Inequality is becoming an urgent issue of world politics at the end of the twentieth century. Globalization is not only exacerbating the gap between rich and poor in the world but is also further dividing those states and peoples that have political power and influence from those without. While the powerful shape more `global' rules and norms about investment, military security, environmental and social policy and the like, the less powerful are becoming `rule-takers', often of rules or norms they cannot or will not enforce. The consequences for world politics are profound. The evidence presented in Inequality, Globalization, and World Politics suggests that globalization is creating sharper, more urgent problems for states and international institutions to deal with. Yet at the same time, investigations into eight core areas of world politics suggest that growing inequality is reducing the capacity of governments and existing international organizations to manage these problems effectively. The eight areas surveyed include: international order, international law, welfare and social policy, global justice, regionalism and multilateralism, environmental protection, gender equality, military power, and security.

The book aims to present "traditional features" of regional science (as geographical concepts and institutions), as well as relatively new topics such as innovation and agglomeration economies. In particular it demonstrates that, contrary to what has been argued by recent economics literature, both geography and institutions (or culture) are relevant for local development. In fact, these phenomena, along with the movement of goods and workers, are among the main reasons for persisting development differentials. These intriguing relationships are at the heart of the analysis presented in this book and form the conceptual basis for a promising institutional approach to economic geography.

Taking eleven countries in Europe, Canada, South Africa, America, Latin America and Australia, this book discusses recurring barriers to cluster development in the renewable energy sector. The authors look at the real-world dynamics and tensions between stakeholders on the ground, with a particular focus on the relationships between SMEs and other actors. This trans-regional study is unique in its scale and scope, drawing on a decade of field research to show how by learning from the successes and failures of other clusters, costs and risk can be reduced. The book fills a significant gap in the literature for policymakers, managers and economic developers in a key market.

In In Exile, Jessica Dubow situates exile in a new context in which it holds both critical capacity and political potential. She not only outlines the origin of the relationship between geography and philosophy in the Judaic intellectual tradition; but also makes secular claims out of Judaism’s theological sources. Analysing key Jewish intellectual figures such as Walter Benjamin, Isaiah Berlin and Hannah Arendt, Dubow presents exile as a form of thought and action and reconsiders attachments of identity, history, time, and territory. In her unique combination of geography, philosophy and some of the key themes in Judaic thought, she has constructed more than a study of interdisciplinary fluidity. She delivers a striking case for understanding the critical imagination in spatial terms and traces this back to a fundamental – if forgotten – exilic pull at the heart of Judaic thought.

This book is a practical, step-by-step introduction to microsimulation in demography. It shows how to use Modgen, a powerful and free microsimulation platform built by Statistics Canada. The authors' hands-on explanation of model development will help readers make their own. The book teaches how to create and run a simple cohort model with a single fixed-rate event, and builds upon this concept. It introduces how to develop both a single state life table as well as a multiple increment-decrement life table using the tools provided by Modgen. The authors illustrate how to easily upgrade an existing model by adding new modules and new dimensions as determinants of a risk already modeled. The integration of a fertility module and a base population allows the user to bring new actors into the simulation and transform a cohort-based model into a population-based one. The final addition of an international migration module allows the user to accomplish fully open, multi-regional projections. This accessible introduction will be of interest to researchers and students in population studies and other social sciences. It will also appeal to anyone interested in the computational modeling of population dynamics.

This book examines wayfinding from a broad public health perspective and articulates what needs to be done to create better wayfinding for all people regardless of age, ability, or mode of transportation. Addressing both science and the human experience, the book brings together a group of international experts to examine community wayfinding from a variety of viewpoints. It first presents a critical foundation for understanding wayfinding from an individual perspective. Next, it describes relevant design principles and practices by drawing upon architecture, environmental graphic design, universal design (UD), and urban planning. The book then goes on to examine wayfinding tools and innovative technologies ranging from maps to apps to complex systems. In addition, coverage includes case studies, lessons from wayfinding improvement initiatives, and recommendations for future research, practice, and policy. Overall, the book focuses on the economic and commercial benefits of good wayfinding, its potential impact on the health of individuals and communities, as well as strategies for the journey ahead. It will appeal to numerous professionals across many disciplines from architecture and cartography to public health and urban planning. Additionally, the book can help advance a dialogue among those interested in enhancing the livability of their communities.

This is the first collection of essays in which European and American philosophers explicitly think out their respective contributions and identities as environmental thinkers in the analytic and continental traditions. The American/European, as well as Analytic/Continental collaboration here bears fruit helpful for further theorizing and research. The essays group around three well-defined areas of questioning all focusing on the amelioration/management of environmentally, historically and traditionally diminished landscapes. The first part deals with differences between New World and the Old World perspectives on nature and landscape restoration in general, the second focuses on the meaning of ecological restoration of cultural landscapes, and the third on the meaning of the wolf and of wildness. It does so in a way that the strengths of each philosophical school-continental and analytic-comes to the fore in order to supplement the other's approach. This text is open to educated readers across all disciplines, particularly those interested in restoration/adaptation ecology, the cultural construction of place and landscape, the ongoing conversation about wilderness, the challenges posed to global environmental change. The text may also be a gold mine for doctoral students looking for dissertation projects in environmental philosophy that are inclusive of continental and analytic traditions. This text is rich in innovative approaches to the questions they raise that are reasonably well thought out. The fact that the essays in each section really do resonate with one another directly is also intellectually exciting and very helpful in working out the full dimensions of each question raised in the volume.

This book offers new perspectives of transdisciplinary research, in methodological as well as theoretical respects. It provides insights in the two-fold bio-physical and the socio-cultural global embeddedness of local living conditions on the basis of selected empirical studies from Latin America, Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe. The theoretical foundations of ecological research and sustainability policies were developed at the end of the nineteenth century. They are largely based on investigations of living spaces and the evolution and differentiation of varied life forms. This perspective is embedded in the practical and theoretical European problem situations of the past and lacks social and cultural differentiation. The transformation of spatial and natural relations as a result of the globalization process is so radical that new theories are needed to solve 21st century ecological problems. Moreover, in view of the lack of an ontologically sound and promising strategy for transdisciplinary problem solving, as well as an acceptable consideration of the power of cultural schemas relating to natural living's interpretations, there is a strong need to focus on sustainable social practices, habits and routines, rather than on predominantly living spaces or eco-topes. This book elaborates on the transdisciplinary approach by reflecting on the theoretical heritage and a global perspective of sustainability, by focusing on the primary role of a social approach in sustainability research and by putting emphasis on cultural dimension of sustainability. It postulates that global sustainability is grounded in a global understanding of our everyday activities.

This book is a detailed study of children's everyday practices in a small, deprived neighbourhood of post-socialist Bratislava, called Kopcany. It provides a novel empirical insight on what it is like to be growing up after 25 years of post-socialist transformations and questions the formation of children's agency and the multitude of resources it comes from. What happens if we accept children's practices as cornerstones of communities? What is uncovered if we examine adults' co-presence with children in everyday community spaces? With a background in youth work, the author writes from the unique position of being able to develop in-depth insights into both children's life-worlds, and practitioners' priorities and needs.

Buck shines a new light on China's transition to capitalism by focusing on and analyzing the development of networks between the urban and rural factories that have produced the regional economy of greater Shanghai. These networks have incorporated millions of villagers into the national and the global economy. By getting inside these networks and watching as their restructuring unfolds, Buck reveals hidden aspects of major changes: China's transition from centralized planning to market economy, the transformation of Shanghai from industrial to financial center, and a wave of privatization that has swept away the last vestiges of socialism.

Cultural landscapes are a product ofthe interactions between humans and natural settings. They are landscapes and seascapes that are shaped by human history and land use. Socioeconomic processes especially, but also environmental changes and natural disturbances, are some of the forces that make up landscape dynamics. To understand and manage such complex landscapes, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches are necessary, emphasizing the integration of natural and social sciences and considering multiple landscape functions. The spatial patterns of Asian landscapes are strongly related to human activities and their impacts. Anthropogenic patterns and processes have created numerous traditional cultural landscapes throughout the region, and understanding them requires indigenous knowledge. Cultural landscape ecology from a uniquely Asian perspective is explored in this book, as are the management of landscapes and land-use policies. Human-dominated landscapes with long traditions, such as those described herein, provideuseful information for all ecologists, not only in Asia, to better understand the human environmental relationship and landscape sustainability. "

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. Disasters are an increasingly common and complex combination of environmental, social and cultural factors. Yet existing response frameworks and emergency plans tend to homogenise affected populations as 'victims', overlooking the distinctive experience, capacities and skills of children and young people. Drawing on participatory research with more than 550 children internationally, this book argues for a radical transformation in children's roles and voices in disasters. It shows practitioners, policy-makers and researchers how more child-centred disaster management, that recognises children's capacity to enhance disaster resilience, actually benefits at-risk communities as a whole.

This book introduces the reader to local development economics and policy, with a special focus on the place-based paradigm that covers its justification, its difficulties and the types of public intervention that it suggests. The starting point for the analysis is that economic development in lagging places is not to be expected as the result of a mechanism of automatic convergence between backward and advanced regions and that, therefore, the most appropriate development policy is not to maximize competition among all agents in all sectors and places. The failure of the Washington Consensus is examined, and the two competing positions to have emerged from this failure - spatially blind interventions and place-based policies - are contrasted. The main shortcoming of spatially blind policies, namely that immobile resources that could trigger or support a development process often remain untapped or "trapped", is emphasized. The limitations of the "big push" state intervention and wage flexibility solutions to this trap are analyzed and the merits of place-based policies that support intervention and can deal with uncertainty, risk and conflict are discussed.

Mediterranean inhabitants depend on natural resources for their livelihoods. Livestock production and forestry are key sources of income yet are carried out under harsh conditions such as limited land resources, marginal agricultural conditions, isolation, and scant equipment and infrastructure. Livestock is of particular importance in mountain production systems as they convert plant biomass into useful products for humans such as milk, meat and draught power. These products are key to the regions' sustainability. The main topics discussed in this book are: human geography of Mediterranean mountain territories; livestock production and natural resources; improving the efficiency of livestock systems in Mediterranean mountain areas; applications of new technologies for environmentally sound management of livestock and natural resources; and the role livestock plays in rural development and in safeguarding natural resources.

This study presents a picture of Columbia which serves as both an introduction to the country and as background to further study. The final chapter brings the reader up to date.

Connecting the 'English School' approach to International Relations with the increasingly important region of Southeast Asia, this book is the first comprehensive assessment of this region-theory linkage. Surveying a range of areas, including interstate relations, the community-building goals of the region's foremost international organization, relations with civil society, the impact of non-state actors, and the role of individuals in regional dynamics, it concludes that both region and theory can gain from a broader dialogue than has yet been attempted. On the one hand, English School ideas can project a more nuanced and integrated picture of the region. On the other, the region can challenge English School thinking, input different ideas and practices, and encourage refinements and innovations. This book takes a fresh look at the international and transnational dynamics of Southeast Asia and explores the theoretical possibilities of the English School approach, signaling productive ways forward for the theory.

This book covers several dimensions of disaster studies as an emerging discipline. It is the inaugural book in the series 'Disaster Studies and Management' and deals with questions such as "Is disaster management a field of practice, a profession, or simply a new area of study?" Exploring intersectionalities, the book also examines areas of research that could help enhance the discourse on disaster management from policy and practice perspectives, revisiting conventional event-centric approaches, which are the basis for most writings on the subject. Several case studies and comparative analyses reflect a critical reading of research and practice concerning disasters and their management. The book offers valuable insights into various subjects including the challenge of establishing inter- and multi-disciplinary teams within the academia involved in disaster studies, and sociological and anthropological readings of post-disaster memoryscapes. Each of the contributors has an enduring interest in disaster studies, thus enriching the book immensely. This book will be of interest to all the students and scholars of disaster studies and disaster management, as well as to practitioners and policymakers.

This book provides a comprehensive discussion on urban growth and sprawl, and how they can be analyzed using remote sensing imageries. It compiles views of numerous researchers that help in understanding the urban growth and sprawl; their patterns, process, causes, consequences, and countermeasures; how remote sensing data and geographic information system techniques can be used in mapping, monitoring, measuring, analyzing, and simulating the urban growth and sprawl; and what are the merits and demerits of available methods and models.

This book will be of value for the scientists and researchers engaged in urban geographic research, especially using remote sensing imageries. This book will serve as a rigours literature review for them. Post graduate students of urban geography or urban/regional planning may refer this book as additional studies. This book may help the academicians for preparing lecture notes and delivering lectures. Industry professionals may also be benefited from the discussed methods and models along with numerous citations.

Awareness of eco-literature has recalled the central ideology of environmentalism - "to think globally and act locally." As this volume shows, various tags of contemporary discourse have emerged, including transnational, cosmopolitan, hybridity, diaspora, and generally cultural. These concerns highlight such global environmental problems as biodiversity, climate change, and developing new forms of interconnectedness with local and regional communities. In this context, contemporary discourse becomes of immediate concern in understanding the environmental crisis. In a way, reading different cultures and experiences can contribute to a contemporary discourse that can facilitate an environmental sensibility and develop a unique ecological approach.

This volume enables readers to understand the complexity associated with climate change policy and the science behind it. For example, the author describes the criticism and defense of the widely known hockey stick temperature graph derived from combining instrumental data and proxy temperature indications using tree ring, ice core and other paleoclimatic data.

Readers will also learn that global warming cannot easily be avoided by reducing CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions in rich countries. Not only is emissions reduction extremely difficult in rich countries, but demands such as the UN mandate to improve the lives of the poorest global citizens cannot be satisfied without significantly increasing global energy use, and CO2 emissions. Therefore, the author asserts that climate engineering and adaptation are preferable to mitigation, particularly since the science is less than adequate for making firm statements about the Earth s future climate.Readers will also learn that global warming cannot easily be avoided by reducing CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions in rich countries. Not only is emissions reduction extremely difficult in rich countries, but demands such as the UN mandate to improve the lives of the poorest global citizens cannot be satisfied without significantly increasing global energy use, and CO2 emissions. Therefore, the author asserts that climate engineering and adaptation are preferable to mitigation, particularly since the science is less than adequate for making firm statements about the Earth s future climate."

For those in developed nations, suddenly being without electricity is a disaster: power cuts have us fretting over the food stored in the freezer, and even a few hours without lights, televisions, or air conditioning is an ordeal. However, for an estimated 1.6 billion people worldwide, the absence of electricity is their daily experience. An untold number of others live with electricity that is erratic and of poor quality. How can electric power be brought into their lives when the centralized utility models that have evolved in developed nations are not an economically viable option? Poor, rural communities in developing nations cannot simply be plugged in to a grid.

Small-scale Distributed Generation (DG), ranging from individual solar home systems to village level grids run off diesel generators, could provide the answer, and this book compares around 20 DG enterprises and projects in Brazil, Cambodia and China, each of which is considered to be a "business model" for distributed rural electrification. While large, centralized power projects often rely on big subsidies, this study shows that privately run and localized solutions can be both self-sustaining and replicable. Its three sections provide a general introduction to the issue of electrification and rural development, set out the details of the case studies and compare the models involved, and discuss the important thematic issues of equity, access to capital and cost-recovery.

Hisham Zerriffi shows that in each case, it is not simply a matter of matching a particular technology to a particular need. Numerous institutional factors come into play including the regulatory regime, access to financial services, and government/utility support or opposition to the DG alternative. Despite this, in many countries, the question is not whether DG has a role to play. Rather it is a question of how it will play a role.

This open access book provides an analysis of human actors and their capacity to explore and conceptualise their own agency by being curious, gathering knowledge, and shaping identities in their travel reflections on Asia. Thus, the actors open windows across time to present a profound overview of diverse descriptions and constructions of Asia. It is demonstrated that international and transnational history contributes to and benefits from analyses of national and local contexts that in turn enrich our understanding of transcultural encounters and experiences across time. The book proposes an actor-centred contextual approach to travel writing to recount meaningful constructions of Asia's physical, political and spiritual landscapes. It offers comparative reflections on the patterns of encounter across Eurasia, where from the late medieval period an idea of civilisation was transculturally shared yet also constantly questioned and reframed. Tailored for academic and public discussions alike, this volume will be invaluable for both scholars of Global History and interested audiences to stimulate further discussions on the nature of global encounters in Asia.

Border control continues to be a highly contested and politically charged subject around the world. This collection of essays challenges reactionary nationalism by making the positive case for the benefits of free movement for countries on both ends of the exchange. Open Borders counters the knee-jerk reaction to build walls and close borders by arguing that there is not a moral, legal, philosophical, or economic case for limiting the movement of human beings at borders. The volume brings together essays by theorists in anthropology, geography, international relations, and other fields who argue for open borders with writings by activists who are working to make safe passage a reality on the ground. It puts forward a clear, concise, and convincing case for a world without movement restrictions at borders. The essays in the first part of the volume make a theoretical case for free movement by analyzing philosophical, legal, and moral arguments for opening borders. In doing so, they articulate a sustained critique of the dominant idea that states should favor the rights of their own citizens over the rights of all human beings. The second part sketches out the current situation in the European Union, in states that have erected border walls, in states that have adopted a policy of inclusion such as Germany and Uganda, and elsewhere in the world to demonstrate the consequences of the current regime of movement restrictions at borders. The third part creates a dialogue between theorists and activists, examining the work of Calais Migrant Solidarity, No Borders Morocco, activists in sanctuary cities, and others who contest border restrictions on the ground.