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Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Area / regional studies > General
For over half a century, European Union has been a promising endeavor of cooperative institutionalism. It has shown that even nation states with a long history of conflict are capable of collaborating with one another to serve their own interests. However, the EU project has also made visible that there is no one-size-fits-all policy in economics that can be applied to all countries with success. Economics starts and ends with the society. Common culture determines the outcomes of economic policies, and ordinary people pick up the bill when policies turn out to be failures. This book presents two different tales of the European Union to provide an empirical challenge to oversimplified assumptions behind the neoliberal orthodoxy in policymaking: Favorable experience of the EU-candidate Turkey, and the regrettable venture of the EU-member Greece. The fact that these two neighboring countries with similar cultures have had vastly different experiences with the European Union suggests that the EU functions as a catalyst of change in the countries that associate with it, but this impact could be negative as well as positive depending on the role the EU plays. Political economist Bulent Temel presents a lucid analysis of the Turkish and Greek encounters with the EU based on contributions from a diverse range of social sciences; economics, game theory, finance, political science and sociology.
Born in a small river town in the largely Muslim province of Sandzak, Munevera Hadzisehovic grew up in an area sandwiched between the Orthdox Christian regions of Montenegro and Serbia, cut off from other Muslims in Bosnia and Harzegovina. Her story takes her reader from the rural culture of the early 1930s through the massacres of World War II and the repression of the early Communist regime to the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. It sheds light on the history of Yugoslavia from the interwar Kingdom to the breakup of the socialist state. In poignant detail, Hadzisehovic paints a picture not only of her own life but of the lives of other Muslims, especially women, in an era and an area of great change. Readers are given a loving yet accurate portrait of Muslim customs pertaining to the household, gardens, food and dating--in short, of everyday life. Hadzisehovic writes from the inside out, starting with her emotions and experiences, then moving outward to the facts that concern those interested in this region: the role of the Ustashe, Chetniks, and Germans in World War II, the attitude of Serbdominated Yugoslavia toward Muslims, and the tragic state of ethnic relations that led to war again in the 1990s. Some of Hadzisehovic's experiences and many of her views will be controversial. She speaks of Muslim women's reluctance to give up the veil, the disapproval of mixed marriages, and the problems between Serb and Croat nationalists. Her benign view of Italian occupation is in stark contrast to her depiction of bloodthirsty Chetnik irregulars. Her analysis of Belgrade's Muslims suggests that class differences were just as important as religious affiliation. In this personal,yet universal story, Hazisehovic mourns the loss of two worlds--the orderly Muslim world of her childhood and the secular, multi-ethnic world of communist Yugoslavia.
In southern graveyards through the first decades of the twentieth century, the Confederate South was commemorated by tombstones and memorials, in Confederate flags, and in Memorial Day speeches and burial rituals. Cemeteries spoke the language of southern memory, and identity was displayed in ritualistic form--inscribed on tombs, in texts, and in bodily memories and messages. Katharine DuPre Lumpkin, Lillian Smith, and Pauli Murray wove sites of regional memory, particularly Confederate burial sites, into their autobiographies as a way of emphasizing how segregation divided more than just southern landscapes and people. Darlene O'Dell here considers the southern graveyard as one of three sites of memory--the other two being the southern body and southern memoir--upon which the region's catastrophic race relations are inscribed. O'Dell shows how Lumpkin, Smith, and Murray, all witnesses to commemorations of the Confederacy and efforts to maintain the social order of the New South, contended through their autobiographies against Lost Cause versions of southern identity. Sites of Southern Memory elucidates the ways in which these three writers joined in the dialogue on regional memory by placing the dead southern body as a site of memory within their texts. In this unique study of three women whose literary and personal lives were vitally concerned with southern race relations and the struggle for social justice, O'Dell provides a telling portrait of the troubled intellectual, literary, cultural, and social history of the American South.
Combining impartial analysis with reliable facts and figures, this fully revised and updated 24th edition provides up-to-date commentary on these vast North American nations. General Survey Essays by leading experts analyse topics of regional importance, including: - US-Canadian integration, US foreign policy in the Arctic region, and the COVID-19 pandemic in North America. Country Surveys Each country is dealt with in greater detail within its own section. Country chapters include: - a chronology of political events - essays covering key socio-political and economic themes, including: recent political developments; foreign policy; constitution; the economy; energy policy; agriculture; trade; health and social policy - additional essays examining timely subjects such as religion in US politics and the US Judicial system - historical, political and economic surveys of each of the US states and Canadian provinces and territories - statistical surveys of economic and demographic indicators - comprehensive directory sections covering public affairs, the economy and society, which provide contact details and other useful information for the most significant institutions in the region.
A valuable addition to ABC-CLIO's Global Studies series, this resource covers Japan in two main sections-a narrative history and an extensive general reference section. Japan: A Global Studies Handbook offers a friendly introduction to this vital, ancient country. In a series of practical, readable essays, this title explores Japan's island geography and its influence on the nation's history. Japan traces the "economic miracle" that was born in the ashes of World War II and grew into an economy seven times the size of China's-but at considerable social cost. It examines Japan's vibrant cultural traditions-from the 11th century's The Tale of Genji to karaoke, sushi, and the "salary man." Japan entices readers to continue their exploration by offering an inviting collection of jumping-off points: a timeline of Japanese history; a mini-encyclopedia of significant people, places, and events; and an annotated bibliography covering all aspects of Japanese society. A detailed timeline charts landmarks in Japanese history, from the rise of the Jomon culture in 11,000 B.C.E. to the bursting of the economic bubble in the 1990s A compendium of practical information describes Japanese customs, from gift-giving to bathing etiquette
Early in the twentieth century, American socialists dared to dream of a future based on cooperation rather than competition. Socialism was a movement broad enough to encompass many points of view regarding the Red millennium. Socialist women, novelists, newspaper editors, and civil rights advocates, Christian socialists and Wobblies strained their eyes to see a future cooperative Commonwealth. Edward Bellamy portrayed socialism in the year 2000 for millions of readers in his novels as applied Christianity. Bellamy and other utopian novelists, including Jack London and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, tried to imagine the role of women in the expected new order. Christian socialists put their faith in a future Kingdom of God on earth that honored the ideas of Karl Marx. Radical newspaper editors in Kansas, Missouri, and Texas attempted to lay out the imagined transition to socialism to their readers in simple, straightforward language that made the goal seem readily obtainable. Mormons, disappointed in the changing nature of their faith, pondered a possible socialist future. Others, such as William English Walling, worked for a time ahead that was both socialist and colorblind. Challenging the notion that they had no concrete vision, this book of essays examines the many ways in which early 20th century American socialists imagined their future.
Routledge Library Editions: Germans in Australia comprises three previously out-of-print books by Jurgen Tampke and examines the experiences of Germans in Australia, as explorers, migrants and enemies. Germans made up the second-largest immigrant group in Australia, and these books look at their roles in exploring the country, helping develop the economy and society, and as the enemy in the First World War.
Heated debates about and insurgencies against female circumcision are symptoms of a disease emanating from a mindset that produced hierarchies of humans, conquered colonies, and built empires. The loss of colonies and empires does not in any way mitigate the ideological underpinnings of empire-building and the knowledge construction that subtends it. The mindset finds its articulation at points of coalescence. Female circumcision provided a point of coalescence and impetus for the articulation. Insisting that the hierarchy on which the imperialist project rests is not bipolar but multi-layered and more complex, the contributions in this volume demonstrate how imperialist discourses complicate issues of gender, race, and history. Nnaemeka gives voice to the silenced and marginalized, and creates space for them to participate in knowledge construction and theory making. The authors in this volume trace the "travels" of imperial and colonial discourses from antecedents in anthropology, travel writings, and missionary discourse, to modern configurations in films, literature, and popular culture. The contributors interrogate foreign, or Western, modus operandi and interventions in the so-called Third World and show how the resistance they generate can impede development work and undermine the true collaboration and partnership necessary to promote a transnational feminist agenda. With great clarity and in simple, accessible language, the contributors present complex ideas and arguments which hold significant implications for transnational feminism and development.
In this comparative study of contemporary Black Atlantic women writers, Samantha Pinto demonstrates the crucial role of aesthetics in defining the relationship between race, gender, and location. Thinking beyond national identity to include African, African American, Afro-Caribbean, and Black British literature, Difficult Diasporasbrings together an innovative archive of twentieth-century texts marked by their break with conventional literary structures. These understudied resources mix genres, as in the memoir/ethnography/travel narrativeTell My Horseby Zora Neale Hurston, and eschew linear narratives, as illustrated in the book-length, non-narrative poem by M. Nourbese Philip, She Tries Her Tongue, Her Silence Softly Breaks. Such an aesthetics, which protests against stable categories and fixed divisions, both reveals and obscures that which it seeks to represent: the experiences of Black women writers in the African Diaspora.Drawing on postcolonial and feminist scholarship in her study of authors such as Jackie Kay, Elizabeth Alexander, Erna Brodber, Ama Ata Aidoo, among others, Pinto argues for the critical importance of cultural form and demands that we resist the impulse to prioritize traditional notions of geographic boundaries. Locating correspondences between seemingly disparate times and places, and across genres, Pinto fully engages the unique possibilities of literature and culture to redefine race and gender studies.Samantha Pintois Assistant Professor of Feminist Literary and Cultural Studies in the English Department at Georgetown University.In theAmerican Literatures Initiative
This highly topical book discusses the potential enlargement of the EU to embrace the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the enormous challenges, opportunities and threats this poses for parties on both sides. Understanding of the diversity of the issues raised, even by an experimental expansion, is limited and rarely extends beyond the concerns voiced in a particular policy arena. This volume brings together contributions from specialists across the spectrum of the social sciences who consider the possible outcomes of expansion per se. The authors consider the countries to which membership might rationally be extended, and discuss the future of a Union that continues to be exclusive, but which must advance in the context of the overall march of globalisation. The contributions from numerous disciplines are complementary and include both macro- and micro perspectives. EU Expansion to the East is designed to be accessible to all scholars of European affairs, as well as those interested in transition and policymakers at national, regional and local levels.
This book investigates the factors that led to the breakdown of democracy and the rise of violent separatism in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1980s, and how the risk of a large-scale war has grown in South Asia in the 1990s. Solutions to this conflict need to be based on knowledge about what caused it as well as perspectives on why this conflict is so particularly dangerous. Widmalm offers answers in this book, with systematic comparisons over time to establish the causes of the conflict. He refutes the contention that ethnic factors are the main cause, while acknowledging that ethnic dividing lines are salient features of the conflict today. Interviews with representatives of the Indian government, the ISI in Pakistan and separatist leaders in Jammu and Kashmir are also incorporated.
This two-volume set examines the process of integration of rural society and the establishment of the modern state in China. It attempts to transcend general policy claims by analysing China's rural governance within the state's integration of rural society over the course of the twentieth century. Drawing on contemporary examples of state integration while observing the particular background of the Chinese context, this set systematically examines the entire process of the rural reconstruction of China over the course of the 100 years since the period of the late Qing Dynasty, while analysing the special characteristics of each period as well as current societal trends in the Chinese countryside. The first volume explores state penetration of the countryside and the transformation of the rural population from the point of view of politics, labour and resources, administration, and institutional integration. The second volume examines contemporary state integration via the economic activities of traditional rural societies, alongside fiscal, cultural, social, and technological integration. The conclusion summarizes three characteristics that are evident in the process of rural integration and the establishment of the modern state in China. The two volume set will be essential reading for scholars and students in Chinese Studies, Political Science, Rural Studies, and those who are interested in the rural reconstruction of China in general.
The May Fourth Movement of 1919 is generally seen as the central event in China s transformation from the traditional to the modern. It signalled the arrival of effective student activism on the political scene; it heralded the success of outspoken anti-imperialist ideologies; its slogans and pamphlets demonstrated the rhetorical qualities of the new vernacular writing; some of its participants went on to become leading cultural and political figures; it is said to have given birth to the Communist Party. The latter aspect has ensured that a particular narrative of the movement remained enshrined in official Chinese state ideology for many decades, a narrative often opposed by those outside China for similarly ideological reasons. No movement in modern Chinese history and culture has been more researched, yet none has been less understood. This award-winning book, by one of Peking University s most famous professors, represents a groundbreaking attempt to return to a study of May Fourth that is solidly grounded in historical fact. Favouring smaller stories over grand narratives, concentrating on unknown, marginal materials rather than familiar key documents, and highlighting May Fourth s indebtedness to the cultural debates of the preceding late Qing period, Chen Pingyuan reconstructs part of the actual historical scenery, demonstrating the great variety of ideas expressed during those tumultuous decades.
A provocative, and timely, solution for ridding America of the traces of Jim Crow policies to create a truly post-racial landscape When America inaugurated its first African American president, in 2009, many wondered if the country had finally become a "post-racial" society. Was this the dawning of a new era, in which America, a nation nearly severed in half by slavery, and whose racial fault lines are arguably among its most enduring traits, would at last move beyond race with the election of Barack Hussein Obama? In Ghosts of Jim Crow, F. Michael Higginbotham convincingly argues that America remains far away from that imagined utopia. Indeed, the shadows of Jim Crow era laws and attitudes continue to perpetuate insidious, systemic prejudice and racism in the 21st century. Higginbotham's extensive research demonstrates how laws and actions have been used to maintain a racial paradigm of hierarchy and separation-both historically, in the era of lynch mobs and segregation, and today-legally, economically, educationally and socially. Using history as a roadmap, Higginbotham arrives at a provocative solution for ridding the nation of Jim Crow's ghost, suggesting that legal and political reform can successfully create a post-racial America, but only if it inspires whites and blacks to significantly alter behaviors and attitudes of race-based superiority and victimization. He argues that America will never achieve its full potential unless it truly enters a post-racial era, and believes that time is of the essence as competition increases globally.
This timely book represents the latest research on a selection of key issues in international business in the Asia-Pacific region. In particular the contributors examine the internationalisation process, export expansion and performance, foreign direct investment and the management of international business relationships. More specifically, they analyse: * the growth patterns of Danish and US companies developing operations in the region * the impact of the internet, the competitiveness of the Australian wine industry, and the development and application of export performance measures * the factors influencing the location decisions of Japanese Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) and the investment risk perceptions of Australian MNEs * the multinational knowledge acquisition modes of Taiwanese electronics firms * the protection of intellectual property rights * the use of performance measures in international joint ventures * the human resource management practices of ethnic Chinese-owned enterprises compared to Anglo-American MNEs. This book will become a first point of reference for businesses in this region as well as scholars of international business and Asian studies.
The definitive survey of the countries and territories of Western Europe, comprising expert analysis and commentary, up-to-date economic and socio-political data and extensive directory information. General Survey Essays by leading experts on the area cover issues of regional importance. Country Surveys Individual chapters on each country, comprising: an introductory survey, containing essays on the geography, history and economy of each country, including a chronology and map. an extensive statistical survey of economic and demographic indicators, including area and population, health and welfare, agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, industry, finance, trade, transport, tourism, communications media and education. a comprehensive directory of names and contact details covering the most significant political and commercial institutions. Regional Information a directory of research institutes specializing in the region bibliographies of books and periodicals covering the region.
The Arab Spring, widely perceived as a momentous event in West Asia, has evoked a persistent flow of interpretation and analysis by academic experts and policy-makers since the upheaval first broke out in December 2010 and the pace of events suggests the flow of analysis on this issue will continue. Like all great social upheavals, the Arab Spring was long-drawn-out in its realisation and born of many factors that are intertwined. It could have occurred any time during the course of the last two or three decades but each passing year brought to the forefront new developments that made it that much more imminent. Economic problems, social problems, political problems, juridical problems and diplomatic problems combined to contribute to an uncompromising sense of grievance across the Arab world that ultimately manifested itself in the Arab spring and winter of 2011. This volume comes out of a conference organised by the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, in collaboration with Institute of Foreign Policy Studies and Centre of Pakistan and West Asian Studies, in which an attempt was made to discuss these issues threadbare.
Published annually, this 31st edition brings together a unique combination of the latest data on, and detailed analysis of, a vast region. Scrupulously updated by Europa's experienced editors, the volume also includes contributions from regional specialists. General Survey Essays written by acknowledged experts on the area provide an impartial overview of the region. Country surveys Individual chapters on each country, comprising: - essays on the geography, recent history and economy of each country - a statistical survey - a full directory section - a select bibliography. Regional Information A directory of research institutes and bibliographies of books and journals covering Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Africa Yearbook covers major domestic political developments, the foreign policy and socio-economic trends in sub-Sahara Africa - all related to developments in one calendar year. The Yearbook contains articles on all sub-Saharan states, each of the four sub-regions (West, Central, Eastern, Southern Africa) focusing on major cross-border developments and sub-regional organizations as well as one article on continental developments and one on European-African relations. While the articles have thorough academic quality, the Yearbook is mainly oriented to the requirements of a large range of target groups: students, politicians, diplomats, administrators, journalists, teachers, practitioners in the field of development aid as well as business people.
Globalization can sometimes seem like an abstract concept, an unconscious aspect of our everyday existence. What impact does it have on the reality of our daily lives? How does it shape our experiences, perspectives and identities? Narratives of Globalization explores how a range of key ideas in the study of globalization are made manifest in the lives of people all over the world. Each chapter explores a key theme in globalization studies that is explored through a narrative that draws on the contributors own personal experience. It draws together a collection of experiences from across the globe including Chinese migration to Australia, the influence of the internet on education and the popularity of K-pop. These personal perspectives on culture, identity, development and politics attempt to better understand contemporary issues within the global frame and illustrate how ordinary people can engage with and influence processes of globalization.
Envisioned before 1900 as a diplomatic and political model for cooperation among nations in the Americas, Pan Americanism has come to represent a varied set of economic, cultural, and political processes at the core of both inter-American cooperation and conflict. This collection of new essays takes Pan Americanism beyond a mere discussion of inter-American cooperation and a Cold War focus on defense and security. While the Pan American Union and, later, the Organization of American States have often been at the center of Pan American politics and diplomacy, Sheinin offers an overview of the ranging facets of Pan Americanism both inside and outside of these institutions. Themes range from a discussion of U.S. influence in the region and other diplomatic initiatives to new research in women's history and environmentalism. A broad range of scholars consider the impact of the abolition of slavery and the role of nation building in the hemisphere, as well as the ideological foundations of Pan Americanism in the United States. The concept is examined as a propaganda device, but also, through the OAS, as a means for smaller countries in the Americas to exercise a degree of diplomatic influence. Other topics include the First Conference of American States and North American plans for an economic union, Pan American feminism, the problem of wildlife preservation, and the theory and practice of inter-American literature. Finally, the book details crucial success stories of the late 20th century: the American Convention on Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
The Chinese triangle of mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan constitutes one of the most dynamic regions in the world economy. Since the late 1970s, these three societies have experienced increasing economic integration; however, studies aimed at analyzing and explaining this integration have often overlooked the very important role social institutions have played in the shaping of this process. To fill this gap, this book adopts a systematic institutional approach designed to examine the different patterns of institutions in the three countries and to discuss how such social institutions as the economy, gender, social networks, and the Chinese diaspora have exerted a profound impact on all three societies. The chapters, taken together, argue that different patterns of institutional configuration have led to divergent paths of development, and that this divergence will have significant implications on the prospects for Chinese national reunification in the twenty-first century. The Introductory chapter provides a historical discussion on the origins and the transformation of the Chinese triangle during the second half of the twentieth century. The remainder of the volume is broken into four topics considered crucial for understanding the transformation of the Chinese triangle: economic transformation, gender, social networks, and the Chinese diaspora. As globalization impacts the Chinese triangle, studies that consider the issues from the perspective of social institutions will be increasingly important to understanding the area as it develops in the world economy. |
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