough cultural capital could turn their identity as representatives of "the public" – those on the receiving end of education – to their advantage, producing knowledge under the guise of relaying it. Author Susan Dalton looks at the question of how elite women turned their reputation for ignorance into an opportunity to establish themselves as authors at the dawn of the nineteenth century in Venice. Many literary figures saw women as a group in need of education. By deploying essentialist understandings of femininity, whereby women possessed superior moral virtue but deficient rationality, these women entered the publishing world as cultural mediators, identified by contemporaries as key players in the social projects of public education and moral edification central to the European Enlightenment. Focussing on Isabella Teotochi Albrizzi and Giustina Renier Michiel, both renowned Venetian authors, the author introduces two well-known Italian women of letters to English-speaking scholars; re-evaluates the impact of their writing in Italy and raises questions about female authorship across Europe; broadens our conceptions of gender norms; and enriches our knowledge of a little-known period of women’s writing in Italy. This volume is an essential resource for students and scholars alike interested in women’s and gender history, early modern history and social and cultural history.

This volume studies the ways in which modernity has been conceived, practiced, and performed in Indian literatures from the 18th to 20th century. It brings together essays on writings in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Odia, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and languages from Northeast India, which form a dialogical relationship with each other in this volume. The concurrence and contradictions emerging through these studies problematize the idea of modernity afresh. The book challenges the dominance of colonial modernity through socio-historical and cultural analysis of how modernity surfaces as a multifaceted phenomenon when contextualized in the multilingual ethos of India. It further tracks the complex ways in which modernism in India is tied to the harvests of modernity. It argues for the need to shift focus on the specific conditions that gave shape to multiple modernities within literatures produced from India. A versatile collection, the book incorporates engagements with not just long prose fiction but also lesser-known essays, research works, and short stories published in popular magazines. This unique work will be of interest to students and teachers of Indian writing in English, Indian literatures, and comparative literatures. It will be indispensable to scholars of South Asian studies, literary historians, linguists, and scholars of cultural studies across the globe.

The Routledge Handbook of South Asian Religions presents critical research, overviews, and case studies on religion in historical South Asia, in the seven nation states of contemporary South Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, and in the South Asian diaspora. Chapters by an international set of experts analyse formative developments, roots, changes and transformations, religious practices and ideas, identities, relations, territorialisation, and globalisation in historical and contemporary South Asia. The Handbook is divided into two parts which first analyse historical South Asian religions and their developments and second contemporary South Asia religions that are influenced by both religious pluralism and their close connection to nation states and their ideological power. Contributors argue that religion has been used as a tool for creating nations as well as majorities within those nations in South Asia, despite their enormous diversity, in particular religious diversity. The Handbook explores these diversities and tensions, historical developments, and the present situation across religious traditions by utilising an array of approaches and from the point of view of various academic disciplines. Drawing together a remarkable collection of leading and emerging scholars, this handbook is an invaluable research tool and will be of interest to researchers and students in the fields of Asian religion, religion in context, and South Asian religions.

The UK's departure from the EU has profoundly affected the politics and economics of Northern Ireland. Brexit has shattered a political accommodation that was taking shape in the region that involved nationalism and unionism refraining from aggressively pursuing their own objectives or making excessive demands on each other. Economically, it has made the task of building an innovative economy in the region immeasurably more difficult. Without radical change, Northern Ireland is destined to be an economic outhouse of an under-performing UK economy. This book represents the first systematic study of the impact of Brexit on the political and economic future of Northern Ireland and Ireland. It provides a detailed assessment of the consequences of the Belfast Agreement and highlights how Brexit imperils the advances that have been made since its signing in 1998. It makes a dispassionate assessment of the changes that may be necessary to create a stronger Northern Ireland economy. On the one hand, demands for the immediate unification of Ireland that are now being made loudly and persistently by nationalists and republicans are considered too precipitous. The two economies on the island are not yet ready for Irish unity. On the other hand, the book argues the case for a radical reorientation of the Northern Ireland economy through the incremental creation of an all-Ireland economy. The book cuts through the rhetoric that characterizes so much discussion about the Northern Ireland economy and provides a hard-headed appraisal of not only its structure and performance, but also the economic feasibility of Irish unity.

How are the rising mutual concerns of Asian and European countries shaping their approaches to the international order? Contributors to this volume discuss emerging critical issues in International relations, including the Indo-Pacific constructs, China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and the progress of established regional security mechanisms like the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. They also compare western and non-western approaches to these issues, with a holistic perspective on the origins and evolutions of these approaches. Both the Indo-Pacific constructs and BRI present a remarkable set of opportunities for Europe as well as Asia. This book presents key implications of the changing politico-security dynamics in the two regions from the perspectives of both Asian and European scholars and theoretical traditions. A must-read for scholars of International Relations with a focus on relations between Asia and Europe.

This fully updated fifth edition of An Introduction to African Politics is an ideal textbook for those new to the study of this fascinating continent. Charting trends in government over six decades of the post-colonial era, the book tackles key questions such as: How have African states made sense of their colonial inheritance? How relevant are ethnic and religious identities? Why have some states collapsed and others prospered? Why did the one-party state fail? Why is contemporary Africa now dominated by electoral authoritarian states, and not the multi-party democracies promised in the 1990s? Key features include: thematically organised, with chapters exploring issues such as colonialism, ethnicity, nationalism, religion, social class, ideology, legitimacy, authority, sovereignty and democracy; new five-part structure makes clearer Africa's political evolution over time; new chapter on the emergence of 'hybrid states' and 'electoral authoritarianism'; more coverage of twenty-first century governance trends such as China's impact, the changing role of the military, different uses of 'client-patron' networks, Western conditionality and the 'Africa rising' debate; colour presentation of maps, photos and data; boxed case studies including Mali, Tanzania, Nigeria, Botswana, Cote d'Ivoire, Uganda, Somalia, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tunisia and Angola; each chapter concludes with key terms and definitions, questions and further reading. An Introduction to African Politics is essential reading for students seeking an accessible introduction to the complex social relationships and events that characterise the politics of post-colonial Africa.

This book discusses the issues of equity-based education in India and advocates for providing fair and inclusive system of education. It focuses on the practice of democratic education to promote critical thinking and develop problem-solving attitudes among learners in learner-centric classrooms. Offering insightful comments on the contemporary issues related to Education in India, the book underlines the need for teachers to draw from the reforms suggested in the New Education Policy 2020 to ensure equitable learning. It aims to develop teachers’ capacity to identify students’ needs and ensure community participation. The book discusses a range of topics such as holistic assessment, reflexive pedagogy, ICT, innovations in education, and inclusiveness among others. While providing theoretical as well as empirical insights on the approaches needed in classrooms for better learning, it also provides anecdotal evidence and case studies to support equity-based education. The book will be of interest to teachers and researchers of education, vocational education, and teacher education. It will also be useful for educators, educationists, education administrators, Special educators, academicians, policymakers, in-service teachers, teacher educators and teacher trainees.

This book provides a comparative historical study of the rise and evolution of anti-colonial movements in South Africa and Israel/Palestine. It focuses on the ways in which major political movements and activists conceptualised their positions vis-a-vis historical processes of colonial settlement and indigenous resistance over the last century. Drawing on a range of primary sources, the author engages with theoretical debates involving key actors operating in their own time and space. Using a comparative framework, the book illustrates common and divergent patterns of political and ideological contestations and focuses on the relevance of debates about race and class, state and power, ethnicity and nationalism. Particular attention is given to South Africa and Israel/Palestine's links to global campaigns to undermine foreign domination and internal oppression, tensions between the quests for national liberation and equality of rights, the role of dissidents from within the ranks of settler communities, and the various attempts to consolidate indigenous resistance internally while forging alliances with other social and political forces on the outside. This book will be of interest to scholars in the fields of African History, Middle East History, and African Studies, and to social justice and solidarity activists globally.

Edoho and his contributors examine the management challenges facing African governments and businesses on the eve of a new millennium. As the authors make clear, Africa's future is defined by how Africa does in the 21st century. For Africa, a major challenge is how to effectively and efficiently manage its vast wealth. Africa is not poor because it is poor--it is poor because it cannot manage its development process. The shortages of managerial knowledge, skills, and talents are pervasive. Consequently, the region lacks the ability to organize production and run operations effectively and efficiently. The task of developing managerial manpower in Africa is not only imperative, it is urgent.

After outlining theoretical and applied perspectives on management, the volume examines the public and private sector planning and management. It then explores the globalization of management technology, provides case studies of African management dilemmas, looks at management ethics and morality, and concludes with an analysis of the role of management in African national development. As the authors make clear, abundant resources will not of themselves usher in an African economic renaissance. Africa needs skills to identify and analyze its resources, to undertake investment, and to establish and run all kinds of organizations. Until Africa develops its indigenous managerial talents, development will continue to be elusive, and the process traumatizing. An important resource for scholars, students, and policy makers involved with African economic development.

This is a study of how ethnic diversity is represented in public institutions in India, and of the politics and policy solutions devised to manage ethnic inequalities. With new data on representational patterns in parliament and cabinet, it provides an account of representation that encompasses the diversity of caste, tribe and religion. Emphasising the overlapping nature of social and economic inequalities in India, it seeks to place the issue of material disadvantage at the very heart of the debate on ethnic and cultural inequality.

National intelligence cultures are shaped by their country's history and environment. Featuring 32 countries (such as Albania, Belgium, Croatia, Norway, Latvia, Montenegro), the work provides insight into a number of rarely discussed national intelligence agencies to allow for comparative study, offering hard to find information into one volume. In their chapters, the contributors, who are all experts from the countries discussed, address the intelligence community rather than focus on a single agency. They examine the environment in which an organization operates, its actors, and cultural and ideological climate, to cover both the external and internal factors that influence a nation's intelligence community. The result is an exhaustive, unique survey of European intelligence communities rarely discussed.

Exploring the evolution of song and dance in the popular Hindi film, this book examines how these quintessential elements have been and continue to be theorized. As song 'picturizations', as they are frequently called, have evolved, shifting from little more than impromptu moves around tree trunks to highly choreographed affairs featuring scores of professional dancers and exotic backgrounds, their theorization has also developed beyond the initial, peremptory dismissals of earlier critics. Featuring a landmark collection of essays from leading theorists, as well as newer contributions from up-and-coming scholars, this book develops new and exciting ways of thinking about song and dance in Hindi cinema and, in turn, explores how these elements work to (re)define popular Hindi cinema in the twenty-first century. This collection will be of interest to students and scholars of Hindi cinema, musicals, and global popular cultures. It was originally published as a special issue of South Asian Popular Culture.

This book provides a rich analysis of the actors and organizations to reflect on the antecedents and trajectories of terrorism and insurgency in South Asia, and the different countermeasures adopted by the countries to deal with the security and developmental challenges. South Asia is a complex geography that has been both a victim and a playing field for indigenous insurgencies, and domestic and transnational terrorist movements. The contributors to this volume explore how this situation has posed serious challenges to the sovereignty of the states, to national and human security, and to the socioeconomic fabric of the communities, and to the ethnic and religious cohesion. The book provides detailed studies of country cases on terrorism, security, and insurgencies, and it underlines the national, regional, and global implications of the threats that emanate from this region. Presenting an opportunity to diversify away from a Western-centric focus on terrorism and security, this book will be valuable to researchers in political science, criminology, defense and security studies, and to policy makers and think tanks.

This book explores and explains how traditional and alternative media have framed the issues of gun trafficking into Mexico, drug-related violence, and spillover violence. It reveals how gun trafficking and drug-related violence are social problems for Mexico, while spillover violence is portrayed as a moral panic for the US. Readers will gain a better understanding of how the media portrays and frames the criminal activity that is occurring in Mexico and how it impacts the US. The book analyzes national newspapers from both sides of the US–Mexico border—The New York Times and El Universal—and draws on a theoretical framework of moral panics, social problems, and cultivation theory. It reveals six framing devices, "the blame game," "worthy and unworthy victims," "positive aspects," "negative aspects of gun trafficking," "indirect mention of gun trafficking," and "direct mention of gun trafficking," which are utilized by The New York Times and El Universal to discuss and frame the issue of gun trafficking into Mexico and its impact on Mexico’s border violence. Mexico’s Drug-Related Violence will be of great interest to students and scholars interested in the perception of media and crime, as well as those researching the topic of drug cartels and drug-related violence.

Considering the rise of global political instability and subsequent importance of new social movements, this cutting edge book examines the relationship between the alter-globalization movement and political power in Italy, Spain, and Greece. It argues that not only is the movement anti-political, but that it operates within an apolitical social milieu, as a ritualized holding pattern for middle class youths that find themselves uncomfortably placed between a receding state structure on the one hand, and a rising informal economy on the other. Its ritual liminality allows adherents to act revolutionary while assuring that their middle class privileges remain intact. The author considers the social ramifications of the movement at a time when Europe finds itself at a political and economic crossroads, and offers specific and timely case studies from the three southern European countries.

"A welcome addition to the often-bloated scholarship on literary postmodernism. . . . Bilton's command of the fiction and scholarship is impressive."
-- "Choice"

"Bilton offers a critical but accessible introduction to postmodernism in America, surveying the selected works of eight contemporary writers. . . . This is an intriguing if eclectic mix of authors."
--"Library Journal"

Don DeLillo, Paul Auster, Cormac McCarthy, Rolando Hinojosa, E. Annie Proulx, Bret Easton Ellis, Douglas Coupland, and Thomas Pynchon: An Introduction to Contemporary American Fiction introduces the work of a range of key American authors, all of whom can be said to engage with postmodernism. Exploring the vitality and energy of contemporary writing in light of pessimistic proclamations on the state of postmodern American culture, Bilton highlights the tension between "realistic" description and linguistic self-consciousness in contemporary fiction.

In addition, by addressing a central problem in literary theory--its neglect of literary discussion and the practice of reading--An Introduction to Contemporary American Fiction is able to present a working model for reading a text theoretically.

As an introductory text, it assumes no prior knowledge of the authors of the novels discussed. To encourage understanding and aid further study, the following features are included:

* GLOSSARY OF CRITICAL AND LITERARY TERMS
* BIBLIOGRAPHY OF EACH AUTHOR'S WORKS
* BIOGRAPHY OF EACH AUTHOR
* GUIDE TO FURTHER READING
* THEMATIC AND AUTHOR INDICES

India embarked upon the liberalisation path in 1991 by dismantling the Licence, Quota, Permit Raj. A decade later, the defence sector allowed 100 percent private sector participation with 26 percent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The offset policy in 2005 and its subsequent refinements aimed at leveraging India's big ticket acquisitions to bring in substantial FDI, Joint Ventures (JVs) and outsourcing arrangements, thereby improving the self-reliance quotient. Despite such policy initiatives, India's military industry capability and self-reliance remain at a low ebb. There is considerable unease over the implementation of defence offsets, due to the meagre inflow of FDI into manufacturing and the R&D sector, lukewarm long-term investment interest of foreign arms majors in Indian industry and outsourcing arrangements predominantly for low end products, services and Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul (MRO) so far. To galvanise the process, the government needs to develop a comprehensive industrialisation strategy for the manufacturing sector and dovetail defence industry capability as part of this larger policy mosaic. Use of offsets can be a critical facilitator of this strategy. Of the four BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries that are expected to be global leaders in 2020, Brazil, China and Russia are seen to have taken significant strides in aerospace, shipbuilding, manufacturing, exports and R&D, with offsets playing a significant role. India is yet to realise its full potential in these areas. The offset policy can be a powerful instrument for such global leadership. FDI in defence should be increased to at least 50 percent as this is likely to bring in significant key manufacturing and design technology capability. Simultaneously, substantial R&D investment and joint technology projects will be needed to spur the export potential and the spin-off to the civil sector. Front end defence technology in electronics, avionics and metallurgy and propulsion has always been a precursor to overall growth in Science and Technology (S&T) and national capability build-up. This has to be supplemented by social sector investment, skill upgradation and training. A mix of direct and indirect offsets will bolster this process. A liberal offset policy, with strong government mentoring, has the heady potential to make India a global hub in defence technology and manufacturing, and more self-reliant in critical defence systems and platforms.