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Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Area / regional studies > General
Unlike many other books about the American founding, this new work by two of the most prominent scholars of American political history emphasizes the coherence and intelligibility of the social compact theory. Social compact theory, the idea that government must be based on an agreement between those who govern and those who consent to be governed, was one of the Founders' few unifying philosophical positions, and it transcended the partisan politics of that era. Contributors to this volume present a comprehensive overview of the social compact theory, discussing its European philosophical origins, the development of the theory into the basis of the fledgling government, and the attitudes of some of the founders toward the theory and its traditional proponents. The authors argue forcefully and convincingly that the political ideas of the American Founders cannot be properly understood without understanding social compact theory and the exalted place it held in the construction of the American system of government.
The industrialization of information resources has been a growing trend across the world in recent years, especially in China, where the information resource industry (IRI) has expanded exponentially for over more than a decade. While analysing the development conditions of China's IRI, this book clearly defines the implications and strategic value of the industry, summarizes basic IRI theories, and clarifies the history of its development and special regional characteristics within the Chinese context. Drawing on the statistics and measurement of various economic indicators of IRI, the authors propose four stages of development: a germination period; an initial development period; a subsequent rapid development period; and lastly, a steady development period. At the same time, the book draws upon various theoretical models such as the "Dynamic Resource Triangle" model, the "Information Resource Industrial Symbiosis" model, the value chain model and the explanation model of information consumption in order to shed light on IRI's elements and the optimization of its management. In addition, the authors present the Information Resource Industry Development Index (IRIDI) to evaluate IRI's development in different provinces and cities across Mainland China and monitor its dynamics from the point of view of industrial value and the external environment. While the book lays a solid theoretical foundation for the growth of China's IRI, it will also give international readers a clear picture of China's emerging industries in the current era. As an emerging strategic industry in China, the information resource industry (IRI) has had and will continue to have a growing impact on economic and social development. Focusing on the special characteristics of IRI policies in China, this book provides an in-depth discussion of the major directions, methods, and paths of development for IRI policies via a comprehensive analysis of the structural, organizational, promotional policies and policy instruments of China's IRI. Concentrating on policy instruments, the book, for the first time, provides a systematic, all-rounded review of China's IRI policies that have been released to date, and proposes a "China Information Resource Industry Policy Library" comprising six types of IRI policy documents: organizational, information, regulatory, incentives, market, and social. The whole contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the application of various IRI policies in China, and also supports the decision making behind and building of industrial policies.
As with many spheres of public life, public diplomatic communication is being transformed by the boom of social media. More than 165 foreign governmental organisations in China have embarked on the use of Weibo (a hybrid of Facebook and Twitter in China) to engage with Chinese citizens and reach out to youth populations, one of the major goals of current public diplomacy efforts. This exciting new pivot, based on systemic research of Weibo usage by embassies in China, explores the challenges and the limits that the use of Chinese Weibo (and Chinese social media in general) poses for foreign embassies, and considers ways to use these or other tools. It offers a systematic study of the effectiveness and challenges of using Weibo for public diplomatic communication in and with China. Addressing the challenges of e-diplomacy, it considers notably the occurrence of cyber-nationalism on Weibo and encourages a critical look at its practice, arguing how it can contribute to the goals of public diplomacy.
This collection of books encompasses Scottish identity and cultural heritage, historical geography, health and social issues, industrial, economic, religious and political history. Originally published between 1935 and 1990, many of these titles were written at the height of discussions concerning the viability of an independent Scotland, an issue that has renewed relevance today. They include some of the notable volumes from the Routledge The Voice of Scotland series, as well as other books by leading authors. The empirical content of many of the books reissued here ensures they retain their relevance in informing studies of trends since the time they were first completed and will be of interest to anyone concerned with the ongoing debate about Scotland's role within the UK and Europe and the shape of her political future.
As carbon dioxide is the most important source of greenhouse gases today, its emission quantity has become a primary focus of governments, scholars, and the general public. From the perspective of the structure of Chinese industry, this book aims to answer two questions. First, what is the driving force of China's CO2 emissions and how does this relate to the structure of industry? Second, what is the potential for abatement and the cost of CO2 across sectors and regions, and the impact for industry? The author calculates the CO2 inventory data at province and sectoral level based on the approach of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and then quantifies the CO2 abatement potential and marginal abatement cost using this production framework. Econometric models are used to examine the likely impact on industry of abatement potential and cost. The book hence provides a rich source of information for general readers to better understand the characteristics, patterns and drivers of China's CO2 emissions. It also provides solid evidence for policy-makers to help mitigate CO2 emissions through industrial restructuring strategy.
By adopting a wide-ranging perspective, this book addresses the key issues relevant to contemporary China, providing a valuable tool with which to understand the challenges and opportunities facing political and economic actors, both domestic and foreign, over the next decades. The book addresses key issues now subject to considerable debate, such as sustainable growth, the imbalances in society deriving from growing inequalities and environmental threats. Concluding this section is an overview of how Chinese-US relations, and China's geo-political role at the international level, have evolved at the turn of the 21st century. The book then goes on to analyse those issues linked to the impacts of recent welfare system reforms. In particular, those impacts on the health care and pension systems, growing unemployment deriving from reform of state-owned enterprises and the related phasing out of the 'cradle-to-grave' welfare system. The closing chapter looks at the potential provided by a fast-growing insurance market in conjunction with WTO opening measures, to assess whether increased opportunities are likely to arise for foreign insurance suppliers. Scholars of political economy and international economics as well as academics and researchers of Asian - particularly Chinese studies, will find this book of great value.
This book breaks new ground by exploring governance strategies that the EU has been developing over the last decade for the growing electronic economy driven by the Internet. Through an analysis of key EU policy initiatives, the authors provide an explanation of both the form and mechanics of emergent governance arrangements within the European e-economy. Drawing on data gathered through interviews with key national and EU level policymakers, the volume applies theoretical insights from academic work on the 'regulatory' and 'post-regulatory' state to situate and explain the EU's role as an international regional actor in a new area of economic activity with important national and global dimensions.The New Electronic Marketplace will be important reading for academics, students and policymakers interested in the politics of new electronic communications regulation, communications policy, EU governance and international political economy. The book will interest the Internet 'policy community', including officials at national and EU level, those working in national regulatory authorities, and Internet, telecoms and other ICT professionals in the private sector.
This book focuses on the recurring struggle over the meaning of the Anglican Church's role in the Indian residential schools--a long-running school system designed to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture, in which sexual, psychological, and physical abuse were common. From the end of the nineteenth century until the outset of twenty-first century, the meaning of the Indian residential schools underwent a protracted transformation. Once a symbol of the Church's sacred mission to Christianize and civilize Indigenous children, they are now associated with colonialism and suffering. In bringing this transformation to light, the book addresses why the Church was so quick to become involved in the Indian residential schools and why acknowledgment of their deleterious impact was so protracted. In doing so, the book adds to our understanding of the sociological process by which perpetrators come to recognize themselves as such.
A comprehensive survey of the countries and territories of this region, incorporating the latest economic and political developments. General Survey Essays by acknowledged experts in the region cover a variety of topical issues. In addition, appendices discuss the religions of the region and the Russian Baltic territory of Kaliningrad. Country Surveys Individual chapters for each country, containing: - information on physical and social geography - a detailed chronology of political events, both recent and historical - essays on each country's political history and economy - a statistical survey - an extensive directory of contact details for political, state and commercial institutions and organizations in the region (covering national and local government, political organizations, diplomatic representation, the judicial system, religion, the media, finance, telecommunications and broadcasting, major companies, transport, tourism, culture, social welfare, the environment, defence, education and more) - and a select bibliography. Who's Who in Central and South-Eastern Europe Biographical details for more than 200 of the region's leading political figures. Regional Information Contact information and extensive details of the activities of regional and international organizations active in the region; a list of research institutes that focus on the region, together with contact details; and select bibliographies of both books and periodicals.
Published annually, this 30th 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 implementation of the circular economy will entail a major transformation from a resource-destroying, linear economy to a circular one that operates within the planet's regenerative boundaries. This book presents an interim assessment of the implementation of a circular economy in the EU. It reveals what achievements have been made in various EU institutions, but which are scarcely perceived by the public; which basic scientific principles can be applied in this context; and what NGOs are demanding beyond this progress. It provides convincing arguments for abandoning the "hamster wheel" of material-based satisfaction of our needs, and shows that the primacy of the economy stands in the way of a good life for all. Given its focus, it will appeal to everyone interested in an ecologically sustainable economic system.
Europa's comprehensive survey of Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia. General Survey Leading authorities on the region analyze topics of regional importance. Country Surveys Chapters on each country, containing: - essays on its recent history and economy, and a chronology of events - an extensive statistical survey of economic indicators - a comprehensive directory of the most significant political, commercial and cultural institutions - a bibliography of books concerned with the country's history, politics and economy - detailed coverage of the self-proclaimed secessionist territories of the region, including, for the first time, chronologies of events. Who's Who in Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia - biographical information on more than 150 leading political figures in the region Regional Information - a directory of major international organizations and research institutes concerned with the region - select bibliographies of books and periodicals.
Many post-communist countries in Central/Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union are being encouraged and indeed pressured by Western countries to improve their treatment of ethnic and national minorities, and to adopt Western models of minority rights. But what are these Western models, and will they work in Eastern Europe? In the first half of this volume, Will Kymlicka describes a model of 'liberal pluralism' which has gradually emerged in most Western democracies, and discusses what would be involved in adopting it in Eastern Europe. This is followed by 15 commentaries from people actively involved in minority rights issues in the region, as practitioners or academics, and by Kymlicka's reply. This volume will be of interest to anyone concerned with ethnic conflict in Eastern Europe, and with the more general question of whether Western liberal values can or should be promoted in the rest of the world.
Modern Spain is a revelation in this up-to-date overview. Stanton vibrantly describes the startling variety of landscape, people, and culture that make up Spain today. Included are a context chapter and others on religion, customs, media, cinema, literature, performing arts, and visual arts. Students of Spanish and a general audience will be rewarded with engrossing insights into what writer Ernest Hemingway called the very best country of all. Spain is a modern European nation, yet Spaniards are fiercely tied to their individual towns and regions--with their distinct social customs, dialects or languages, foods, landscape, and lifestyles--more than to a united country. "Culture and Customs of Spain" conveys the extremes, such as the hard-working Catalan contrasted to the leisurely paced Castilian, coexisting in first and third world conditions, and the love/hate relationship with the Catholic Church. Spain's institutions are described, and its contributions to the world--from unparalleled literature and cuisine to flamenco and filmmaker Pedro Almodovar--are celebrated. A chronology and glossary complement the text.
Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan - East Asia's newly industrialised economies (the NIE-3) - experienced a profound development transformation over recent decades. Christopher Dent makes a comparative study of their foreign economic policies, highlighting how the NIE-3 have engaged with the international economic system in an increasingly dynamic way. The book develops a new macro-framework of foreign economic policy analysis that provides the structure for this study. The author argues that the 'development context' of the NIE-3's foreign economic policies is grounded in their common development statism and semi-peripheralisation. He further contends that it is the pursuit of economic security that primarily motivates their respective foreign economic policies. This new conceptualisation of economic security in the context of foreign economic policy will appeal to academics, researchers and students in wide range of disciplines including: Asian studies, international relations, international political economy, economics and politics.
investigates the relationship between mining, mine closure and housing policy in post-apartheid South Africa argues that the dependencies created by the mining industry and mine housing policies while a mine is operational causes serious societal problems when it closes applies the concepts of place attachment, asset-based development and social disruption will be of interest to students and scholars researching the social impacts of mining and the extractive industries, social geography and sustainable development, as well as policymakers and practitioners working with mine closure or social impact assessments.
This unique poetry resource offers interpretations of 250 poems, representing the work of 86 poets from a wide spectrum of historical, contemporary, ethnic, and canonical writers. Organization of this volume facilitates easy access to information on poetry for users' individual purposes. The main section of the guide contains narrative essays on 21 alphabetically arranged themes that recur throughout the rich history of American poetry. In each section, the explications of individual poems are arranged chronologically to trace the evolution of a particular theme over time. Educators teaching thematic units will find relevant essays here appropriate as either background presentation, discussion ideas, or student assignments. Following each entry, the poems are listed with information about the anthologies in which they may be found. Most of the abbreviations used here correspond to the codes used in "The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry in Anthology," familiar to most librarians. This guide is ideal for librarians and teachers who need to identify and locate poems on a given theme, and for students and lovers of poetry who wish to enrich their understanding of the thematic meanings of poems.
'A people who do not preserve their memory are a people who have forfeited their history.' So argues Wole Soyinka, in his book The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness, and this provides the overarching thematic concept for African pasts as a whole. Colonialism for Africans is not an event encapsulated in the past, but is a history whose repercussions and traumatic consequences are still actively evolving in today's political, historical, cultural and artistic scenes. African pasts examines African literatures in English since the end of colonialism, investigating how they represent African history through the twin matrices of memory and trauma. Inextricably tied up with the historical conditions of Africa's colonisation, charting the emergence of its independence, and scrutinising Africa's contemporary neo-colonial and postcolonial states as a legacy of the colonial past, African literatures are continually preoccupied with exploring modes of representation to 'work through' their different traumatic colonial pasts. Among other issues, this book deals with literature in the era of apartheid, the post-apartheid aftermath, metafictional experiments in African fiction, gender representation in reaction to the trauma of colonialism and 'imprisonment narratives'. African pasts covers a wide range of African literatures (drawn from West, East and Southern Africa) and a cross-section of genres - fiction, poetry, prison-narratives, postcolonial theory - and embraces such well-known writers as Soyinka, Coetzee, Ngugi and Achebe, and more recent writers such as Nuruddin Farah, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Achmat Dangor, Etienne van Heerden, Zakes Mda, Gillian Slovo and Calixthe Beyala.
"This excellent study combines considerable institutional and policy detail with an assured analysis of government and private sector agent interactions." . Modern and Contemporary France "One of the main conclusions the reader of this] book can draw is that the best specialists of French contemporary political movements come from the Anglo-Saxon academic world." . H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews OnLine ..". a most welcome contribution to the development of environmental policy] ... Overall, this book is well worth buying, both from an individual and from an institutional perspective. It is excellent value for money and an excellent source of information on environmental policy development and practice that allows one's knowledge to be pushed beyond the traditional Anglo-American axis." . Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy " A] solid, insightful, fair-minded survey of French environmental policies" . Choice Drawing on an extensive range of political, legal and sociological materials, the author presents and evaluates environmental policy-making in France at a time when environmental problems are growing in complexity and gravity. He highlights the range of inputs to the policy process - including popular movements, green parties, interest group representation, EU legislation and international treaties - and evaluates the diverse nature of the outcomes which lead him to conclude that because new developments involve not only changes in policy content but also adaptation of policy style, environmental demands are progressively changing the shape of politics itself."
This book introduces a radically spatialised approach to knowledge creation and innovation. Reflecting on an array of European urban and regional developments, it offers an updated notion of milieu as the conceptual and material space of knowledge and innovation in line with the interpretative turn in social sciences and humanities. In view of the unwillingness of mainstream economics to accommodate such a trend, the authors pursue a broadly understood hermeneutic approach that expands on the triad of knowledge-space-innovation. The book's main findings are that space is an essential intermediary in the connection between knowledge and innovation, and that a renewed notion of milieu provides the knowledge-space-innovation triad with both an analytical basis and operational power. It also offers fresh insights into the significance and potential of the knowledge economy. A number of empirical European case studies on various scales (organisations, cities and territories) support the findings and suggest new policy directions. |
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