While the Western was dying a slow death across the cultural landscape, it was blazing back to life as a video game in the early twenty-first century. Rockstar Games' Red Dead franchise, beginning with Red Dead Revolver in 2004, has grown into one of the most critically acclaimed video game franchises of the twenty-first century. Red Dead Redemption: History, Myth, and Violence in the Video Game West offers a critical, interdisciplinary look at this cultural phenomenon at the intersection of game studies and American history. Drawing on game studies, western history, American studies, and cultural studies, the authors train a wide-ranging, deeply informed analytic perspective on the Red Dead franchise-from its earliest incarnation to the latest, Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018). Their intersecting chapters put the series in the context of American history, culture, and contemporary media, with inquiries into issues of authenticity, realism, the meaning of play and commercial promotion, and the relationship between the game and the wider cultural iterations of the classic Western. The contributors also delve into the role the series' development has played in recent debates around working conditions in the gaming industry and gaming culture. In its redeployment and reinvention of the Western's myth and memes, the Red Dead franchise speaks to broader aspects of American culture-the hold of the frontier myth and the "Wild West" over the popular imagination, the role of gun culture in society, depictions of gender and ethnicity in mass media, and the increasing allure of digital escapism-all of which come in for scrutiny here, making this volume a vital, sweeping, and deeply revealing cultural intervention.

This unique book considers COVID-19 as one pandemic amongst many, forming an episodic era of ebbing and flowing crises: the Virocene. Investigating COVID-19 in the context of the phenomenology of the crisis, it offers critical exploration of key theses in the study of mobility and futures, travel and citizenship. Through thought-provoking and insightful analysis Rodanthi Tzanelli suggests that COVID-19, and any highly infectious virus that follows, evolves into the new self-governing principle of various forms of movement, acting as an ontological magnet: as mobilities become reshaped by remote technologies, the very order of reality changes. Examining how one viral crisis can trigger more crises, prompting radical self-assessment in the new orders of life, Tzanelli suggests that the Virocene and the Anthropocene interact in ways that may lead to multiple ecological failures or produce the key to better futures. This interdisciplinary book analyses contemporary events from a range of perspectives, providing a large-scale qualitative assessment of recent phenomena. It will be a key resource for students and scholars of cultural sociology, sociological theory, geography, anthropology, environmental humanities and communication studies, while also benefiting practitioners in crisis management and policymaking interested in alternative approaches to pandemics and social change.

This authoritative Handbook provides a thorough exploration of development policy from both scholarly and practical perspectives and offers insights into the policy process dynamics and a range of specific policy issues, including corruption and network governance. Chapters deliver critical analyses of complex issues within the economic, social, technological and environmental development sectors, such as climate change and environmental protection. This important Handbook synthesises diverse perspectives on policies and their implications for development, and features regional and country-specific case studies highlighting the field's expansive nature. The editors bring together leading contributors who deliver insightful research into topics such as human rights, policy networks and development policy praxis. With an accessible and comprehensive approach, this Handbook will appeal to practitioners exploring development policy issues and be welcomed by scholars and researchers looking to gain an insight into the world of development.

Exploring the emerging and vibrant field of critical agrarian studies, this comprehensive Handbook offers interdisciplinary insights from both leading scholars and activists to understand agrarian life, livelihoods, formations and processes of change. It highlights the development of the field, which is characterized by theoretical and methodological pluralism and innovation. The Handbook presents critical analyses of, and examines controversies about, historical and contemporary social structures and processes in agrarian and rural settings from a wide range of perspectives. Chapters explore the origins of critical agrarian studies, the concepts underpinning the diverse theoretical approaches to the field, and the strengths and weaknesses of different methodologies used within the field. Finally, it illuminates debates around the topic and trajectories for future research and development. This will be a vital resource for graduate students, scholars and activists interested in critical agrarian studies. The analytical and empirical insights will also be helpful to students of environmental and development studies as well as agricultural and development economics, human geography and socio-cultural anthropology.

This comprehensive Handbook provides an in-depth analysis of the nature of East Asian economic integration alongside thoughtful insights into contemporary issues, such as digital technology and the environment. Contributors provide detailed explanations of the origins of the topic, tracing the evolution of production networks and guiding readers through contemporary policy issues. Key feaatures: Trade, poverty and Aid-for-Trade Skills and human capital development policies of ASEAN Institutional reforms, regulatory reform and measuring integration Agricultural development, structural transformation and East Asian trade The Handbook concludes with a considered review of regional security and discusses how improvements in this area can cause obstructions to economic integration, highlighting future approaches for how these issues can be resolved. Accessible and engaging, this Handbook will be an excellent resource for scholars of Asian and regional economics and studies. Policymakers within the media and financial institutions will also benefit from the practical case studies and suggested avenues for future policy improvements.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. 'This is a must-have first book for anyone interested in global/transnational law, law and globalisation or legal globalisation, all complex concepts so fascinatingly expounded by the book. One great advantage of this book is that it concisely and comprehensively analyses the pluralist phenomenon of law and globalisation and provides a coherent theoretical/conceptual web connecting major interdependent, interrelated disciplines, theories, methodologies, and dimensions utilised in existing studies of the above phenomenon. The book takes a laudable fresh approach embracing not only the orthodoxies but also a novel and forward-looking perspective fitting for new powers such as China.' - Qiao Liu, The University of Queensland, Australia This Advanced Introduction offers a fresh critical analysis of various dimensions of law and globalisation, drawing on historical, normative, theoretical, and linguistic methodologies. Its comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach spans the fields of global legal pluralism, comparative legal studies, and international law. Key features include: Comprehensive treatment of main themes and approaches in law and globalisation discussions Provides a theoretical basis for evaluating legal globalisation Includes contemporary developments Examples from many jurisdictions offer a genuinely global perspective. An ideal concise companion for students and scholars alike, this book sets out an alternative view to law and globalisation that will interest anyone concerned with the future of legal globalisation.

This timely and engaging book explores the role of European political entrepreneurship in debating, shaping and implementing the Europe 2020 strategy. Insightful chapters analyse the content, conditions and consequences of Europe 2020, investigating the plan for a future prosperous EU economy. Focussing on how European political entrepreneurship functions in times of crisis, Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth considers these crises as potential windows of opportunity. The expert contributors highlight how the 2020 strategy has been debated, decided on, and then implemented from a governance perspective with multiple actors, and look ahead to necessary future developments. Further to this, multi-level governance is discussed as a way to address the demanded socio-economic goals across the EU in order to effect smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Entrepreneurship and public policy scholars, particularly those with an interest in European affairs will find this book to be an interesting read. It will also prove to be a powerful resource for politicians and public servants working within the Europe 2020 strategy. Contributors include: H. Ekelund, A. Haglund-Morrissey, C. Karlsson, M. Nilsson, M. OEhlen, A. Parkhouse, B. Pircher, C. Silander, D. Silander, S. Tavassoli

Providing an overview of industrial development using a variety of different approaches and perspectives, the Handbook of Industrial Development brings together expert contributors and highlights the current multiple and interdependent challenges that can only be addressed using an interdisciplinary approach. Chapters discuss the existing issues faced by industry following both the digital and environmental transitions, highlighting their regional roots and the interplay with the wider institutional framework. Investigating the necessity for companies to design new products and production processes and also re-think their corporate responsibilities, this Handbook illustrates the need for a much broader vision taking into account historical, social, political and cultural viewpoints at all governmental levels. Furthermore, it takes an analytical look at further research, including insightful directions for future industrial development policies. Answering complex policy questions for today, this crucial Handbook will be invaluable for policymakers looking for insights into sustainable industrial development as well as practitioners who are seeking an up-to-date comprehensive overview of the topic. Economic development and innovation scholars and researchers will also find the future research ideas interesting and informative.

The fourth edition of Professional Communication: Deliver effective written, spoken and visual messages offers sound advice, clear guidelines and numerous practical examples.

This latest edition includes managing digital communication platforms, creating templates, being interviewed for a job, raising funding, and conducting and managing Internet research.

The book has proved its success as a textbook in academia, and as a resource in industry.

This insightful book examines the impact of two competing visions of Asian-Pacific economic growth paths and development governance. It discusses law, development and finance in the context of the Indo-Pacific Strategy versus the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), whilst also comparing parallel development financing systems. Jin Sheng reflects on and connects a series of issues of global significance, such as the economic Cold War, global debt, industrialisation and development in the developing world, and the changing international economic order. In so doing the author posits that the BRI's ultimate objective is to export China's development model, which is characterised by a focus on exports, experimentalism, and oversupply of currency. The book also critically examines China's ambition to dominate the international economic order and set up its own favoured international rules. Alternative Development Finance and Parallel Development Strategies in the Asia-Pacific will be an important read for researchers and policy makers in the fields of law, development and finance in the Asia-Pacific region.

This important Research Handbook offers a comprehensive analysis of the intersections between intellectual property (IP) and cultural heritage law. It explores and compares how both have evolved and sometimes converged over time, how they increased tremendously in significance, as well as in economic value, despite the fact that the former mainly pertains to the private sphere, whilst the latter is considered a 'common good'. Featuring an excellent combination of contributions from leading experts, chapters offer insights into relevant cutting-edge issues that still remain unsettled. Divided into three main parts, it focuses on how IP can work as a tool for cultural heritage protection and, in particular, intangible cultural heritage, and discusses the politics and policies in this area, including whether such protection is fit for purpose. The final section explores special issues of intersection between the two, making it relevant to cultural heritage institutions such as museums, galleries, auction houses, libraries, and platforms, including issues of cultural heritage and IP management. Encompassing the latest developments and debates in the area, this Research Handbook will be key reading for academics, postgraduate students, and researchers in the fields of cultural heritage and art law, cultural heritage management, and intellectual property law. It will also be relevant for practitioners, policymakers, cultural heritage institutions, and content platforms.

Why our democracies need urgent reform, before it's too late A generation after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the world is once again on the edge of chaos. Demonstrations have broken out from Belgium to Brazil led by angry citizens demanding a greater say in their political and economic future, better education, heathcare and living standards. The bottom line of this outrage is the same; people are demanding their governments do more to improve their lives faster, something which policymakers are unable to deliver under conditions of anaemic growth. Rising income inequality and a stagnant economy are threats to both the developed and the developing world, and leaders can no longer afford to ignore this gathering storm. In Edge of Chaos, Dambisa Moyo sets out the new political and economic challenges facing the world, and the specific, radical solutions needed to resolve these issues and reignite global growth. Dambisa enumerates the four headwinds of demographics, inequality, commodity scarcity and technological innovation that are driving social and economic unrest, and argues for a fundamental retooling of democratic capitalism to address current problems and deliver better outcomes in the future. In the twenty-first century, a crisis in one country can quickly become our own, and fragile economies produce a fragile international community. Edge of Chaos is a warning for advanced and emerging nations alike: we must reverse the dramatic erosion in growth, or face the consequences of a fragmented and unstable global future.

Exploring the importance of megacities and megacity-regions as one of the defining features of the 21st century, this Handbook provides a clear and comprehensive overview of current thinking and debates from leading scholars in the field. Highlighting major current challenges and dimensions of megaurbanization, chapters form a thematic focus on governance, planning, history, and environmental and social issues, supported by case studies from every continent. Analysing vital questions for contemporary urban research, this Handbook looks at: what place megacities and megacity-regions occupy in a world of cities; how they interrogate current thinking about urban society, theory, and policy; and what role these largest of urban areas will play in shaping humanity's future. Key contributions reveal that research needs to further focus a critical and analytical lens on the particularities and distinctive issues associated with megaurbanization. A timely and essential read for urban studies, urban geography, and public policy students, the interdisciplinary nature of this Handbook provides a thorough view into the features and importance of megacities and megacity-regions. Public policy-makers and planners will also benefit from the wide-ranging case studies included.

With human-induced environmental impacts disrupting human life in deeper ways and at a wider scale than anything previously experienced, this multidisciplinary book looks at the ways that current knowledge bases seem inadequate to help us deal with such realities. It offers a critical appraisal of the current knowledge infrastructure, including science, technology, innovation, education and informal knowledge systems. Contributions from a wide spectrum of social scientists, philosophers, activists and decision-makers tackle the importance of knowledge for the Anthropocene using a mosaic of data, theories, cases, models, methods and experiences. Chapters highlight what relevant knowledge will become critical to dealing with deteriorating environmental conditions, as well as how science, technology, education and innovation can be radically transformed to deal with these challenges. The book further explores the behavioural, economic, social and cultural aspects of the Anthropocene, and how knowledge impacts both these and our possible futures. This will be a critical read for human geography and environmental science scholars, as well as social science scholars more broadly, particularly with its in-depth glossary and digital resource list. It will also aid practitioners in the planning, design, management and evaluation of knowledge systems by providing deeper understandings of the potential circumstances of knowledge in the Anthropocene.

"These case stories focus on an important event, mishap, management practice, or ethical question, and present important lessons to the reader. Their objective is to educate, inspire, motivate, challenge, and encourage food professionals to better understand food safety management and to help increase job effectiveness and productivity with ethics and integrity. Each case addresses its subject in terms of relevance and application to food safety and covers all types of risks (e.g., microbial, chemical, physical) associated with each step of the food chain. In an engaging format, the book provides an analysis of incidents or near misses. It highlights pitfalls in food safety management and provides key insight into the means of avoiding them. The book captures the real-life experience of food safety professionals around the world in very challenging situations, and invites the reader to reflect on and discuss the situations depicted. It is an essential reference for students and food professionals, including scientists, managers, trainers, food inspectors, public health officials, and more. Each of the 87 short cases includes a paragraph on "Discussion and key learnings", which will appeal equally to educators, students and working professionals in this field."

Bill Pritchard provides an important update on how current trade methodologies are implemented as China becomes one of the world's largest fresh fruit importers from countries such as Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The book also looks at their distinctive trade aspects and what can be learnt from alternative practices carried out in other countries through the use of global production networks. An in-depth analysis provides the reader with a welcome insight into existing processes from production through to export, often through informal routes, with a marketing structure providing more power to the distributors and brokers and mixed effects on the farmers. Using empirical evidence from four countries, this book explores what could, and should, be implemented in this under-researched topic to aid rural development. This will be an invaluable resource for researchers of human geography, international trade and Asian studies, particularly those with a focus on Southeast Asia and China.

The development change agent contextualises the development change agent through his or her relationship with the local beneficiaries of development. The focus is on change agents as "enablers" or "facilitators" of development at micro or grassroots level, and the key theme is the call for the establishment of a partnership in planning between change agents and the beneficiaries of development. In most chapters the authors challenge conventional thinking on the particular issue under discussion. New options are generated for development change agents, the beneficiaries of development, policy makers and politicians to consider. Popular but contentious development concepts and approaches like holism, a people-centred approach, capacity building, empowerment and participation are explained and applied, and approaches relevant to social capital, indigenous knowledge systems and action research methodology are introduced. This title is relevant to a broad range of potential readers: students at universities (development studies, public and development management, anthropology, sociology, social work, forestry, community health), development practitioners, development consultants, those working for NGOs and CBOs, development corporations/agencies, and politicians and government officials.

Exploring the ways that contemporary urban life takes the Holocene for granted, this multidisciplinary book warns that anthropogenic environmental impacts are on course to challenge the viability of most human settlements. It highlights how, despite increased warnings, most cities appear to be in denial of the potential impending catastrophes and remain ill-prepared to handle major disruptions. Chapters offer a critical appraisal of the end of an urban epoch: the Holocene city. Moving from more general aspects of urban vulnerability in the face of the Anthropocene, the book then looks at more specific issues and cases illustrating alternative adaptation pathways. It further analyses existing approaches, movements and networks for urban preparedness for the climate crisis, offering visualisations of the ways these can be improved, conceiving alternative futures and reinventing the city. A timely resource for this emerging topic, the book will be beneficial to urban studies, environmental science and development studies scholars. Practitioners in urban planning, design, management and evaluation will also find the critical case studies in the book particularly helpful.

Mapping the future of British Universities in a changing world Can the Prizes still Glitter? is edited by Hugo de Burgh (Editor of China in Britain, Professor of Journalism and Director of the China Media Centre at the University of Westminster), Anna Fazackerley (Director of Education Think Tank Agora) and Jeremy Black (Professor of History at Exeter University). It is the inaugural publication of Agora, a new independent think tank focusing on the future of our universities, and offers a fascinating insight into Britain's academic institutions in an ever-changing world. Thirty-four contributors, including eight vice chancellors (and, of course, our very own Terence Kealey), politicians, business leaders and academics from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds and a range of institutions have written personal essays outlining where universities are now and where they ought to be. Between them, these engaging thinkers tackle the entire spectrum of higher education. Individually and collectively they confront many of the big and uncomfortable issues facing Britain, exhibit some of the solutions of which individual institutions are proud, and delineate the kind of tough decisions and actions that politicians and university leaders need to undertake in order for British institutions to match the rapid progress evident elsewhere in the world.