|
|
Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Area / regional studies > General
For Ukraine, the signing of the Association Agreement and the DCFTA
with the European Union in 2014 was an act of strategic
geopolitical significance. Emblematic of the struggle to replace
the Yanukovych regime at home and to resist attempts by Russia to
deny its 'European choice', the Association Agreement is a defiant
statement of Ukraine's determination to become an independent
democratic state. The purpose of this Handbook is to make the
complex political, economic and legal content of the Association
Agreement readily understandable. This third edition, published
seven years since signature of after entry into force of the
Agreement's implementation is substantially new in content, both
updating how Ukraine has been implementing the Agreement, and
introducing new dimensions (including the Green Deal, the Covid-19
pandemic, cyber security, and gender equality). The Handbook is
also up to date in analysing Ukraine's the development of the
Zelensky administration, with its unfinished agenda for cutting
corruption and reforming the rule of law. Two teams of researchers
from leading independent think tanks, CEPS in Brussels and the
Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER) in
Kyiv, collaborated on this project, with the support of the Swedish
International Development Agency (Sida). This Handbook is one of a
trilogy examining similar Association Agreements made by the EU
with Georgia and Moldova.
The book traces the genesis of Pakistan military's role in the
governance of the country. With a focus on the military's political
role, the book comprehensively explains the military's intrusion
into politics and its implications. Governance in Pakistan is a
complicated balancing act between the elected civilian leaders and
the military chiefs. Primarily, it is a power-sharing arrangement
in which the military has significant influence over security,
defence, foreign policy and domestic issues. Delineating on how
nuclear programme came under military control, the author states
that the military can and will influence the nature and direction
of political change even without directly assuming power. Since
inception, Pakistan faced several challenges - internal security,
law and order problems, financial and industrial constraints, and
shortage of arms. The continued political uncertainties and
domestic disturbances resulted in the expansion of functions
performed by the military. The multi-dimensional role played by the
military due to weak civilian institutions, factionalism and
external challenges, accelerated its participation in the
governance of the country. The early deaths of Mohammad Ali Jinnah
and Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan created a leadership vacuum. The
successive prime ministers' inability in providing stable
governments and continued political uncertainties provided
opportunities to the military directly to assume power. The
military under the leadership of Gen Ayub Khan assumed power in
October 1958. The successive military regimes (Gen Zia and Gen
Musharraf's regime) employed the same tools in removing the elected
civilian leaders. Judiciary strengthened the hands of the military
rulers by legitimising their coups through their verdicts, thus
playing a crucial role in strengthening and sustaining the
Generals. The book delves into the internal dynamics and external
factors that increased the influence of the military in Pakistan's
polity, economy and society.
In an ever more globalized world, sustainable global development
requires effective intercultural co-operations. This dialogue
between non-western and western cultures is essential to
identifying global solutions for global socio-political challenges.
Modern Japanese Political Thought and International Relations
critiques the formation of non-western International Relations by
assessing Japanese political concepts to contemporary IR discourses
since the Meji Restoration, to better understand knowledge
exchanges in intercultural contexts. Each chapter focuses on a
particular aspect of this dialogue, from international law and
nationalism to concepts of peace and Daoism, this collection
grapples with postcolonial questions of Japan's indigenous IR
theory.
Despite being challenged by authoritarian counter-revolutionary
responses, the Coronavirus pandemic, and a complex (geo)political
context, the uprisings that started ten years ago in many countries
of the Middle East and North Africa are still very much alive. By
adopting a comparative approach, this comprehensive volume
investigates the ongoing protests on three levels of analysis
(local, national, regional) and through seven case studies
(Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia).
Particular attention is also placed on the role of the European
Union and its member states in this historical transformation.
The May 1926 coup d'\u00e9tat in Poland inaugurated what has become
known as the period of sanacja or \u201ccleansing.\u201d The event
has been explored in terms of the impact that it had on state
structures and political styles. But for both supporters and
opponents of the post-May regime, the sanacja was a catalyst for
debate about Polish national identity, about citizenship and
responsibility to the nation, and about postwar sexual morality and
modern gender identities. The Clash of Moral Nations is a study of
the political culture of interwar Poland, as reflected in and by
the coup. Eva Plach shifts the focus from strictly political
contexts and examines instead the sanacja's open-ended and
malleable language of purification, rebirth, and moral
regeneration. In tracking the diverse appropriations and
manipulations of the sanacja concept, Plach relies on a wide
variety of texts, including the press of the period, the personal
and professional papers of notable interwar women activists, and
the official records of pro-sanacja organizations, such as the
Women's Union for Citizenship Work. The Clash of Moral Nations
introduces an important cultural and gendered dimension to
understandings of national and political identity in interwar
Poland.
'Between the ever-open possibilities of the global space, and the
nation-state with its still seemingly irreducible hold on territory
and imagination, lies the region. In higher education there are
many kinds of region. This is by far the best book on regional
developments, and one of the first two or three books we must now
turn to in order to understand global higher education-it provides
an invaluable geo-spatial lens that complements analyses based on
political economy and culture.' - Simon Marginson, ESRC/HEFCE
Centre for Global Higher Education and University College London,
UK This original book provides a unique analysis of the different
regional and inter-regional projects, their processes and the
politics of Europeanisation, globalisation and education.
Collectively, the contributors engage with a range of theories on
regionalising to explore new ways of thinking about regionalisms
and inter-regionalisms with a focus on the higher education sector.
It makes the compelling case that globally, higher education is
being transformed by regionalizing and inter-regionalizing projects
aimed at resolving ongoing economic, political and cultural
challenges within and beyond national territorial states. The
chapters range over a wide geography of regional projects and their
unique politics - from Europe to Latin America, Africa, Asia,
Europe, the Gulf, and the Barent region. Collectively they reveal
the diverse, uneven, and variegated nature of global regionalisms
in higher education. Comprehensive and theoretically informed, this
unique book will appeal to academics and postgraduate students, in
addition to policymakers and administrators involved in higher
education. Contributors include: T. Aljafari, N. Azman, A.A. Bakar,
R.Y. Chao Jr., J.-E. Charlier, S. Croche, R. Dale, Q.A. Dang, L.A.
Gandin, T.D. Jules, S. Melo, P. Motter, T. Muhr, M.L. Neves de
Azevedo, K. Olds, O.M. Panait, D. Perrotta, S.L. Robertson, M.
Sirat, M. Sundet, A. Welch
Twenty years ago Ukraine gained its independence and started on a
path towards a free market economy and democratic governance. After
four successive presidents and the Orange Revolution, the question
of exactly which national model Ukraine should embrace remains an
open question. Constructing the Narratives of Identity and Power
provides a comprehensive outlook on Ukraine as it is presented
through the views of intellectual and political elites. Based on
extensive field work in Ukraine, Karina V. Korostelina describes
the complex process of nation building. Despite the prevailing
belief in a divide between two parts of Ukraine and an overwhelming
variety of incompatible visions, Korostelina reveals seven
prevailing conceptual models of Ukraine and five dominant
narratives of national identity. Constructing the Narratives of
Identity and Power analyzes the practice of national
self-imagination. Karina V. Korostelina puts forward a
structural-functional model of national narratives that describes
three major components, dualistic order, mythic narratives, and
normative order, and two main functions of national narratives, the
development of the meaning of national identity and the
legitimization of power. Korostelina describes the differences and
conflicting elements of the national narratives that constitute the
contested arena of nation-building in Ukraine.
Since the 1920s, Socialist and Communist parties in Europe and
elsewhere have engaged in episodes of both rivalry and cooperation,
with each seeking to dominate the European Left. Enemy Brothers
analyzes how this relationship has developed over the past century,
focusing on France, Italy, and Spain, where Socialists and
Communists have been politically important. Drawing on fieldwork
and interviews in all three nations, W. Rand Smith identifies the
critical junctures that these parties faced and the strategic
choices they made, especially regarding alliance partners. In
explaining the parties' diverse alliance strategies, Enemy Brothers
stresses the impact of institutional arrangements, party culture,
and leadership.
This book is a systematic inquiry of conspiracy theories across
Latin America. Conspiracy theories project not only an interpretive
logic of reality that leads people to believe in sinister
machinations, but also imply a theory of power that requires
mobilizing and taking action. Through history, many have fallen for
the allure of conspiratorial narratives, even the most
unsubstantiated and bizarre. This book traces the main conspiracy
theories developing in Latin America since late colonial times and
into the present, and identifies the geopolitical, socioeconomic
and cultural scenarios of their diffusion and mobilization.
Students and scholars of Latin American history and politics, as
well as comparatists, will find in this book penetrating analyses
of major conspiratorial designs in this multi-state region of the
Americas.
This innovative volume systematically brings together two strands
of applied research that, to date, have been carried out separately
- 'smart growth' research and climate change adaptability research.
By providing theory, models, and case studies from North America,
Oceania and Europe, the book creates synergies between the two
strands, reconciles differences, and provides insights for
decision-makers at national and local levels. The contributors to
the volume draw on modeling tools complementary to both camps as
they explore the issues surrounding: water and energy use, health,
transportation, urbanization and regional development. Examples
from around the world illustrate the relationships between regional
land use, infrastructure development, quality of life and climate
change. The contributors take special care to develop theory and
models in real-world contexts as they emphasize both the science of
climate change and its land use management, policy and investment
implications. In addition, they pay special attention to bridging
the gaps that may exist among science and engineering, stakeholder
interests, and policy implementation. Students, scholars and
practitioners in the areas of geography, planning, land use, civil
and environmental engineering, environmental economics, and policy
will find the approaches and strategies in this volume of great
interest.
Transformational CEOs questions why some Japanese firms succeeded
in the 1990s despite an economy that failed - regardless of the
burst of the 'bubble' economy, a number of Japanese companies have
maintained or extended their international leadership in particular
sectors. The authors argue that whilst some of the reasons for
successes are plain common sense - operational effectiveness and
superior CEO leadership - some are Japan-specific and point to a
break with traditional leadership rationale. Presenting four
in-depth case studies, the book shows that newly appointed foreign
managers and overseas trained Japanese managers have been
instrumental in the success of these corporations and have
re-written the rulebook on Japanese management. The behaviour
patterns and cognitive processes of successful CEOs in Japanese
companies - Nissan and Sony being the most well-known - are
examined. From these studies, two different but equally successful
leadership approaches have emerged: the Proto-Image of the Firm
(PIF) and Profit-Arithmetic (PA). The first involves supporting a
business decision by comparing business proposals with the CEO's
image of the firm, whilst the second focuses on processing data and
information through a mental model that enables identification of
profit levers. Providing lessons in leadership, and concluding that
transformational leadership requires a choice between two types of
mindset (PIF and PA), this book will be invaluable to academics,
business consultants, managers and executives with an interest in
strategic management and leadership. Scholars of Asian studies will
also find the book to be a fascinating read.
Analyzing ongoing changes in the design of regulatory and
supervisory authorities over the banking and financial industry in
Europe, this comprehensive Handbook pays particular attention to
the role of national central banks, the new financial supervisory
authorities and the European Central Bank (ECB). The contributors,
all experts in their fields, begin by presenting the current
situation in Europe, focusing on the role of the central banks,
before going on to illustrate the supervisory architecture reforms
of the late 1990s. The Handbook also highlights the emerging role
of new integrated financial authorities through an analysis of
different national case studies. This new original reference book
concludes with a review of the various options now available for
the design of supervisory architecture at the European level,
considering also the possible involvement of the ECB. The Handbook
tackles a number of controversial issues including: * why financial
supervision architecture is important and why the issue has arisen
at the present time * the roles of national central banks and
national policymakers in alternative financial supervisory
structures * the advantages and potential hazards of single
financial authorities unified or integrated agencies. This
essential Handbook is a major multidisciplinary work and will be of
great value to scholars and academics - principally in economics,
finance and European studies but also politics and law - as well as
regulators and supervisory institutions.
Globalisation and social transformation theorists have paid
significantly less attention to the movement of people than they
have to the movement of capital. This book redresses the balance
and provides timely insights into recent developments in return
skilled migration in four regions in the Asia Pacific - Bangladesh,
China, Taiwan and Vietnam. The authors believe that the movement of
skilled migrants, and the tacit knowledge they bring with them, is
a vital component in the process of globalisation. The authors
examine the patterns and processes of return migration and the
impacts it can have on migrants, their families and communities
(including gender relations), as well as the effects on both the
original source country and the host country. They highlight the
many considerations which can influence the decision to return
home, including social factors, career-related prospects, and the
economic and political environment. Government policies in
facilitating return migration through the promotion of
entrepreneurship, education and training can also play a crucial
role. In the long term, fears of a 'brain drain', under certain
circumstances, may be replaced by the prospect of a 'brain gain' or
'global brain circulation', where emigration and immigration (or
return migration) co-exist and are supplemented by short-term
circulatory movements as a country becomes more integrated into the
global economy. This is a pioneering comparative study of return
migration in the Asia Pacific based on original primary data.
Researchers, academics and students interested in migration,
globalisation, demography and social transformation will find this
a valuable and highly rewarding book.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the mortality crisis which affected
Eastern Europe and the republics of the former USSR at the time of
the transition to a market economy was arguably the major peacetime
health crisis of recent decades. Chernobyl and the Mortality Crisis
in Eastern Europe and the Old USSR discusses the importance of that
crisis, surprisingly underplayed in the scientific literature, and
presents evidence suggesting a potential role of the Chernobyl
disaster among the causes contributing to it.
Settlements at the Edge examines the evolution, characteristics,
functions and shifting economic basis of settlements in sparsely
populated areas of developed nations. With a focus on demographic
change, the book features theoretical and applied cases, which
explore the interface between demography, economy, wellbeing and
the environment. This book offers a comprehensive and insightful
knowledge base for understanding the role of population in shaping
the development and histories of northern sparsely populated areas
of developed nations including Alaska (USA), Australia, Canada,
Greenland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Finland and other nations with
territories within the Arctic Circle. In the past, many remote
settlements were important bases for opening up vast areas for
resource extraction, working as strategic centers and as national
representations of the conquering of frontiers. With increased
contemporary interest from governments, policy makers,
multinational companies and other stakeholders, this book explores
the importance of understanding relationships between settlement
populations and the economy at the local level. It features
international and expert contributors who present insightful case
studies on the role of human geography, primarily population
issues, in shaping the past, present and future of settlements in
remote areas. They also provide analysis on opportunities and
challenges for northern settlements and the effects of climate
change, resource futures, and tourism. A chapter on the issues of
populating future space settlements highlights that many issues for
settlement change and functions in isolated and remote spatial
realms are universal. This book will appeal to those interested in
the past, present and future importance of settlements 'at the
edge' of developed nations as well as those working in policy and
program contexts. College students enrolled in courses such as
demography, population studies, human studies, regional
development, social policy and/or economics will find value in this
book as well. Contributors include: P. Berggren, D. Bird, O.J.
Borch, A. Boyle, H. Brokensha, F. Brouard, D. Carson, D. Carson, T.
Carter, B. Charters, J. Cleary, J. Cokley, S. de la Barre, W.
Edwards, S. Eikeland, M. Eimermann, P.C. Ensign, J. Garrett, G.
Gisladottir, K. Golebiowska, J. Guenther, P. Hanrick, L. Harbo, S.
Harwood, P. Heinrich, L. Huskey, G. Johannesdottir, I. Kelman, A.
Koch, N. Krasnoshtanova, V. Kuklina, J. Lovell, R. Marjavaara, M.
McAuliffe, R. McLeman, J.J. McMurtry, T. Nilsen, L.M. Nilsson, P.
Peters, A. Petrov, G. Petursdottir, B. Prideaux, W. Rankin, J.
Roto, J. Salmon, G. Saxinger, A. Schoo, P. Skoeld, A. Taylor, M.
Thompson, P. Timony, A. Vuin, M. Warg Naess, E. Wenghofer, E.
Wensing, D.R. White, D Zoellner
In The Political Potential of Upper Silesian Ethnoregionalist
Movement: A Study in Ethnic Identity and Political Behaviours of
Upper Silesians Anna Mus offers a study on the phenomenon of
ethnoregionalism in one of the regions in Poland. Since 1945,
ethnopolitics in Poland have been based on the so-called assumption
of the ethnic homogeneity of the Polish nation. Even the
transformation of the political system to a fully democratic one in
1989 did not truly change it. However, over the last three decades,
we can observe growing discontent in Upper Silesia and the
politicisation of Silesian ethnicity. This is happening in a region
with its own history of autonomy and culturally diversified
society, where an ethnoregionalist political movement appeared
already in 1989.
Philipp Maier offers a unique examination of the extent to which
governments and various interest groups have exerted pressure on
central banks. The book looks in particular at the Deutsche
Bundesbank - which acted as the blueprint for the European Central
Bank (ECB) - and utilises an original set of indicators to measure
external pressure and support from the government and other
institutions. The author demonstrates that although some of the
rhetoric of the Bundesbank may have been a response to political
pressure, the operation and conduct of German monetary policy has
not been influenced. The role of various pressure groups remains a
more contentious issue, as there is evidence that the Bundesbank
may have acted to appease the financial sector. The author also
finds that a high degree of public support towards the Bundesbank
has helped to mitigate the effect of external forces. As the ECB
was closely modelled on its German counterpart, the author is able
to extend his analysis to the European level and draw out explicit
predictions for the ECB. He argues that external pressure is
unlikely to influence the conduct of monetary policy, as it will be
less efficient and organised, and public support is likely to be
high. In the future, however, this could be jeopardised by a rapid
enlargement of EMU which may result in more concentrated and
powerful pressure groups. This interesting empirical study of the
effect of governments, interest groups and public support on the
behaviour and rhetoric of Central Banks will be welcomed by
financial and monetary economists, students and scholars of
European finance and European policymakers.
Innovation is the driving force of the dynamics of regions and
cities. Innovation however, is not an autonomous miracle, but is
emerging out of knowledge creation and adoption. Thus, knowledge
production is at the heart of economic progress. Zoltan Acs offers
in this book an overview of the relationship between successful
entrepreneurship and knowledge-intensive areas. His ideas form a
blend of elements from the new economic geography, the new growth
theory and the new innovation economics theory, and provide a
thorough analysis of the changing economic landscape in the USA.
economic growth at the regional level, and reaches conclusions as
to why some regions grow but others decline. While the analysis
draws on industrial organization, labour economics, regional
science, geography and entrepreneurship, the book focuses on
innovation and the growth of cities with the use of endogenous
growth theory. long-run regional growth, and explores the issues of
how technology and entrepreneurship can foster and promote growth
at the regional level.
Taiwan has become a significant player on the world stage in many
areas and has developed a distinct international profile and
influence. Its pro-active foreign policy firmly reminds the world
of a new political entity's achievement, aspirations and
unfulfilled ambitions. This pioneering book discusses Taiwan's
pragmatic diplomacy as a way of seeking legitimacy, survival and
development for a burgeoning nation-state, against the dynamic
changes in domestic and international scenes and tumultuous
relations with China. With special reference to Taiwan's relations
with Southeast Asia, a key region in Taiwan's international
linkages, the book investigates three major pillars sustaining
Taipei's unorthodox diplomacy. These three pillars are: Taiwan's
investment and trade prowess, and the global networks built by its
business elite; its special relations with global ethnic Chinese
communities; and transnational activism of Taiwan's political,
social and religious groups, in a so-called 'total diplomacy'.
Political Scientists, students and international policy makers
along with anyone interested in the changing role of China and
Taiwan on the world stage will find this book lively and
informative.
|
You may like...
RLE: Iran
Various
Hardcover
R81,957
Discovery Miles 819 570
|