This volume investigates how much governmental control is needed to reign in corporate and business greed and to make business "socially responsible" in Asia. It also questions whether business entities need to be reigned in by the government itself, or if other social, religious, or economic dynamics shape business entities in Asia. Moreover, it looks at how the Asian third sector influences BSR/CSR activities.

This volume investigates how much governmental control is needed to reign in corporate and business greed and to make business "socially responsible" in Asia. It also questions whether business entities need to be reigned in by the government itself, or if other social, religious, or economic dynamics shape business entities in Asia. Moreover, it looks at how the Asian third sector influences BSR/CSR activities.

Muslims for hundreds of years have been involved in philanthropic activities targeting poor and needy people through varied types of 'third sector' organizations (TSOs). Nonetheless, many people in Muslim majority countries (MMCs), not having freedom from hunger, face human security crises. Not much is known about the TSOs or their human security provisions in MMCs. To fill this knowledge gap, this Volume documents and analyses philanthropy and all types of third sector organizations including the awqaf (Muslim endowments) vis-a-vis human security in MMCs. The study is comprehensive in treating the subject matter (analyzing the legal environment, characteristics, extent and functioning of all forms of the third sector and their human security performances) and in geographic coverage (incorporating all forty-seven Muslim majority countries in Africa and Asia). It is also innovative expounding TSO density analysis, state support score (SSS) and a third-sector capability measure (TCM) to study their interrelationships. It is an essential unique reference book for students and scholars of the third sector and human security, international organizations, development agencies, donor governments, security experts and in particular anybody with interests in Islam and MMCs.

Islam is not only a religion, but also a culture, tradition, and civilization. There are currently 1.5 billion people in the world who identify themselves as Muslim. Two thirds of the worldwide Muslim population, i.e. approximately a billion people, live in forty-eight Muslim majority countries (MMC) in the world- all of which except one are in Africa and Asia. Of these MMCs in Africa and Asia, only twelve (inhabited by about 165 million people) have ever achieved a high score on the Human Development Index (HDI), the index that measures life expectancy at birth, education and standard of living and ranks how "developed" a country is. This means that the majority of the world's Muslim population lives in poverty with low or medium level of human development. The contributions to this innovative volume attempt to determine why this is. They explore the influence of environment, space, and power on human development. The result is a complex, interdisciplinary study of all MMCs in Africa and Asia. It offers new insights into the current state of the Muslim World, and provides a theoretical framework for studying human development from an interdisciplinary social, cultural, economic, environmental, political, and religious perspective, which will be applicable to regional and cultural studies of space and power in other regions of the world.

Islam is not only a religion, but also a culture, tradition, and civilization. There are currently 1.5 billion people in the world who identify themselves as Muslim. Two thirds of the worldwide Muslim population, i.e. approximately a billion people, live in forty-eight Muslim majority countries (MMC) in the world- all of which except one are in Africa and Asia. Of these MMCs in Africa and Asia, only twelve (inhabited by about 165 million people) have ever achieved a high score on the Human Development Index (HDI), the index that measures life expectancy at birth, education and standard of living and ranks how "developed" a country is. This means that the majority of the world's Muslim population lives in poverty with low or medium level of human development.

The contributions to this innovative volume attempt to determine why this is. They explore the influence of environment, space, and power on human development. The result is a complex, interdisciplinary study of all MMCs in Africa and Asia. It offers new insights into the current state of the Muslim World, and provides a theoretical framework for studying human development from an interdisciplinary social, cultural, economic, environmental, political, and religious perspective, which will be applicable to regional and cultural studies of space and power in other regions of the world.

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This book establishes new theory and knowledge in the area of third sector organizations (TSOs) in Asia. Its purpose is to draw the attention of Asia's TSOs to the importance of good governance. The book documents a variety of approaches, and identifies socio-cultural, economic, and political dynamics and impacts of different models of TSO governance. The combined information from the contributions in this work will ensure the sustainability of TSOs throughout Asia.

This book establishes new theory and knowledge in the area of third sector organizations (TSOs) in Asia. Its purpose is to draw the attention of Asia's TSOs to the importance of good governance. The book documents a variety of approaches, and identifies socio-cultural, economic, and political dynamics and impacts of different models of TSO governance. The combined information from the contributions in this work will ensure the sustainability of TSOs throughout Asia.

The worst chemical disaster ever could be happening right now. In India and Bangladesh between forty and eighty million people are at risk of consuming too much arsenic from well water that might have already caused one hundred thousand cancer cases and thousands of deaths. Many millions elsewhere in South-East Asia and South America may soon suffer a similar fate. Venomous Earth is the story of this tragedy: the geology, the biology, the politics and the history. It starts in Ancient Greece, touches down in today's North America and takes in William Morris, alchemy, farming, medicine, mining and a cosmetic that killed two popes.