During the past few decades the economies of East and South East Asia have grown at a significant rate, resulting in a large proportion of the world's population being relieved from poverty in a relatively short space of time. This unprecedented phenomena underlines the importance of understanding the driving forces behind the growth 'miracle' of East Asia. Yanrui Wu addresses some of the most critical macroeconomic issues associated with East Asian growth. Principally focusing on the most rapidly emerging economies in the region, the author covers a broad base of topics. Several determinants of growth are examined and in each case an analytical framework is applied to empirical data. Specific themes include: * economic openness and growth * stock market development * intra-industry trade * growth engines in Singapore * productivity growth in Taiwan * the Asian financial crisis. Employing both cross-country analyses and case studies of individual economies, this important new book substantially contributes to the many debates surrounding economic growth in East Asia. The author's concise yet absorbing style will appeal to economic researchers, lecturers and students of economics, as well as business economists and market analysts.

Interest in food and drink as an academic discipline has been growing significantly in recent years. This sourcebook is a unique asset to many courses on food as it offers a thematic approach to eating and drinking in antiquity. For classics courses focusing on ancient social history to introductory courses on the history of food and drink, as well as those offerings with a strong sociological or anthropological approach this volume provides an unparalleled compilation of essential source material. The chronological scope of the excerpts extends from Homer in the Eighth Century BCE to the Roman emperor Constantine in the Fourth Century CE. Each thematic chapter consists of an introduction along with a bibliography of suggested readings. Translated excerpts are then presented accompanied by an explanatory background paragraph identifying the author and context of each passage. Most of the evidence is literary, but additional sources - inscriptional, legal and religious - are also included.

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on bloomsburycollections.com. Continuation along current development pathways is not sustainable. Available technology and production practices and the consumption patterns of modern societies are leading to global warming and ecological destruction. Business as usual is not an option. There is an urgent need to find a new development paradigm that ensures environmental sustainability while managing to provide, now and in the future, a decent livelihood for all of humankind. In Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development, experts in the area provide a variety of insights about the technical transformation needed for sustainable development. It spells out the behavioural and policy changes that would need to accompany the next technological transformation, taking into account the complexity of inducing technological change in the energy and agricultural sectors. The assessment suggests that this will require major, but doable improvements in national innovation systems and major, but affordable shifts in investment patterns and related macroeconomic adjustments.

This one-volume reference provides a comprehensive overview of gambling in the Americas, examining the history, morality, market growth, and economics of the gaming industry. This is the most complete encyclopedia of gambling, covering the industry in great detail including the players, the games, the venues, and the surrounding social issues. Updates in this second edition reveal the impact of technological advances on the games, the growing legislation regulating the industry, and the expanding global footprint of gambling across the world-from Manitoba to Montana. Author William N. Thompson postulates on the impact of gambling on local communities and shows how the U.S. gaming industry is tied to the global market, most notably gaming expansion in Macau and Singapore. The book addresses the various forms of gaming, such as casino-based and online gambling, sports betting, and lotteries. Additional content examines the social issue of problem and pathological gambling and addresses the rehabilitation programs available for the mitigation and treatment of gambling problems. Includes documents from prominent court cases Profiles leading persons and organizations dealing with gambling operations Features a detailed chronology of events including legalization and laws on Internet gaming Offers an expanded bibliography that provides additional resources for further study

The study investigates the cultural production of the visual iconography of popular pleasure grounds from the eighteenth century pleasure garden to the contemporary theme park. Deborah Philips identifies the literary genres, including fairy tale, gothic horror, Egyptiana and the Western which are common to carnival sites and traces their historical transition across a range of media to become familiar icons of popular culture.Though the bricolage of narratives and imagery found in the contemporary leisure zone has been read by many as emblematic of postmodern culture, the author argues that the clash of genres and stories is less a consequence of postmodern pastiche than it is the result of a history and popular tradition of conventionalized iconography.

America's broken food system has provoked an outcry from consumer advocates seeking to align food policies with public health objectives. This book examines both sides of the conflict for solutions. Many believe that America's food system is in dire need of reform, with concerns ranging from the obesity epidemic to exploitative labor practices and negative environmental impact. This eye-opening book answers provocative questions about what changes are needed, who is advocating the changes, what parties are opposing these changes (and why), and what a new food system would look like. Organized into three sections, the work identifies the problems with the current system, reviews the changing landscape of food policy, and suggests workable solutions for progress. Washington insider Steve Clapp takes a comprehensive look at the struggle over the future of food. He examines the vision for a reformed national food policy that includes calculating the true cost of food, providing universal access to healthful food, adopting farm policies supporting public health and environmental objectives, improving food safety, paying fair wages to food employees, treating food animals with compassion, and reducing the food system's carbon footprint. The book explores the ways in which these issues can be resolved, drawing upon lessons learned from the early food advocates of the 1960s and 1970s. Traces the development of a national food policy proposed by food movement leaders Reveals the true cost of food and its toll on consumers and taxpayers Discusses the opposition against a national food policy from the agricultural-industrial complex Shows the effects of changing the current food system Analyzes efforts to fix the food system and the efforts to oppose them Introduces early food advocates who changed the food policy landscape

Armed conflict may appear to be in long term decline, but the intractability and destructiveness of contemporary conflicts make conflict resolution as urgent and necessary as ever. The Contemporary Conflict Resolution Reader is the first comprehensive survey of the field as it has evolved over the last fifty years, bringing together the seminal writings of its founders with the cutting-edge interventions of today s leading exponents and practitioners. Drawing on their extensive experience and knowledge of conflict and peace research across the world, the editors have selected a rich and illuminating set of readings that offer a unique and accessible overview of the many different aspects of conflict resolution. The chapters range across prevention, nonviolence, constructive approaches, mediation, negotiation, reconciliation and peace-building. Each one is framed by an editorial introduction and the readings are helpfully broken up into the following sections: reflective pieces, guides to practice, case studies and tools for learning. Covering classical and contemporary ideas, the Reader includes extracts which mark the continued innovation, relevance and dynamism of the field globally. Whether used on its own or as a companion to the hugely popular Contemporary Conflict Resolution, this Reader will be an invaluable resource for students and teachers of peace and conflict research, politics and international relations, as well as practitioners working in the field. While acknowledging the scale of the challenges ahead, this inspiring collection suggests a hopeful and practical vision of the way forward for conflict resolution in the 21st century.

Postcolonial discourse is fast becoming an area of rich academic debate. At the heart of coloniality and postcoloniality is the contested authority of empire and its impact upon previously colonized peoples and their indigenous cultures. This book examines various theories of colonization and decolonization, and how the ideas of a British empire create networks of discourses in contemporary postcolonial cultures. The various essays in this book address the question of empire by exploring such constructs as nation and modernity, third-world feminisms, identity politics, the status and roles of exiles, exilic subjectivities, border intellectuals, and the presence of a postcolonial body in today's classrooms. Topics discussed include African-American literature, the nature of postcolonial texts in first-world contexts, jazz, films, and TV as examples of postcolonial discourse, and the debates surrounding biculturalism and multiculturalism in New Zealand and Australia.

Although definition can vary, to be a Furry, a person identifies with an animal as part of their personality; this can be on a mystical/religious level or a psychological level. In modern Western society having a spirit animal or animal identity can sometimes be framed as social deviance rather than religious or totemic diversity. Jessica Ruth Austin investigates how Furries use the online space to create a 'Furry identity'. She argues that for highly identified Furries, posthumanism is an appropriate framework to use. For less identified Furries, who are more akin to fans, fan studies literature is used to conceptualise their identity construction. This book argues that the Furries are not a homogenous group and with varying levels of identification within the fandom, so shows that negative media representations of the Furry Fandom have wrongly pathologized the Furries as deviants as opposed to fans.

A Cultural History of The Human Body presents an authoritative survey from ancient times to the present. This set of six volumes covers 2800 years of the human body as a physical, social, spiritual and cultural object. Volume 1: A Cultural History of the Human Body in Antiquity (1300 BCE - 500 CE) Edited by Daniel Garrison, Northwestern University. Volume 2: A Cultural History of the Human Body in The Medieval Age (500 - 1500) Edited by Linda Kalof, Michigan State University Volume 3: A Cultural History of the Human Body in the Renaissance (1400 - 1650) Edited by Linda Kalof, Michigan State University and William Bynum, University College London. Volume 4: A Cultural History of the Human Body in the Enlightenment (1600 - 1800) Edited by Carole Reeves, Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, University College London. Volume 5: A Cultural History of the Human Body in the Age of Empire (1800 - 1920) Edited by Michael Sappol, National Library of Medicine in Washington, DC, and Stephen P. Rice, Ramapo College of New Jersey. Volume 6: A Cultural History of the Human Body in the Modern Age (1900-21st Century) Edited by Ivan Crozier, University of Edinburgh, and Chiara Beccalossi, University of Queensland. Each volume discusses the same themes in its chapters: 1. Birth and Death 2. Health and Disease 3. Sex and Sexuality 4. Medical Knowledge and Technology 5. Popular Beliefs 6. Beauty and Concepts of the Ideal 7. Marked Bodies I: Gender, Race, Class, Age, Disability and Disease 8. Marked Bodies II: the Bestial, the Divine and the Natural 9. Cultural Representations of the Body 10. The Self and Society This means readers can either have a broad overview of a period by reading a volume or follow a theme through history by reading the relevant chapter in each volume. Superbly illustrated, the full six volume set combines to present the most authoritative and comprehensive survey available on the human body through history.

Globalizing Europe examines the involvement of the European Union in the deepening integration that results as trade and transnational production link markets and economic systems across the world. This process is posing a unique challenge to European decision-makers to implement measures that will maximize the benefits and reduce the costs of globalization. As Europe expands and becomes more integrated it is being obliged to assume greater control over the development of its external economic relations. To effect this, the authors propose that member states play a more active and constructive role in the global political economy. They advocate the planning and implementation of major initiatives that could ensure greater stability in the world economy. Because of the magnitude of the economic bonds developing between the EU and the USA, special attention is paid to the trends and issues associated with the evolution of Atlantic relations. One of the greatest challenges the authors highlight, and a theme implicit throughout the book, is that the EU's external problems may receive inadequate attention due to the complexities of its decision processes. EU-level decision-making may become more introspective, rather than global, in outlook. Combining firm, industry, regional and country levels of analysis with the diverse and provocative views of the authors, this book will be essential reading for scholars of international economics, international political economy, and international business and finance.

Entrepreneurs engaging in international business face business environments that are fundamentally different from their home countries. Despite decades of entrepreneurship research, we know little about these entrepreneurs and their strategic behaviour in establishing and managing transnational operations. This book applies an institutional perspective on transnational entrepreneurship to empirical investigations of transnational corporations (TNCs) from Hong Kong and Singapore. Henry Wai-chung Yeung argues that significant variations in institutional structures of home countries explain variations in the entrepreneurial endowments of prospective transnational business networks. This is illustrated by empirical data from two in-depth studies of over 300 TNCs from Hong Kong and Singapore and over 120 of their foreign affiliates in Asia. Entrepreneurship and the Internationalisation of Asian Firms is a timely contribution to theoretical and empirical studies in international business and will be widely read by those interested in international business, industrial economics, organisation studies, political economy, regional studies and economic geography.

What are the origins and solutions of Africa's civil conflicts? Putting straight answers to this question, the origins of Africa's civil conflicts are the very corrupt politicians who think that members of the civil society are at their mercy and can do nothing to stop their lootings and unfairness. They buy houses overseas to send their children there to study, including transferring money into foreign bank accounts, leaving their people to perish, state schools and hospitals in their countries to impoverish. This happens in all African countries, including Sierra Leone, where politicians have refused to get it right. One government politician was to be appointed minister of Foreign Affairs and International Corporation in Sierra Leone, but he told the Parliamentary Committee that his credentials to substantiate his CV were to be faxed by his son from London in UK, indicating that although the politician attends Sierra Leone parliament, his family lives and supports their living expenses in UK, not in Sierra Leone. Is that fair on common Sierra Leoneans who pay the taxes he lavishes on his family abroad? The population statistics has since been falsified to create more voting constituencies in the Northern Province for political gains and vote riggings. To be honest, current politicians in my country are busy planting the second phase of civil unrest that may lead to another bloody civil war, and I will not keep my mouth shut but alert the world in this book. Mohamed Sannoh, Methodist Boys' High School, Freetown Mohamed Sannoh is also the author of Mastering Business Administration in Education and African Politics (the Sierra Leone Chapter).

As mobile communication, social media, wireless networks, and flexible user interfaces become prominent topics in the study of media and culture, the screen emerges as a critical research area. This reader brings together insightful and influential texts from a variety of sources-theorists, researchers, critics, inventors, and artists-that explore the screen as a fundamental element not only in popular culture but also in our very understanding of society and the world. The Screen Media Reader is a foundational resource for studying the screen and its cultural impact. Through key contemporary and historical texts addressing the screen's development and role in communications and the social sphere, it considers how the screen functions as an idea, an object, and an everyday experience. Reflecting a number of descriptive and analytical approaches, these essays illustrate the astonishing range and depth of the screen's introduction and application in multiple media configurations and contexts. Together they demonstrate the long-standing influence of the screen as a cultural concept and communication tool that extends well beyond contemporary debates over screen saturation and addiction.

In a world of global communication, where each one's life depends increasingly on signs, language and communication, understanding how we relate and opening ourselves to otherness, to differences in all their forms and aspects is becoming more and more relevant. Today, we often understand the differences in terms of adversity or opposition and forget the value of the similarities. Semiotic approaches can provide a critical point of view and a more general reflection that can redefine some aspects of the discussion about the nature of these semiotic categories, differences and similarities. The dichotomy differences - similarities is fundamental to understanding the meaning-making mechanisms in language (De Saussure, 1966; Deleuze, 1995), as well as in other sign systems (Ponzio, 1995; Sebeok & Danesi, 2000). Meaning always appears in the "play of differences" (Derrida, 1978) and similarities. Therefore, the phenomena of similarities and differences must be considered complementary (Marcus, 2011). This book addresses and offers new perspectives for analyzing and understanding sensitive topics in the world of global communication (humanities education, responsive understanding of otherness, digital culture and new media power).

The widespread capital market liberalisation has resulted in a massive surge in international capital flows and the development of a more integrated world financial system. At the same time, however, the volatility of capital flows has increased and the stability of this modern financial system has been called into question by a number of financial and currency crises. In this volume the editors assess the behaviour of international capital markets during this period, focusing on both the causes and the consequences of financial instability. They examine the origins of the Latin American and East Asian crises and the lessons that can be drawn from these, and they consider the proposals for reform of the international financial system which have followed. This collection of papers, written by both academics and practitioners, is addressed both to specialists and to a wider audience, and will provide insight into an extremely important global development.

Since the 1970s, there have been many changes to the ways in which Japanese firms have conducted business. The editors of this volume examine the strategies of Japanese subsidiaries in the new global economy and present, in four parts, a comprehensive picture of the nature of Japanese multinational enterprises.The book addresses the overall nature of Japanese investment in international markets, and its broader implications for corporate performance. The entry mode choice and its relationship to performance is then examined, in an attempt to establish overall trends in the performance of various modes. The focus then shifts explicitly to joint ventures since nearly half of all Japanese subsidiaries take this form. Finally, the management strategies that Japanese firms have used in their foreign subsidiaries are investigated. Japanese Subsidiaries in the New Global Economy utilizes empirical analyses based on a very large, longitudinal data set, coupled with state of the art conceptual development. This volume provides a complete current picture of the international strategy of Japanese firms, which will be both useful and informative for researchers, scholars and policy makers in international business, international economics, foreign investment, joint ventures and expatriate management.

Liminal Fiction at the Edge of the Millennium: The Ends of Spanish Identity investigates the predominant perception of liminality-identity situated at a threshold, neither one thing nor another, but simultaneously both and neither-caused by encounters with otherness while negotiating identity in contemporary Spain. Examining how identity and alterity are parleyed through the cultural concerns of historical memory, gender roles, sex, religion, nationalism, and immigration, this study demonstrates how fictional representations of reality converge in a common structure wherein the end is not the end, but rather an edge, a liminal ground. On the border between two identities, the end materializes as an ephemeral limit that delineates and differentiates, yet also adjoins and approximates. In exploring the ends of Spanish fiction-both their structure and their intentionality-Liminal Fiction maps the edge as a constitutive component of narrative and identity in texts by Najat El Hachmi, Cristina Fernandez Cubas, Javier Marias, Rosa Montero, and Manuel Rivas. In their representation of identity on the edge, these fictions enact and embody the liminal not as simply a transitional and transient mode but as the structuring principle of identification in contemporary Spain.

Creativity is crucial to the Information Age economy. It is the basis of production in the cultural industries. In this excellent book, Ruth Towse provides an analysis of the interaction between creativity, the law, and markets for cultural goods and services. Copyright law establishes property rights that create economic incentives to cultural production and Ruth Towse uses her analysis to draw conclusions about policy on copyright. This unique study is of interest to a range of disciplines in economics, law, cultural studies and management.